Footwork is most important in any combat training: Bruce lee

Here is a quote I liked very much, attributed to Bruce Lee: 

 Your application of an effective technique depends on your footwork.
The speed of your footwork leads the way for fast kicks and punches. If you are slow on your feet, you will be slow with your hands and feet.

• Proper footwork contributes to hitting power and your ability to avoid punishment. 
• Good footwork will beat any kick or punch. 
• A moving target is definitely more difficult to hit than a stationary one. 
• The more skillful you are with your footwork, the less you have to use your arms to block or parry kicks and punches. By moving deftly, you can elude almost any blow and prepare your fists and feet to attack.
• Besides evading blows, footwork allows you to cover distance rapidly, escape out of a tight corner and conserve your energy to counter with more sting in your punch or kick. A heavy slugger with poor footwork will exhaust himself as he futilely attempts to hit his opponent.
• You should be able to move rapidly in any direction so you are well-balanced to withstand blows from any angle. 
• Your feet must always be directly under your body. 
• The on-guard stance presents proper body balance and a natural alignment of your feet.

Muay Boran or Muay Thai?!

Muay Boran is different from Muay Thai, and is also less known.

That is because Muay Boran is tougher, more vicious form of Muay Thai and the techniques used are today not allowed in competitive sports. My personal tilt is towards Muay Boran, though of course I teach Muay Thai since it is more acceptable in today's world. Muay Boran cannot be taught to everybody.

Some important features of Muay Boran:

• In olden times, as with my own teacher, Muay Boran was not taught to all the students, but a few selected special ones. They had to have control. 
• It is more of a contact sport, involves more grappling and will take a shin kick with a shin, and free use of body parts, with no fear. 
• In Muay Thai, for instance, as happens with competitive Muay Thai, even though the fighter may be competent in the use of a body part he may choose not to use it, to keep it safe. For instance, he may be inhibited about using a shin kick, to protect his leg, because that could collapse him in the final run. A Muay Boran fighter, on the other hand, will throw caution to the winds, and use every part fearlessly. 
• In Muay Boran, certain techniques, like the head butt, etc were used. Today, because of competitive Muay Thai fights where this is not allowed in international championships, these techniques are not used. Kick to the groin, for instance, also not allowed. 
• Muay Boran has Indo-Chinese influences, and used a lot of jumps and leaps. 
• It also uses a low squatting mode since this position allows for high leaps and jumps. 
• It is an art form of fighting that is dying out since it it not in popular use any more. 

Soon, more on Muay Boran, for u fans:) 

Here is how you learn to take blows, by inviting a fellow fighter to actually punch into you. This calls for tremendous stamina, and of course, it is not a play thing. You are seriously taking blows. If it is not an experienced fighter, a rank beginner, there are chances that he will put more power than form into the blows, thus actually creating more focus by helping you learn and ward off blows that are coming helter-skelter. In fact, before even entering an actual fight, my suggestion is, take a blow or two by a fellow fighter. That puts you into another mind frame altogether. The adrenaline is already flowing. Your hyperviglance goes up.  You are in form.
More on this soon.. 

The perfect shin kick

Notice how the other leg is being used for the perfect shin kick. If you are kicking from the right leg, the left foot turns in slightly, to give you balance, and pass the power to the other leg, from the hip. The torso also shifts a bit, but your face must continue looking at the target. The other foot is also tapping, to distract the target, because he should not guess where or which leg is going to kick, plus, a tap provides the in-between pause, very essential for balancing once you throw the kick into the air. These minor details are very important for you to ensure that you do not lose your balance .. this could happen for several reasons

• that your opponent moves out of range, if he is a good fighter
• Or you misread the strength of block of the target, again if he is a good fighter. 
• even if the target falls, there is a possibility of you losing your balance. 

All these factors can dislodge your own balance in a fight. A good stance and a good support from the other leg is important for the perfect poise in your kick!

As you can also see I am showing you different levels where the shin kick may land -- low, middle, high. This  involves flexibility. A fighter without flexibility, he is asking for trouble because it is important to be able to stretch your kick where you want it. The shin is the weapon, the landing depends on your flexibility and agility. You can catch the target where you want -- at the leg, the torso, or even the face.

Work on that!

For conditioning, you must learn to take blows. You must hold the body in such a way that your muscles are strong and the hand movements must be free, so you can take on blows and block the blows. You must tighten the muscles. Learn to isolate the awareness and muscular control, so that you tighten that particular muscle under which the blow is falling.

Do not take on such conditioning in the beginning. You can start on it, after five months or so of intensive training. Initially, if you start to take on such beatings, you may develop problems. Such as heart beat can be affected, knee or thighs can get damaged. Muscles may be damaged, including at the chest. Even the nerves may get damaged. So such conditioning should be done only after the body is well prepared, through preparatory training and regular practice.

When taking on the blow, learn to focus on the person hitting you, so that your focus in a real fight will also sharpen.

What of the attitude?
Students' attitude: What you saw was of my student hitting me. So, you can be casual. But if you are a trainee,  taking such conditioning from a fighter the main thing u wish to develop is that you must focus, and hold on, as if you can take on and give blows. The feeling of the one taking on must be confident.

If you are an instructor who is training a student, do not hit too hard. Learn to understand his weakness and powers, and then work on his weak parts. That he should learn to block and withstand the blow.

Punching technique

A good punch rides up along the foot, passes through the thigh, the hip and enters the hand to deliver a knock-out. A good punch involves the complete body. In fact, to punch well and fast you need super stamina, a lot of heart strength (cardio) strength, and breath support. The hissing noise you hear somewhat creates the last, by drawing out air so you draw in more. It pulls in the stomach too, to create a core strength. Obviously, it is cultivated with practice.

If you see hard enough, you will though the hands move to the side to meet the target in any direction, the body itself remains straight, though the legs must twist, according to which hand you use, to create the momentum of the punch. All this needs precise focus and coordination. Beginners, for instance, may move the hands, and with it the entire body. But the maintain a compact straightness of the torso, even the hips rotate and the legs twist with speed, is rather difficult. This itself involves years of practice.

I have combined many techniques, as you can, straight punch, upper cuts, elbow punching etc. You may seen the Sports Science video of the boxers setting records. One was pitted against a viper, and though he was slightly slower than the snake he punched more times: the snake could strike only once, but the boxer managed five punches in a second. Another Sports Science video describes the punching power of UFA champ Velasquez Cain and estimates that is about 2360 pounds. Imagine that!

This is a back kick and beginners may mistake it with the roundhouse kick. But this is different. The latter is a straight, sweeping, circular movement. The former involves turning back midpoint almost. However, though not as dramatic as a roundhouse kick it is powerful too, because there is less effort invested in maintaining balance which may be distracting if you attempt a roundhouse kick at the end of a match! But in the back kick the surprise element is ensured, as in the roundhouse kick, yet  your base remains strong. Your target is met mid-body and your balance can be restored pretty fast. And continue facing him, after the kick, which is what the whole thing is actually about -- facing the target headone.

As you can see I am using the edge of the foot to deliver the kick. The key element is to maintain the balance of the other leg, which equally contributes to the kick by providing a great balancing support and you land back pretty far off the target to avoid him coming at you, if he is a strong fighter. In all kicks the torso moves back but this does not involve bending the supporting ( a mistake beginners make)  leg which will unnecessarily shift the pressure to the back, contracting it instead of releasing it.  There are two reasons why your torso shifts back to deliver a kick: one is that you are moving away from contact point with the target who, if strong can punch or kick you back. Plus, the thrust of the kick needs this torso shift. Basically and very simply for this movement to be complete, precise and perfect, you need to have strong legs. That way the supporting leg can take any swing of your body. The movement is supple not stiff. A stiff backward drop -- again a beginner's mistake - will jerk the neck, contracting it. Avoidable!

Watch the landing each -- legs wide and away from each other, to maintain your base. A gentle tapping, bouncy leg work, to keep yourself ready and loose for the kick and any subsequent response from the target. The leg work is very important, btw. to maintain your balance continuously. Leg work training is a work of art and actually defines your fighting skills because it will define your power, your balance and your stamina. You need to invest in it, for a perfect back kick.