Video: Takedown Fundamentals

This week we're returning to basics at NC SYSTEMA, studying standing grabs, holds, locks and takedowns from simple to advanced, from applications to escapes and counterattacks.

It's good to study a variety of locking, wrestling, and throwing concepts - not least because they may be used against you. Skilled wrestlers and grapplers are not to be underestimated, and without sufficient experience in how to escape or control them, you may not get a chance to apply your favoured striking, kicking, or ground-fighting techniques.

That said, a few solid basics can go a long way. With proper timing and precision, you can extrapolate two or three key principles into hundreds of practical techniques. The key is training for efficiency, rather than racing toward the intended result.

Here, Instructors Glenn Murphy and Raymond Desmarais show three fundamental takedown patterns which can be varied and combined to create a wide range of subtle counterattacks.