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
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
09.08.21 My couple clients entered their fifth hour of a 10 hour course on stance-switching. Tonight we revised the previous lesson’s combination using a straight stance switch and shift to fight from a mirror side position. Then we looked at feinting with teep to move into the same mirror side position. In both instances we began with a simple entry combination and then we built on it. We then sandwiched each of the second combinations with a teep to exit. […]
19.07.21 Monday night was hour two of my couple’s 10 hour course on switch-hitting in kickboxing. We warmed up with the three-part switch-hitting drill, consisting of transitioning from orthodox to southpaw and from southpaw to orthodox using punches and kicks. Then we focused entirely on fighting from southpaw and using two combinations that helped to develop the strategy. A good early plan in southpaw fighting is to position your lead foot outside your opponent’s. There are many other options than […]
14.07.21 Tonight my client finished his series of training on the ryhthm and flow combinations by concentrating three decided on a dice throw. We did combination 10, 8 and 12 in that order over 10 rounds. Combination 10 – Jab/cross/hook/double rear round kick/hook/cross/switch-kick Combination 8 – Jab/rear round kick/hook/rear low round kick/lead body kick/southpaw step/orthdox step/jab/cross Combination 12 – Jab/cross/lead low kick/ lead body kick/cross/hook/cross/Dutch block/cross/hook/rear bod kick They were trained in the following way: Round 1 – Combination 10 […]
16.06.21 Wednesday night’s first client worked on the single weave pattern in stick fighting. After our usual warm-up using the sticks for mobility, dynamic stretching, callisthenics and to promote better dexterity and coordination, we revised the flow strike pattern. This was done as solo and partner drills. The movement involves the first and 11th angles I teach with the single stick. Next we went through the single weave in a similar fashion and then separated the sequence. The single weave […]
