Striking PT session - Paul Clark - 07796157937

Spent thursday morning with Paul Clark at the Third Space gym in Piccadily doing an hour one on one. 

Paul is our Kickboxing coach who also supervises our Saturday sparring class (doubling as our cameraman!). Having sparred with him for the last several weeks Paul had noticed some big holes in my movement and head position that he wanted to address. 

 Main Problems: 

1. Leaning forward and dropping my head. Resulting in looking down and eating upper cuts for days. Especially susceptible in clinch. 

2. Reaching for clinch from too far out resulting in a zombie walk approach that leaves me hooked to shit by guys with good footwork. 

 We spent the first 20mins warming up hands on focus mitts working combinations and some offbeat timing. Trying to increase hand speed as opposed to focusing on power. 

 Next 20mins spent on knee techniques and ending combinations with knees. I still have a lot of work to do on my post knee base/balance. I have a tendancy to overcommit and then admire my work as opposed to re-setting and returning to a fighting stance. 

 Last 20mins were spent on footwork to close the distance and earn the clinch for knee strikes and basic trips. These are damn hard to do wearing 160z gloves but it is great to now feel like i have some weapons in the clinch as opposed to just knees and release. 

Really looking forward to Saturdays sparring session to try and work these new tools. The fake knee and step to close the distance is going to be my main focus. Jab to hide the step in clinch, remove their base and trip. Fake the knees and walk in with that threat, clinch, remove the base, hook over the guard and either trip or trap and standing arm bar. Really hope i remember it all once in the melee. 

 Paul seems to be more from an MMA background than purely Muay Thai. As a result we didnt talk much about elbow work but the improvement in my footwork was massive and I now have an understanding of the required posture for a strong clinch and subsequent hip manipulation.

 Lessons learnt: 

 Stay light on the feet, use my energy more effectively. Only throw something that can land and use my footwork to hide my distance. Dont reach for a clinch, work to the inside then take it, relax, keep my neck up, spine C shaped and weight low in my stance. Movement and base control is more important than brute strength and earns the trip through hip positioning rather than force. 

 Paul Clark - 07796157937 - Call him and book some PT time. It's hugely beneficial.