Mark Hatmaker is the bestselling author of six books in the No Holds Barred Fighting series, including More No Holds Barred Fighting, The Ultimate Guide to Conditioning and Boxing Mastery, and The Ultimate Guide to Submission Wrestling. He lives in Knoxville, Tennessee.

No Holds Barred Fighting: The Kicking Bible Strikes for MMA and the Street

By Mark Hatmaker, Dough Werner

Tracks Publishing

Copyright © 2008 Doug Werner
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-884654-31-2

Contents

How to use the NHBF manuals 6,
Kick start,
1 Stance,
2 Footwork,
The Arsenal,
3 Outside range low-kick arsenal,
4 Clinch low-kick arsenal,
5 Cut kicking,
6 Rear clinch kicks,
7 Kick combinations,
8 Kicking with upper body combinations,
9 The ax murderer series,
Kick defense,
10 Low round kick defenses,
11 High and medium round defenses,
12 Low straight kick defenses,
13 Medium straight kick defenses,
14 High straight and purring kick defenses,
15 Pick offs,
16 Kicking chain drills,
17 Kicking conditioning drills,
Resources,
Index,

CHAPTER 1

Stance

Your stance is a variation on the classic boxing guard with a bit wider positioning to allow for rapid defense and offense for shooting. Keep in mind that a stance is a reference point and not a stock-still animal. A stance blends and changes with movement, but you should always see the remnants of it even when in motion.

12-point stance

• Stand on the clock face with your lead foot at noon and your left foot at 8 if you are a right lead and your right foot at 4 if you are a left lead.

• Feet stay approximately a shoulder-width apart.

• Toes of both feet face slightly to the inside of your stance.

• Weight is felt on the balls of the feet without actually being tiptoed.

• Knees are slightly bent.

• Hands are up.

• Rear fist touches rear cheekbone.

• Lead fist at lead shoulder height extended approximately one foot in front of the shoulder.

• Elbows in.

• Forearms parallel.

• Chin down.

• Shoulders up.

No need to spend three 5-minute rounds on this, but you should assemble the stance in the mirror and watch for it devolving when approaching all of the material to follow.

CHAPTER 2

Footwork

You can stand, now it's time to walk. Footwork is often overlooked by the novice because there is nothing dramatic about it. Veterans, on the other hand, are acutely aware that footwork/mobility often separates the Hitter from being the Hittee, the powerful effective strike from the just-missed shot.

Work each of the following footwork drills for the prescribed round protocol while watching for stance deterioration.

LAWS OF FOOTWORK

• Keep the feet one shoulder-width apart even while moving. Narrowing your base reduces balance and commensurately, reduces power.

• Resist the urge to hop or bounce with your steps. This showboating (some call it a needless waste of vital energy) inhibits speed, power and balance. In other words, a complete waste of your time and energy.

• The foot closest to your opponent is the lead foot. The one farthest is the trail foot. We violate this rule with stance shifting.

• Do not cross your feet when taking steps to move in any direction.

• Keep your feet in contact with the mat as much as possible even while stepping.

• Think step and drag, not step and step.

• Step in the direction you want to move with the foot nearest to that direction and then drag the trail foot to the new stance position, except in the case of stance shifting.

• Use a mirror to strive for footwork perfection.

• Once the mirror work is done, grab a partner and have them look for flaws while you move through several rounds of footwork.

• Keep your feet one shoulder-width apart when moving.

THE GNOMON PRINCIPLE

The gnomon, for those who have started scratching their heads (I did the same thing the first time I encountered the word) is the upright stylus in the center of a sundial that is used to cast shadows to indicate approximate time. I want you to picture yourself as a gnomon standing on the surface of your sundial (your sundial being the mat, ring surface or street).

• When you stand in the center of your sundial, directly in front of you is 12.

• Behind you is 6.

• Directly to your right is 3 and to your left is 9.

• And so on with the numbers.

With the gnomon/sundial numbers in mind, let's begin our drills.

Step and drag forward

• Step the lead foot toward 12 and drag the trail foot to follow.

Step and drag retreat

• Step the rear foot toward 6 and drag the trail foot to follow.

Step and outside drag

• Right side forward stancers will step to 3.

• Left leads will step to 9.

Step inside and drag

• Right leads will step to 9.

• Left leads to 3.

Stance shift

• The stance shift is exactly what it sounds like, a quick change in leads.

• Step the lead foot backward toward 6 leaving the left foot now closest to 12.

Step forward 45 degrees outside

• Right leads step the lead foot to 2.

• Left leads step the lead foot to 10.

Stance shift forward 45 degrees inside

• Right leads stance shift the left foot to 10.

• Left leads stance shift the right foot to 2.

Stance shift retreat 45 degrees outside

• Right leads stance shift the right foot to 5.

• Left leads stance shift the left foot to 7.

Stance retreat 45 degrees inside

• Right leads step to 7 with the rear foot.

• Left leads step to 5 with the rear foot.

Pivot inside

• A pivot is executed by leaving the lead foot in place and pivoting on the ball of that foot while the rear foot/trail foot sweeps in the prescribed direction.

• Right leads will sweep the rear foot to 10.

• Left leads will sweep the rear foot to 2.

Pivot outside

• Right leads will pivot the rear foot to 5.

• Left leads will pivot the rear foot to 7.

Once you have the basics of movement down, please do not think you have completed your footwork drills. On the contrary, you will be revisiting these time and time again. Optimally, you will learn each new kicking/striking tool in isolation (from a still stance). Then you will learn how to launch it effectively as you move forward, back, to the inside, outside and while pivoting. You must be able to fire while in motion, so know these numbers thoroughly. Then apply your striking tools on top of them.

These footwork drills will serve you in good stead as you develop or fine-tune your low kicking game. For advanced footwork options, upper body mobility and ring generalship concepts, please see our guide in this series, Boxing Mastery.

CHAPTER 3

Outside range low-kick arsenal

REAR THIGH KICK

This is perhaps the hallmark of low kicking and with good reason. You will find this technique similar to the standard Muay Thai version, but with a little less commitment to avoid the spinning follow-through that is usually recommended. By abandoning the spin follow-through, we sacrifice a bit of power, but we make up for it in speed in combinations and the safety gained by not presenting the back. We are a...