Transformers RID Season 4

Evan and Myles MMA Training Punches

"Ok first thing's first let's see how strong you are so I'll know what level you're at." Isaac said as both stood on the large matt facing each other

"Well I can already tell you that I'm at level zero since I've never actually fought before...unless you count the many times I've beat up kids at school for making fun of Evan." Myles crossed his arms with a small smirk

Isaac had to hold back a laugh

"Well it looks like we've already got one thing in common, I used to beat up my school bullies too and I always ended up grounded for a week."

Myles laughed at that one

"I knew that would make you laugh...now back to work." Isaac stepped closer so he was within arms reach "Right now I just want to see how hard you can punch."

"Ok." Myles took a deep breath

"Here goes nothing." before throwing a sucker punch that Isaac easily caught

"Ok first that's not how you punch and second that was really weak come on Myles you can do better than that."

"Fine so how do I punch?" Myles again crossed his arms and Isaac simply shook head before going to stand next to him.

"Just follow my lead."

Both stood next to each other, hands to their sides and as Isaac began Myles followed closely copying his exact moves.

"We'll first start with your basic fighting stance, So we're going to stand with our feet shoulder length distance apart. Bring your arms straight up to the sky and let them fall right in front of you, elbows in front and your fist should be at cheek level. Now depending on which hand you write with since most of us use our right hand you're gonna take your right foot and put that in the rear, if your left handed you're gonna stand in a southpaw stance. Now the foot that's in the rear I want you to rotate that foot out slightly to a 45 degree and this is going to give us extra stability and balance. Bend your knees slightly and I want you to avoid squeezing your shoulders or flexing your muscles, we want to stay calm and relaxed here ok."

Myles copied the stance just perfectly and looked very proud that he had done so, he looked to Isaac who gave him a nod of approval.

"Good job. Now let's get to the movement and footwork. Whatever direction you want to go in that's what foot moves first, meaning if I want to step to my left then my left leg steps first and then the right if I want to step to my right then my right leg steps first and then my left."

Again followed the steps perfectly Hey this isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. But still this is MMA afterall so I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself.

"If I want to move forward then the lead leg steps first then rear and if I want to move backwards then the rear leg steps first and then the lead."

Myles did almost trip stepping backwards Yep! Definitely shouldn't get ahead of myself.

"That's ok try again." Isaac gave an encouraging smile to the young teen

Which resulted in Myles getting the step right a third time

"Now you're getting the hang of it! Now we do this to avoid crossing our legs. You will see this when fighters get a little bit more advanced in the pro level, but until then you want to make sure that you master the basic fundamentals. Got it?"

Myles nodded

"Good so whatever direction you're going in you want to make sure you step with that foot first. Now give it one more before we go on."

"Got it."

Myles nodded as he copied the moves just as they were demonstrated and this time he didn't trip stepping backwards, he matched the full routine perfectly and he turned to Isaac beaming with pride.

Isaac patted him on the shoulder before continuing on

"Great job Myles. Now let's work on your punches. The first one is the jab and we often refer to this as the one, it's just extending your lead arm don't over complicate it, that's all I want you to do."

Myles had to be corrected when curved or crossed a few times, but after a few more attempts he got it right.

"Oh man, didn't think it was so hard to just punch straight forward."

"And that's ok. You've just gotten so used to literally throwing punches, you don't take a stance, your hands are down at your sides and you just swing. Just remember no more sucker punching, it's not a real thing."

"Got it! No more sucker punching, it's not a real thing."

Isaac smirked and ruffled his hair

"Don't worry you'll get into this new habit eventually."

Both laughed as Myles pushed his hand away and fixed his hair before continuing on.

"Now with every punch we throw we're keeping the opposite hand up protecting our face, so the jab in full looks like this."

Isaac kept his left arm up, blocking his face as his right arm shot straight forward. As Myles copied the movements.

"So when we throw our jab all we're doing is corkscrewing our arm as we extend it aim to make contact with our fist. Protecting our chin with our shoulder that's why we do that corkscrew motion and then we retract it as quickly as we throw it ok so it's not just a quick and a lazy retraction we want to go quick quick, in out in out."

He demonstrated it once more before going on

"Ok that was the first punch the 'jab'. Next up is the two is the cross, so it's going to be the rear hand now the straight punch very similar to the jag except we're going to rotate our hip and pivot on our foot. We're pushing into the ground, the earth is pushing back up into us, that power is generating building going into our body twisting through our hips coming up our back down our shoulder into our fist and transferring into our target. So in full this is the cross."

He demonstrated the move but then heard a loud 'yelp' next to him and turned to see that Myles had rotated way too far and was now rubbing his side.

"Take it easy Myles, you don't need to rotate so far."

" Grunt Sorry."

Isaac paused for a moment and motioned for Myles to sit down as he began rubbing the young boy's side.

"You need to be very careful not to do that Myles, you can seriously injure yourself if you rotate too far."

" Ngh , got it."

"Ok let's take a quick rest."

Isaac picked him up bridal style and went to sit him on a large blue bean bag he had sitting in the back of his garage. Myles winced as he was sat down and Isaac lifted his shirt to inspect the area.

"I don't see any bruising, you're probably just sore I'll go get you an ice pack just sit here and try to relax."

Isaac got up and went inside to grab the ice pack, he was only gone for a minute or two so he was surprised to see Evan sitting on the ground next to his brother.