Category: Muay Thai

Training and Martial Arts: Differences in Thai boxing and Western Boxing

Happy Monday everyone!

This week was a bit of a detraining week for me. But I still got some good training in. Just not as much as I normally do. My body needed the break and with the changing seasons here in the U.S. my allergies kick up.

I did train 3 days this week in Muay Thai. That was great. I helped teach one day, and we taught… yep you guessed it… Boxing fundamentals!

So I wanted to talk about that. There are so many websites you can look up to see each persons take on the two, however, this is what we taught and teach for our students.

Muay Thai vs Western Boxing:

Differences

  1. Muay Thai stance is more squared up with opponent than traditional western boxing. This gives us the ability to check/block our opponents kicks, and helps with body mechanics (makes easier, and more powerful) for kicking with the rear leg.
    • Western boxers blade their body more. They do this because they only have to worry about the other boxer boxing, there is no worry about kicks, elbows, or knees.
  2. We keep our hands closer to your face for guard and protection. We have to protect from kicks, and elbows as well. Western boxers do not need to do that.
    • Western boxers tend to have their hands lower at shoulder level.
  3. Footwork – we don’t lean back hard on the heel, we stay 60 % rear foot, 40 % lead foot depending on which stance we land in. Also we might have to change stance to switch kick as well. Some times our weight is on our lead foot. We don’t hop around back and forth, we tend to shuffle in, cut around, or shuffle out.
    • Western Boxers dance about, bounce

Similarities

  1. Footwork – yes footwork is here twice. We have similarities as well. Our punches all originate from the feet. We use our hips and torso for the torque.
  2. Jab, Cross, Hook, are all the same animal. We use the same tools in the tool box, a wrench is a wrench. We as Muay Thai practitioners use other tools with it, like a kick.
  3. We both have to read our opponent and watch their body mechanics to hopefully predict our opponents strikes so that we can guard against them.
  4. Contact sport. In the end these are both a contact sport.

At the end, the two are both amazing contact sports. I don’t like to say one is better than the other. That really has to do with the practitioner. There have been amazing boxers that have crossed over into Muay Thai.

We taught our fellow students that boxing begins with the feet. You lift your lead hip a little when you throw the jab, but don’t turn hour lead leg to much or you will get kicked there. We taught them to pivot their rear leg so that their rear knee points to the lead leg when throwing the cross. The power comes from the foot to hip to hand movement. The power for your boxing starts in your feet.

I did a better job of getting protein in this week. I will keep up with it.

Thanks for reading, I hope everyone is staying safe. Hug your loved ones, and give your fur babies some love too from me.

If you liked this blog, please hit the like button. If you want to follow me subscribe, and as always I love to hear from you all.

Remember, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: The Training Does Not Stop

I missed last weeks post. Sorry everyone. I have been super busy. On top of my regular job that I use to bring home the bacon (hah), I am also trying to start up a business. I am a mom, and we as a family also home school. So my days are filled to the brim with all the things.

On top of my life as a mom, wife, and now an entrepreneur, I train in martial arts and weight lifting. Crazy I know… but that is my life. =)

I have been asking myself why am I doing this now? But really I won’t ever have a good time to start a business. I am busy all the time. Need to start somewhere, so I started now.

But the training does not stop for me. I am still doing it. I just have to rearrange my schedule.

For the next few months I will only be weight lifting 2 days a week, that is down from 4 to 3 days a week I normally do.

I am training martial arts 4 days a week still. So still have a full schedule of training between the two. Depending on when I do them it will be 5 to 6 days a week.

Now about food… my food intake has not been great. I have fallen to old patterns, where I am not eating enough, and certainly not enough protein. It is so easy to fall back into old habits.

I am making efforts to get back onto track. I need to prioritize eating and carve time out to eat especially when I am working on my business. I get very single minded and will work through a meal because I am trying to get something done. Then look up at the clock and realize I missed eating.

So I am still here. I am still training. I have been teaching classes in martial arts. It has been so much fun. I also have been kicking my own behind with my workout and training as well.

What have you been doing? Do you find you are missing workouts when your life gets busy?

This was a short blog post. I did two days of weight lifting last week, 3 days of martial arts.

Thank you all for reading. I hope you are having a great week. Please feel free to comment, I would love to hear from you.

If you liked this post, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow me please subscribe.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Doing what you really don’t want to is sometimes good.

If you look up on google forcing yourself to do a workout, you will see, articles and information warning you against forcing yourself to do your workout.

For the most part I absolutely agree. You really don’t want to force yourself to do something you absolutely hate. That will create a negative association with you and your workouts.

However, and this is a big however, sometimes you do need to do the things you don’t want to do. Wait… don’t tune out now let me explain. For example, I am a distance athlete. I really have always been. In swim team I loved 500 meter freestyle, 200 meter fly, and just like longer distance running.

So what is it I don’t really like? If you have not guessed yet it is sprinting. I am not good at it. I don’t like it. I also know that it will help me reach my goals in my martial arts. I want to be more springy and responsive and be able to get in and out of the pocket when sparring in martial arts. How do you do that? You work on your ability to get in and out of the pocket, by drilling and training. But on the back end you have to work on your sprinting and quick momentum.

I say all this because that is what I am doing. I generally run for cardio, and I usually like to put at least a mile or miles under me. However, I don’t often ever want to sprint. So I do it to help my training. Do I like it, nah… do I not want to do my workouts sometimes when I know I am going to be doing it? Yup! But I also know it is helping so I do it anyway.

Sometimes it is good to force yourself to do something you don’t like. I can already tell my cardio is different during training and sparring sessions.

What do you hate to do? What do you think you could force yourself to do if it helped you achieve your goals?

If you want to skip my week of training, down below I talk about some changes to my social media.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 9/06/2021: HIIT Sprint Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 9/07/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 9/08/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 9/029/2021: rest day
  5. Friday 9/010/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 9/11/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training (teaching)
  7. Sunday 9/12/2021: scheduled rest day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. teaching fellow students
  2. working the fundamentals
  3. helping students focus on fundamentals and why

Drills for this week:

Training:
1) jump rope
2) hip turn drill 20 each side
3) partner rear kicks, you lead shield, lead kick, cross hook, rear kick
3) partner rear kick, you lead shield, rear kick, hook, cross, lead kick
4) partner rear kick, you lead shield, to lead Teep, to lead kick, follow up with whatever 4 count
5) pop the leather, 4 count, I focused on flanking my opponent to get hits in.


Cardio Run / Weight Lifting: Week two

Weightlifting: focus – back biceps and abs

Cardio Run: focus – sprinting HIIT

Sprint HIIT – changed up with longer warm up run and more burpees

1) warm ip 600 meter run
2) 4x 200 meter sprints
3) 30 jump squats
4) 200 meter sprint
5) 20 burpees
6) 200 meter sprints

Weightlifting: time and attention – glutes and hamstrings focus

1) abductor resistance band – reps- 20, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10

2) pause hip thrust (3 seconds pause at top) -rep- 8, 8, 8, 8

3) dumbbell single stiff leg dead lift- reps each leg – 15, 15, 15, 15

4) barbell stiff leg dead lift – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

5) dumbbell frog pumps- reps – 20, 20, 20

6) cable pull through – reps – 12, 12, 12

1) standing barbell row- reps – 15, 15, 10, 10, 10

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I seemed to have met my fat and carbs needs, but was woefully under on my protein. Need to keep pushing the protein, if I don’t I find I just don’t eat enough of it.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein41148757310810474.989.1285714190100.8714286
Carbs75219186128109212197.5160.928571160-0.928571429
Fat908785691019282.686.657142967-19.65714286
           
Calories12742251180914251777209218331780.142862003222.8571429

I changed my instagram handle to @fiestycupcake. I did this mainly because it makes more sense for my workout adventures and everyday shenanigans. I also made a Redbubble shop that has the same name Sharpcupcake.

I am an artist and decided to start uploading some of my artwork for people. You can visit my store here:

https://www.redbubble.com/people/SharpCupcake/shop?asc=u

That is the last I will talk about this change here. I will be uploading more designs based on my interests and art.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all have a fantastic week. If you want to follow me on my day to day adventures, I am here on instagram @fiestycupcake. If you want to comment please feel free I would love to hear what you say, and have a conversation. If you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to see more right when I upload please hit the subscribe.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Teaching martial arts is… fun, rewarding, hard, and so educational

Hello beautiful people, I had the awesome chance to teach an entire class last week. I will be able to teach another few classes for this month.

Teaching martial arts is… fun, hard and so educational.

Let me back up a little bit. I am not new to teaching. I taught B&P (Baking and Pastry) and Cake decorating for the public school system for 13 years. I went to school and got a degree in the the things I was teaching. Yes there is still trepidation the first couple of times you get up and teach in front of a class. However, this being my profession, and what I taught it faded after the first year and then teaching became easier.

However, with martial arts, I have only been studying it for 3+ years. My brain asks what do I know. How much do I know to be able to teach.

Teaching can be hard:

So I made a plan on what I wanted to teach. Screwed up my courage, and hoped I did not fall on my face when I was demonstrating the strikes/skills I wanted to. It was hard in that I kept telling myself remember the basics and make sure you explain why you are doing something. They may not see the little nuances.

Teaching is very educational:

Teaching my fellow trainees is so educational. The biggest thing that I learned is that I know more than I think I do. I taught about the fundamentals of the Thai round house kick. The kicker is when some students asked questions I was able to answer them. When they wondered why we did it the way we do I was able to answer them. I was able to go around watch what they were doing and see the small tweaks they needed to do. This is different then my own training. In which I just train, and try to make my skills better. I sometimes don’t see what I need to do to change my own movements. I sometimes can’t see what I can need to do to fix my strikes even when I record it and look back. I can see it in my fellow students.

Teaching others also cements what you know. It does this because you have to figure out how to explain what you know to your students. They may not see/understand what you are saying/showing the way you are showing it. So you have to know the what, why, and how of what you are showing so that you can change the way you are saying it.

Teaching is fun:

Teaching was so much fun this week. I really enjoyed teaching people cake decorating and pastry arts. I find I love teaching martial arts. It is so rewarding to see that light bulb, or light go on behind peoples eyes. I found it rewarding when teaching pastry. I find the same reward when teaching martial arts. I also love to see people having a good time. It is rewarding to see people fall in love the martial art that I love so much.

I have the chance to teach again this month and part of next month. I think I will learn so much. I am excited.

The best thing about teaching is everyone coming up and telling me how much I helped them. They mentioned how much fun they had in class. That is in itself rewarding.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/30/2021: HIIT Sprint Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/31/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 9/01/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 9/02/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 9/03/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 9/04/2021: Off holiday
  7. Sunday 9/05/2021: unscheduled but needed rest day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Working my distance management and learning my distance
  2. Stay light on my feet
  3. Teaching fellow students

Drills for this week: the lesson I taught (focus on pivot and hip placement/turnover)

1) jump rope
2) isolated hip turn partner drills ( partner holds your foot and you balance pivot the foot and turn your hip)
3) jab, rear kick / jab, lead kick
4) jab, cross, rear kick / jab, cross, lead kick
5) jab, cross, hook, rear kick/ jab, cross, hook lead kick
6) pop the leather – shield and response kick drill


Cardio Run / Weight Lifting: Week one 3 day split finding that 3 days is gonna be more like two days for the foreseeable future due to scheduling.

Weightlifting: focus – back biceps and abs

Cardio Run: focus – sprinting HIIT

HIIT:

1) warm up – 200 meter sprint and stretching
2) 4x 200 meter sprints
3) 30 x jump squats
4) 200 meter sprint
5) 20 x push ups
6) 200 meter sprint

Weightlifting Back Biceps and Abs

1) standing barbell row- reps – 15, 15, 10, 10, 10

Superset
2) pat pull down wide grip – reps -12, 12, 12
3) cable rope face pull – reps – 12, 12, 12

4) barbell rack pull – reps- 10, 10, 10

5) seated cable rows – reps – 15, 15, 15

6) dumbbell standing double arm bicep curl- rep- 12, 12, 12

7) dumbbell biceps spider curl – reps – 12, 12, 12

Superset
8 ) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
9) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
10) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
11) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
12) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
13) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
14) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
15) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
16) kettle bell sit ups – 30 secondsd

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Lets just face it. This week I just did not try to much. I did not eat well, I did not eat on time. I did not eat enough. I feel back into my old ways. Gonna make it better this coming week.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein9438798553688271.2857143190118.7142857
Carbs17731169212201109192155.8571431604.142857143
Fat8455919839659675.428571467-8.428571429
           
Calories1840771181120701367129319601587.428572003415.5714286

Well that is it for this last week. I did terribly on making sure I ate enough, and ate what I needed to. I am working on making sure I meal prep for this week. I had a great week and I got to teach my fellow teammates. I get a chance again coming up. How was your week? Did you eat well this week? Did you do what you needed to do?

Thank you for reading. If you like this, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow along on my adventures, please feel free to subscribe. Comment below if you want to chat. My daily shenanigans is on instagram @sharpcupcake.

You know, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Always learning and growing, training to my body type.

I will never stop learning and growing. I am so happy about that. I mean in my martial arts and fitness goals, but also in everything I do.

I have some new things on the horizon… It has a huge learning curve, and potential for me to do things I love. I am being intentionally vague because there is a lot up in the air. We will see how it goes.

Anyway back to the blog. I am changing how I train, or am trying to. The thing I have learned as I have gone through the years in my training is that you have to be willing to change things up. You have to be willing to try something new. If things are working for you but not the way you want, you have to be willing to change it up.

What am I doing that is different in my workouts/training? Well it seems like something that should be intuitive, but I am moving more toward training to my body type. I am making little changes to try to work with my body. Trying to be understanding when hormones are not working with me.

This current week I am adding more moves/workouts that are supposed to be more appropriate for my body type.

Body type you ask? I have heard about them and read about them before. But it is really hard to find consistent information on how train to your body type. I have been reading a book called Roar by Stacy T. Sims, PhD.

Different Body types:

  1. Ectomorph: Ectomorphs tend to be longer limbed people. They don’t seem to pack on muscle easily, and they tend to skinny looking.
  2. Mesomorph: Mesomorph people tend to find building muscle easy. They are more proportionally built.
  3. Endomorph: Endomorphs are usually curvier, softer and rounder. They tend to store fat more easily than the other two body types.

I feel am mostly Endomorph but partially Mesomorph. I kinda straddle both of these two body types. Which makes things difficult to taylor my fitness routine.

Some experts say to do one thing and other another thing. Honestly we are all different and we cannot be put in to a box. With that said we have to find what works for us, and be willing to throw away what does not. That is why we need to be able to experiment.

So as I go along I learn and try out new things and throw away the old things. Sometimes going back to the things I did before because they worked better than the new things.

This week I am doing more sprints. I hate sprints. But I need to work more on my explosive movements. I am keeping the weight lifting, and I am of course keeping the Martial Arts. I am changing up when and how I am eating. No longer just waiting till I have time. I am making time.

Let me get to my last week of training.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/23/2021: Mile Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/24/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 8/25/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/26/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 8/27/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/29/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai Training, Weightlifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 8/30/2021: we had an off day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Working my distance management and learning my distance
  2. Stay light on my feet
  3. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  4. Pull up foot out of the bucket when throwing cross

Drills for this week: Focus on getting in and out of the pocket

I did not record the drills for this week.


Weight Lifting: Week one 3 day split

Weightlifting: focus – shoulders, triceps, chest and abs

1) seated dumbbell shoulder press – reps – 15, 15, 8, 8, 8, 8

Superset
2) seated dumbbell lateral raises – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12
3) inclined fly backs – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset
4) dumbbell inclined chest press- reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
5) diamond push ups – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

Superset
6) cable chest flys – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12
7) overhead rope tricep extensions- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset
8 ) pike crunches 30 seconds
9) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
10) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
11) walking planks 30 seconds
12) pike crunches 30 seconds
13) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
14) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
15) walking planks 30 seconds
16) pike crunches 30 seconds
17) dumbbell v ups 30 sec
18) dumbbell Russian twists 30 sec
19) walking planks 30 seconds

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Just trying to make sure I eat right now. Not getting enough protein in… and eating lots of carbs.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein79104119107641009395.142857119094.85714286
Carbs229217238293130188164208.428571160-48.42857143
Fat87739912289676986.571428667-19.57142857
           
Calories20151941231926981577175516491993.4285720039.571428571
08/32/2021-08/30/2021

I am kinda in a transition. I guess this shows in my posts. However, this is a recording of Trying to figure out my next steps, feeling out my new workout. But I will keep training. Changing things up, and tweaking things to make it better for me.

What do you do for your training? How have you tweaked it? What is your body type?

Thanks for reading, If you liked it hit the like button, if you want to follow along subscribe. My daily shenanigans is @sharpcupcake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Getting back into the swing is hard after a vacation.

This week was hard to get back into. I did not realize how much I needed that vacation. We had been on lock down and not going anywhere for 15 months. We worry about our kids and them getting covid. One of them is still to young to get the vaccine.

So we chose the beach and being socially distanced from everyone. It was fantastic.

But we came back last week, and I attempted to start an 8 week weightlifting program. I one day in of the 3 day split. So I restarted it for this week we are in.

I did however, get all of my martial arts training in. I have new bruises to show. Today woke up wondering why the left side of my torso hurt. Looked down and lo and behold bruises on my lower left hand side of my torso.

So getting the training in just needed to restart my other training.

Gonna be kind to myself and just go with the flow.

Do you find it hard to get back into the swing of things after an awesome and much needed vacation?

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/16/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/17/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 8/18/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/19/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 8/20/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/21/2021: 3 hours of Muay Thai Training
  7. Sunday 8/22/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai Training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Pull up foot out of the bucket when throwing cross

Drills for this week: Focus on getting in and out of the pocket

1) mirror with rear leg kick
2) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow
3) jab, cross, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
4) jab, cross, lead elbow, lead knee, lead kick
5) slip the incoming cross torso hook, break elbow with upward elbow, throw arm, bob and weave the incoming hook, torso hook, kick back of knee, hit back of opponent head.
6) rear to lead pop the leather


Weight Lifting

Done with the 8 week program. So happy with the results. Well contemplate my next 8 week program I am going to start on my detraining week.

Focus on for this 8th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: glutes and hamstrings focus

Weightlifting:

1) resistance band abduction – reps – 20, 20, 10, 10, 10, 10

2) barbell pause hip thrust TUT 1/3/1 – reps – 8, 8, 8, 8

3) single leg, stiff leg, dumbbell deadlift- reps each leg – 15, 15, 15, 15

4) barbell stiff leg dead lift – reps- 12, 12, 10

5) dumbell frog pumps – reps – 20, 20, 20

6) cable/resistance band pull throughs- reps- 12, 12, 12

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Whew it has been a high hormone week for me. So the carbs have been flowing.
  3. Need to work on my protein, and actually get them in.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein97102669242969784.5714286190105.4285714
Carbs300239225227168268179229.428571160-69.42857143
Fat69935782751215779.142857167-12.14285714
           
Calories22092201167720141515254516171968.28571200334.71428571
08/16/2021 – 08/22/2021

This blog post is a day late. Par for the course this last week. But I am pushing through and going to get back on track.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow along, subscribe. My everyday shenanigans can be found on instagram @sharpcupcake. Comment if you want to let me know how you get back on track after a vacation.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get it!

Martial Arts and Training: 8 week program end, and I can see and feel improvements.

It is officially the end of another 8 week weight lifting program. I am happy with my results and I am happy with my progress. I am also happy it is done. I am looking forward to this next week of detraining, or letting my body rest. Out of the two (8 week programs) I have done this spring and summer I am feeling the need for a vacation after this one.

I have increased the weights I can lift by 10lbs across the board, I even increased some of my weights by 20lbs.

I am seeing definition and I am seeing my progress. It is slow, and monotonous at times, but I can see it.

First picture is from this month August 2021, and second picture is from 2017.

I could feel by body being tired, and just needing some down time. I finished out this week and I got great times running, and fantastic weights lifted.

I am literally at the top of the amounts of weights I have at home. I am going to have to invest in some more plates for my barbell, and some more dumbbells. This is a good problem to have.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/02/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/03/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 8/04/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 8/05/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 8/06/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 8/07/2021: resting
  7. Sunday 8/08/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Keep my hands up
  4. Bringing the intent, intensity to training
  5. Superman Drill
  6. Head movement

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai Training: focus kicks
1) jump rope
2) Thai Test
3) mirror drill + leg kicks
4) mirror drill + leg kicks

5) jab, cross, rear body kick, rear leg kick
6) lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) rear kick, Superman cross, hook, lead kick


Weight Lifting

Done with the 8 week program. So happy with the results. Well contemplate my next 8 week program I am going to start on my detraining week.

Focus on for this 8th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: glutes and hamstrings focus

Superset
1) barbell stiff leg dead lift- reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell single leg dead lift – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

3) hip thrusters with a pause at the top – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
4) dumbbell alternating reverse squats – reps – 20, 20, 20, 20
5) dumbbell sumo squats – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I missed my protein intake by a lot this week. I was way under in calories total, but I made up for that in more carbs and fat than I needed. Hah! Well I did try to eat more protein… just did not succeed this week. Keep chugging along and I will get it right eventually.
  3. In hindsight this may also be why I feel just a little run down and needing a break. When my nutrition is not what my body needs…
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1406776127123697496.571428619093.42857143
Carbs1307876270285178258182.142857160-22.14285714
Fat58484513963859375.857142967-8.857142857
           
Calories16021012101328392199175321651797.571432003205.4285714
8/02/2021 – 8/08/2021

Anyway that was my week. This coming week is a de-training week and I am so looking forward to it.

I will continue to be on maintenance eating, and will keep working on getting my protein.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button, if you want to follow my adventures as they come along please hit the subscribe button. As always I would love to hear from you. What are your goals? What are you doing to meet them?

My day to day shenanigans can be found @sharpcupcake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Upping your intensity or training with intent.

I often hear from my training partner you play harder you are going to take you are going to get hit harder. So I have been upping my intensity and or training with intent.

For those people who I like (think of as family and or friends) it is really hard, it is a hard mental block for me. To hit them or train with intent. To dump them when the opening arrives.

I am now at the part of my training I have to work hard, I have to try to do everything I can to win. Training with intent does not mean I have to damage them permanently, but I have to be ready to train hard, and to the point where I am willing to hit them hard if they don’t cover or evade. I have to be willing to dump the people I love and care about on the ground.

It is not only good for me. It simulates training for the real world. Being afraid for your life and taking out a assailant.

It is also helping my training partners I am pushing them harder. I am making them have to think, defend, and train harder.

The harder I work the better for them and myself. I just need to get over my mental block of hurting my friends and family.

On a side note. It is also harder on your body. I got kneed in the rib and in the gut. Both accidents on my partners fault, both hurt a great deal, and I felt fine afterward, but the next few days were a doozie. You play hard you get big bruises.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 7/26/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 7/27/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 7/28/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/29/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/30/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/31/2021: resting my neck shoulders
  7. Sunday 8/01/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Diving deep to make contact and stay close to avoid my opponents strike
  4. Keep my hands up
  5. Bringing the intent, intensity to training

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai Training: focus kicks
1) jump rope
2) Thai Test
3) mirror drill + leg kicks
4) mirror drill + leg kicks

5) jab, cross, rear body kick, rear leg kick
6) lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) rear kick, Superman cross, hook, lead kick

Kali: I missed Kali this week due to my neck and shoulders being stiff and in pain after chiro appointment. This is normal from a big adjustment.


Weight Lifting

I increased the weight for my standing dumbell tricep rows to the heaviest dumbbells I have. That’s a 10 lb increase each arm. Yay! But that means gonna need to get the next set of dumbbells in a few weeks.

Focus on for this 7th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Superset – do these in a two sets of exercises once through in a row without rest
1) standing dumbbell row – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
2) dumbbell inclined fly – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

3)seated reverse grip cable row – reps- 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset–
4) cable narrow grip pull downs – reps -12, 12, 12, 12
5) dumbbell standing double arm bicep curl – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset-
6) cable rope face pull – reps – 12, 12, 12
7) cable bicep curl – reps – 12, 12, 12

8 ) dumbbell biceps spider curl -reps – 12, 12, 12

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I did terribly on my nutrition. I just did not eat enough, was not hungry and did not want to eat anything. Fell back into my bad habits of just not eating when I did not want to.
  3. I only averaged 96 grams in vs 190 g of protein, I went a little over on carbs 176 vs 160, and went over in fats 85 g vs 67 g goal.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein100107100115921045295.714285719094.28571429
Carbs132153251218168133193178.285714160-18.28571429
Fat445595119938310785.142857167-18.14285714
           
Calories13241535225924031877169519431862.285712003140.7142857
7/26/2021 – 8/01/2021

I am training harder, forgot to eat/or fell back into my old habits of not eating. I am working being better. Some times I slip but I get back up and go again.

Thank you for reading I hope you are having a fantastic week. If you want to talk please feel free to comment. If you want to follow my adventures please subscribe, and my daily shenanigans are on @sharpcupake on instagram.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: When you fall down the most important thing is to get back up.

You might have heard that saying before. Or you might have heard a similar saying. However, the gist is the same. You get knocked down, the most important thing to do is get back up.

Sometimes that is easier said than done. When you get truly rattled and you start thinking, and in my case overthinking everything.

How do you pick up and get back on the horse? When what you think, feel, and know gets rattled. It is like crawling through quick sand. It takes all of your will power. Then when those little voices get louder in your head. When those little voices say, “yeah you know they are right. You know that the reason you got knocked down is because you are less. You are way less, you are not enough.”

But you have to get up, you have to keep going. If you don’t, what are you going to do? Are you going to run away and just ignore the problem. Ignore the blow? You can. But I say get up.

So you fall down, you take a punch to the gut, you it hollows you out. You work past your emotions, your upset and you get back up. You get back up and keep working. You keep working to be the best you that you can be.

Yes it is easier said than done. But you reach down and find that strength to do it. Because if you don’t only thing you can do is quit, and walk away from those things you are striving for.

I am speaking metaphorically and literally. We both need to get back up after a literal blow that rattles us, and after an emotional blow that rattles our foundation. It is important. They both hurt in different ways and they are both hard in some ways to return from.

I will keep standing back up. Even when it is hard, even when it takes days to get back. Because I am trying to be the best me. It’s these bumps and turbulence that helps us grow.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 7/19/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 7/20/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 7/21/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/22/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/23/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/24/2021: Family day
  7. Sunday 7/25/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Stay light on my feet
  2. Cutting the corner so I can flank my opponent
  3. Diving deep to make contact and stay close to avoid my opponents strike
  4. Keep my hands up
  5. Eyes on the opponent

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope
2) mirror Teep drill I lead
3) mirror Teep drill opponent leads

4) scoop the Teep, rear kick, lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
5) held pads for H

6) incoming rear kick, return cut kick, rear kick, lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick
7) held pads for H

8 ) parry abs split the incoming cross, cross, hook, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) 4 count pop the leather
11) 4 count pop the leather
12) 4 count pop the leather

Kali: We missed this weeks training


Weight Lifting

Focus on for this 6th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: Glutes and quads

Superset– complete one set of exercises before doing second set of two exercises

1) abductor machine or resistance band – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
2) floor frog pumps – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
3) dumbbell squats – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
4) body weight walking lunges-reps – 20, 20, 20, 20

5) dumbbell sumo squats – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
6) standing resistance bands leg extensions- reps each leg- 15, 15, 15
7) dumbbell heel elevated goblet squat – reps – 12, 12, 12

abs circuit– I did these back to back
8 ) half v up to leg extensions – reps – 15 each leg
9) isolated mountain climbers – reps – 15 each leg
10) lying leg raise ( focus on lowering your legs) – reps- 15
Repeat above 3 times for

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Over all ok… a little high on carbs and fat, but I am not to worried. Need to keep up with the protein.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein104123129799213383106.14285719083.85714286
Carbs232164142190222159167182.285714160-22.28571429
Fat8912110686114776493.857142967-26.85714286
           
Calories21452237203818502282186115761998.4285720034.571428571
7/19/2021-7/25/2021

When you fall… when you take a hit… get back up. No matter how much it hurts. Get back up and don’t give up. You owe it to no one but yourself.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a fantastic week. If you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to chat feel free to comment. If you want to follow along on this adventure subscribe. My day to day shenanigans can be found @sharpcupcake.

As I always say, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Martial Arts and Training: Set Goals For Yourself, Foot Movement Goals

There are days when there is a lot going on. Work, school, kids, and everything get swirled together in a whirlwind, it is all normal demands of your life. That makes the day stressful, and some days like this I just don’t have the energy to go to the gym.

I still do go into the gym but I find that having a goal to focus on is so helpful. For instance this last Saturday I was exhausted… and instead of skipping the gym. I decided to focus on a new goal of foot work or foot movement.

I have a habit of getting out of the pocket by just backing up. That is bad for me cause I am short and most people are taller than I am, that means they can chase me down and it is a losing position for me. So I am working on cutting the corner better. Shuffling out, instead of backing or trying to walk and cross my legs. I am also working on not rolling back on my heels when backing up.

So foot work is my goal. I want to be able to cut the corners, flank my opponent and want to be more fleet of foot.

I have found when you just start out learning martial arts, or any skill, to focus on one goal at a time. Now that I am more advanced my trainer/instructor will tell me to watch my hands, fix my movement and fix my foot work. As you gain skill and understanding you can work on more than one goal at a time.

Once you are advanced enough, I suggest following the goals of your trainer, and also making goals of your own.

However, if you are just starting out, focus on what your trainer is telling you and try to work towards those fixes/goals.

When you are tired and have those goals or a goal it is easier to put those things that were nagging you during the day away. Focus on those goals and carry yourself through that workout. In no time you will be done. I know I feel better for having stuck to my schedule.

Schedule: Great week of training.

  1. Monday 7/12/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 7/13/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 7/14/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/15/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/16/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/17/2021: 1 hour of weight lifting, 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training
  7. Sunday 7/18/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Thai 17 count is the focus this week in Muay Thai. More emphasis on distance management this week.
  2. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope
2) mirror Teep drill I lead
3) mirror Teep drill opponent leads

4) scoop the Teep, rear kick, lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
5) held pads for H

6) incoming rear kick, return cut kick, rear kick, lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick
7) held pads for H

8 ) parry abs split the incoming cross, cross, hook, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) 4 count pop the leather
11) 4 count pop the leather
12) 4 count pop the leather

Kali: we focused on high box, with snake, bridge up, bridge down and plus sign block.


From there we did:
1) upper right quadrant, trap, stab with knife, and stab with sword or stick, low/high, high/low, abs high/high
2) lower right quadrant, trap, bite opponent hand with arm, slide stick up knife like a pool que.
3) snake to redirect opponents knife thrust with your punyo, trap both of opponents arms with your punyo, and theirs, stab them.

Weight Liftingf

Focus on for this 5th week of 8 weeks with a focus on HIIT workouts, and volume.

Weight lifting: Glutes and quads

Superset– complete one set of exercises before doing second set of two exercises

1) abductor machine or resistance band – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
2) floor frog pumps – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
3) dumbbell squats – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
4) body weight walking lunges-reps – 20, 20, 20, 20

5) dumbbell sumo squats – 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset
6) standing resistance bands leg extensions- reps each leg- 15, 15, 15
7) dumbbell heel elevated goblet squat – reps – 12, 12, 12

abs circuit– I did these back to back
8 ) half v up to leg extensions – reps – 15 each leg
9) isolated mountain climbers – reps – 15 each leg
10) lying leg raise ( focus on lowering your legs) – reps- 15
Repeat above 3 times for

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. I had a couple of days that seemed high in carbs to me but it looks like over all I was under on protein and carbs. Over on fats. I was terribly under on protein… by about half. So I am going to have to stay on top of that.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein82104107897313510499.142857119090.85714286
Carbs80223224161154220232184.857143160-24.85714286
Fat66132109967713789100.85714367-33.85714286
           
Calories12422496230518641601265321452043.714292003-40.71428571
07/12/2021-07/18/2021

I find goals help me get through the days that feel like a slog.

How do you get through those days that you just don’t want to go. Or those days when things are just not going right?

Thank you for reading. If you liked it please let me know with a like. If you want to follow my adventures please subscribe. Comment if you are feeling chatty, and my every day shenanigans can be found at my instagram @sharpcupcake.

As always, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!