Sensei Erik Paulson Seminar 9-18 & 9-19-2010 here in Michigan

September 5, 2010

Hello All,

If you have read anything on our site you know that we are truely Erik Paulson dorks… CSW Instructor Chris Malgeri (www.maunlimited.com) is hosting the Seminar @ his school Martial Arts Unlimited in Clawson Michigan on September 18 & 19 2010.

I have attended 3 of Sensei Erik Seminars and I always walk away inspired to train harder. In fact after the 2007 seminar after I was giving the rigid rod of reality that my clinch game was not what I thought it was and I vowed to change it. I am really excited to attend this Seminar.

Here are a couple of clips to get y o u all fired up. If you have any questions please contact Chris Malgeri www.maunlimited.com here is his number to the school as well  248 435 4030.


Watch this video and add these takedowns to your grappling game

May 1, 2010

Hello All,

A couple of days ago I was on Sensei Erik Paulson’s site (www.erikpaulson.com) and watched this video and saw some very good takedowns. Kent Nelson (www.tkentnelson.com) and I played around with a couple of them and found the pick up to be a pretty high percentage technique.

Enjoy,

Shawn


How Good is Your Greco Pummel? Watch And Evaluate.

April 24, 2010

Hello All,

Today I went to one of my favorite sites Sensei Erik Paulson’s (www.erikpaulson.com) and saw this video of him working the 50/50 pummel. One of the things that Sensei Erik does better than most is to take “grappling” drills and show you how to make them drills that can benefit a striker as well.

So if you Greco Pummel and would like to take it to another level watch this video.


Want to improve your Sparring/Self-Defense? Try this.

March 20, 2010

Hello All,

While searching through YouTube this morning I found this video of Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) coaching his kickboxing class. While watching it I noticed a couple of times guys that would get trapped in their sparring partners preferred striking range and be dominated. This is a very dangerous place to be in sparring and especially in self-defense when training with Sifu Paul Vunak (www.fighting.net) he would often talk about not letting your attacker be in their comfort zone.

There are a few times where I think that sparring strategy will also carry over to self-defense and this is one of them. Sensei Erik talks about when your opponent is punching you kick, if he is kicking you punch bottom line is that you do not want to stay in his comfort zone for any longer than possible.

For me I know that if I am in with a guy who is good @ kicking I don’t want to stay there I need to close the distance and be able to punch and clinch. I am far more comfortable punching and clinching and I can begin to control the pace and action there better. If I am in a self-defense situation if possible I want to stay outside of all striking ranges so and draw the attacker to commit from there I want to intercept him & enter with forward pressure to get him going backward so that I can clinch to end the attack.

When you watch this video clip keep the above in mind and listen to Sensei Erik coach his guys he brings up a lot of great points that can/will help you in both sparring and in a self-defense situation.

Enjoy,

Shawn


Respect and Martial Arts

March 8, 2010

Hello All,

In this video Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) talks about respect and tradition in Martial Arts and MMA. I have trained in Martial Arts since 1992 and even though I trained in a style (Jeet Kune Do) that is very non traditional we placed a large emphasis on respect not only for Sijo Bruce Lee but for our fellow students as well.

One of the major knocks on MMA is that the fighters lack the respect and discipline that Martial Artists develope. I have personally seen this when training fighters and also in seminars. The reason for this I feel is the competitiveness of MMA and if you fight you need to establish your dominance right away. Trainers like Sensei Erik Paulson and Kru Greg Nelson teach this due to their Martial Arts backgrounds, also fighters like Lyoto Machida, Georges St Pierre show a high level of respect to their opponents.

Kru Greg Nelson has a saying that we use @ Synergy Martial Arts ” Practice with your partner not on your partner”. Being a good training partner is very important to the developement of your school, this is both for the Instructor and the student. If there is a high level of respect for one another this causes to seek to help out fellow students. When this happens the skill level of the school increases it is a win/win situation for everyone.

Watch this video and ask yourself how can you be a better training partner.

Shawn


Filipino Martial Arts for MMA

March 4, 2010

Hello All,

I have a couple of sites that I visit on a regular basis and one of the sites I visit most often is Sensei Erik Paulson’s site (www.erikpaulson.com). I know me visiting Sensei Erik’s site is a big surprise huh??? lol

Today while visiting his site I ran across this video and had to laugh. One of my struggles while training Martial Arts has been to find the application for Self-Defense while still preserving the essence of the Art that I pulled it from. In 2002 I went out to California and trained with Sifu Paul Vunak (www.fighting.net) and he showed the kick destruction to us. It was so simple yet effective and it kept the essence of the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA).

So to see Sensei Erik showing it for MMA was awesome because I have often felt that it could be and should be used by MMA fighters. Also he brings up a great point in that you have to be careful when using the kick destruction because if you miss your opponent is close and if the kick is the entry for a combination you can be caught by the rest of the combo.

Also I feel that Sensei Erik probably teaches set ups and the hows and whys of combinations better than anyone else that I have come across. Really study this video there is A LOT of information in here that you can use for a long time!!!

Enjoy,

Shawn


How good are your takedowns off of the punch?

February 20, 2010

Hello All,

In today’s post there a couple of things that I want to point out to you. As you watch this video of Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) pay careful attention to the position that he gets to and how Sensei Erik is able to strike, tie-up and also throw. Notice that he does them separately but also puts them together in combination. This is a very highly level skill that takes a long time to achieve but it is what separates good Martial Artists/Fighters from average ones.

As many of you know I have a very high level of respect for Sensei Erik Paulson. While I am not an Instructor he is a huge source of inspiration for me. I could watch and have watched him over and over, the reason being is that while he is showing “MMA” techniques Sensei Erik thinks like a Martial Artist.

What is the difference? Well I am glad that you asked… The difference between Sensei Erik and his teaching methods and other MMA Coaches is that Sensei Erik is focused on progression and imparting that progression to us. He very clearly explains how that there needs to be progression in your strategy, and your training that you need to isolate and rep something before you are able to perform the technique or skill from there you need to have progression in your partners level of resistance.

What I have observed from many Instructors and Coaches is that they show a technique and then throw you into the fire and expect you to perform it right away. Or they have you rep it 1000’s of times and then tell you to go perform it with full or near full resistance what happens when you do this is you develope a partial understanding and then develope bad habits.

As a student this reminds me to have progression in my training and as an Instructor it reminds me to convey the same message to my students and Instructors.

So watch this video and pay close attention then go and put it into your next training sessions.

Shawn


Want to improve your kickboxing/MMA? Sensei Erik Paulson shows you how

February 15, 2010

Hello All,

Upon my daily visit to Sensei Erik Paulson’s site (www.erikpaulson.com) this morning I came across this amazing video from a camp that he did in Jacksonville Florida. Before I go any farther I would like to thank Sensei Erik for posting all that he does on his site he gives away an amazing amount of information for free!!! I have gotten so much from his videos that he posts I am almost ashamed to say that other than signing up for his CSW Association and all that costs me is $75 for 12 months. And if you think that the stuff on the site is good you should see what you get as a member. Thanks again Sensei Erik.

The material from this video you could train for years and make huge improvements in your standup game. Sensei Erik breaks down technique and strategy like very few Instructors can and do.

So just in case you don’t believe me here is a list of things Sensei Erik shows in this video.

Jab — Chop Kick

Kick Counters
Long Teep
Short Teep
Stop Kick
Stomp Kick
Parry — Rear Knee
Split Entry — Heart Punch

Entries Off The Punch
Slip The Jab Outside — Body Lock.
Slip The Cross Outside — Body Lock.

Takedowns Off The Punch
Knee Tap
Hip Lift
Big Throw

Enjoy this video and get out there and train!!!

Shawn


Want to Escape the Muay Thai Clinch?

February 4, 2010

Hello All,

Sorry it’s been a while since I posted we have been very busy working on promoting our KISS Women’s Self-Defense program and we are making some very exciting progress. We will let you know more as we go along.

In this video Sensei Erik Paulson is demonstrating escapes from the clinch. We at Synergy Martial Arts feel that the clinch is one of the most widely adaptable positions in Martial Arts. When you play the clinch with someone has developed their clinch game to a high level it can be very tough to escape. Sensei Erik shows a couple of variations that chain together, chaining together escapes or variations of a technique is a very important skill set to develope.

Watch and enjoy this video and go implement them in your next clinch session.

Shawn


Take your clinch/plumm game to the next level!!!

January 11, 2010

Hello All,

Today I came across this video. For those of you who have trained with us you know that we @ Synergy Martial Arts feel that the Clinch/Plumm game is one of the most important things that you can work on. For the last 5 years we have researched clinching and Sensei Erik Paulson (www.erikpaulson.com) continues to provide us with some of the best clinch material that we can find.

In this video clip taken from Sensei Erik’s CSW Essentials volume 2 Sensei Erik continues to amaze me with his understanding and teaching methods from the clinch. Here are some highlights from the video.

  • Learn positions and escapes
  • That in Thai Boxing that clinching isn’t just the neck game and what Plumm means in Thai
  • Positions to strike and throw from
  • How to take the back from the clinch

The problem with searching Youtube and finding great video like this is that I want to buy this DVD set!!! Have fun putting this into your next training session I know that we will.