Clinch and Sweep (diary entry)

17.05.18   Tonight was the penultimate lesson in my client’s second course in Muay Thai for Martial Arts Cross Training. We continued our work with the clinch and exclusive worked in and around this range. We also spent the majority of the lesson going through three sweeps.   Warm-up began with mirror footwork, which progressed onto pad-work. We went through a series of punching, kicking and punch-kick combinations that all ended with achieving a clinch position. The purpose of this combination work was to seamlessly blend the stand-up and clinch ranges. Strike flows into one-two clinch entry that off-balances opponent, flowing into strike. We then began varying the clinch-holds and addressing different tactics. Clinch holds included trapping the arm and pushing down the head (spear knee strikes), arm-triangle (round knee strikes) and Inside neck and arm trap (diagonal knee strikes).   Next we set up three sweeps. The first was side foot sweep, set up with round knees coming into the sides. The second was the under arm turn (similar to a belly-to-belly suplex in wrestling). The third was the side elbow entry.   We then sparred for two rounds. The first round was specific clinch sparring. The second round was general Muay Thai. https://youtu.be/RwP973BpLaA https://youtu.be/CI1Bn_ZyWlU https://youtu.be/VDctZByN9H4