MBH

I have several people I train with thai pads and suitcase pads. I am wondering if anyone knows of a site that provides pictures and/or videos to look at? What I am really interested in is holding for punch and kick combos. I already have a few drills that we use, but would like a lot more ideas. We do not have access to a heavy bag yet, so any suggestions with the hold pads we do have would be of great help for punch/kick/knee combos. Currently, we are doing one or the other(punches/elbows-Kicks/knees), with a few combos from high/low-or-low/high. Holding seems to be the biggest problem for combination training with pad holding equipment. Getting the time right from a punch to a kick while holding seems tough.

retired

Ahh the thai pads....the bringers of pain & hard work, well if you haven't used these before youv'e probablly noticed by now that it ain't as easy as it looks.
So here's a little help:
Punching:
First when you have the pads on, stand in your usual fighting stance and hold the pads up like when you have your guard up with the pads facing your opponent (your knuckles should be facing you) & dont have them to close to your face. (DONT stand square on like a lot of people do as your making it to easy for the fighter & it forces him to have bad techniques).
Because they are staggered he can reach your forward pad easilly but is forced to stretch his rear arm (cross) to reach your rear pad.
Kicking:
From this position just turn slightlly & bring the pads together & lower for a kick & maybe bend your legs for a shorter person (you may find it awkward turning to the one side but this gets easier with time).
When you hold the pads try to bend your arms into the pad like a bananana curving your wrist over & tensing your forearms, and tense your stomach at the moment of impact while breathing out.

If you train properlly on the pads you should get as much workout as hitting them & condition your arms.

Tom Yum

Yup, holding the pads is a form of conditioning as well. It improves your coordination and toughness as some of the impact from strong kickers and punchers will travel through the pads and into your body.

When your partner is punching, check the punch with the opposing hand.

Ex partner throws left jab at your head, you slip to your right and check the punch with your left pad as if you are hitting his left lab with your left pad.

Partner throws right cross at your head, you slip to your left and check the punch with your right pad while hitting his fist with your right pad.

Partner throws left hook, take a tiny step back and bring up the left pad facing the right side and hit his left hook.

Have each group of partners start slowly to get the timing and then work up the pace. Nothing is worse than a limp pad holder, because the pads fly out of their hands and take forever to reset. You hit your partners fist to provide resistance for your partner to work on his power.

MBH

Retired-I have been training for a short time at the fairtex gym in S.F. , CA. I have now since moved out of state and have found only a few options as far as other schools. The heavy bags that Fairtex had were really great for combination training. I am now living in a high rise appartment with no way to put up a heavy bag. I have use of focus/thai/suitcase pad equipment. I would like to implement more kick and punch-or-knee and punch combinations with the type of pads I currently have. If you or anyone could provide me with combination pad holding information that would be great. Thanks for your reply.

retired

Is this pad you refer to like the boxing focus mit pad that is round & covers the hand?

also if your after punch kick combo try a search on this forum as there are loads that people already put up but if you cant find them i'll post them again for you.

retired

Try these on the thai pads:

Front kick, Knee then turning kick (all on same leg).

left jab, right knee, left upper cut, right cross, left hook, right cross, left switch turning kick.

left front kick, right upper cut, left hook, right elbow.

left switch kick, right cross, left hook, right turning kick.

left jab then turn it into left hook, right knee, left elbow defence against his right hook, left switch knee

left front kick, left jab, right cross, left hook, right turning kick

left jab, left hook, right cross, left switch knee.

A good one is if he commits himself to a strong left jab you parry it to your right with your left hand (closing him up) then reach out with your right hand as if crossing but go past the right side of his head (you can get here with an elbow instead) & scoop it around his head (so your thumb is down) then pull the back of his neck towards & down as you stretch your right leg back & drive it back into his face as a knee.

Another nice one is if he throws a big left hook do the elbow tuck defence with your right hand (make sure chin down) & strike his left collar bone with your left hand then where your left hand is on his shoulder just scoop it around his neck as above and pull him down & drive the left switch knee into his face/ribs.

dave_UK_MT

I'm assuming your using pads and not focus mits???

Anyway, a good tip is to start off with simple combos, get your partner to repeat a few times then keep adding bits on, like this :-

Jab
Jab, cross
Jab, cross, left hook
Jab, cross, left hook, right hook
Jab, cross, left hook, right hook, left kick
Jab, cross, left hook, right hook, left kick, left knee
Jab, cross, left hook, right hook, left kick, left knee, elbow

etc etc.

Also do punching/kicking pyramids. These are when you get your partner to throw a 1/2 then do 1/2/3/4 then 1/2/3/4/5/6 all the way up to 12 consecutive punches then back down again to 2 (hope u understood that). With kicks you'd throw 1 right leg then 1 leftleg the 2 right, 2 left, then 3 right then 3 left....up to throwing 10 kicks each side then back down to 1.

Doing the above in the last round toward the end is great way to make sure you've done some work.

Another good one is to throw a kick at your partner he blocks it and fires straight back with a kick from the leg he blocked with. Pad holder should kick with sole of foot though, to prevent injury.

There's loadsa other stuff as well, being a good pad holder takes a lot of practise, something that will come over time.

Hope some of that helps a bit.

Forgot to mention, wearing a body pad and groin gaurd is fairly important if you don't want to get kneed in the bollox when your partner is too tired to hit the pads accurately