1.5 hours of Muay Thai practice on open mat, and just working on my form. I need to practice all I can get in, because I want to get my form and power correct. My goal for this kick is to stagger the opponent and then continue on my attack. If I can stagger my opponent then get in a hook and cross, or cross and hook, I got three shots in without taking a return shot.
This particular kick is meant to jar you, move you, and eventually I need to get enough power in it to scramble your opponents insides. There are different ways to put in your kick for your goals. For instance I can do damaging kicks to your leg (often quick successive repeat kicks to break down the muscle), however a kick to a leg you are going to try to kick out from under your opponent is more power.
Kru Kristen told me to visualize kicking through my opponent. I am trying to put more power in to my kicks. When he steps back that is cause I kicked so hard it caused him to stagger back a bit. Not every kick is there but I am trying to get there.
I worked on my punches as well. I don’t want to go back to the slapping habit, so need to keep practicing my punches.
I worked on knees, and tried flying knees… those are sad looking for me, so I need to work on those.
Anyway that is it for today. Thank you for reading, I hope your day is going well. Also 57 followers/readers wow! I never would have guessed that would happen.
2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Have you ever noticed that when you focus so hard on fixing say a move you are doing, or an exercise you are doing, that you revert to old bad habits in other areas?
Muay Thai – Old Slapping Habit
I do… So lately I have been working on putting more power into my knees and kicks. Which means swinging my arm on same side as kick past my hip for more leverage, and trying to kick through my opponent. I was working on a knee entry to 4 count, putting power into kicks, as well as still working on distance management in our drill. Kru Kristen watched me drill it out. What was I doing? Well I am slapping the pads again, instead of doing my full extension punches, with power. I am basically pawing at the pads. That is what Kru Kristen said. What I was doing when I first started up till 3 or 4 months ago. I worked on getting my extension and power into my punches, and here I am making the same mistakes I made before. I was so annoyed at myself.
So of course I tried to work on my extensions and work on hitting the pads squarely. I worked on the power in my kicks and knees as well. Kru Kristen said, you love kicks but gotta remember form on your punches.
We worked on some pummeling where we used a knife hand into the bicep instead of putting our forearm into their neck for the transition to half and half plumb.
Kali – Hammer Lock to Basset Dal
In Kali… I had to shake off my annoyance at my old bad habit showing up again. We worked again on palm striking drills. Inside gunting, back hand gunting. This time we worked from a back hand gunting, to a stab in the bicep, pak sau (slap the hand on the bicep where you stabbed to control bicep and push arm into body), stab neck at the same time sapu luar (face opponent, and sweep leg from outside).
We then did a drill where we worked on gunting, pulling opponent off balance, stepping on their foot, and either putting the knife into the opponents knee, or putting the palm stick into the knee then pulling them over and off balance while standing on foot. For the drill we let go of foot so that we did not break our partners ankle.
After that we worked on two of my favorite moves put together. We scoop parry with a knife the jab, which cuts the opponents wrist. Then either mouse the cross while parrying, and checking the same jab hand with the blade of your forearm. Control the arm, force them to come forward by pulling them while attacking their face with the blade. Hammer Lock – you bend the opponents arm back around the blade so that their hand is behind their back. Controlling them this way, you perform the basset dal, step out to off balance, step your leg back to put all of their weight on the blade of their foot, and then hook your foot around that foot and push them over. The reason this is better if you can pull it off is that you have so much more control of the person when their arm is in a hammer lock. One wrong move on their part and they dislocate their own shoulder. So the opponent tends to be compliant. My two favorite moves, put together to make for a fun, dumping your partner drill! I had a blast doing this.
I have to work on focusing on my punches and making sure I get power into my kicks. I may have a private Muay Thai class tomorrow. I only say may, cause my instructor has been sick. We will see what happens.
If you got this far, you are amazing. Thanks for reading. I got smart and put links to my glossary in to the definitions I have for the words. Have a great night. I have a 5 am wake up.
I completed a 1 hour workout today. Today is one of those days that are hard. Wake up at 5 am, work at first job, keep working then have to work till about 11 pm tonight. So getting my workout in today, is a squeeze. But I guess that is good, cause I did not have time to rest to much between sets. This makes me have to stick to schedule pretty closely.
On to the workout:
10 minute run on the treadmill
13 minute HIIT leg workout ( 3 sets of each, 40 seconds each set, 20 seconds rest between sets)
Ice skater lunges
Reverse Lunge to high knee
Single leg box squats
Criss cross squat
Barbell Weight lifting set I used my Olympic barbell set. Base bar weighs 45 lbs.
Dead lifts reps 45 lbs 12, 95 lbs 8, 8, 8
Good mornings reps 45 lbs 12, 65 lbs 10, 10, 10
Shoulder squats reps 65 lbs 12, 115 lbs 8, 8, 8
Now I need to get my butt to work, and get the rest of my day and last part of my day going.
I have seen these go around… so I thought it would be funny to do a whats in my martial arts gym bag. So for right now this is what is in it.
I am not certain anyone really wants to see whats in my bag. But maybe there are people out there that are just curious. I will tell you what is in the bag and why its there, and what I use it for. So if you are curious here is what I got.
Stuff:
12 oz boxing gloves
Shin Guards
Kali – Escrima Sticks
Blue boxing hand wraps
head bands
Green Muay Thai arm band
KT tape
Glove Dehumidifier
Jump Rope
Ibuprofin
Namman Thai Oil
Video Tripod
Belly Pad
Not Pictured:
Thai shorts, water bottle, ankle brace, and mouth guard are not pictured here.
All right boxing gloves are pretty self explanatory. Mine are 12 oz gloves, and 12 to 14 oz gloves are standard for women.
Shin guards are self explanatory, they are to guard the shins in pop the leather and sparring.
Kali/Escrima Sticks used in Kali practice.
Blue boxing hand wraps for wrapping hands done for protection and wrist support.
Green Muay Thai arm band… equivalent to belt system in most martial arts.
KT tape used to stabilize joints and wrap feet.
Glove dehumidifier used to remove moisture and keep your gloves smelling fresh.
Jump rope for cardio.
Ibuprofin is self explanatory.
Namman Thai oil is used for bruises, bone bruises and muscle aches. This stuff is the best.
Phone tripod so that I can take photos.
Belly pad used to protect against torso kicks and teeps.
Anyway this is what is in my bag. =) I don’t know if it is interesting to you, but this is what I have in it for now. Thanks for reading… have a great day.
Grinning like fool. So tired its hard to get a selfie. LOL
2.5 hours of martial arts training. Today we worked on 17 count bo staff drills and knees. I woke up with really bad neck and shoulder pain. My scoliosis was acting up again, and I must have slept wrong. So I woke up in incredible pain. I showered, and had my husband put Namnam Thai Oil on my shoulders.
17 count Bo Drills
Today we worked on the 17 count Kali/Escrima drills using the bo staff. We worked using the staff holding it in the middle. Think like Little John in the Robin Hood movies.
(note:Keep in mind different schools/Guros have different numbering systems. We use the Guro Dan Inosanto system.)
17 Count – done with sword/stick/knife/and now bo staff
(note:this is my descriptions of the moves)
Downward diagonal from the right side
Downward diagonal from the left side
Swing from right side of hip
Swing from left side of hip
Inward stab to torso
Back hand stab to face/chest from left side
Thrust to stab face/chest right side
Head shot from left hand angle
Upward strike to knee from right side
Upward strike to knee from left side
Downward strike to knee from right side
Downward strike to knee from left side
Side step/zone to the right with a horizontal shot to head from the right
Side step/zone back to left while striking a horizontal shot to the head from left
Over head straight downward shot to the head. Think Kendo or caveman style club to head.
Step forward with right leg, and strike head again, this time a small swing, almost like a sideways redondo
Striking hit to jam knife, stick, staff up in the jaw of an opponent, as you turn the body. Body is giving torque and power for shot.
With staff we worked on distance management as well. Because we only want to hit towards the ends of the staff when holding it in long style. We only moved in when committing to shots. So much fun to work staves and see the similarities and differences between, daga/knife, sword/stick, and the staff.
Striking – Knees take the piss out of you
Today in striking we worked on several things, however, it was the clenching and knees that were great and the worst.
We worked on a stopping teep/foot jab, right kick, to cross (this is weird cause it is same side), hook, to right kick again. This teep is different because we were not trying to push our opponent away, like we normally do. We just needed to stop their momentum, so we could hit them.
We also worked on the hop kicks to the rest of the 4 counts. I really, really need to work on my hop kicks. I am not so great at them. If you can imagine a drunk gazelle trying to hop or maybe a albatross trying to do a hop kick. You might be picturing me.
Then we worked on clenching. Pushing our opponent while keeping our hips in, and keeping our weight on them. This was hard on my neck but I kept at it. We worked on putting our knees in, knee number 1’s and the knee number 2’s. Knee number 1, is both feet on the ground and you knee in to your opponents quads or torso. Knee number 2, is you have one foot on the ground while your other foot goes out behind you. You open up your hips and then you knee the person in the quads or the torso.
This is especially hard when you are trying to hold on to your opponent. Frame on their shoulders, hang off of them while keeping your hips correct, and then putting the knees in. When they lean into you, you then spin them and get a knee in.
We then worked on pummeling just so we could work on getting the upper hand and keeping our framework. Can I tell you we all were huffing and puffing and dying of exhaustion.
The knees take the piss out of you. I was so exhausted by the end of the class at 2 pm, that I wanted to just pass out and sleep on the mat at the same time as I wanted food. But I don’t think at that point I could have put the food in my mouth. I would have had to have some one feed me I was so tired.
So what do you do? I just sat there… well lets be honest laid there, rested, and let my body cool down. Got dressed one piece of clothing at a time slowly and hauled my butt and my equipment to the car.
We went to get lunch and run errands. We got a screw in a tire, and had to wait at the dealer. Tire wont be in till Monday or Tuesday, but we have a loaner car, so all is well. I am exhausted and I hope to sleep well.
Have a good night, and as always thanks for reading. If you have questions or want to say something, drop a line. Also I started a glossary of terms on a separate page if you are interested.
2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Yesterday I worked on kicking through my opponent, and I was sore from that work out. But today after I practiced my Wai Krhu I loosened up.
Muay Thai – Timing and distance management are the real skills
Kru Kristen had us drilling more knee entries from catch jab and scoop of incoming cross. When you were able to push your training partner back we then worked into the Thai 4 counts. We also were working drills to feel when your opponent breaks the distance or enters your striking range with knees.
I find my knees are the worst skill in Muay Thai. I realized today that it was because when I had a herniated disk, they hurt so much to put knees in, that I have been babying my back since then. I was placing my knee but not pushing through. Kru Kristen told me again to give myself permission to hit and push through. So today I was working on pushing through my opponent to knee into and through them. Driving them back, so I could kick. I was putting the knees in and it was not hurting at all. This makes me so happy.
We also worked on full plumb to fence control of the opponents arm, and then to controlling the opponent with a choke or a putting the blade of your hand into the pocket of the arm and controlling your opponent by controlling their shoulder socket.
Toward the end, Kru Kristen wanted to emphasize that you may know the moves, but in a fight it is about knowing distance and timing management. If you cannot judge distance correctly then you will be hit, if you cannot get the timing down right, and avoid their hits you will get hit. In a fight you want to get hit less and hit more. Its the energy your opponent gives you, that you need to harness and return to them. If they commit to a shot then do a destruction, step off the line and return shots at them.
Kali/Silat – Panantukan Palm Stick and Trigg Ten
In Kali we worked on Silat again, Panantukan, and we practiced the Trigg Ten. Kru Kristen wanted us to do the Trigg Ten to focus on committing to the shots. Because with panantukan tonight we worked with palm stick. Where we could use the inside gunting and outside gunting to mouse the funny bone nerve cluster. This is were we find the entry for the gunting and use the palm stick, we can really hurt our opponent, or attacker.
A palm stick is any implement, usually a short stick, but can be a flash light, or a sharpie that you can use to do destructions (a destruction is a move where you damage the attackers hand with your elbow, knees, or a weapon in hopes to deter your attacker) on your opponent with.
Here are some examples of palm sticks:
So when your attacker throws a punch instead of parrying, or blocking you can hit your opponents hand with a palm stick, sharpie, flashlight, or the punyo/butt of a bladed weapon. Most people will stop trying to punch you if you hit them with this. Also it has a good chance of breaking their hand.
The Trigg Ten is a punching/boxing drill, I filmed me drilling below. Here are the punch combinations.
Trigg Ten:
1 jab
2 jabs
3 jabs
1 cross
2 crosses
3 crosses
jab then cross
cross then jab
jab, jab then cross
cross, cross, then jab
It is really late and I need to go to bed. I hope you all had a great day. Thank you for reading.
2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. I need to work on the Fear of God , and we got to play with knives. D.O.M.S set in from yesterdays workout. My shoulders and delts are so sore.
Muay Thai – Fear of God
Today and this week we will be working on knees. We used the knee as an entry into combo drill. So catching a jab, parry a cross, post on opponents shoulder, then driving knee, to right kick, hook, cross, left kick four count. Then we did a parry jab to post on shoulder, knee, to left kick, cross, hook, to right kick four count. Below is a video of me doing this.
Kru Kristen said my form is great, now she wants to see me kick harder, kick through my opponent. She said, “you kick hard, now put the fear of God into your opponent.” Make them not want to take that hit. She went on to say there is a magnitude of difference between some one who kicks hard, and some one that you really don’t want to take the next kick from cause they scare you due to their force.
I take these videos mainly to see what I am doing wrong, and what I need to improve. In these drills, I was not kneeing hard enough to get the distance I needed, so I was getting jammed up. I have to work on those. I also have to work on kicking significantly harder, than I do. Kru Kristen said, “give yourself the permission to kick harder. Kick through your opponent.” As a girl we are always told not to hit people and to be nice. Don’t get into scuffles. I find that this ingrained lessons make it hard sometimes for me to break out and do what I need to do. I am going to work on making my hits and kicks go through my opponent, and allowing myself to let go.
Kali – Knives in hammer lock, and puta
Kali was fun today. We have been working on the Puta Kapala a lot from different entries. Puta Kapala is the move where I twirl my opponent to the floor and knee on belly to control them. Today we did it with a knife. This is a dull or non bladed practice knife. We also worked on the hammer lock with the knife. That is where you control their arm, put it behind them, and control them with the knife in the neck and kick out the back knee.
We worked on gunting/scissor, inside gunting, and outside gunting. You can see below when I parry the strike and cut the opposite direction with the knife.
Kru Krysta had us also using pens, flash lights, and other objects to show we could do the same moves with any pen like object around us.
It is getting late and I need to sleep, so I will stop here. I had a blast in class again. I love going to train.
1 hour work out, 20 minute run with 40 minute weight lifting set. I still have some congestion from my cold so instead of doing a HIIT run. I decided just do a regular steady paced run.
I normally like to do HIIT run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but thought my lungs would be better off not doing that today. Listening to your body is important. Also of note…Not letting your brain tell you that you are going to lose progress because you skipped a HIIT run is also important. =) Small victories are good to celebrate.
Workout: 1 hour (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)
Run: 20 minute steady pace run
Weight lifting:
Bent Leg Crunch – works upper abs – reps 15, 15, 15
Rear Delt Cable cross body pull – 10 lbs works shoulder delts – reps 10, 10, 10
Round the world dumbbell – 10 lbs works shoulder – reps 15, 15, 15
Front raises, and side raises – 7.5 lbs works shoulder – reps 12, 12, 12
So I got it done. I got dinner made. I need to head to work. Today I focused on core and shoulders. I tend to do a lot of glute and leg work. So switching up the routine a little.
Looking for a healthy snack or dessert, or if you are me you will eat it for lunch, instead of lunch, cause it is easy and you can just grab it and go. Looking for that chocolate fix. That time when you just want something a little chocolaty, but full of vitamins, fiber and protein. Try this out. Also this is vegetarian, gluten free, and can be vegan if you leave the honey out and replace it with another sweetener.
Chia seeds are amazing…
If you have never had chia seeds before they are an ancient seed, used by the Aztecs and the Mayans. They a jam packed with nutrients, and are simply amazing despite their diminutive size.
“A one-ounce (28 grams) serving of chia seeds contains :
Fiber: 11 grams.
Protein: 4 grams.
Fat: 9 grams (5 of which are omega-3s).
Calcium: 18% of the RDI.
Manganese: 30% of the RDI.
Magnesium: 30% of the RDI.
Phosphorus: 27% of the RDI.
They also contain a decent amount of zinc, vitamin B3 (niacin), potassium, vitamin B1 (thiamine) and vitamin B2.”
If you want to read up more about them see the link above. There is a lot to love about these tiny power packed seeds. They are high in fiber, contain omega 3 fatty acids (so if you don’t or won’t eat fish, they are a great alternative source), and plant based protein. I will leave you to read about them if you want. On to the recipe.
Chocolate Chia Pudding yield: two servings
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cup or 6 oz of Almond milk (you can use, soy, coconut, or even dairy if you want)
2 tbs or 1.4 oz of Honey (or to taste, also if vegan, you can use stevia to taste)
2 tsp or 2 cap full of vanilla ( you can use any extract you like, I often change it up, sometimes adding Kirsh just for a cherry flavor, or Calvados)
4 tbs or 2 oz of chia seeds
2 tbs or 0.66 oz of unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder (note: I use a heaping tbs, cause I like chocolate)
Pinch of salt to taste
Fruit that you like. (e.g. Berries, apples, oranges, etc.)
Mini dark chocolate chips for garnish
Recipe:
Mix all the wet ingredients first
Add the dry and stir till all of cocoa powder is incorporated.
Let set for 15 minutes, then stir again.
Cover with lid and let refrigerate for at least 4 hours. This is great to do overnight.
After set, serve with garnish and fruit.
Calories/Stats
Calories 274, Fat 13.1 g, Fiber 14.5 g, Carbs 40.3 g, Sodium 141.9 mg, Protein 6.8 g
I also make a version that is a Chai Chia pudding. Try saying that five times.
You have to add the Chai spices to the mix.
1/2 tsp of cinnamon 1/2 tsp of ground ginger 1/4 tsp of ground cardamom 1/8 tsp of ground cloves
Let me know if you are interested in any of my other versions. Thanks for reading.
2.5 hours of Bo Staff training, and Striking. Then I got to go to Amateur Muay Thai Fight my team mate was in. Woot! Health update…my tests came back all normal, and I am allowed to go back onto BCAA’s again. The protein he was seeing was the excess my body was not using. I have a small cold given to me by my lovely germ filled children. =) But other than that I am good to go. So I took yesterday off of working out to let my body heal.
I got to go see my teammate, and fellow student at a amateur Muay Thai fight yesterday. There were 7 fights on the card and it was super fun. I am sitting here at home typing this up, and enjoying just having an off day with a cup of coffee. I got home at about 11 pm last night and did not have the juice to finish this post.
Bo Staff Training – Wood Jokes
Today in Bo Staff training, the wood jokes abounded. We were all joking and yucking it up. It was a beautiful day, and we soaked up some needed sun while learning how to control a huge piece of wood.
I took video of us working on Bo Staff drills because I have had a few friends asking to see what we do. =)
Bo Staff practice Watik Staff Drill. I got a fist bump by my awesome teacher Kru Krysta.
Bo Staff practice Redondo Staff Drill. As you can see I need to remember to keep my hands about 2 fists apart and not hold the staff like I am holding a baseball bat.
I got a fist bump from Kru Krysta. She said I was doing really well. Its nice that the Kali practice we do translates well to the Bo Staff. We just have to manipulate the butt of the staff a little differently.
Striking – Hit me harder
In striking we worked on parrying and counter attacking. We often learn how to throw a punch properly. We drill doing combinations of strikes, like hands to feet, feet to hands, knees to hands, and elbows to knees. We shadowbox those things as well. However for striking we worked on parry and entries after that. Catch a punch, parry a cross, slip, gut punch, upper cut, cross, then leg kick.
Working with one of my friends who is newer to this than I am I was being gentle. He asked me if I was hitting him as hard as I could. I looked sideways at him and said no, not at all sweetie. He said, “ok hit me harder.” I laughed and said ok I can turn it up a notch. I did and he said go up again. I continued to adjust, because he wants to learn how to take a punch. So I kept my intensity in my punches at the point where I could hear him grunt.
Striking class was fantastic, and I am looking forward to sparring more. Which is new for me. I used to be super scared and nervous about sparring. Worrying that I was going to mess up, or forget all that I have learned. Yay progress!
Amateur Muay Thai Fight
Now on to the most exciting part of my day by far. I was super excited for my friend Jorge. I was excited cause I have never gone to see a fight in person before. I have gone with my class mates/fellow Muay Thai training partners to a bar to see a Pay Per View fight, but never in person. The energy was amazing.
There were 7 fights on the card. Including 1 exhibition fight. The video below is just Jorge’s first round. They were three 2 minute rounds. Jorge did a great job. Just getting into the ring is hard. Hell I have a hard time sparring still.
Here are some things I realized and learned while watching this. (Note: I realize this is me watching from an outside view, up in the ring I would not have this perspective, and would be more focused on trying not to get killed. =) )
Kru Kristen is right when she says, “you never rise to the occasion, you will resort to your worst habits when the adrenaline drops and you are in the ring.” Like dropping your hands while fighting, instead of covering your head.
I could see what both Kru Kristen, and Kru Krysta mean by people over committing, or just committing to a punch, and the openings for using their movement against it.
You can tell who has been training Muay Thai and those that are just MMA fighters.
I got to see a haymaker windmill. (don’t do the haymaker windmill… it does not work) This one dude who was fighting was clearly an MMA fighter, and his punches were very wild, coming out wide, and he was trying to muscle them in. He would over commit on a punch in his effort to muscle the punch in. In that time he would be off balance and if his opponent was better at Muay Thai he would have used his momentum to drop his ass on the floor.
Cardio is so important. So many of the fighters were getting gassed, after the first round.
The last three fights – the one before the two main fights and the two main fights, the fighters were using combinations. They were doing hand to foot, foot to hand, combos, knees, and keeping their hips in when in a clench so their opponent could not knee them. This made for a better fight, and far more interesting to watch.
Going to the fight was awesome! I really loved getting to go and see my friend fight. I really liked to go and get to have some social time with team mates. I am going to keep working on my combinations, keeping my guard up, and looking for entries, and using my opponents movements/momentum against them.
This is a day late, but I got it done. I hope you have a great rest of your weekend. Thank you for reading. Let me know if you have any questions.
Thinks with Spinks 