Target Ladder Playbook

Mat Manual companion guide to "Chop Low, Then Climb." Print it. The article explains the ladder as a reading exercise: rear low kick, the same entry again, a roundhouse to the body as the guard drops, then a third visit read off the defense shown twice. This book trains the reading before the climbing, keeps every entry identical, and drills the early check, the catch, and the counter-kick that beat the ladder.

Name: ______________________________ Gym: ______________________________ Grade: ______________ Start date: ______________ Lead side (circle): Left / Right Current week (Part 11): ______________

BEFORE ANYTHING: PARTNER SAFETY AND AGREEMENTS ☐ All partner work in this book runs at agreed speed and agreed contact, stated out loud before each drill. Either partner can lower the speed or the contact at any time with one word, and the drill obeys instantly. ☐ Low kicks in partner work land on a thigh pad or the agreed thigh target at controlled contact. Kicks are never thrown at the knee joint, and a partner's standing leg is never swept or kicked out in this book. ☐ Checks are shin against an incoming kick, on purpose. They run at the cards' stated speeds and light contact until passed at that level, and shin pain is a stop signal, not a conditioning goal. ☐ High-line work at rung four is trained on pads only in this book, at controlled pad contact. No kick is thrown at a partner's head in these cards, at any level. ☐ Catch drills are fed, not fought: the catcher takes the leg at agreed speed and releases on the word. Nobody throws, sweeps, or yanks a held leg in this book. ☐ Stop on any pain, dizziness, or loss of control, from either partner, with no argument and no finishing the set first. Log what happened in the session log (Part 16).

Part 1: The Chain at a Glance

Four rungs, one entry. If a rep's climb was decided before the defense showed itself, it was a script, not a ladder, and it does not count here.

Ladder law: the entry never changes. Step, chamber, and rhythm stay identical across all four rungs; only the height of rungs three and four may differ, and height is decided late, off the defense shown. An entry that changes is a tell, and tells void the rep in the read cards.