Striking - progress thread

edit: Just gonna reorganise this thread to focus on progression. Some videos are labelled as Capoeira ... it's not really pure capoeira but fight dancing in general. I'm also using what I've learned to work toward learning some more traditional dance as well. We seem to have settled the argument about whether or not the vids are sped up.

I've been having some problems loosening my hamstrings (not really hamstrings but behind my knee) which makes me think my kicks might be better suited distraction or grappling purposes. I often don't fully lead into my kicks because I don't feel comfortable enough with them.

Going along to the music for a sort of fight dancing routine








Afro basketball ninja cop from the 70s


Stand up punches/kicks


Shadow boxing


Bag work conditioning


Slightly more controlled bag work


Short shadow boxing


Shadow boxing clearer angle outside

 

What is your MA background

 

What the hell is this nonsense

 

wow what a speedy beast

 

I've just been floating around all over the place between boxing, mma, and muay thai, usually whatever my nearest gym is. I struggle to get the downward chopping motion into my kicks so I wouldn't call them Muay Thai kicks.

 

I don't even think it was worth being snippy about even before watching that video. OP looked a'ight, its worth it being nitpicky about some of his issues but calling it nonsense is disingenuous.

 

I should have said that clearer. It's not really the knees but more the tendon behind my knees, I don't know what it's called. I have a very weirdly large/tight tendon (joint maybe) which seems to prevent me from lifting my leg out staight. I'm a very flexible person in general but because of that one thick tendon I can't hold my leg out straight or touch my toes without bending at the knees. Yet at the same time I can scoot under a one foot high limbo stick or roll backward pulling my knees over my head. It's always been a very weird thing that's completely ruining my flexibility.

 

Move your feet after every three or four punches. Add defensive responsibilities. Slips ducks.
Bring hands back to your face every punch

 

Ehh, he might have looked "alright" but those are some strange ass videos. The video titles, the black and white, the short clips, the mark on the first one and the speed up on the last one.

First of all, saw some of the videos on your channel, you're a weird dude. Nice drawing style though.

With that that said, it sounds like you are talking about your hamstrings being tight. You probably have a lot of lumber and thoratic extension being able to go under a limbo stick that low. Rolling back with your knees over your head as you descrice is mostly spine flexion and hip flexion, so it's entirely different movements. You can be flexible in a lot of places and then still have tight hamstrings.

The quality of evidence for stretching contractile tissue (muscles) vs genetics is being debated a lot atm, but have you considered implementing some specific exercises to release, stretch and move the hamstrings? If tight hamstrings is the issue here, they might relieve some of that for you.

Just to be clear, you are not experiencing any pain, are you? Or is it more tightness? Also, what do you mean that you used to be disabled?

 

You are straight out of a Blaxploitation Kung Fu flick from the 70s.

 

It's not sped up. It's pretty much the same rate in each vid - the bag and the one in the ring. If it is sped up then it's probably more to do with camera quality than anything. People keep telling me to get a high speed cam to prove it but all I can say is if they want me to prove it that bad they can buy one for me. The black and white was just an instagram filter, adding filters apparently gets you more likes for some reason. My cat likes watching TV ... I don't see how that reflects on me.

I had a slipped disc that kept me disabled for 5 years. The tightness in the hamstring has nothing to do with that, I've had it as long as I can remember. Basically there's a tendon or joint behind the knee that appears to be lock my calf and thigh together so I have trouble holding my leg out straight. I exercise reguarly every day so at this stage I don't see any way to get rid of it short of some miracle surgery. It's not painful at all, just really tight. The weird part is I can focus purely on hamstring stretches all month until the point I can touch my toes and hold my leg out straight, but if I stop stretching for a day it will literally reset back to the start.

 

The last vid is definitely sped up. Even if it wasn't it's not 70 punches in 10 seconds, but it's sped up.

How were you "disabled"? What was your symptoms?

That's the thing about stretching, there's evidence out there showing that the effects are only temporary as it concerns the muscles, and that no real length is gained, but it's debately. Besides that, there are other structures like fascia surrounding the muscles and joint structures like synovial folds and fibrous/cartilage structures that might inhibit movement if they are not moved through full range of motion regularly, not to mention other "protective" mechanism of the brain. Still, if it does help you temporarily, perhaps you could keep it at maintenance somehow. Unless you have some sort of contractive condition of the muscle, which is doubtful. Maybe it just takes more work for you, and more regularly practice getting there. What kind of stretching are you doing?

There's really no joint behind the knee, other than the knee joint itself. Besides tightness of the hamstrings, it could be of your gastrocnemius muscle as well (calf), which is bi-articular, meaning it runs across two joints. Besides using it to push off with your foot, it also bends the knee. That and the popliteus muscle, smaller muscle in the kneecap, might be tight as well. They are all pretty much worked on in conjunction when you stretch and move your hamstrings. Maybe with a few tweaks.

The tendon you feel is probably your hamstring tendon. Is it the one in the kneecap, closer to the inner thigh?

 

I suppose I'll have to make a vid with something going on in the background to show it's not sped. As far as I remember it was a 13 MP camera.

It's was a slipped disc with severe sciatica. It has zero effect on me these days and I only being it up because it feels good to go from bed ridden/crutches to being able to do stuff like this.

Basically I do a lot of yoga exercises, high leg raises plus hold while reaching for the toe. Straight stretches - lean down to touch toes. Eagle pose, standing bow, splts, forward splits, half splits. Eat a lot of fish/oils. Generally I'll be in a boxing gym twice a week, a regular gym once a week, I'd run nearly every day and always try to get a 30 min full body exercise before I leave the house everyday.

Usually at best I'll feel loose but run into the same problems. Like I said it causes zero problems pain wise but I do find it limiting. It's almost like something I'd want a chiro to take a "crack" at, but I'm not sure if they even focus on that area.

 

As someone that works with film editing software pretty much every day... yes I can tell that clip is sped up.

That being put aside, I'm with Sinister on most of the advice. I was wheelchair bound for most of my childhood so its good to see more people overcoming their medical conditions and getting in there and doing it.

 

and this?

It's pretty much the same punch speed in all the videos. The one on the bag is slightly slower because I'm putting more weight into them. And on the vid where I'm in the ring you can see the same, fast punches, but slow kicks.

 

It didn't look speeded up to me, it looks like you are just fast generally. I think you could improve your form for those speed/conditioning drills though, throwing less but better punches at full speed. Do you always punch the bag like that, just brawling hooks as fast as you can with no gloves, or do you also throw jabs, crosses, tighter hooks, uppercuts, and put on a set of gloves? About the flexibility, maybe just keep up the stretching every day for years rather than months.

 

How can I slow down vids? I downloaded a video editor that does it but it's a trial and adds an annoying watermark. Makes everything a bit clearer. I can slow down the 70 punches one to show I throw 72 in total. The speed punching one is too difficult to see slowed because of the motion blur.

Nah, I just happened to forget themthe gloves on that day. I'm usually a jab and move fighter but if you notice on the vid the bag is positioned in a corner so I couldn't circle it. Hooks, jabs, crosses yes. I don't like uppercuts, something about my height and weight makes it difficult for me to get leverage for upper cuts through my legs so I'd only throw them with my arms. The grey vid on the bag would be more what I'm like normally.

 

How much do you weigh?

I've always been a bit puzzled by hand speed guys like Ward/loma are fairly slow, in terms of being elite boxers, on the bag and on mitts but in a fight are every bit as fast or faster than their opponents. The there's guys who are speed demons on the mitts and it doesn't translate to anything outside of it.