Learning body HYDVLRQVWDUWVIURPDÀ[HGEDVH+HUH
we’ll cover the standard ways of moving your body.
Body evasion works better the closer you are to your opponent.
Outside bob
Use your body’s big muscle groups and move your head towards your opponent (see picture overleaf).
You can accompany the bob with a punch to the body or head. Combatively, this is one of the best places to be, as it’s hard for him to get you back.
Sometimes, however, you can be vulnerable to chokes, so take precautions.
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Evade
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learn and put into action. It needs a lot of work, therefore train it hard and often. Good evasion is the mark of the expert, so let that be you. Evasion can mean everything from running away, to foiling the opponent’s attack with footwork, to simply moving your head so that the blow goes by you. What makes evasion so powerful is that missed strikes use up your opponent’s energy. You can also strike whilst evading which uses your opponent’s power against him. Most importantly, missing makes your opponent feel vulnerable and psychologically weaker. Evasion is quite possibly the most important and skilful form of defence, so let’s cover its principles, and how to train them, in more detail.
Inside bob
Bob or slip his cross and reply with your own cross.
If done against the jab, however, you can be vulnerable to his cross so you need to get close DQG¶HDWKLVSXQFK·RUSXW\RXUKHDGLQDSRVLWLRQ
where you cancel out the mechanics of any blow.
Sometimes you can even use your head to trap his rear hand whilst you move in.
Bobbing to the outside Slipping
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overlap; they are often used to describe the same thing. Don’t worry about how you spell it; just make sure you know how to do it.
Slipping can be done with just a brief sideways bend, much like you may have seen boxers such as Mike Tyson do. If done incorrectly this uses small muscles and therefore it’s tiring on your body, but it is very quick if you just want to get your head out of the way. A better way is to use the hips as a counter-weight. Throw the hips to one side and the head moves to the other. You can do this at a very low level of competence and as it uses the big muscles in the legs and hips it’s not particularly tiring.
Slipping doesn’t close the distance but it does make your opponent miss, usually when he is closing the distance anyway.
Bob and weave
On the opposite page is a simple bob and weave against a left hook. You should repeat this against the right hook. When teaching this in classes we often start out with a fairly large movement: the student is urged to use his legs and think of his head disappearing down one hole and coming up another. As you get more skilled, the head leads the legs, but most students need to work all their body ÀUVWDQGWKHQUHÀQHLWODWHU7KRXJKbobbing and weaving can be done reactively, when you have experience it’s even better when done pro-actively, say at the end of an attack or combination. As with ducking and slipping, if you have a constant bounce in your knees these moves are always easy
Slip to the outside
to do quickly; the basic bounce simply needs to be DPSOLÀHGWREHFRPHRQHRUWKHRWKHUGHIHQFH
Duck
Change your level to make your opponent miss.
Often best used as part of an attack where you fake high, to draw his counter, and then drop and come under.
Snapback
Make sure your stance is long. Bounce backwards on the rear foot; this enables you to return instantly to your start position – often with a counter-attack.
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Bob and weave
It’s important to use the rear foot to do all the work;
only bend your back in an emergency. Think of
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hit. Don’t move your lead foot backwards as this will permanently change your distance: instead, PRYHWKHUHDUIRRWEDFNDERXWVL[LQFKHVDQGÁH[
the ankle without letting the heel touch the ground.
Snapback can also be done without moving the back leg; moving the back foot gives you about a metre in distance but you can still instantly bounce back to your original distance. If you don’t move the back foot it’s about half a metre. Simple drills like the
Snapback – jab catch drill
jab-catch drill featured below focus on this element and produce good fundamental skill.
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snapback is an essential part of your defensive DUPRXU\,IXVHGLQDQ¶attack by drawing’ format you can make your opponent think he’s falling short so that he over-extends. Then you can slip and counter easily, as he’s done most of the distance change for you. This makes your strikes stronger as your opponent charges onto them. Alternatively, if KLVVWULNHVGURSVKRUWWKHUHVXOWDQW¶hang time’ leaves him open to counter-attack.