JKD Blog 8 - Combos Combos Combos
This class was all about combos. The body jab plus sort of hook slap was a mixed bag. I like the body jab quite a lot. It may not work a ton of time but I bet most people wouldn’t see it coming the first couple of times. Then the slap, which I think is supposed to be cupped and to the ear, was really cool. It’s not something I’m familiar with and it seems like a neat attack if attacking the ear like that can disorient the opponent, but I’m not quite sure I was doing it right.
We also did backfist then cross in this class. We usually do jab, cross in JKD so backfist, cross was a cool throwback. Back home in tang soo do we don’t usually do jab, cross but instead do backfist, cross (although we call it a reverse punch). So it was cool to see it here too. I had trouble throwing a backfist to a bad though and holding for it was kind of weird.
The low roundhouse, low side kick was great. I like kicks that target the legs and the older I get the more I seem to like them. Two quick attacks to the same target. But I have a lot of trouble with thrusting kicks to focus pads. Both side kicks and front kicks (not instep kicks) give me problems and the low side kicks in this class were no different.
The front kick into cross was pretty good too. It’s good for me because I don’t mix my kicks and punches enough in sparring so I could get some practice in. I also really liked it as a defensive combo. The kick stops your opponent’s momentum then you can attack with the cross. I wonder if it’s as good an offensive technique though since I feel like the front kick could push them out of punching range.
The instep kick to jab was also good. A nice mix of kicks and punches and the opposite of the front kick, cross. I think this one would be a better offensive technique. The instep kick probably won’t stop their forward momentum if they’re rushing in so it might not be great defensively. But offensively it won’t knock them out of range so you can continue your combo after the kick.
The jab, roundhouse kick was also pretty good, especially as a sparring technique. The jab can disorient your target or cause them to move back a little, opening up the space you need for the kick. It certainly could be useful in a fight too but I particularly liked it as a sparring combo.
The final combo was the kind I’ve been grinding at a lot. Jab, cross, hook, cross. I’m definitely getting into the flow of those boxing combos but when I use them when I spar I find I still struggle with being countered and walking into punches.
A pretty good class even though it was small. I’m definitely looking forward to working on these combos more.
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