Thai Fun

We had an unusual warm-up today, my wife and I recently got a new jungle gym for our daughter and the parts all came today. When the jungle gym was delivered they left it at the end of the driveway, curb side delivery only, so all the boxes of wood and screws had to be moved to the back. As a result, our warm-up consisted of carrying everything from the driveway into the backyard; I like to think of it as a good “functional” warmup.

Roll Call: Tony and Mike

Footwork Drills 2min/20sec
Forward and Back
Side to Side

Defense Circuit 3min/1min 2 circuits
Heavy bag – maintain distance with forward and back, side to side and circling footwork
Maize ball – working in and out and slips
Rope Line – working the bob and weave forward and back with punching

Shadow boxing 3min/1min
Round 1 – thai round kicks with full spin
Round 2 – jab cross rear thai kick

Heavy bag and thai pads 3min/1min
Round 1 and 2 rear thai kick – lead hook – cross – lead hook
Round 2 and 3 lead thai kick – cross – lead hook – cross
Each person did one round on the pads and one round on the bag for each combination. Prior to this we worked punch to kick combinations and I thought it would be good to focus on kick to punch combinations.

Glove Drills 2min/30sec
Combination: Attacker jab-cross-lead thai kick, Defender parry-parry-block-return rear thai kick-lead hook

With this drill we worked both offense and defense covering most of the major parry’s/blocks as well as the major attacks. We completed two circuits and did this as a round robin, I worked with Mike, then Tony, followed by Mike and Tony together. The off round was spent working technique on the bag. In addition, with Tony I had him finish his defense side with 2 slips avoiding the jab after his final punch.

Finisher
Mini “Cindy” 8 minutes as many rounds as each person could complete of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
Everyone made it through about 4-5 rounds

We were all pretty spent by the end and looking forward to a good nights sleep. Next practice is Saturday at 11:00am, we'd love to see you all there.

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One on one training

One on one coaching with Mike due to Tony being tied up with a Fire exam this morning.

Mike ran an 8k race this morning before coming for his workout (that’s 5 miles for the metrically challenged). He had forgotten about the race until today and as a result didn’t practice much for it but felt his conditioning here really paid off in the race. He finished in about 40 minutes and felt fresh at the end, another runner who finished with him said he was going home to rest and Mike told him he was heading to the gym for a workout (I just imagine the shock on the other runners face).

Since we worked one on one I focused primarily on technique, mainly slips and the left hook. We did skip the jump rope at the start since he had just come from a 5 mile run.

Warm-up:
2 rounds of 10 pull-ups, 3 ring dips, hip stretch, 10 overhead body weight squats, 10 Roman Chair sit-ups and 10 back extensions on the Roman Chair

Agility/Footwork 2min/30sec 1 circuit
Forward and back
Side to side
Double leg hop forward and back going across the line
Double leg hop side to side going up and back across the line

Before the defense circuit I had Mike do 1x3min round practicing slips against an upright pole – essentially the same as the shoulder bump drill.

Defense Circuit 3min/1min 2 circuits

• Maize ball
• Slip line – I had Mike add straight punching into his bob and weave to make it a more offensive drill as well as working on rotating the shoulders more with the weave. When he bobbed and weaved under to the right he came up and threw a jab and to the left he threw a cross.
• Heavy bag – working distance and the pivot step

Glove Drills 3min/1min
2 rounds of slip practice – practice slipping to the left and right against a jab, first stationary followed by moving.

Focus Mitts 3min/1min

• First round we focused on throwing the left elbow, emphasis on leg and hip torque with the shoulder moving just before the elbow.
• Second round was the left hook, followed the same as for the elbow just a bit further away, he finished with a stronger more relaxed hook.
• Third round – outside slip followed by left hook-cross-left hook, we also mixed in the jab, jab-cross, jab-cross-hook
• Forth round – inside slip followed by cross-left hook-cross again mixing in the jab, jab-cross, jab-cross-hook

Finisher 4 circuits of:

• 40sec punch out on heavy bag
• 40sec 20” box jumps
• 40sec rest

Each round was separated by a 10sec break to allow moving to the next station.

After we were done I showed Mike some videos of Ross Enamaits training – truly impressive.

(post questions, comments or suggestions to “comments” below)

Importance of Shadow Boxing

Shadow boxing is important in helping you practice techiques and working your mind. The technique benefit is obvious - the more more practice a particular punch, kick or combination the better you get at it. The mental side assists you in imagining your opponent and visualizing what he or she would do in different circumstances and what you response will be. I like to approach shadow boxing as an active form of visualization - you visualize an opponent and you actively practice techniques against him or her.

Thursday Thai Practice

This Thai practice my objective was to introduce more combinations and include more work with knees since our prior focus has primarily been on working the Thai round kick.

Roll Call: Tony, Mike

Warmup:
We followed our usual full body warm-up
2x3min/1min jump rope (final 30sec each round double unders)
2 circuits – 10 pull-ups, 3 ring dips, hip stretch, 10 body weight squats, 10 situp on Roman Chair, 10 back extensions on Roman Chair

Agility/Footwork 2min/30sec rounds 1 circuit
Forward and Back on the line with side to side movement (slips) with each step.
Side to side added using some bob and weave with puching
Hop back to front – Thai evasion defense (focus on being ready to return with a kick)

Defense Circuit 3min/1min 1 circuit
Maize ball
Slip line
Heavy bag

Shadow boxing 3min/1min
Round 1 - Thai round kicks with full spin
Round 2 - Front kick round kick combinations (lead front kick followed by Thai round kick - both left and right)

Pads and Heavy Bag 3min/1min

• Rear knee
• Front knee
• Front angled knee with hold

We performed this with 1:30min rounds run continuously. One person on bag the other on pads, switch next round then a 1:30 rest followed by the next technique. The Forward angled knee with a hold was done either grapsing the bag with both hands or holding onto the neck of the Pad holder.

Heavy bag 3min/1min
Round 1 - Jab Cross Jab (or hook) rear round kick
Round 2 - Jab Cross front round kick

Finisher 5 rounds
30sec 20lb ball slam (lift up to behind head slam to ground and repeat)
30sec 75lb overhead press (clean once and keep pressing to lockout)
30sec Zercher Squats with 70lb bag
5 seconds between stations to get set

The ball slams were definitely the easiest but the squats and presses ended up being killers. I usually have a “Finisher” set before the workout but this one I thought up on the fly and it worked very well – we were all toasted at the end.

(post questions, comments or suggestions to “comments” below)

RIP and Farewell

In a recent search I found that one great individual that I trained under at a good number of seminars (I even lent him my car at one seminar – that is another story though) died recently (actually last August). I have not been formally in the JKD community for a while (was an apprentice instructor in Lee Jun Fan Kickboxing and Filipino Martial Arts) but I have always followed its main concepts in my training.Below is an interview with Larry Hartsell, he trained with many of the greats (as well as being one himself) and was always learning and teaching what he learned to his many devoted students:

Shadow boxing

This is a good video describing shadow boxing that I just found:

Shadow boxing -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Check out the other videos by the same guy for some good advice on training.

Boxing day

Another great day - weather was perfect and even better no injuries.

Roll call: Tony, Mike

Warmup:
2 x 3min/1min Jump-rope (last 30sec of each round doubles)
2 Rounds of 10 pull-ups, 8 ring pushups, 10 squats, hip stretch, 10 situps, 10 back extensions

Agility/Footwork (2min/30sec)
Double leg hop going across the line forward and back
Double leg hop across the line side to side
Foreward and back
Side to Side

Defense Circuit (3min/1min - 2 circuits)
Maize ball
Slip Line
Heavy Bag (working on mainitaining distance - in/out/side/circle)

Heavy Bag (3min/1min)
Left hook - slip to outside then throw hook
Right cross - slip to inside then thow cross

Shadow Boxing (3min/1min) 2 rounds
I've neglected this so far but we focused on it today - it's always uncomfortable the first time you do shadow boxing (its much different than bag or mitt work).

The next 2 drills we did in an alternating fashion until Tony and Mike each completed 2 rounds of each.
Mitt Drills (3min/1min)
-Holder throws JAB - slip to inside and return cross, left hook, cross
-Holder throws JAB CROSS - catch jab, slip cross to outside and return left hook, cross, left hook
Heavy Bag (3min/1min)
Work jab, double jab, high low jab, jab-cross, jab-cross-hook

Glove Drills (3min/1min) 3 rounds
Working off the jab - slip inside, slip outside or catch

Finisher
We set the clock for 1:15 rounds for this one (needed the extra 15 seconds for change overs). Everyone completed 3 full circuits.
-Punch out on heavy bag (jab-cross-jab-cross - repeat until you drop)
-Kettlebell Farmers walk (we used one 24kg in one hand and 2 12kg in the other - keep walking for the entire round)
-Active Rest - hold bag

Everyones shoulders felt toasted by the end of this one.

Thursday 5/1

This was our Thai day. The weather was great which meant the garage (gym) door was open and since people are now out walking we get more people stopping to stare and wonder what we are doing - if you happen to be one of them your welcome to stop in.

Roll Call: Tony, Mike

Warmup:
2x3min/1min Jump rope (last 30sec doubles)
2 Rounds: 10 pull ups, 3 ring dips, 10 squats, hip stretch, 10 situps, 10 back extensions

Agility/Footwork 2min/30sec
Hop back and forward (Thai evasion defense)
Forward and back using Thai leg block/cover every few steps
Side to side (lateral footwork) with punch

Defense Circuit 3min/1min (1 circuit)
Heavy Bag - with swinging bag maintain distance while moving in, out and circling
Maize ball - slips with punching
Slip Line
I know that there are many of you who wonder how these drills are done and I thought I'd attach a few videos that show the basics:
An example of Maize Ball work


The Slip Line


Shadow Boxing 3min/1min (2 rounds)
Lead and rear thai kick with full spin

Heavy Bag
2 rounds of (1 round each leg):
30sec single round kick
1 min double round kick
30sec single round kick

Defense drill 3min/1min (2 rounds)
Rear thai to lead thigh - leg block - return lead thai to thigh (shin guards used)

Med Ball Drills
around body pass with partner (back to back), straight throws and twist throw with partner

Finisher
25 Burpees

We did have an injury today -during the defense circuit Tony pulled a groin muscle and I had him sit out the workout and ice it (better to lose one day of practice than a week or more because you want to "push through an injury)

Our next practice is Sunday at 11am.

Post any questions or comments to "comments" below.