Blackorby Muay Thai Fight Camp I "I love to fight and win when I'm tired"

Ryan Blackorby came over yesterday and ran an excellent, free, 3-hour muay thai fight camp. We started out with warm/up conditioning using:

• Shadowboxing
  
• High offensive tiip
  
• Targeted kicking -- aiming for the knee, hip, rib and neck targets with a partner, angle!
  
• 4 counts on the thai pads #1 and #2
  
• Tiip-cross-hook-rear kick on the thai pads
  
• Rear kick-hook-cross-lead tiip
  
• Power kick for power kick on the pads
  
• 5 kicks for 5 kicks on the pads
  

We then worked on our defense using kick evasions:

• Leg evasion

  Bring your lead foot back so that it is in line with your rear foot. Look to return punches or kicks, e.g. to the back of the leg.

• Body evasion
  

  Again bring the lead foot to the rear and hollow your body, allowing the kick to miss. Always return punches and kicks, e.g. opposite leg kick-C/H-H/C.

• Body evasion with pass
  

  Use the your far hand to to palm strike their kick to the floor, anchoring. Return same leg head kick, i.e. they throw right kick your return right head kick.

• Tiip defense
  

  Always scoop with the lead hand rather than alternating hands (a 100% chance of doing it right versus a 50% chance of doing it wrong). Return the cross straight down the pipe.

• Leg cover punatuken
  

  Side A throws rear kick, side B covers and returns rear kick. Side A covers and returns rear kick, side B covers. Reset.

• Cut kick drill
  

  Use the leg cover punatuken, but on the third kick side B steps with the kick and throws a cut kick. This drill is to train the cut kick reaction.

We discussed head kicks, which should target the neck rather than the superior head. There are two methods for this:

• The "Wrap"

  The leg rises and then drops, hitting at a horizontal or even downward angle. The foot wraps around the neck.

• The "Field Goal"

  This comes up straighter looking to catch right underneath the intersection of the jaw and neck.

We then went quickly through basic offensive combinations:

• J-Kick
  
• 2-Kick
  
• Tiip-2
  
• Kick-cross (take out switch step for increased speed)

We finished with sets of 3 x 2 minute rounds of sparring. Combinations and guard are my watch words.

We then had Bill Henry from the Sports Enhancement Center explain a pre-fight conditioning program using both long slow distance training and a metabolic strength training program. Very informative and helpful.

Ryan finished talking about mental training, that is, programming the software necessary to fight. A motivated athlete is a winning athlete. The mind and emotions are part of the arsenal of combat sports. Ryan talked about positive self-talk, self affirming statements, and emulating the winning mindset in practice would be reflected in the ring. Lastly, I love to fight and win when I'm tired.