Solo drills for grappling

Ground fighting to me always seemed like a very inherently two person part of the martial arts unlike striking where you can easily practice by doing form, shadowboxing, practicing in the air, or using a heavy bag.

When I train on my own in grappling I usually just do falls/ukemi, moving on my knees, and hip escapes (although I've been tempted to try hanging from some monkey bars by my legs guard style). Do you guys have any favorite drills you like to do?

-Umbra

i saw a couple on the web once, were you put a heavy bag in your guard, then like pivot yourself around the heavy bag, its hard to explain but its on lockflow or something.

There are some things you can do with a heavy bag. References to these are found around the net. Do a google search for them and you may find some things to help.

I would check this out if you're interested in drills:

http://www.grapplearts.com/Grappling-Drills-Info.php?sid=


-John

Thank you for the help, I'll try to put these ideas to good use.

-Umbra

My personal favorites

Shadow wrestling, the same idea as shadow boxing

Hip heist, the hip heist movement is used a lot in escaping from the bottom; it’s used with wing locks the switch and peek out.

Burppies, a great conditioning exercise for sprawling.

Shrimping, another movement that is used a lot in escaping from the bottom.

Also check out grappling dummies. I made mine for around $75 in materials and about 15 hours work or you can buy them in a wide range of prices. I use mine for all sorts of drill work. It's great for when you just want to drill something that would bore the heck out of your partner (for instance, I do did this one about 500 times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW7FmJayh8o ), practicing techniques when your bored and have nobody to roll with, or for just keeping active when injured.

Here's some basic movement drills

http://innovativema.ca/forum/view.php?pg=solodrills

I know I like to practice my take downs. If I can take them to the ground I can finish the fight. I always practice my penetration steps. Think about the last UFC and how Sean Sherk after taking numerious knees to the chin still penetrating through his opponent and still taking him down. Sean Sherk is a good example of an experienced fighter. Just alittle food for thought.

-Jack

I hang off monkey bars by my legs, doing "situps" from a position whilst throwing elbow strikes into the air from such a position. Burpies are good too, I agree with ExCon.
(the elbow strikes aren't really grappling, but I train both striking and grappling at the same time, even when sparring I never choose one over the other.)