Wrestling Blogs - Mike Tamillow

Oh my god you aren't actually going to click on this are you? Don't get fooled by it. The post is clearly a fake. I bet when you click on it nothing comes up at all. Or maybe it sends you to some you tube video of a midget dancing. I certainly wouldn't click on it if I were you.

Oh you fool!

Yes, this is my fake blog post. I actually have nothing important to say this week. Happy holidays to everyone and you can keep reading if you like. I know it's a little late to talk about turkeys since thanksgiving is passed but that’s what this post is about.

Mother turkeys are incredibly good mothers, loving, nurturing, protective. However, their maternal instincts are triggered by a single attribute of their babies, which is the "cheep-cheep" sound that their chicks make. If a chickling makes this "cheep-cheep" sound than the mother turkey will care for it. If not then the mother will ignore and sometimes kill it. It is this singular action that calls for the mother turkey's response, which is called a fixed-action pattern. To further illustrate how dependent the turkey is on this fixed-action pattern, we can look to its enemy. The turkey will attack a replica of a stuffed polecat, the turkey's natural enemy. However when you take that same stuffed replica with a tape that plays the "cheep-cheep" sound, you will see that the turkey will nurture the stuffed replica as one of it's own. This is the turkey's instinct, it works very well for the turkey, and in most cases the turkey is reacting to an actual chick. Fixed action patterns are instinctual or semi-instinctual responses based on one noticeable action or characteristic.

So what did I learn from turkeys. Well, I learned they are delicious and go even better with gravy. But I also learned that most people have developed an automatic response based upon a single feature of an action. A fake is an attempt to elicit a response without committing to a move. The more response for less commitment, the better the fake. What you need to do is find the trigger to another person’s reaction.

This is something you’re going to have to experiment with a bit. What you might want to do watch videotape of yourself and then isolate the different aspects of the move. In a fake shot you can try stepping forward, bobbing any part of your body (head, hips, shoulders, chest), tapping his knee with your hand and level changing. See which one gets the most response, some opponents may differ but a lot of people respond similarly. I find that I get the most response from bobbing my hips. On the other hand if you get no response, then just shoot right in, no set-up needed.

I think there are three scenarios with fakes. The first is that your opponent responds to the fake. Since he has responded to a subtle motion he has put himself out of position. If you did everything right and your fake was a low level of commitment then your opportunity to attack is there as he recovers. Once again, you are going to have to physically learn this. Some simple things you can look for are an arm drag and a snap down.

The other scenario is that your opponent doesn’t respond to certain triggers. You tap his knee, nothing, you level change, no response. Great! Use that to initiate your move. I set up my high shots by trying to tap my opponent’s knee. If he doesn’t respond I grab it and then step into my shot. Level changing is also something that doesn’t get much of a response. Level change and stay low for a few seconds (some people even wrestle from a knee) eventually your opponent will step forward, and then attack. If you do it right, your opponent won’t react until you’re already in on the leg.

The last scenario isn’t seen in turkeys. People are smart and can learn (some). After a few fakes, your opponent will know that you’re faking and stop overreacting. Vary your fakes a little bit so that he gets used to seeing you stepping, level changing, and knee tapping and stops responding much to any of them. Then shoot. This is your setup. There is no need for excessive hand fighting. He refuses to respect your fake and he’s done. (Make sure when faking you’re close enough to shoot and he isn’t in an incredibly low and solid defensive stance or it won’t work)

Oh golly, I just taught everyone how to fake. Now everyone’s going to be falling all over themselves trying to react. I’m going to have to clean this mess up. The best way to react is to have developed responses that put yourself in a position to fully respond when your opponent commits to a shot. This is what a down-block is for. It is a low commitment move focusing on level changing, getting your hands and shoulder in front of your opponent, and then finally clearing your leg. If you level change and it turns out to be a fake then you have lost nothing. You shouldn’t immediately commit to a reaction, only react enough to stay in a good defensive position.

Although I only focused on fakes from shots I also want to mention that ‘finding the trigger’ works from anywhere. What makes a fake good? - When your opponent responds without thinking. It’s up to you to find a way to trigger this.

If after reading this if you are more confused than you were when you started, I apologize (it made sense in my head). Next week I’ll talk about chickens, which should be much less confusing and at least as delicious.