Hunchback Stance
Hands and elbows tucked in close, neck and shoulders hunched, back curved, knees bent and hands on your head at all times.
Back leg on slight tiptoe while front leg grounded. Hips square. Weight distribution about equal.
Constantly move hands to introduce unpredictability and also aid peripheral vision.
The point is to minimize exposed surface area and protect your most vulnerable areas.
Duck when being body shot rather than moving your hands down which exposes face.
CM1 Movement
While hands are on head, lift them one at a time and aim to contact the incoming straight punch with your elbow or the upper sections of your arm.
Keep it tight and unpredictable.
Reuben's notes: Found it hard to see while doing CM1 movement...even when constantly moving. Was hard to deal with a barrage of punches while maintaining sight of the opponent leaving me a bit oblivious as to what my partner was doing.. Will need to recheck what I was doing wrong.
Eye Focus
Centered around torso area but eyes relaxed. Imagine a triangle extending to the shoulders.
For punches to begin, they have to move the shoulders first so relax eyes and learn to read punches.
Never focus concentrate on face lest you be distracted, or captured in his gaze. Never focus on hands as they are too fast.
Keep to the torso, and relax.
Reuben's Notes: Need to work on this as frequently lost concentration while under attack or attacking and then perception of partner's punches became very poor.
Diving Board Punching
Punch as if you are diving. Punch is slightly on a diagonal line forward. Extended fist should be directly on your centreline. This minimizes being counter punched to the face as well.
Slight inward corkscrew of hand while lifting the shoulders up that protects side of head and chin while punching.
Extends reach slightly.
Reuben's Notes: Found it rather tiring on the shoulders and had to resist the urge to bring head to shoulder rather than shoulder to head. Smacked my ears a lot with my own shoulders while beginning this.
Combination Theory:
Start with a jab, end with a jab to the face in any combination
The end jab to the face gives you time to get back to your defensive stance as it necessitates a reaction.
As you develop further, this is not necessary but its a good basic to start from.
Sideway Stepping:
Not sure what this is called but instead of endlessly circling in a sparring session, move directly sideways. This blocks his route of turning and puts you in a good position to counterattack and take the initiative.
Reuben's Notes: Saw it in one of Rodney's youtube vids and tried it in sparring and was quite effective. Need to figure out footwork.
Jabs:
Most important punch. To gauge distance, to push away and to create openings. The punch that is used the great majority of the time.
Jab has slightly more range than a cross due to its frontal position. Controls space in front of you.
Reuben's Notes: I really love the jab. Fast, annoying and not easy to avoid. Took southpaw stance although right-handed to give jab more oomph at the cost of a weaker cross. Found this also easier on my legs as I am used to leading with my right leg. Does this reduce my frontal burst speed as the back leg is weaker on push off?
Being KOed
Top of head and stomach are not as vital as the jaw area as they are more resilient. Jaw area is weak and if punched strong enough, will cause sufficient vibrations in skull to cause unconsciousness.
