Road of Muay Thai - 2

 It's been a minute since I've blogged, and my habits start showing. It's a continual progress of creating better habits to overwrite the bad so here we are again.

Let's make this post about technique rather than my back story. A little bit of both to mix things up I suppose.

The Jab.

A lead punch. 

It's a punch where you punch with the hand closest to the target. It's the punch that's just a punch, but oh man, it's a punch. Many fights are won off this single technique. There's so many different ways to throw a jab, set up a jab and utilize a jab. 

The speed of the jab is a key component, however the rest of your body is more important in regards to what a jab actually does. The jab itself is difficult to add power to which is why the rest of your body is important in developing a good jab. It is a very low risk shot that can be used to create space, create engagements, to disengage, to assess distance, and so forth. 

It's important to note that a jab is a jab regardless of muay thai, boxing, kickboxing, etc. It is the basic idea of using your lead hand to land a strike. The style of a jab does not change the fact it's a jab, even if you switch stances, if the punch is a lead punch, it is a jab.

So how does one throw a jab? Simple, you make a fist and throw a punch by extending your fist forward. It's a jab. How does one improve a jab? That's where training comes in. A good jab requires footwork and proper hip rotation, even if it's a minimal amount. The idea behind all effective striking is using a kinetic chain of motion to generate a significant amount of force to one specific target. This is why "arm punching" as it's colloquially referred to is looked down upon, mainly due to the ineffectiveness of said punch.

Footwork refers to moving your feet instead of being planted the entire time. This creates a dynamic of positioning yourself properly to use specific techniques. By changing the positioning, this creates angles of opportunity for yourself where you have a more advantageous angle compared to your opponent. On top of creating these angles, you are able to use the weight of your body when you throw a jab. Rather than relying on the force generated from your arm, you can use the weight of your body moving in a direction to generate force. Your legs are significantly stronger than your arms just due to our anatomy. Our arms do not carry the weight of our bodies, our legs do, which makes them a lot stronger.

So we run into an issue here. Moving forward while you punch is essentially asking to be countered. When you attack, you leave an opening because your hands are away from your body. If the opponent were to throw a hook at the same timing, they would land the stronger strike in the exchange. This can be prevented entirely by moving laterally and diagonally rather than forward and backwards.

Positioning is massive.

So let's recap:

To throw a jab, you want to use your feet and move diagonally or laterally so you don't walk into punches.

Some details to note:

Move lightly on the balls of your feet.
- Heavy clunky movements create openings, staying on the balls of your feet make your movement springy and agile

Small steps, not big large steps.
- Big large steps create openings that your opponents can take advantage of, small tiny steps are harder to see and read and accomplish the same objective

Be quick going out, be quicker coming in.
- A punch isn't a push, but a quick snap. The longer your hands are away from your body, the more time you give your opponent to hit you.

Push off with opposite foot you're stepping with
- Overwrite how you're supposed to walk and move as a human and retrain yourself to fight. By pushing off with the opposite foot you step with, you leave no openings during the step and your center of balance won't change. If you were to simply step, you leave yourself in an unguarded state during the step.

Next time will be about stance.