Category: Martial Arts

Muay Thai and Kali…Timing and distance management are the real skills, Trig 10, Palm Stick

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. 1 jab
  2. 2 jabs
  3. 3 jabs
  4. 1 cross
  5. 2 crosses
  6. 3 crosses
  7. jab then cross
  8. cross then jab
  9. jab, jab then cross
  10. 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.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Fear of God, Knives in Hammer Lock, and Puta


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.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day.

Saturday Bo Staff, and Striking workout…Wood Jokes, Hit me Harder, Muay Thai Fight

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. =) )

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. You can tell who has been training Muay Thai and those that are just MMA fighters.
  4. 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.
  5. Cardio is so important. So many of the fighters were getting gassed, after the first round.
  6. 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.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali… Level 1 test, Pummeling 4 ways

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. Today was an exciting day. Every last Thursday of the month we have a testing day. Those that are testing, or have had enough training to be told they are testing. I just tested last month so this was not a testing month for me. However, we did have a teammate who wanted to be tested, and he was ready for his level 1 test.

Muay Thai – Level 1 test


For reference I have tested and been awarded a green armband so far. Level 1 test produces a the red armband. We all started with line up and showing different Thai moves. For instance all the Elbows, 1-8, then all the kicks, then all the knees.

Then we worked on some drills, and after that it was time for D’s Thai test. Where we were supposed to cheer him on. I am losing my voice so I was assigned counting of all knees that were put in silently. =)

Level 1 test round 1
Level 1 test round 2

Kali/Silat – pummeling 4 ways

On Tuesday we worked on a Silat Puta Kapala from pommel entry. This time we were working on the same thing, but we got to work on 4 ways to pummel.

Pummeling:

  1. Traditional pummeling where you swim between each others arms. Often used in Jui Jistsu.
  2. Bicep pummeling, where you are controlling one bicep, and your training partner is controlling the other side. Where you make a c with your hand to control their bicep and slide your other hand under to get out of their c clamp.
  3. Neck pummeling, where you control the neck, you pawk or hit the arm to make space, mouse their arm right above the elbow, and then you shoot your arm in behind their head. This is great when some one has a weapon and you are controlling that hand so that they can’t hurt you. You could side elbow their hand away or or downward elbow their hand out of your neck as well then grab their head/neck.
  4. Then we did the wrist pommeling. First single hand wrist pommeling, where you grab their wrist and then they twist that same wrist and grab your wrist. Or you hit down on their hand to remove their hand and you grab their wrist and upper arm to keep control. You could hit up on the wrist from below and then control the arm by holding the wrist and right above the elbow as well.

We then did the Puta Kapala throws, and we drilled all of these pummels. Switching through all 4, and having fun. Almost like sparring with just pummels. It was fun to see who could get the upper hand, and win control over the other person.

So that is all for me today. Its always exciting to see a Level 1 test. This is the 3rd Level 1 I have seen. Class was great again. I love Muay Thai, and Kali, and can’t wait till next class. I need to shower, and go to bed.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Wednesday Muay Thai Private class…Wai Kru, Bit, Bong, Bap/Bat

I just finished my first 2 hour private Muay Thai class. Our instructor Tony is amazing. He is a very traditional and he and his family come from Thailand. His father taught him and he teaches fighters to fight in the ring. I am honored that he was willing to teach us.

So because he is traditional we started with the Wai Kru. I have heard of it. I have seen it done, but never have I learned it myself. Every class we have we will start with the Wai Kru. It is a sign of respect for your teacher/instructor, it is used to show how flexible and where your problem areas are (in a fight people will size yo up and see where you are tight when watching you), it is a dance, and it is used to warm you up, and stretch you out. Think yoga when you think Wai Kru. It helps you work on things/areas you are tight in.

Each persons Wai Kru is different. Each one tells a story, of their respect for their parents, and their instructors. I will put a few videos below so you can see some different Wai Kru’s. Mine is going to have some of the things that my instructors have taught me and some things that I will bring to the Wai Kru that will be just mine.

Wai Kru : These are worth viewing if you are interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5JuxcvYg9Y


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G-barse7vc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92ibgC1JXo

Those are just some examples of Wai Kru. There are many many different ones. Like I said they are all different.

Look how strong she looks. Also how elegant and flexible.

We then worked on three of the Thai B’s as Tony called it. They were Bit, Bong, and Bat/Bap. Bit = Closing, like closing the vertical blinds. You Bit when you pillar block. Bong is when you parry a high kick or a hit. You cover your head and hit with the other gloved hand. Bat/Bap is when you scoop the teep.

He had us doing blocks, to see how good our shields/checks, and blocks were. I got a compliment on my blocks being solid. I also got a compliment on my balance.

We did a drill where we blocked with our gloves a kick, checked/shielded a kick with our leg, then checked shielded a second kick, then returned a kick right away with our rear leg. For me an orthodox fighter that is my right leg.

We then did 3 minute conditioning rounds for 30 minutes, which was fun.

Then he had us Wai Kru again to cool down and show respect.

After all that we had to do 3 sets of 50 crunches where some on/your partner hits you in the core muscles while you do the crunches with a Thai pad.

Thai pads are these:

These are the Thai pads I own and these were the ones that hit me today. =)

Anyway that is all for today. I had a great time. I loved getting a more traditional class, and really getting a feel for the culture. I love the richness and it brings for me so much more meaning to what we do when we know the value, meaning, and reasons behind the moves.

Have a great day, and tomorrow is my regular Muay Thai class and Kali.

Thanks for reading.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Distance Management, Flow, and Axe Kick Puta

Today was a great day in class again. We did 2 hours of martial arts, Muay Thai and Kali/Silat. I had a great time working with my class mates. I came into the class very annoyed with how the children were acting and treating me today. (They are getting older and talking back, and I am the enemy today.) I know I am not special. Every parent deals with this at some time or another. I was really at my wits end, and while I am not feeling 100% about today. I only mention it to maybe help other parents know this is normal and for me, exercise is sometimes the ticket to re-centering myself. It really is cathartic to just hit and kick things, focus on my form, and trying to get better.

Muay Thai – Distance Management, and Flow

So today in Muay Thai we worked on distance management and flow. Really we strive to making our strikes flow from one to another. Not just staccato da…. da…. da… but flowing da da, da, or da,da,da. If you have played music you will know what I am talking about. However, in the real world, or even in a professional fight. Your opponent is not going to stand there and let you hit them. You have to hit them multiple times, and the theory is you will get one hit in. You may not get all hits in. You most likely will not get all hits in. They will block some of your hits if they are smart, but one or two will land and then you switch it up.

When we work on distance for instance, we work on entries from far away to up close or in the “box”. Meaning the opponents box around them, or personal space. For this drill we were working on starting in the box, or in elbowing range. The theory is that when you elbow some one, they will naturally move away from the damaging elbows, to now knee range, where you can knee them further away from you and then you can land a kick further damaging them.

As you can see… I have a lot to work on with my knees. I baby my back a little bit due to the previous injury, but every day it gets better. However, I need to eject more, and as you can see when I do eject the person more with my knee, I have to make up the distance. Which means I should do a hop kick or some other way to get in. I can see where I need to improve. This is the top reason I take these videos. They help me see where I am failing and what I should work on.

Kali/Silat – Puta Kapala with an Axe kick

Today in Silat, we worked on Puta Kapala from the grappling entry. Where we are “swimming” in each others arms, trying to get the the upper hand. Or in this instance the over hook. I get the over hook, lock out opponents elbow, step out, knee his head, then lift my inner leg up in an axe kick, then push him over and around with my leg.

Kru Kristen did a great job with class today, and I am so grateful for such talented instructors that take their job seriously.

I had a great time in class. I worked up a fantastic sweat. I got some great compliments about my elbow, to knee, to kick combinations. I take it as I am doing something right. Maybe not perfectly but I am doing it right or improving. Kru Kristen is not the kind to give hollow compliments. So she means it when she does.

Thank you all for reading my blog. I am always amazed that you are, and that there are so many of you from all over the world. I never thought I would have 52 people following me. Comment if you have any questions. Have a great day!

Saturday Kali/Bo Staff and Striking… Bo Staff, Flow, Sore

2.5 hours of Bo Staff and Striking training today. Yeah you heard it Bo Staff training! Heck yes. I was and still am excited. We have started Bo Staff training, as an offshoot of our Kali training.

I have to say I am so pooped from class/training today, and I am going to be sore tomorrow. =)

Kali/Bo Staff

Did any of you ever want to be a Ninja Turtle when you were little? No? Maybe? Well I did. So getting to play with Bo Staves was so awesome.

We warmed up with single stick first inside the academy. We practiced (heaven watik, low strike, then high strike), (heaven redondo, low strike, high strike), (equise, low strike, high strike). This was a warm up for our Bo Staff practice.

We then went outside. Where it was sunny, but it was so so windy. It was so cold that after an hour I could not feel my fingers. I think it was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit or 7.222 degrees Celsius for those not in the states. But through all of that I had such a blast. Kru Krysta was amazing and she had her instructor Kru Mossy with her. We learned to perform the moves by pushing the top hand and pulling the bottom hand to perform a strike.

I felt clumsy and uncoordinated, but I was surprised how fast I was picking it up with a longer weapon. There are some things to think about when blocking with a longer weapon so save yourself from extra pain. Like moving your foot out from under your staff when you block so that your opponent does not slide down your staff and hit your heel. I need to remember to do my footwork. Kru Mossy hit my thigh to help me remember to do my footwork. Because we are learning a martial art that is meant to do damage, and I don’t want to learn bad habits.

Also for those that don’t know what a Bo Staff is, here is Donatello from Ninja Turtles to show you. We have not learned this move yet. *joking* =)

Striking, Sore

We worked on teeps transition to Thai four counts again. We also were working on a 7 count drill as well. In this drill my partner and I were working on flow and movement. So we were moving around, getting out of the box, and out of striking range, making sure to our feet moving.

7 count drill
Left Teep
Left kick
Cross
Hook
Cross
Right Knee
Right Kick

We also worked on elbows. Working on some on both sides, but one of note is we did a front teep/left teep, left kick, left knee, jab, left elbow. In this we were working on our distance management. Where for teep we are making them move away, we then do a kick, which is long distance, then move up to knee short distance, and jab shorter distance, then elbow shortest distance.

I am super tired, and going to be sore tomorrow. I should take a bath in Epsom salts. I held pads for Kru Mossy and he hits hard as he demonstrated. I feel like I might have some bruises from holding the pads. This may sound like a complaint but it is not. He is full of wisdom and he was helping us learn more. Not only that, feeling his full force, shows me what can/may achieve if I keep working at it.

I had a wonderful time today. Learned some things on a Bo Staff, and cannot wait till the next class Bo Staff class. I worked hard in striking and got a fantastic workout in. I feel accomplished.

Thank you for reading and if you have an questions, please let me know.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Punctuate the sentence, Sparring, Silat kicks from the ground, Langkah

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali and I had an amazing class. I was asked to spar in Muay Thai and while I was totally nervous I did it. Yay!

I am a little exhausted at the moment. I have had on top of my normal routine, two extra cake orders. You see if you did not know I am a Pastry Chef and I have people ask me to do birthday cakes, pastries, wedding cakes, etc.

I am not complaining by any means, but I am just tired. I have been trying to get more sleep in. My average sleep last month was 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep a night. Lately I have been averating 5.5 to 6. So that is an upward trend. I know it takes about 2 weeks for my habbit to stick that I go to bed earlier. That is good. Enough rambling back to my workout stuff.

Muay Thai – Punctuating the sentence, Sparring

Kru Kristen had us all warming up. Then we were working on elbows. Feeling the resistance from our training partners then doing a forward elbow thrust then a side in elbow, to tie up in a full plumb, and get knees strikes in.

Then I was asked to spar. I kinda made a meep sound and said yes… sure. Sparing is both hard and scary for me. I fear I will forget all the things I have been taught. I know that forgetting is normal, and I know we all forget some of what we have learned in the moment when the adrenaline drops. However, I want so much to do well, oh and also not get hit a lot. I have gotten better about being scared of being hit. I have been hit a number of times in the head, I have been kicked in the side, and kneed in the leg and kicked in the leg. However, the fear is still there. One day it won’t be so scary but it still is. I don’t plan on being a fighter professionally, however, part of me is excited about the next time I get to spar.

Anyway I got into the ring and did it. I sparred again. I think this is my third time. I stepped up and did it. I did get punched in the face twice and I ate some leg kicks and a torso kick. But I got in a few face punches, some torso hooks, and I got a 5 or 6 good kicks in. I felt accomplished. We were sparring to help one of our team that is going to go fight in a professional fight. He is training and those of us who were asked to spar all helped him do conditioning. We were coached by Kru Kristen that when throwing we want to throw a cross in afterward. “It is like punctuating your sentence” as Kru Kristen says.

Kali – Silat from the ground, Langkah

We had a guest instructor named In Chun Kim. He was amazing. He brought us back to basics of Silat. He had us learning the kicks from the ground.

This video is similar to what we did. It is not me or my video.

Then we worked on foot work or Langkah and learning where our opponents balance breaks, so that we can better get our opponent off balance and it helps with our Basset Dal, and Basset Luar, Sapu Dal, and Sapu Luar. Or our foot sweeps inside and out, or our trips inside and out.

Langkah: Stepping and footwork
1) Langkah Lurus: Linear stepping
6) Langkah Persegitiga: Triangle stepping
4) Langkah Sigsag: Zig zag stepping

For this we did the above, 1, 4, and 6. All great practice, and really gave me insight to why and how we to do the moves better. If you understand the basics better you can understand the moves better. Sometimes I try to muscle the persons foot off the mat, but all you have to do is off balance them correctly and it becomes so much simpler.

Today was a great day and a lot of great information. I had a great amount of a-hah moments. Punctuating the sentence with a cross, and the langkah or footwork and how to do our Silat moves better. Where some of the things just clicked. I also had a good time trying something I did not know if I could do those cool Ground kicks.

Thank you for reading… if you have any questions let me know. Have a great night. I need to get to sleep. =)

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Cross, elbow, Sapu Luar, Sapu Dalam

Two hours of Muay Thai and Kali. It was a blast. This day was not a huge cardio day for our class. Meaning we did not do a lot of conditioning today. However it was still a lot of fun.

Muay Thai – Cross

In Muay Thai we worked on the cross, elbows, and clench work. While not the exciting dynamic kicking, boxing 20, or Thai 15 routine. I believe there is value in taking a step back and working on the basics. For instance my cross. While I can hit a cross just fine, there are a lot of fine tuning things I need to work on so that I get full extension.

At 5 foot I am short and so I often short change my punches. Because I feel like I don’t or cant get the distance in. However, today I was working on just that. As an orthodox fighter, I have to step out to the left and pivot on the back foot, throw the punch where I turn my hand at the end and point my first two knuckles at the opponent. What this does is extend my body and covers my right hands side of my face with my shoulder.

Sometimes it is good to just focus on one thing and try to make it the best you can. Then trying to do all the things the best. Kru Kristen, says she would rather us be great at a few things than mediocre to horrible at all the things.

Here is a video of me practicing just that. Again not the cool flashy, fast drills that we do some days, but a necessary step back to get these strikes closer to perfection.

Kali – Silat Sapu Dal, and Sapu Luar

In Kali we were working on Silat again, and while we did Basset Dal/Basset Luar before, where our back is toward our opponent. Sapu is where we are facing our opponent. Luar is outside leg sweep, and Dal is inside leg sweep.

We worked on off balancing our opponent only to sweep the leg out from under them just at the right time. This is very fun to do, and gets simpler once you understand the physics behind body movement.

We worked on a take down where you weave your arm between the legs lock out our elbow grab their hand. Pull their hand to the 3 point in the triangle and nudge them with your shoulder. This is a move you can do from the ground if they have hit you and you fell.

We also worked on if we are prone, just fallen, coming back up into combat ready stance, and then grabbing the persons arm and behind the knee to pull them down. Place knee on belly and then punch them.

Today was fun. We got to do sticky legs and work on some strikes where we take steps back and just work on our form and techniques.

Have a great day and thank you for reading. I am so amazed. I now have 51 international subscribers reading my blog. Who would have thought.

Saturday Krav and Striking…Reaper, Inosanto 18 count, Southpaws are SOL

After roughly 4 hours of martial arts training, I am pooped. Today was fantastic, and I got to learn a new 18 count routine. Writing down what a Soutpaw has to do to change the counts to work for them is mind bending and I don’t have the capacity for it tonight. =)

Krav – Reaper Sweeps

Today we made it to Krav Maga on time, and we got to work on Reaper Sweeps. I have had some late nights at work so I have not been able to make it to the Krav classes. The reaper sweep is a dump where we gain an entry after an attack and do a modified T position. We cinch in your arms off balance the opponent and leaver pull your leg up while levering forward. We got to do outside reaper sweeps, and inside reaper sweeps.

My back was not happy with me this morning so I let my instructor know and we modified the dumps for me, where my training partners, performed the moves, and I would get on the ground although not so gracefully. We learned how to follow up with more hits to the head and posting off of their wrists to jump up and get out of harms way. I try not to let my physical impairments get in my way of training, and try to work around it. Just be honest with your instructors and I find they are understanding. If they are not, then perhaps they are not the instructors for you.

Between class we worked on Muay Thai training to keep warm and to hopefully get better. Here are some of the things we worked on.

Here I am practicing my Muay Thai double kick. I start by placing a leg kick so as not to hurt my partner/pad holder, and then throw in the torso round house kick. We are working on timing and changing levels. This is because you are not always going to kick just the leg or just the torso in a fight.

Below I am practicing just my Muay Thai round house kicks. These hurt on the right side cause I have three bruises on my shin. Those bruises are from shielding a kick and a person ending up kneeing my shin instead of getting a kick in. These are normal bumps and scrapes that happen Muay Thai but it does not mean it does not hurt. =) Although I can say I have gotten more used to them.

Striking – Inosanto 18 count

Today we got Kru Krysta back! I was excited to see her, and she wanted us to work on the Inosanto 18 count.

For the whole class we broke the 18 count into digestible chunks, then we strung them together so that we could do all 18 count at once. I just realized I had not described what a # count means. An 18 count means 18 individual strikes. Below are the individual strikes in the Inosanto 18 count.

Inosanto 18 count: (note: Sorry you southpaw fighters are SOL right now. Cause that stuff is confusing. If you really want to know the southpaw Inosanto 18 let me know. I will ask my husband to translate to southpaw for me.)

  1. Scoop the incoming teep
  2. Right leg kick
  3. Left torso round house kick
  4. Cross
  5. Hook
  6. Right torso round house kick
  7. Cut Kick as opponent Right kick comes in and land a Left leg kick
  8. Right leg kick
  9. Left torso round house kick
  10. Cross
  11. Hook
  12. Right torso round house kick
  13. Scoop incoming cross
  14. Cross
  15. Hook
  16. Right Elbow
  17. Right pushing knee
  18. Right torso round house kick.

This 18 count was a lot of fun. I could be wrong but it feels like I picked this combination up quickly. When we first started almost a year ago I had trouble remembering more than 4 strikes in the Thai 15 count or the Boxing 20 count. So when I would come home to try to write it down so I could practice it I was stuck. However, today we learn a 18 count and I can mentally move through each strike/counter and see what we did. Now I think there are a few things going for me on this. One being I understand the moves much more clearly now. I would say that this is marked improvement. So yay!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great weekend. Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them.