Category: Weight Lifting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kali –

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pop the leather three for three punches.

Lead and rear leg 4 counts.

Whew I am tired!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for a great class Tony it was fun

Kettle Bell Conditioning:

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

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

Muay Thai Training:

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

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

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

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

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

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

And finally turning leg in to stack hips drill.

❤️❤️❤️ I love Muay Thai!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading.

Martial Arts 01/07/2020: Sandal Rubs the Forehead, Tang Kao, and Siep Kao

I really love Muay Thai. I love learning the rich tapestry of history that is behind this art. I love learning about Thailand, the people, and why this art came about. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I practice. I feel like I am making my body and mind stronger. I feel like I am learning an art and that I can eventually pass it down myself. This week I learned many new terms, words that are the names for some of the strikes we do, and they mean. Like Tang Kao, and Siep Kao, names for some of the knees. I learned names of some of the teeps. Like Sandal Rubbing the Forehead. I love how descriptive the name is in Thai.

Also as a person who has learned multiple languages in my life, Thai is one of the hardest I have ever tried to learn and pronounce. English, Japanese, Spanish, and some German, are the languages I have learned. In various levels of fluency. English and Spanish being the ones I am most fluent in. Japanese I learned from my grandma and mother when I lived and visited Japan. Finally German when I have time to study, so I have a basic kindergarten level knowledge. =) I digress though. Thai is so nuanced and the letter y seems to have a sound like ny. I could be wrong on this, but that is my understanding. I may want to pick up a class on Thai and pronunciation.

Tuesday 01/07/2020 – 3 hours… Muay Thai and JKD

3 hours of Muay Thai and JKD training tonight.

I love it when my instructors say that they can see that changes, the progress in my training.

This time last year I was feeling like I was in a rut. I felt like I had hit a plateau. However this year, I am feeling like I am making progress on the training side of things. My cardio is head and shoulders above that of last year, my endurance is improving even more, my technique is improving to the point my speed. Yessss!

Conditioning warm up:

  1. 4 count rear to lead on bag, then sprawl
  2. bob and weave drill down under a rope hanging across the mat
  3. ladder where we switched our lead foot in and out of the ladder

Training:

  1. Check the kick lead leg, return kick lead leg, teep lead leg
  2. Check the kick rear leg, return kick rear leg, teep rear leg
  3. lead knee (siep kao, pushing knee), to lead kick
  4. rear knee (siep kao, pushing knee), to rear kick

JKD:

  1. sitting hubud (sitting removes the ability to move around with your feet. You have to feel the partners movements and focus on working the technique.)
  2. sitting 1 to 1 flow drill
  3. sitting 5 to 5 flow drill
  4. sitting 2 to 2 flow drill
  5. Then we flowed between them
  6. Then we worked on standing up while doing one of these drills and sitting back down, without stopping the drill.

We were drilling without shin guards. We were going light but still shin bone on shin bone will cause bone bruises. This is normal. You have to push out the fluid in the bruise. I treated it with Thai Oil, and rolling it out with the tiger tail. It hurt, but cumulatively it will start to hurt less the more it happens. So this is toughening up your bone and shins.

I only document this and show it to show what really happens in this martial art. These kinds of bruises happen, you need to know how to treat them. I am going to put a hot compress on it as well as roll it out again.

Wednesday 01/08/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai

2 hours of training Kettle Bell and Muay Thai. I let my baby girl take pictures and that is what I got. However, I am a little shook. Is this what I look like? It’s blurry but heck.

4 rounds of:

  1. KB swings 10
  2. 1 arm KB swings 20
  3. Side to side KB swings 10

Anyway I digress… today was Kettle Bells, then all knees all the time. My coach Tony who is Thai and is teaching me all the Thai words for the move we are doing. Siep Kao, yat (pronounced yhut), thee (pronounced tee) and Tang Kao We learned different kinds of tees today.

  1. 5 minute round of doing Siep Kao knees on the bag
  2. 5 minute round of doing Tang Kao knees on the bag
  3. 5 minute round of Siep Kao with partners
  4. 5 minute round of Tang Kao with partners
  5. 5 minute round of Swimming/clench work while getting knees in

Then we finished with core workout! Woot!

Terms for knees in Thai:

Siep Kao (pronounced see ep cow) – is pushing knee, where you knee the person with upper shin bone/knee

Tang Kao – is the spearing knee, where you knee the person with the top of you knee.

Yat (yhut) (pronounced nyet or yhut) – when you push with the knee

Thee (pronounced tdee, you will hear Americans say Dye) – word said when you knee a person

45 seconds each exercise, with 15 rest, 4 rounds

  1. dead bugs
  2. crunches
  3. leg raises
  4. bicycle
  5. mountain climbers
  6. clenching core with feet off ground and hands on head
  7. pike ups

Friday 01/10/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai and JKD

2 hours of Muay Thai practice. My coach Tony kicked our butts again. We learned the names for three different teeps. I thought I took a pic. You the kind of thought you took pic, remembering you put camera up and clicked, but for some reason it is not in your pics. I will get the terms tomorrow at training. But it was the rear teep, a rear hop teep, and lead head teep (that is called Sandal rubbing the forehead) will get terms in Thai tomorrow. Thank you so much for the awesome class. 🙏

Something I was thinking about. When I learn a term like ( Sandal rubbing the forehead) it’s easier to remember for me and I get to learn and extrapolate the culture from it.

Warm up:

  1. jump rope till all students got there

2 rounds of:

  1. bent over KB row
  2. push ups, inside and outside
  3. mountain climbers
  4. bicycles
  5. leg lift
  6. alternating lunge jumps
  7. sit sweeps
  8. plank ups
  9. prison squats

Training:

  1. 2 rounds of pad rounds – feeder kicks and you hold for immediate response
  2. Rear leg teep
  3. rear leg hop teep
  4. lead leg head teep
  5. Tiger walk or begging of Wai Kru in Muay Baron style ( meaning 50/50 stance, fist over fist movements, goal is to make it pretty, and to work on balance)
  6. Abbs – 50 crunches, and Tony hit bellies of trainees with pad 10 times in a row.

Terms for teeps in Thai:

Mon Yun Luk (pronounced mon {like Monday}, nyun, lock) – rear leg teep

Ka Don Teep (pronounced ka {like caw caw}, don {like Donatello}, teep) – jump teep, or feign leg shield teep

Bata Loop Pak (pronounced bata {like baton}, loop {like lopping}, pak (like pac in Tu Pac) – means sandal rubs the forehead, or head teep, executed where you blade the body to your opponent and using lead leg teep the head.

Saturday 01/11/2020 – 3 hours… Muay Thai and JKD

3 hours of Muay Thai and JKD training. I did less conditioning and more pad holding which is a skill in itself.

JKD we worked on bridging the gap, feigning, nao tek kicks, ping choi, pak sau, and punches.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for great training and a fantastic class.

Saturday was a busy day after training, so I am posting this today. I did less conditioning yesterday, but I did a lot of pad holding. I feel soreness in my ribs today. My hamstrings are tired from the training this week. I clocked 10 hours of training total this week.

Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think. If I got the terms incorrect, let me know and I will fix them. I am still learning. As always keep working to be the best you that you can be.

Martial Arts 12/10/2019: If you want to hit the face hit the belly!

I am so lucky to have such great teachers/trainers. They often talk about counter attacks, movement, and also how best to get your strikes in. One of the things we hear often and it is very true. If you want to hit the face hit the belly, and vice versa. Changing levels allows you to control the fight. Often times when you hit low people will instinctively cover that area, then the face is open. If you hit the face or even go for the face they will keep their hands up and leave their torso open.

Tuesday 12/10/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai and Kali

Today begins my martial arts training for the week. It was a great day of class.

Lots of elbows in class, and conditioning training for Muay Thai.

  1. lead #1/horizontal elbow, rear #3/downward diagonal elbow, rear #7/inside out elbow
  2. Lead #1/horizontal elbow, rear #2/upward diagonal elbow, rear #7/inside out elbow
  3. Lead #1/horizontal elbow, rear #2/upward diagonal elbow, to lead #9/spinning back elbow

In Kali we worked on several different combos. They were all flowing very well, then of course changing just one thing made my brain melt again like Kali does. We did all 48 combos, and then asymmetrically trained with one person doing two sticks, and one drilling partner doing dos manos hold (two hand hold like a Japanese sword).

I felt so tethered keeping both hands on the blade. It feels like I don’t have as much reach, and you have to move your body in a completely different way to meet your partners blows, and avoid getting hit. You have to execute a lot of abaniko moves when holding a sword to keep from getting hit.

Abaniko – means fan

It was a fun class, but it really did melt my brain. Just when I think I am getting everything. I am learning the moves and flowing well. We change one thing, and my brain melts. That is one of the things I love about Kali.

Thursday 12/12/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai and Kali

Thai
Elbows, clenches and knees oh my!

We worked on elbows to clench, and knee transitions today.

  1. Lead #1/horizontal elbow, rear #6/side in elbow, rear #7/side out elbow, rear roll to clench, full plumb, and run 3 knees, spin out opponent, and kick
  2. Lead #1/horizontal elbow, lead #7/side out elbow, rear #8/tach malak or lady putting flower in her hair elbow, clench to full plumb, spin out opponent, and double kick

Kali
48 strike drill
Dos Manos Brain melting asymmetrical sparring.

Friday 12/13/2019 – 1 hours… Muay Thai and Kali

Today Tony kicked my booty. But that was a great thing. I want to get stronger and stronger.

  1. Jumping Rope for 3 minutes
  2. conditioning: 3 x 3 minutes of foot shuffle, and hopping hurdles
  3. mountain climber with a punch on bag and skip knee number 2 x 1 minute 3 minutes alternating between
  4. lead teep, shuffle into lead body hook, rear upper cut, lead head hook, immediately double kick wi
  5. thout taking a step.
  6. rear torso kick, to rear hop double kick
  7. Then I did 200 kicks to the bag, and 200 teeps to the bag.

I am exhausted. But the good kind of exhausted… you know? I am about to go pass out in my bed. I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for reading.

Weight Lifting Workout 12/11/2019

So changing up the workout my coach gave me. I added two things, and took out one thing.

It is one of those days I know I need to get cardio in, but I also know my body does not want to. So I just did a mile run so I could get warmed up and get some cardio in.

Workout:
Perform each set with only 30 seconds rest between sets, then 1 minute rest between each different exercise.

  1. 1 mile run
  2. 40 lat pull downs. ( 50 lbs for me)
  3. Bench press with as heavy as you can go for 8 to 9 reps, x 5 sets (85 lbs for me)
  4. Back squats with as heavy as you can go for 8 to 9 reps, x 5 sets ( 135 lbs for me)
  5. Kettlebell swings 40 reps ( 25 lbs for me)

I really feel doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

So if you can get out there and get a workout in, do it, next time try to do more reps or go heavier.

Martial Arts 12/03/2019: Back At Training After Holiday Shenanigans

Yup back in the saddle again. We had a holiday here. It is called Thanksgiving over here in the U.S. of A.

What this meant is decreased classes due to gym being closed, and trainers wanting to spend time with family. Sheesh… *I am kidding, I kid*.

Also my daughter brought home some lovely germs. We all seemed to have caught during the holiday week a small version of the flu.

So due to all of that above, I attended a total of 1 count it one day of martial arts training this last week. I did do a weight lifting workout on Sunday, but its not the same.

Well we are back after the holiday shenanigans and starting a new week of martial arts training. To be perfectly honest, I really needed the break. Not only did I feel like death for a few days, due to the cold/flu. My body needed a break.

Tuesday 12/03/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai and Kali

Tony kicked our butts again today. He had us doing 5 minutes of ladder drills, and 5 minutes of jumping rope. Then 3 minutes of shadow boxing jab and cross.

Today we worked on jab, foot movement, and keeping our hands up for blocking,

We worked on jab, cross, again focusing on extension and foot movement.

Then we worked on a lead side teep to, lead kick, followed by rear kick.

It was a great day of class. I also got to help two new people in class. I hope they come back.

Kali- Lock Flow Drill 1-12

Ok so I have been taking Kali for 2 years. I have known about this drill for just about that long. It has taken me all this time for it to finally sink in. I understand the drill. I know it is not how you were disarm, and or use all of this in a fight, however, I understand the drill.

When I first started out, trying to remember all 12 moves was daunting. I could only get 1 or 2 down. Over the years it seems to have been building up. I got it today. I got it and I remember all 12. Now do I do it perfectly. NOPE! But can I repeat the drill at home… YESSSS! I am so excited. When I finally realize I can do something, I have been working on. It seems to sneak up on me. I don’t go into class going… yup been here done that… I know it. No I go into class, and when we start moving, and drilling I seem to understand the flow.

Here is a video of me doing just that. I start and stop, and I chopped up this video so that you did not have to see such a repetitive process.

I got a really nice compliment from my teacher today. He said my control was great. I was controlling the assailants knife, and his actions and using his force/momentum to turn it back around onto him.

Tuesday 12/04/2019 – 3 hours… Running, Weight lifting, BJJ and Muay Thai

Today was a great day. I was able to get a run in, I did the weight lifting workout that my trainer sent me and that I did before on Sunday.

BJJ:
I got a chance to go to my BJJ class. That is the class that suffers the most to my time crunch, and juggling our life. But today was great we worked on:

  1. Taking the back
  2. What to do if you lose control or your choke, you move to mount
  3. Choking/choke hold from the back, under hooks, and seat belt grip
  4. Arm bar from behind
  5. Taking the back, control with choke, flipping opponent, and forcing their face into the mat/ground, while choking them.

It was a lot of fun. But so hard to do well. BJJ is an art that takes time and patience to do.

Muay Thai:

Today was great… I got to do a bunch of cool things. One of which was the alligator crawls. Whew that was a whole body burner. I am going to do more of those.

This is what an alligator crawl is:

Tony my trainer had us doing:

  1. we did a full body conditioning warm up
  2. jab, cross, leg kicks
  3. jab, cross, body hook, face hook, leg kick, face hook, cross
  4. shield kick then kick round house
  5. shield kick then double round house
  6. we worked on hooks on the bag
  7. we worked on lead shield then double lead kick, then rear kick
  8. Then we did abs

I made a video of me doing some of the bag work.

Tuesday 12/05/2019 – 1 hours… Muay Thai

Today was a great day in Muay Thai training. I learned and grew some.

It started out frustrating so I took a negative and made it a positive.

I really dislike when some of the new guys, I say guys cause I have never run into a girl doing this. I am sure it can happen but from my experience it’s young new guys. They have something to prove. So they hit way to hard in drills, and sometimes don’t take feedback/pointers from me. This one did not know how to hold Thai pads to boot. I was frustrated and annoyed. But I took a second to steel myself and turned it around, I got to know him a bit and tried to make it a teaching platform. I kept reminding him on how to hold the pads and let him know if he did not hold well he could get hurt and I could get hurt. He says he is having a good time and likes Muay Thai class.

It will take a while for him to get our gyms culture. He has been with us for a few months already. He says he came from a Krav back round.

I am going to continue to try to come at working with this individual this way. Here’s hoping he gets it.

Friday 12/06/2019 – 1 hour… Muay Thai

We did conditioning training again today. We worked the ladder, and hurdles. Tony my trainer wants us to focus on fast feet. I know I need to work on my footwork and getting it faster. The faster my footwork the faster I will get in and out of the pocket. The faster I will be able to dodge incoming strikes. Etc.

It was super fun. I had a great time, and I am pooped.

This week was a great week of training, and I am so glad to be back after a holiday break. I do really miss training when I don’t get a chance to do it. Or when I am restricted from doing it cause work gets in the way.

I got 7 hours in, and other extra curricular training. =)

Have a great night. Thank you for reading, and let me know if you have any questions.

Weight Lifting Workout from my trainer Tony 1

Today I did a weight lifting workout that my trainer for Muay Thai gave me and my team mates.

I was very taxing and he said it was going to make me sore for a few days and laughed. I accepted the challenge and did it. I also filmed it so that I could keep record of my progress.

Using weights that make it hard for you to complete 8 to 9 reps. You want to do 40 reps total for each weight.

Weight Lifting Workout:
60 second rest between each different exercise

  1. Barbell back squats 8 to 9 reps for a total of 40, 30 seconds rest between each 8 to 9
  2. Barbell bench press 8 to 9 reps for a total of 40, 30 seconds rest between.
  3. Barbell row 8 to 9 reps for a total of 40, 30 second rest between
  4. Kettle Bell swing 8 to 9 reps for a total of 40, 30 second rest between

It was hard to get a picture of me today, I felt like I looked terrible in all of them.

If I can work on my fitness, any of you can do it too. I am not the normal fitness model. I am as far from it as one could get. I just try to do my best. That is why if I can do it I truly believe you all can do it too.

Keep working on make yourself the best you that you can be. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great day.

Martial Arts 11/19/2019: Any Gym Time is Good Time

This particular picture popped up in my FB feed today. I felt it was appropriate. This is a core belief of mine. Even on the days I don’t feel like getting in there. I do it because it is good for me.

This week we have a shorter training time. Our gym is running a seminar weekend and so we don’t have class on Friday and Saturday.

The extra rest may be a blessing. We will see. I may just train on my own just to keep working on things.

Tuesday 11/19/2019 – 2.5 hours… Muay Thai and Kali

It was so much fun tonight. I got to work with a brand new student who is 6 feet tall and named Steve. In Muay Thai we worked on distance management. And in Kali we worked on sword and shield, high box, full box, and Saint Chameel. Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for the great class.

After class snack/meal. Yup I am weird but it tastes so good. I egg and 3 egg whites, radishes, and a baby cucumber!

Tuesday 11/19/2019 – 1 hour and 45 minutes… Kettle Bell and Muay Thai

I did it again. I made a kettle bell workout for myself, friend, and husband again. You can read about it here.

Kettle bell workout

Conditioning: 45 seconds to do the exercise 15 seconds rest between them

Coach Tony gave us a fantastic conditioning class. Thank you! Lots of explosive movements and functional movements. Whew I am exhausted. Did I say that yet? I will probably say it a few more times.

  1. bear crawls x 45 seconds
  2. half burpees
  3. side to side bear crawl
  4. step ups
  5. crab walk
  6. ninja jumps
  7. sit through
  8. side to side burpees

After my workout, and then three rounds of this.

We worked on double kick to knees and then elbows.

Tony then had us working on our core muscles. Whew… At this point in the night while I am writing this. I am exhausted. I may not remember all the exercises he had us do but you get the picture. My husband does not remember and is about to pass out. So that is of no help to me. =) I guess I am on my own, and with my own recollection.

  1. crunch up to touch ankles
  2. pike crunches
  3. bicycles
  4. ???
  5. knee to elbow in plank position
  6. plank elbow to hand raises
  7. ???
  8. 30 second planks with a weight on our back. I ended up doing 4 30 second planks, while everyone else did 2. Cause coach told me to, so I did.

But you get the gist of what happened to us. I am exhausted. I am in need of a shower, and I have to get up really early… I commonly say “at the ass crack of dawn”, but I digress. 4 am is coming soon, so that is it for this day.

We intended on going to the gym and training on Thursday, but life got in the way. Husband had a work emergency and had to take the car to deal with it. So this week I only did 4 hours 15 minutes of training. That is a huge deviation from our usual 8 to 10 hour training weeks. But When I first started my fitness journey I would have been so happy with that amount. It is amazing to think about how things have changed.

I can say my body has needed the break. And while I would have liked to train more. It is nice to have a break. As I said any time in the gym is good time. Try to stay positive and do what you can. Life will rear it ugly head sometimes, so just roll with it.

Thanks for reading. Have a great day. Keep working to be the best you that you can be. Like, comment, and share if you feel inspired to.

Kettle Bell Workout #2 11/20/2019

My friend and husband wanted to do a workout again before our Muay Thai class. This kettle bell workout took about 45 minutes to complete. We did it in a superset format. Doing a super set is great for your body and muscles. Supersets increases the intensity and overloads your muscle so that makes it work harder. Supersets have been found to give you better results for muscle growth because it helps you get into hypertrophy.

Hypertrophy: Is an increase in muscle mass and volume. You reach hypertrophy when you damage your muscles mechanically and get your muscles to metabolic fatigue.

Kettle Bell workout
( Superset each set of exercises done back to back, no rest till both exercises are done. We rested 30 seconds between on set of exercises. Then repeat exercise set 3 times.)

Note: use weights that work for you. I did all of these with 25 and 20 lbs. But use the weights that you can safely wield.

  1. KB swings x 30 for 3 reps
  2. KB Goblet squats x 20 for 3 reps

  3. KB Halos x 10 for 3 reps
  4. KB Bulgarian Split Squat x 10 for 3 reps

  5. KB single leg Romanian dead lift  x 10 for 3 reps
  6. Sit up and press x 30 for 3 reps

  7. KB bent over rows x 10/15 for 3 reps
  8. Leg raise circles x 10 rotating left, 10 rotating right for 3 reps

I had shown my KB workout to my trainer, Tony. He said oohh good that will be a good warm up to my workout. Then he procceded to kick our butts. But that will be put in my later weekly blog about my martial arts training.

I hope you get a chance to try this out. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you get to try it out. Have a great night. Thank you for reading.

Martial Arts 11/12/2019: Strong Arms gives Strong Clench, Strong Claves Helps You Move More

When your friends ask you to put together a workout. That is what you do.

Since we are training conditioning to get ready for our level 1 test. I was asked to help make some weight lifting classes we could do this week I did a kettle bell session.

At the same time one of my trainers has upped our conditioning. At one point in the week I… lets say it hurt to do my daily activities. I hope to get stronger, get toned, lose more weight, and just get better over all in my martial arts.

I have the discipline to get into the gym and work myself up to 100%, however, I noticed I need the coaches to push me up and over my 100%. To get me to get past my top level to 110%. To pull one more set out, one more rep out. It is great to know your limitations and what you need to success.

Tuesday 11/12/2019 – 1.5 hours… Muay Thai

Guess who has two thumbs and 2 months about to get ready for her next test. Yep that is me.

Tony said, “strong arms gives strong clench, strong claves helps you move more.” What he means is this conditioning we do when we make our muscles stronger we can hold on better, and the better we work our calf muscles the better we will be at being light on our feet. Being light on our feet is necessary to be able to move around and get out and away from a strike.

Below is the training we did today.

  1. 2 x 3 minute knees 188, 221
  2. Plank for 30 seconds between each round
  3. 2 x 3 minute jump rope
  4. Squat and hold for 30 seconds between each round
  5. 2 x 3  minute rounds of 10 kicks on each side continuously
  6. Jumping Jacks between each round 30 seconds
  7. 2 x 3 minute rounds of Knees
  8. 2 x 3 minute rounds of 4 knees then 4 kicks
  9. Stretching.

Wednesday 11/13/2019 – 1.5 hours… Muay Thai, and Kettlebells

Whew what a workout today. I am going to be feeling it tomorrow. I put up the kettlebell workout I had myself and the guys do today before class.

Kettlebell Workout

My friend, husband, and I want to get more weight lifting in, and I am the one they turned to. So I made the above workout for us. Then Tony my instructor kicked out butts with this conditioning workout below. I am a dead girl as I type this. Here is hoping my recovery drink will help me shake off most of the D.O.M.S. tomorrow.

10 exercies for 45 seconds with 10 seconds rest between them

  1. Star burpees
  2. pushup and arm raises
  3. rotating squats
  4. lunge back and kick
  5. single leg hip raises
  6. squat on ball of feet
  7. star push ups
  8. sit up grab knees
  9. Ali – foot shuffle
  10. Bear crawls

Pushing knees across the mat 4 minutes

3 minute kick bag 5 times, switch with partner, then kick other leg 5 times and switch with partner.

Then he had us do abductors/core workout: Whew!

  1. crunches
  2. flutter kicks
  3. crunches
  4. single leg pike
  5. horizontal sissor kick
  6. single leg pike
  7. flutter kicks

Thursday 11/14/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai

Today was one of those days where I am exhausted. I am hurting because of delayed onset muscle soreness, and I am just done with the day. We did technique training today

In Muay Thai we worked on elbows, entries to elbows, countering elbows and combos with elbows.

We worked on a kick called the bicycle kick. It was very Capoeira-esc. I kicked the pad two times, but all the other times I looked silly.

Kali –

In Kali we worked on sword and shield. It was cool cause we got to do the shield and responses. This is different than the high box, and full box we have been doing. We did that as well, but it was nice to do a shield a hit and respond.

I am exhausted, I am kinda cranky, and my muscles hurt. Today was a great active rest day for me. I was running out of juice quickly toward the end of Kali, and just did not want to be there any more. But I made it in, and I put the mat time in.

When I am having this kind of day I know it is normal to have once in a while. I just don’t like it. Its important to just rep the skills out even if you are not having the best time.

Friday 11/15/2019 – 1+? hours… Muay Thai

Today was a better day. I thought about not going cause I was hurting a great deal from D.O.M.S. But I kicked my own butt in gear and went in.

1 hour or more of workout! It may be more cause our trainer Tony kicked our buts again. He kicked our butts so hard that we lost rack of time. It was a fantastic class. I went in hurting you know the good kind. Like it hurts to sneeze, it hurts to walk up your three story town home stairs, and it hurts to lower your butt to the toilet cause your muscles are dead. I don’t hurt now cause I stretched and my body is warm but it will hurt tomorrow.

Thank you so much Tony that was awesome class of conditioning, fast feet and core workout!

Conditioning

  1. 100 kettle bell swings
  2. 100 push ups
  3. 50 mountain climbers
  4. 100 rear lunges
  5. body weight squats
  6. 50 clean and press kettle bell
  7. Burpees – 20 seconds as many as you can. 10 seconds rest, 8 sets of 20 seconds.

    Agility/Fast feet
  8. Agility ladder x 5 rounds, at end of ladder either kick, knee, or kick and knee as instructor decided.
  9. run around the gym then back to the agility ladder

    Core Stations
  10. Ball pike
  11. stir the pot
  12. medicine ball sit up and press up
  13. Russian twists
  14. ab roll wheel
  15. stir the pot
  16. bosu ball plank kicks
  17. ball pike

Even though I was tired and my muscles hurt. I am glad I went in. I worked hard and over came my pain for now. Now I am exhausted and need sleep.

Saturday 11/16/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai

2 hours of training. Kali and Muay Thai training was awesome. Thank you Khun Kru Krysta it was awesome.

We worked on the running Saints, Saint Chameel and the Saint Villabrille in Kali. Then we worked on countering the jabs in and controlling the opponents arm/body in Muay Thai.

It was a great day. I got to work with my team mates and friends. I got to work on my skill, and technique.

Our training has just metamorphosed this way, or maybe it is a product of our increased level and training needs (getting ready for our level 1 test). However, our Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday classes tend to be technique and our Wednesday, Friday classes are our conditioning days. It is probably both.

My husband and I were talking about how our classes, just our technique classes would kick our butts. However, it is not the case any more. We have to do conditioning-centric classes to get our conditioning in.

It has been a great week of training. I may not have wanted to go every day, but I went in and got my training time in. I was insanely sore after Wednesday, then kept going. Training conditioning on Friday seemed to help with the soreness. I am sore now, tight and just need to rest.

Thanks for reading. I hope you are having a great weekend. Feel free to ask questions.