07.06.21 Monday night saw my couple clients tackle their seventh hour with a second go at all 14 combinations. This time they switched roles as to who was taking the even number combos and who was taking the odd numbers. We also kept it confined to 4 x 10 minute rounds, which was a practice we undertook during the Zoom lockdown sessions. Round 1 – Warm Up – Dynamic Stretching and Callisthenics Round 2 – Combinations 1-4 Round 3 – […]
21.05.21 Friday night’s client is a nak muay of over 15 years experience, including fighting in Thailand, who has rejoined me since the easing of Covid restrictions in the fifth hour of his course. He and I decided to see how the 14 rhythm and flow combinations would measure up to his background of training. The fit was excellent! He enjoyed the fluidity and the challenge of doing longer combinations. We made it to combination five in just one hour’s […]
20.05.21 My client moved from online to face-to-face personal training in line with current Covid guidelines. We were able to re-start the same combinations we covered over Skype. We got up to number five, which was sandwiched between a 10 minute warm-up and a static stretch warm-down. Services
17.05.21 Monday night’s lesson provided me with an interesting challenge. My two partner clients arrived at number 14 again, for the first time on the focus mitts, and there were a few adaptations I needed to make for one of them. You may recall during our previous Zoom sessions that one of my two clients underwent a knee operation. He trained all the way up to the operation and only took out one less afterwards. We have been working hard […]
12.05.21 My first client continued work with single and double stick fighting. We went through some more angles of attack, looking at extra stabs and then at one stick versus two stick sequences. The latter involved side checks to the head and I emphasised rebounding off intercepting strikes. Next we moved onto trapping with the sticks, making use of the butt end of the stick. My second client continued on the focus mitts with rhythm and flow combinations 11 and […]
11.05.21 My fourth and final Zoom session with Keiryu Practical Karate covered rhythm and flow combinations seven and eight. These are both fairly simple compared the previous combinations or it can be that everyone was better tuned into chaining techniques. Tonight we looked more into the nuances of certain transitions and set-ups. Combination seven works at close range throughout using a tight head/body/head/body/head/body and left/left/right/left/left/right pattern of punches and long (spear) knee strike. Weight distribution is also very important, using […]
03.05.21 Monday’s lesson was the third part of my couple client’s rhythm and flow combination on focus mitts. We are into our third hour of this course. Tonight we worked on the 12th combination. This particular combination sets up a same side low kick to mid kick combination with a jab/cross before tranferring weight back to the opposite side for a cross chained rapidly with a hook and a second cross. At this stage there is concession made for the […]
28.04.21 Wednesday night saw significant improvement with my stick-fighting client and my kickboxing client. In the former’s lesson we blended in diagonal strikes to the legs in addition to the two high angled strikes. These were done with fluid posture transitioning, on the move and from different stances. They were first taught with single stick from each hand then as double sticks. Next I introduced a double-hand grip and put them together for a sequence of 10 techniques. Kickboxing moved […]
24.04.21 I was invited back by Ryukyukan Shorin Ryu Karate to teach a webinar on the muay Thai clinch. We warmed up with dynamic stretching, footwork and basic short-range weapon introductions. Then we moved onto the following areas. Elbow and Knee Strikes – We covered horizontal, slashing, spear and smash-down elbows as well as spear/long, diagonal and curve knee strikes Plum Position – Hand positions, forward, backward and pivoting footwork to break posture. This included a set up for a […]
05.04.21 The final hour of my two clients’ second course on stand-up fighting combinations for rhythm and flow covered combination eight. Here we used a to and fro tactic. We drove forward with head, body, head, leg punches and kicks before stepping back and to draw the opponent onto a jab/cross combination. With one of my clients still recovering from a knee injury, we focused on adapting some of the movements to more angular attacks. If you would like […]
29.03.21 Reaching hour nine of my two clients’ second course on rhythm and flow stand-up fighting combinations, we covered the seventh combination. This combination chains together strikes from the head to the body to the head to the body to head and back to the body. It was a classic, tight, close-range approach containing a liver shot in the middle and a rear knee at the end. We incorporated it into footwork, head movement and defensive guard tactics, allowing it […]
15.03.21 Hour seven of my of my clients second course of stand-up fighting combinations for rhythm and flow brought us onto combination 5. As with the previous three lessons, we followed the format of warming with freestyle work and techniques in the first 10 minute round, including footwork drills, head movement and simple combinations before the two lockdown partners hit the pads. Combination 5 is marked by its footwork and switch-hitting. After throwing a jab/cross, this combination changes to southpaw […]
02.03.21 Work continues in my teacher consultancy regarding the progress of sparring/pressure-testing for grades, especially but not exclusively to child students. As my progressive and proactive client suggested, we began at the beginning and looked at where and how sparring should be introduced. Key things to consider would be that gradings would not be a test for everything. A club does not have to have sparring in the first grading and yet students by this stage can be accustomed to […]
01.03.21 Monday evening began with hour five of my client’s course on stand-up pad-work. As previously mentioned these are both lockdown partners, one of which is on the road to recovery from a knee injury. The previous course took them through the 14 Muay Thai combination for rhythm and flow. Now we are taking each combination and applying them to the focus mitts. Having a lockdown partner allows for me to coach pad work whilst not holding pads and it […]
27.02.21 Saturday morning’s first lesson was my client’s third hour on training stand-up fighting combinations for rhythm and flow. We are currently going back through all the 14 combinations and training them on virtual focus mitts. These exercises help develop and maintain timing that cannot be acquired through just training the combinations in a shadow boxing. This morning we worked through combinations eight to 10. Combination eight links opposite leg kicks together and finishes with a drawing technique onto a […]
22.02.21 Hour four of my client’s second course on stand-up striking combinations continued her and her lockdown partner’s work on transferring shadow boxing to focus mitts. We looked at combination two, which is short and deals with chasing an opponent off landing a powerful head kick at its climax. Her lockdown partner is doing well with his recovery, but we adapted the head kick to a calf kick. This combination also introduces the same side cross and kick dynamic. The […]
