RIGHT BLOW, block -- ULNA PRESS

Description

The Ulna Press is one of the fundamental comealongs/submission holds in Zen Budokai. This is a nerve touch technique, rather than an elbow lock. In this case, the motivating feature of the technique is to roll uke's tricep muscle out of the way in order to apply pressure to the radial nerve, with tori's ulna bone. This gives tori the ability to gain submission and control of uke. Because this technique places tori in a very strong position to hyperextend uke's elbow, caution and control should be exercised by both the tori and uke when practicing this technique. This isn't a joint-lock, so the pressure against uke's elbow should not be enough to hyperextend it.

After blocking uke's initial blow, tori must grab uke's striking (right) wrist with his right hand, crossing it over his own blocking (left) wrist. Now tori must, smoothly, bring uke's right hand down to his right hip, while pulling on the arm and stepping back with his right, to turn uke's body and bend him over. This motion provides kuzushi by taking uke off-balance, and is similar to the pre-breaking motion in CLUB, juji uke -- ARMBREAK - SAKOTSU. In Ulna Press, however, while tori's right hand pulls uke's right wrist ultimately down to tori's right hip, tori uses the knife-edge of his left hand to apply rotational pressure on the uke's tricep muscle to push it away from its natural position protecting the radial nerve. To initiate this move, if uke is in a strong, elbow-pointing-down position, it is sometimes necessary to rotate uke's striking arm in a "serving platter" way - as you bring the right hand down, the left hand comes up as if holding a serving platter, under uke's elbow, turning the arm over. Then, while the elbow is rotated forward, the left hand must be transitioned into the knife-edge position so as to rotate the tricep muscle from its protective position on the radial nerve. The rotation of uke's right arm, and the pull on uke's right hand, and the rotation generated by stepping back with the right foot (this is called a "military step") - cause uke to lose balance forward and move to your right slightly.

As the move is completed and uke is beginning to stumble forward, uke's arm should be straight across tori's midsection and nearly locked, with the elbow up. At this point, the bump at the base of tori's left wrist is in place just above uke's elbow, and is held against uke's radial nerve, with the tricep muscle held out of the way by the rotating action of the knife hand earlier. From here, the right hand may be used to lever uke's arm up slightly to create more pressure on uke's radial nerve. Don't force it - the idea is to press on the radial nerve, not to hyperextend the elbow. For individuals with heavily muscled triceps, a slight sawing motion forward and back may be necessary in order to get past the tricep muscle to the radial nerve, and thus gain submission.

After submission is gained, the technique is used as a "comealong" - to force the uke to move where tori wants him to go. The easiest direction to move the uke is forward and to the right, by military-stepping to create rotation. Uke should feel compelled to move with this, as his arm is being used as a lever to move his body. From this controlling move arise many others that capitalize on the position of the uke, and the likely escape attempts by the uke.

Steps

  1. uke throws right blow
  2. tori blocks, with shuto uke.
  3. tori secures uke's right wrist with his right hand, by crossing his own left wrist with his right, and grabbing with thumb pointing at uke.
  4. tori brings uke's right hand to tori's right hip, while rotating uke's elbow forward with his left hand, while simultaneously stepping back with his right foot.
  5. as uke's left elbow is rotated overtop, tori must shift his left hand to a "knife" configuration held just above the elbow, and use the rotational motion to displace uke's tricep muscle from its protective position above the radial nerve.
  6. when uke's arm is entirely straight with the elbow pointing up, tori applies pressure with his ulna to uke's radial nerve, just above the elbow, while lifting up slightly with right hand to put more pressure on the nerve.
  7. tori should be able to move uke easily around in any direction, but most effectively in a clockwise circle by continuing the "military step" and maintaining pressure on uke's arm.

See Also

RIGHT BLOW DEFENSES

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