1.5 hours of Muay Thai training. With our instructor Tony. He learned Muay Thai from his father, who learned it from his father, for generations back. Tony is first generation Thai. He is awesome! For reference I am second generation Japanese.
His workout is no joke. He had us doing warm ups with agility ladder drills to improve/quicken our foot work. Followed by 5 kicks. Then more ladder drills followed by 10 kicks.
He had us working on Jab and Cross. However, he wanted us to stay put this time. We often work on footwork, and movement. Movement where we have to cut the corner, get out of the pocket, fade back, or disengage. He wanted us to stay put in the pocket because in traditional Thai Boxing you stay in the pocket. He had us doing that for both the jab and cross, the switch kick, and the knee. Tony is a very traditional Thai practitioner. Because his family is very much more traditional.
Every time I get a chance to work with him. I learn new things. He pushes us, and helps us learn new technique. When we are done, we feel it in our everywhere.
Enough gabbing here is what we did:
Agility ladder drill
5 rapid kicks left
Agility ladder drill
5 rapid kicks right
Agility ladder drill
5 rapid kicks left
Agility Ladder drill
5 rapid kicks right
Agility ladder drill
10 rapid kicks left
Agility ladder drill
10 rapid kicks right
Agility ladder drill
10 rapid kicks left then right across the mat
Agility ladder drill
10 rapid kicks left then right across the mat
Feeder feeds any jab or cross, or jab cross, cross jab combo x 2 – 3 minute rounds
Burn out 30 seconds jab cross flurry
Feeder feeds choice of cross, to lead switch kick x 2 – 3 minute rounds
Burn out 30 seconds double kick lead leg
Feeder feeds upward knee using the switch motion to keep yourself in the pocket. x 2 – 3 minute rounds
Burn out 30 seconds double kick lead leg
Partner kicks on the bag for 30 seconds – (This is where you and your partner are on opposite sides of the bag. They kick once you follow immediately with a kick. Lather rinse repeat)
30 seconds rest
Partner kicks on the bag for 30 seconds (switch places so if you were doing right kicks you are now doing left kicks)
30 seconds rest
30 seconds knee #2 (try to get 50 knees in 30 seconds)
30 seconds rest
30 seconds knee #2 (try to get 50 knees in 30 seconds)
30 seconds rest
30 seconds knee #2 (try to get 50 knees in 30 seconds)
30 seconds rest
30 seconds knee #2 (try to get 50 knees in 30 seconds)
30 seconds rest
Switch kicks– are kicks where instead of cut stepping you are changing stance in place, staying in the pocket, and whipping your leg up into the torso quickly.
So Tony’s style is different from my Kru I train with 4 days a week. Different than Ajarn Chai’s style, and that is good. Ajarn Chai reminds us all the time that each gym is different, each family has their own way of doing things. I find value in learning from many different instructors. There is always something you can learn and make better. Also you might find a way to do something that works better for you.
I am now dead tired. This is my 4th day doing Muay Thai this week. I have one more tomorrow, before I get a rest.
I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for reading, and keep working to be the best you that you can be. My respects to you all.
Day 2 is here, and day 1 is over. I wake up slightly sore from day one, and ready and raring to go. Now the fear of the unknown is over. Its the fear of not being able to complete the whole camp. Failing to finish. Day one was slow compared to day two, three and four.
I was warned by several people who have experienced Thai camp that day 2 was the worst day. In my experience day 2 was very hard. My body was just tired. It wanted me to sit down and relax with a glass of unsweetened iced tea in the shade of a tree with a good book. But that is not what I did for day two.
Training Day 2: (notes: curtesy Khun Kru Krysta, and Kru Caro)
~7 am :
We start shadow boxing, then Ajarn Greg Nelson leads everyone in stretching.
We then do 1.5 mile run. Even though I had that really bad charley horse due to desalination, and my calf was really sore. I decided to do the 1.5 mile run anyway. My calf felt like it had a small muscle tear or really bad D.O.M.S. set in.
We get back and Ajarn Chai starts us off with the combos that we will be working on for the day. We start with a combo and work on the variations each day. This day he wanted us to focus on addressing the incoming strikes and entering with knees. As always he wanted us to think about counter attacks.
Combos for today:
Lean to avoid head kick, step back with back leg lean back with shoulders straight, right hand covering right hand side of face with glove.
Left hand down by hips
body cross
overhand left
right knee
right kick
teep
Opponent grabs your neck and shoulders with one hand and knees you
You defend knee by stepping and turning to spike knee with elbow
You return an uppercut
You return an elbow 4 and
Then you plumb up, in full clench with duck feet
Opponent throws a kick
You shield kick and teep
Opponent they punch
You parry cover
You knee
You throw and elbow 8
Opponent throws a left body kick
You lateral back away from kick so that they miss
You return an overhand
You return 3 elbow
You return number 4
You clench
(speed is the focus)
You catch incoming jab
Return jab
Return Cross
Return Jab
(Speed is the focus)
You block the cross,
You return a cross
You return a jab
You return a cross
~ 9 am
Same as day one we broke for breakfast and a rest.
Today I was focused on getting enough energy into me and making sure I had the minerals and salts I needed to get me through the day.
My focus was so much more on packing in the nutrients and water to keep my body moving. It was a change in my view of the food.
~11:30 pm
We all came back. We stretched and shadowboxed. Ajarn Chai then had us working with each other in partner drills. He really wanted us to get the combos down.
We did one lap of 5 stations, each station being 4 rounds, then 30 second burn out for knees, and 30 seconds rest before lunch. However, the focus again was slow it down, learn the technique first.
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast“
Quote everyone, I have heard it from so many people
Learn the technique, and the speed will follow. I have heard this so many times as well. So I tried to take this to heart.
~ 2:30 pm
We break for lunch. Again the emphasis is on eating resting and getting ready for the circuits we will have to do. we ended eating and going back to the house. I took advantage of our return. My feet hurt, and we were in an air conditioned house.
The food was fantastic at camp. My thanks go to the kitchen staff again, and especially Ajarn Chia’s sister for cooking for the lot of us. I decided to put my feet up and take a nap. Boy did I need it, and boy did I miss it the next few days.
nap time!
~4 pm
We return. We all get ready, stretch, reapply sun block, and then shadowbox.
Then begin the circuits again… whew this was rough. It was two laps of 5 stations. We had, bag work station, shadowboxing station, flow/timing station, Thai pad station, and clenching station.
I put my head down, and just focused on getting to the next station. Doing the best I could while I was about ready to drop to focus on form. That is hard when your body just does not want to move any more
After those circuits of the stations. We lined up, and were spread out on a hill facing down hill. This is where we were supposed to do 100 x 8 count body builders, all in sets of 10. This killed me. I was unable to keep my balance facing down hill and so I opted to do squats instead of hurting myself and my back. Ajarn Chai always says if you cannot do something just listen to your body. He is very kind. I was a little bummed that I did not finish those, but here is hoping next year I will. On the flat ground I got 40 in the day before.
Day 2 was amazing an I was so happy I completed it. I did not know if I would be able to. But when we were done, I felt such a feeling of accomplishment. Going from trepidation, and excitement on the plane, to excitement and annoyance from my calf the previous day, to this day. I made it I did it. I did not have to quit, and I stuck it out.
I had upped my intensity while drilling, but its not the intensity of the rounds, is the sheer amount of them that is most difficult. Ajarn Chai, wants strength, flow, timing, focus, and form, but don’t kill yourself going so hard that these things suffer. No matter how hard or slowly you take the rounds the amount you do, and how long the day is will sap your muscles. We ended up completing 60 rounds on Day 2. *boggles the mind* That in itself is amazing.
Thanks for reading Day 2 of the 4 day Thai camp write up I am doing. I have two more to unpack and will get to them as I can. I hope you liked it, and if you have questions let me know. My respect to you and your family.
2 hours of training today. Gonna make this short and sweet. Today I have been up since 4:30 am. I did not sleep well, and had to work two of my jobs today.
Muay Thai
We worked on entries with knees again. This time we used a scoop of the jab or cross and returning an knee. This gets you in to return your 4 count strikes.
I got to work with one of our fighters that actually goes and fights in sanctioned fights. He is really awesome and helped me work the drills. He is tall and I surprised him that I can kick as high as his torso. We discussed the fact that these entries are only for when a person is committed to the punches. If they are just throwing noise then you can’t scoop the jab or cross and get in there. I am having a hard time in sparring knowing when they are committed. I have been assured by him and Kru Kristen that, that is just time and practice. You have to know/feel when they break the imaginary barrier to bring the distance in and hit you.
After that, the more senior of the students broke out and practiced clench sparring. That is a tiring set of 6 rounds. However, it is a lot of fun. I feel like my clench sparring game/abilities/skills have gone up since I was at Thai camp. We did a lot of it, and I got to work with a lot of people. I was able to get my timing right and get my opponents in class off balance.
To finish we did:
100 knees on the bag
30 sit ups
and x planks
Kali
We worked on knifes. Gunting or scissors move where you cut and pass the opponents arm when they attack you with #1 through #5 attacks.
We worked on disarms with:
a c clamp on the wrist
figure 4 arm control where you cut their throat with their own blade
control of opponents arm and sheath the blade into opponents on leg, or arm pit
three direction peel the blade away from opponents hand
We then got to spar with knives. We all wore mouth guards, eye protection, and gloves. One person had a knife, the other had just their hands. We tried to disarm the person with the blade and not get cut. The person with the blade was trying to cut but not get disarmed. This is another fun asymmetrical sparring practice.
We say in Kali/Silat/JKD in a knife fight you either drip or gush. You don’t want to be the one that gushes. What this means is going into a knife fight knowing you will be cut, but not knowing just how bad. Is more realistic. Knives cut fast and deep, and you will most likely get cut in a knife fight. If you get out of it with a few small cuts, and you did not die, you won!
That is all for today. Thank you for reading, I hope you have a fantastic day. My respect to you and your family.
1 hour of Muay Thai training today. It was short and sweet. It was full of intensity and focus. I really enjoyed having a shorter workout. I have grown accustom the longer 2, 3 and 5 hour training days.
The gym I go to OSMA (One Spirit Martial Arts) Just added two more Muay Thai classes and I could not be happier about it. I rearranged my work schedule so that I could attend them. Does that make me weird? Maybe obsessed? I like to think it just makes me dedicated, and working to hone my skills.
For this class we started with some band work to keep our feet in line with our hips, and contralateral movement.
Contralateral movement = means moving opposite sides of the body. So moving right arm up and left leg up. Then moving left arm up and right leg up at the same time.
Not only is it great for your muscles but great for your neo cortex. Your brain, works harder when you force it to move opposite sides of your body and opposite limbs at the same time. Its like teaching your brain to pat your head and rub your tummy.
Needless to say we did those contralateral movements with these:
Bear crawls across the mat
Bear crawls backward
Bear crawls sideways
We then worked on knees. Shadowboxing long leaning knees to 4 count.
For the drills we did a parry the jab or cross, with a post to the shoulder and knee entry. Then we followed with a 4 count.
For instance:
Feeder feeds a Jab
You parry Jab
Check the shoulder with your left hand
You return Left knee
You return a cross
You return a hook
You return a kick feeders choice, left or right round house
We finished with:
100 knees on the bag
50 knees across the floor shadowboxing
30 sit ups
50 Russian Twists with or without the medicine ball
Then stretching
This was a fantastic class. Thanks to Kru Kristen. I am so happy to have been able to take it.
Also was feeling ok about the body today. It feels like and looks like I have made some progress. Mostly just toning, but maybe just maybe I am starting to change again.
3/1/2018
8/7/2019
3/1/2018
8/7/2019
Anyway enough of my prattle. Have a great night. Thank you for reading. Keep working to be the best you can be. My respect to you and yours.
2.5 hours of training. I warmed up by hitting the Thai pads for 30 minutes before class. Muay Thai and Kali were fun classes tonight. Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for the great classes.
Muay Thai – Trigg Combo
When we were at Thai camp we got to work with the one the only Ajarn Leonard Trigg. The guy responsible for our Trigg 10 drill. We love him and his drills. He worked with us at Thai camp and he gave us this combo to work on. I had the pleasure of working with my instructor for this combo and when we did I had so much fun. It was hard, but it was great. I asked that we do this combo in class.
So what did we get to do today in Muay Thai? Yup you guessed it. That very same Trigg Combo. I don’t know if it has a name, but suffice to say, Ajarn Trigg is well known for his amazing boxing skills.
The combo is this:
feeder feeds a jab
you swipe right
you return a R shovel hook
you return an R overhand
you return an L hook
you return an R cross
This combo is great. Ajarn Trigg emphasized that he wanted us to work on flow and timing. The goal is for every one hit the opponent tries to make you return 4 shots. There pop, your pop, pop, pop, pop in rapid succession.
I worked with one of my favorite partners, my husband. I got a great workout, and he know just how much to push me, and tries to keep me honest about keeping my hands up. I find sometimes when I work with people that are newer that my class is not as physically demanding cause we are going slower, and we are getting in less reps. So sometimes it is nice to work with some one I know that can hold pads well, and I can go at a faster pace with. I get more rounds in and I can work on my speed, timing, and form at the same time.
Some more combos we worked on today:
Opponent throws Right head kick
You lean back by – taking a step back, cover face on right hand side, left arm goes down to side of body and you shoulders are level.
You throw a right cross
You throw a left body hook
You throw a right roundhouse
Opponent throws inside leg kick
You step back to avoid the kick
You throw a left roundhouse
You throw a cross
You throw a hook
You throw a right roundhouse
Kali – Asymmetrical Sparring
In Kali we worked on disarms again, and mostly entering on the inside deflect. However, we also worked on a weave. We did some puno disarms and the inside deflect snake and vine disarms again.
Weave Leg Take down:
Inside deflect
control opponents right hand with our left hand
return a #4 rib shot
Step on opponents foot
weave our stick between legs
pull opponents hand and push opponent over with our stick
I got a video of me doing this.
Then we got to do asymmetrical sparring. In this version of it, we had one person with boxing gloves on, and one person with a boxing glove and a soft stick. We would attack each other. The goal of the one with just boxing gloves was to crash in and disarm the other. The goal of the one with the stick was to just keep the opponent with just boxing gloves away and don’t get disarmed and or punched.
Asymmetrical sparring is fun, and I have enjoyed it every time. It makes you have to think about how to get in, when you don’t have all your tools available to you.
Thanks for reading. I hope you had a fantastic day. Keep working to be the best you that you can be. Respect to you.
For those of you who are here for the recipes this is for you. =) It has a story that goes with it as well so bare with me.
This is Lobster Guacamole, and if you have been reading my blog you know I am heavily into martial arts. I do Muay Thai, and Kali mainly, but also work in JKC (Jeet Kun Do), Silat, and Krav. Well when we do JKD we learn new terms for the passing and trapping skills. One of those phrases is Lop Sau Gwa Choi.
My instructor said gua choi sounds like guacamole, and I said lop sau sounds like lobster. So we have a joke now about lobster guacamole. When we are working on lop sau gwa choi. We say lobster guacamole.
We celebrated her birthday yesterday and I made lobster guacamole for her. She really liked it and it made her laugh. That was all I wanted for her.
Anyway enough of the preamble… here is the recipe:
Lobster Guacamole
Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 lime juiced
1/2 small diced red onion
1 tsp of granulated garlic
Salt to taste
1 x 1.33lb live lobster – (using pre cooked or frozen lobster is an option as well)
1 jalapeno diced + a few slices ( seeded to be milder, or leave seeds in for more heat)
Directions:
Humainly kill the lobster. Either place in freezer to make it go dormant and kill the brain, or place while lobster in boiling water.
I tend to do the freezer method. It puts them in a dormant state and they fall asleep.
Twist off the tail, twist off big claws and put entire lobster in boiling water. Boil lobster 7 minutes for first lb, and 3 minutes per additional lbs.
When done shock in ice water, or cold water, to stop cooking.
Remove lobster meat from tail, claws, and legs.
cut up all produce and put in bowl
squeeze lime onto produce
Smash all ingredients together to make guacamole.
Dice up lobster meat and mix in all but a tablespoon of the meat into the guacamole.
Garnish with a twist of lime, extra lobster meat and extra jalapeno.
There you have it… its delicious. It is actually relativity healthy. Serve with chips or crackers or just put on rice cakes.
1/2 cup of guacamole is about 150 calories.
Thank you for reading. I hope you are having a great day. Keep being the best you that you can be. I hope you can try this recipe, and much respect to you and your family. Let me know what you think.
2.5 hours of training today. We worked on bo staff, and striking (JKD). Today was the first day after Muay Thai camp where my body felt like normal. Even felt good. I went hard, and got a good workout with my husband and partner feeding me.
We started out with staff class. We had some visitors down from Maryland, and it was cool to have new people in the class. They have come down once before and wanted to train with us again.
Staff Training:
We started off with abecedario with staff. Which while a fundamental move with sticks changing staves makes the movement slightly different.
Abecedario = High forehand, low back hand, high back hand
Then we worked on abecedario with redondo. A redondo is a circular forehand strike from around your head. Not to be confused with an ordabise which is a circular back hand around your head.
Redondo with Abecedario = Circular forehand strike high, circular for hand strike low, circular forehand strike high, low back hand strike, high back hand strike.
In preparation for the high box, we did a roof to shield drill that required the feeder to feed a #15 strike that you roof, then a #15 strike to a shield.
And finally for staff training we did high box with staves. Now this for some reason was more difficult for my brain parts. I can do a high box with sticks, with swords, with espada y daga (sword and knife), but with staff you have to hold with both hands and your body movement is different. Which makes for the perfect storm for Kali brain issues. Which hand.
Staff High Box – #15 strike from opponent, you roof block, opponent returns a #1 strike, you inside deflect and return a #2 strike. The opponent shields the #2, and then you start the circuit over by feeding a #15 to your opponent.
We started to work on middle box/standard but we ran out of time.
I love Kali and the staff class. I love how it stretches my brain muscles and makes me think. Now my brain is dead.
This video is of us working on the Redondo with Abecedario.
Striking (JKD):
We worked on combos. This is were I was able to work on flow, timing, and speed. My partner told me he could see a difference between when I left for Muay Thai camp, and now. He said I flow better, my speed, form and focus are much better. I could not ask for more from Thai camp. I wanted to learn all I could, and to increase my skill set. It seems I have. Yay!
Khun Kru Krysta broke the training down to two sets of combos. First where the feeder feeds, a jab and a right straight cross/cross. The second where the feeder feeds a jab, and a wide cross. For the wide cross think John Wayne punch. Or old western bar fight punch.
First combo –
Feeder feeds Jab
You catch
Feeder feeds straight cross
You parry while doing a simultaneous left kick to inside of leg
You return a cross
You return an upper cut
You return a cross
You return Left torso kick/round house
Second combo –
Feeder feeds Jab
You catch
Feeder feeds straight cross
You split the cross, slide in with a cross to the body
You follow with a hook
You return a cross
Right kick/round house
Third combo-
Feeder feeds Jab
You catch Jab
Feeder feeds a wide cross
You shoulder/bicep stop the cross
You return a cross
You return a hook
You return a cross
You return a right torso kick/round house
Fourth combo-
Feeder feeds Jab
You catch Jab
Feeder feeds a wide cross
You bob and weave
You return a body cross
You return a hook
You return a cross
You return right long leaning knee
You return right torso kick/round house
These were great combos. I loved feeling like I was back into my groove. I liked feeling like I had more confidence, and I love just working on my technique, flow, timing, and target acquisition.
This video is of us working on the third combo, or the stop the shoulder or bicep combo.
I hope you are all having a great weekend. I certainly am. Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions. Keeping working to be the best you that you can be. Much respect to you all.
2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. This blog entry is going to be short and sweet. I am tired, and need to get to bed. Its been 5 days and my hip flexors are still sore. I thought I was weird and that my body was just being a pain in my tushy… But apparently it is normal. This happens when you work out for almost a week straight every day for almost 8 hours a day. I know each persons body is different, but I should not get down on myself and my body for doing what it needs to do to repair.
Muay Thai
We worked on the same things in Muay Thai that we did last Tuesday. Distance management and entries, from knees and kicks. To getting out of the pocket, evasions and guarding/shielding kicks.
Kali – Disarms
In Kali we worked on the same things we did on Tuesday as well.
Snakes, and Vines, and disarms. It is good to keep in mind that disarms are a sometimes happen thing, they don’t often happen and according to some world class martial art practitioner like Guru Dan Inosanto they tend to happen by accident.
So relying on a disarm you hope to achieve is selling yourself short. Learn lots of tools, work with the ones that fit your style, that you like, and use those. I think that if you try to learn them all you will find what works best for you. When you do and you use them, you will become a much better martial artist.
Today I took a video of some of the snakes and vines we were doing. you will see the equal sign, the plus sign, snake with wing, and snake with knife hand. What you will also see is my foot work today is for trash. For some reason I just did no keep my footwork up. So that means executing the moves and getting off the line is much more difficult. Anyway, it is below if you wanna see.
Like I said this one is short, and I did not have the time or energy to go into great detail.
Have a great day! Thanks for reading, and keep being the best you can be. Remember the two most important things in Muay Thai is respect and discipline. Respect to you all.
Where do I start… Muay Thai camp was an amazing adventure. I am so happy I got a chance to attend and learn from the many amazing martial artists there. Muay Thai camp was put on by the WTBA (World Thai Boxing Association).
It was hard getting on a plane and leaving my family. It was harder going 5 hours clear across the country in a plane. I have worries about being away from my home base, about being so far from my family should something go wrong. Muay Thai camp was a big unknown too. One person I knew for sure was going to be there was Khun Kru Krysta. She is my instructor and we were going on the same plane. I had some other people I had met at another seminar here on the east coast.
So with all that going on, I also was worried I was not conditioned enough for the camp, and I wanted to do well. =) I had one month notice and I had to get myself ready. So I worked hard to get that conditioning in, running and 16 to 20 rounds a day of bag and pad work.
We got in to Portland, went to dinner, waited for a new friend and roommate, then we got to our house. I was lucky enough to have a friend rent an Air B and B and I was able to pitch in for a room. So instead of camping in a tent and using a communal bathroom/shower, I was able to have the amenities of home. I would guess a good half of the people who attended Thai camp stayed in tents.
I have a restless sleep, and wake up on my own at 5:30 am Portland, Oregon time. Everyone gets going with their ruitine. We all have something we do, supplements, taping up our various body parts, brushing our teeth, etc. We head of for coffee and then to the first day of training.
I am buzzing with caffeine, and even more so with excitement. I don’t know what is going to happen exactly and I really really want to make it through so I decide to take one challenge at a time.
Training Day 1: (notes: curtesy Khun Kru Krysta, and Kru Caro)
~7 am :
We start shadow boxing, then Ajarn Greg Nelson leads everyone in stretching.
We then do 1.5 mile run. I got slightly lost because I missed the trail. I laugh about it.
We get back and Ajarn Chai starts us off with the combos that we will be working on for the day. We start with a combo and work on the variations each day. This day he wanted us to focus on leg kicks, with entry to boxing, and elbows. He wanted us to always think about counter attacks.
Combos:
Left inside/lead leg kick
Right Overhand punch
Lead body shot/hook
Rear kick to body
Lead Jab
Right leg kick
Left inside/lead leg kick
Right cross
Lead body shot/hook
Shield
“Everything is basic until you start taking punches.”
Ajarn Greg Nelson
We worked the combos in shadow boxing. Then Ajarn Chai had us pair up and work together. He wanted to make sure we got this timing, flow, and combos down.
~9 am:
Then we break for breakfast, and a break. Ajarn Chai gave us about 2 hours for break and breakfast. He wanted us to get enough time to eat and rest.
By the time breakfast came around I had already drank two liters of water. I only mention this because it will become important later. =)
“Get some breakfast and rest, because we are going to work hard when we get back.”
Ajarn Chai
~ 11 am:
When we all got back and got started working. He had us shadow boxing to start with. Then we stretched.
He had us working some of the variations of the leg kicks, and entries. Then we started.
We did more partner work. We worked with partners on pads.
“On the balls of your feet. Lift your body up when you kick, or when you knee.”
Ajarn Chai
Ajarn Chai wanted us to focus on form and getting the combo down. To really know it for the first day. He wanted us to focus on teqnique and not how fast we could do it.
~2 pm:
We break for lunch. Again Ajarn Chai wants us to eat and rest cause we are going to hit he circuit hard after lunch.
A special thank you has to go out to the kitchen staff. They worked hard every day in the heat to feed all almost 100 of us students, instructors, and staff. I know how much it takes to feed an army like that. So many thanks and much respect is owed. Also Ajarn Chai brought out his sister to make us some amazing Thai dishes. I will be dreaming about those dishes for a while to come.
By this time I had drank 2 more liters, for a total of 4 liters. Again I only mention this as this is pertinent to happenings later on.
~4 pm:
We all come back and assemble. Again start with shadowboxing, and stretching. Then Ajarn Chai introduces the station we will be working for today.
Khun Kru Krysta tried to help me prepare for this camp and told me years past that there were four stations. Shadowboxing, Pad Work, Bags, and then Clench Work. This year Ajarn Chai added a station. This one was partner timing. Not going as hard as you can, like on pads on bags (note: he wanted us to go hard while observing technique) , but working on flow and technique.
We would do 4 x 3 minute rounds with a 30 second burn out after each round. The burn out was a:
Makatune, #8 elbow, to skip knee #2, then two torso kicks
We were working on the combos and variations of the combos Ajarn Chai taught earlier in the day.
Water is not enough
We start on the first circuit. I get through all 5 stations, and I am doing grate. However, I start to notice my right calf is locking up on me. If I point or flex my muscle it wants to lock in place and not move. I make it through 2 stations and notice it is acting up more. I head to Khun Kru Krysta and tell her what is happening. She and another Ajarn tell me to go Devon. He is a massage therapist. He comes to camp just to help us when we are having muscle and or joint problems.
Let me just take a side note to say Devon is amazing. He is calm, calming, and listens to you. He deserves so many thanks, and much respect.
However, I make it to Devon’s table. He listens to what happened, and he begins stretching. I tell him I don’t know what the problem is. I took my bcaa this morning, and drank 4 liters of water already. He is stretching my calf and then it goes into full charley horse/muscle locked up. He mentions I am “desalinated”. I need to be ingesting more magnesium, potassium, and salt. My body is lacking and this one muscle is complaining about it.
That Charley horse hurt a great deal. He had to keep massaging it and then letting it relax. He made sure I drank some Gatorade. I was laying on the table watching my fellow Muay Thai Camp family rotating through rounds. I ended up missing 8 rounds. I was so unhappy. I was brought down by lack of minerals and salt. I did not want to fail the entire camp. This was day one. How could I, a seasoned athlete, and just some one who keeps an eye on health mess this up.
Devon made sure I drank two of the cups of Gatorade, and two cups of water before I re-entered the rounds, and finished out the day. My calf was sore and painful for the rest of camp, but it felt like a light muscle tear. I just worked through it.
So now you know why I was mentioning how much water I was drinking. Water is not enough. I was going to drink my recovery drink that replaces magnesium, and potassium after the day. But I underestimated just how much I was going to be using during camp.
All in all every day I drink about 8 liters of water. I made sure after the first day to drink water, and recovery drink, and Gatorade as well. Just to get the minerals and salts in me. I also made sure to eat bananas every day. I did not want another charley horse.
We finished the circuits of the stations, then Ajarn Chai had us line up, count down the line 1 to 5 and then stagger ourselves. He had us doing 8 count body builders. Think if burpees had a bigger older meaner brother.
The group did 50 of them. I got through 40 of them.
~8 pm:
We broke for dinner and finished for the night.
This was one of the most amazing, difficult, and wonderful things I have ever had the chance to do. I was so excited for the next day, but was annoyed my calf gave out on me. I am happy to say that I did not have any more muscle issues. Yay!
In total my Fitbit told me I 34,264 steps and burned 6,731 calories
Thank you for reading, keep working to be the best you can be. Respect to you and your families!
Thinks with Spinks 