Western and Eastern Clinching and Accommodating Resistance (diary entry)

Tonight’s second private lesson looked a tying up in Western Boxing transferring into Muay Thai clinch. We also trained accommodated resistance for the upper body. We warmed up on the focus mitts, going back over the defensive and baiting strategy this client has been working on recently. We began with attacking and defending with the jab, and then added on a quick fire combination. Taking our lead from Jack Johnson again, I had my client then immediately tie up his opponent. This is a common strategy that works well to change the opponent’s pace and where him down. From here we looked at a different type of clinch fighting in Muay Thai. We covered the V-step again and also lateral movement to off-balance an opponent. Upper body training consisted entirely of using chains for accommodating resistance. We did three sets of barbell bench press, barbell bent over rows, press-ups, inverted rows and seated side lateral raises using the chains. The lifts are distinctly different. Power lifting coach, Dave Tate, describes the reasoning for the training below: “Zatsiorsiky defines accommodating resistance as using special means to accommodate resistance throughout the entire range of motion rather than a specific point. Because of some joint angles and the velocity of movement, the force of the movement is less at certain joint angles. For example, in the barbell squat you may be able to quarter squat 500 pounds while you can only full squat 300. Another common example is the standard dumbbell curl. The force at the beginning is much greater than the force at the top… … Accommodating resistance must be an important aspect of strength with all the attention being paid to it, right? Well, we've found a way to accomplish this while still maintaining the benefits of the three dimensional value of the barbell and not sacrificing the path of movement. By attaching chains and/or bands to the bar we can accommodate the individual strengths curves and beat the machines at their own game. Not only can we accommodate these strength curves, we can do it in the squat, bench press and deadlift as well as all of our supplemental and assistance movements.” Read the full article hereUseful article on Western Boxing clinching A good instructional video on Muay Thai, detailing some areas covered in tonight’s lesson: