Ground and pound - striking on the ground

**Tofu** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 6:09pm

Thanks for the responses guys.

Goju-Joe. The drills you mentiones sound solid. At my gym, people practice the first you mentioned, by i have never actually done it for whataver reason. And the second sounds good as well. When i was training for my first (and onlly thus far) amatuer fight we did alot of MMA with 16 ounce gloves. I suppose the advantage of having one guy wearing 16 ounce and the other mma gloves is that the 16 ounce guy has to be careful of overhooks and getting his arm trapped and can actually put osme muscle behind his starikes... and for the mma glove wearer, he cannot rely on boxing gloves to cover up and he can be more dynamic in his grappling.

Epicurus - I agree about GnP being researched and being made a "science". You look at a guy like MArk Coleman now and you can see how his "Maul and Brawl" really doesn't cut it anymore... things have changed. In my mind its about being dynamic and being able to strike from positions and angles that are unconvential. And i think hitting the body is a big part of that.

Alex

**Tofu** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 6:39pm

Yes i do. But my training is mostly spilt between grappling and kickboxing... and the MMA classes i attend, one or two a week... we focus integrating the two but we don't train GnP as a technique. We mostly work positioning and the fact that you can GNP is a bit of a side note to everything that brought you and maintains you in that position. Thats why i wanted to get this discussion going.

**Epicurus** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 6:45pm

Originally Posted by Tofu

Yes i do. But my training is mostly spilt between grappling and kickboxing... and the MMA classes i attend, one or two a week... we focus integrating the two but we don't train GnP as a technique. We mostly work positioning and the fact that you can GNP is a bit of a side note to everything that brought you and maintains you in that position. Thats why i wanted to get this discussion going.

My MMA class is similar. We don't train to be professional fighters so the more MMA-specific elements sometimes get overlooked, like GnP.

**leere_form** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 8:53pm

my gym has two methods i've seen for training GnP, neither of which i've done myself, unfortunately:

1. "grapple boxing," which is apparently just no-gi grappling with gloves on and lots of hitting each other.
2. grappling dummy. basically they have a drill where you take positions on a grappling dummy and work your strikes and transitions. mount, punches to face -> side control, knees to head -> knee on belly, punches to face -> repeat.

also i've seen guys attach what look like bungee cords to bars overhead, then take mount on a grappling dummy and punch themselves to exhaustion while holding the cords.

i figure a combination of these three exercises are designed to give you a good basic GnP set, although i haven't seen any exercises that explicitly address, say, stacking and punching through someone's guard, as fedor likes to do.

i guess that's contained within "grapple boxing," but i don't go to the MMA classes, either..

**Hands** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 10:10pm

Originally Posted by Epicurus

Yes, I think this is a valid question. GnP is something that definitely has a technique and skillset to it, but you don't learn GnP in boxing and you don't learn it in sub wrestling (or regular wrestling) either. It's the sort of thing that doesn't appear to have a formal science to it yet (that I know of) and is probably being seriously researched for perhaps the first time now after the advent of MMA . . .

Epicurus has a good point. You normally don't see the GnP in boxing and I've noticed that the style of puching depends on the position. The guy I learn from knows GnP very well but we don't focus on it in class that much. I learned an interesting point yesterday:

We were working on takedowns where you end up on top of the other person, who is turned sideways. Instead of sitting up and punching down at the face he recommended punching in line with the downed person's body, like a kind of straight uppercut. The advantage was that the punch doesn't cause you to shift your weight in a way where you are easily thrown.

Here is a good GnP fighter in my opinion:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nik+lentz

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 12:27am

Originally Posted by The Villain

I love when schools that don't know MMA start up MMA programs. Its hilarious. They can still be effective, certainly, if they're strong enough in their native style, but no solid MMA program will leave students wondering how to GnP.

Yeah, and here I can't give you brownie points.:gaygay:

**PPlate** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 8:31am

Originally Posted by Tofu

Yes i do. But my training is mostly spilt between grappling and kickboxing... and the MMA classes i attend, one or two a week... we focus integrating the two but we don't train GnP as a technique. We mostly work positioning and the fact that you can GNP is a bit of a side note to everything that brought you and maintains you in that position. Thats why i wanted to get this discussion going.

Same here.

***Omega Supreme*** · Posted On: 1/15/2007 12:00pm

How I train my guys ground and pound, I put boxing gloves and elbow pads on them and tell them to go at it. When ever I hear them bitch and complain I put on the boxing gloves and elbow pads, they can wear grappling gloves and I beat the **** out of them.

Your trainers sound like they have no idea what they're doing.

**dreamy** · Posted On: 1/16/2007 2:59pm

Originally Posted by leere_form

my gym has two methods i've seen for training GnP, neither of which i've done myself, unfortunately:

1. "grapple boxing," which is apparently just no-gi grappling with gloves on and lots of hitting each other.
2. grappling dummy. basically they have a drill where you take positions on a grappling dummy and work your strikes and transitions. mount, punches to face -> side control, knees to head -> knee on belly, punches to face -> repeat.

also i've seen guys attach what look like bungee cords to bars overhead, then take mount on a grappling dummy and punch themselves to exhaustion while holding the cords.

Yeah, we sorta work with those first two drills, but the second one is mostly drills I do at home with a heavy bag... random positioning, like side to half-mount to side to kesa(sp?) to whatever, just throwing punches and knees where they work.

i'm not sure of the resistance band mount thing, but I have tried using them to work on explosive shooting.

(standard disclaimer: the vid below may have been posted before blah blah...)
i found this vid that has helped my GnP defense; It's an instructional type vid dealing with some defense ideas from the guard.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rb3BHDK0MSQ

**BackFistMonkey** · Posted On: 1/16/2007 3:32pm

I am catching up on this thread ... sorry if this has been torn apart already ...

Originally Posted by Epicurus

My MMA class is similar. We don't train to be professional fighters so the more MMA-specific elements sometimes get overlooked, like GnP.

GnP is a great tool for ending a fight ... on the deadly streets or the cage where sissies fight .

I think this is a huge over sight in your training . I am shocked to think that an MMA class would overlook the GnP and to hear other people echo the sentiment is scary .

We use thai pads when drilling . When we spar we use mma sparring gloves and just enough power to shake you up .. no live elbows , some of the guys simulate them or go very slowly and lightly . I am fairly pointy with a shitty base ... so I don't play around with them when sparring . Only when drilling .

OK now back to the beginning once again .

Originally Posted by Epicurus

It's the sort of thing that doesn't appear to have a formal science to it yet (that I know of) and is probably being seriously researched for perhaps the first time now after the advent of MMA.

Nope there is a methodology and a science behind it .

ok reading once again ...

Nothing else needs to be said I guess , since I refuse to touch on the OP .