What We Teach

Short Version:

We train Combat Cross Training or CXT.

In other words, we train a delivery system in each range of fighting. Stand up striking, upright grappling and groundfighting. Then mix it all together to form a skill base that can be used fluidly into every range. We spar using Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), kickboxing and grappling. Then give it a realistic self defence flavour to finish it off.

Long version:

Hand to Hand Martial arts can be broken down into a number of ranges. Stand up striking (punching and kicking distance), upright grappling and groundfighting. If all these ranges are not covered then it is not a true hand to hand martial arts self defence system. It is vital to have knowledge in all these areas.

In the last 15 years or so a sport has re-emerged and is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). This is not a new sport, the ancient Greeks competed in a form of mixed martial arts called pancration in the original Olympics. It combines all the ranges into a sporting context. It is not the complete answer to self defence by any means, as the pub has no referee to step in and stop a fight, the street will not accept a submission and the MMA cage doesn’t have your opponents mates there to step in and give you a kicking as you roll around on the floor. What it does do is teach you the timing, distancing and most efficient way of moving and fighting that is needed in every range of combat. We therefore emphasise MMA training and sparring as a way to help the development of good sound self defence skills.  

It is important to remember that:

“9 out of 10 fights that last longer than 3 seconds will go to the ground.”

Geoff Thompson, leading self defence expert.

So why doesn’t everyone just learn to fight on the ground. Because:

“100% of fights start standing up.”

Bart Vale, former world shootfighting champion.

Many Martial arts and self defence systems do not cover every range. We do. It is this philosophy that Momentum Martial Arts is built on.

There are no techniques that are not tried and pressure tested by our coaches, no silly techniques that would never work in real life. We actively encourage our athletes to develop their own style and find out what works for them. This can only truly be done with ‘alive’ training, against an un-cooperative partner. We therefore encourage all our athletes to do some form of sparring regularly.

It is important to understand that what we coach is not a new style, not something we have developed on our own, it is simply what people have been doing for thousands of years.

The majority of people in this world have 2 arms and 2 legs and there are only so many ways the human body can move. As that is the case you have to accept that there are some ways of moving that are more efficient than others. In other words there are some ‘delivery systems’ that are superior to others. An example would be Boxing. It is generally accepted that boxing handwork is the superior delivery system for punching. There are no secret moves, just good body mechanics.

These delivery systems have already, all been discovered by many people at one time or another. To find these most efficient delivery systems it is helpful to look at combat sports such as kickboxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts etc. These athletes are constantly fighting in a very competitive arena and so it is a natural occurrence that they cut all the excess fat from their system and only use and train techniques that can be used realistically in combat. These techniques have to be simple and effective. It is very rare to find an advanced technique in combat sports. For example, one of the best techniques you will ever learn for self defence is the right cross. Yet there are hundreds of ways of defending a right cross, whether it is slipping, parrying, bobbing, weaving…. Yet if you time it right it is still the most devastating shot you will see. Another example is the jab that Lenox Lewis throws. It is the same jab that you will learn in your first session. There is nothing secret about his jab. It is just that he has spent years training and developing it. At Momentum we therefore have no incredibly difficult and advanced techniques. It is sometimes the case that you’ll need some basic principles to progress to certain techniques, but none are complicated, as under the stress of a situation, the only things you’ll ever be able to pull off are the simple, basic techniques. Instead we emphasise the development of basics in sparring and alive drills. As the real skill in combat comes from the timing, distancing and footwork that only this type of training can produce.

The simple truth is that what "is" the reality of combat knows no national or cultural boundaries. If you place any two Kung Fu, Karate or most other martial arts practitioners into a cage and tell them that can only strike at each other then what you would see would resemble bad kickboxing. If you told them they could do anything they wanted then it would resemble a bad Mixed Martial Arts or No Holds Barred match. You only have to look at the first UFC’s to see this in action. So if we want to learn the most efficient way to punch, why not look to a sport that emphasises punching, like boxing. If we want to learn to kick why not look to Muay Thai Kickboxing. The list goes on, but the lesson is the same.

In short to give what we do a label would be wrong, as it would stifle its growth and development, but if you need to refer to it as something then call it Combat Cross Training.