Dutch Kickboxing Drills – 3 Solo Drills You Can Train on the Heavy Bag

The Dutch style of kickboxing or Dutch style muay thai is well known for being a powerful striking style that combines Western boxing combos and finishing with heavy low kicks.

This will look at three Dutch kickboxing drills you can practice solo on the bag as well as some important tips to remember when practicing these drills to get the most out of them.

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Main Features of the Dutch Kickboxing Style

Power punching, drawing on Western boxing combinations, rapid fire punch-kick and kick-punch combos are a hallmark of the Dutch style of kickboxing.

Relentless pressure and high pace, high output of strikes are also features of this style.

These are aspects you can practice and train on the heavy through the Dutch kickboxing drills below.

The ‘Dutch style’ rose to prominence through exhibitions of the style in K-1 in the 1990s through ‘big name’ Dutch kickboxers such as Alistair Overeem and Ernesto Hoost.

In the video below of Alistair Overeem teaching the Dutch style he refers to the style as basically “boxing with kicks”.

This further emphasizes the huge impact that Western boxing and boxing type combos have in the Dutch style.

Dutch Kickboxing Drills You Can Practice Solo on the Heavy Bag

This post will give you some very useful Dutch kickboxing drills that you can can practice solo on the heavy bag as well as important tips and pointers to keep in mind when drilling so that you get the most out of these drills.

The three Dutch kickboxing drills each are taken from the Bang Muay Thai system and are:

1. Dutch Drill
2. Holland Combo
3. Dekkers Combo

The Bang Muay Thai system was inspired through teachings from one of Ludwig’s main striking coaches, Sensei Bas Rutten who himself was a prominent proponent of the Dutch style and a former UFC Champion.

The Dutch kickboxing drills below are great for developing smooth combinations (both punch-kick combos and kick-punch combos).

Some key points to remember when practicing these Dutch kickboxing drills:

I) Don’t start off too close to the heavy bag. In a normal sparring or competition situation the drill or combo will originate from outside of reach of your opponent. So you need to move in to initiate.

II) Don’t look where your going to kick. As the Dutch style emphasizes a lot of low kicks its important to remember not to give away or telegraph your strikes.

III) Understand that these kickboxing drills do work better with a partner but are very useful for solo training on the heavy bag.

You can swing the bag to mimic movement of your opponent. You can also make sure to ‘push’ the bag with your punches so that it moves back and you can follow the movement with your kicks and punches.

IV) As the Dutch style is heavy on the low kicks and each of the three combos/drills below include low kicks, I would recommend you practice these Dutch kickboxing drills on the Thai bag or banana bag.

The Three Dutch Style Kickboxing Drills

1. ‘Dutch Drill’ from the Bang Muay Thai System

The Bang Muay Thai drill is very useful for developing your transition from punches to kicks and kicks to punches.

The video below shows you how to perform the BMT Dutch drill but the breakdown in text form is as follows:

Lead Hook – Rear Low Kick; Rear Cross – Lead Body Kick; Cross- Lead Hook-Rear Low Kick; Lead Hook-Cross-Lead High Kick

2. ‘Holland Drill’ from the BMT System

The Holland Combo is a nice Dutch kickboxing drill to develop body rotation and the ‘reloading’ concept and doubling up your strikes on one side of the body which makes for a more unpredictable striking attack.

The video below by Alex from BMT, Austin Texas breaks down the Holland well and the text breakdown is as follows:

BMT Combo ‘3’ which is Jab, Cross, Lead Hook; (Reload) Lead Body Hook; Lead Head hook; Rear Low Kick.

This Dutch kickboxing drill is really fun to do and drill a lot on the heavy bag.

3. Dekkers from the BMT System

This Dutch Kickboxing combo is named after the great Ramon Dekkers.

It was taught to Duane Ludwig when he trained in Holland with Ramon Dekkers.

The video below shows real time drilling of the Dekkers Dutch kickboxing drill at Ludwigs Bang Muay Thai Academy in Colorado.

The breakdown is below:

Jab-Cross; (Reload) Cross-Hook; (Reload) Hook-Cross; (Reload) Lead Body Shot-Rear Body Shot; (Reload) Rear Uppercut-Hook-Cross-Lead Inside Leg Kick-Lead Body Kick

So there you have it! 3 awesome Dutch kickboxing drills you can perform solo on the heavy bag and even shadow boxing if you want.

Enjoy and happy training!