Randy Brown Mantis Boxing

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The Strikes of Mantis Boxing

Randy Brown

Striking is an integral component of our art of mantis boxing. Without it, we cannot function to our optimal levels, and we miss out on critical weapons that could eliminate or disable an opponent before the need for our hooking and grappling skills. This phase of combat is so important we have an entire keyword principle devoted to this single act. We will show this later in this course.

In western culture, the word ‘striking’ is synonymous with the word ‘boxing’. In China, where mantis boxing originated, boxing takes on an additional meaning. When it is listed with other characters such a praying mantis, monkey, or supreme ultimate, it means a fist system, or boxing system.

Natural Weapons

Old school striking arts, often have attached along with them, conditioning rituals to strengthen and inoculate the fist or palm for striking. For those who have never punched another human being, we use movies and television as our education on what is possible. This is misleading, and unrealistic. Often times when one human punches another with full force, the potential for breaking the hand is higher than not. For this reason, there are targets that require different types of natural weapons. Let’s look at these first.

The 3 Devastating Palms of a Mantis Boxer

Let’s start with the 3 palm strikes we’ll use - thrust palm, circle palm, and shoveling palm.

How to Train the 3 Palms

Striking Training - Mission 1
The 3 Palms

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Begin with stationary striking.

  3. Thrust palms (left/right) - 200x.

  4. Circle palms (left/right) - 200x.

  5. Shoveling palms (left/right) - 200x.

  6. Now try a few ‘3-strike combinations’ (as many as you want):

    1. thrust | circle | shovel

    2. thrust | thrust | circle

    3. thrust | thrust | shovel

    4. circle | thrust | thrust

The 5 Fists of the Mantis

Next up, the 5 primary fist strikes we’ll use - chopping fist, drilling fist, crushing fist, cannon fist, scraping fist.

Training the 5 Fists

Striking Training - Mission 2
The 5 Fists

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Begin with stationary striking.

  3. Chopping fist (left/right) - 200x

  4. Drilling fist (left/right) - 200x

  5. Crushing fist - 100x

  6. Cannon fist - 100x

  7. Scraping fist (left/right) - 200x

  8. Now try a few ‘3-strike combinations’ (as many as you want):

    1. Drilling | Cannon | Chopping

    2. Crushing | Chopping | Scraping

    3. Chopping | Drilling | Crushing

    4. Chopping | Scraping | Drilling

Tips for Safe Punching

This video predominantly focuses on sport punching to the head but, the content and principles still apply in our other strikes. It is a good idea to watch this video and learn how to avoid some of the injuries I was hit with early on in my training from improper coaching, or equipment nuances.

Our Striking Stance

Striking Training - Mission 3
Combos and The Stance

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Begin with sitting in your stance.

  3. Let’s put together the palms and fists to work what we call ‘Level Change & Target Variation’.

  4. ‘3-strike combinations’ in stationary fighting stance (use a bag, partner if available):

    1. Thrust | Circle | Scrape - 15x left, 15x right

    2. Thrust | Circle | Crush - 15x left, 15x right

    3. Thrust | Circle | Chop - 15x left, 15x right

    4. Chop | Thrust | Crush - 15x left, 15x right

    5. Chop | Thrust | Scrape - 15x left, 15x right

    6. Chop | Thrust | Shovel - 15x left, 15x right

    7. Drill | Circle | Shovel - 15x left, 15x right

    8. Drill | Cannon | Circle - 15x left, 15x right

Building Power with Footwork

Striking Training - Mission 4
Moving and Striking 1 -
Building Strike Power Through Footwork

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up here before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Let’s start moving and striking - Shuffle forward and throw one strike. Use the footwork from the video above and reset your position in between strikes. If you are comfortable, work both sides:

    1. Thrust palm 50x lead hand (full closing step), 50x rear hand (half closing step).

    2. Circle palm - 50x lead hand (full closing step), 50x rear hand (half closing step).

    3. Shovel Palm - 50x lead hand (full closing step), 50x rear hand (half closing step)

    4. Crushing fist - 50x (full closing step).

    5. Cannon fist - 50x (half closing step).

    6. Drilling fist - 50x lead hand (full closing step), 50x rear hand (half closing step).

    7. Chopping fist - 50x lead hand (full closing step), 50x rear hand (half closing step).

    8. Scraping fist - 50x lead hand (full step), 50x rear hand (half step).

Striking Training - Mission 5
Moving and ‘Two’ Striking - 2

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up here before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Shuffle forward and throw a ‘2-strike combination’. Use the footwork from the previous mission. Reset your position in between ‘1-2 combinations’. If you are comfortable, work both sides:

    1. Thrust | Scrape - 50x

    2. Thrust | Cannon - 50x

    3. Crush | Chop - 50x

    4. Crush | Circle - 50x

    5. Drill | Circle - 50x

    6. Drill | Scrape - 50x

    7. Circle | Cannon - 50x

    8. Circle | Drill - 50x

  3. Let’s try stepping and striking now.

  4. Step and throw a ‘2-strike combination’. Reset your position in between combinations:

    1. Thrust | Cannon - 50x

    2. Thrust | Chop - 50x 

    3. Thrust | Scrape - 50x

    4. Drill | Chop - 50x

    5. Drill | Scrape - 50x

    6. Chop | Thrust - 50x

    7. Chop | Cannon - 50x

    8. Chop | Scrape - 50x

Basic Footwork

[Use this video for circling footwork]

The following depicts a variety of footwork drills depicting a stance we no longer use. You can read more on why I changed this stance here if you are interested. The key movements to extract from this footwork video, are circle left, circle right, and change step. Use the stance you learned above when applying this.

Striking Training - Mission 6
Moving and Striking - 3
3-Strike Combos & Circling

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up here before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Shuffle forward and throw a ‘3-strike combination’. Use the footwork from the video above and reset your position in between strikes. If you are comfortable, work both sides:

    1. Thrust | Circle | Scrape - 50x

    2. Thrust | Circle | Crush - 50x

    3. Thrust | Circle | Chop - 50x

    4. Chop | Thrust | Crush - 50x

    5. Chop | Thrust | Scrape - 50x

    6. Chop | Thrust | Shovel - 50x

    7. Drill | Circle | Shovel - 50x

    8. Drill | Cannon | Circle - 50x

Circle and Strike

  1. First, we want to circle left 1x and throw a ‘3-strike combination’ in place. Use the following combinations, start the combo with your lead hand:

    1. Circle | Thrust | Crush - 30x

    2. Circle | Drill | Thrust - 30x

    3. Thrust | Cannon | Chop - 30x

    4. Thrust | Circle | Scrape - 30x 

    5. Chop | Cannon | Drill - 30x

    6. Chop | Scrape | Thrust - 30x

  2. Next, we want to circle right 1x and throw a ‘3-strike combination’ in place. Use the following combinations, start the combo with your rear hand:

    1. Circle | Thrust | Cannon - 30x

    2. Circle | Crush | Thrust - 30x

    3. Thrust | Crush | Chop - 30x

    4. Thrust | Circle | Scrape - 30x

    5. Chop | Crush | Drill - 30x

    6. Chop | Scrape | Thrust - 30x

Striking Training - Mission 7
Moving and Striking - 4
Shadow Boxing

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. If using as a review, perform less reps. Southpaws (left-handed) reverse everything.

  1. Choose a warm-up here before proceeding with this training mission.

  2. Now we will combine all the pieces we’ve worked on prior to this point. Random strikes with movement (Shadow Boxing).

    1. Perform 5 sets of 100x. Throw combinations of 3-5 strikes then reset your guard. Alternatively, you can set a timer for 3 minute rounds, and perform 7 rounds with a 1 minute rest in between rounds.