Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA, defence - "The Bob"

The next type of head movement that we will look at is the bob. We have a couple different ways of avoiding straight punches but the hooks, overhand and big power right cross can be avoided by circling your head under the punch. The three elements to doing a proper bob are:
1. First, move the head away from the punch.
2. Drop with the knees and circle under the punch.
3. Come back up tucked and plant the foot for the counter punch or kick.

Boxing and Kickboxing for MMA - Slipping punches

Of all the different types of head movement slipping is the fastest and works very well to avoid straight, fast punches. It also aids in adding momentum to your lateral movements Slipping left and right will not help if your opponent is throwing looping punches like hooks or over hands and also they are no good for countering with power because you don't build up any torque. They are, however, fundamental to the jab game and keeping the head moving as you change angles.
The elements to the slip are:
1. "Slip with the hip" shoot your hip out to the left to move you head right and vice-versa.
2. When countering allow your opponent to come to you by a slight pause, then slip and counter. 3. Stay forward of your hips with your head.

STRESS!!!

When you think of the word "stress" you probably picture driving home from work on a Friday evening, boss had you stay late and now you get to stare at buddy's bumper for an extra half hour. Maybe to you it means all of the bills you have to pay and the amount of work you will have to do to cover them. Most of us have a pretty good understanding of the concept but hardly anyone understands that stress is not merely the product of attacking beasts or falling from heights but anything that disturbs the homeostasis or balance of the body and its normal functions. Take away water for a couple of days, run 20 miles, eat a tub of ice cream or stay up watching TV for 3 days with no sleep and the effect on the hormones that regulate inflammation are similarly strained. Stress also comes as a result of any sickness; viral, bacterial or fungal. Some ailments can have an immunizing effect on the body while others can tear us down and leave us in shambles.
As I have said in past posts, as fighters (or any other athlete for that matter,) we are trying to become "more" - good is just not good enough. We want to take our body to new limits and we are using science to show us how to train smarter rather than harder. We learn the mechanics of our techniques then we try to use "functional" conditioning and strength training to beef up the power, efficiency and speed. All of this is good and we are learning so much about the human body and its adaptations to the stresses of training. Doing a push-up is a stress that can wake up your muscles but 5000 push-ups might stress you to the point of having a heart attack; something in between will make your arms stronger and your punch harder. "Hormesis" refers to this process of stress adaptation. - "In the fields of biology and medicine Hormesis is defined as an adaptive response of cells and organisms to a moderate (usually intermittent) stress." [Mark P. Mattson, Laboratory of Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program 5600. In the pursuit of super-humanness we are going to do things that add to our stress load but the key is in balancing this with sufficient recovery.
We evolve as a species slowly and incrementally but we can also expect changes in hormone regulation, ep-genetics, body composition etc. within our own lifetimes.
Ok, so what am I getting at?
Start here: if you do those 5000 push-ups every day you will wear the cartilage right off your humeri, jogging on the treadmill everyday for 10 years to burn those calories from the fructose in the sports drink you had before your workout will get you some rickety old knees.
We do want to stress the body to prepare it for the battlefield but we want to live to fight another day as well.
I'll say it again; The ultimate key to efficient training is in balancing stress and rest!
I heard a coach on "Super Human Radio" on the round table discussion with Rob Regish & Coach Wade Johnson saying that he likes To get his football players and weight lifters of various sorts to do very low impact, steady-state cardio between hard-core training days. He said that it helped with increasing blood flow for recovery among other things.

According to Butler University's Adrian Shepard, assistant director of recreation overseeing fitness. "Challenging yourself in fitness training is good. But overdoing training is counterproductive to realizing your fitness goals." -- Science Daily (Jan. 31, 2010) He gives 3 simple guide-lines on how to avoid over-training:

1. Gradually work your way into exercise, especially if you are a beginner, are recovering from an injury, or have been physically inactive for some time.

2. Ask staff of your fitness center to take you through equipment and facility orientations. You'll learn what equipment is available, how it works and what to use for desired results.

3. If your fitness facility offers them, schedule a fitness assessment to determine your current physical health status and fitness level. This will be your baseline measurement for evaluating future progress. The assessment also identifies any potential health and injury risks in training, and helps in developing your personalized exercise program and goals.