Over the last two blocks of 10 lessons, we narrowed the focus to elbow strikes. We covered the main elbow methods found in Muay Thai, then used mixed martial arts training ideas to test them against movement, clinch pressure, grips, and resistance. Then we came back to karate. More specifically, we came back to naihanchi.

You can show a tidy elbow application from the kata. You can drill it compliantly. You can hit pads with it. All of that helps. But if the other person is gripping, framing, blocking, turning, and trying to hit you back, the elbow has to earn its place. That’s where cross-training becomes useful. Muay Thai gives us a living model for elbow striking under pressure. Wrestling gives us gripping, posture breaking, and body control. Put those together carefully and you can buil

My client from Cotswold Karate School has been taking several months of Muay Thai cross-training lessons. The aim has not been to replace karate with kickboxing. The aim has been to use kickboxing and Muay Thai as attribute training, so certain ideas already present in karate can become more alive under pressure.

Muay Thai Personal Training When a karate teacher from Cotswold Karate School approached me to continue training elbow strikes in Muay Thai, I saw a unique opportunity. He wanted to use Muay Thai techniques as attribute training to improve his karate skills. We are now in the third hour of this focused course, and the progress is clear. This blog post shares insights from our sessions and explains how Muay Thai personal training can enhance karate performance, especially thro