Guard Recovery Drill Book
Mat Manual companion guide to "Hands Down: Why Your Guard Keeps Disappearing." Print it. The article names the four moments a guard dies. This book repairs them in order, with drills, doses, and filmed audits you grade…
| Art | Muay Thai |
|---|---|
| Family | Muay Thai & Ring Sports |
| Level | beginner |
| Format | playbook |
| Topics | sparring, fundamentals, safety |
Mat Manual companion guide to "Hands Down: Why Your Guard Keeps Disappearing." Print it. The article names the four moments a guard dies. This book repairs them in order, with drills, doses, and filmed audits you grade yourself.
Name: ______________________________ Gym: ______________________________ Kru: ______________________________
SAFETY, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE ☐ Counter drills in this book are thrown to be caught by the guard or to land at agreed light power on agreed targets. A drill that teaches the guard by injuring the student has failed at its subject. ☐ Tap-back taps are taps: a glove or noodle laid on, not a strike scored. The tap is information. Anyone turning taps into points stops drilling that day. ☐ Fatigue work in this book is done at technical intensity. Exhausted fighters drill shape, never power, and never against fresh partners hunting counters. ☐ Head contact in one-sided sparring stays at the agreed level, which for this book is touch. If your gym's rules for sparring differ, your gym's rules win. ☐ A wobbled, dizzy, or cut student stops. Guard repair can wait a day. Brains cannot.
The Four Leaks, on One Page
Every drill in this book is addressed to one leak. Diagnose first: film one round, count the leaks by the table, and start the repair at the worst row.
| Leak | The moment | What it looks like on film | The repair section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | You punch | The non-punching hand leaves the cheek; the punching hand returns low | Part 1: The Punch Leaks |
| 2 | You kick | Both hands swing, or the cover hand hovers at the chest | Part 2: The Kick Cover |
| 3 | You defend | Hands reach down toward a low kick; head stays on the line for punches | Part 3: The Reach and the Shell |
| 4 | You tire | The whole guard sags across the round's last minute | Part 4: The Fatigue Protocol |
| All | Every pause | No reset: hands wander between exchanges | The Reset Standard, below |
The Reset Standard. Between exchanges, and after every technique in every drill in this book: gloves return to the cheekbones, chin tucked behind the lead shoulder, elbows in on the ribs, shoulders down, eyes up. The reset is checked the way a stance is checked: by name, out loud, until it runs itself.
Guard Recovery Drill Book
Mat Manual companion guide to "Hands Down: Why Your Guard Keeps Disappearing." Print it. The article names the four moments a guard dies. This book repairs them in order, with drills, doses, and filmed audits you grade yourself.
What's Inside
- The Four Leaks, on One Page
- Part 1: The Punch Leaks
- Part 2: The Kick Cover
- Part 3: The Reach and the Shell
- Part 4: The Fatigue Protocol
- The Four-Week Repair Block
- …and 19 more sections
The full guide is a paid Mat Manual product. Checkout is not connected yet — no payment is taken on this page.
Free companion article: Hands Down: Why Your Guard Keeps Disappearing — the full article, free in full.
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