How is pad work normally done in the west, for begining MT students?

[sportmuaythai]

Not much is asked about pad work on this board, and I wonder how is pad work normally done in western countries. Is it done by instructor, or do students take turn in being pad man for fellow students in the same session? Do you do routine like TKD? That is the instructor holds the pad while students line up to take turn at striking the pad?

[Garland]

Parter up for rounds, and/or rounds with the coach.

[bigred389]

Same here, partner up, switch off.

[sportmuaythai]

Thanks for very prompt replies. When holding pad for partnering student, how do you do it? Is it for repetitive executions like kicks only then punch only?

[Garland]

Thanks for very prompt replies. When holding pad for partnering student, how do you do it? Is it for repetitive executions like kicks only then punch only?

It depends, in the TBA-
usually it's a series of set combinations called out by the pad holder, like the TBA counts, or x # of a particulat technique. It's the same as it would be for just boxing (i.e. tripple jab, bob and wave, corner, double hook, etc), instead something like the pad holder will jab, then you knee, upper right elbow, left horizontal elbow, grab feeder's cross and knee, hook, cross, hook, right kick, left kick.

At another gym I trained in- four would be four swift straight punches, followed by kicks...the feeder would kick low, shield or step back, then follow up with kicks. At the end of the round, finish up with lots o' knees. (TBA guys will finish the round's with like 30 or so seconds of skip or curve knees too.)

[jeff5]

Usually our instructor tells/demonstrates the combo that he wants us to do. Then we partner up, one person holds, other hits. Holder may hold for 3-5 rounds, then we switch. What's also communicated to us is that pad holding and feeding is an art in and of itself, and good pad holding skills are worked and essential to not only helping your partner, but also helping you in your training as well.

[bigred389]

I'd also say it really depends on the goal of that session.

Repetition to kicks/knees or punches/elbows only isn't a bad way to get warmed up, physically and mentally.

Really depends on what you want. Mindless repetition is good at getting the muscles into "the groove" and isolating form for the instructor to observe.

But later on you'll probably want to do some more interactive pad holding, like counter work.

[bigred389]

Usually our instructor tells/demonstrates the combo that he wants us to do. Then we partner up, one person holds, other hits. Holder may hold for 3-5 rounds, then we switch. What's also communicated to us is that pad holding and feeding is an art in and of itself, and good pad holding skills are worked and essential to not only helping your partner, but also helping you in your training as well.

Yeah, if your pad holder/feeder sucks then you'll end up with mindless repetition. Or they'll be jerks and jam up kicks and punches, which can be useful to train finding range, but is pretty stupid when you're working on isolating the technique. Just something I observed among two beginners recently...one was jamming up the other guy's jabs and roundhouse kicks by constantly stepping into him.

And of course, there's the risk of injury to the pad holder if he/she doesn't know how to hold properly.

[sportmuaythai]

Many thanks for detailed feed backs. BTW I'm very ignorant with the western terms. What is TBA and feeder or feeding?

[bigred389]

TBA = Thai Boxing Association(example http://www.thaiboxing.com/)

Feeding:

If I say "I'll feed" it means I'm going to send a strike at you. Your job then is to respond however the drill is set up. It can be applied many different ways though.

[Khun Kao]

I am not a member of the TBA, but our pad training is very similar. There are numerous different varieties to how we approach pad drills. Most of the time, the students do partner up and take turns holding/striking the pads. There are other times when we do a rotation of some sort where our students alternate between the different bags (standard heavy bag, tear-drop bag, banana bag, speed bag, double-end ball) with one "station" being with the coach in the ring with the Thai pads.

When the students partner up, often the coaches will partner up with a specific student who needs to work on specific skills and needs the personal mentoring, or if there is an odd-man out.