A lot of what is referred to as the ‘Dutch method’ is about contact.
The Subtle Art of Checking a Leg Kick
Learning to check a leg kick is an essential skill for any style of striking which involves being kicked in the thigh.
Anatomy of a Leg Kick
Judd Reid says, “At the end of the day, your best kick is the leg kick. It’s very painful, easy to land and it stops your opponent moving. The less they move, the easier they are to hit.”
Do Combat Sports Promote Violence or Teach Respect?
The Rudiments of Kickboxing
The Principles of Striking 5: Plant Your Feet
When your feet are on the floor, you can transmit force. When they’re off the ground, you can’t.
ABC FM: Do Combat Sports Encourage Violence or Teach Respect?
The Principles of Striking 4: Knees and Elbows Draw the Arc of Your Strikes
What’s the essential difference between a jab, a hook and an uppercut? It’s the same difference between a push kick and a round kick, believe it or not.
The Principles of Striking 3: Your Hands Travel To and From Your Face
There are a few reasons for this.
- Your hands are part of your guard. If your hands aren’t in contact with your opponent’s body, causing pain or manipulating their guard and expectations, they should be on your face. You can’t get hit if your gloves are in the way. Simple.
- You’re far more accurate if your punches issue from your chin. Some people prefer to guard higher, keeping the hands near the top of the head for better coverage and effective use of the forearms for blocking. When you punch, however, lower the hands to your chin. Wild punches coming from your chest are going to be all over the show, as futile as trying to hit a pigeon with a roman candle.
- Lastly, yet of equal importance to the first two points is that if your hands do nothing other than travel to the target and then back to guard, there is little for your opponent to see and little indication that it’s coming.
The Principles of Striking 2: Rotation
Question: Why are fighting sports split into weight classes?
Answer: Because your weight is the engine of your power.
To put it simply, a one hundred kilogram person hits you with one hundred kilos, provided that it’s properly recruited.