Slim

I would suggest you make a set program as you would if you were doing weights. it could go something like this: Warm up: 10-20 min skipping, jogging etc. Stretching: 10 min. Shadowbox: Punch/Kick combinations, 3 min. rounds, Then bagwork combinations, 3 minute rounds. Change it round to keep it interesting, I like it when in class we get told "ok now make it up" when shadawboxing. If you are away from formal training for a while it may be a good time to work on upper boby strength, if you have no weights do pressups with your hands raised on books or something, chinups and dips on anything like parallel bars you can find. If you write everything down and modify things as you go, it wont be long before you have a routine thats targets the areas you are wanting to improve. I agree with Ken, use a mirror. 150 kicks in two minutes!!! That would be something you could work towards.

Thanks, but Im wanting to know about the double ended speedball, and if people who use them would recommend buying one.

Yeah its big.....around 12 meg I so do it at night or something..but the res is 352x288, so its a bit better quality than usual. It goes for 1 minute 20 seconds.

A friend i knew had done martial arts from a young age, mostly karate then a few years of MT, in his first (and only) amatuar MT bout he was surprised that the only thing he was landing was his frount kick. The other guy had a few fights under his belt (shorts?) though. I think the karate training had developed a fast snappy kick. But to answer your question, I would work on speed and balance first, and then power later. I find the heavy bag harder to work on, it seems 20 hard kicks on the pads is easier than 20 hard kicks on the bag. Work the kicks into combos, and practice faking punches to draw their guard high. Maybe things like skipping and sprinting to get fast feet. Boxer the boxer would be one to comment on this.

I found this by searching from Morpheus. After putting "Muay Thai" in the search feild look for "Muay Thai vs. Tae...", it says it is in the comedy catagory (wassup with that?) but it's part of a Finnish fight, Tomi Makkonen in 1995 Master Cup martial arts tournament.Im not sure how long it took to download,cos I do downloads in my sleep, literally. I found the website it came from, link is http://www.muaythai.fi/ but you can click english and get to the multimedia page which isnt in english. The Tomy Makkonen link is in black and white but the clip from Morpheus is in colour, I assume they are identical. I didnt check out the other clips on there, if anyone else does let us know if they're worth the wait.

I have been told that part of the reason we dont spar much is because of the number of women training with us, who are more interested in the fitness and toning than sparring. A few of the guys are starting to ask each week so I think that may change soon. Do you think you will keep up training boxing as well as Muay Thai? Ive read of a few local guys who are boxers fighting MT, and MT guys who are boxing, amatuer fights. How long would someone train for before they'de be ready for their first amatuar (boxing) fight?

A man decides that he wants a pet, but not just any pet, a really unusual pet. He walks into the pet store and goes up to the service assistant. 'Excuse me, I want a pet, but not just any pet, a really unusual pet'. The service assistant says 'I have just the thing for you, it's a talking centipede'. 'Cool!' the man exclaims, 'I'll take it!' The man takes the centipede home in his little box and places him on the kitchen table. He looks into the box and says, 'Hey centipede, what about you and me going to the pub for a beer?' The centipede doesn't answer, so the guy thinks, 'I'll just go off for five minutes and come back and ask again. Five minutes pass and the guy returns to the centipede, 'Hey centipede, how about you and me go to the pub for a beer?' Again, the centipede doesn't answer him. 'Hmmm' the guy thinks to himself, 'I'll just go off and watch this TV show, come back and ask him again'. Half an hour passes and the guy returns to the centipede. 'I'll just ask him on more time' he tells himself. 'Hey centipede, how about you and me go to the pub for a beer?' The centipede looks up and the man and says, "(Censored) man, I heard you the first time, I'm putting my shoes on..........."

I agree - I dont think you are born with coordination, you learn it. I would say that everyones first kicks nearly made them fall over, and everyones first punches were delivered with all the grace of a drunk rhino. And Im late 20's (30) and started Muay Thai, and am the fittest and strongest Ive been in my life. Yeah I know, it was a mis-spent youth. But practice, and you'll get it.

I guess you develop that through hours of sparring? At training we're not realy doing as much sparring as I would like, the pad and bag work if fine for power and speed and co-ordination, but I've been thinking lately that Im missing out on something like what you have just explained. Im not sure if the trainer is waiting for us to develop skill a bit more or what. Did you read my post about backyard sparring in MT topic? What do you think? I just gotta put this guy in, I love the way his right eye twitches!!

Well Lars, I think there's something in it. I have experianced one, but I probably wouldnt share it over this forum. I mean fair enough if people dont believe in it, I can respect that, but its amazing how passionately some people want to push their view down your throat. Who wants to be told by someone who doesnt know you at all that your beliefs are wrong? Hows that Edgar Cayce? I will add that I am aware of the frauds that are out there. [ This Message was edited by: Slim on 2001-10-30 12:17 ]

I have never heard of locations, could you explain that?

Hey Kickchick, Ill help if I can. What should I do?

Yeah I boxer I know was invited to spar with his MT mate, the guy backed right off when he felt the punches!! What do boxers do that they are so much stronger? Is it just that they spend 100% of their time punching instead of 50-50 or whatever? Also, how much time and whats involved in defence in boxing? So far at MT we've been taught to kind of "absorb" punches with the forearms protecting the upper body, block kicks with the shins and lean backwards out of the way of high roundhouses. As for the kicks remember that karate, TKD roundhouses are a little different to MT ones in the way that sometimes they tell you in Karate to "snap" it, where MT tries to drive it through the target, kind of like a baseball bat. You intend to keep it swinging hard a bit after the impact for max power.

Hi boxer. Welcome. The best advice I could give you to improve kicks is to ask everyone you train with for help. (Maybe not the answer you wanted!) If you are losing balance though you have to look at the stability and position of your leg on the ground. I have seen guys with the same problem standing way to close to the target, maybe with boxing experience you are used to a certain distance. Look at standing further back to kick. Lean your body back, your head and body should be out of punching distance during the kick. Turn your hips. (This is easier to show than to tell!) There is also "stepping out" at a 45% angle with the standing leg before the kick. I found this hard to get used to at first but it gets power into the kick. Hope this helps a bit. I hope you stick around for a while, Ide like to ask you a bit about boxing training compared to Muay Thai training, because I think boxers are better punchers. Boxing + Muay Thai, good combination!! [ This Message was edited by: Slim on 2001-10-25 02:44 ]

The program sound excellent. I dont think you have to gain weight before you weight train, as long as you eat properly while you train, but it sounds like you know about protien and diet.I would train cardio and weights at the same time as you will benifit from both. If anything I would increase the times on the bike to a minimum of 20 minutes, this seems to be best for cardio improvement. Also look at the different effects of high weight/low reps vs. low weight/high reps. I would expect after a few months of that program you'de be noticing big changes in you fitness, strength and physique. Ide wish you luck but luck has nothing to do with it, keep it regular and you'll be fine.

I think to get any power the knee is going to come from behind you, no matter where it is going to start from. So if its your leading leg, you are either going to lift it, then swing it back and then blast it up, or simply step foward one step with the rear leg, then explode with the lead-knee-thats-now-the-rear knee, if you know what I mean.

I can do better than that: If you go to this site... http://www.whitecollarboxing.com/WCBKickboxLesson1.htm and watch the "slipbag" clip (top row 4th from left) you can see a guy using one. From what Ive read they are hard to get used to. 20 minutes every other day on one of those babys looks like a challange. I wanted a bit of feedback before I start drilling holes in my garage floor. Dont be shy: if you like/dont like using it please tell me!

Glad it helped. Good point from Kickchick there, if you can fool her by drawing and feinting you can regain controll of the fight. if you can fustrate her she loses controll. Its good for us leaner faster people if the opponant has more brute strength. From Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do: Feinting is the characteristic of the expert fighter. It requires using the eyes, the hands, the body and the legs in a single effort to deceive the opponant. These movements are really decoys and if the opponant attempts to adjust his defense, the expert takes advantage of the openings created. Feinting is also used to ascertain what the opponant's reaction will be to each movement. Warning: not to be confused with fainting!!

Can anyone who has trained with one of these give me their opinion, do you think they are worth using? I like the idea of improving accuracy, and do they teach you to dodge and weave a bit? I do two days at training a week with heavy bags and thai pads, Ide like something to have at home to break it up that I can use on my own. I shadow box and do weights at home. Any other good training aids out there?

I read about a boxing training program which said to shadow box in a sauna. I assumed this was to lower bodyfat pre-fight. I also worked with a amatuar boxer who used to run like crazy in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Where I live is hot more often than not, he must of been sloshing and splashing by the finish, the idea here was to lose weight as well.

Check out this article...http://www.turtlepress.com/tkba.html

Boxing is the combat “art” of the Western world. Until about fifty years ago, whenever an American thought of self-defense he thought of “the manly art” — not some “style” designed for samurai, rice-fed peasants, or gangsters of the Triads. Why? Sim­ply because boxing works to put an opponent down and out. For a thorough examination of the reasons, check out my Championship Streetfighting; but let’s also look at evidence of boxing’s effectiveness I didn’t cite in the book: fighting for million-dollar purses, don’t you think that prizefighters would adopt the shoot-from-the-hip reverse punch if it were harder, faster, and could produce more knock­outs than jabs, straight rights, hooks, and upper­cuts? The fact remains that boxing blows are the most effective ways to end a fight fast, in the ring or on the street. Half inched from article found while surfing... http://www.loompanics.com/Articles/SportingLife.html for whole article.

When you roundhouse you should have timed it so that you're leaning your upper body back out of range of your opponants attacks, one arm should be enough to stop anything that gets through.High kicks are supposed to be powerful if somewhat slower attacks than punches: the distance the kick has to travel is further than the punch. The advantage you have in the kick is you're not as exposed to a counter: hopefully you are out of range. Along the same lines, use frount kicks to increase the distance between you and your opponant, push him away if he is raining too many punches down on you. But Liam, havnt you got someone to teach you these things?

Egggggs-actly! Im lucky enough to spar with a national champ. Its obvious to both of us that he could wipe the floor with me. I hope he can hit me enough times to establish what areas need work (keep your guard up!!) at the same time as not beating the snot outa me just to work on his own technique. I am grateful that these guys have this respect for less experienced people like me. Because of people like this I can only improve and I know that I would do anything to return the favour, and show the same respect to others. So it should be with male vs. female. In the worst case your holding back can hinder your training partner's progress. [ This Message was edited by: Slim on 2001-10-11 03:40 ]