Indigenous Ability

[All based on RAWs 210 & 209.] All are 3-Minute Rounds w/ 30-seconds Rest Round One -Cross. Keep it live, move. Put some stink on it, test that bag’s warranty. Round Two -With partner or without, toss that cross and envision a counter liver-hook or head-hunt on the high-line, so cross and roll with a bread-basket cover, keep those shoulders high—no sure things in the world. Round Three- Cross, Roll, toss another Cross out of the Roll Round Four -Add a rear bark as the cherry on top. Play this one on the drag bag as the true bark is unforgiving to tibias the world over. Rest 1 Minute Round One -On your feet slap and catch and drag to an outside two-on-one. Work both sides like a good wrassler. Head in the pocket, Crew, or I will tsk-tsk you to kingdom come. Round Two -Off of a resisted two-on-one slide as smooth as a viper into an Underhook ride. Again, where is that head supposed to be? That’s right. Round Three -Once you’ve got that ...

In my daily gig as old school combat archeologist I come across countless stories, tales, anecdotes and reportage claiming that “ The Old-Timers were tougher than ‘these kids today.’” The flip-side to that glorification of the past argument is that “these kids today” get the gift of standing on all of that accumulated old-school wisdom and the added bonus of attaching modern day bells and whistles to make today’s combat cadre tougher than the prior generations. So which story is true? Were the bad-asses of yore the tip of the top? Or…is it today’s crop of combatateers that prove the creamiest? This often leads to the old chestnut of a question “ Who would win between [insert past legend and legend in the making]?” There is simply no way to conduct such past and present comparisons with any sort of scientific rigor without aid of a time-machine. So, until we are provided with such a chronal-distortion device are we left without an answer to the “ Who ...

RAWarriors, just as we have been doing with resurrecting some little-known or forgotten Old School Boxing and Frontier Rough ‘n’ Tumble, it’s time to dust off our wrasslin’ ar cheology. We’ve got a tooooon of old-school grappling fun we’ve been sitting on but a deal [book/video] has held up a bit of the unveiling of this material. But now…we’ve got the go ahead for us to start shoveling some fun for the RAW Crew only. [No freebie video that is the producer’s stipulation.] I offer a few nuggets below. A familiar quote we should all hold utmost in our mat-lovin’ breasts: “ Conditioning is the best finishing hold.”- Gene Lebell Here’s the great George Tragos, mentor of the also great Lou Thesz on the what he considered The Four Linchpins of Grappling Education: “ Leverage, balance, holds, and counter-holds .” It is with “counter-holds” in mind and George’s teaching tactics at his gym nicknamed “ Tragos’ Torture Chamber ” where he made it a practice for the gr...

This Bit of Video Hits 2 versions of the Shoulder Choke to get to the preferred [from this position] Shelf-Choke. The 2 Primary Keys are… One-Proper Forearm Stacking to created cervical-separation leverage. Two-The Sliding Sprawl. The Shelf-Choke allows us to by-pass tripoding [and High-Base countering] and leaves “squeezing” behind. We allow leverage and angular-torque to cure what ails us. Far more details on this tactic and more are available on ESPRAW 197. Big thanks to Chris “Headhunter” Osborne for the use of the cranium!