Fitness through Technical Profeciency (diary entry)

08.12.14

We focused entirely upon the stand-up range in tonight’s Triple C session with a bias towards boxing and technical performance. It is one thing making a series of shapes that resemble combative movements for students to follow at an increasing pace. Add in a bit of music and you have any number of the aerobic combat art fusions that franchised all over the late ‘90s and its succeeding decade. It is another thing to focus on technique from a principle-centred basis. An awareness of correct muscular engagement in any exercise and the provision of a functional objective give a person a clearer focus. Although clients who undertake my Triple C course generally do this to achieve a better level of all round fitness, I am always concerned about the vagueness of this objective. If they understand the point of the skills they are developing and what needs to be done in order to improve these skills they become more dedicated to their training.

Training began with the agility cones. These are a simple yet wonderful piece of equipment. If you cannot obtain them then getting any series of small objects will do to help improve footwork and keep the cardio mindful. Whilst the mind is at its most active it is good to feed coordination and balancing movements. These stimulate the mind and the body together, building stronger neural pathways to better combative behaviours. Exercises included “whip the tail”, Ali shuffle, backwards and forwards weaving, and basic shadow boxing movements.

I then examined the mechanics of the job and the cross. These were first isolated on the heavy bag with attention being drawn to maintaining the straight pathway of the two punches. I used the 360 coaching method to ensure protection throughout the exercise of the techniques plus great impact. I kept the combinations down to five sets with short rests. This is important to stop the development of bad habits, which will creep in as the fighter gets tired. The techniques were then used with the proactive focus mitt exercise. The first round consisted of flash pad striking, focusing entirely on attack. The second round consisted of evasions, blocking and guarding. The final round brought the two together. Each round was for only one minute. However, the focus was on developing technique and, again, I was being watchful of bad habits not creeping into the fighter’s performance at this early stage. A novice fighter, especially one who is getting into physical shape, is likely to be nervous and waste a lot of energy. This will then lead to getting into bad habits quickly. I feel that, at this stage of the novice fighter’s education, full length technical rounds would only serve to reinforce bad habits brought about by creeping fatigue. I want him fresh for each round; absorbing the lessons he is learning from the experience of each round.  

We then examined slipping as a means for bringing in round kicks and the standing arm triangle. I then added on front and rear leg round kicks to the standard punching combination. We looked at the all-important pivot required for the classical Muay Thairound kick.

The session finished with a shadow-boxing warm-down followed by PNF stretching.