Tag Archives | private lesson

Curved Knees & The Collar/Elbow Tie (diary entry)

September 28, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Knee strike to stomach whilst grappling (b)

27.09.2021 The second hour of my couple clients’ course on the Thai clinch proceeded from the warm-up into plum position revision. They partnered off to work forward, backward, lateral and angling footwork, working on push/pull setups to break each other’s posture. Then we layered in the spear and diagonal knee strikes on a one-for-one basis. I then held the Thai focus mitts for working these particular knee strikes in the clinch. We then moved onto the collar and elbow clinch […]

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Marching Knee Switch-Hitting (diary entry)

August 17, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Screen Shot 2021-08-17 at 20.04.20

16.08.21 Monday night brought my clients up the sixth hour of their 10 hour course on switch-hitting my Muay Thai. Tonight we looked at using marching knees to set up a mirror-side attack. After a warm-up of specific callisthenics, mobility and dynamic stretching exercises, we moved onto switch-hitting drills using shuffles and direction changing. I then taught two set-ups using marching knees. Both used a rear leg teep stepping into a mirror-side stance (typically southpaw), followed by two marching knees […]

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Taking the Straight/Cross/Overhand to the Pads (diary entry)

July 28, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
vijay devesh straight right

27.07.21 The second part of my client teacher’s preparation for Wednesday night’s live-streaming lesson was another private lesson on boxing. Again, we went through the difference between the straight right and the cross, and we also had time to cover the chopping cross/straight right and the overhand. I ran through each of these punches inspired by Aguello, Louis, Hearns and Marciano. After shadow boxing we took them onto the focus mitts and then I had my client and his son […]

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Children’s MMA Trial Lesson (diary entry)

July 26, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]

25.07.21 Today an old private client of mine held a trial lesson for his five year old son. Despite have years of experience teaching children realistic self-protection and using Mixed Martial Arts as a form of attribute training for them, this was stil a reasonable challenge. Mixed Martial Arts can be taught a single art and sport, but it is probably best introduced within its main base systems: Boxing, Wrestling, Kickboxing and Submission Grappling. However, this is a little easier […]

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Roll for Three Combinations (diary entry)

July 15, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
kick to pads

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 […]

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Master of the In-Fight (diary entry)

June 23, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
armstrong vs ross 2

22.06.21 My second lesson on Tuesday night and my client’s course on fight history and analysis continued with Henry Armstrong taking the centre stage and acting as the vehicle through the lighter divisions of the 1930s. He was supported by Barney Ross and Lou Ambers, two other greats of that era. Henry Armstrong Real name was Henry Melody Jackson Jnr. And his nicknames included Homicide Hank, Hammerin’ Hank and Hurricane Hank. His father was of African American, Irish and Native […]

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Night of the Sluggers (diary entry)

June 5, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Screen Shot 2021-06-06 at 09.47.27

01.06.21 Tuesday night’s fight night history began our first step into the 1930s and we looked to the heavyweight division with one relevant detour into the light heavyweight division. The boxing scene of the 1930s might definitely be considered to be one of the greatest or even the first true golden era. Never before had so many different personalities clashed in the ring and had the drama been so high. Besides various factors created by the Great Depression, this was […]

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Building Dutch Combinations

January 5, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
dutch pt 6

29.12.20 Tonight’s teacher consultancy served as preparation for a series of online workshops I am running for the Athena School of Karate on stand-up combinations and strategies. We looked a two Dutch-style Kickboxing combinations, designed to promote fluidity of techniques, chaining of punches with kicks, blending in defences and the camouflaging of powerful kicks. The first combination utilised heavy body kicks and was used to set up a powerful rear low kick. This final technique was made particularly effective by […]

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Fluidity & Footwork (diary entry)

October 26, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Dempsey book 7

24.10.20 My client reached hour seven of his course on Boxing techniques for martial arts cross training. We followed a similar routine to Tuesday and Wednesday’s clients, looking to increase fluidity through punches, develop footwork and look for small details to improve in basic technique. After our callisthenic and dynamic stretching warm-up we went through the basic punching isolation exercise. This consisted of throwing a constant flow of single straights, single uppercuts and single hooks before separating these into two-combinations […]

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Cobra, Bizarro & Superman Punches (diary entry)

October 21, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
bizarro punch diary

20.10.20 My teacher consultation looked at developing another routine for my client. Tonight we were looking at more spectacular techniques that could be incorporated in a functional MMA combination. I developed a back and forth routine that made use of the cobra punch, superman punch and bizarro punch. All three of these rear hand straights rely on deceptive set-ups. The cobra punch is more close range than the other two and is not designed to travel a long distance. It […]

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Speed Through Training Technique (diary entry)

October 20, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
chamber kick

19.10.20 On Monday night my client reached the ninth hour of her current course. Tonight, at her request from last week’s workout assessment session, we looked at developing speed in her kicks. There are various factors that affect speed in techniques. As with power, technique is often the key to improving speed and should be trained ahead of conditioning. We are looking to better develop muscular strength in relation to speed and reaction time. I looked at three leg techniques: […]

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Boxing Footwork & Muay Thai (diary entry)

October 16, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
muay thai small2

14.10.20 Wednesday evening focused on developing footwork combinations for kickboxing. Taking a more Dutch-based approach to our Muay Thai, we put together a series of linked attacks from different positions. These all made use of footwork to help create momentum. We began by combining the teep with straight punches and the pendulum step. I also layered on a rear round kick after the jab/hook back-step pivot. Looking at the diamond step we lead with a lead round kick and then […]

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Fluidity (diary entry)

October 12, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
Bob-and-Weave-in-Boxing-Step-12

10.10.20 Saturday brought my client up to the 5.5 hour point of his course, which is focusing on Western Boxing. We built up footwork drills – step-jab, pendulum, diamond step, shuffle and v-step – and revised some of last week’s head movement. I also brought in some southpaw work. After a simple warm-up of dynamic stretching, we moved onto footwork exercises. This began with the step-jab and pendulum step. We then moved onto deflecting and countering with the Philly Shell, […]

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Philly Shell Movement Patterns (diary entry)

October 5, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
philly shell freddy

06.10.20 Tonight’s Skype session had my client reach the fourth hour of his course on Western Boxing. We are continuing work with the Philly Shell guard. The lesson began with the step-jab and then the pendulum step footwork drills. This then progressed onto using the back-step for angling off, a movement that is particularly effective in Philly Shell attacks. We then combined them – move in and out with a combination, drawing the opponent forward from where we angled off […]

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Teep Setups and Knee Bombs (diary entry)

September 30, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
teep lesson diary 2

29.09.20 Tuesday night’s second lesson was client consultation as we used the lead teep and jab to set us off on a journey through rear leg round kicks, switch spear knees, rear knees, knee bombs and switch kicks. We began with the jab/lead teep seesaw movement. The step jab is probably one of the most common jabs thrown in Muay Thai. It is also a good way to start footwork training in Western Boxing. We then add the pendulum step […]

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Passing guard and sweep revision (diary entry)

August 18, 2020 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
17 08 20 submission grappling

  17.08.20 The third hour of my client’s Submission Grappling/Ground-Fighting course went back over the basic sweeps as well as the Kimura arm-lock from guard and passing guard. We began with our normal solo warm-up routine of ground-fighting callisthenics, including some new movements directly related to guard passing. Next the two lockdown partners performed some guard-passing drills before moving onto some resistance work. This took the form of a guard passing game where one had to get past the other’s […]

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