Hi, I'm Patrick Fulop.
This is Effective Martial Arts.
In this lesson, the 10 basic elbow strikes.
Alright, quick overview first.
10 basic elbows.
First, straight elbow.
They can also be used defensively as a spear elbow.
Then you have your up elbow, side elbow,
and your down elbow.
Come from the other side, you got your back-up elbow,
back-side elbow, and the back-down elbow.
Then you got your spinning elbows,
so spinning-up elbow, spinning-side elbow,
and spinning-down elbow.
Now stick around for some valuable tips and tricks
on how to do these better.
Alright, so elbows are really powerful
close-range strikes.
So you can use your elbows to knock your opponent out,
or to cut him as well if you're hitting
with the very tip of the elbows and grazing by real quick.
That can cut on the eye socket,
or anywhere on the forehead or the head.
So very powerful strikes.
You do have to master first, your basic stance.
You have to become a little comfortable
with the basic stance first, and the basic punches as well,
because the basic movement is very similar.
So be sure to have those techniques down first,
and then you're gonna be ready to study elbows.
So elbows can be used in stand-up striking,
they can be used from the clinch, and they can also be used
very effectively on the ground as well.
(laid-back drum and bass music)
Alright, so number one, the straight elbow.
So, the straight elbow is gonna come in a straight line,
right in the opponent's face.
So for this one, there's two variants.
The main one is to hit with the flat part of the elbow
over here, straight in front like this.
So you got a couple things you gotta put together
for this elbow to work and be effective.
So first, you've got your step.
You gotta step into it to cover the distance.
Second, you gotta have a little hip pop at the same time.
And third and most importantly,
you have to use your shoulder joint for mobility.
So if you can see from this side here,
you have to be able to pull your shoulder
all the way back, and move it all the way forward.
So when you put all these together, you step, hips,
and shoulder at the same time, you can cover good distance.
At the same time as well, remember that for every elbow,
when you can elbow your opponent, he can also elbow you.
You are within elbow range, so it's very important
to protect at the same time.
You wanna have your other hand here, protecting your face,
here, as you're doing your elbow strike.
So once again, straight lead elbow here.
It's also possible with the backhand,
hitting like across, same idea.
Now you're gonna use the fighting twist at the same time,
so your hips are gonna move a little bit more.
Same thing, shoulder has to go into it,
protection with the other side,
so you land your elbow right in the opponent's face.
Now the variant of the straight elbow
is to use it defensively as a straight spear elbow.
So this is gonna happen most likely
when a person is attacking you with a hook.
So you're gonna block it in the turtle block position,
blocking the hook, and move forward,
hitting with the very tip of your elbow right in their face.
So blocking, stepping forward, and hitting here.
Same thing, shoulder joint, this placement,
so that you can hit with good power and reach.
It can also be used on the other side,
so block and step and twist, and hit
with the tip of the elbow.
So that's your straight elbow.
Next up is the up elbow.
So to remember the next nine elbows is very easy.
There's three categories: you got your basic elbows,
hitting the front part of the elbow over here;
you got your elbows coming from the back,
so your back elbows, hitting with the back part
of the elbow over here; and you've got your spinning elbows,
where you're gonna do a step and turn into them.
So in all three cases, it always goes up, side, and down.
So that's your three main angles
that you're gonna hit from, from each one
of these categories.
Now, in application, all angles are possible.
You can go for 45 going up, 45 going down,
and everything in between.
But for practice, just to make it simple,
we divide it into those three main angles,
and if you're able to hit those,
you're gonna be able to hit everything in between as well.
So starting with your basic elbows, hitting the front.
Your up elbow is gonna go straight up the middle,
splitting your opponent's guard,
going right in between, and all the way up.
At the same time, protecting with your other hand,
palm on the forehead, going straight up,
kind of like your combing your hair,
going straight up like this, and striking
right in between your opponent's guard,
ideally underneath the chin.
So that's your up elbow.
Side elbow is gonna come from the side.
So you might need to lower the opponent's guard
to come in and bend your arm all the way.
I like to have my palm on the forehead over here,
bring the other arm all the way across,
and your hand underneath your armpit to finish.
It's possible on both sides, side elbow, like this.
Last one is the down elbow, so coming up from the top
over here, elbow to the sky, going straight down
in between your opponent's guard, on the bridge
of the nose, or it could also be hitting
on the collar bone, going down like this.
So that's your down elbow.
Also possible with the lead or with the back.
Next category are your back elbows.
So in this case, you're gonna be hitting
with the back part of your elbow.
First one is the up, here.
Right, also, in between the opponent's guard,
stepping into it, we're going right up on the bottom
of the chin.
Also possible, to the body like so.
Then you also have your back-side elbow,
so going here, across, and striking with the back
of the elbow, to the side of the face, like so.
Also possible with the backhand, it's a little bit
more awkward to do, but it's not wrong,
it could happen in a fight.
And the last one is a little bit different,
it's the back-down elbow.
So you'll be hitting also with the back of your elbow.
But here, you're gonna make your movement over here,
get your arm up in the back and come crashing down
over here, with the back of the elbow,
also mainly on the bridge of the nose.
So right here, back down elbow, stepping into it
with good power, to strike the opponent.
The last category of elbows are the spinning elbows,
also divided in up, side, and down.
So it always starts the same way for these.
You're gonna have to step across the center line, here,
to make space for your turn.
Once you've stepped, you're gonna turn,
and always look at the target with the corner of your eye
before you land your strike.
And here you have a few options.
So the back up elbow, you can hit the body
or you can hit the chin, going straight up.
Back side elbow, also you're gonna hit mainly
the bridge of the nose or the eye socket.
And the back down elbow, you're gonna tip your head
to one side, and get the elbow
pointing towards the ceiling, coming crashing down,
typically also on the bridge of the nose.
(laid-back drum and bass music)
so once again, quick recap.
Straight elbow with the variant of the straight spear elbow
that you can use for defense.
You got the up elbow, side elbow, down elbow,
back-up elbow, back-side elbow, and back-down elbow.
And you've got your spinning-up elbows,
spinning-side elbow, and spinning-down elbow.
Now, a couple considerations to help you practice better:
you should always start by focusing on technique.
So make sure that your stance is correct,
hip movement, steps, protection,
everything is in place, you're executing
the technique correctly and very very slowly at first.
And go one technique at a time until you master it.
Next, once you're able to do the technique correctly,
work on precision.
So, go very slowly, pick a target in front of you,
on the bag or on Bob or anything you can find for precision,
and hit it also slowly, making sure
you hit the mark every time.
Once you have that proper technique and precision,
then go for power.
Don't worry about speed yet, but try to hit the target
with a lot of power, really putting your weight transfer
into it, fighting twist, stepping into it, to have a good
power in each one of those strikes.
Once you're able to do that,
then you're gonna be adding speed.
So you'll wanna have proper technique, precision,
power, and speed, being able to go explosively
into your target, and create devastation with your elbows.
Now, also, quick safety tip.
So if you're gonna practice elbows in sparring,
you have to take it slow.
You have to go really slowly, wear the proper
protective gear, of course,
and you really have to have the ability to control.
So for a detailed tutorial on how to control our strikes
in free sparring, check out our safe sparring video
in the cards above.
That's gonna give you the exact method
to be able to control your strikes
and really stop 'em at the surface,
to spar safely with a partner.
Also, if you're gonna integrate elbows
in your free sparring, elbows and possibly knees,
you wanna agree to go slowly with your partner,
because always safety first.
You wanna stay healthy and you wanna keep your partners
healthy so you can keep on practicing with them.
Lastly, you do wanna compliment your close-range striking
game with some knees as well.
So be sure to check out our basic knees video.
And you wanna be able to merge your elbows and knees
together with effective setups and combinations,
so that you can land your strikes.
Be sure to check out our elbow and knee
setups and combos video.
Lastly, you do wanna be able to merge
the different ranges together, so your close-range striking
with your long-range striking,
with your clinch game as well, you're gonna be seeing that
in future videos, with your wrestling as well,
and with your ground game.
And effectively transitioning and merging
all the fighting ranges together,
that's really what being an effective martial artist
is all about.
So, hope you've enjoyed, as always.
Please click like, leave a comment below, share this link
to your family and friends, and subscribe
if you have not already.
And we will see you on the next one.
'Till next time, I'm Patrick Fulop.
This is Effective Martial Arts.
Remember: practice well, safety first,
and use these techniques only for self-defense.
(laid-back drum and bass music)