Attack and Defence (diary entry)

07.01.15   The fourth lesson in my client’s second course on Muay Thai for martial arts cross training delved deeper into basic offensive and defensive work. Previously we have been blending the kicks between punches, which are excellent for promoting smooth transitioning. This time I looked at punching combinations that tagged on kicks to encourage my client to keep from looking at the legs. We used Mo Teague’s four combination build-ups. These exclusively use alternating hands and feet, starting with jab/rear leg round kick and build up to jab/cross/hook/cross/lead leg round kick.   We began our defences with the standard evasions and shin-blocking. We blended a shin block with a cross punch counter, exploiting the close range of this particular technique exchange. As we moved up the body we looked at scooping blocks for teeps, encouraging moving in and countering with low kicks or high punches. Then we looked at checking mid-section round kicks before finally focusing on checking and scoop-blocking the mid-section round kicks. I then brought these defensive techniques into combination work, using them as defences to likely counters.