Practice without repeating!

“Engulf” your training partner by entering and surrounding him with extreme looseness.

Your partner will typically respond with force so you drop/loosen and enter somewhere else. You will never be able to repeat this move twice because your partner will adapt so you continuously experiment and go somewhere different.

All these new targets are exploited and hit through with power at close range because of dropping. Ripping/tearing gouging are further options.

The opponent grabbing you tends to lock them in position making it easier to throw them by unbalancing them in a different direction.

The versatility of sticking with your elbow opens up many targets for pivot striking (pivoting off the elbow reference point) while also allowing elbow unbalancing and elbow striking/stabbing. You will see this repeatedly throughout the video.

You can apply a little bit of pressure (Pulse) that you can loosen off of and snake your way in.

Very loose shoulder articulation allows you to snake in strikes that wouldn’t seem possible otherwise.

Again, John demonstrates that if you have body contact but not a good hitting opportunity you can unbalance them and then hit to a different target. At 4:54 for example, John pushes Rob’s chest away and immediately, anticipating his resistance, pulls his arm in, releases and hits with a backfist, ricochets off that and hits again with an overhead down punch to the face – and all this with one arm in a non-stop, spring-loaded series of moves.

All these different pivot strikes with the fist using the elbow reference point emphasize the importance of learning all 5 different fists taught in the Combat Boxing DVD/MATRIX download.

At 5:23 you can see how an anticipated blocked strike causes John to soften, partially collapse/retract his striking arm AND shoulder, which allows him to instantaneously change from an outside line of attack to an inside line.

Watch the transformation of a pivot strike to a thrusting strike to a backhand strike to a different thrusting strike to a forehand strike to an upward inverted “serving soup” strike – all within 1-2 seconds.

John shows many examples of Loading the Spring, constantly sensing tension and non-tension to make entries.

John also demonstrates exerting constant low pressure using weight (as opposed to muscular tension) which becomes a platform for suspending and releasing into a flurry of strikes.

At higher speeds, the opponent is literally driving John’s arms so he is in effect hitting himself (with John’s hands).

It is very beneficial to practice using 1 arm so that it learns to do the job of 2 – and you still have an arm in reserve. With this you must move with your entire body.

It is important to experiment with hitting with the elbow from every angle, not just the typical horizontal inward strike.