Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Cutting Weight, Healing Leg: Part 7 (Training Videos!)

More training videos; more talking it through, on the reasoning that that's both a useful tool for me to drill in my observations, and presumably of some passing interest if you're reading this (I imagine you, reader, as kind of skipping around these entries, a bite here a snatch there -- and that's perfect).

Above, is pad work with Coach Drew. Coach Drew is different from "Coach" (Vik), as you'll notice, as they are different human beings. They are different human beings; they carry a very different energy within them, and it's a really cool thing to have both of them around.

In this round, Coach Drew is trying to get me, mainly, to hit with power. This is a great idea for a round: focus on power, make every hit count. Unfortunately, at the end of a training week, I am tired, and as you can probably see my power is not-so-much power. A few hits are okay, but there's a crispness and force lacking, here. I'm not trying to be mean; I'm trying to be diagnostic, and also just straightforward -- I won't be exhausted, at the end of a session, at the end of a particularly grueling week, when the bell goes off for Round 1 of my fight.

Some specific observations:
- several times, you'll see him do something where I check (block) a left kick, then answer by throwing my own left kick. This is a useful thing. I do it poorly. I do it poorly here because there is too much of a disconnect between the check and the kick; the idea is that they come one on the other, pumPUM. When I'm less tired I'm actually a bit better at this, but it's good to see myself do it tired.
- sometimes, when I'm throwing my right cross, you can see that I stuff myself; I get in too close, can't extend my arm, and it's a weak and strange-looking punch. I actually hurt my wrist a bit, doing this, this session, so it's something to watch out for both because it's not a good punch and because it throws off your alignment, and you can hurt yourself (I'm actually always amazed [TOUCH WOOD HOLY COW] that my wrists don't give me more trouble in this sport. I have thin, small wrists).
- my right knees are not in fact as non-existent as they look here. I'm marking them, because that's the bad leg, and knees in particular flare up the inner thigh contusion.
- here's a big one. All these roundhouse kicks we do: that's the main kick. You can see a BIG DIFFERENCE when I turn the hip and pivot and when I do not; if you fail to do these things, you are flicking your leg, and it doesn't matter how strong you are it will actually be hard to deliver a really, really devastating kick unless you just hit someone wide open or luckily. Conversely, if you pivot on the basing foot and turn the hip and use your core, you can deliver kicks that are punishing even when blocked/through pads; believe me, I've received such kicks. They jangle all of you.
- sub-point: you don't see this here, but this last week Coach has been having us do a thing at the end of the night where we do 100 kicks with each leg. It is grueling (duh). But it's good because you revert to technique; your leg gets too tired, your quads get too tired, and you have to use your abdomen, pivot. I think that is one of the reasons Coach has us do those. The other is that he is obviously a sick person who thrives on our pain.
- back to the video: look at how I switch to having my right leg front, either for some punches or (most of all) to left kick. Look at how dancy it is. That's no good. It's actually okay in a way, not in itself but diagnostically, because to me I see that and I also see that I feel comfortable and on-balance with that movement. But that dancy, up-down big ol' switch: no good. No good.


Okay, this video. Boxing with Nick. "Boxing with Nick" is, for me in my muay thai life, a way to say "reminding myself how bad at boxing I am." Nick just is much better than I am. Which is good! That's why I always video our rounds, when I can.

At the beginning, you'll see Nick throw a kick at me. That is because he has shown up drunk, and forgotten that we are only boxing. Silly Nick.

Then you'll see him cudgel me for about 3 minutes. Some notes:
- look at my blocking when it's tight: when my gloves stay by my cheekbones, my chin stays down. Looks pretty good.
- look at when it gets wild, much too often; my hands flail, my face is exposed, all of it. This not only looks dumb. It leaves me open for shots, which is bad. If I can remember two things Saturday, they are: stay tight. throw action. Stay Tight. Move. Throw Action. (added a third)
- "throw action" means "fucking do something": I do have a tendency to wait for a "good" shot, or an "opening". This all sounds like a good idea, but it's kind of not. Throw action. Hit the guy. Move. Or else he'll hit you. Guaranteed.
- My left hand, in default mode, too often drifts out, away from my face. Not protecting. Must think about that, tonight.
- Coach at one point yells at me about "don't be the aggressor." This is a hard balance to strike, and one I'm still working on. Here's the idea: I'm not a great boxer, so I shouldn't just plow in after the guy and scrap (I also kind of like scrapping, another reason this happens). I should keep distance, counter, use push-kicks and kicks and all that. BUUUUUT you saw "throw action" above: you can't be a dancing, passive punching bag. Or rather, than you are a dancing, passive punching bag and that is NO FUN (this was a little bit what my fight in October was like. Those were 6 very challenging minutes, and in a way I'm proud I got through them. But I'm also not pleased that I left a fight go so wrong. So. Etc.)

Coach, in the back there, with Tracy, with the green Styrofoam noodles. That's a drill that Coach does, where he bops you with green noodles to make you cover up.

No comments: