Tag Archives | Cover

Building Muay Thai Defence (diary entry)

March 19, 2023 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
shin block

14.03.2023 Hour three of my client’s Muay Thai course looked at developing a stronger defence. We moved through all the main blocks – cover for straight punches, shield blocks for hook, elbow blocks for body shots and uppercuts, and shin-checks for round kicks to the leg and body. This was taught with the understanding that such techniques are used in an aggressive manner. Nak Muays advance forward and intercept strikes with their blocks. It is not a passive action. The […]

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Injury Contingence Training Continues (diary entry)

November 11, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
cover close

08.11.2022 My second private lesson on Tuesday continued work with my security officer client on his fourth hour. You might recall we are having to work around his injured right hand at present. The lesson included revision of all non-dominant hand strikes taught previously – rear hand straight, rear hook and vertical fist uppercuts. We also went back through the cover protocols and incidental combinations. I introduced clearing targets and striking against grips. Then I brought in the snap kick […]

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Cover to Clinch (diary entry)

March 10, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
arm triangle clinch

07.03.2022 Monday’s lesson brought my couple client up to the third hour on MMA clinch. Building off the previous lesson’s swarming tactics used to clinch, this lesson we looked at the cover in MMA. We began with looking at the temporary transitional nature of covering and then looked at accessing the highline. From here we attacked with the plum clinch and the arm-triangle hold into strikes and a takedown. A demonstration I gave at Denmark several years ago on covering […]

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Transitioning to the Clinch Range at Athena Karate (diary entry)

February 20, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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16.02.2022 I was honoured to be invited back to the wonderful Athena School of Karate to cover a lesson on range transitioning. The head teacher told me that during asymmetrical sparring, students were finding it difficult to access the clinching range. We went through the following exercises to help fill this gap both figuratively and literally: The cover. By building up a robust and mobile cover the students were able to build their confidence when taking strikes. Defence only pad-work. […]

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Denmark Under-Cover (diary entry)

December 22, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
HS3 Denmark

20.12.20 My final webinar for 2020 was hosted by my friends, Hinnerup Karate in Denmark. We went over the third part of my hard skills series, working on everything from hunting a target to using the cover. This was a lot more physically demanding than the previous webinar and we also made use of available furniture in dealing with obstacles and obstructions. Questions included dealing with weight problems when fighting from the ground and how much this area of training […]

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Defence & Counter (diary entry)

November 18, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Screen Shot 2020-11-18 at 17.27.42

17.11.20 Tuesday night’s third and final lesson saw my client reach the ninth hour of his Western Boxing for Martial Arts Cross Training course. Tonight we completely threw the spotlight onto defence. After warming up we would be going through 12 x 3 minute rounds of virtual specific sparring, mainly isolating certain defences and then adding on counter punches. My client would be responding to techniques I through at the camera. Round 1 – Slipping Round 2 – Slip and […]

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Transitioning Strikes & Postures at Kingham Hill School (diary entry)

November 18, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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13.11.19   My lunchtime Wednesday class continued my work with Kingham Hill School’s Self-Protection Course. We concentrated on postures, transitioning, restrictive striking and the cover against multiple attackers.   We began with our usual tactical escape and basic combative movement warm-up. This was followed by a series of transitioning exercises. Here we looked at postures from against a wall, half-kneeling (combat base), seated (butterfly guard) and on the back both controlling and fighting against a pin. Then we isolated each […]

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The Cover at Kingham Hill (diary entry)

May 23, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
cover close

22.05.19 Today Kingham Hill School reached the half-way point of this term’s self-defence course. We looked at the first line of recovery counter-offensive skills. This is concerned with the in-fight stage of conflict when an individual has been struck and needs to regain the initiative. The lesson began with transitional postures warm-up, which would have specific relevance with the final exercise of the day. We then looked at the cover and went through its application. I have dedicated an entire […]

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Aggressive Fence & Other Recovery Tools (diary entry)

January 25, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Angry fence to make space (a)

23.01.19   The second lesson in Kingham Hill’s Spring Term course on Self-Defence revised the fence, looked at an aggressive recovery version of the fence and the cover to regain striking before moving onto some Muay Thai cross-training.   The class warmed up with transitioning through postures. This was done reinforce moving fluidly from different compromised positions to standing and also adopt strong, stable fighting postures. I encouraged active engagement of the core muscles, retaining a straight back, not putting […]

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Cross-Training in Action (diary entry)

January 3, 2019 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
mma tkd

02.01.19   The first two official private lessons of the year saw the uncle and nephew team train inter-discipline connections and principles. Trite, pseudo-philosophical paradoxes to one side, sometimes you do need to go back to the beginning in order to move forward. My junior client was taught the behavioural connection between peek-a-boo slip/punching and the “Dracula” guard, and my senior client was taught the behavioural connections between the fence, angling off in general and various cover tactics.   My […]

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Cross Cover when Kicking? (diary entry)

July 27, 2018 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
chamber kick

25.07.18   Tonight my client began a series of classes on Muay Thai. This began with a two hour special lesson. He is my most experienced regular client, but we decided to go back to basics. During the time we have been training together his knowledge and skills have grown considerably, and I have continued to advance my knowledge on coaching methods. We made the decision to focus in detail at the fundamentals of the art, looking at the simplest […]

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