The Worst Way To Learn Striking 

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The problem with pads is there’s way more bad pad holders than good. There is the guy who ends up holding the pads a meter apart, the guy who is scared to hold the pads who pulls the pads away as if he's catching a baseball, and the tired pad holder who progressively starts dropping their hands more and more simulating you fighting a midget.

More people need to hear this.

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Padwork, in hindsight, is like a weird combo of Partner Drilling and Bagwork, where you turn your partner into this sentient bag.

I immediately checked if that was an April fool's video. Guess I'll listen to it seriously!

When I use pads, i keep them as close to my face as possible so that when the punches are thrown, the striker can throw punches at a range where they should be thrown. It helps the striker establish the range necessary for punching the opponent's face.

I do agree with some points made. Gabriel Varga said (in a video about pad work) that pad work is one thing he would never give up in his training and I agree with him. Of course that’s with an experienced pad holder

Their is immense benefits to being the padholder. You get to experience strikes coming at you full speed and its a great opportunity to practice defense

lmfao @6:51 this made me actually laugh out loud. There is NO FUCKING WAY you're not gonna be a million+ subscriber channel dude. I absolutely adore your manner of sarcasm and comedy, it speaks to me in a spiritual level 😂

No, partner drills are not a replacement for pad work, they are a complement. Yes, partner drills are better for distance and positional training, but they don't teach proper biomechanics of the strikes (no offense, but that's something you should work on more, judging by your demonstrations in the video). With pad work, you can isolate technique training and drill the correct biomechanics using reasonable power. Partner drills complement that with distance and positional training. The heavybag complements that with isolated power training. The double-end bag complements with precision and rythm training. And then you have sparring where you bring everything together in a still safe (and hopeful playful) environment.

That last comment rlly got me lmao- as soon as id gone to my old gym’s kickboxing class and had a session that was just roundkicks on pads back and forth for an hour….really made me question going back to another class there again

I've been aware that nobody used any mitts in the golden age of boxing for a while now, which made me reconsider the crucialness of the training method. Most people don't know that guys like Muhammed Ali never hit pads. They weren't around then. As for myself, I always wondered why kicking and punching combos felt different from the pads to sparring... this explains a lot. Now that I think about it, this also explains why guys I know who learned kickboxing primarily through pads can't really gauge the distance or throw actual up low combos well. Great vid. I'd say the one advantage of mitts is that you can move and punch hard and also work your precision. It's the most dynamic way to train hard without punching someone hard. You are supposed to push your punches to full extension through the pad as well, which I think simulates hitting a hard object like a head or a body, but the distance is of course messed up. I guess the expectation is to adjust while sparring once you measure the distance which takes experience regardless. Overall I don't agree with the grand conclusion, but I definitely learned what weakness it can create if you over rely on it as a training tool.

My ability to understand the muay thai gym footage from von Duuglas-Ittu's channel has been enhanced by this. Good job

That's mainly a rant about bad training partners and drills. I know that can be very frustrating but pads are versatile if you know what they're good and bad for and bad training partners can spoil anything.

This is why I prefer Dutch style drills where you practice the combo on an opponent who either catches the punches with their gloves or just shells up so you can work. Edit: I commented this only having watched the first half of the video.

Most of the problems with pad holding that you mention only apply to student on student pad drills. One of the most valuable drills you can do is pad work/mitt work with a trainer or experienced pad man. It simulates fight intensity, fight movements, it mixes offensive drills and defensive drills (getting smacked with a pad for keeping your hands too low sucks!), and puts the pad man right in a position to see everything you're doing well and not doing well and can give you great live coaching. You can't replicate that with bag work, partner drills, or even light sparring. Hard sparring is better but you shouldn't do hard sparring more than a couple of times a week to minimize risk injury and to avoid taking too much damage. You can do pad work every day. Top level pad work is the best daily fight prep you can do.

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I've thought this for years. Glad someone finally made a video for it.

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Would love to have you talking with Gabriel Varga about it. If i remember correctly he think pads are one if not the most important part of his training. Knowing why could be interresting

Nice to see you again, Mr Violence. Thanks for the commentary.

As a very new striker with a year and a bit of grappling, I feel like I need more light sparring. Hitting pads is so awkward because if my partner spaces out and holds out the wrong pad then it just feels off. Even worse is that hitting pads just gives me false confidence because the moment we do sparring, I'm scared to get into striking range because I still have a terrible flinch reflex where i close my eyes and can't see shit. I feel like working on defense for beginners would be so much more valuable, just like in BJJ. In BJJ you're supposed to focus on escapes and defense, so that you're not scared to start your own offense. That's exactly my problem in striking. I only throw teeps and leg kicks because they're low commitment. Once they figure that out, I just eat jabs and cover up.

None of these criticisms are correct because you're criticizing people who do pad holding wrong, not pad holding in concept. 1)You're not supposed to think of the holder as the opponent, you're supposed to think of the pad as the guy's face. 2) Get a pad holder who cares more about a good technical workout than making a sweet sound. 3) Pad holding benefits the holder's defensive timing, footwork, parrying, and cardio. Conversely, partner drilling is great...but not being able to throw hard can lead to bad habits, over confidence, and lack of body awareness. Do both (plus heavy, double end bag, slap sparring, chi sao, pummeling, position sparring, randori, etc) in proper measure for the right reasons.

Welcome back Mr. Violence! Can you do the same thing for takedowns and grappling. I run a bjj school and am open to looking at better ways to train my folks. For instance I am focused on doing techniques as warmup, Starting every lesson with a Takedown/Throw, Takedown/Throw counter, a guard pull from the feet or an escape from a negative position to guard before hitting the pass, sweep, backtake or submission. Love your work man!

Glad you’re still making videos!!

ive always felt fighters over complicate training. there really is no substitute for fighting. just fight less often, less hard, or hit a bag. also, every fighter should do ACTUALL STRENGTH TRAINING if they are serious, and not that bs where they take a light weight and try to move it fast for seemingly infinite reps.

One thing I love about pads is not teaching people its using the pads to train my reaction time and reducing flinch from strikes😂. My coach told me padwork is basically a partner drill but its great for training defense.

You've perfectly encapsulated my problems with pads and added points I haven't considered! Great vid!

How about: visualization? Like with the speedbag, heavy bag or god forbid Kata you and your partner KNOW what target the pads are for and cater for it. The argument with kicking striking combos having false distance is lifted by you know the pad holder stepping back and holding the pads in the correct distance. I .think pads are a good middle ground for training more committed strikes with speed while still being able to have accuracy. i know I KNOW I will get flagged for it but look at olympique taekwondo athletes still doing padwork for accuracy and speed.

AV love you dude! This actually makes sense! KEEP IT UP!

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Man, it was a while since i watched your video, so it was such a blees to see this on my feed today. You are my number one violence enjoyer with open mind and a sharp tongue. I watched all your videos and not a single one was a disappointement (well, the podcast ones make me sleepy, but i just dont like podcasts). I send my warmest thanks to you for teaching and inspiring me to learn from other sources and to have my mind open. Love to you!!❤❤❤

i think you made me realise why i quit my last muay thai gym, it was the amount of pad work. I dont claim to know much about fighting so i wont address the actual points you made but from my pov i love combat sports yet couldnt get motivated enough to show up and i never understood why. now i get it, i didnt enjoy holding pads for 30 minutes nor hitting them for 30 when the same couldve been done on a heavybag (which we never did any of, it was pads every session). Thanks, was always wondering how i can enjoy the sport yet at the same time feel so unmotivated and this video helped it click in my head.

Pretty much. Early on when I needed clients, I held pads for everyone. It's easy to sell. Now, it's only for actual fighters and it's mostly a workout. There are a few more advantages of padwork you didn't cover, but they are extremely niche.

Dude, pads are crazy important. Have you seen thai boxers use pads? Its 5, 5 minute rounds of hell.

You have some great points but pads are still very useful for striking skills. When people throw strikes they are supposed to throw them with control- not just throw blindly. You should be able to just strike a target and transfer your power into it without following all the way through. This is where you get your “snap” in your strikes that the elite fighters have. They actually don’t do the pads just for cardio- they literally can read where and what distance a pad is. Throwing at immobile objects like heavy bags does not fully develop this skill. Basically your partner should be able to just move their pad suddenly out of the way and you will stop your strike and pull back without following through. This is that control that elite fighters have. Pads are also great at developing combos and precision on a moving target and greatly increases punch accuracy. I agree that partner drills are super important as well but they need to supplemented with skilled pad work. Good pad holders- truly good pad holders are worth their weight in gold at the upper levels of fighting.

Padwork teaches the holder hand defense, combinations etc. Many people hit pads because it work, when done right. Useless if it’s done wrong.. partner drills are great but different

You are the best RU-vidr in regards to combat sports I have ever seen I wish I could find more people like you

Most boxing gyms Ive trained in the padwork is usually done by the coach and often is when you get one on one time with him picking apart your technique. Rest of the time is shadow boxing, bags, skipping, partner drills, sparring, or downstairs to hell to meet the devil (the conditioning coach)

Padwork is not a substitute for partner drilling; they're complimentary. Your joints have mechanoreceptors that require the feedback from contact to fully adapt, and allows you to train various changes in combinations, distance and angle against a moving target *with contact.* A rough hierarchy might look like: 1. Solo technical work 2. Solo (various) bag work 3. Pad work 4. positional sparring 5. Technical sparring Distance and timing are roughed out with pad work and refined in positional and technical sparring. They have their uses and their limitations. No training method is fighting; they're all approximations, or modles of flights. All models are wrong (but some are useful.) There are no solutions, only tradeoffs. It's all a matter of using the right tool, at the right time, in the right dose.

Great points. An excellent replacement for pad holding is striking the century bob!

When I was a beginner, I was taught that pad holders should be training with the person striking. Your argument for just doing partner drills does make sense, but I think you're landing in a bit of slippery slope territory. With beginners, it's not just getting punched that intimidates them. They're also worried about hitting other people and hurting them (in my experience). I find that pads are a great set of training wheels, because any hesitant person I've trained has had no reservations about hitting pads. Aside from bridging that gap, the way I was taught to hold pads was to behave as an opponent and "learn defense" in the process of holding pads. My partner should be punching at my face and I should be stopping it from getting there with the pad. Like a parry. The "authenticity" of my padwork depends on my partner's level. With a beginner, I'll be like "here comes the hook train! Choo choo! Roll!" But with a person who has experience, I'll literally throw a hook with the pad. The distance needs to be correct for them to need to roll. That comes full circle to your argument for partner drills, which, I agree are good. But I think padwork is good for more than cardio, no need for a hot take.

Truly an armchair take. If you're a fighter, don't take this advice.

Armchair violence indeed. How many world class strikers have you built without good pad holding? All the problems you described are fixed by just having an excellent pad holder. A good striking coach should model this and every fight team member should be able to hold pads well for their ream members.

Pretty much agree with everything you said, but HARD DISAGREE on heavy and double end bags being better tools for developing power/precision. Hitting pads feels WAY closer to hitting a person than hitting bags does. I think bags are just a decent substitute for when you dont have a partner to train with. Obviously you cant hit a 90 pound woman at 100% when you hit pads. But if you have someone similar size and experience to you available, then you can absolutely blast the pads. Thats like saying you cant roll with a 90 pound woman at full intensity, therefore sparring isnt effective for jujitsu. Theres also something to be said about engagement in the activity. With a good pad holder, I could 100% hit pads for close to an hour without being bored. Hitting the heavy bag for an hour would feel like a sisyphusian endeavor in comparison. All in all l, i think if the main training method is partner drills with some padword sprinkled in to monitor your technique when hitting full power, then you arent really wasting any time imo.

Padwork doesnt suck; its just to easy for padholders to suck and learn the other guy very wrong habits With that said; I do padwork very seldom

I completely agree with this: I had a Muay Thai fight and afterwards my kicks on the padwork sucked, because no one was holding the pads properly so I would need to change accurate kicks for bad form. It's absolutely a horrible gearing up for sparring and means you have to make accomodations. You're better off doing bag work and sparring and just rinse and repeat. In fact, just put on regular gloves and shin guards and do drills like in the video.

Partner drilling is easier said than done. Beginners have huge issues controlling and knowing how to do things light. Hell even a lot of intermediate people don't know how to flow spar. Yet I agree partner drilling/flow sparing you learn much more.

its great that I find your channel. I also have my fair share of problems with how most people do pad work, but I think what u are talking about has more to do with how people hold pads WRONG. for example, I hold pads right next to my head, for the exact purpose of teaching the right distance. of course this comes at a higher risk, but so far I have not been hit in the face by accident because I work on students being more accurate than power punches in pad works, which is another one of your good points: pad work is for movements un like heavy bags. once students are good enough to be safe in true distance pad works, It give them more chance to strike with true movements of two person, which is an other big part of what I try to accomplish in pad works: seeing the opportunity and strike. which I don't prearrange the combo as much, but show them the targets and ask them to see it and act on it.

Hitting pads it's functional, it all depends if the coach is good at it

I had just literally paused my membership to my gym because of this issue and this video pops up. You tube's algorithm is creepy. Great work man..

Good food for thought. I can’t wait for Icy Mike’s two cents on this

Padwork is useful only to drill muscle memory with hard striking without potentially injuring someone. Also my pad holder is only my coach

Agreed. Hitting pads is a great conditioning tool, but should never replace more specific training modalities like drilling or sparring.

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This is why gyms usually end up splitting striking classes in half, with people still stressed by striking on the mat with pads and the people that dont flinch in the ring(s) doing partner drills. Pads should be dropped once you've passed that threshold.

6:50 You took her somewhere nice afterwards, right?

Pads were invented because punching bags are expensive and many Thai gyms couldn't afford a punching bag for every fighter so the pads are a way for people to still practice hitting with power but they are mobile and can be taken to a match so the fighter can practice in the gym. The best pad is probably the belly pad because you can just hit someone in the stomach. Some boxers went to Thailand once and saw people using sandals as pads for punching so they wouldn't hurt each other's hands and decided to invent focus mitts. I have never been a fan of pads to be perfectly honest. There are so many punching bags you can use that do everything so much better. The rounda whirl bag might hit you in the face if you have bad head movement and it's unpredictable. Do you think a coach wearing only a belly pad and getting in the ring with a student help teach ring strategy. Just to not be uncomfortable getting hit with teeps or something... would this help?

I think it is very valid critique. Still I think there are some benefits that were left out, e.g. practicing fast reaction: I show you need to punch immediately, practicing guard: Your guard is open, I hit you, practicing some distancing: you don’t retreat fast enough, I hit you etc. This Mixing Kicks and Punches bugs me. As here distancing is really somewhat messed up… also I think it is good to do some padwork (holder shows you where you have flaws) and some of the strike works you talked about (you get to see the actual distancing and the actual possibilities for strike backs). I think keeping the pad holder safe is good for some scenarios as you mentioned, especially when the holder is allowed to add some punches when the striker doesn’t have solid guard. It prevents the whole thing from ppl flailing at each other and spiraling to oblivion. But as always, very good food for thought.

I still really like pad rounds *with a good holder****. Our gym teaches that you just barely pat down by a tiny ammount at the last seccond so that they're not coming forward so much. We spar light daily so we can learn everything pads cant teach you but I love pad rounds because theyre the most dynamic way that I can throw anything in a combo at a whatever power I want. Hard to spar with elbows knees punches kicks clinch etc. We get 3 rounds each of pads a decent bit of bag work and some drills then sparring. Pad work deffinently has a place because unless you're absolutely murdering you're sparing partners it's hard to get certain things nicely from other methods. Sparring is king but I dont feel like eating a tomahawk elbow.

How would it even be possible to learn striking solely using pads? Nobody does that.

I love you. Just did Pad work in Kickboxing today.

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Partner drills pad work , heavy bag, double end bag, Light playful sparring and ocasional hard sparring are how you get good at striking. Shadow boxing has a place as warm up and cool downs as well.

No. You use pad work to practice muscle memory, power, cardio and speed. Sure if you have a bad pad-holder it sucks but that's usually a beginners issue. Once you start fighting , your team and your coaches knows how to hold pads proper. This is honestly a weird video seeing as all the best fighters from Muay thai to mma to boxing to bareknuckle boxing etc use pads. The whole distance example is again only a factor with a bad pad holder. It sucks, but so does having a bad sparring or drill partner. The concept works and the results have been seen for as long as there have been pads around.

Excellent video as always, very informative

if I'm coaching someone I'm first putting them on pads to first get the techniques correct and make sure they understand to enter/exit and keep hands up. once they have good control over the new techniques you can trust them to do partner drills.

I agree 99% and I would love to see more content on ways commercial fight gyms completely waste your time, because they do. I hate pad work unless I'm with an actual coach, don't get someone with no idea what he's doing to hold pads for me and waste time both me and him are paying you for! Anyway, I have some minor disagreements on it being completely useless: 1. You can uppercut and include the uppercut in a combo which you can't do on a heavy band 2. You can throw a hook closer to the correct distance, on a heavy bag you're throwing it out to the side, which teaches you to load up I don't think it's completely useless for the pad holder, it helps you stay calm with strikes hitting your arms but I suppose partner drilling does that even better so there's not much point. Overall I agree, we'd be better off not having it as part of regular training, maybe only doing it with an experienced holder right before a fight. Also if you have to do it, I think you should just repeat the same multi strike combo for a round. That shit where they pick the strike and you have to react each time is unnecessarily difficult for both the striker and the pad holder in a way that doesn't translate to actual fighting skill, as you said about many other aspects of pad holding.

A difference I've noticed is that when we mess up a combo on pads, we're more likely to stop/ pull or reset because we don't want to miss the pads or hurt our partner. But when we're doing partner drills, people more naturally seem to to adjust and make their mistakes a different attack. This is the correct response we want to instill for when we see our target change mid-attack. Partner drills give us a better feel for when we're actually in position for the technique, different ones we can use if it fails etc.

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Nice video. There are a lot of good valid points, especially about distance. But I think there is still a lot of value for training striking, not just cardio. I feel like I have to go into detail because there were a lot of generalizations in the vid. 1. It's great for practicing changes in angles and distance, like an opponent advancing or retreating/turning the corner, that you can't do with stationary bags. Pad holders can become a moving double-end bag. It's very hard to train hi/low uppercuts, hi/low hooks thrown at angles, knees at angles or in the clinch, axe kicks etc. on stationary bags, and throwing them with power on your sparring partner's body is irresponsible. Also, taking full power shots on pads is not THAT hard (kinda exaggerated in the vid), and it can help train the holder's balance and toughness too. I'm 135 lb, and have held for people 200+ before. It's not so bad, kinda fun actually, especially when the striker is impressed you can take it. 2. Impact response practice. Punching heads and punching bodies feels really different. Hitting someone's head has much less resistance than punching their core. Heavy bags are always heavy and light bags are always light. Pad holders can simulate light and heavy resistance from head to body shots in the same combination, making hi-low punching feel more realistic. 3. Defense practice. When holding pads, I throw light tapping counter jabs, hooks, or kicks when the striker starts slacking or getting too close. They always have to keep their hands up, use footwork to make distance, head movement to dodge, shin blocks, etc., always keeping them alert and aware. No decent pad holder is just doing bear slaps like in the video. 4. It gives some people purpose. Not all people in the gym are training for their next sanctioned fight. Some people just want to exercise, learn something cool, or socialize. Some people like me are getting older and aren't as strong or energetic as before. I personally am happy to hold pads so I can take a breather and maybe help some younger newbies learn some new techniques, or help a tough real fighter get a decent workout. I've held pads for a UFC fighter before, which in itself is a huge honor and a cherished memory! In the end, as many have mentioned, the pad holder makes a huge difference. I've come across so many terrible pad holders that just ruin your whole workout, so I get it. But if you find those rare pad holding experts, they really make it worth your time. Go get your pad hubbie/wife and never let them go!

I feel like i got better at parrying punches and noticing telegraphs from holding pads, dont think i got any better at striking by hitting them tho 😅

"waiting until your opponent is ready is the opposite of how staking works." - fucking gem.

He describes the effect of bad pad holding technique / plocies. Where I train the aim is to hold pads close to the face, hit / kick back at times, striker goes full power. I find holding pads beenficial as I need to learn to see punches / kicks coming to respond to be effective and safe.

I’m with you on the partner drills/light sparring being superior to pad work. Excessive emphasis on looking great on the pads (in which the pad holder is actually the one making the striker appear to be good) on these long excessive speedy choreographed combos are common on IG…and you’ll see those same people look completely clueless when shadow boxing , sparring, or doing bag work.

This is shockingly true and important. I've been training martial arts and watching tutorials on RU-vid for like 7 years, and I've never heard anyone talk about this. Great video!

I agree that pad work shouldn't be done at full power. But its just so damn satisfying

I respectfully disagree with almost everything you said but I can see your point

"B-But its tradition! All fighters do it!" lmao

I agree with your criticisms of padwork, but many of them can be overcome with more useful pad holding techniques and other tools, such as body pads. I keep the pads closer to my face, and don't really swing the pads into the strike. This makes it a bit more injurious to the holder, but it's better training. I tend to use Thai pads, a leg pad and a body pad so that my client has better and more realistic options for striking, and doesn't have to wait for me to be in position in order to throw. It lets the padwork become more freeform, and he can strike at different targets based off of the range, rather than just doing a set combination. Also, there's no reason why you can't throw realistic strikes back at your client while holding pads, you just have to control your strikes the same as you would in a partner drill. Basically, I came to the same conclusions you did and do padwork in ways that I think are more useful than the standard methods. As far as partner drills and heavy bag training goes, they botv have some limitations. In partner drills, like you said, you can't throw hard. I have found that this can lead to some bad muscle memory when trying to spar hard or fight, especially with kicks. Heavy bags are great, but they don't move enough for more than one or 2 strikes to be realistic. Your padholder should be moving, forcing you to chase them down or react to other movements as you're doing your combination so that you can work on more realistic footwork. After all, opponents rarely stand still to be hit. You could get this benefit from a partner drill as well, but you can't really practice stepping and using falling steps and your forward momentum to power your strikes as much, which is how I prefer to strike. Basically, when I teach a public class I mostly use partner drills and heavy bag work; when I do a private lesson I use a lot of padwork, but in ways that I think are better than many other coaches do.

Pad Work is good for teaching proper technique and especially with small boxing Mits pads, you learn ducking, bobbing and weaving while the trainer moves around with you to get used to following a target.( Mitwork ) Once you have proper technique, then start partner drills which leads to sparring.

I recently switched over to a generally excellent gym, but the one thing that drives me bananas is the striking class' heavy reliance on pads. After watching this video, I'm trying to come up with little ways to mitigate the deficiencies - holding closer to the actual target, making my partner chase after the kicks to follow up with punches, moving more quickly so they can work at a higher pace....they seem to be improving the experience. But, it is telling that so many fixes are just nudging it closer to partner-drilling territory.

nice one... also I'm really looking forward to your "attrition doctrine" vs "movement doctrine" video you talked about in that podcast not too long ago

tbh if you train heavy strikes, the pads are good conditioning for the pad holder.

I bounced off this channel a fair while back because it just didn't seem like you were really enjoying what you were doing. Watching this video, it seems like you've settled into a place where I see a guy actually having fun, and it goes a long way with the persona you put forward. I hope you keep it up because it makes you a lot more watchable, and you are typically saying something worth hearing

I agree with most of what you're saying... But when working with a professional coach, pad work can be fantastic. Joe Calzaghe was famous for training with his father Enzo primarily on pads. Firas Zahabi has also made some really interesting points about dynamic padwork, in that as the person HOLDING the pads, it can teach you to develop sound defensive habits and learn to improve your blocking and parrying IF you train the right way and don't just do pre-programmed routines on the pads. The problem, it seems to me, is more when you're just learning to hold the pads and doing basic drills with a partner, it's both tedious and MUCH less productive that purposive partner drills or light sparring. Anyway, those are just my two cents... but my point is that I don't think pad work is as bad as you think it is, depending on how it's practiced. It can be a LOT more than just a cardio workout for both partners. But if Ramsey Dewey says "more people need to hear this", in the comments (which he does, lol), then he's probably right, and I defer to him and to you on this point. Very nice video overall. I just wanted to add a bit of nuance to the discussion.

The way my coach holds pads we might as well be sparring 😂

Pads are pretty much used to get u comfy at throwing full power at a moving "target", or to warm up before a fight. And to teach correct technique even if the range is off. I teach privates as an example. I cant trust a customer not to damage me if i do partner drills at them

Hey it’s the fighting nerd again

👍 i’ve been doing this exact thing for years. Partner training over pad training . Though I do think pad training still does have some merit.

I had a guy who was good with pads for boxing, and this really made me appreciate them so much more than I already did. I really liked his pacing and the range was very natural compared to my normal boxing to the point it felt easier to get my range actually boxing at times. However, it was boxing afterall so, I imagine it's just so much easier to do there considering you only deal with punches. Only benefit I found from pad work was a bit of clarity, it's fun with friends who want to learn basic combinations or something but other than seeing what it's like no benefits. Just to clarify I'm not disagreeing or anything, I'm just glad the pad work I've had didn't cause me to do this and actually benefited me. I never considered this.

Yup, I've used pads alot but not really trained to use them. That movement of the pad toward a strike never made sense, and I never did it.

Going full power on pads is great, just get a man as big or bigger than you. More dynamic than heavy bag and the pad holder can move and hit back.

High level coaches that know how to hold and can help a fighter develop stategy are priceless

Cop: Sir, you’re under arrest for public indecency” Me: I’m wearing my Jon jones jersey

I dont like pads mostly since they waste someones time, but I like when we use gloves as pads. Feels like the distance is more appropriate and you work on holding a stable guard

I admit that my sample size is small, but in the two muay thai gyms I've been in Singapore pads were only held by coaches. You would practice power on bags, techniques with partner drilling, and then you would alternate doing pads with the coach, who would either focus om every single strike to get your technique on point, or push you hard for. conditioning. I think that's A useful and B the way the thing was thought to be used in the first place

Still waiting for the video on ecological learning/teaching (with baited breath of course)