How your brain impedes your muay thai training

In the process of learning muay thai the most difficult part for us Westerners is our natural inclination to over analyze everything. And if you're an American, forget about it. Our society is driven by instant gratification. I mean, isn't there a cheat code or cliffs notes? Anything?

Muay thai is inherently foreign to the Westerner. The techniques require you to purposely put your self off balance, and the ultra aggressive nature of the system goes against what society has taught us growing up. For example, think about your personal space and how uncomfortable it was for you the first time you did a clinching drill with a fellow student who you didn't really know.

The techniques, from round kicks to elbow strikes are made up of many moving parts all working in unison, and it takes a while to get comfortable with moving your body in that somewhat awkward way. For example, they say it takes 10,000 reps of the muay thai round kick before you get to the point where you can throw the kick without thinking about the technique.

It's very easy to get frustrated with yourself over the course of your training (it usually kicks in around the 3rd month in). But it's that over analyzing, trying to break down every component of a technique is what throws you off track. Ideally, you while training techniques, you're thinking about anything other than the technique that your practicing. If you find yourself getting frustrated with yourself, here's a couple pointers that I've found works:

1. Don't spend too much time focusing on a trouble spot. For example, you aren't pivoting on a round kick. Work on it but spending too much time on one issue will likely leave you neglecting the other parts of the technique.

2. Don't rush it! Throwing a crappy kick really fast will in no way clean up your technique. It's easier to throw poor technique quickly than clean technique slowly. Take your time, you aren't in a race.

3. Hitting bags and pads is fun, it feels good - but shadowing the technique is where you really make strides in cleaning up your form. Never neglect your shadow training.

4. This is the hardest part. Once you've practiced enough to where your body can physically throw a technique correctly (you understand the mechanics), then stop thinking about the technique while you're training. The ultimate goal is for you to be able to execute any muay thai strikes, whether it be kicks, knees, elbows, body movement - without thinking. It just becomes a natural part of how your body moves. Thinking, and over-thinking your technique will actually impede this. So think about anything else other than the technique - girls, work, school, does Taco Bell really use fake beef?

5. Step one in transitioning from muscle memory to subconscious reaction is to train thai pad drills where your partner calls out combinations at a pace that tires you out. And after you've reached the point of exhaustion, you keep going - s/he increases the intensity/complexity of the combos. Its meant to push you beyond the point where your brain cannot process the incoming orders, and its your reptilian brain & your body simply moving on instinct and muscle memory. That's where the real learning takes place.

Donnie-

Are we all closet Fairtex mauy thai haters?

I'm a marketer by day, a chew toy for my dog by night, and a few evenings every week, I share my experience in muay thai with others. In marketing, I've learned that if your competitor mentions you (usually not in a nice way) in a press release, you've done your job.

So I'm about to make sure that someone at Fairtex has earned their paycheck. Someone out there has been going through my posts and pointing out on how I frequently rail against Fairtex, in particular. His/her name - Anonymous. So, Anonymous, here you go.

I agree with Anonymous on a number of points: I think that the popularity of muay thai is a great thing, I agree that 12 rounds of boxing isn't very efficient, and 2 guys grappling for extended periods of time in an MMA match isn't exactly the ideal way to handle a fight in the street.  I also understand that in Thailand, you grow up to either be a poor agrarian, get pulled into the sex trade, or, the only way out of poverty, train to become a muay thai fighter. Muay thai is the national sport and deep  rooted aspect of Thai culture, of which I have profound respect for. Otherwise I wouldn't have dedicated my entire adult life to learning and sharing muay thai.

My rationale is based on the the fear that mass commercialization of muay thai by profit driven enterprises such as Fairtex, Master Toddy, Tiger, MMA gyms etc., however much widespread attention it brings to the (sport, style, art, what have you), will have an effect similar to what the McDojo model did to TKD and Karate during the 1980's and 1990's. The retail muay thai gym business model is this: bring in 100 students: perhaps 3-5 of those 100 will become a champion fighter. Those fighters will bring in another 200 students, of which, another 3-5% will go on to be champion fighters. This stable of fighters will bring prestige to the gym, which will drive larger numbers of students - driving revenue, credibility and opportunity for expansion. This model is scalable in a business context, however, it makes it very difficult to maintain the quality of instruction over time. We can see this happening right now with Krav Maga. It's explosive popularity has made Krav THE system to learn for self defense. The path to instructor certification is fairly short, because the more paying certified instructors you have, the stronger the system (as an entity) will become. 

But popularity does not mean quality.

Here's a prime example: Master Toddy's instructor training program states "In 5 days you will learn what it normally takes 5 years to learn". The 5-day program comes with a price tag of $3,000. To me, Toddy's entire muay thai instructor / kru / ajarn program is entirely based on driving revenue. What can you really expect to absorb and how do you achieve long term retention over 5 days? Dude, proper elbow technique can't even be achieved in 5 days.

I'm just as passionate about muay thai as  you, Anonymous, but I'd say my passion has a different focus. That's all. Just like Ajarn Lek who works to preserve mauy chaiya, Tony Jaa who's done wonders to bring muay boran to a worldwide audience,  I work to spread the word about the older battlefield forms of muay thai (muay chao cherk) and demonstrate how muay thai can be integrated into effective close quarter combat. BTW - in no way am I putting myself on the same level as Tony Jaa and Ajarn Lek, however, I bet I'm taller than both of them.

There are a few others, like Daniel Sambrano who are willing to share for free...sort of. The price you pay - you have to listen to our rants about the bastardization of an ancient and inherently efficient fighting system.

 We all drink the muay thai kool-aid, just different flavors. As far as the fate of muay thai as a sport / martial art, all we can do is hope for  the best. And thanks, Anonymous for your comments.

Hit’em with the Ground or a Wall

Due to the popularity of MMA Fighting and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu many who get into streetfights today try to take their adversaries to the ground to subdue or finish them from there.

To me it just doesn’t make much sense to take someone down to the ground when you don’t have to.

Most will do it out of training habits, the way you train is the way you will fight, and others will do it because their opponent is getting the best of them.

And still others will do it because of getting into a clinch and not knowing how to fight at close quarters. But whatever the reason, you need to stay off the ground to have a better chance of surviving. Even if you don’t know how to punch and kick like a pro, you can still fight standing up and defeat your attacker in a vicious streetfight.

So how do you go about accomplishing this feat without getting yourself into more trouble?

Simple, learn to use your environment as a third arm or a fighting partner in a streetfight. Instead of punching your attacker in the face, grab his face with an open hand and slam the back of his head into a wall, or grab him by the back of the neck and slam his face into the wall. Use a light post, fence post, and street sign post to drive his shoulder or clavicle into it. Or corners of buildings, using stairs, cars, or maybe even the edges of tables to cause damage with. And speaking of damaging them, how about throwing the ground at them, by tripping them, slamming them or throwing them into the ground on their head, neck or shoulder.

All these suggestions can help keep you staying off the ground while at the same time putting them on it, hard. Learning to use the environment will give you a great advantage over your adversary in a streetfight. You will have an element of surprise on your side if you need to use it. As you train yourself to use the wall, buildings, cars, fences and the ground, you will find that it doesn’t take much on your part to use these structures and solid objects. You will find that there is allot of hurt you can cause before you need to flop on the ground.

While many will look at these tactics and call them dirty or cheating, just remember there are no rules in a street fight, so do what you need to do to get home to safety.

In a street fight there are usually multiple opponents you’ll have to contend with and some will have weapons, so even the odds by slamming one or two of them into a wall or car bumper and lower their numbers. If one of your limbs gets injured or broken your environment can come to your aid to help you prevail. If you slam them hard enough into a structure, it might be just enough to knock the fight right out of them.

So the next time you’re attacked and think you’re at a disadvantage think again the whole environment is just waiting to help you. You no longer have any excuses when it comes to your safety in a violent encounter. But remember environmental weapons are available to whoever is smart enough to use them; either it’s you or your adversary. Training in a well lit, cushioned training center will not prepare you for fighting in a dark and cold alley. Prepare yourself both mentally and physically by using environmental simulations in your training. Train yourself in confined and open environments, look for the advantages in these areas and learn to use them effectively.

Also learn how to counter your opponent if he uses the environment on you, be ready for this reality.

In conclusion street fighting is a lot more than using your fists, knees, head, elbows or kicks. Fighting dirty by using the environment will go along way in giving you the edge in a violent situation. So when the need arises don’t even hesitate for a second, hit’em with the ground or a wall and finish it quick.


Daniel Sambrano

www.SuperHeroSystems.com

Why You Don’t Hit With Intention

One thing people find hard to understand is the relationship of the mind -body connection.

The state of the mind affects the state of the body, and visa versa. It is important for you to understand just how much your mind goes into your strikes when you’re fighting. You cannot hit someone or something unless you first think about doing it in your mind; your fist just doesn’t shoot out and hit someone on its own. And the more intention you put into hitting harder the more of your mind goes into the strike.

So in all actuality when you hit someone with your fist, you are really hitting them with your mind. As strange and mystical as it sounds, this is the way it is. You punch with your mind first, not your fist. When you go to the gym and start mindlessly striking the focus mitts or heavy bag you do yourself a great disservice. You need to realize the capacity for the mind to react decreases in proportion to its intent to attack.

So the way you train is truly the way you will fight.

You need to learn to have that all important mind-body connection in your training, so that you will be able to move as one unit against your adversary with focus and intention. Because if you don’t, when you need to protect yourself against an attacker you won’t be able to coordinate your mind and your body effectively. Due to the rush of adrenaline coursing through your body and brain, you will be at best about as good as your worst performance in the gym. When you train focus on what you are doing, learn to put intention into your strikes and don’t just go through the motions as you throw your strikes. Be all there when you train, stay focused on what you’re doing and don’t get complacent with your training. Start to develop focused intention whenever you train, make it a habit and in time you will be doing it without much effort on your part.

You will be able to instantly “turn on” when the need arises and strike as one unit without much wasted effort and hit harder with full intention and commitment. Remember it all starts in the mind and translates through the body and out the fist into your adversary. So learn to be one with your punches and have hardcore intention with every strike you throw and let them feel what you’re thinking!

Daniel Sambrano
http://www.superherosystems.com/

How to Increase Your Striking Power Using Stairs

Question what’s easier, climbing up a flight of stairs or coming down them?

Obviously coming down the stairs is easier than going up them.

Now why is that? Because coming down the stairs uses less energy due to gravity.

Also the majority of your weight comes forward as you step down and it takes less muscular force to do it with.

In boxing one of the lost arts of the sweet science is “Drop Stepping” with your punches, particularly the lead left, it has become a weak version of its once powerful self.

Sure many will argue, but I step with my jabs all the time when I punch or others will say but if I step with my jab it just slows me down.

Now while all these are legitimate arguments, if you are just stepping you’re only using a fraction of your potential power.

Now there is a big difference between stepping and drop stepping and that difference is like night and day.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a street fighter, amateur/pro boxer or MMA fighter if you don’t understand how to drop step you’re leaving a large amount of knock out power on the table.

So let me teach you a drill that will help you find that long lost power potential in your strike.

And it all starts with finding a set of stairs to step off of to develop this power.

Drop Step Drill #1

The first thing you’ll need to do is find a platform to stand on, it should be about 6-12 inches high.

A set of books, phone books, mats or stairs will do.

Next stand on the platform, feet parallel to each other, shoulder width apart.

Take a long step (3-4 feet) and slap the ground flat footed with your left foot.

Hold the position for about 5 seconds to stabilize yourself.

You should have the left foot flat on the ground and the right foot still on the platform with the heel raised.

Repeat the drill 5-10 more times before switching to the right foot.

Do this drill everyday for 2 weeks or until it feels natural to you.

Extra Tips

· As you do the drill make sure as you step down you don’t raise your knee upward, just drop forward as if you tripped over something.
· Shift all your weight forward as you step and slap the ground flat footed.
· Breathe out forcefully as you drop step thru your pursed lips, this will brace the abs and lower your center of gravity.
· Stay as relaxed as you can through out the drill.
· Make sure to practice the drill equally with both feet.

Drop Step Drill #2

Once it becomes easy to do the first drill it’s time to move on.

Stand on the flat ground feet parallel to each other, shoulder width apart.

Have a training partner stand behind you, now while staying as relaxed as possible with your eyes closed, and have him push you on the back of your lead or right shoulder.

As you did on the platform, take a long step and slap the ground flat footed with the lead foot.

Hold for a few seconds and repeat, do this for 10 repetitions, then do the other foot.

Extra Tips

· Remember to shift your weight forward as you step.
· Don’t raise your knee; you’re using your hip to step with not your knee.
· When you land bend your knees slightly; you want to feel springy.
· Stay relaxed, the more relaxed you are the quicker your drop step will be.
· Once it starts to feel easy to do start shortening the step to 2-3 feet or less.

Adding the Pow!

Once you get used to drop stepping start adding your straight punches.

The jab, cross and overhand right all work well with the drop step.

Just make sure your strike lands a split second before your foot slaps the ground or you’ll lessen the force of the strike.

Yes the hook and uppercut work well with the drop step, just make sure you learn to shift your weight as you strike.

Use a heavy bag, focus mitts, maize bag, and leather medicine ball to strike on.

Take your time with these pieces of equipment as your fists and body will be striking harder than they ever have.

So they must get used to the impact and concussive shock of your power.

To All The Naysayers Listen Up!

Now while some will say this style of striking is slow, don’t pay attention to them because they’ve never been hit like this before.

You see the force of a drop step punch is so powerful that it can stun and unbalance a person to the point that it freezes them in place like a statue.

They will be literally anchored to the ground and won’t be able counter the punch as easily as they think they can.

Even if they take the hit, they will be so unbalanced and de-stabilized by the strike that their timing and distancing will be off.

I’ve seen people go into a standing fetal position or just stand there frozen in time after being hit by a drop step straight left.

This is something a jab can never do because it wasn’t designed to have any knock out power.

So keep practicing this drill to improve the power of your strikes.

In Conclusion

The drop step drills will help you become a more powerful and dangerous striker just like the great power punches of the past.

Now there is no excuse for you to have a weak punch and not be able to generate enough force to knock someone out.

So find some stairs and get to stepping!


Daniel Sambrano
http://www.superherosystems.com/

Don’t Ask the Learned Ask the Experienced

I remember when I was going to high school we had a teacher who coached the swim team. Now the strange thing about it was he didn’t know how to swim! How crazy was that?

But as crazy as that was there are martial arts students who are learning how to defend themselves from people who haven’t a clue about whether what they are teaching works or not. Not only is this crazy but it’s also downright dangerous. Learning from the experienced instead of the learned tends to help cut through a lot of the B.S. As masters of mayhem and violence they tend to flesh out and put a face on violence. They help fill in the gaps between the what ifs and the what is.

It helps you to view violence from a correct point of view; you get a lifetime of learning if you pay attention to what they have to say. And if you’re lucky enough you’ll learn the differences between being experienced and having wisdom. It’s been said “Experience is what man calls his mistakes” and “wisdom is learning from others experience”. In reality there are things a book or a DVD can’t explain, teach, or show you. Such as seeing the fear in your enemies’ eyes or the moment you take his spirit and gain the advantage. Or the sound a head makes as it hits the pavement or slams against the wall in a dark alley. Or what it feels like to be stabbed or shot, these things can be best explained by those who have been through it first hand.

I have had students ask me for advice based on my experiences on various situations. Things like dealing with bullies, multiple opponents, guns, knives, fights at parties or bars etc. I tell them the ugly truth about each situation, not the politically correct version. It's important that know what they’re getting themselves into and the options that they have to get themselves out of it, if need be. Much of the advice comes from what I would call the “Grey side of the law”. I have learned from experience that this was the quickest way to get out of a dangerous situation. After all are you going to wait around for the police to show up to save the day, especially when you have two or three dudes kicking and stomping you into the ground? It's faster and easier to pick up a brick or a bottle to even the odds and get to safety. The learned can only guess as to what to do in a dangerous situation, while the experienced can tell you exactly what to do to survive and prevail.

While I don’t have any letters before or after my name such as PHD. or DR., I do have those that do, come to me to teach them how to defend themselves. And why is that? Because you don’t ask the learned you ask the experienced!

Daniel Sambrano
www.SuperHeroSystems.com

Dead Man Fighting

In a streetfight you must be able to move smoothly and quickly without hesitation on your part.

You must be explosive with your punches and put your weight behind each strike for maximum power output. You don’t want to be spending all night kicking someone’s ass; you want to get it done as quickly as possible.

So the worst thing you can do to hinder your survival in a streetfight is fight from a “Dead Stance”. A dead stance is one that lacks explosive power and is weak in movement and intent.

A streetfight can be very chaotic, dangerous and unpredictable, so when you need to move, you need to do it instantly. Your fighting stance needs to be spring loaded and ready to explode into action. If your fighting stance can’t produce this for you then you’ll be fighting and moving like you’re stuck in mud.

Now being explosive and spring loaded doesn’t mean that you should be dancing or bouncing around your adversary, never do that in a streetfight unless you have a death wish. What I am saying is learn to spring load your stance so that you only move when you need to. And that means training to “Load” your stance to make it explosive and powerful. Here are some ways to load your stance to make you more explosive when you fight.

· Squeeze your inner thighs slightly. These are the muscles that help drive power into your punch.

· Sit on your punch. Bend your knees slightly to give your legs more spring and lower your center of gravity.

· Squeeze your butt cheeks and anal sphincter slightly. This will engage your posterior chain of muscles which will help drive your body forward.

· Grab the ground with your feet. Paw the ground with your toes to help drive the body explosively.

· Push off with the big toe of your foot. This powerful muscle will help get you moving.

· Drive from the hips. Explode from your center to bring your whole body into the movement.

· Raise the rear foot slightly off the ground. This will help to propel you forward more quickly. Just make sure you push off the ground as you move.

Use this information to load your stance and become a more explosive fighter. But a word of warning; while being explosive in your movement is very important, so is being able to control it. But that’s a subject for another time, just be aware of it.

In closing I’ve given you enough information to resurrect your dead stance and make it more dynamic and explosive. It’s up to you now, add these skills to your streetfighting arsenal and don’t ever get caught being a dead man fighting.

Daniel Sambrano

www.SuperHeroSystems.com

The Confusion of Punching Naked

Every time I teach a new student the martial concepts and principles of fist fighting, they are very surprised at how much information they are given and how much power they are able to generate so quickly. But the students that are the most surprised are those that know how to box. Most have never heard or seen any of the techniques or concepts that I teach on fist fighting.

There are two reasons for this; first what I teach is almost 100 years old if not older, and has been forgotten, not taught or abandoned. Second, most fighters learn the sport of boxing in its modern form due to reason number one. One important thing I want you to consider is that bare knuckle boxing and modern boxing are two different animals. It’s like comparing apples and oranges, they are both fruit but they are different types of fruit. Both types of punching have different goals in mind; therefore have different ways of striking and finishing a fight. So trying to compare the two will just confuse and keep you in the dark, they are both separate and different entities.

Bare-knuckle boxing has been tried and tested in both combat and street-fighting and has stood the test of time. This is why I chose to teach the bare-knuckle form of fighting as opposed to the gloved modern form. It just makes more sense to teach a form of fighting that doesn’t use hand protection to defend itself from attack. Especially, since you won’t be walking around town with gloves on ready to fight. There are concepts and techniques from modern boxing I wouldn’t think of using in a street-fight to defend myself with. For example, I wouldn’t throw jabs or hooks to the head, also I wouldn’t come at my opponent like they do at the beginning of each round. I won’t dance around on my toes against my opponent or hold my hands in a typical boxers guard.

But then again in modern boxing I wouldn’t use many techniques or concepts of bare-knuckle boxing such as head butting, eye gouging, holding, hitting below the belt, rabbit punching, biting, tripping or throwing my opponent to the ground on his head, shoulder or neck. Although both styles of punching may seem similar on the surface, they are miles apart in their tactics, techniques and strategies when it comes to fighting. And those differences make each style both unique and important to pursue separately; that is until you can understand and appreciate each one. “The way you train is the way you will fight” is a saying that holds much truth in both styles of striking.

So if you are training for sport choose the modern form of boxing and if you are training for the self protection aspect choose the bare-knuckle version. I’m sure you will be pleased with the results if you heed my advice and train accordingly. And always remember “The right tool for the right job”, definitely applies here.

Stay safe and train hard.

Daniel Sambrano
www.SuperHeroSystems.com

My next muay thai video - elbow knee combos

The poll results are in and your voice has been heard. According to your votes, I'll shoot a 2 part series on elbow & knee striking combo drills, and I'll also begin to shoot basic multiple opponent tactics drills. The multiple opponents concepts goes pretty deep with a wide number of factors to consider - but we can at least get it started, right?

If you are a subscriber to my blog I'll email you a training and drill regimen PDF as a holiday gift for being a loyal reader.. If you want to be included in this offer, simply subscribe to the blog.

Folks, this is my blog, and by know you know that I could care less about training for sport or MMA. But this is also your blog. So, I encourage you to reply to posts, or send me a message with your own thoughts and ideas about muay thai, street fighting, self defense, and yes, spicy food.

I'm humbled and thankful that you take your time to read my rants, so let me return the favor - don't be shy about posting your rants!

Ballerina Fighting

Why Fighting on Your Toes is Not Combat Effective

The Art of Movement
Whatever style of stand-up fighting you train in, you have been taught footwork; the art of how to move. The majority of time you’re taught to stay on your toes or the balls of your feet. The reason being it makes you quicker and lighter on your feet. Watch any boxer or mma fighter with great footwork do his thing and he’ll make his opponent look like he’s standing still or moving in slow motion.

The Crutch
But the thing you need to pay close attention to is the surface on which he’s moving on. More than likely that surface will tend to be flat, firm and tight, whether on canvas or vinyl. This is the best type of surface when it comes to fighting for sport competition. While it does have its advantages it can become a crutch and liability when it comes to street-fighting on surfaces that aren’t so smooth and flat.

My Story
Many years ago I use to train in an alley behind my home and sparred and fought with many different styles of martial artists, boxers and street-fighters. I was fortunate to be able to train on different surfaces in that alley, as spartan as it was. You see one area was very gravely, while another side was grassy, still another area was thick asphalt that was sticky.

Then there was an area that was missing chunks of asphalt and it had gravel and dirt in the holes and cracks. There was also a cement slab that was flat and smooth but had a lot of dust on it which made it very slippery. And finally there was an area that was uneven and sandy. I would go out to that alley and train my footwork on all those different surfaces.

I would shadow fight, pivot, and kick figuring out what worked and what didn’t work on those surfaces. I got so good that when I would spar with someone I would watch how he moved and based on that I would guide him to the area that would nullify his footwork and style. For instance if he was a kicker I would fight him on the gravel or the dusty cement floor. If he was a shuffler I would fight him on the sticky asphalt or gravel. And if he fought on his toes or the balls of his feet, I would fight him on the uneven sandy surface or the area with the missing chunks of asphalt. Opponents with wider stances, I would fight on the smooth flat dusty cement slab. Opponents with a more narrow stance I would fight on the sand or uneven area.

Wow! I just gave you a lot of information on fighting on different surfaces.

Go back and re-read this last section, there is so much to learn from my alley fighting days.
By the way the best footwork pattern I used on all these surfaces was…

Change Up
Before I spill the beans, I just want to make sure that you understand that if you are accustomed to fighting on smooth flat surfaces, you'd better change up.

Fighting on the street or fighting for your life is a lot different than fighting to win a round or trophy. So is the surface you'll find yourself fighting on. I suggest that you start training seriously on different surfaces and find out what works and doesn’t because the worse time to figure it out is in the middle of a fight. Experience is the worst teacher, because it gives you the test before you learn the lesson.

Get Outside

So go outside your gym, pick a surface and start working on your footwork and fighting style.
Then find a different surface you haven’t trained on and practice on it. Learn to get comfortable on uncomfortable surfaces with your fighting skills.

Partner Training

Find a workout partner and have him slowly attack you like as if it were a real fight and see how you adapt to your environment. Once you get use to it have him go harder and faster, look for the flaws in your fighting and fix it. Throw your punches, knees, elbows, and kicks, try everything you would do in a real fight on these surfaces.

Learn what it is that will keep you alive, if and when the need arises.

What Worked for Me
Now, the footwork pattern that worked best for me was a more flat footed, stomping type of movement. Also a slightly raised heel footwork pattern worked. These two types of footwork worked for me based on how I fought.

I encourage you to stop dancing like a ballerina and train your footwork for combat, and learn what works best for you.

Now step to it.


Daniel Sambrano
www.SuperHeroSystems.com

Fist Fighting Basics

People seem to think they know about something simply because they have seen, read, or have participated in a similar thing.

In fist fighting many seem to think they know how to do it simply because they have boxed before or have seen it.

You see the problem arises because many equate boxing with fist fighting, now while they may look the same there is a vast difference between the two.

In this article I’m going to go over some of the basics of fist fighting.

I will explain the why of fist fighting and not just the how to, because once armed with this information you will not only know what the difference is.

But why there is a difference.

Because whether you know it or not, know one ever gets into a street-fight wearing boxing gloves and wraps.

First Things First

The first thing you need to learn is how to make a fist.

You must roll a fist as opposed to clenching a fist, rolling causes your fist to be rock hard.

And when you roll a fist your back knuckles tend to stick out further then if you just clenched your fist.
This will cause more damage to your opponent when you strike him.

The Angle of The Dangle

Next is the angle of the fist, there is basically three ways to throw a fist: Horizontal, Vertical and Diagonal.

If you throw a horizontal punch to the head like a boxer you will have a bigger chance of breaking or injuring your fist.

Striking with a vertical or diagonal fist position is the better way, both are anatomically stronger than the horizontal position.

But for close range punching use the diagonal fist position it is the most dangerous position in fist fighting.

Both the vertical and the diagonal positions fit the contours of the face, not so with a horizontal fist.

The horizontal fist works best striking anywhere below the clavicles and not to the face or head.

Knuckle Up

The next thing to learn is which knuckles to strike with.

Basically there are three ways to do it: First Two Knuckles, Last Three Knuckles and All Four Knuckles of the fist.

The one most used by bare-knuckle boxers was the last three knuckle version.

This was the most anatomically correct position to punch from and the strongest, not to mention the most natural
position to strike from.

On Guard!

Now lets adjust the guard position, you need to keep your fists away from your face.

The lead fist should be about a foot and a half away from the face.

The rear fist is about half a foot away from the face below the chin level.

If you hold your fists to close to your face like a boxer it makes it easier to get hit in the face since you’re not wearing big bulky gloves to hide behind.

The only time you should bring your hands closer to your face is when in close to your opponent.

Chin Up

Next don’t tuck your chin too deeply into your chest, you won’t be able to rotate your shoulders very quickly, which in turn will slow your punches up.

You’ll be putting the breaks on your punches and your power.

Just keep the chin lightly tucked and learn how to slip, duck, and bob ‘n weave in other words move the head!

Final Thoughts

Other things to consider are pointing the knuckles in the direction you want to hit.

This will make you strike faster and with more power plus it will hide your intentions from your opponent.

Strike with the back knuckles of the fist, this will cause more damage to your opponent.

Learn to breathe from the belly, this will help keep you from hyperventilating and train you to keep your mouth shut.

Keep your shoulders rolled down, not raised up.

This keeps the shoulder girdle connected to the torso for increased power in your punches.

Conclusion

I hope you’re starting to understand that there is a lot to fist fighting than just putting up your dukes and boxing.

You need to separate the glove from the fist, the sport from combat, and boxing from pugilism.

These are just some of the basics that you need to know for fist fighting.

Hopefully this will spur you on to research how the bare-knuckle fighters of the past fought and what tactics and tricks they used to defeat their adversaries.

But more importantly that this information will be used by you to make you a better and more dangerous fist fighter.

After all I’ve never been attacked by someone wearing boxing gloves in the streets, have you?


Daniel Sambrano
www.SuperHeroSystems.com

The Warrior Stick

Do you have a hard time with your footwork or body movement when you clinch, punch, elbow, knee, kick or throw?

Do you gas out easily from countering takedowns or clinches?

Does it take you longer to recover from having to continuously use bursts of energy while sparring or training hard?

In a street-fight all of these things can cost you if you’re not conditioned for it.

The drill I’m going to teach you will help you in all these areas plus so much more.

It will develop your footwork, body movement, balance, stability, agility, aggressiveness, strength and endurance.

Not bad for a piece of equipment that costs around 10 bucks to make.

Stick Grappling

Stick grappling is a drill that mimics the movements of a fight and the energy expenditure.

You can adjust the intensity of the drill depending on your state of conditioning.

What makes the drill work is that your training partner will go as hard as you do and visa-versa.

Just like in a street-fight were your adversary will be going at 100% to take you out.

While the drill can be tough it still is very safe for the two participants.

How To Make One

Go to your local hardware store and purchase a wooden dowel rod or thick PVC tubing about 3 feet long and 1½ inches in diameter.

Sand down any rough edges if needed, be careful about using thinner dowel rods, they will cut into fingers and palms due to the force exerted in the drill.

Better to use thicker dowel rods which will help build up fingers, wrists, grip and forearm strength.

How To Drill It

To do the drill, have each participant grab the ends of the stick in an offset hand position.

Then set a timer for 1-3 minutes and go as hard as you can, pushing and pulling your partner forward, back, side to side, circling and pivoting.

If one partner falls down or ends up on his knees he loses.

You can raise the stick up and down, side to side as you move, this drill mimics how it feels to get into a street-fight and get pulled and pushed around as you fight.

You will get stronger from head to toe in a short amount time, do 1-3 rounds, once or twice a week.

Added Benefits

One excellent thing stick grappling does is it teaches you to pay close attention to your center of gravity.

If it’s too high you’ll be thrown around like a rag doll.

In a street-fight if your center is high and you get hit with a powerful haymaker even if you block it, it will unbalance you.

Especially if the guy throwing it is bigger or weighs more than you do.

It also enhances your anaerobic endurance by the constant bursts of energy used in the drill, just like in a street-fight.

And it will train you to recover quickly and stay focused.

In Conclusion

This drill works great for Boxers, Muay Thai Fighters, Grapplers, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu Stylists.

And if you’re a street-fighter or self defense specialist this drill will enhance your tactical skillset.

So try it and see how the warrior stick betters your fight game.


Daniel Sambrano

http://www.superherosystems.com/

Taking muay show on the road, old style muay thai seminar in FL

Man, I love puns.  I just wanted to give my readers a heads up. I will be hitting the road and conducting a seminar in Orlando, Florida on Saturday December 4, 2010.

 My focus will be on leveraging muay thai for street combat.  We'll cover the basics of old style muay thai and how it differs from modern sport muay thai. I'll go over the bio mechanics of specific muay chau cherk and lerd rit strikes, and how to take advantage of physics to maximize your power. I'll also cover defense tactics, pad holding techniques, combinations, and multiple opponent tactics. And knowing me we'll probably end up geeking out and go over weapons disarms, CQC tactics, and delve into combat / operator mindset theory. My goal: provide you with some basic tools to help you protect yourself in the street, and to help you recognize the rules that apply to fighting in the ring or the cage do not apply in combat.

 If you're in the Orlando / Central Florida area I encourage you to check it out. I promise you'll learn something you won't see at the MMA gym. No prior experience in muay thai or any martial art required. Here's the dirty details:

Date: December 4, 2010
From: 12:30pm to 5:00pm
Cost: USD$50.00
Location: Martial Arts World
6606 Old Winter Garden Road
Orlando, FL 32835

Register online or contact me via email for more info or if you have any questions.

The Amaizing Bag

Today I’m going to teach you about how to use a piece of boxing equipment that has all but been forgotten by most western style fighters.

Back in the day this piece of equipment was used before the heavy bag, and was thought to be the number one tool to train with.

Bare knuckle fighters swore by it, as it would routinely create savage strikers who could take you out with either hand.

Have I got your attention yet? Good, then it means you’re interested in this information.

Hopefully it will become a part of your training and not be discarded on the junk pile of history.

With this one single piece of boxing equipment you will be able to develop:

· Timing
· Range
· Punching
· Footwork
· Body Movement
· Head Movement
· Distancing
· Pivots
· Blocks
· Bobbing and Weaving
· Slips

And condition your fists for impact and accuracy.

If you’re training for self protection purposes then this is the right tool for you, it will turn you into a very dangerous street fighter.


The Maize Bag
And that powerful piece of boxing equipment was called the “Maize Bag”.

Some today call it the “slip bag”, but if you think that’s all it’s good for, then you’re making a terrible mistake.

This one misconception is what made it almost disappear from the fight game in the first place.

More than any other boxer, when you think of the maize or slip bag you picture Mike Tyson using it to develop his head movement.

It made him a very elusive and dangerous fighter, but this is just one aspect of the maize bag.


How to Make a Maize Bag
To make a maize bag simply use an old large leather speed bag and fill it with corn, beans or sand.

If you don’t have a speed bag get yourself a canvas coin bag, the kind the banks use to transfer coins in.

If you ask politely your bank teller may give you the used ones for free.

Then all you need to do is fill a zip-lock freezer bag with sand and seal it with duct tape and slip it into another zip-lock bag seal it with duct tape then slip it into the canvas coin bag.

The bag will weigh about 15lbs. which is all you will need, but you can fill it with beans or corn instead which will have more give than the sand.

You can also use an old Swiss ball by cutting it in half and putting about 15 to 16 pounds of sand in it, then gather it up and use two to three plastic wire ties to zip tie it, then use duct tape to keep the excess material wrapped together.

You’ll be able to make two maize bags with one Swiss ball.

Next take your maize bag and hang it by some nylon cord so that it hangs no lower than the level of your chin.

Try to hang it from a high ceiling, the higher it is the more it will swing, just make sure that it hangs at about chin height.


How to Use the Maize Bag
Okay, now you’re ready to use your maize bag, but how do you use it? Good question.

Start by swinging the bag and avoid getting hit by it using footwork to get out of the way of the swinging bag.

You or your training partner can push the bag to keep it swinging as you train your footwork, just make sure to stay as close to the bag as you can.

In a real fight if you move too far from your opponents strike you may get set up for a knock out shot, also you won’t be able to counter his strikes as you’ll be too far away.

Practice your shuffle steps, lateral steps, pivots, drop steps or body shifts as you avoid the maize bag.

Bob and weave, slip left and right, duck and parry the bag as you move around.

Do this for a few rounds to develop your footwork and body movement.

We call this dancing with the bag.


Blocks and Shrugs
Next add your blocks, shrugs and deflections to your movements.

And finally start punching it, elbowing it, using your forearms, palm heel strikes, hammer fists and even try head butting and shoulder butting the bag.

All the while making sure you are moving around as you strike, block and avoid the maize bag.

You will find in a few training sessions that your footwork and movement will improve dramatically, not to mention your striking ability.

If you strike the bag bare fisted, which I recommend, you will find that the best way to strike it is with a vertical or diagonal fist.

No hooks or horizontal punches they don’t work to well bareknuckled and can cause serious damage to your hands in a street fight.

Better to use arc punches instead of hooks, striking with the back knuckles of the fist.

Striking the maize bag barefisted will teach you what wearing wraps and gloves wont, and that is which punches work best and are safest for your hands to strike with.

So start using this valuable piece of boxing equipment and you’ll be a-maize-d at how well it teaches you to become a dangerous fighter, whether in the street or in the ring.

Hit and move with purpose using the maize bag, you’ll be glad you did.


Daniel Sambrano
http://www.superherosystems.com/

Speed kills... the other guy in the world of muay thai

"The stronger swordsman does not necessarily win. It is speed! Speed of hand, speed of mind."

That's one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite stories, The Count of Monte Cristo. It is a common belief that power and size go hand in hand. Well that's bad news for a guy like me. See, I'm  5 foot six, a hundred and forty-something pounds - a self professed little guy.  I'm certainly not big, and I don't want to be big. I never had big muscles. In fact, growing up I had the metabolism of a squirrel. I tried bulking up, but my body just burned off every type of protein muscle-max weight gain product I could blow my allowance on. When I started training muay thai, I was hoping that this high impact martial art would get me yolked.

Nope.

But us little guys have a strength that a lot of the bigger guys disregard - speed. I think speed is a defense mechanism that you develop when you're being chased by bullies as a little kid. When that speed is used for fight instead of flight, bullies become a non-issue

I've noticed that during the course of their training a lot of western muay thai and MMA practitioners tend to develop the mind set that the more weight one can push the harder one can strike. Not necessarily so. Strength gives you the ability to move mass, but does it enable you to cause more damage to that mass than a person 2/3 your size?

When it comes to striking, speed is king. Developing the ability to throw with explosive speed can give a person a small as myself the ability to generate devastating power. Its simple bio-mechanics, nothing mystical. When you understand that the faster you can throw a strike in a smaller period of time, and get your body into it, your opponent is in a world of hurt.

Here's a couple quick tips to help you develop explosive power with your strikes:

1. Basic physics - your mass x acceleration = force. Don't throw punches with your arm, throw it with your body. Drive forward with your strikes, punch through your target.

2. Pivot in, pivot out - The pivot is one of the most important aspects of the muay thai round kick. If you throw a kick at 20mph, bring your leg back at 25mph, and bring it back with that pivot.

3. The faster you can pivot, the harder you can strike - this applies to elbows, round kicks, hooks.

4. Commit 100% to the strike at that moment, don't worry about counter strikes because if you're training right, you wouldn't depend on a one-shot knock out. You throw at least 3-5 in a single combo.

5. If you're like me you don't train muay thai for sport, but for protection. You can't get disqualified from a street fight, so when you strike you aim for soft targets, and you attack with everything behind it.

6. Most important tip ever! When you're learning a technique, throw it slow until you are comfortable with moving your body that way. Build the speed at your own pace, the power will increase as your speed increases. You aren't going to impress anyone firing off a half ass technique with no power.

Does MMA help or hurt muay thai?

I think I've made my opinion on the use of muay thai in mixed martial arts abundantly clear, but I want to hear from you, my readers.

Perhaps I'm a purest, or perhaps its the blatant lack of actual muay thai technique used in UFC fights that has forged my opinion. Perhaps its because I believe that combat sports is an oxymoron and every time I see a TapOut t-shirt I equate it to little penis syndrome.

Most MMA fights bore me with their predictable series of half ass leg kick, a couple of wild punches, someone shoots in and it goes to the ground, hooray. Yes, there are effective stand up fighters like Anderson Silva who are proficient at muay thai, but fighters like him are few and far between.

I want your opinion. Take the poll to the right of this article or leave your comment and elaborate on what you think. Has MMA, UFC, modern StrikeForce (they used to use ISKA rules) helped bring credibility to muay thai, or is it misrepresenting a martial art with watered down techniques or lack of focus on its training? You decide.

Where can you train old style muay thai in the U.S.?

"Is there a gym that teaches old style muay thai in _____ (insert city)?" I receive emails almost everyday that asks me that question. And I more often times than not have a very hard time answering that very question myself.

When someone asks me this I do leg work. I'll go online and research the area that my reader is from. I've researched muay thai gyms from Philadelphia, to Tampa, to Austin to Spokane. Yet, there are really only a handful of individuals in North America (I know of) who have training in the older systems of muay thai.

Since Tony Jaa brought muay boran into the mainstream with his movies Ong Bak, and the Protector, I've seen a huge spike in interest in the older systems. But what I've seen, at least here in the U.S. is the same techniques from the same choreographed muay boran demo that's been on YouTube for years. And trust me, you'll begin to see the mega gyms like Fairtex, Tiger Muay Thai, and probably even UFC gym cash in with muay boran programs where you'll learn to "fight like Tony Jaa."  Join now and receive a FREE TapOut t-shirt for only $35.00 - no, sir, you get the shirt for free when you pay me $35 dollars. But wait, there's more!

My readers, who I appreciate so damn much,  I need your help. If you have encountered, or trained at a gym that uses muay thai as its base, but trains for the street, or a school that trains specifically in muay boran, muay chaiya, muay chao cherk, lerdrit, or krabi krabong - and does not offer MMA or BJJ classes as well - let me know! Even if you know a hidden gem that's old school in how they train, where they don't have walls covered with pictures of the school owner hobnobbing with celebrities, where they don't try to sell you a  120cc bottle of Thai liniment for $30. Those are the schools I'm looking for. Let's find 'em, and give them the publicity they probably hate, but deserve!

Either leave a comment on this post, or send me a note at donnie (at) oldstylemuaythai dot com.  Let's help each other find the dream gyms we know are out there.

I'll start with the gym I teach at - Muay Thai Academy International - Santa Clara, CA http://www.militarymuaythai.com - no nonsense combat training based on the older styles of muay thai.

Power Solves Problems Fast : Especially in a Streetfight

In a streetfight you have about a three to eight second window of opportunity to finish your opponent and get away before it becomes more dangerous for you.

After the window of opportunity is closed anything can happen and it’s usually not very good.

You can both end up on the ground, more than one adversary can appear, weapons can be drawn against you, and your energy will be severely drained.

So why would you be throwing love taps at your attacker when he is totally
committed to ripping your head from your shoulders and kicking it down the street.

There is no reason why anybody should be sparring with their adversary when in a streetfight.

That’s why I tell people to have intent when they train in the gym or dojo, spar like you’re in a streetfight, and not like you’re in a cardio boxing class.

Hit the heavy bag, and focus mitts like you mean it, don’t just go through the motions, fight!

Don’t stand there in front of the heavy bag or whatever you’re striking and throw punches at it, move!!! Put some reality into your training.

You think your attacker is just going to stand there and take your best shot and not do anything about it until you’re done throwing your ultimate knock out punching combination.

GET REAL AND START TRAINING LIKE YOU MEAN IT!!!

One thing you need to start doing is increase the power of your strikes when you hit.

You need to start putting your weight behind your punches to deliver true power punches.

Don’t get caught up throwing jab after jab thinking that will keep your attacker at bay while you set him up with your cross to knock him out, cause it ain’t gonna happen.

Hard stiff power punches will win you the day and keep you safe in a fight.

You won’t have time to throw those light fluffy set up punches you’re use to throwing in the gym.

You’ve got to come in hard with both fists and moving thru your opponent with your strikes.

You must be unrelenting as you fight your adversary.

With power you can dictate how the fight is going to go. With power your punches can literally knock the fight right out of your adversary.

You will be able to anchor your opponent in place with your power shots long enough to hit him with another punch with your other fist.

Another thing you’ll be able to do with your power punch is keep him off balanced and unable to retaliate as you continue to deliver your strikes.

Also with power you can demoralize a multiple opponent attack by taking out one or two attackers quickly.

After that the rest just might not want to be the next one to go down hard and fast on the pavement.

If you fight someone who has a weapon, he may not be able to deploy it quick enough before you catch him with a power strike.

And if he does deploy it, your strikes may be more than enough to knock it out of his hands or knock him out or both.

So now you have plenty of reasons to fight with power both in the street and in the gym.

Train to unleash your power with either hand and from whatever position or angle you find yourself in and don’t settle for anything less.

Striking powerfully with every punch you throw in a streetfight starts in the gym or dojo, the way you train is the way you will fight so you better have power in abundance.

I hope I have opened your eyes as to why you need to work on developing your power for a serious streetfight.

So train hard with intensity, power and reality, and never forget a streetfight is not a sparring match.

And remember if you find yourself in a serious street confrontation, power can solve that problem quickly.

Daniel Sambrano
http://www.superherosystems.com/

13 Reasons Why Batman is the Greatest of Super Heroes

1. Batman is human and has the same weaknesses as we do, so he must be vigilant at all times and never let up his guard.
2. Batman has no “Super Powers” so he must rely on his martial skills and physical conditioning.
3. Batman uses technology to help him in his crusade against crime.
4. Batman uses his mind and his instincts to out smart his adversaries.
5. Batman’s true strength lies within himself.
6. The name of the Dark Avenger sends chills down the spines of his adversaries. He is to be feared by those that do evil.
7. He does not give up!
8. He is relentless!
9. He learns from his mistakes and does not repeat them.
10. He knows his strengths and limitations and also his enemy’s.
11. He is confident and sure under pressure.
12. He has fear but is in control of it and does not show it.
13. He is a man who is mortal, and both he and his enemies know this.

Many will read this and say that Superman is the Greatest Super Hero of all times.

I would strongly disagree for you see Superman is invincible his only weakness is kryptonite, he has Super Powers, he can fly, move at the speed of light, has inhuman strength, super hearing and heat vision.

He has no fear of death for he is not of this world, but put him back on his world and things would change very quickly.

He would be average stripped of his powers, nothing special just an “Average Joe”.

His strength would be normal, he wouldn’t be able to fly or move at the speed of light.

His hearing and his vision would be like everyone else on his planet. And most importantly he would be mortal and vulnerable to injury and death.

What Superman takes for granted on earth would be a detriment on his planet.

Batman on the other hand became a Super Hero the hard way he trained himself to be one.

And this is why Batman makes it to the top of the list every time.

So the next time you find yourself in deep trouble, don’t just pray for a Super Hero, become one just like Batman.


Daniel Sambrano
http://www.superherosystems.com/

What's your martial arts motivation?

I've been pondering that question a lot lately. What motivates me to continue training and teaching? What keeps me coming into the gym 3 to 4 times a week to teach muay thai to people, many I hardly know.

With 10 years of marketing experience you'd think I'd have been monetizing the crap out of the current MMA / muay thai craze, but I haven't. The google ad revenue from this blog covers the hosting fees for my domains. I haven't tried to sell DVD courses, and I haven't tried to start a clothing line like a lot of other people. Maybe I should.

Logically, money should be major motivator. However, every week I keep coming back to the Muay Thai Academy International where all of us instructors teach for free. Muay thai is a part of who I am, the school is my Cheers, and I'm it's Norm.

I love the feeling of satisfaction when a concept 'clicks' for a student whose been struggling with a certain technique, or the beam in a new student's eye when I show him something he's never seen before.

I love sharing what I've learned from my experiences with others. If I can find a way to make a living off of it, bonus. But my passion for the unique style of combat oriented muay thai is what truly motivates me to give what I can to who I can, without hesitation.

Boiled down: Enabling people to protect themselves and their loved ones from multiple assailants without reservation, efficiently, through overwhelming, destructive force is my motivation - and perhaps my mission statement.

Enough self-serving banter from me. I challenge you to examine your training and explore the internal drivers that motivate you. I encourage you to look beyond the ego and really be honest with yourself as to why you're doing what you're doing. You may be surprised with what you find out about yourself.