Rounds

Basics can be a drag. Throwing the same punch 100 times often encourages the mind to wander, when in fact the point of drilling is to focus the mind and clear it of wandering thoughts. Sometimes, a little trickery helps to keep everyone interested.

What trickery? How about we throw 10 punches on one foot, then 10 while laying on our backs, then 10 with our eyes closed, etc.

There is another, less dramatic strategy that involves changing up the speed of the technique. How about 10 fast, 10 slow and 10 medium punches. As the students were eager to point out to us, each speed has its strong and weak points.

Fast is powerful but often sloppy. Slow equals perfect form but no impact. Medium feels both solid and a little like cheating. Best to do all three then and see if it brings us closer to the perfect punch.

The picture is of the students doing my new favorite, the “dog run”. Making people do silly and or hard calisthenics between techniques is another trick to cram in more basics.