Fluid Weapon Work and Fluid Striking Combinations (diary entry)

21.04.21 My first lesson continued my combat stick work. Using Filipino influences, we warmed up using several dexterity and mobility drills. These exercises include getting used to the length of the sticks, moving them around the body and seamlessly switching hands and grips. The focus tonight was to get my client used to adapting, changing levels, stance, postures and fighting whilst moving. This will be a continuous theme of the course. We then trained the first two angles from both hands, holding the stick both in the front hand and the rear hand before layering on transitional postures. Whilst the two angles were kept in a constant pattern, the footwork and postural transitional were changed from being in sequence to freestyle. I then introduced my sixth and seventh angles, which are downward diagonal strikes to the legs. These four angles were combined and trained as single stick drills off both hands. Finally, we moved onto double sticks where we did a simple footwork sequence involving a posture change off both sides. My second lesson continued my rhythm and flow stand-up work on the Thai pads. We reviewed combinations one to five and then I introduced combination six. Training included adjusting tempos to get the asymmetrical feel of the setups as well as tightening up guards. I also changed the positioning to keep my client adapting once he knew the combinations. Combination six has no kicks and is all about setting up hammer or back-fists (taught interchangeably). The first two hammer-fists come off punches from the same hand. The first one is a cross that has to come back to guard and strike out at an inward circular angle. The second one is a lead hook that then has to travel back down its original trajectory into a back-fist. The third and last one is a spinning back-fist set up with a stepping forward punch. Personal Training services.