Sylvie's Tips - How to Drill Caught Kick Response Without a Partner

I’ve never really had opponents catching my kicks in fights, but that’s partially because I don’t really mid-kick. So, the reason I know that I suck at responding when my kick is caught is almost entirely through padwork, where I topple over like a kicked-over bicycle. Which is to say that I don’t really practice against this and only get reminded of how unpracticed I am when my trainer occasionally wants to mess with me. I do know how to handle the caught kick – I’ve been shown techniques from various sources – but I never drill them.

When I visited Dejrat Gym in Bangkok and did a private session with Ajarn Surat, one of the first things he noted – with a disapproving head shake – was this falling over business. So he showed me how to keep my hand in his face for balance and then how to kind of lean into the kick to transfer weight and then hop on the standing leg, in the same rhythm of someone trying to push me or sweep me, so that I don’t get knocked over. Mai lom, in Thai… don’t fall.

Arjan Surat’s technique wasn’t so different from what I’ve learned before. What was different was his explanation and his particular insistence on the importance of balance in Muay Thai (everyone says balance is important in Muay Thai, but for Arjan Surat it is serious); he followed by showing me how to just thread my leg into the ropes to build my flexibility and one leg balance. “Every day, every day,” he said to me. I don’t stretch and flexibility isn’t really my problem so much as panic and tension when my leg is caught, but what Ajarn managed to do was inspire me to work on this shortcoming in a way that I could manage without a partner. Part of my failure to ever really drill this deficiency was that I don’t have access to drilling partners, or I lack the courage to force the kids to work this stuff with me on a regular basis. So I devised this strategy to work on the exact technique Ajarn Surat taught, without needing a partner. So, I can drill the balance and get the strength in my legs and figure out where to put my weight to build a base and then get someone to work with me by catching my kick more to get rid of the “oh shit!” response. I will say, since working on this for myself over the past month or so, Pi Nu has started catching my kick in padwork a lot more. That might partially be because he’s seen me working on it, but it might also be that he knows I won’t just crumple onto the floor anymore – so there’s actually something to work on now.

The practice of this on the bag may require a little balance work. This Sylvie’s Tips on the Floating Block may help in that. Also, my full private with Ajarn Surat (about 45 minutes) will be put together as a blog post and video and will be up later.

An Introduction to Sylvie’s Tips

You can read about the Sylvie’s Tips feature here in my first post:

Sylvie’s Tips – Muay Thai Tips, Techniques & Helps from Thailand

See all my Sylvie’s Tips articles.

The Full Sylvie’s Tips YouTube Playlist

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The Author Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

A 100 lb. (46 kg) female Muay Thai fighter. Originally I trained under Kumron Vaitayanon (Master K) and Kaensak sor. Ploenjit in New Jersey. I then moved to Thailand to train and fight full time in April of 2012, devoting myself to fighting 100 Thai fights, as well as blogging full time. Having surpassed 100, and then 200, becoming the westerner with the most fights in Thailand, in history, my new goal is to fight an impossible 471 times, the historical record for the greatest number of documented professional fights (see western boxer Len Wickwar, circa 1940), and along the way to continue documenting the Muay Thai of Thailand in the Muay Thai Library project: see patreon.com/sylviemuay

Featured Posts

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What the First Year of Fighting Means – a Husband’s Point of View

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above, my how to video for warm water massage for shins [update: for longer lasting shin swells you can try this] Subscribe to 8limb.us articles for free here Anyone who has kicked anything knows that the occasional bump, knot or “mouse” on the shin or foot is inevitable. You can get them on your forehead or face from an elbow or punch and on your shins or feet from kicking knees, elbows, heads, etc. They kind of feel like badges of awesomeness, but they can also keep you from training and that feels lame. I always have something that hurts,

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Sylvie’s Tips – Muay Thai Techniques

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Sylvie’s Tips – How to Drill Caught Kick Response Without a Partner

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