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photography by Clive Girdham
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To put it simply, acclimation is the physiological and psychological adjustment by an organism to environmental change.
In martial arts or street defence, this environmental change can be the transition from a casual walk in the park to a manic scene from a slice-and-dice horror movie.
Even though most of us train hard, spar and practise full-contact techniques, sometimes this is just not enough to deal with a dramatic change of events.
So how do we deal with this dilemma? Acclimation training can be one of the solutions. One of the first problems that arise when training for combat is understanding and developing the right mindset for the confrontation at hand.
To do this we have to breakdown the situation into sections or compartments and list their priority in sequence.
Not all of us are perfect fighters that can transition from one range to another smoothly and comfortably. We all have our favourites and our faults.
The beauty of acclimation training is that you can train your faults or phobias at your own pace and level of intensity without putting yourself at risk.
This type of training builds physical competence but, to an even greater degree, it also develops confidence - that mental quality necessary to succeed in any arena.
Levels of acclimation The first level of ‘hurt' or discomfort is that of losing personal space. In some severe cases it can even cause a form of claustrophobia that can incapacitate a fighter when an opponent has entered into their personal space or has instigated in-fighting.
If you feel uncomfortable fighting in close, don't worry; there is a great drill for you. The rules of acclimation training are:
Keep the drill or round short, from 30 seconds to a minute, so as to maintain the effect and also to keep you fresh to practise technique.
Always come to an agreement on the level of ‘hurt' - i.e. work at a contact level rated from one to five, with one being light contact and five being full contact.
Try to listen to yourself and gauge how you feel rather than whether you ‘scored'. In other words, how did you react when he hit you? Are you ducking your head too low? Do you feel like you want to turn or get away? How is your breathing?
Drill one: Personal space
Try to get two martial arts belts or straps and tie them around your waist. Tie your belt to your partner's with a third belt or strap at about arm's length away. You should end up looking like the photo at top right.
Next, choose what techniques you want to practise and then go for it. At the end of each round, do not untie yourself. Stay with your partner as this adds to the claustrophobic effect (when you are hot, sweaty and exhausted you don't want to have someone in the same state breathing down your neck.) Assessing yourself after each round is the best way to learn how to adapt your training, so you can rectify any faults or inconsistencies in your performance.
Drill two: Multiple attacks
Now let's go to the extreme and jump a few levels. This time you have multiple opponents. Now this is a situation that none of us like to be in and few know how they would react. The equipment needed is a pair of focus-mitts or a kick-shield and a guy that can tackle. Each opponent has a specific attack.
A) The person with the focus-mitt will swing left and right hooks at your head or body explosively, and you in turn will defend by blocking and getting used to absorbing a little punishment.
B) The person with the kick-shield will rush you and shove you around. Your response is to punch, elbow and shoulder-charge him, to keep him at bay without pushing him, just using strikes.
C) The person who will be tackling will shoot in and attempt to take you down. Once you're down he releases you and then jumps back up.
In no set order, one of the three opponents will attack you and you will respond appropriately. Once one opponent is dealt with for a few seconds, one of the others will attack, and so on. This will continue for the duration of a one-minute round or longer, depending on your fitness and skill level.
The key to the drill is to be spontaneous and unpredictable.
It is a great way to see how you respond when your fitness starts to decline and while under stress due to the attack.
The drills don't have to be followed to the letter; they can be tailored to ground-fighting sequences as well. Weapons can be included too - it's up to your imagination and your fears. So start acclimating.
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