With the holiday comes alternate schedules. You have the choice of just sitting by the wayside and not adapting, or you can adapt and embrace the chaos that is the holidays. Okay… that might be a little dramatic, but in general that is how my holidays are.
You see I work as a pastry chef/Cake artists at a bakery. This means I have really early mornings, and sometimes have to deal with the unruly customer. On top of that I have my family, that I work very hard to make sure has a magical Holiday Season. Whatever you celebrate I am sure you have, or are that someone that tries to make the holidays great.
I knew going into the holidays, that my schedule was going to have to change. That my family was going to be asking me to join them on making merry and the frivolity of games that we love to engage in during the holidays. I also knew that the weather coming up was going to be less than perfect, sometimes outright frigid, so I was going to have to work around that too.
I also knew that my Khun Kru was going to be gone for the holidays and I was being called upon to teach the Muay Thai class this week as well.
So here are some thoughts I have and things I learned about teaching others martial arts.
What I know and some thoughts:
- I like to make sure I have a clear and concise lesson planned out. When new to teaching a skill winging it is never a good idea. I had been a teacher of pastry/cake decorating for 14 years so I could wing the lesson. However, even then I would always have a lesson plan to fall back on.
- Keeping to the traditions and ways the class is run, while subbing is a great stepping stone to succeed in teaching. Your students are accustomed to this and your transition will be easier.
- Know the material you are teaching. I can’t tell you how many classes I have taken, that the teacher clearly does not know what they are teaching and it can really change the way your students see you.
- Always encourage questions. I always encourage my students to ask me questions. It helps give an idea of areas that you may not be explaining, and or misunderstandings that your students have.
- When you teach another person a skill it helps you solidify your understanding of the subject. Often times to teach you have to internalize the information and then retell it in a way that makes sense to your student.
- Different people have different ways of learning. Some will learn visually (demo and writing it down on the board), some will learn by getting time to repeat the drill (hands on), some will learn by the information you tell them (hearing).
What I learned:
- Teaching other students you learn what you do know and what you don’t know.
- You can see your progress, that maybe you could not see before while you are drilling away.
- Teaching is full filling. I love teaching. I love helping people out.
- Getting through an active recovery not looking winded, and being able to project your voice so that you can be heard is a skill.
- Your students will surprise you in good ways.
Monday 12/21/2020: 55 minute workout, run, working the bag, core
Ok so my garage is unheated which means that the heavy bag sets up solid in the cold, the leather material on the outside is harder. Lol But I put in the time.
We got this new to us Thai Heavy bag so now we can also practice leg kicks as you can see below. Yay!
Training:
1 mile run
30 minutes bag work
6 minutes core:
30 seconds on 20 seconds rest
Repeat following three times
1) lat pull to leg tucks
2) 25 lb kB pike toe touches
3) bicycles
4) Superman with flutter kicks
Tuesday 12/22/2020: Training/Teaching: 1 hour of Muay Thai
Today I got a wonderful opportunity to teach the Muay Thai class. Still am amazed I know enough to teach but teach I did. H and I demoed a class we put together.
We focused on distance management today. It’s a skill we all need to work on. You use it to get into range, stay out of range, cut the angles, counter and attack.
We talked about footwork, plus sign movement, shuffle in, shuffle out, quarter turns, and the accordion effect (when you strike, shuffle in, strike, shuffle in strike, shuffle out, strike, shuffle out).
Training:
1) shadow boxing footwork, plus sign, shuffle, and quarter turns
2) jab, cross, Teep
3) jab, lead elbow # 1, rear knee, rear kick
4) do above drill south paw
5) long guard, rear elbow # 2, lead elbow # 3, body shove, rear kick
6) do above drill in South paw
7) lead Teep (stopping Teep), jab ( shuffle in), lead hook, rear knee, rear kick
8 ) do above in south paw
9) lead Teep (stopping Teep), cross, lead elbow # 1, rear elbow # 3, rear knee, rear kick
10) do the drill in south paw
Saturday 12/26/2020: 1 mile run
Good Saturday Afternoon! I just did a quick mile run. When I got up this morning it was 21 degrees out! Brrrrr! So I waited till it was about 32 to 34 degrees out. Much easier to run in warmer temperatures.
Family wants to watch movies and play games, so it’s just a shot workout/run today. The holidays only come around once a year so family time is important to me.
There was ice out, but over all it was pleasant. I dressed warmly and did not encounter many people.
Get up get out and do something!
This last week was a short week of working out. I did 3 days instead of my normal 5 to 6 days. I knew I was going to have to alter my schedule and so I am giving myself that grace of understanding. I had a great if not weird Holiday week. We spent time together as a family, and we did not get to see our friends due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We contacted our relatives long distance. But in all this we still had a great time.
I worked out when I could, I was not overly concerned about it. I have my habits down and I know I will be back at it. I mentioned in a previous post a break is not a bad thing. As long as that break is not over 2 weeks, and does not interrupt your good habits all should be well. As a matter of fact I just got my HIIT and core workout in for this Monday.
I had the honor of teaching our Muay Thai class by my Khun Kru. I learned a lot, and I loved teaching.
The schedules are still going to be a bit wonky because of the new year coming up. However, I know that this time with the family is important too.
I hope your holiday week, whatever you celebrate is wonderful. I hope you all stay warm, dry, and healthy.
Thank you for reading, and if you liked it let me know by hitting the like button below.
Hello and welcome to all my new subscribers. To all my faithful subscribers hello and I hope you are having a great day. Please feel free to comment if you have a question or just want to say hi. If you want to see some of the workouts and videos I put up daily I tend to post those to instagram #sharpcupcake.
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Thinks with Spinks 