Author: Thinks with Spinks

Martial Arts 02/11/2020: Crazy Ups Flying Knees

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Martial Arts, Muay Thai, Weight Lifting, workoutLeave a comment

New week new training. WOOOOOO… nah… this week did not start like that. I like everyone, I assume, have off weeks…. Er lets say off days. I try not to let it color my entire week. When I feel like I don’t want to be there, for what ever reason, I still get my butt into the gym. Barring a injury that requires rest or some horrible plague that has taken me down. But the general doldrums I don’t let dictate my training.

As strict with my kiddos as I am, I do the same to myself. So I tell myself to get to it, and get to work.

Enough blathering on. On to the training.

Tuesday 02/11/2020: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai and Kali class

We started off with pad rounds. I held for H, and he held for me. I drug my butt up off the mat and made myself focus on my martial art.

In Muay Thai we worked more on the knee counter strikes. We started last week with, the arm posting on the bicep of opponent, then we did the shielding the knee. Today we worked on the ball room dancing dump off of the lead knee from opponent.

Ball room dancing dump:

When opponent knees you with lead knee. Step deep into their box, grab knee with rear hand, grab their lat around back with lead hand. Like you are hugging them with one arm. Then twist them over your leg that is behind their rear leg.

If done right this will dump them on the ground. It is pretty fast when you get the flow in.

We also did a drill that was fun. I was able to get a head kick regularly.

Jab, lead knee, cross, lead head kick.

I was repeatedly getting head kicks in! Head kicks! So that is a thing. I never thought I would be able to do a head kick. Not in a million years. Because you know… I am short. Vertically Challenged as some of my friends say.

Kali we worked on the high box and disarms, to take downs. Also…never snake a blade! It’s a good rule of thumb. (snake is when you disarm a person only using your arm and hand instead of the vin where you use the weapon to help you disarm the opponent)

She mentioned with the high box you strike, move it, strike it, move it. It was a great way to think about it.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for the great classes.

Thursday 02/13/2020: 1.5 hours of Muay Thai

I have my gyms level one test coming up. This includes a technique drill, Thai 15 count, Boxing 20, and the 2 x 3 minute rounds of 60 kicks and 40 knees each round. All the while getting kicked and hit by the feeder.

I have trepidation about this test. It is designed to be hard, and to test your abilities and resolve. I have been training for it. However, I don’t want to fail. I really want to pass.

We did pad rounds with Tony before class. With only 15 seconds rest time. He liked my hooks, lead and rear hooks. I felt good, flowing through kicks, knees, elbows and punches.

Muay Thai Training:

  1. plus sign foot work with jab cross
  2. Opponent throws a jab, you parry, cross you parry, a switch knee, you post on their bicep, you throw a cross, you throw a rear kick
  3. Elbow check the body kick 3 times and on the third one you step in and eat the kick but at their knee level, and return a cross to their chest simultaneously. Followed by a lead to rear 4 count.
  4. Clench over under, with a off balance, and knee

Friday 02/14/2020: 2 hours of Muay Thai

2 hours of Muay Thai training today. Thank you Tony Kap Kun Ka for the fantastic class.

Today was all about the mad ups. We started with conditioning with kettle bells, then knees to flying knees, and then finished with abs.

So I have only done flying knees once before. I went from barely getting off the ground today to some mad ups. Pictures and video so I could see.

Kettle bell conditioning:

40 seconds for each exercise with 20 seconds rest between. Do all exercise in three rounds.

  1. Kettle bell swings
  2. Kettle bell goblet squats
  3. Push ups
  4. Right arm tricep rows
  5. Bicycle crunches
  6. Left arm tricep rows
  7. Jump lunges
  8. Double thrust burpees

Thai:
Drill #1
1) jab, rear leg kick
2) jab, cross, rear leg kick
3) jab, cross, hook, rear leg kick
4) rear uppercut, lead hook, rear leg kick

I was so tired after our conditioning warm up. My shoulders were burning trying to keep my hands up during this drill.

Drill #2
Two walking knees, then a flying knee, followed by a flying knee burn out for last 30 seconds.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta For working with me.

Ab workout: 40 seconds each for two rounds
Pike ups
Reverse crunches
Flutter kicks
High flutter kicks

Whew!

Saturday 02/15/2020: 2 hours of Muay Thai

2 hours of Muay Thai Training we got to the gym and I sunned myself while I stretched, then Khun Kru Krysta had us practice the skills test, boxing 20, Thai 15, then the two rounds of testing with thirty seconds of squat jumps between.

Then we worked on catching kicks, follow up Striking of catches kicks, and countering opponents catching your kicks.

Key things to remember when catching kicks:

  1. Step offline
  2. Mid calf
  3. Posture
  4. (For me to remember- cinch up on the leg)

Strikes to do when you have caught a kick:

  1. Knee the hamstring
  2. Spike elbow the quad
  3. Cross Stomp the opponents supporting leg/knee
  4. Side kick the opponents leg
  5. Round house to the thigh
  6. Outside cross to step to dump them
  7. Pass/Throw leg, return a 4 count
  8. Spinning back elbow, while holding onto the leg

Counters to do when some one catches your round house:

  1. Walk out – turn your knee down and walk your foot out
  2. Foot Jab – turn our knee and foot jab on hip bone
  3. Weave – weave foot inside and push with knee
  4. Clench/climbing downward flying elbow –
    • if they catch closer to your knee, clench up, jump up and while pushing all your weight down into their arm, come down with elbow.
  5. Superman punch

Whew I am exhausted!

8 hours of training this week. Whew I feel it. My body is tired, and I am looking forward to the rest days. I had a great week. I started off not so great, but it turned around. I was able to get mad ups and actually do a flying knee. I can do it! Woot!

I honestly saw the set up of the flying knees that my coach wanted us to do, and I did not think I could do it. I kept working at it till I did. Then we went home.

As always thank you for reading. I hope you had a great week. I hope you keep trying, and I hope that you don’t let a bad day color your week. You never know when you are going to learn how to fly through the air like a freaking ninja. If you want to like, comment, and subscribe to hear more about my training and fitness journey.

Martial Arts 02/04/2020: Best Early Valentines Day Present New Gloves

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Martial Arts, Muay Thai, Weight Lifting, workoutLeave a comment

This is the start of a new week of training, and what a start to it. Khun Kru Krysta came back from Thailand and training there. H gave me a the best Valentines gift I have ever gotten, and even though I started the day not wanting to training. It ended up being one of the best days.

Tuesday 02/04/2020: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai and Kali class

What an amazing start to the week of training. I have to say I came into the gym not really feeling being there. But I like to practice what I preach as it were. So I was there. I was going to put time in on the mat, was going to train even if I was feeling crappy.

However, what a turn around… I got a chance to work with my coach Tony. Then Khun Kru Krysta came back from Thailand and her training in camps there. I was so happy to see her. Then my husband apparently worked with Khun Kru Krysta while she was in Thailand to get me some new gloves, because mine were dying on me. He present it to me as an early Valentines Day present. We don’t normally celebrate Valentines day, but it is the best V day present I have ever gotten. I squee’d so loud the whole gym heard me. Below are pictures of the new gloves, and the gloves I have beaten to death.

Both Tony and H said I put many miles and many hours of training in on those gloves, and it was a great sign of hard work. I like to think it shows hard work, dedication, and love for an art.

We talked about what to do with the retired gloves. I could hang them up/display them. I could donate them to needy kids in Thailand who would be happy to have them. Or I can do like my predecessors did, and when I find a person that I see potential in, or I have made a connection with, I can give it to them. Kind of a passing on of honor and tradition. For now I guess I will retire them and place them in a place of honor.

On to what we did for training. Enough of my prattle for one day. I just had a fantastic day, when I thought it was only going meh.

For the following drills, we worked both orthodox and south paw stance.

  1. foot work drill – plus sign foot work with knee
  2. 1 – 4 counter knee drill:
    • 1) counter/stop knee with hand on peck muscle
    • 2) counter knee with cross shield
    • 3) catch the knee, and off balance toward the knee caught for a dump.
    • 4) catch the knee, and off balance over your own leg/knee, while lifting their knee for a dump.
  3. Counter switch kick – teep the incoming switch kick with lead teep to stop, teep with rear teep to push.
  4. Counter punch after you pocket kick an opponent – pocket kick with knee across belly/chest, then you push off with leg to avoid being hit with opponents hands.
  5. Response to leg kick – check leg rear leg kick with lead leg, and return lead leg kick right away
  6. Response to leg kick – check lead leg kick with rear leg, and return a rear leg kick right away
  7. catch torso kick (we worked both orthodox and south paw stances)
  8. catch rear torso kick, throw leg caught, and do a spinning back elbow following the leg
  9. catch rear torso kick, spin and catch thigh with other arm, then return spinning back elbow.
  10. counter kick catch with flying elbow -pocket torso kick, that some one catches, you lean in on climbing up, grab behind their head, and drop an elbow.

Kali –

Single stick, snakes and vines drills. Snakes are unassisted disarms, vines are assisted with weapon disarms.

  1. equise drill, low back hand high back hand
  2. inside deflect, snake and plus sign disarms
  3. outside deflect, to snake, plus sign, and equals sign disarms
  4. Sparred with single stick.

Thursday 02/06/2020: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai and Kali class

2.5 hours of Muay Thai and Kali practice! Woot. I got a chance to work with both Khun Kru Krysta and Tony my trainers before class.

Muay Thai- Then we learned (counters to knees), (catching torso kicks to kneeing opponents caught leg, to pushing it off and kicking their sciatica nerve in the back of the leg), (over under clench grip, off balance, to knee to opponents face), (pocket kick to push off)

Kali – we worked on snakes and vines from inside deflect, and outside deflect, kumbiata switch to chokes, and learned a new attack which was a outside deflect to vine and then a trap smash. Woot!

So after we did rounds before class, and were waiting for class to start. Tony my coach said he could see a difference between when I first started Muay Thai pictures and now. How I have trimmed up and slimmed down. I told him thank you. I am getting better at just accepting the compliment. I did tell him I just don’t see it. But I decided to go back and look at the pictures. So here they are two pics from June of 2018, around when I started and this month. ☺️

Friday 02/07/2020: 3 hours of Muay Thai

3 hours of Muay Thai training with some conditioning at the end. Thank you Tony for a great class.

We hit pads before class started. We did 30 mins of sparring just punching, then 30 minutes of kick boxing sparring, then 30 minutes clench sparring, then we did a conditioning workout.

Five rounds of each exercise as fast as we can: (Note: 35 lbs is the heaviest KB I have done so it’s a PR for me! Woot!)

1) Kettle Bell clean walks (L and R side) (16 kilo = 35.27 lbs)
2) 10 x burpees
3) 15 x Kettle Bell squats 15 lb
4) 18 x Kettle Bell swings (16 kilos =35.27 lbs)

We put the time in on the mat and it will show.
Sparring: constant light play lets you feel out the range and what you can get in there.

Saturday 02/08/2020: 3 hours of Muay Thai

3 hours of training and getting ready for my test at the end of the month. Thank you so much Khun Kru Krysta Scharlach for working with me and H.

We worked on technique demo, then boxing 20 and Thai 15 drills, then she held for test prep rounds 2 x 3 minute rounds with 30 seconds rest between. We worked on Ajarn Chai’s Family Wai Kru as well.

Then we worked I Muay Thai drills, catch the jab, long guard the knee, perry the cross, high elbow cover an incoming head kick.

Then we worked I Muay Thai drills, catch the jab, long guard the knee, perry the cross, lean back/ride back to avoid the head kick, return a cross hook cross.

Then we worked I Muay Thai drills, catch the jab, long guard the knee, perry the cross, to avoid head kick – kick the opponents rear leg

Pop the leather three for three punches.

Lead and rear leg 4 counts.

Whew I am tired!

Well I got super busy during the weekend and forgot to post my blog entry last weekend. I did not even remember to finish it and post it till I was training today, halfway through class, and thought. Wow I forgot to post. c’est la vie… it is what it is, and I am posting now. I felt bad, but what can I do.

It was a great week of training. Even though I could not go to Wednesday training cause I had to teach a class of my own, in cake decorating. I still clocked in 11 hours of training. Wow!

I got brand new gloves brought to me from Thailand by my trainer Khun Kru Krysta. H and She got together and secretly got the gloves for me. I had a great week of training, and I got to train for my up and coming test.

I am posting this today, it is Tuesday, and the start of a new week in training. After this I will jot down my thoughts and then shower this sweat off. Pass out if I am lucky and start the day over again.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day. As always, if you want to like, comment and or follow that would be awesome.

Chimichurri Burrito Bowl Lunch Meal Prep

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, FoodLeave a comment

If you are new to my blog. I am a Chef. I have both a culinary and baking and pastry degree. I am on a fitness journey that I will be on for the rest of my life.

I like to cook, and like any chef I like to eat. Now I try to eat with the thought of fueling my body for my fitness journey. We truely are an amazing bio machine and we need good foods to fuel it.

I train Martial Arts 5 to 6 days a week for upwards of 10 hours a week total. So to support that I need to eat well. Now do I always eat well? Do I always pass up that cupcake. Heck no! But I do try to make good decisions.

Enough rambling so here is what I made. A chimichurri burrito bowl. This bowl is full of protein, gluten free, dairy free, low fat, contains lots of veggies, slow digesting carbs, and most importantly has lots of flavor.

I took a short cut and got chicken that was pre marinated at the grocery store, but I regularly make chimichurri sauce on my own and will include that in this recipe.

Chimichurri Burrito Bowl

Yield: 5 servings for lunch

Ingredients:

  1. 3 bell peppers that I charred on the gas stove, and placing them in a bowl with plastic wrap to steam
  2. 1 jalapeno that I charred on the gas, and placing them in a bowl with plastic wrap to steam
  3. 1 onion that I charred on the gas stove, and placing them in a bowl with plastic wrap to steam
  4. 1.5 lbs of chicken marinated in chimichurri
  5. 3.75 cups of brown rice cooked
  6. 10 tablespoons of black beans
  7. 5 tablespoons of salsa – Optional
  8. 5 pinches of cilantro – Optional
  9. salt and pepper to taste
  10. granulated garlic to taste

Directions:

  1. Cook brown rice to directions on package
  2. Char your veggies over a BBQ or on a gas stove. Place them in a bowl with plastic wrap to steam them.
  3. Cook your chicken marinated in chimichurri
  4. Chop up veggies, and lightly sautee them in a pan, adding pepper, salt, and granulated garlic to taste
  5. Heat up canned black beans, drained
  6. Add 3/4 cup/ 112g of brown rice to bowl, add 1 cup/130 g of chicken to each bowl, add 1 cup/148 g of veggies to bowl, add 2 tablespoons/52g of black beans, add 1 tablespoons/32 g of salsa.

Chimichurri sauce

Ingredients:

  1. 1/2 cup olive oil
  2. 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  3. 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
  4. 3-4 cloves garlic , finely chopped or minced
  5. 2 small red chilies , or 1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped (about 1 tablespoon finely chopped chili)
  6. 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  7. 1 level teaspoon coarse salt
  8. pepper , to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit for at least a few minutes. Letting it sit for 2 hours before use is much better. Marinate meat over night, reserve some for topping.

Nutritional Stats:
Calories 555, Fat 8.7 g, Fiber 11.7 g, Carbs 65.1 g, Sodium 1553.5 mg,
Protein 45.8 g

I hope you get a chance to try this recipe. You can reduce the sodium if you are concerned by omitting the salsa, and taking some of the salt out of the chimichurri sauce.

It was/is delicious and easy to make. It took about 40 minutes to prep for a whole week of lunches.

Try it out. Thank you for reading, if you liked this please let me know and feel free to share.

Martial Arts 01/28/2020: Your Punches are Crispy

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, JKD, Martial Arts, Muay Thai, Muay Thai, Fitness, Weight Lifting, workoutLeave a comment

Sunday I had the opportunity to go to a seminar with Nakapan. I wrote about that in a separate blog.

But Tuesday marks the first day in my training week. It is crazy to think that my training week tends to be 8 to 13 hours a week. That is a crazy change from 2 years ago when I started this Martial Arts journey. We were only do 2 days a week at most 4 hours total.

Tuesday 01/28/2020 – 3 hours… Muay Thai and JKD

I got a chance to do 3 x 4 minute rounds with Tony. He said the week off being sick was great for me. I was able to train faster than before.

He was able to push me harder. Woot! We worked on Lote Teep or bicycle/car teep, in class. We also worked on mirror drilling and immediate response.

The in JKD one of the things we worked on was a figure 4 wrist lock it was super fun to learn and execute! Then you step through and get the arm bar.

The pictures above where I have H on the ground is the figure 4 wrist lock. It is terrible on the opponent, great for me. =)

Wed 01/29/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai trianing

2 hours of Muay Thai Training and conditioning. Do you know how hard it is to get a selfy when your hands are shaking cause of how tired you are…whew I do!

Tony kicked my behind today. We did kettlebell conditioning today, then after my arms and shoulders were dead he drilled me on pads and had me work my punches, jab, cross, hook, body hooks, upper cuts.

When you are super tired that is when it is the hardest to keep you hands up/guard up, and to perform the strikes keeping your form correct. Ask me how I know. That is when muscle memory is built. When you are so tired, that you body wants to quit, but you push through. It makes you muscles work harder and condition to this. But Tony said my punches were landing great. That they were “crispy”! Woot! Crispy = Meaning tight, solid, and hitting home correctly.

We worked the bags and then we did a cool drill where we played. There is this concept in Muay Thai where they play lightly when training. I forget the word right now, but will try to get it. We played where we are trying to just touch each other’s shoulders. But bob and weave, abound your opponent touching your shoulder. So it’s playful trying to get strikes on your opponent and avoid strikes from them.

It was fun and now I need to pass out. Also i love fruit as an after workout snack.

Thanks for a great class Tony it was fun

Kettle Bell Conditioning:

Do these in a ladder, Starting with 20 reps of each exercise, and going down to 19, 18, 17 excetera

  1. Sumo kettle bell squats 33 lbs x 20
  2. Kettle bell swings 20 lbs x 20
  3. Kettle bell halos kneeling with one foot out at 9 degree angle 10 reps one side, then switch feet 10 reps going the other way.
  4. Cross knee mountain climbers x 20
  5. Bear crawls across the mat.

Muay Thai Training:

  1. 3 x 4 minute pad rounds, working on jab, cross, hook, cross, upper cut, round house kicks, body hooks,
  2. Bag rounds, jab, cross, hook, kicks, double kicks
  3. ladder kicks on the bag 1 – 10 and back down again.
  4. Play training, shoulder touches, head and body/shoulder movement to avoid contact

Thrusday 01/30/2020 – 1 hour… Muay Thai trianing

1 hour of Muay Thai training. Coach Tony took it easy on me today, and had me help demo and teach. Tomorrow he is going to kick my booty.

We worked on distance management and drawing your opponents actions out so you can counter them.

Lead leg feign kicks to teeps, feign lead leg kicks to knees.

Entry on jabs to clench to knees, entry on jab,cross, hook to knees.

And finally turning leg in to stack hips drill.

❤️❤️❤️ I love Muay Thai!

Friday 01/31/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai trianing

2 hours of Muay Thai training. Thank you Tony for a great class again. We warmed up on the bags, then went to 3 x 3 minute pad rounds with 30 seconds rest between each.

Then we did sparring just boxing, and sparring kick boxing, then clench sparring. I started the class with crazy D.O.M.S. Soreness in hamstrings and shoulders, but now I am good after class. We will see how I am tomorrow.

Saturday 02/1/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai trianing

D.O.M.S. so much better for training on it after really sore. Yay. I was feeling good muscle wise today.

2 hours of Muay Thai practice. Guess who has two thumbs and ended up teaching the class with the help of H and JD? Yup… I bowed them in and because we had new people I just stuck to standard 4 counts then 4 counts with teeps at the end. We worked on Thai stance, pivoting, rotating hips, and some distance management. Woot!

I was the substitutes back up, cause our sub called in sick.

10 hours of training total this week. Woot! I had a blast and loved it, even through the pain. I got to teach a class. I died my hair red. I had a blast. For the next several weeks I will be missing the Wed classes. I have classes to teach for cake decorating.

Thank you for reading.

Easy Turkey Bulgogi Lunch Meal Prep

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Food, workoutLeave a comment

I don’t have a lot of time, so meal preps that don’t take long to do are a must for me. This one was fast, simple, and is delicious to boot. I prepped this past Sunday for this week. It took me 30 minutes. That is fantastic in my book.

I made this for my husband and I for our lunches for the week. I took a short cut and got frozen veggies to help me prep. I also used pre-made bulgogi sauce.

This is low in fat, has good carbs, and great fiber, lean protein.

All you have to do is cook up some rice, saute up some ground turkey, add the sauce, spiced, and steam up some broccoli. I added some green onions, sriracha sauce, and kimchi but that is all optional. See easy peasy.. I will of course add more information below and a full recipe with nutritional stats.

Turkey Bulgogi Lunch

Ingredients:

  1. rice
  2. 1 lb ground turkey
  3. frozen stir fry veggies
  4. broccoli
  5. 1 tsp ground ginger or to taste
  6. 1 tsp ground garlic or to taste
  7. salt and pepper to taste
  8. 1 tbs oil
  9. Bulgogi sauce
    Optional
  10. green onions
  11. Sriracha sauce
  12. Kimchi

Directions:

  1. Cook rice according to directions on package
  2. Heat pan with oil, saute ground turkey, add spices and salt. Once meat is cooked add frozen stir fry veggies, and bulgogi sauce. Cook on medium for about 5 to 10 minutes.
  3. Steam broccoli
  4. Add 3/4 of cup of rice on one side of the container, 3/4 cup of bulgogi meat mixture next to rice, add 1 cup of broccoli.
  5. Top wit green onions, sprinkle Sriracha, add kimchi and enjoy

Stats:

Calories 633, Fat 26.2 g, Fiber 5.6 g, Carbs 64.2 g, Sodium 798.8 mg,
Protein 34.9 g

I hope you get a chance to try this out. The meat is fantastic without the sauce if you want to omit that part. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, and keep working to be the best that you can be.

Muay Thai Seminar with Nakapan Phugephorn: The counter fighter is exquisite.

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Martial Arts, Muay Thai, Muay Thai, Fitness, Seminar, workoutLeave a comment

I had the incredible ability and honor to be able to go to a 2 hour Muay Thai seminar with Nakapan Phugephorn. 1/26/2020

He is a Martial Arts legend and owner of Beta Academy in Washington, DC. “Nakapan is a passionate life-long martial artist with over 20 years of experience practicing, teaching and competing in the martial arts. He began his journey in 1993, studying Shaolin Kung Fu. Mental discipline and physical conditioning gained from consistent practice later lead him to a fruitful competitive career in the traditional fighting arts and included over 50 championship titles!” (credit: description taken from advert for the Muay Thai seminar flyer on the Pure Performance Martial Arts Center.)

I love going to learn skills and techniques from different Martial Artists. You get different points of view, different ways of attacking and executing a skill, and different skills.

In this seminar I learned some techniques that I have noticed other people doing. However, I have never, been able to dissect it and figure out how to do that skill. I was so excited when we were working on them. I love learning new techniques, and attacks, counters, and shields. I also messed up a lot. I am going to have to work on them more.

Nakapan said, “counter fighting, is the highest form of fighting, it is the hardest, and it is elegant.”

He also said, “counter fighting is not just waiting for some one else to attack. It is the art of drawing your opponent out, to attack you.”

This really resonated with me. I have been training and working to make myself better. My coach Tony said a few weeks ago that he wants to work with me to start working on my reaction time, and my counter fighting. At first my brain was being mean to me, telling me that my reaction and counters are crap. But hearing Nakapan, say that it is the highest form of fighting, that it is the hardest part of fighting. It made me realize… no it made my brain realize that it is the next part of my training. I am actually moving forward in training. I am honing my skills and I am working to be a great fighter.

I was really down on myself, but I realized something. So long as I have hope, the hope of getting better, the hope of improving, and the hope of being the best I can be, I can work and keep working to do anything.

Anyway enough scribbling down my thoughts and feelings, on to the training we did yesterday.

  1. Five count drill
    • jab, rear leg kick
    • jab, cross, lead leg kick
    • jab, cross, hook, rear leg kick
    • jab, cross, hook, cross, lead leg kick
    • jab, cross, hook, cross, body hook, rear leg kick


      Counter fighting drills
  2. Lean back from opponents jab, return an overhand cross/rear punch, lead leg four count (lead leg kick, cross, hook, rear leg kick).
  3. Perry jab from opponent, return an overhand cross/rear punch, lead leg four count (lead leg kick, cross, hook, rear leg kick).
  4. Pop down opponent jab, and return a cross right away, lead leg 4 count (lead leg kick, cross, hook, rear leg kick).
  5. Flow kick and finish with a lead leg four count (lead leg kick, cross, hook, rear leg kick)
    • you counter a inner lead leg kick from an opponent by (jumping, spinning, and landing on your lead leg away from opponents kick), and kicking simultaneously kicking the back of your opponents lead leg.
    • the more contact you allow opponent to get on your lead leg, the harder your kick to their back leg will be
  6. Square back incoming leg kick and finish with a lead leg four count (lead leg kick, cross, hook, rear leg kick)
    • lateral back lead leg as incoming leg kick comes in to avoid being kicked, don’t shift weight to the now rear leg, but return same leg you lateraled back to round house kick from a south paw stance.
  7. Teep as an opponent tries to do a rear leg kick (this is just timing, but will stop them dead in their tracks)
    • Nakapan said that a teep is the longest and fastest weapon you have, and when timed right will get to opponent before a leg kick, torso kick, or head kick can come in.
  8. Sparring using the techniques we learned

I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to learn from Nakapan, and getting to meet him. He is very sweet, answers any questions, and wants to spread the love of Muay Thai. It seems from talking with him after the seminar, that he like Ajarn Chai want to spread Muay Thai and empower people to help others learn Muay Thai.

I also met some really cool people and hope to visit their gyms as well. I love that our Martial Arts community on the whole is open and loving. We try to be inclusive and understanding of all people. We are one big tribe.

Thanks for reading. If you have questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer. Keep working to be the best you that you can be.

Martial Arts 01/21/2020: 8 hours back into training after a week off stewing on the couch with my Fear Of Missing Out/FOMO is not bad.

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, JKD, Martial Arts, Muay Thai, workoutLeave a comment

All last week I was sick as a dog. Something, and by something I mean some cold virus is going around here. It is knocking people out one by one here. Suffice to say, I did not do a damned thing last week. Stayed on couch coughing and trying to get better. Went to doc, and found out that this virus moved to my eyes and I developed viral conjunctivitus. So yeah last week was terrible, but I binge watched tv shows I have been missing so there is that.

Hard to workout when you can’t breath, and when you are super contagious. However, this week is not that way. This week I am back! I imagined myself breaking through the wall the way Koolaid man did and saying, “Oh, yeah!”

Cough, cough, cough. Well I am sorta back. I am easing back into it. I am still coughing, but I am feeling better than I was a week ago.

Tuesday 01/21/2020 – 1 hour 30 minutes… Muay Thai 

Coach Tony told me he does not want me doing much cardio today, because he wanted me to take it easy.

Today was amazing. I helped teach, really helped this time. I am honored. But let me not get side tracked.

  1. 2 minutes Jump rope
  2. 2 minutes Burpees
  3. 2 minutes Jump rope
  4. 2 minutes Burpees

Soy Dao- long upper cut

We learned that the words for long upper cut, where you change levels and throw the upper cut. Different than the short upper cut, is called Soy Dao in Thai.

We worked on:

  1. Jab, cross, long uppercut.
  2. cross, long uppercut, hook

Wednesday 01/22/2020 – 1 hour 30 minutes… Muay Thai 

  1. Jumping Jacks x 2 minutes
  2. Thai Knees across the mat x 2 minutes
  3. Jumping Jacks x 2 minutes

We were working on distance management. Kick distance, adjusting for kicks, step in, and step in to get cover and return elbow right away.

  1. leg kick, opponent shields, torso kick, opponent shields, opponent returns kick to upper arm, and you stop it with forearm and hand, opponent comes in with hook, you shield with and come in with rear elbow.
  1. 2 x 5 minute kneeing rounds. Whew… working on form, and from form comes power. Was hurting my tricepts at the end. Leaning in to each other was hard.

Tony started teaching us the Wai Kru passed down from Tony’s family. These are the parts of the Wai we learned and how his family does each of the moves. The Wai your mother and father, the Wai your instructor, the Wai your diety, scooping up and thanking mother earth to the left, scooping up and thanking mother earth to the left, then scooping up thanking mother earth in front.n doing in front.

Tony explained that the Wai Kru was used in the past for the Thai people before fighting Bermese people, so they could limber up, grab some dirt and rocks to use in the fights, and also maybe make divots in the dirt to make your opponent, or enemie step into, and give you an advantage.

I have a lot to work on. I want to make it pretty, I want to honor Tony with my Wai Kru.

The Wai Kru has been used for many reasons. One of the ways people used i to help limber up a fighter (think of it like yoga and stretching), it has been used by others and people who are betting on a fight to size up and determine what a fighter might be like and who is likely to win. However, most importantly the Wai Kru is used and is intended to show respect for where/who you came from, your teachers, the diety you respect, the mother earth around, and the legacy that you have been touched by and will leave behind.

Thursday 01/23/2020 – 3 hours… Muay Thai 

3 hours of Muay Thai and JKD training today. Woot! I did an hour of training before Muay Thai class tonight. Thank you Tony for a great class again.

We worked on distance management and responses after shielding. I got a chance to help teach again. We worked…Punches to kicks, and elbows to knees.

He told me more about the Wai Kru the second part where we are respecting Mother Earth. It also represents the past the present and the future.

Then I got to learn JKD from Sifu Bob. We worked on One Two offense, 3 offense, single angle attack, single direct attack, attack by combination.

Friday 01/24/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai training

2 hours of Muay Thai training. Woot! I got half way through before my cough became annoying and ever present.

Tony has us do an awesome warm up with plyometrics and foot work with drills. Then we worked pad work. Woot it was a fun class and and I and getting better gonna kick this congestion to the curb.

Also all the vitamins I take. Fish oil, vitamin d, condroitin and glucosamine, turmeric, woot!

We were working pad drills with each other. I am working on my response. So hit, shield, respond with a kick or hit. I need to get faster, and better. So that is my goal. I know the technique, I need to polish it now.

Saturday we normally go train again for about 3 hours. Today we took the day off. We are attending a seminar with Nakapan Phungephorn up in MD. So while my training week is not over just yet. I will dedicate a separate post to that training session. I am excited to learn and experience another great Thai fighters form, and style.

Thank you all for reading. 8 hours back into training after a week off stewing on the couch with my Fear Of Missing Out or FOMO is not bad. Next week I will be better still. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Keep working to be the best you that you can be.