GJ Smoker II Take 2

We completed our smoker, the one that was derailed by a local tornado a few weeks ago. Only four fighters competed and they all did great. To finish up practice we worked on RATTLE for thai boxing and wrestling:

Range	Range Finder Drill	Distance Shot Work on shooting from increasingly far away, analyzing for effectiveness of the shot.
Angle	Cut Kicks	Shooting of Circling Begin circling your partner, when they say "shoot" take your shot.
Timing	Applauded Shadowboxing	Sprawl Reaction Partner ducks toward floor, sprawl
Target	All of the drills contribute
Level	Body Punch Partner extends punch, change level and deliver body punch under it	Shot Limbo Take your shot under progressively lower levels held by your partner
Execution	All of the drills contribute

Next we worked on defensive reactions. Actually we worked the same reaction off different defense. For the cross:

• High cover-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Parry-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Bob-cross-lead hook-cross (be sure to shuffle off angle)
  
• Jab parry-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Tiip-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Lead kick-cross-lead hook-cross (rear kick-lead hook-cross-lead hook)

For the lead hook:

• Side cover-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Bob and weave-cross-lead hook-cross (be sure to triangular step)
  
• Tiip-cross-lead hook-cross (lead inside thigh kick-cross-lead hook-cross
  
• Cover to clich-lead knee-cross-lead hook-cross

The cross-lead hook-cross reaction is elegant in its simplicity. We attack perpendicular lines with the straight cross and hook. We can pick high (head) or low (body) targets.
We finished by working on catching kicks. We worked on the ankle catch, here we need to move with the kick and away from our partner. That is, along the 45^o vector off the centerline. The arm hooks and cinches tight to the latissimus dorsi muscle. From here we can pull or push, remembering that in muay thai rules you must hit to step. The foot can be thrown to the floor, sticking the foot and giving the back, use a hip pop forward and down. Kick the thrown leg. You can also knee to the underside of the thigh or throw elbows to the the top side. Jim correctly recalled that you can also throw punches catch the head for knees.
Smokers are not about winning or losing. Victories in practice are meaningless, losses are simply training exercises. The goal is to ready people for the mental and emotional psychology of competition. To make them more aware of the performance anxiety of competition. Suddenly a 2 minute round feels like 2 hours. With everyone looking and cheering it changes a few simple rounds of sparring into a emotional marathon. Smokers are a different kind of sparring, testing our emotional and mental fitness as well as our physical toughness.