5 Reasons Padholding is Important (and tips for the newbies)
Padholding is a skill in it of itself. Many actually find pad holding more difficult than doing the striking - and for good reason! Being a good pad holder is not easy. It requires you to have a good grasp of your basics and also sensitivity to your partner. Some try to avoid learning how to pad hold or .. to which I feel you SHOULD put in time to learning how to pad hold properly. Pad holding is a skill that takes years to be good at.
Here are 5 reasons why I feel you should invest time in learning how to be a good pad holder.
1) Conditioning
Being a good pad holder involves being able to wear harder strikes and brace. You may find yourself getting winded or sore when you’re new to this. Over time, your body will become more conditioned - torso area from wearing knees, teeps and body punches; shoulders from holding the pads up and “catching” strikes; legs from holding kick shields; forearms from wearing the body kicks. This will also translate to overall improvement in your Muaythai. You need to be able to “take” strikes - besides harder sparring, pad holding is a good way to improve your overall conditioning and durability.
A tip for newbies: Partner with someone close to your weight and height. It is harder to hold for those much bigger or taller than you and also a higher risk of injury when you’re learning how to catch the strikes.
2) Range
As a Muaythai student I struggled a lot with working out my range as a newbie. Where is my boxing range? What about my kick range? And how do I move between the ranges?
I used to hit my foot a lot when kicking. I was in the wrong range. I also used to struggle to find my boxing range - Landing the jab on their guard is NOT landing the jab lol.
I’ve found that pad holding has assisted with my visual understanding of range. Where should I be standing in relation to my partner (striker) for a kick? What about calling for elbows and knees?
What about what strikes make sense and various distances? Yes of course we can make up range by jumping or explosive entries but void of that, what strikes and defence make sense to flow with a roundhouse kick?
These are all questions to ask yourself when you’re learning how to pad hold. To be a good pad holder you’ll need to visually understand yours and your striker’s range (dependant on their height and limb lengths). This understanding translates over to better execution of your own strikes during sparring or competition.
A tip for newbies: Learn simple cues that give you the nod that you’re in the right range. Eg. You should feel your partner’s full shin on the pad (not foot). Or their strikes should push past the pad not stop upon touching the pad. This ties into number (5) Learning through feeling.
3) Improve reaction time and coordination
Putting combinations together and moving the pads fast enough to catch the strikes is a skill! When you work with differing levels, you will feel as a pad holder much more challenged when paired with the more experienced striker. This is good! Learning to match their timing and moving quicker with the pads and your own footwork is a great way to learn.
For instance the striking combo may be - Jab, Hook, Rear Body Kick, Check, Kick into Teep. Okay, this is quite a long combo you won’t see in a beginner class but a reasonable flow combo in a more experienced environment. As a padholder, being able to move the pads, adjust range and also incorporate your own strikes so you partner can defend, is great training for you to improve your reaction time and coordination.
A tip for newbies: Layer your combinations so you can learn the correct movements and timing as you go. Layering is a tool to get flow with your striker and avoids the awkward pauses and “thinking” in between strikes and combos. For instance if we use the same combo above, I may start with just Jab and Hook for 3 repetitions. Then I add on kick for 3 repetitions, followed by the check. Finally I ask my striker to add in the Kick and Teep. Then we repeat the combination top to bottom for a few more repetitions until it’s fluid and crisp.
A class where we use “layering” to execute and learn combinations - give this a try!
4) Flow and rhythm
As a good pad holder, you will have a grasp of flow and rhythm. Having good enough footwork and flow to keep up with your striker requires yourself to have good flow and rhythm. Being able to match your striker’s intensity and speed, and also slow them down to fine tune the details is a skill. This skill is transferable to you yourself being a better striker and Muaythai practitioner.
We’ve all been paired with newbies who are understandably more rigid and stiff in their pad work. You may find yourself losing your own rhythm and fluidity. This is why both parties, pad holder and striker have to have flow and rhythm to make for good training.
A tip for newbies: Keep moving your body in your Muaythai rhythm. Between strikes and in the in-between spaces, keep moving! Try to find the middle ground between total stiffness and franticness. Calmly keep your rhythm and move in the basic directions while you call out for strikes. You want to use the space around you rather than just staying static in one spot calling out strikes.
5) Learning through feeling
This is one of my favourite ways to learn. One way of capturing the “feeling” behind a strike is experiencing it on the other side of the pad. For instance, I’ve been struggling with my knees and elbows recently. Through receiving it when holding for my coach, Bak, I can better understand what I’m trying to achieve as a striker. I can then go and replicate or look for that feeling and intensity with my strikes.
Another way through feeling is to access how to better help your striker. As a good pad holder, you should be able to feel what is going on with their strikes. For instance, are they closing their knuckles on the punch? Are they kicking with their full body weight or just swinging a leg? These are things you will pick up in time as a pad holder and can translate that over to your striker to help them improve.
A tip for newbies: Ask your coach nicely to hit the pad when you hold it. Then ask for tips on how to hold better and what feeling you’re trying to attain when receiving the strikes. What should they feel like when a strike is executed correctly?
