Single strikes and single legs (diary entry)

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01.08.11

I have been training at several other gyms over the past few weeks. On a personal level it’s great to have the upset and feeling you get outside your comfort zone. However, for my students it means I will be bringing back a rich array of different approaches and ideas. Today I pooled from some western boxing, muay Thai and freestyle wrestling drills.

We started lesson with the boxing gloves on. The warm-up consisted of isolating different punches and their evasions for separate rounds. We began with the lead hand and then with the rear hand. Next we focused on isolating hooks from both sides. Moving onto kicks we looked at the basic shin block for a low round kick, followed by the correct way to block and catch a mid-section round kick. This nicely led onto the set-up for a single leg takedown. We began with a standard high shoot and a few variations before turning to the low shoot. Here we also looked at better positioning yourself into a pin once the low single leg had been completed. The principle throughout this takedown and into the control position is to drive the shoulder/head throughout the manoeuvre.

The lesson finished with some MMA free-sparring, taking a winner-stays-on approach.