Focus mitt and thai pad drills

[TxSanshou]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyrNQXTOuc0

Me doing some focus mitt and thai pad drills at class and then a quick clips of me getting my ass handed to me sparring lol, I'm the one in the black shorts and the grey shirt. Any tips you have are welcome especially on the sparring :toothy9:

[fightclubfreak7]

Looks pretty good, how long have you been training? One thing I noticed is that you are a bit flat on your feet, pick up the heel of your back foot so that most of your weight is on the ball of your foot. I've been told doing this gives you some cushion if you get rocked hard, but more importantly you'll just feel more athletic and mobile with your footwork. Your kicks didn't look bad, but you should try to turn your hip over more. You also need to do something different with how you recover after the impact of your kick. It looks like you just drop your kicking leg directly down and then step back with your right foot. This is leaving your feet very close together for a moment, which leaves you very off balance and vulnerable to take downs. I would recommend what I believe is called a pendulum step. I can't really describe this but perhaps you can find a video.

[Neo Sigma]

Some stuff I noticed-

You seem to have a tendency to "punch up" on your cross sometimes, as my coach calls it. That is, your punch travels slightly diagonally upwards instead of straight forwards.

Also, on the second cover/counter drill at around 2:20 or so, you turn away with your cover a lot. I also do this sometimes, and my coach always yells at me. Turning with the cover too much is just going to get you clobbered in the back of the head.

Step out more on that left leg roundhouse! There's no point in throwing it if you're going to cheap out on it. That'll also help you turn it over more. Also, your partner needs to learn how to hold pads before someone accidentally kicks them into his face.

Looks pretty good otherwise.

[TxSanshou]

Some stuff I noticed-

You seem to have a tendency to "punch up" on your cross sometimes, as my coach calls it. That is, your punch travels slightly diagonally upwards instead of straight forwards.

Also, on the second cover/counter drill at around 2:20 or so, you turn away with your cover a lot. I also do this sometimes, and my coach always yells at me. Turning with the cover too much is just going to get you clobbered in the back of the head.

Step out more on that left leg roundhouse! There's no point in throwing it if you're going to cheap out on it. That'll also help you turn it over more. Also, your partner needs to learn how to hold pads before someone accidentally kicks them into his face.

Looks pretty good otherwise.

Thanks for the tips I just noticed that upward punch thing and that I was turning a bit too far on the cover good eye. And yeah he was holding them a little too close to his face for my taste thats why I didn't wanna turn my hip over to much.

[MMAMickey]

You don't use your hips much when you punch, by keeping your feet flat you're limiting the range of motion of your hips. How does your power feel in your opinion? It's difficult to tell from the pads because the pad holder is shitty.

imo you turn too much on the first part of the counter drill around 2:30. You can get the same effect with a much smaller movement.

In the sparring, I like the combinations you use, but you're limiting your punches as a threat because you throw them from out of range. You also charge in, anyone with footwork will embarrass you for that. Try cutting off the ring instead of charging forward.

..and I have the same gloves as you lol.

[TxSanshou]

You don't use your hips much when you punch, by keeping your feet flat you're limiting the range of motion of your hips. How does your power feel in your opinion? It's difficult to tell from the pads because the pad holder is shitty.

imo you turn too much on the first part of the counter drill around 2:30. You can get the same effect with a much smaller movement.

In the sparring, I like the combinations you use, but you're limiting your punches as a threat because you throw them from out of range. You also charge in, anyone with footwork will embarrass you for that. Try cutting off the ring instead of charging forward.

..and I have the same gloves as you lol.

Thanks for the tips and yeah their great gloves aren't they!!!

[WhiteShark]

This is going to sound weird but your focus mitt holder has a really bad habit. He is catching your shots instead of making you move to the pad. You should be the one that has to move to make sure shots land flush on the pad. He always turns the same direction (into your power) and he is moving his hand way out of position to catch your hook.

These habits will leave a big hole when you fight someone with good footwork. They will move out of your power to your weak side and move their head away from your hook.

[TxSanshou]

This is going to sound weird but your focus mitt holder has a really bad habit. He is catching your shots instead of making you move to the pad. You should be the one that has to move to make sure shots land flush on the pad. He always turns the same direction (into your power) and he is moving his hand way out of position to catch your hook.

These habits will leave a big hole when you fight someone with good footwork. They will move out of your power to your weak side and move their head away from your hook.

Yeah it did feel kinda weird not having to move to the pad and it also felt like he was to close for me to get full extension on my straight punches.

[WhiteShark]

Oh sweet! I thought you would tell me he's a coach of 35 years and I should STFU.

If he is a student never hesitate to tell him how you want the pads held. I never continue bad pad work if I can help it. Perfect practice makes perfect.

You can even move in to him and back him up. It will be more like fight footwork and force him to respond instead of letting an inexperienced pad holder dictate your pad work. He did a little better with the Thai pads btw.

[TxSanshou]

Oh sweet! I thought you would tell me he's a coach of 35 years and I should STFU.

If he is a student never hesitate to tell him how you want the pads held. I never continue bad pad work if I can help it. Perfect practice makes perfect.

You can even move in to him and back him up. It will be more like fight footwork and force him to respond instead of letting an inexperienced pad holder dictate your pad work. He did a little better with the Thai pads btw.

Yeah your right I should be more vocal with what I expect from my training partners. Not gonna get any better unless I do.

[maofas]

Mikey, what do you think of his uppercut? Isn't he just arming it with no lift from his legs? I was hoping someone who boxes would comment on it because my uppercut isn't particularly good either.

[MMAMickey]

I always feel like a douche for telling guys how I want pads held but at the end of the day I'd prefer to look like a douche than be hitting two targets in different time zones.

A prime example of bad padwork (aside from holding the pads too far apart on the classic 1,2) is if a guy asks you to throw a body shot and doesn't put the pad over that side of his body.

[MMAMickey]

Mikey, what do you think of his uppercut? Isn't he just arming it with no lift from his legs? I was hoping someone who boxes would comment on it because my uppercut isn't particularly good either.

The movement is definitely incorrect. I think it probably comes under him not using his hips properly.

In terms of lifting with the legs, although I often do it, I don't think its the best way to throw. I tend to get better results when I focus on throwing my hip in a similar way to a hook, I just kinda scoop the shoulder upwards instead.

I must point out though the angle of my uppercuts is slightly off centre because of this.

[TxSanshou]

Mikey, what do you think of his uppercut? Isn't he just arming it with no lift from his legs? I was hoping someone who boxes would comment on it because my uppercut isn't particularly good either.

Yeah I was arming a lot of my punches that night I gotta get back to shadow boxing regularly and incorporating the proper hip and foot movements. My legs were sore as hell from the day before as well so that certainly didn't help lol

[tao.jonez]

You look a lot better on the pads than Butterbean back behind you.

Your hands are coming back up to protect your head most of the time, but you're leaving the right pretty low before you shoot the uppercut. Keep your hands up and dip your shoulder before you shoot it. That will keep you protected and should help with your power as well.

Also, after a lot of the combos you are leaving the last punch kind of sitting where it lands rather than retracting properly. Watch at about 2:45 and you'll see what I mean - pop pop pop pop...and that last hook sits at chest height.

I would also recommend better footwork, particularly setting up the kicks at around 4:00. Your footwork there is pretty slow, but equally importantly I'd throw the punches and step into the kick. Step off a little to the right in this case, and you can develop more power + speed in that shin kick.

Last, I would incorporate more head movement after your combos. You throw 4 punches and leave your head both still and unprotected...that's a birthday present for a decent counter-puncher.

In the sparring your hands are nice and quick, and your combos are good. Be careful moving backwards - you're moving straight back every time. Circle off to one side and please learn how to check a kick man!