Tag Archives | Kickboxing

MMA/Muay Thai

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24.07.2023 Monday’s lesson was a two-hour booking for my couple clients, finishing their 10-hour MMA styles course and beginning a new Muay Thai course. After a dynamic stretch and sport specific calisthenic warm-up, we began an overview of the styles work. This began with some light specific sparring. One fighter stuck to their swarming/muay bouk style and the other to out-boxer/muay femur style. I pitted attack against defence only, forcing the individual styles to work on their own way of […]

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Calf Kick to Double-Leg Takedown (diary entry)

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27.02.2023 Hour three of my couple client’s Mixed Martial Arts course looked at using an inside calf kick to set up a double-leg takedown. We began with a warm-up of level changing exercises against resistance. Although today’s techniques are both low line attacks, the calf kick comes from the stand-up range and is executed from a higher stance than the double-leg. Moving onto the combinations, we used the rear arm post, which is often used when throwing a round kick, […]

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Testing the Ranges with One-Sided Sparring (diary entry)

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27.01.2023 Hour 10 of my client’s first Mixed Martial Arts course with me focused on looking at both conditioning exercises and putting his skills under some pressure. One of my mandates for taking these sessions was to not use sparring due certain medical reasons. This is something of obstacle when it comes to teaching a combat sport. However, we have found ways to work around this challenge. We have regularly used reaction games, both touch and no-contact, and I keep […]

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Final Flurry & Smash (diary entry)

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13.12.2022 I finished my trilogy of lessons in preparation for this Saturday’s joint seminar with Iain Abernethy. My section, at the request of Athena School of Karate, focuses on asymmetrical combination candances. In other words, putting together faster techniques with more powerful ones. My 2 x 1 hour slots will look at three boxing combinations and two kickboxing combinations. Today we looked at the finer details of the two kickboxing combinations, as the previous sessions had seen a lot on […]

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Flurry & Smash Prep (diary entry)

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29.11.2022 Today I worked with Athena School of Karate in preparation for the seminar I am teaching with Iain Abernethy on 17th December. All combinations were trained in shadow and application. My session will be divided up into a section dominated by boxing combinations and kickboxing combinations. The overall theme will be on asymmetrical cadence. We are developing combinations, tactics and strategies to shift between speed and power techniques. Services

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Elbow Strike Clinic (diary entry)

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14.11.2022 Tonight for my client’s second hour of her second Muay Thai course we took a break from looking at southpaw strategies to focus on elbow strikes. It proved to be a deep dive into just two types of elbow strike – the horizontal and spear variations – and how they fitted into combinations. After a specific sport and muscle activation series of exercises, we isolated the two elbow strikes and looked at their delivery. This was done a shadow […]

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The Spear Knee (diary entry)

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30.08.2022 Hour four of my new client’s course on basic Muay Thai introduced and centred on the spear knee strike. We warmed up with the usual dynamic stretching and muscle activation exercises. This led into some line-work involving the spear knee. Here I introduced the Muay Thai concepts behind knee strikes. Of all the most well-known Southeast Asian kickboxing sports – such as Lethwei from Myanmar and Pradel Serey from Cambodia – Muay Thai is perhaps more known for its […]

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MMA School Project (diary entry)

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19.08.2022 Friday night’s second session was booked as part of a mixed martial arts project my new client is conducting at his school. We went through several ideas on how to proceed. When a new client comes to me with the mandate to teach them mixed martial arts, my usual advice is for them to go through the composite discipline course of boxing, muay Thai, wrestling and submission grappling before learning mma in earnest. On certain occasions I have just […]

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12 Rounds MMA Pad-Work (diary entry)

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03.08.2022   Tonight my client repeated the 12 round format we used last week, but this time we mixed in more Mixed Martial Arts based work and centred certain rounds on specific techniques. The lesson was begun with a warm-up of dynamic stretching and muscle activation exercises. Round 1 – Setting up the cross and straight right. We used double-jabs, feints and shoulder rolls to provide opportunities to throw this power punch. Only straight punches were permitted in addition to […]

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Two Hour Personal Training (diary entry)

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28.05.2022 I was booked to teach a special two-hour session for Kuroten Karate’s founder and her son. We focused on stand-up fighting, using boxing, kickboxing and muay Thai. After a brief warm-up, we covered footwork from boxing. On the request of my client, I taught angling off and circling out to exit from combinations. I explained differences between most conventional boxing and the peek-a-boo style. The peek-a-boo style arguably lends itself best to martial arts cross training due to the […]

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Building a Foundation (diary entry)

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11.11.2021 After last lesson’s taster of Mixed Martial Arts, my new junior client has opted to train in Muay Thai/Kickboxing for the remaining nine hours of his course. We focused on setting up the classic modern Muay Thai stance, which is square on, and coninued work on the teep, jab and cross. I also introduced spear knee strikes both in the warm-up and in the final intensive section of the lesson as well the lead hook punch. We worked on […]

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Muay Thai for All the Family (diary entry)

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17.10.21 Sunday morning saw the completion of my client’s 10-hour course with an hour each for him and his family. Lesson 1 – Senior Muay Thai – We looked more into chaining kicks together, developing defence and introducing the upper cut and the switch-kick. We first trained using a Dutch style exchange drill and then took it onto the focus mitts. Lesson 2 – Junior Muay Thai – I taught a new student teeps and we worked on better establishing […]

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Three Hours Private Lesson(s) (diary entry)

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18.09.21 Saturday’s private lesson brought my new client up to the five hour mark of his course on Basic Muay Thai. At his request, I trained two adults and and two children over three hours on Muay Thai fundamentals. Lesson One – First lesson was a beginner lesson for an adult with some prior experience, focusing on use of the teep, basic footwork, shin-checks, teep scooping interception, covers, parries, jab, straight right and the rear leg round kick. We began […]

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Muay Thai Basics (diary entry)

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13.09.21 My second lesson of the evening was my new client’s second hour of his first Muay Thai course. He has requested more mobility and flexibility training on top of my individual technique development. After a warm-up of mobility and dynamic stretching exercises, we focused on using a four angle directional drill to develop better technique delivery on the move. We began with the jab, angling off and then punching. This was followed by the teep where we took some […]

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New Kickboxing Course (diary entry)

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09.09.21 I began  my new client’s Kickboxing/Muay Thai course. After a warm-up of dynamic stretching and some basic footwork exercises, we began on the focus mitts. This started with the lead leg teep. Here I assessed form and balance. Next we moved onto the jab forwards and backwards before changing to the double jab and introducing the straight right. Finally the rear leg round kick to leg was taught. These then was put into a series of combinations.   Services […]

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Switch-Kicks & Switch-Hitting (diary entry)

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23.08.21 Hour seven of my couple client’s course on switch-hitting in kickboxing combined the action of the switch-kick with the tactic of switch-hitting. Usually the switch-kick only momentarily switches their stance in order to put more power into their lead leg. There are variations, such as the step-kick and the “no-switch” switch-kick, but the traditional switch-kick doesn’t really commit to a stance change and fighters are trained not to change levels as it will telegraph the kick. However, in this […]

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