Low front and stomp kick speed drills
Low roundhouse kick power drill
High roundhouse kick power drill
Side elbow and downward elbow training
There is another drill that we only did once that incorporates all these plus knee strikes and straight punches.
I think the Thai pads are good because it is easy to create angles, such as those needed to train round techniques. Compare this to the airshield, which we only use to train straight (thrusting) techniques.
Sure, you can also use them for clinch and knee work. If they are light enough you can alternate between kicks and punches.
Also, keeping them at you sides and then putting one up anywhere for anystrike is always fun.
When a professional trainer/fighter work together, they never have to call strikes, they just seem to know what the other guy is doing…it’s pretty amazing. You wonder who’s moving first, the trainer or the fighter.
I did when I was in MT. thai pad training is awesome. Some guys at my kwoon are interested, so we may get some and begin training with them. Now we mainly use focus mitts, the heavy bag and kicking shields.
I didn’t think WC used a high roundhouse. What is high? is it just abeve waist level, or is it head level?
I don’t think traditional wing chun uses the high roundhouse. I am talking about head height. I asked my teacher and he said that there are no roundhouses in the empty-hand or wooden-man forms, but, some WC practicioners use the low-medium roundhouse and consider it part of the system, some do not. Chueng’s WC uses a high roundhouse, supposedly only if the opponent is dazed. I think the high roundhouse, I’ll never ever use it on the street, but it does have a sport application, after you set the opponent up with a couple low kicks, than BAM! you catch them by surprise. Deception is key. Anyway, the training is just training, I probably won’t ever need to do a split in a bout, but I’ll still try and get there one day.