More Elbows (diary entry)

16.01.19 Tonight’s double lesson – one junior, one senior – continued to look at elbow strikes. The junior lesson concentrated on their place in Muay Thai and also introduced the clinch. The senior lesson concentrated on cross-training in general and dealt with various ranges and disciplines from weapons to MMA ground-work. The junior lesson began with a quick revision of punch/kick combinations at different ranges. We tightened up the guard and balancing considerations. Then I introduced the switch-kick. The horizontal elbow was taught off the Dracula guard, resembling it in shape if not execution. The spear knee was then brought in as a replacement for kicks in the standard combinations. From here I brought in the concept of the Thai clinch. We looked at the plumb position and the importance of controlling the inside double collar tie. I emphasised the reasoning behind controlling the back of the head rather than neck. Backwards, forwards and v-step footwork was then brought in before execution of the spear knee. The senior lesson began with a complete revision the basic stick angles. We trained this off both sides and looked at a few elbow applications. Then we moved onto some Filipino style boxing drills. This included intercepting the jab or lead guard hand in a proactive fashion before trapping and moving to a two-on-one position. Such a combination was inspired by angle 2 and angle 7 from the single stick series. Next we looked at parrying a cross punch into a horizontal elbow strike. This is very much in line with the Filipino martial art strategy of destroying attacking tools. Next we went to the ground to look at elbow strikes from that position as well as a striking setup from reverse scarf-hold to secure a kimura lock. The lesson finished with a round of elbow-orientated MMA sparring.