Here is My Bag Work. I'm Training For a Competition. Any Comments, Advice?

Full Maverick

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Hello, I'm training for a kickboxing competition in a few months. Would like some advice, comments from any trained martial artists out there. Especially strikers.

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Flying Crane

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I guess the obvious question is, do you have a coach or trainer of some sort, and what advice has he given you? That would be the first place to start.

If you are preparing for a kickboxing competition all by yourself, with advice from people on the internet who you do not know and do not know if their advice is sound, I suspect you are going to have a bad time of it. What is your martial training background?
 

Buka

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Welcome to Martial Talk, Full Maverick, hope you enjoy it here, brother.

As someone who did a lot of kickboxing, competing, as a trainer, a corner man, a ref, and as a judge, let me ask in order to best serve you....

What kickboxing rule set will you be fighting under?

Are there knees and elbows allowed?

Is there a minimum kick requirement per round?

How many rounds will you be fighting?

What's the weight division you'll be fighting?
 

Alan0354

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I am not an expert, I just did a few years in TKD/kickboxing.

Are you learning on your own watching internet videos? If so, I think you should join a school like Muy Thai school or Kickboxing. From training with TKD/Kickboxing, if I were to do it again, I'd go with Muy Thai.
 

JowGaWolf

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I guess the obvious question is, do you have a coach or trainer of some sort, and what advice has he given you? That would be the first place to start.

If you are preparing for a kickboxing competition all by yourself, with advice from people on the internet who you do not know and do not know if their advice is sound, I suspect you are going to have a bad time of it. What is your martial training background?
I don't know about that. For the most part we are fairly accurate with the advice that we give. For example.

Training for a competition? Make sure you are getting some sparring work in. That would be sound advice lol
 

Flying Crane

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I don't know about that. For the most part we are fairly accurate with the advice that we give. For example.

Training for a competition? Make sure you are getting some sparring work in. That would be sound advice lol
Ah well yes, there is a difference between accurate advice, and useful advice.
 

Dirty Dog

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If you
Hello, I'm training for a kickboxing competition in a few months. Would like some advice, comments from any trained martial artists out there. Especially strikers.
Oh boy. I'm going to preface this by hoping you have thick skin. It takes guts to put up a video for people to critique.

That being said, you will find a lot of experienced people here. Personally, I have been involved in the arts for 50+ years. My primary art is TKD, but like most I've cross trained a fair bit. And after 40 years in the ER, I'm in the unenviable position of having been in WAY more physical confrontations than most. So...

I hope you have a trainer other than YouBoob. If not, get one. Immediately. You have a lot of work to do (as does every beginner).

I hope the competition you're training for is restricted to rank amateurs. Anyone with much training or experience is going to murder you.

If that video demonstrates the power you generate with your strikes, you are in trouble. Honestly, I don't think I would even bother blocking most of what you show in your video. There are body mechanics that are used to generate power. You demonstrate none of them. When you punch, for example, it looks to be 100% arm. And that's not going to be useful.

Your balance is off, causing you to lead with your face, which leads to blocking strikes with your face. I don't recommend doing that.

You're leaving yourself exposed almost constantly. Just as one example (of many): at 4:08 you drop your hands. At 4:09, you are leaning forward, leading with your face, with your hands on your thighs. You do not bring them up at all until 4:10, and don't actually return to guard until 4:11. Three seconds with your face begging to be kicked into the next county. That's way more than is needed to get knocked out.

There's more, but these are all basic things, and that's the place to start.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm. Training is good. Keep training. Competition is good. Keep competing. But compete against people at your level. Going into a competition and being used as a tackling dummy is not helpful.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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Is this full contact, and are headshots allowed? Your head is open constantly, and you've got a guard I'm used to seeing from point karate people, a solid 4 inches lower than where it should be. If headshots aren't allowed that's perfectly fine. If they are, you're going to get rocked when those punches come full speed.
 

drop bear

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First comp. Straight punching and fitness are the two most important factors.

Looks more like this.

 

Buka

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Oh boy. I'm going to preface this by hoping you have thick skin. It takes guts to put up a video for people to critique.

That being said, you will find a lot of experienced people here. Personally, I have been involved in the arts for 50+ years. My primary art is TKD, but like most I've cross trained a fair bit. And after 40 years in the ER, I'm in the unenviable position of having been in WAY more physical confrontations than most. So...

I hope you have a trainer other than YouBoob. If not, get one. Immediately. You have a lot of work to do (as does every beginner).

I hope the competition you're training for is restricted to rank amateurs. Anyone with much training or experience is going to murder you.

If that video demonstrates the power you generate with your strikes, you are in trouble. Honestly, I don't think I would even bother blocking most of what you show in your video. There are body mechanics that are used to generate power. You demonstrate none of them. When you punch, for example, it looks to be 100% arm. And that's not going to be useful.

Your balance is off, causing you to lead with your face, which leads to blocking strikes with your face. I don't recommend doing that.

You're leaving yourself exposed almost constantly. Just as one example (of many): at 4:08 you drop your hands. At 4:09, you are leaning forward, leading with your face, with your hands on your thighs. You do not bring them up at all until 4:10, and don't actually return to guard until 4:11. Three seconds with your face begging to be kicked into the next county. That's way more than is needed to get knocked out.

There's more, but these are all basic things, and that's the place to start.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm. Training is good. Keep training. Competition is good. Keep competing. But compete against people at your level. Going into a competition and being used as a tackling dummy is not helpful.
Don't beat around the bush, bro, tell us what you really think. :)

I agree with everything you said. And, yes, a trainer is most needed. Improper bag work builds some really bad habits.
 

Alan0354

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Oh boy. I'm going to preface this by hoping you have thick skin. It takes guts to put up a video for people to critique.

That being said, you will find a lot of experienced people here. Personally, I have been involved in the arts for 50+ years. My primary art is TKD, but like most I've cross trained a fair bit. And after 40 years in the ER, I'm in the unenviable position of having been in WAY more physical confrontations than most. So...

I hope you have a trainer other than YouBoob. If not, get one. Immediately. You have a lot of work to do (as does every beginner).

I hope the competition you're training for is restricted to rank amateurs. Anyone with much training or experience is going to murder you.

If that video demonstrates the power you generate with your strikes, you are in trouble. Honestly, I don't think I would even bother blocking most of what you show in your video. There are body mechanics that are used to generate power. You demonstrate none of them. When you punch, for example, it looks to be 100% arm. And that's not going to be useful.

Your balance is off, causing you to lead with your face, which leads to blocking strikes with your face. I don't recommend doing that.

You're leaving yourself exposed almost constantly. Just as one example (of many): at 4:08 you drop your hands. At 4:09, you are leaning forward, leading with your face, with your hands on your thighs. You do not bring them up at all until 4:10, and don't actually return to guard until 4:11. Three seconds with your face begging to be kicked into the next county. That's way more than is needed to get knocked out.

There's more, but these are all basic things, and that's the place to start.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm. Training is good. Keep training. Competition is good. Keep competing. But compete against people at your level. Going into a competition and being used as a tackling dummy is not helpful.
I was really thinking how can I say this without being rude and hurting feeling. I am glad you said it.

It is very obvious he did not have any formal training, everything is off. The punch and particular the front kick is so off.......................... One doesn't want to land with those and have the opponent look at you!!!!

I did that, training on my own back in the days before I join the TKD class. I spent 1/2 a year practicing everyday at home, thinking I was getting somewhere. After I join the class and look back, that was laughable. One cannot watch video to learn.

Sorry to OP.
 

Monkey Turned Wolf

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One other thing-double check the rules to make sure knees/elbows are allowed in the comp you're doing. Normally they're not for kickboxing but there can be exceptions. If they're not, don't practice them with your combos leading up to the fight.
 

Buka

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What is it with rookies and heavy bag videos?
 

Yanli

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Hello, I'm training for a kickboxing competition in a few months. Would like some advice, comments from any trained martial artists out there. Especially strikers.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The biggest advice to any kind of fighting, speed and reflexes, are the most important, also, many fighters ignore the importance's of blocking.
 

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