Pad Work with Val Riazanov

www.valriazanov.com

What I want you to takeaway from this clip is the relaxation of the body when performing the strike, the fluidity of movement and the fact that I am always trying to keep my weight centered and I feel that I am ‘sitting’ down on my legs to do so.

Notice in the first part how I am using one arm to make multiple strikes and I can tell you from personal experience that I have been grateful many times for the 'free arm’ when having to deal with multiple attackers.

You can learn the same too – just work each arm separately and even get two partners working with you so you can learn to use the arms independently against more than one opponent. It is also important to get the ‘whip’ like effect and to not stop when you hit the target. Make sure you complete the motion.

You can also see me working with an MMA fighter on his stand-up boxing routine and hopefully you can see how easy it is to adapt what I teach to any Martial Art and notice too how I teach the ‘haymaker’. You can reach for your opponent only if you don’t over-reach yourself and you can also shorten the techniques for close range work.

Pad work requires balance, timing and of course co-ordination and as I say often, working from difficult angles and positions so you are preparing yourself for the reality of combat. Work a lot on feeling balance so that you can then ‘unbalance’ yourself and then you will know exactly how you should position yourself, but still be able to deliver something when you are out of position.

Finally, you will see me use a variety of motion – sometimes just the arm and even just the wrist, but of course a total body motion will be more powerful and that depends on how much time and space you have. I have seen some knockouts with a simple wrist tap to the chin, so practice first with speed and then add the power. A simple fast effective strike at 70% power will buy you time for a second more powerful strike and may even finish the deal there and then.