Ryu, Training Arc, Muay thai episode 2

“Right Ryu that was great you are a fast learner next we can move on till Ka Jig Khai that is basically a Straight left this is a great kind of punch it can be used for attack, defence and escape its a real basic move now what you want to do is twist your hips so that you are throwing the punch from your shoulder this will give it move force because the power will be driven from your legs, your body, and your shoulders rather than just your arm. Now the area you want to throw this punch to the face and try to the eyes, nose or chin with your knuckles preferably with your first two the ones on your index and middle fingers. Now you have to be careful with this punch as if you miss or flexible enough to move away you can get hit with a right knee to your left rib because it will be exposed as your elbow wont be covering your ribs when your punching.”

“Right so now that I've told you all of this its time to give it a go we are going to do ten shadow punches that's basically punching the air but just take it slow and light it more about technique than power at this stage ” After taking all of the information in Ryu got back into his stance placing his left foot forward and his right one at ninety degrees then raising his hands to guard himself, then he throw his first punch twisting his left hip forward to add power to the technique his arm extended twisting his arm as it extended to also add more power. His arm extended at about twenty-five percent speed and would have hit somebody in the face with his index and middle knuckles.

“That was great Ryu now just nine more” Again Ryu threw four more punches. “fantastic Ryu the only advice I would give you is to use your hip more, now I think you should throw the punch and then more to see how that goes”. Ryu again threw the punch twisting his hip, shoulder and arm after it had fully extended Ryu pulled it back and moved his lead leg left then dragged his right leg. As soon as his right foot stopped another left punch was fired of,, ripping through the air as the fist rotated as it stopped it was pulled back quickly to protect Ryu's body the elbow tucked in the fist covering the face and guarding the chin for a blow to the chin could end a fight. Ryu threw of another three punches.

“Fantastic Ryu the punches were perfect you have great form, now lets try some punches on the bag if all goes well we can move on to the next technique I think we can try a elbow but back to the task at hand five punches on this bag at full power” Ryu moved over to the boxing bag it was a fairly large bag coloured a bright green and orange around the top it had a picture of a body drawn on it although it looked like the work of a child. Ryu postured up and throw his first punch, twisting his hips and shoulders as well as his arm adding more power to the punch, their was a large noise as the punch connected and the bag swayed backwards and then forwards towards Ryu but he had already pulled his arm back and move to the right, the balls of his feet firm on the cold mat. The bag moved back and was struck again the punch hit the bag firmly at chin hight sending it swinging again. This time Ryu moved to the left twisting his hips striking with deadly accuracy this punch was move powerful than the others Ryu could tell the sound was louder the bag moved further back.

“I’m quite surprised Ryu that one had a lot of power behind it for the last two punches I will hold the bag so you can hit it better” Ben moved behind the bag pressing his shoulder to it and placing his hands on it. Ryu threw another of the punches his left hand ripped though the air in a fraction of a second it hit the bag hard, moving Ben back a step or two. Sweat was now dripping from Ryu's head but he pressed on this would be the final punch. With his guard still up protecting himself Ryu pulled his left hip back slightly and then he exploded, his left hip then whipped forward his shoulder rotated throwing his arm at the bag his arm twisted mid-extension adding yet more force. The bag moved almost knocking him off his feet from the combination of perfect technique, speed and his muscular power. “Woah, that's quite quite the punch you have their Ryu great technique and a good amount of power”

“Right now we are going to do the uppercut this is a punch you would use at close range, almost exclusively used with the strong hand. Try to develop this punch on the tear-drop type bag. In a quarter past twelve stance, drop the right shoulder, then drive upwards explosively with the hips as you punch upward in an almost vertical plane. The left hand is pulled in to the side of the head to guard against a counter. The punch should travel less that twelve inch and the hand should return rapidly to the defensive position after contact; do not feel tempted to travel higher than the target, or to start your hand from a low position as if you did you will end up throwing a poor version of a bolo punch, which would be inadvisable at this stage. Whilst landing the blow your palm should be facing you. This punch is a very dangerous one because its hard to see it coming if you throw it correctly and can knock people out easily. So now we are going to give it ago and then we will move on to the tear-drop bag okay then lets make a start”

Ryu adjusted himself getting himself in to the quarter past twelve stance keeping his hand guarding his face. Then he dropped his right shoulder and drove his fist up powerfully using the power from his hip. His hand travelled almost a foot vertically up he remembered to move his left hand up to the side of his head to protect himself. When his arm reached the full extension the inside of his glove was facing him. He then whipped his arm back to his normal Muay Thai stance.

“that was great Ryu another two and then we will move on to the bag” Ryu quickly preformed two more uppercuts and then was led over to the tear-drop bag “Right then Ryu this is the tear-drop bag its useful to improve hooks and uppercuts, these tend to come with different types of fillings. We have the smaller type it calls for more speed and accuracy of close-range punches. So fire of a few on this and we will move on to more physical exercise”

Ryu lined himself his lead foot was pointing forward towards the bag it was a few inches to the side of it his left foot was at ninety degrees pointing out parallel to the bag. Ryu eyed the bag up it was a small thing as the name implied tear-drop shaped, after a quite bash of his gloves together Ryu had gained his composer and was ready to hit the bag. He dropped his right shoulder and the launched it almost vertically up with deadly accurately it collided with the bag after it was extended about ten inches but when Ryu was done punching throw it his arm was extended by about eleven inches. His left arm had be moved to guard against any incoming shoots that could be thrown he quickly retracted his arm back to the normal position and took two steps to the left dragging his rear foot after them he the fired off a few more upper cuts in a similar manner moving each time until he was stopped my Ben “Right that was grate now we are going to move on to something else its called crunch and punch its more physically demanding so I'm looking for it to test your abilities both mentally and physically” they both moved away from the bag into the centre of the room

“right this is called crunch and punch the striker that's you, starts by lying in a pre-crunch position, with the standing pad-holder that’s me treading lightly on your toes. After a predetermined number of abs crunches, you leap to your feet and throws a rapid burst of punches. We are going to start with ten crunches and ten punches for three sets. The punches will be the uppercut just like we have practised okay”

Ryu got down on to the cold mat and Ben stood on his feet. Ryu started to preform the crunches with his arms in front of him looking at the roof of the gym he curled his shoulders towards his pelvis. With in a matter of moments Ryu had done the ten crunches and jumped to his feet making sure to have his feet in the correct position then he dropped his shoulder and launched his hand in to the outstretched pad the vertical motion had enough force to move Ben hand up at least two inches. Ryu quickly retracted his hand back to it defensive position and then fired other another punch much in the same manor that he had done a few moments before. This time around Ben's hand didn't move as much as he must have been more prepared for the blow. Ryu continued up to ten punches with Ben calling the number out each time. In the end Ryu did three sets back to back before Ben stopped him “you in quite good shape aren’t you” as he looked at Ryu would didn't even seem tried in the slightest due to his life of training.

“now we are going to do the Wanorn Hak Dan which is a transverse punch it is basically a hook now the left hook is more commonly used than the right, usually because it is attempted from the side, to get over, or under, the defensive right hand; trying to hook over the extended left lead is extremely difficult, and the right hook is more commonly a follow-up to a successful left hook, or a body shot that has slipped under a jab. To launch the hook, shift your weight to the side you intend to hit from, turning the hip and shoulder to that side. Your arm is bent at the elbow, at about ninety degrees. The other hand is pulled close to the head for protection. By rapidly raising the heel and pivoting the hip of the hitting side simultaneously, make a violent turn and slam the hand against the target with the upper knuckles leading leading, and the thumb on contact. The instant after hitting, whip the hand back to the defensive position. Your feet are in the twenty past twelve position for the jab and straight right, but for the hook try a minimal change of stance, to a quarter past twelve, in order to allow your hip to turn more easily and rapidly. Okay now lets give it a go”

Ryu moved his feet in to the quarter past twelve position his hand protecting his chin, elbows pulled in tight to protect his ribs. Ryu began to turn his shoulder and hip to the left side shifting his weight on to the left side of his body. Then he threw his arm in from the side it was bent at the elbow making a right angle, he pulled his left arm close to his head for protection from a counter-attack, he raised his heel at a high speed and pivoted his hip extending the punch out in the air making it turn into what would have hit somebody in the face from the side with the index and middle finger knuckles. He then proceeded to throw a few more punches in a similar manor until he was stopped by Ben “that’s great, fantastic Ryu now to give it a go on a bag we are going to use a light bag” Ryu was lead to a black and red bag made of leather.

“Right Ryu this is the light bag its used for fast-punching combinations, it will have a generous swing which will encourage you to change your angle to avoid the bag and hit it while it is still on the move. Don't put your hands out to steady it between hits; try to control it as you would an opponent. To stop it dead, hit it hard as it swings directly towards you. Try fast-hitting two minute rounds with a minute break in between. Make sure to move and work the bag with that hook, okay lets get started”

Ryu positioned himself how he had done before with his lead foot point forward a few inches to the side of the bag and his rear foot pointing ninety degrees together they formed a right angle. Ryu hit his glove together a few times and let off two quick jabs to the bag to compose himself. He shifted his weight to the left pulling back his hip and shoulder then he pulled his lead foot up to the ball and release the energy twisting his hip forward releasing the punch at the bag. The punch cut few the air at a tremendous speed, his arm bent at the elbow to ninety degrees. The punch made contact sending the bag flying backwards with a large swing, as it came back towards him another hook was fired quickly into the bag stopping it in its tracks for a moment before once again a hook hit it and Ryu darted to the side. This Dodging and punches pulverised the bag after five minutes of none stop action Ben stopped Ryu to move him on to a different exercise “Right then once again that was perfect, we are going to do some more pad work now this is called slap and turn” Ryu was led into the middle of the room again and Ben put the pads back on

“Right slap and turn is pretty simple the striker faces away from the pad-holder, who then slaps him on the back. At this signal the striker spins around and responds to the angle of the proffered pads as to whether to jab, hook, cross etc. as required. This is best done to a time limit, say one or two minutes to start with. Do you understand so you stand looking away from me then I'm going to slap you on the back then you turn around and hit the pad in what ever way I'm holding it in this case its going to be hook every time okay”

Ryu got ready waiting on the balls of his feet so that he could react as soon as Ben hit him ready to turn around and blast the pad with a hook. Their was a tap on Ryu's right shoulder he span around his lead leg pointing at Ben his rear one parallel to him with in a fraction of a second the hook was fired off as Ryu raised his foot and twist his hip the arm shoot of flying towards the pad it was bent like how he was shown to do it the left arm covering the chin and ribs. The attack hit the pad as Ryu struck though it and as soon as it had hit it was gone, pulled back to Ryu to guard him and spun around waiting for the next time he needed to turn.

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Suddenly he exploded of his rear foot twisting his hips and shoulders towards the target as his punch extended it twisted to additional power to the blow, his punch was aimed downwards ever so slightly so that the index and middle knuckle would make contact first as they are the strongest part of the hand. His hips were behind his shoulders as he stood upright, he did this to stop himself from going of balance and less chance of a counter-attack. The power for the attack came up through his legs, core and arms to the bag making it a very powerful punch when it make contact with the bag. Even though the punch hit it kept on going as he punched though the bag, it swayed backwards with a large noise before swinging back to wards Ryu. He quickly whipped his outstretched arm back to his chin and positioned it so it could also protect his ribs then moved to the left of it. A similar kind of thing happened for the next five minutes with Ryu dancing around the bag hitting it with shot after shot.“Right Ryu now we move on to some thing called circling the pad you just go to the centre of the room whist I set it up”

Ryu walled over and simply watched a Ben placed a pad down in the middle of the floor. “next we are going to do a drill called circling the pad I've put a focus pad on the floor and we will start out by facing each other a few feet apart. Then we are going to move around the pad, shadow-boxing as you go, I'm going to force you to retreat in a circular direction. I will switch direction frequently and we are going to take turns at being the instigator of the movement. Now when your moving around I want to see you working that straight right, keep it nice and light but a good few times. Okay lets go

Ryu positioned himself close to the pad probably a few feet between his lead foot and Ben's. His arms where up in his guard protecting his ribs and head ready to block any attack in a instants notice. His eyes locked on to Ben's upper abdomen ready for him to move. Ben started circling around in a clockwise direction and Ryu quickly responded keeping the distance between them the same, and firing off a right hand his hips twisted as did his shoulders the punch span though the air, if ever person had been a foot forward the punch would have hit Ben clean on the chin with the index and middle knuckles. Moving clockwise and anticlockwise the two moved as Ryu threw of many of his right punches. Until it was time to change and it was Ryu trying to catch Ben, it seemed as if Ryu was enjoying this training and the whole of the Muay Thai work out had help him to bond with Ben and possibility other people in the future. It had certainly made him need a shower because he was covered in a layer of sweat, parts of his hair where even wet with it.

(18/30)
“Next we will move on to the speed ball that's the little one in the left corner of the room” Ryu is lead over to the corner and Ben starts to explain it to him “ The Speed ball is a tear-drop shaped ball with a wooden platform mounted above as you can see. Its very good for endurance as you have both hands punching continuously. It also encourages hand and foot co-ordination. Its not always popular hence we only have the one bag the reason, is punches are made in an unrealistic rolling fashion, and the noise they make is incredible. Its unsuitable for home use because of the amount of noise it makes so we thought that we would up at least one in the gym and if it got popular add more later but as it turns out it didn't. Now look at the design of the bag I'm not talking about it being bright red, I'm talking more about the design as you can see its a tear drop shape so this is going to effect how you hit it.”

“First of all you want to adjust the bag so that its the right high for you, I'm going to do this for you but for future reference you just pull the pin out of the back of the board and move it up or down so that the flattest part of the ball if about mouth hight this is for a fairly obvious reason that if the bag is the wrong hight it will give you poor technique. After that your going to want to get in your standard stance for bag work just the ten past twelve or quarter past just what ever feels better to you personally, I prefer to do this with my lead foot and rear foot forming about a sixty degree angle. You want to keep your shoulders square with the bag and your feet about shoulder length apart. Your arms only going to extend a couple of inches so you want to be pretty close but not so much that the bag will hit you in the face because that would just make you look silly” Ben then done as he had explained lining the bag up at the correct hight for him and getting into his stance

“After that its almost time to hit the bag, you just need to position your arms and your good to go your going to what to hold your fists up at chin level, like normal but for this bag your going to raise your elbows up so that they are almost parallel to the ground. Your arms should be bent in at about 90 degrees. Now we are good to make the first hit on the bag to do this make a front circle punch by extended one fist to punch the bag lightly. You should be able to extend your fist straight out or just slightly up to strike the belly of the bag that's the part that we lined up with your mouth. you want to make contact with the bag with the side of your hand so that little finger makes contact you want to keep the movement going by immediately circle your fist back to the start position. The circle should be a small one as it saves time and stops the hand from dropping to low.”

“Now is the important part the speed bag can only be hit on a odd number of rebounds, so if you try it on a even you will miss it. Now when I say rebounds it means every time it bounces off the wooden platform so when it goes back from your punch that's number one, when it comes forward that's number two, when t goes back again that number three and it goes on and one as you hit the ball faster you wouldn't be able to see it any more so you will have to relies on the sound as I said before it makes a lot of noise so it will be easy to hear” Ben then hit the ball a few times to prove his point about the noise level”

“Strike the bag after the third rebound, as the bag is returning toward you. You should make contact with the bag while it is still tilted away from, ideally when it is tilted at about a 45-degree angle from the board. This punch restarts your 1-2-3 count and every third punch you want to swap hands you would keep on going for a few rounds”

(28/30)
((lol cool))

Ryu positioned himself with the bag as Ben adjusted bag to the correct hight his lead foot pointing directly forward, his rear foot pointing out forming a sixty degree angle. He was positioned up on the balls of his feet with his hands covering his chin and his elbows raised up to a parallel with the floor. His body was at range that was close enough to hit the bag but to far for it to hit him on the rebound. Ryu fired of his right hand hitting the bag forcing it to bounce off the back then the front, again he struck it increasing the speed at which he hit the bag, the 'tar tat tat' sound ringing out though the gym as it was hit more and more times by this basic combination of one two three , three times then swap hands and repeat with the other. By this point the bag was practically a blur the only way of timing it was from the loud noise emanating from the ball as striking the wooden board.

To mix things up at bit Ryu decided to change what he was doing after a good five minutes of work. To a different sequence from the three on one hand, swapping to a hit for each hand so that after a three count on one hand he would swap to the other hand. The bag seemed to speed up with this new form and as Ben didn't seem to disprove of this new technique he carried on the sound of the bag radiating around the room making a rhythm for everybody else to follow it sounded like a old fashioned train chugging down a track, as the red blur bounced repeatedly from front to back its speed gradually increasing. Until at least twenty minutes had gone by. Ben had just been standing in awe at the rate Ryu was learning the techniques although it was properly only naturally due to his harse life that was full of fighting whether it be hand to hand or weapon based

(0/10)

“Now I'm going to teach you Prakan Perd Lok which is basically a right uppercut were you have to take a pace towards the target and then proceed to deliver a right uppercut to the other person preferable to their chin. This move is above all used for defence or escape its not that great of a offensive move you see. You can throw an uppercut with either hand, but it should be thrown from the inside which you learned before the reason being that if the punch is thrown from the outside, you will become vulnerable to counter-attacks and the move can easily be stopped by your opponent since this mistake will give enough time for your opponent to defend or attack as you throw your hand back to gain force. So now for the technique”

“just ten punches and we will move on okay Ryu” Ryu arranged his feet in to his stance his lead foot facing forward with his rear foot forming a right angle, he was raised on the balls of his feet. His hands up in his guard, elbows close in to protect the ribs and hands close to the chin to protect it, his chin was tucked in a shoulder high, eyes fixed on what would be his targets upper abdomen. He took a deep breath though his nose and then stepped forward, at the same time he dropped his right shoulder and drove his glove up hard using the explosive power from his hip and the step forward. His hand travelled about eleven inches vertically up, his left hand up guarding the side of his head to protect himself. When his arm reached the full extension the inside of his glove was facing him. He then retraced his arm back to his original stance. He when one to launch nine more punches, Ben then stopped him to talk about the proper way to defend and counter-attack if somebody attacked him using this techniques.

“now the defence against this technique is fairly basic use your left hand to create a sweeping motion and wipe the opponent’s arm down. Your head can also be leaned back to stay away from the approaching uppercut. The reason this works is that the attacking arm is moved out of the way leaving them with out a weapon. The counter attack two this technique is open to two different methods the first use your left foot to hit the boxer on the abdomen with a kick called a teep. The second method is that you throw your elbow at the opponent’s face. If the attacker is left-handed, then the attacking and countering moves should be one in reverse. The reason for the counter attack working is that the teep will make the opponent out of range to attack with punches, the elbow works because you can close the range not giving the opponent enough range to successfully land the attack”

“right then as a example I want you to attack me with the move and I will defend against it” Again Ryu arranged his feet to get in to his stance the lead foot facing forward towards Ben his rear one pointing out parallel to him, he was raised on the balls of his feet for more moveability. His fists were up in his guard, elbows tucked in protecting his chin and ribs, his chin was as all ways tucked in a shoulder high, his eyes were fixed on Ben's upper abdomen so he could see any attack coming at him. He stepped forward, at the same time he dropped his right shoulder then drove his glove up towards Ben's chin. As he was doing this Ben's left hand made a sweeping motion knocking Ryu's upper cut out of the way he also adjusted his head so that if he had missed Ryu's hands they would be a good chance that he would still miss the punch

“Time to learn Intra Kwang Jak its basically a punch were you step into it to add more range this punch is a universal one like most moves in Muay Thai meaning that you can use it for attack, defence or also escape. It a particularly helpful technique when there is a good distance between the you and your opponent. When we do this punch we are going to target the blow to the targets neck and as a consequence its best used when the neck area is left open and vulnerable such as when the opponent if using a left hook. When do in this move, you need to hold up your right fist in front of you like you would in your normal stance, as soon as you release the punch and it begins to twist make a launch yourself forward off your right foot this adds the long-range element as well as power. The downward hit is then delivered strike into the opponent’s neck or chin from the right.”

“Right then ten of the moves and then we will move on” Ryu positioned his feet in the ten past twelve position, his lead foot pointing forward and his rear foot pointing slightly more forward than normal making a sixty degree angle between them. He then positioned his hand to defend his chin and rib, by pressing his elbows close to his ribs. He pushed off his rear foot and pivoted his hip and shoulder towards his target his arm shot out straight it was aimed downwards, his body relaxed, shoulders slightly over his hips. The left side of his body remained almost the same apart from the movement forward his hand still protecting his chin which was tucked in as always. His eyes were looked to wear his opponent’s upper abdomen would be so that he could counter-attack if anything was to come his way.

His arm cut thought the air as it twisted. By the time the arm had full extend and his movement forward had stopped the palm of his hand was facing down and the shoulders were still in front of the hips which would channel power from his feet up to his punch. The arm was rapidly pulled back to cover the chin and exposed the ribs. He moved his rear leg to the back and slide his lead foot after it. He would then proceed to launch of nine more punches until he was stopped by Ben. “Fantastic work Ryu your a natural now I'm just going to run though the basics of the defence and counter-attacks” Ben handed Ryu a light blue towel to mop the sweat from his face he did so placing the now damp towel on the windowsill next to his bottle “thanks for the towel and all the help you have been giving me Ben” he would get a laugh as a response showing that Ryu was welcome

“The best way in my opinion to block this attack is with a quick movement. You can prevent the long punch by moving your straight left arm above your head and then swing your arm to sweep your opponent’s right arm away. The reason for this is that it will knock their punching arm down and off target leaving them with out a attack. The counter-attack is also fairly simple, vigorously fling a left roundhouse kick, targeting the opponent’s spine. If the Intra Kwang Jak is thrown with a straightened left arm, make a roundhouse kick with your right leg, this time aiming for the left rib. The reason that the counter-attack works is that a kick has a longer range than a punch does and the blow will cause the opponent to be knocked of balance and the attack stopped”

Learned.