One Year of Kickboxing: Before and After
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- I did kickboxing for 1 year and regularly documented my sparring. In this video you'll see how I improved over the year and also how I developed some bad habits which led me to the loss of my second MMA fight.
00:00 What got me into kickboxing and muay thai
01:10 DAY 1 - Sparring a world champion kickboxer
02:03 6 months - Sparring a beginner
03:14 6 months - Sparring advanced kickboxer
04:07 6 months - Sparring a champion again
04:52 9 months - Sparring pro MMA fighter
06:17 1 YEAR - Sparring Muay Thai fighters
07:23 Bad habits I developed that made me lose my fight
08:39 The biggest lesson I learned
---
Welcome to the Martial Arts Journey RUclips channel!
My name is Rokas. I'm a Lithuanian guy who trained Aikido for 14 years, 7 of them running a professional Aikido Dojo until eventually I realized that Aikido does not live up to what it promises.
Lead by this realization I decided to make a daring step to close my Aikido Dojo and move to Portland, Oregon for six months to start training MMA at the famous Straight Blast Gym Headquarters under head coach Matt Thornton.
After six months intensive training I had my first amateur MMA fight after which I moved back to Lithuania. During all of this time I am documenting my experience through my RUclips channel called "Martial Arts Journey".
Now I am slowly setting up plans to continue training MMA under quality guidance and getting ready for my next MMA fight as I further document and share my journey and discoveries.
---
If you want to support my journey, you can make a donation to my PayPal at info@rokasleo.com
SUBSCRIBE to see when the next videos will come out:
► bit.ly/1KPZpv0
Check the video "Aikido vs MMA" which started this whole Martial Arts Journey:
► • Aikido vs MMA - REAL ...
If you want to support me and this channel on a regular basis check my Patreon page:
► / rokasleo
#kickboxing #muaythai #martialarts 
Спорт
From everything I can see - I've been a Muay Thai instructor for about 20 years now - it's clear to me you don't handle hard pressure, like, at all. There is more than one way to overcome this but until you do, you will always be susceptible to any fighter who rushes you or outstrikes you with force. In other all respects your progress is quite good for the time spent, and it's clear the instruction you've received and the training and sparring you've done have been of high level. 👍
As a person who also struggles with pressure fighters, I was hoping their would be some advice in this comment, haha.
@@VistaOneStudios There is really no other way than to fight thru it. Stand with your back against a wall and have someone use you as a heavy bag. Not too crazy hard, but hard enough that you don't wanna take any kicks or punches. Preferably you can have two or three persons so they can each do one minute and not wear out.
Now, while they are trying to find openings and hit you somewhere it counts, YOU focus on their feet, your breath, their posture. You simply HAVE to get to the point where you're not preoccupied with what they're doing. You have to trust your reflexes and more importantly, your reading of their body language so that you can deal with incoming without having to think about it.
So now they're pummeling you, and you just hit them back every one in a while, when it feels safe to do so. You don't hit them as hard as they hit you, that's not the point right now, you just wanna get comfortable thinking about hitting back while you're under pressure.
You will get tired but they don't let up (and you don't quit) and it's becoming harder to hit them, you just wanna withdraw into your shell. Here is where you can make real progress: keep going. You will start getting hit more (this is why they shouldn't hit too hard, like 70% of max or so) but you fight thru that and keep focusing on hittimg back and observing what they're doing. Also keep watching your breathing, taking punches in sync with your exhalation if at all possible.
It's basically a process of desensitization, and it absolutely works, but you have to get out of your comfortzone for it to work.
Do 3x1 minute and a breal, rinse and repeat, until you can't stand upright anymore. The more tired you are while taking hits and fighting back, the faster you become desensitized.
Sparring works too of course, but in sparring you are always able to withdraw, flinch, etc, so it works much slower.
Try it, and good luck. 👍
he needs the boxing defense and more time in the pocket working on counters and defense and movement reactions to attacks
@@AllAhabNoMoby you should make a RUclips channel really good..
@@sigmahardy I like my anonymity... and it would take way too much time. But thanks for the suggestion.
One of the greatest things I admire about you is your transparency, thank you for sharing with us your journey
Having the ability to reflect on oneself and self-criticize is an unstoppable strength.
You know, to pull yourself apart like you have and still continue to do is commendable. It shows complete lack of ego and a true understanding of yourself. I've watched your videos since the aikido days and the fact you turned your back on something you did for so long perfecting it in every way to the best of your ability only to realise that it wasn't everything you thought it would be is impressive. Professionals who are world level struggle with dismantling themselves in order to rebuild better but you continue to do just that. You'll be a great fighter with that attitude. All the best to you.
Keep up the good work! I have so many things to improve on, and it’s awesome to see others going through similar things and overcoming them.
Your journey is amazing! thank you for sharing!
I am going to write it in Spanish, so you can see that you have followers from all over.. Extraordinary, honest and impeccable video. I loved. Greetings from Venezuela
I've been practicing various martial arts for many years. I told myself at the beginning of this journey that my ego will not be My downfall. Your videos remind us all that the journey is definitely more important than the destination. Thank you for the training and the great inspiration!
Nice recap. One important lesson to take from it: martial art journeys never really end. I've been training myself and others for nearly 40 years and I learned something new just watching this video.
Dont lose heart, you are on the right track. Your honest self assessment is key to the whole journey. Keep it up!
What a journey! Glad I'm around for long enough to see it all! Congrats, Rokas!
So glad to see your progression mate
Fantastic
You're giving us hope. Thanks brother! Keep it up
This is a fantastic lesson for taller people! I remember when I started kickboxing I was the tallest dude in my gym and when I moved to a different neighbourhood I ended up being middle-of-the-road height wise. At gym two I realized how completely undeveloped my defense was for taller opponents, I was constantly bopped in the face for a while. Thank you for sharing this!
Incredible progress!! You are exuding confidence in the Muay Thai sparring in Thailand. Onwards!
I appreciate your analysis of your shortcomings and your willingness to address them. That's the essence of finding success in any endeavor. I'm taking inspiration and approaching my bjj training the same way. Followed you since the big change. Takes serious character to do what you've done. Props.
Your honesty about what you didn't do right and commitment to address those issues will ensure success!
Mad respect bro! Keep it up 💪🏽
Just had my first (proper) kick Boxing sparring session a couple of hours ago, with my instructor who has many, many matches under his belt. So I came here to re-watch this. It's funny how some things tend to be similar for everyone!
100%! The martial arts journey is quite universal
Thank you Rokas for posting, I've been doing kickboxing for one year and I found this video not only inspirational but also useful! I admire how transparent you are and the fact that you're not ashamed to watch your old footage... I'll try to be more like you!
Thank you, means a lot to me
@@MartialArtsJourney I thank you for this video its inspiration to get back into it after surgery and injury's having not able to train for the longest. I had a question how did you gain muscle while training martial arts or what do you recommend? I do bodybuilding but i need a structured plan for mma and building muscle on the side? I used to fight at light heavy so I have room to grow again not training i got smaller.
Does kickboxing help in a street fight
@@truthhurts6327its one of the most useful ones, but if i were you i'd pick muay thai, a good boxer / kickboxer wouldnt fight a good mauy thai fighter even for thousands of dollars
I really love your ability to self reflect on this level. I would love to see a video about how you personally approach this. Keeping track of an entire year of training is insane to me.
Best of luck with your journey 🙏
SBG mentality
You are so humble and introspective. Recipes for success, IMO. Keep up the grind.
It’s great to see your improvement and your thought processes. Your kickboxing game is looking a lot better. And it’s clear that you know how to continue your improvement. Good luck to you and keep at it!
Honestly, watching your progress over the past few years has been fascinating to watch.
Great video and journey . I appreciate the honesty
Thank you Rokas for your posts. I too studied aikido for years and taught at the end. But I now switched over to kyokushin karate and now have a fight coming up. It's 3 rounds 2 min each my first. I'm not worried about the punches but the leg kick. Having a hard time with them since in aikido we never did kick. But watching your videos inspires me to push harder. Keep ups the good work
This ego-less and inspiring journey mirrors my transition from karate/kungfu into combat sports, respect!!
Roka I enjoy your frankness and I have seen your confidence grow through out your Martial Arts journey. God bless you and your fiance.
Very proud of you to take the journey of Muay Thai
Very interesting man thanks for the observation keep going man it all a learning experience
This puts my two-ish months of kickboxing into perspective. I now feel better about my horrible defense and even more motivated to keep it up.
I remember watching some of your videos back when you had the long hair and Aikido uniform. You have changed a lot, but still hold the same humbleness as back then. That is very admirable.
Loved it. So motivating.
Love this video!
KEEP going, KEEP posting :)
Very, well narrated. Sadly I am to injured to restart my martial arts training. If you go for high intensity sparring do not forget to plan for regeneration time. For me, however with respect to strength training, regeneration time was a key I wish I new when I was younger.
I'm with you brother on both regards! I am still injured after my latest fight and haven't been training for a month and that's tough. I also had trouble giving myself time to recover in the past and that slowed down my progress significantly. But we live and we learn and we'll own our journeys with the knowledge we attained :)
it's not to late trust me bro injuries can't hold you back
@@homieridvanboss8219 : Hm, full training with sparring? I probably should try to get surgery first. But it is not necessary and will probably not be payed by the German social insurance, I think.
@Isak Tougaard: Well, I had an car accident back when in mandatory draft in Germany. There are multiple permanent injuries, but only one makes training unwise: One of my foot joints is not stable. I can not dynamically load it heavily. I can't run and I can't jump with full strength. I still can punch, kick and use weapons, though - aside from bows due to a shoulder damage. Stop falls, will "not" work, since I stopped training and my muscle memory will not fit my 20 years aged body.
I followed and still follow my own variation of bushido and aside martial arts I also did study a lot of skills that are useful in peacetime.
In martial arts I studied Judo, a little Karate, a little Aikido and a little bit of everything that I read about and could try. Later some Boxing despite my injuries, they forced me to be rather stationary boxer. However, there was a useful focus technique I learned from some samurai book, that allow to counterpunch into openings, quite effectively, although it ought be applied with armor. But very effective with sparring partners that have problems to self-regulate.
Anyway, due to a fuckup in the bureaucracy I had to pay the last treatment myself. I was told to wait and see, but then no further treatment followed, because I started studying mathematics and physics and thought my body is not that important anymore, until I got my career ruined by intrigue.
Well, medicine got ahead in the last 20 years as well. I should try to get it treaded again, we will see. It may be some muscle connection issue, maybe something was partially ripped of, there is exactly one weak direction I can not stabilize my foot.
However, due to the intrigue, I am basically fighting again, with my brain, probably my biggest "muscle", anyway. Well, given the recent invasion of the Ukraine and my Phd research for the German defense sector I have the very reasonable suspicion that some Russian spy used my weakness to finish me, in a way, where in the best case for him/her I would commit suicide. Well, I do not fear being dead, but an adversary has to work a bit more to get me dead. I was and still is a very hard time. However, holding my ground and fighting back has been very positive with respect to my mental health. And some of the classics about war, i.e. The Art of War, "Vom Kriege" (Clausewitz) and others seem to have given me some strategic awareness, without it I would not be in the position I am now ... still a long way to go though.
@Isak Tougaard : Thanks, I will look into the "Foot sequence". But I really think, that it probably requires surgery, if it can be healed!
This is a very good video! Thank you!
@Martial Arts Journey As a tall, ultra defensive fighter myself, I can see one flaw (That I have too). You are not accustomed to explode full force WHEN the opening presents itself. You either focus on getting out (great for self defense, not great when you want to KO and / or score points) or you delay the start, giving time to your opponent to close the gap/deny your strikes
HI! I'm a fan from Brazil! You, Jesse Enkamp and Sensei Seth, and OF Course the great Master Ken, inspired me to return to my own journey with martial arts. So... now I'm almost cured from a spine and shoulder injurie, and I will return next week to the trainings. So... Thank you very much!
Awesome! Keep owning your journey!
Master Ken is the greatest and maybe one day, Rocas will spare with him.
If I could offer a piece of advice as a former fighter turned coach who is/was on the small side of weight divisions at 5’5” and 155 lbs… spar with the little guys, especially the highly technical or super aggressive ones. It will help you figure out fast where the holes are you need to fill.
I hung up my gloves a decade ago due to permanent injury so I can’t personally do anything but if you get the opportunity you should train with Icy Mike. His style and technique could greatly help you.
My other piece of advice would be to really work the speed bag, it would improve your shoulder endurance and your flinch response as well if you can cross train a weapon system like kali/eskrima/arnis it would greatly improve your overall reaction time and help tighten up your head movement and hand reaction time… there’s no greater teacher than a stick swinging at your face. Hopefully that helps.
You have come so far and should be super proud of your self.
I love to see your huge improvement. I am also glad that you can see the bad habits that made you loose your seconds MMA fight, because it is sometimes hard to realise that.
BTW I love the soundtrack at the beginning of the video
The problem is Rokas is jumping from different martial arts schools. That’s why Rokas Aikido’s fell when he did Aikido’s vs MMA. Look like Rokas still not that great with other martial arts. Because Rokas jump from school to school.
Love your videos! It looks like you have a great build for kickboxing, tall and with long reach
noice! following you since a looong time!
Amazing Progress man! Keep it Up
Good experience. Keep up the good work
Wow how did I not found this channel before. Amazing
Good video, whatever field your in, as soon as you say "I've got it" you're in a dangerous place! 👍
Excellent video!
Thanks!
This is a very helpful video. I've wanted to learn muay-thai for some time already, I think that even a 1 year training will make me a much better fighter. I have decent hands(because of boxing), but i also want to get better with my kicks too. Learning how to kick is good because you can defend from them even better. I have last year in my university so i kinda focus on my studies, but daamn i really want to learn muay-thai and have those fast and powerful kicks. My goal is to have good striking and decent wrestling. I am not going to compete, but i just love it.
It takes years to become good at muay-Thai.
@@thunderousooner527 like in every sport. Should'nt discourage anybody to start it.
Honesty to yourself and the courage to change make you unstoppable.
This was an awesome video. You know the thing I like about your content? You seek to teach by example through showing your experiences. A flaw that a lot of teachers have is that they set themselves up as the authority on the subject that they are teaching about. If you are a good teacher then you are an authority on the subject that you’re talking about but that doesn’t change the fact that you could be wrong. Very few people are able to make the accurate distinction that just because you disagree with one thing about a person doesn’t mean you disagree with everything about the person. It can be very hard to think objectively about the teachings of people that you respect. I appreciate the way you are doing it because you’re setting yourself up not to be the authority but instead to be the student.
Sort of like how you said that you are changing your opinion on light sparring. You didn’t say that people shouldn’t practice that way. You are simply presenting your experience and allowing the audience to take away what they will from it. My personal opinion is that there are many benefits to light sparring that full contact does not have. There is also benefits to full contact that light sparring would not have. One does not necessarily invalidate the other. If I was telling this information to someone I would have to clarify that it is my opinion first because I have had very little experience with full contacts sp only light sparring and mid contact. Somebody who respects me might take away false information because of how I present it.
Lo voy a escribir en español, para que veas que tienes seguidores de todas partes. Extraordinario, honesto e impecable video. Me encantó
Man I started watching u rd 5 years ago n stopped for a year or so during the whole covid thing n one thing I noticed n I hope you take as a compliment is you don't seem so scared or like wuss out anymore, that was one thing I was glad that changed for me n all my training is I stopped bitching out with certain situations n confrontations n I feel like you have too which is just another step to becoming a beast like u wanted lol, keep it up man n I can't wait to see u fight again you'll get a win soon man
Excellent video seeing your "progression" from your first sparing match to present time 👁 left a like on the video ✔
What an awesome Journey. I think this is the most interesting part no? Like - you are totally in a phase where you are now in the middle of it all, what an amazing time you must be having. Compare this to just a few years back, WOW. I remember watching those AS they were happening, mind blown.
🙏
As a sports professor I can say great analysis of your self. If you continue and be patient and go along with your plan you will be much better for sure 😃
Thank you for showing me the long gaurd. This technique is going to take me far in MMA
Love this.
Rokas I really respect how you can dispassionately analyse yourself without being defensive or ego driven. It's that ability that draws me back every time 😀👏
😊🙏 Thank you
@@MartialArtsJourney the pleasure is all mine 👍
GREAT PROGRESSION!!!
Great open mind and motivation for us all. IMO continue to train only one discipline for a while that can be your safety zone, I think would be very beneficial. Good luck on your journey.
Incredible video man Light sparring with a much better oponent is all we do.
My favorite defensive moves is helmet guard for blocking right hands and the outside slip .
One thing that is often talked about in BJJ from experienced people is that they will still roll with lesser belts but they'll tone down what they do and try to focus on hitting something specific. In your sparring with people smaller or worse than you this might be a good way to get more out of it than you normally would, assuming you aren't already doing this of course.
I’ve recently just completed my first ever kickboxing class at the age of 35!…. I was really nervous at first as I didn’t know anyone at all, but the other pupils were very welcoming and friendly and all were different ages shapes and sizes!.. it’s just takes that first step forward. I must say I really enjoyed it and it’s something I will definitely continue!
Congrats!
Good video mate
you started as a unicorn aikido dude and now you're a legit martial artist. keep at it mate
Great work bro keep up the good work already been training two months muay thai
Awesome! Keep owning your journey!
Thx bro i sparred yesterday but i felt so outclassed and somewhat timid getting hit in the face/kicked what can i do to midegate that?
amazing.. i rly want to start kickboxing aswell :)
This does show great improvement with each time you try new partners at different times
Keep up the journey
You are doing such a great job in both your training but also your channel. You are providing the answers to so many questions across multiple disciplines that have been unanswered for decades. This is a great and noble service to humanity. Thanks for continuing to document your journey
Thank you!
Also thanks Rokas as a previous practitioner of Iwama style Aikido I have found your journey inspirational!
I will wanna start to get back into fighting sports. I do have some personal issues with myself and i do think that kick boxing will help me
grow my confidence, grow my body and learn to appriciate my own body. Because my body and my current relation towards it is probably why i still struggle with gaining self-love at the age of 25.
So i will start to work on this through sports
my chest is asymmetrical and i am a male.
I've been at it for 6 months now. Got beat up today. Needed to watch this. I will get better and better. It's the only thing that can logically happen
Sparring light is great, the greatest thing about it is that you can spar light every day. But keep at least one day a week where you spar hard. A good way to keep a hard sparring session in check in to mutually agree not to follow up on big strikes that land, but this limitation also should be waived periodically so that you can get used to dealing with and dealing out big combos etc. It's great to see your journey Rokas. Keep up the good work.
No Pain No Gain, Simple but it's true nice to see you are realizing the value in pushing the boundary on some kind of constant to actually grow instead of just thinking you are improving and falling into the classic false sense of security many do. To become the ideal teacher first you must become the ideal student, Cannot remember for the life of me who said it to me years ago now but it's always stuck and watching this brings it to mind, not sure why but Something to do with the chosen path and the journey it takes you on.
I love the honest journey you’re making in Martial Arts. I agree you definitely need to spar great fighters with decent pressure. You really just need to deal with your defense and counters when handling pressure. And also I felt like your front leg was a huge target in all the sparring. I had the same problem when I went from Taekwondo to Sanda then Muay Thai. Sanda I would just throw people when they pressured me. In Muay Thai I just had to buckle down and counter. You just have to get more comfortable on defense. It’s pretty much all I used to work on when sparring. I’d tell people to pressure me and sometimes I’d only do defense.
Great Lessons Learned ! Especially the need to do more harder sparring. I recommend buying a protective headgear, or maybe a vest and get the pace up! Thats how we made our Jeet Kune Do Sparring which helped a lot not to get used fighting too light
Im lithuanian just started kickboxing really enjoyed watching this
Kietai :) Gerų treniruočių!
Cool journey bro! I know nothing MA except what I see in YT, but in chess they say it you want to level up, always play up, that is, find opponents harder than you to play. You will grow more this way.
(Ps there's a weird high pitch sound in some early parts of the video. Maybe it was music you added? If so, it's too quiet to work.)
Good video sir
You are definitely improving. Keep working on those punches as when you get them fully developed you will be better prepared. In fact, train with some boxers to get your defense, timing, distancing, and combos fleshed out so when you do spar with kickboxers, or MMA fighters you will have a better conditioned upper body, defense, and offense. You could be primarily a puncher, while working on advanced defense against kicking, and grappling defense for a strategy.
Looking forward to your next video.
Amazing work as usual!
One tip for tall/lengthy fighters: Try develop a good clinch game to go along with your long distance striking... sometimes is better avoid the pocket all together and work the clinch, with knees, elbows, dirty boxing, sweeps and exiting in angles to create opportunities for punches and kicks...also, it might be a good idea to work in your footwork, adding lateral movement and pivots... Finally, the intercepting uppercut and knee are your best friend to deal with pressure fighters... You have improved incredibly so far, I'm sure within a few months you'll certainly develop A LOT!
Thanks! Great tips, I appreciate it
@@MartialArtsJourney nice
Ôh, that's very clever... Clinch already involves wrestling basically, considering Rokas grappling skills that might become a real advantageous scenario!
@@makaiev nice
@@makaiev nice
Ahhh, I can relate to you so much. I am a tall fighter as well, who has always sparred with shorter opponents one of my boxing mate is a Mike tyson type bull fighter who has amazing head moment and goes in hard, so he made me used to pressure fighters. The only tip I can give you get your clinch game strong, utilize uppercuts, instead of just going back, throw a long left hook and pivot with it, try to put your jab to your their face to control their head.
You've made tremendous progress. Kudos to you.
Still as someone mentioned below you react terribly to being hit or even being threatened with a hard shot.
I think that's just part of your nature so you're going to have to do drills specifically to overcome that.
Sparring alone won't do the trick.
Keep going! Your journey has been inspiring to watch.
I find it crazy how we both started offically training MMA in the same year. It seems so werid to me that I start watching you in grade 9 at the aikido vs mma vid to you now with two fights. I'll be graduating this year hopefully I get to meet and spar you one day.
Thanks for sharing! I’m about 1 month into Aikido training and I’m enjoying it. I see it as one part of the martial arts experience and hope to learn more styles one day. I’ve started preferring that my uke resist and push harder to better simulate real life.
I'd also recommend asking your ukes to go "out of the script" by doing things they are not supposed to do, such as grabbing your legs for example
@@MartialArtsJourney great suggestion, thanks! :)
I would recommend to do light sparring, but trying to simulate a fight as much as possible in terms of intensity and pressure, without actually hurting each other. You can strike throwing your entire body into it as you would with a hard punch, but pull the punch. This way it is like you are in a hard sparring match without actually hard sparring. It is something I try to do in my training, and it got me to be much more efficient with my moves, a lot calmer during actual hard sparring or fights, and over just more technical instead of anxious/reactive.
Light sparring with out hard contact sparring is for hobbits or experienced only. For fight you need learn how to deal against real agresor.
@@sawomirw5725 You misunderstand me. With all the footage I saw in this video, all the light sparring sessions had no real intensity. You can get the same out of light sparring as you would out of hard sparring, by simulating an actual bout in the ring. But it does take more control to be able to do that. And I do agree that in fight preparation, you do need some hard sparring to prepare you mentally, but that is only in fight preparation.
@@Mbstr1 Rokas is in the process of preparing for the fights, he has just lost one, and he lost because he does not know how to react under the brutal pressure. And I very like that Rokas noticed it.
@@sawomirw5725 General training is not the same as fight preparation, fight preparation is a maximum of 6 weeks leading up to a fight. And what you don't seem to grasp is that you can actually train with the same brutal pressure as you call it, without actually hurting each other. I would only do hard sparring if I have a match coming up in the near future, otherwise I would not.
@@Mbstr1 If you say that Rokas preparations for fight lacked brutal pressure simulation sparings and minimum hard sparings (real inflicting and receiving pain) then we have a similar view.
your lack of ego is admirable. and not least your progression and development has been extreme.
You mentioned it in your video but I'm gonna still say my thoughts about this. You should definitely spar hard, maybe even with fighters heavier than you. Also to improve both your guard and your handling of pressure you should maybe incorporate some Dutch K1 drills, those things work wonders. I wish you all the best on your journey
You should really try boxing and wing chun, I think it could help you develop a close range game that takes advantage of your deep grounds in aikido. Keep grinding Rokas💪
Good video bro! Recommendation: Practice boxing with boxing fighters, this going to improve your skills, defense, timing, technique, precision and accuracy. Well, this was a great help to me, I hope you find my advice useful.
This was a very cool video. A lot of familiar situations with my own journey. I am usually the tallest guy in the gym and it has led me to develop similiar tendecies like leaning back instead of actually dodging with proper technique. So cool seeing your development in such a detailed and transparent manner. Keep it up! :)
I lean back (and I'm tall) too, what's a better method ? Slipping for example ? Parrying ?
🙏👊
Jim, I'm still searching for an answer myself, but it seems it's about adding head movement, parrying and footwork (moving back with the whole body, instead of just leaning back from the torso). Also shelling up is an option and maybe using angles
Personally I would say that leaning back is itself not a bad thing, but over reliance on it is. If that makes sense. Having it as a tool in your fighting toolbox is a useful thing, but it should not be the only defensive option. Some options I use are evasive footwork or parrying incoming strikes. One can mix and match, which ever works the best for you.
@@jimreily7538 I'd recommend a combination of head movement, parrying/blocking, lateral footwork and counter right-hands from the lean back(the Maywheater special)
Humble opinion. I think you need to embrace that fire fight on the inside. You've gotten remarkably good at range/outside fighting. I can imagine you're grappling is getting on par with most blue belts of a competitive nature.
Not necessarily the clinch, but that "within dirty" boxing range where hooks and uppercuts to the body become more available.
I love that range, granted I get as many hits as I give lol.
it's nice man I get sparring sessions and sometimes I just can't focus I have sparring sessions against people and i'll feel ahead of them and kind of help them out and talk to them. then i spar my friend who I know is a monster of a fighter and it's like all my skill vanishes haha.
There is no limit to how much you can improve so long as you maintain this ability to reflect upon yourself.
I plan on starting my kickboxing journey officially after i compete (and hopefully win) nationals in July 👌
nationals in what? 😲
@@MartialArtsJourney WT taekwondo haha
Good luck!
I agree with Something sergey said when he first sparred with you, you aren't specialized in anything, which happens to peopple who jump into MMA without a solid base in any discipline.
Now that you have focused only in one set of skills (Striking) the development and improvement is absolutely noticeable. You're looking much better than you did a year ago.
🙏
Keep it up mate, looking to see you win one day. Perhaps before doing another mma bout you compete in kickboxing first so you really get the hang of striking! Hope it goes well. Also taking pure boxing classes will help tremendsouly. No other martial art can give you the punching that boxing will offer
Taking up some boxing is actually #1 on my list of things once I can train again! And doing a kickboxing fight is in my considerations as well. Then adding some wrestling too. Lot's of things to do once I can get back to training 😅
Rather than emphasising just one approach, the key is to keep the approach diverse. Don't always spar light, don't always spar hard.... work on weaknesses, but work also on dictating the fight and keeping the fight where you're best.... so for instance, you need to get good at using your reach and avoiding the short range, yet you need to mix up that kind of apporach, by also someitmes choosing that close range (in sparirng) so you can work on that weak area for situations where you fail to avoid that range.... light, medium and hard sparring all have pros and cons, so it's best to mix between them, same with sparring someone below your level, at your level, or above.... ideally you wanna be able to do all 3 things if possible.
Possible topic for future video - how would you rate the striking ability of a pro kickboxer vs an elite traditionalist who trains functionally (I’m thinking about your sparring matches with Jesse Enkamp specifically but also traditional striking in general)?
I am of medium height, but when I feel overwhelmed in short distance, I clinch, throw a few knees/elbows and throw my opppenent around a bit (no takedowns during sparring though cause its annoying). Oppenents tend to be suprised and more careful in short distance afterwards. I did not see you clinch once in these clips, maybe work on that.