An easy drill....?

Just now, I was thinking about a way of training the angles 1 and 4 into focus mitt training. When you take away the stick and do an angle 1, that's like doing a hammerfist or forehand strike, and angle 4, without the stick becomes a raking back knuckle strike. So here is a way of partner training, "A" holds the mitts as if he was saying the classic bully-type "come on then", i.e. the mitts are target side up, not quite flat but slightly diagonal, with arms at shoulder-width apart. So "B" has his hands down by his sides, not in a guard or fighting stance. You may do this to the count if you like, 10 to a set, two strikes to one count, i.e. a forehand and a backhand together. Or perhaps have them go at it for a one-minute round. After one minute, get the hitter to do 10 normal grip knuckle press-ups, 10 squat springs and 10 situps, or other exercise variations. The second round: get the student to double-up, i.e. two forehand/two backhand for one-minute. Then follow up with bodyweight exercises, 10 squat thrusts, 10 hindu squats, 10 crunches, (or if you are mean and just because its the second round, do 20 of each). The third and last round might be to try triple hits in quick succession, full of intent, always beginning with hands down by the sides. Follow this with either a final round of 30-rep bodyweight exercises, things like star jumps, wide grip press ups and over-the-knee sit ups. Final round would perhaps be to do the same with the soft-padded stick on the pads, working the same angles, 1 minute, all-out. Bang bang bang! Repeat this with the mitt holder now.

Who knows, it might work and maybe your students will like it. You could always vary it, after all.

Train hard,

L.