As If Tethered – above is a 3:40 trailer clip from Episode 19 of my Karuhat Intensive. In this clip he’s working with me on timing and distance. A large part of what he teaches is learning how to recognize quickly the open side and to flow one’s attacks to that side. At around the 40 second mark he works with me on an off balancing shove that he’s taught earlier in the series. This is a counter to when your opponent checks on their open side (if you are southpaw, like I am), this will be when they close that side with their right check. You move toward kicking, but then shift into a shove to their left shoulder. This turns them, pushing them back, but also changes their open side, leaving it exposed to a walk forward right kick. In the second half of the clip he shows the Golden Kick again, his version of it, which is a vertical kicking motion. Karuhat in particular has a kind of floating lead up with his hip, something I’ve not really seen in other fighters. This is a finesse in his style which I am far from, but I love. It hides his kick some, throws off defensive timing, and allows him to change his strike sometimes based on how the opponent reacts or does not react.

GIF – The Clinch

A great little moment in the episode, around the 17 minute mark, is when Karuhat corrects my clinch attack. The GIF below shows it. He starts by taking my (improper) upright, far off stance, and then shows me how he wants my head on his shoulder. If you watch it a few times you notice some very important elements he throws in to keep himself from being thrown from this slightly forward lean. First of all his posture is counterbalanced with the curve of his body. Secondly, he is peppering with light knees to distract, and then does a slight drag back to rock me forward, resumes the knees, and then reverses and steps through to the right. The action and feel is like a boat that is being jostled by waves. Look at my body, how it is constantly pushed off center, sloshing back and forth. I’m relaxed so this is emphasized, it allows you to see the small shifts. This makes his step through extra effective. In this instance he uses the step through to land a big score on the ropes, but if my hips were in defending against his knees, he would turn this into a throw over his left thigh, a throw I’ve been calling the Pickpocket Throw because of how you step “by” someone.

above, quick GIF showing clinch distance, head position, and shifting direction, from the episode

Episode 19. At top is a free 3 minute extended clip, but you can watch the full 64 minute commentary video of this session on Vimeo On Demand. Purchase of the video or subscription lends support to legends of the ring as Karuhat gets 55% of the net proceeds from this series; patrons get a substantial discount (you can purchase Episode 19 individually after the trailer below, or look to Episode 19 in the full list). You can also subscribe to the entire series, there are now over 25 hours of commentary training footage published:

watch all the free videos in this series