Know the song sucks. But i just love the video !! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5qpNpQLpyI"]YouTube - Muaythai Fighter's Life[/ame]
What gets me with these guys is not so much the speed of the kicks, lots of arts have fast kicks, it's the speed with which they can retrieve them/return to the starting position and kick again off the same leg, without shortening stance or compromising power. Soooo impressive. Mitch
@ 2:53 of that clip is a really good/clear example of why keeping the foot on the supporting leg turned in while throwing continuous kicks is a big advantage. It allows the hip to continually turn over and into the opponent with much less resistance. Making for fast continuous kicking. Very nicely done... and from someone who's not even 12 years old.
Does an adult work knees against hook/jab pads (like the kid does in this vid) or against normal thai pads as used for roundhouse? Plus the kick at 23 seconds comes up almost vertically but rolls over, is this a standard kick or just a variant? Mitch
Can be done using either. Though I don't recommend using boxers pads for kick work by/with beginners. Primarily because beginners can be wildly inaccurate with their kicks and that could mean a shin in the face. In a pinch I will but I prefer to use the thai pads with beginners. Larger area for them to hammer on = less chance of me copping a kick in the face. I also don't let my students use punch mits to catch kicks with. That would lead to some serious problems... mostly that until they're used to the timing etc. of kicks the chance of a wrist injury or wearing a kick in the face is huge. There days I use a combination of a boxers pad on one hand and thai pad on the other hand. The boxers pad goes on my jab arm so I can effectively rough up my student with jabs and the like... then when he throws a kick I can catch with both pads - since he most common kick will always be his right side (slightly more to the rear in most people) the boxers pad will on really catch the slap of his foot while the Thai pad takes most of the shin. So it's easier on me and I can keep him a bit more honest forcing him to set up his kicks while understanding that he could get stuck with a jab. I'd see lots of Thai's do this so I nicked it for meself! Yes lots of Thai's kick this way. It only turns over with the hip at the last second... however the supporting leg foot is side on or rear of heel turned towards the opponent at the point of impact allowing the leg to turn over so dramatically. Take a look at his supporting leg foot here and you can just see how it's turned side on or heel towards the opponent when his kick is at it's highest arc. I sometimes throw them like this... however this seems to work better IMHO when throwing for the neck or the head. I also like a solid body kick where the knee comes up first and then I rotate towards my opponent and the kick comes in completely horizontal to the floating rib. A slight variation on this sometimes I use it turning the kick slightly down towards the end of it.
In addition to the position of the supporting leg I was told to draw the hip back on the kicking leg, rather than draw the leg back. I have certainly found this the be faster.
Yes you are right bro I am finally back in the gym to. I only go 3 times a week now. And will step things up in the next week. I have a internet war going on. In a nother forum. LOL !! And i did call this guy out. So now i have to train for this fight here in thailand... I am 90 kilos now and this guy is 105-110 and have man boobs. So lets wait and see what happens :woo:
