Combining Our Punches & Kicks With Ernesto Hoost
Kickboxing is known for its intense combination and work capacity, mixing kicks and punches in a way that complements each other, so the combination is devastating and smoothly applied.
The idea of mixing our attacks is crucial to understand as all our attacks force our opponent to defend in a certain way. When the opponent is busy defending one attack, he is open somewhere else for a different attack.
A fighter who can combine both punches & kicks will effectively set up almost any strike he wants because he can lead the opponent into his traps with so many weapons.
When the opponent is defending his head, he will almost always leave his lower body unprotected and vice versa; when an opponent is focused on defending low, he will be open high.
Most practitioners don’t practice mixing their punches and kicks early on as they learn each separately. But this leads to a problem they will have to face later - most of those practitioners will carry on this habit and throw their strikes separately, and when they try to mix, it doesn’t look smooth as they are stopping after each strike whats next.
To deal with this problem, coaches must integrate the mixing of different strikes as soon as practitioners move past the fundamental phase to learn how to throw the different strikes correctly.
Once the practitioners work the different strikes together, they will find out that it is not so complicated because the punches and kicks they will learn in combinations will complement each other. The practitioner will smoothly go through the moves.
To understand what it means that the strikes complement each other let’s take a look at a combination and how the mechanics of the strikes set up the following attacks:
- Mixed combination: Right hand - Left hook - Right low kick - Left hook - Right hand - Left middle kick
- Explanation: Look at how the right hand can sets up the left hook or middle kick as our hips are already rotated and loaded for our attack. The same goes for the left hook as it allows us to load for the right hand or the right low kick - notice that it can go vice versa, and the kicks can set p the punches.
In this video, Ernesto Hoost will show us the different ways we can connect our punches and kicks.
Who Is Ernesto Hoost?
Ernesto Hoost is a Dutch retired kickboxer and a legend of the sport. Ernesto won Four K1 World Championships throughout his career, one of the most prestigious achievements in kickboxing. Ernesto is considered one of the greatest of all time for a reason as he beat legends like - Mirco Cro Cop, Andy Hug, Musashi, Mark Hunt, Ray Sefo, and the list goes on and on. Today, Ernesto enjoys his retirement with his wife and children in the town of Hoorn.
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Connecting Our strikes
In this video, Ernesto Hoost will show us how he connects his punches and kicks with various setups and combinations. Ernesto begins by reminding us that we started to learn the connection between the two using a low kick, but this time we will use the middle kicks, which are not different.
So to start learning the connection, we will throw a random combination at our partner and finish with a middle kick. We can use different types of combinations to set up our kicks, and it doesn’t matter if we set up the kick with one punch or four punches, as long as I am finishing with a kick.
We must keep in mind a critical detail: never throw the same combination repeatedly when working this drill and setting up our kicks in a fight because the opponent will see what is happening and easily counter us.
Some examples of combinations we can use to set up the right middle kick:
- Left hook - Right middle kick
- Double left hooks - Right middle
- Left hook - Right straight - Left hook - Right middle
Some examples of combinations we can use to set up the left middle kick:
- Right straight - Left middle kick
- Left hook - Right hook - Left middle kick
- Jab - Left middle kick
Like you probably noticed, we have many combinations that can set up our kicks. This is the goal here. We never want our opponent to anticipate what’s coming next, so we have variety; we don’t need to repeat the same combo and over when we have variety.
When we drill those combinations with a partner, we want him to criticize us and tell us when we repeat the same combination, making him predictable. The goal is always to change the combination as we drill with our partner.
Learn More From Ernesto Hoost
Suppose you liked this video breakdown of Ernesto Hoost's way of mixing his strikes; you can check out his complete instructional - “The Dutch Kickboxing Blueprint - By Ernesto Hoost ” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.