Boxing Training with Ben Hudson

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Ben Hudson, long time personal friend of mine, is a top professional boxing trainer and former professional boxer with a career of 49 fights.  Ha has been boxing for over 20 years and training under his guidance is a great experience for both the amount of practical skill and knowledge he manages to pass onto his trainees.

Ben agreed to run a boxing session for CARISMA, on Thurs, 15 January, at Kelsey Kerridge: this session will be based purely on boxing, including pad work, offensive and defensive strategies, so just bring your boxing gloves, hand wraps, trainers and focusing mitts for those who own a pair.

For kickboxers this is a great opportunity to maximize your own boxing skills and, for the most advanced, to refine them with input from a true expert.

Competition in Thurston March 15

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The Combat Kickboxing Academy has recently announced a new Light Contact Continuous competition in Thurston (near Bury St. Edmund) for the 15 March 2009.

All members interested in participating should notify Massimo by Email,  as soon as possible, indicating their weight, date of birth and number of fights to date.  Each participant must be prebooked and he/she will be prematched with opponents of similar weight, ability and experience in order to maximize fairness and the quality of the competition itself.

Please find enclosed the rules (directly copied from the organizer’s letter) that apply:

  • NO SPINNING BACKFIST
  • NO BACKFIST
  • NO TURNING BACKFIST
  • NO DROP SWEEPS
  • NO SPIN SWEEPS
  • NO FACE CONTACT FOR UNDER 16 YEARS OLD (HEADGUARD ONLY)
  • ALL KICKS ABOVE THE WAIST
  • BOOT TO BOOT SWEEPS ONLY
  • NO BELTS TO BE WORN
  • LONG TROUSERS ONLY: NO SHORTS
  • SHIRTS TO BE TUCKED IN
  • GROIN GUARDS TO BE UNDER TROUSERS
  • HEAD GUARDS TO BE WORN BY ALL
  • CORNER STAFF TO BE SEATED, NO LEANING ON THE ROPES
  • ONLY 2 CORNER STAFF
  • NO ADMITTANCE TO FIGHT AREA WITHOUT A PASS: BE READY WHEN YOU ARE CALLED TO FIGHT
  • ALL BAGS TO BE LEFT IN THE WARM UP AREA
  • SHOW GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP
  • TOUCH GLOVES WITH YOUR OPPONENT
  • RESPECT TO OTHER CORNER STAFF
  • NO WARNINGS WILL BE GIVEN
    • CORNER STAFF HAVE THE CORRECT EQUIPMENT
    • WATER IN A SUITABLE SPRAYER
    • BUCKET
    • TOWEL FOR FIGHTER & THE FLOOR FOR SPILLAGES
  • LIGHT CONTINUOUS ONLY
  • EXCESSIVE CONTACT WILL RESULT IN DEDUCTED POINTS OR DISQUALIFICATION
  • DISRESPECFUL BEHAVIOUR BY CORNER STAFF FIGHTERS OR SPECTATORS WILL RESULT IN DEDUCTION OF POINTS OR DISQUALIFICATION.
  • BLOOD RULE APPLYS

Training for high side kicks

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Side kicks are very powerful techniques and everybody training for any martial art that uses them should try to master this technique and the way of best exploiting its potential.  When I learnt my first kicks in the early eighties it was a time when every kick had to be performed at maximum height, just because.  Within a few years people realized that always kicking high is not necessarily useful so a few kicks, nominally side and front kick were then trained to be at medium level, targeting the chest and the abdomen.

If you are training Kickboxing or Tae kwon Do you should remember that kicks are meant to be targeted at your opponent’s waist and above: if this works well if you are reasonably tall it proves to be quite disadvantageous if you are shorter than average.  In the latter case you must kick well above your waist level just to strike your opponent in an acceptable target.

That is why flexibility should be trained properly and every kick should be done easily, without struggling, at any level.  This video I found on YouTube is simple, home made and essential but it shows a few interesting exercises that will improve flexibility in a way that will be useful for those interesting in performing proper side kicks, at the right height.  As in any stretching exercise do not expect miracles but work out progressively and slowly accepting the fact that a side kick is ultimately an awkward movement and if you are not very flexible it will take a while to improve.  Any comment, positive or negative, will be appreciated.