Hi

Hi Al,

Although I've trained by the side of you at GT's seminars in the past I was a little shy to say hi, so Hi !!!!!

I wanted to ask a little about your training in Greco Wrestling if I may.

Was it taught exclusively by Geoff to you or did you learn from anyone else. Would you say this is a good art to learn for the street? Has it come in handy & out of the techniques you have learnt in the system, which have proved there worth in a real go?

Cheers & all the best
David

Hi David

Apologies for the delay in replying - but thanks for your message.

No worries about not saying Hi in the masterclass - but certainly no need to be shy.

I trained with Geoff and a few of the other lads in both Greco and Freestyle - but we did this under the tutelage of Khris Whelan - a top wrestling coach and great guy to train under.

I've not heard from him for a long time but found this link which has some info on him.

http://www.siue.edu/ATHLETIC/WREST/20062007/wrx.pdf

I got alot of benefits from training in Greco, not only did it obviously improve my ground fighting game but it added to my confidence on the door in a few ways.
Firstly, the fact that I was used to the likes of Geoff and the other lads trying to grab me and throw me, someone grabbing me on the door felt like childsplay.
I became very comfortable in that close verticle grappling range which gave me extra confidence in throwing punches and slaps because if I missed or if the shot didn't get a knockout and the guy fell into me or grabbed me - I was comfortable with that too.

It also improved my balance, posture and general manipulative strength where I was more able to move people around, bully them about a bit instead of having to hit them.
I could grab people, man handle them out of the club rather than having to hit them - which is always a preferred option in my opinion.

Greco was great because it only allows throws from above the waist and on the door this is great - the last thing I'm going to be doing on the door is shooting for leg takedowns, and most likely, nor are the people you are dealing with - it's all upper body and Greco is great for developing the strength and skills to deal with this type of fighting.

I also bulked up a little - I'm not a particularly big guy but I would say I was at my fittest when I was training heavily in the wrestling arts - but I was also my heaviest - around 15.5 stone
I felt very solid on my feet and that really helped in boosting my confidence and ability on the door.

Best Greco techniques for me were simply grabbing people around the waist in a suplex style position and lifting them or carrying them out of the club - dead easy :-)

I wouldn't say Greco or any wrestling arts would be my first choice of technique outside but they certainly are a great support system.
Even now - if I get within touching range of someone I feel instantly comfortable in going for a clinch type technique - hours on the mat will give you that

Sorry to cut this short - but gotta dash

Will speak more soon

Take care

AL

Cheers Al much appreciated.

When you said at the end "going for a clinch technique", could you expand a little on that for the benefit of all of us please?

Do you mean a clinch from muay thai or other? (i think from memory Geoff's guys from old trained with Bob a fair bit???)

take care Al

Hi David,

Yeah - when I say clinch I kind of mean anything where I get a hand or hands around the head of the guy I'm having problems with.

I have trained with Bob - but not as much as I'd like to - Mick T has alot more than I and has a much better Muay Thai game than me.

For me, I tend to revert back to my grappling arts more when I'm in a clinch so for example:-

If I am face to face with the guy and I am close then I may opt to use a "snatch" type technique where I grab behind his head and literally snatch him forward and down.
Depending on the dynamic and how strong or prepared the guy is, I may either snatch him to my waist level and go for a guillotine choke or snatch him all the way down onto the floor - leaving me standing whilst he is chewing the tarmac.

Alternatively I may go for a standing choke, I may spin the guy by his shoulders into a rear naked choke.

But from all of these positions, if I have the guy in a choke and we're both standing then it's important for me to get him on the floor as quickly as possible - remove his bases and leverage to prevent him from possibly exploding up and throwing me around perhaps.

So I tend not to choke people out completely, rather to use the headlock/strangle position as a way of levering them/throwing them to the ground

It's up to me then how hard they hit the ground - what I run them into, depending on the level of threat and the damage I want to cause.

Some guys I've done a Snatch on I've deliberately directed them towards walls - others I've snatched and then almost "placed" them on the floor quite gently.
Thats just me being a bit of a softie I guess

The Thai clinch is very effective, but as I've not trained a huge amount in it - it's not something I've personally favoured. But that is my loss - nothing to do with the technique.
It keeps you close to your opponent to help protect your own body and gives you great control and simply ragging your opponent around by their head - great stuff

But as for the Greco and other wrestling arts - the big advantage for me was it gave my great control in these types of positions so I could dominate the grip and use my sensitivity to throw/snatch/choke/neck crank/you name it depending on what I wanted to do and what the opponent gave me

I hope this helps

Cheers mate

AL