Thursday Muay Thai and Kali… Minnesota Shuffle and Die, Inside Deflect Snake to Pool Cue, 7 count Espada y Daga

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. Muay Thai kicked my butt in a good way. The kind that leaves you sucking air on the mat in a puddle of sweat. In Kali we learned some really cool weave moves, with a snake an pool cue move.

Muay Thai – Minnesota Shuffle and Die

In Muay Thai today we are all helping our team mate train for a upcoming fight. So that means fight conditioning training for all of us. I love it. This is the stuff that pushes you hard, has you gasping for air with a stitch in your side. During the training it sucks, but after, when you are cooling off you feel so accomplished. Or at the very least I do! What did we do. Well the general warm up. Jump rope, and shadow boxing, but that is normal and some what boring. Its great training, don’t get me wrong. But it is not super taxing.

Now after that we held pads for our partners for 3 full rounds, and after each round had our partners do a Minnesota Shuffle. We switched pads, and then had to do the same thing. Let me tell you. Going three rounds no rest except that 1 minute after the Minnesota Shuffle is rough. Your body is tired, it is telling… not screaming for you to stop and rest but you push through. When you hit the end of round 3 and you complete the last of the Minnesota Shuffles, you or at least I laid on the ground and died. That 1 minute rest is barely enough for you to start getting your heart rate down.

Kru Kristen and Kru Krysta are amazing teachers and they started writing these things down for all of us, but Kru Kristen said to me, “see I am writing it down for you Tanya.” Because they know I write it down in my blog and I try to remember what we did for class. Often times after I have gotten home and am exhausted not only from the day but from the wringer that they put us through. I love our instructors, and could not have asked for better.

Anyway enough gabbing here is what we did.

Warm up:

Jump rope, and shadow boxing

3 rounds straight through with only 1 minute rest

  1. 1st round
    1) Left leg kick, right cross, left hook/shovel hook/upper cut, right round house
    2) Right leg kick, left hook/shovel hook/upper cut, cross, left round house kick
    3) Left leg kick, right cross, left hook/shovel hook/upper cut, left round house kick
    4) Right leg kick, left hook/shovel hook/upper cut, cross, left round house kick
    5) Minnesota Shuffle – ladder left round house kick (1 kick, then two kicks, then three, till 5), clench to 10 knees, ladder right round house kick
  2. 2nd round
    1) Catch jab, return right leg kick, hook/upper cut/shovel hook, cross, left kick or right kick
    2) Minnesota Shuffle
  3. 3rd round
    1) Catch jab, avoid cross, return left inner leg kick, cross, hook/upper cut/shovel hook, left or right kick

After you held for your partner for three rounds, you had to do it yourself. This is a grueling workout, and it was awesome. I felt like I pushed through. Even though I did not have an epiphany today, or make a break through in a skill I have been working on. I hit this workout hard and made it through. Some days it is good just to survive.

Below is a video of me doing the two last drills in round 2 and 3. Keep in mind I am bushed now. I have been working 2 hours on MA training, and just wanted to record this so could see myself perform and look for errors. Ohh boy… lots to work on. When you are tired you should concentrate on your form more. This is the time when it is being ingrained in to your brains.

Kali – Inside Deflect Snake to Pool Cue, 7 count Espada y Daga

In Kali we got to work on some new and cool drills, moves? I sometimes call them moves and drills. Maybe the word exercises is more correct. Well what ever. I will say drills for now. However, I digress.

We focused on inside deflect, and then ways to counter a strike. From the Gurus we have learned from, each of them says Kali as a Martial Art is so vast, and changing. You could study it for 50 years and still learn more. The style and art form differs from village to village, from environment (sandy, jungle, grassy, rocky) to environment, and from Teacher/Guru to Guru. Each has their own way of doing some things, but there are some constants in Kali that don’t change either. Like the X or equis. An x is an x but what you do with the x or how you enter into your opponents area is where things can change.

Training:

  1. X pattern with inside deflect, counter clockwise snake, to disarm
  2. X pattern with inside deflect, counter clockwise snake, to bridge, then you bait your opponent to punch, open scoop the punch they throw, and weave trap both their arms. This leaves your arm free to punch them, or you can kick them in the knees.
  3. 7 count espada y daga, a.k.a. stick and dagger.
    1) backhand # 2 strike, to knife strike to well of neck, back hand to #2 again, block high, block low, block high knife strike, #1 finishing strike (where you hit with intent).
  4. X pattern with inside deflect, counter clockwise snake, to bridge, then stick your knife into quadrant 3, grab your stick lock their hands, and spear/pool cue their necks.

I have two Kali videos from tonight below. One is the number 2 drill. The other is the 7 count espada y daga drill.

The 7 count Espada y Daga drill video is almost completely uncut. I did this to show you all how we puzzle through a new drill. Normally I cut the video down so that you don’t have to see all the struggling and mess ups we happen to have, when working out what our bodies and minds are trying to do. If you want to see it more fluid, skip toward the end of video marker 4:40 and you will see the drill.

Kali melted my brain a little bit. I was tired after Muay Thai, and then they asked my brain to function and think and learn new tricks. However, I had a blast in class today. I feel like we learned some new things, and I am over the moon about that conditioning in Muay Thai.

I hope you liked my rambling thoughts. Thank you for reading. I must get to sleep. Keep working on being the best you, that you can be.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Always Enter On Pain, If You Look at the Stick You Get Hit By The Stick, The Fang

This is me putting the Fang choke on my partner, also known as Churing the Butter.

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. Whew it is always great when you have a breakthrough in your martial arts training. On average, every day is repetition and drilling. The goal is to try to keep doing drills to better your skills and flow. So I don’t always feel like I am making great strides. The point is to keep going and keep training.

Muay Thai – Always Enter on Pain

Today was the day though. I made a breakthrough in Muay Thai. We were working on Thai 4 counts today, and response to punches with kicks. I am a short person, and being so I have to figure out ways to close the distance. Especially with taller people. So today we were catching the jab and returning a leg kick getting off the line so we did not get hit in the face/head. Because you see you want to avoid getting hit. You want to avoid it, but when you are learning it is inevitable. You always want to enter on the pain you have given to your opponent. For instance they go to jab at you, you catch the jab, kick them in the leg, then complete the Thai 4 count.

So the flow and sound should be dat dat, one catch one kick right after another. I was working with a girl that is a little taller than I am but so much more skilled than I am. I was getting the flow down great. As I was she mentioned she hops to one side and gets off the line to land the kick while the punch is coming in. I start to mimic her to the best of my abilities. Guess what I did it. I was able to hop to the side, get off the line, catch the jab, and land the leg kick. All with the same flow dat dat beat. I did it. I figured it out. I have seen her do it before, she has mentioned it before. But something in my brain clicked and allowed my brain and body to work together to do what I wanted. Woot Woot!

Thai 4 counts: for Orthodox stance

  1. Left leg kick, cross, hook/uppercut, right leg kick
  2. Left leg kick, cross, hook/uppercut, left leg kick
  3. Right leg kick, hook/upper cut, cross, left leg kick
  4. Right leg kick, hook/upper cut, cross, right leg kick

I got a compliment form Kru Kristen. She said I was moving great, and getting off the line. I was so proud. Its these times when things clicks that make all those other hours of repetition and drilling worth it. I wish they were more prevalent.

Kali – Always Enter On Pain, If You Look at the Stick You Get Hit By The Stick, The Fang

Today in Kali, we had a guest instructor named Guru Mark Cukro. This is one of Kru Krysta’s mentors, and he was visiting. He came in and graced us with his time and teaching. You could tell how much this man has learned and the speed and grace with which he moved. We learned some new witik drills, and drills to keep your arm framed with your body and meeting force with force when a stick is coming at you.

From there we learned how to enter, say from a Kumbiata Switch, push down on the shoulder and get the Fang choke in. This choke/submission is also called Churning the Butter. =) Because once you have the stick along the carotid and you are tightening the choke with your arm and the stick you can churn the stick and cause more pain.

The carotid artery is the a major artery in the neck and cutting off circulation is not only painful, but can make a person pass out. My picture above is me working on this very choke.

I got this picture from this wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_carotid_artery

Getting to learn from these Gurus, leaves you with some great gems. One for tonight was this quote. “If you look at the stick you will get hit with a stick.” What is meant by that is you should be looking at the movement of the body. In Muay Thai you don’t look at the punch coming at you. You look at the persons chest. This is cause you are supposed to be watching their body movements, not what their hands are doing.

We also worked on getting the Puta Kapala in, from the clench. This was fun, because we learned how to control the persons spine from the base of their head. I love the Puta Kapala.

This was a fantastic class. I had a blast, and it was great learning from a teacher that my teacher/instructor loves and respects. He was a fantastic teacher and so open to questions.

Thank you for reading. I have some new followers, so welcome, and please let me know if you have any questions. I have a glossary page that has definitions for terms. ah Have a great day/night/week, get out there, do what you love, and love each other.

P.S. If you are curious about where I train. It is the Pedro Sauer academy One Spirit Martial Arts. http://virginiabjj.com/ I love the feel and spirit of this gym.

Weight Lifting workout for the week of 6/3/2019…When you run out of time, you run

I did not have time to do more than just my 15 minute run today. I was so busy, I worked on my recipes and scaling them up for an event that I am catering for a little over 200 people. So I got in what I could.

Here is the workout I plan on doing for this week. It was supposed to be for today, but will be for Wednesday and Friday.

Workout:

15 minute steady state run

  1. 2 minute warm up
  2. 11 minute run, steady state
  3. 2 minute cool down

Weight lifting:

  1. Tripod Tricep Row 3 rounds of 10 each side
  2. Burpees as many as you can for 1 minute, 3 rounds
  3. Dead bugs 1 minute for a total of 3 rounds
  4. Reverse lunge with bicep curls 10lbs each hand, total or 3 rounds of 10 each side.
  5. Goblet squat with 35lbs, 3 rounds of 10 -15
  6. Good mornings 45lb barbell, 3 rounds of 10

Even though I did not get a chance to do my weight lifting. I am happy I got a run in. I had a totall 20 minutes I could squeeze in a workout between my work, and going to pick up my husband at the metro.

I firmly believe, even if you can’t do the whole workout you want to do, getting something in is better than saying, “ahh well, I can’t do it today.”

I felt good today so I took pictures of my progress.

Anyway thank you for reading. Have a wonderful productive day, and keep working at making yourself the best you that you can be.

Healthy Breakfast… Wholesome Whole Food Pancake with Berries

So today I made pancakes. Well I made two types of pancakes. Ones for my kiddos. I will link to the recipe that I use for pancakes. Pancakes I make for my kiddos.

Then I made a protein packed pancake that does not have added sugar, till I added a little bit of local honey.

These were so good. Usually protein pancakes tend to be a little dense and these look like they will be but they are not. Pssstt… the secret is the baking powder.

I ground up rolled oats in my blender to make my own oatmeal flour.

The only sugars in this are natural sugars. Yay for whole foods.

Recipe: Wholesome Whole Food Pancake with Berries
(yields 2.5 servings, or about 2 pancakes per person)

Ingredients:

  1. 2 bananas smashed
  2. 1.5 cups of rolled oats, that you blend in your blender to make a flour
  3. 2 eggs
  4. 1/4 tsp of salt
  5. 2 tsp of baking powder
  6. Berries that you like, or other fruit
  7. Honey to taste
  8. 1 tsp of vanilla
  9. 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  10. 1 cup or 140 grams of berries

Directions:

  1. Grind up the the oats, pour into a big bowl, add salt and baking powder.
  2. On the side of the bowl smash the two peeled bananas till they are are about 95% smashed.
  3. Add two eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix it all together.
  4. In a hot pan, use a pan spray, and add some batter to the pan. You will have to spread this out on your own. It will be thick and want to stay in one clump. The more you spread out, the faster it will cook. Cook till the inside of the pancake is just finished.
  5. Cut up and wash fruit you want to add to your pancakes.
  6. Stack some pancakes, add fruit, and drizzle with honey.

Calories/Stats: This is for one serving with the mixed berries added, but not the honey
Calories 363, Fat 7.7 g, Fiber 8.7 g, Carbs 63.5 g, Salt 275.3 mg, Protein 11.6 g

Got a little artsy with my photo. I am not a photographer so yeah. The sunlight through the fruit and honey was pretty.

If you have read this far, thanks for reading. I hope you have a fantastic week, and keep up making good changes for you and your family.

Saturday Bo Staff, and Striking/JKD… Redondo Like a Helicopter, ABD/Atacking By Defense

2.5 hours of training Bo Staff, and Striking/JKD. Brace yourselves this ended up being long. =) Maybe grab a tea, or coffee, what ever libation you prefer, and hunker down for a read. I even drew pictures of where I was striking on a stick figure.

Today we worked on Bo Staff, and I was finally able to try out my new polypropylene bo. That sucker is heavy but great for an arm workout, and are almost indestructible.

This is the polypropylene staff that I have and use now as a training staff. Picture credit (Cold Steel)

You can get this staff at this website. https://www.coldsteel.com/training-staff.html I bought this with my own money. I was not paid to review this, and as far as I know they don’t know I am even talking about their products.

I also bought the Baliki Sticks for my Kali stick training. These are also made of the polypropylene. Again they are indestructible, and some what heavy, but great for training.

I mention indestructible because, my rattan sticks I had for one year, had started to shred and fall apart. The only thing that was keeping it together was the duct tape. So yeah having tools/weapons that will not get destroyed for a billion years is so awesome.

This is the Balicki Stick. Picture credit to Cold Steel.

Ok so again I am not being paid for this review. As far as I know they don’t even know who I am, except that I have thrown money their way for their products. So I paid for this with my own money and I am happy with them. They are very sturdy and they are heavy. You can buy them here. https://www.coldsteel.com/balicki-stick.html

Over all I love them. The only thing that is a little weird is they sell them in singles instead of in pairs. So if you do double stick in Kali/Escrima you will have to buy two like I did. They only alteration I did was add some bat tape to end of the stick, where I hold it. Because when I use them bare handed I find that the tape helps me hold onto the stick when my hand gets sweaty.

I have been using these for two weeks. They had been in my living room waiting for me to use them and stop being sick. =) I borrowed my husbands before and found I liked them so I ordered them.

My criteria for equipment, is:

  1. Good quality for the cost. I don’t mind paying more for something that will last.
  2. If functions as intended.
  3. It is not stupid expensive.
  4. Durability ( I don’t want to have to buy it over and over again just cause it breaks/wears out quickly)

Anyway enough gabbing about the equipment I use. If it is helpful to you, and you are looking for training equipment please take a look at these things. =)

Bo Staff Training – Redondo like a helicopter

Today was a fun clear beautiful day. It was not to hot, and we got to work outside with our Bo Staves. We worked on 4 drills that worked the figure 8 with a low strike and high strike at the end. Then we did a redondo that looks like a helicopter.

Training:

  1. Warm up using single stick, heaven figure 8 with low strike and high strike.
  2. Upward figure 8, with low back hand strike and high back hand strike.
  3. Downward figure 8, with low back hand strike and high back hand strike.
  4. Lop sided figure 8 with low back hand strike and high back hand strike.
  5. Redondo high, low, high, with a low back hand strike and high back hand strike.

I tried to scribble out what the figure 8 strikes looked like. Its okay to laugh at my drawings. I do.

In these two figures, you can see the upward figure 8 and the downward figure 8. Husband asked why they were smiling, I said cause they were happy to help me practice. Anyway, on the upward figure 8, you aiming for the knees or inner thighs. So you are targeting 12 strike point, and a 11 strike point in an upward swing. For the downward figure 8 you are targeting a 1 strike point, and a 2 strike point in an downward. See dummy below for strikes points.

In this last figure you see the lop sided figure 8. You are targeting the 1 strike point, and the 4 strike point. These figure 8 were fun, and hard at the same time. Hefting the staff and trying to follow through in the strike is hard, when it meets a resistance and wants to just bounce back.

This is the upward figure 8, with low back hand and high back hand
This is the lop sided figure 8, with low back hand and high back hand
Redondo high, low, high, with a low back hand and high back hand

This last video is the redondo/helicopter looking swing. Swing where we go around our head hit a high point/head, then hit a low point torso, then high again head area, then low back hand and high back hand.

That is what we did in Kali, and that was just Kali. Now to the Striking class.

Striking class – ABD – Attacking by Defense

So today we worked on how to defend and react to a Jab, Cross combination. We worked on JKD or Jeet Kun Do, the martial arts created by Bruce Lee. Kru Krysta said if you get into a fight or fight in the ring, that Jab, Cross combo is going to come up, so knowing how address it, parry, block, catch and return an attack is very important. She told us her instructor called it ABD – or Attacking By Defense.

For instance if a person throws a jab at you, you can catch the punch or you can destroy their jab/hand by directing it into your elbow.

We worked on how to address, respond, and return attack when you are fighting a person who knows how to box/punch. For instance when they throw a tight Cross.

Then we worked on how to address, respond, and return an attack when you are fighting a person who is a little less knowledgeable in boxing. When they end up doing a wide cross, think John Wayne type cross you can see coming from a mile away.

Striking/JKD training we worked on Jab, Cross Defense

  1. Feeder throws a Jab
  2. You parry
  3. Feeder throws a tight cross
  4. You lean back make your shoulder tight to your face for protection and then Nao Tek their inner thigh with your lead foot, then return an cross, hook, cross, Nao Tek.
  5. Alternately you could Inside Parry, with a punch to the face, or bare handed a eye gauge, then return cross, hook, cross, Nao Tek
  6. The other alternate reaction you could is split the jab, hit simultaneously, then return a hook, cross, Nao Tek
  1. Feeder throws a Jab
  2. You parry
  3. Feeder throws a wide cross
  4. You inside wedge/post on their shoulder, return a knee to quad, step in and you are in south paw stance. Finish with an upper cut, cross, hook, and cross.

Striking was fun today. We worked on JKD, instead of Muay Thai. However, it is good to cross train. Things that are done in JKD translate to Muay Thai and vice versa.

I am not certain how much help this is to any of you, however, having this written down helps me to remember what we did, and I have a reference for the future if when I am struggling, and or when I want to remember something.

As always thank you for reading. I hope you have a great day, and hope your weekend is fantastic.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Hands to Knees, Left and Right Submissions

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Today was another great day. We the more advanced students worked with the newer students today. This is good for us, because it makes us work on our form and slow it down. I had a little congestion today, but I had a fantastic nights sleep last night. I actually slept without interruption from this virus/infection a first in 3 weeks.

Muay Thai – Hands to Knees

Today we worked in hands to knees in our training. We were working on flow and transitioning in our strikes.

Workout:

  1. Warm up – Jump rope 3 minutes
  2. Warm up – Shadow box hands to knees. ( jab, cross, right knee number 1 or inward knee) (Jab, cross, hook, left knee number 1 or short range knee) 3 minutes.

    Partnered up with newer students
  3. worked on distance management with plus foot work, and then Jab, Cross, right knee number 1 or inward knee.
  4. Then we worked on Jab, Cross, right knee number 1 or inward knee, to clench and knees, or right round house kick.

I have mentioned this before. I really feel working with the newer students is not only beneficial to them, but it is highly beneficial to the more advanced students. First we are helping out new students get used to the moves and the flow. Second we are helping them learn how to hold pads for us. Pad holding in itself is a skill.

Pad Holding

If your partner is not a good pad holder, it is difficult to work the moves, also highly likely you will get an injury. If for instance they hold the pad very loosey goosey with no force/energy behind it, when your partner goes to hit the pad, they can blow out their elbows from hyper extension. If they move back from a knee or a teep you can pull a hamstring, or a groin area. If the pad holder is holding the pads to far from their body, they can get hit from the pads impact to their body. They can hurt their rotator cuff if they don’t hold the pads tight and return energy by moving their body into it. So pad holding itself is a skill, and helping your partner learn how to do it helps you and them. Another note, pads are not light… they tend to have some heft to them so your arms get a good workout there as well. But I digress and rambled on about pad holding.

Back to working with newer students. Because the newer student is not as versed in the striking techniques you have to naturally slow down and just work on your form. You take most of the power out of the strikes and just try to get it in there. One thing that is hard though is working on flow. Because the newer person does not know how to transition as quickly with the pads some times I find myself waiting to get the next strike in. However, other than that small technicality tonight was a great training night and we all got sweaty and exhausted.

Kali – Left and Right Submissions

We did the same thing we did on Tuesday. However, my partner and I worked on both left and right side more today. I am much faster on the right side than I am on the left side. However, I felt good that I was able to switch to each side without to much trouble.

You see cause in Kali, what you can do on your right side you can also do with your left side, or left hand. What this normally does to the brain is melt into a puddle till you figure it out. Forcing your body and mind to be ambidextrous is a test of wills, and a very tiring for the brain. However, today was great. I was able to switch back and forth…yay!

Kali workout/training

  1. Warm up – Strikes 1, 2, 3 (ABC or Abecedario) low back hand, then high back hand
  2. Srikes 1, 2, (equis) clockwise scoop opponents cross, hit head or ribs
  3. Strikes 1, 2, (equis) counter clockwise scoop opponents cross, submit opponent with Basset Dal or face plant
  4. Strikes 1, 2, 1, Kumbiata Switch, clockwise snake, to rolling pin (where you take the stick and roll it on opponents muscle to make them drop weapon)
  5. Strikes 1, 2, 2, Kumbiata Switch, to clockwise snake, to arm lever (revers) (this is where you, lever your stick into the pectoral muscle of your opponent, this causes pain and you can submit them to the floor.)

My body is tired and I need to go to bed and shower, but not in that order. I have an early morning tomorrow. Thank you for reading. I am constantly amazed that anyone reads my blog. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I am just training and trying to become better in my chosen arts.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali… Smother the Gun, Abecedario Snake, and Face Plant

Today was the first full day back to Muay Thai and Kali after my horrible cold virus, and ear infection. We went on Saturday, but it was not taught by our Kru. Today was a kick ass day, and it kicked my ass. It was fantastic. I was so worried I would loose everything I learned. I have to say though I did great and I have not lost everything.

Muay Thai – Smother the Gun

Today we worked on bleeding off the power from our opponents. What that meant was we slide in as they were kicking our leg and landing a cross on their chest or face. When you do this Kru Kristen called it Smother the Gun. It takes the force and power out of your opponents strike. So you can get in return the strike, strike again, and again, and get out of the pocket. She wanted us to work on bleeding off our opponents power, then returning a strike, and then do a defensive move to get out, and not get hit.

What this looked like was:

  1. Opponent kicks, I slide in bleed off power, returning at the same time a cross, from there you throw a hook while moving out then, throw your kick torso round house, or leg kick
  2. Opponent kicks, I slide in bleed off power, returning a cross, then we worked on returning a left leg kick, or left round house torso kick

As with any new strike, or combination, my brain and body try to reconcile what I want it to do. So I hesitate, or pause when practicing. My flow is off, but that is to be expected till I start to get used to this way of getting into the pocket.

After that Kru Kristen wanted us to work on asymmetrical sparring. What that meant is one person gets to only throw punches. The other person get to only throw kicks. This makes is easier to see the strike coming and know you just have to defend kicks, but harder in the sense that she is taking a tool away from you. So you have to think around distance management, you have to think about how to get in, maybe having to eat a few strikes just to get in.

Kali – Abecedario Snake, and Face Plant

Kru Krysta was nice enough to write what we were doing down. I got a picture of it and will translate.

  1. Warm up – Strikes 1, 2, 3 (ABC or Abecedario) low back hand, then high back hand
  2. Srikes 1, 2, (equis) clockwise scoop opponents cross, hit head or ribs
  3. Strikes 1, 2, (equis) counter clockwise scoop opponents cross, submit opponent with Basset Dal or face plant
  4. Strikes 1, 2, 1, Kumbiata Switch, clockwise snake, to rolling pin (where you take the stick and roll it on opponents muscle to make them drop weapon)
  5. Strikes 1, 2, 2, Kumbiata Switch, to clockwise snake, to arm lever (revers) (this is where you, lever your stick into the pectoral muscle of your opponent, this causes pain and you can submit them to the floor.)

I took some not great videos of me doing these Kali moves. However, they are here for me to remember the moves, and to look back on them and see my progress.

I hope if you are reading this that you are having a great day. Thank you for reading. I had this typed out and ready to publish however, for some reason I lost all my work. So this is the second time around and I need to sleep. Have a good rest of your day. I really enjoyed being back with friends and team mates. I am still a little congested but had a blast to day. Keep up the good work and keep striving to the be the best you you can be.

Saturday Bo Staff, and Striking… Getting back, High Box, Thai 4 count, and New Drill

2 hours of training today. Today was the first day back in 2 weeks for martial arts training. I am still coughing and have congestion in my nose. But I need to get back to it. I have been worried I have lost a lot of my skills while waiting. I know it is stupid to worry about that but I do worry.

Bo Staff – High Box

We started out with Bo staff training. Our usual instructors were not there today, so our friend and junior instructor J won that position by default. Kinda like in the military if your immediate commanders/superiors all die, the next in line gets put into the position of power. He did a fantastic job, and we just worked on the high box routine for staves, with mid-line grip. Our little group kinda stumbled across the flow that worked best for us. Having a mid-line grip meant we had to get offline, or move well to get away from the incoming strike.

Striking – 4 count, and New Drill

So Striking/ Muay Thai class was just going to be open mat. Where we could just work on our skills. This was due to our Kru’s not being in. One was sick and one was out of town. So our team mate A came up with things we could work on. She was awesome and had us working on Thai 4 counts, and a new drill.

Warm Up:

  1. We warmed up with jump rope
  2. We continued warm up with range management to round house kicks to torso

Thai 4 counts:

  1. right round house, hook, cross, left round house
  2. left round house, cross, hook, right round house
  3. right round house, hook, cross, right round house
  4. left round house, cross, hook, left round house

New Drill:

  1. rear round house kick
  2. rear knee
  3. rear round house kick
  4. hook
  5. cross
  6. left elbow
  7. right elbow
  8. hook
  9. cross
  10. left round house kick
  11. left knee
  12. left round house kick
  13. hook
  14. cross
  15. left elbow
  16. right elbow
  17. hook
  18. cross
  19. Lather Rinse and Repeat for 1.5 minutes then switch up and hold pads for your partner.

That new drill was awesome. I had a few breathing problems/coughing during the practice. I can’t wait till I can get rid of all of this congestion and it does not hold me back.

I also was so excited about getting back into training that I was forcing my strikes and kicks. My partner said that they know I know the strikes and kicks, I just need to relax. Because you see when you relax the strikes are harder. My body knows what to do. I am just so excited/nervous about being away for so long. I was in my own head, and I was forcing it.

When I force the strikes, I end up not having the proper flow and it makes my moves more choppy. I need to just relax and let it go. I need to get back into my grove. I need to get out of my head, and let my body do what it knows.

I am a little disappointed about my performance today. I am frustrated I have a cough still and congestion which is messing with my cardio. However, it is far better than it was even 4 days ago.

I am happy I got into the gym, and started training again. I was so happy to see my friends and team mates. I can’t wait to get back into the gym again.

Thanks for reading. I hope you are having a great weekend. If you are in the states, I hope you have a fantastic holiday weekend.

Friday workout …on holiday/vacation, no gym no worries

Took a picture next to the big chocolate bar!

Went to the gym again today. 35 minute workout. I only did a 10 minute steady state run for warm up. I ended up getting 20,567 steps in at the park yesterday. We are going back again today so was not worried about cardio today.

Ok so you don’t have to have a gym to stay on track. Hah on track! We have been to riding so many roller coasters and some of them have had crazy tracks. But I digress.

In your hotel room all you need is space and time. Try these exercises while on vacation or just a business trip away from home.

No gym needed:

  • Crunches do as many as you can for 1 minute reps- 1 min, 1 min, 1 min
  • Scissors ankle touches do as many as you can for 1 minute reps- 1 min, 1 min, 1 min
  • planks do as many as you can for 1 minute reps- 1 min, 1 min, 1 min
  • plank to palms (from plank one hand at a time go to push up position and back down again) do as many as you can for 1 minute reps- 1 min, 1 min, 1 min
  • Air Squats reps- 30, 30, 30
  • side lunges reps- 30, 30, 30
  • chair dips do as many as you can for 1 minute reps- 1 min, 1 min, 1 min

This is just a small amount of the things you can do. Take a 15 min rest between each and do at least 3 rounds of each.

My workout today was this:

  • 10 min warm run
  • Tripod tricep rows 30 lbs reps- 15, 13, 12
  • Hip thrusts or hip bridges 35 lbs reps- 15, 15, 15
  • bicycle crunches with ankle touches reps- 20, 20, 20
  • pike crunches are reps- 12, 12, 12

I left before everyone in my family was awake so I should get back and go get breakfast with them. Stay hydrated and have a great weekend! We are off to ride more roller coasters and see the animals in the zoo today. Thanks for reading.

Thursday Workout…while on vacation, coming back from sickness

28 minute workout…Well it’s been two weeks. I am still congested and coughing but I could not wait any longer to get into the gym. We are at the Hershey Resort. I almost canceled due to us all being sick. However we all seemed to take a turn for the better. So we decided to go.

So today I decided go work out but to listen to my body. I am still getting rid of the junk in my head. I have finished the antibiotics and other than the congestion feel over all ok.

I started out with a steady state run then did a HIIT weight lifting routine. I did a warm up walk 2 minutes, then ran out 10 minutes steady state till my congestion caught up to me, then cool down for 1 minute. Then followed up with a 15 minute weight lifting routine. Enough gabbing here is the workout.

Workout:

  • 13 minute run, 2 min warm up, 10 min run, 1 min cool down.

Weight lifting: do each exercise I time through. Rest 45 seconds the repeat for a total of 3 times.

  • Press and reverse lunge 2x 20 lb dumbbells held above head. Do this for 1 minute.
  • Rest 15 seconds
  • Bent over standing row 2x 20 lb dumbbells. Do exercises for 1 minute.
  • Rest 15 seconds
  • Lunge with bicep curls 2x 15 lb dumbbells. Do for 1 minute.
  • Side lunge with front lift 1x 10lb dumbbell. Hold one dumbbell with both hands and lunge lift dumbbell as you lunge. Do exercise for 1 minute.
  • Rest for 45 seconds and

So over all today’s workout was great. I loved being back in the gym. I listened to my body and the congestion. My muscles performed as I hoped. Breakfast was great and super healthy. I will write more about food later.

Don’t think you have to stop your workout routine just cause you are on vacation or holiday. Most places have a fantastic gym available. But even if they don’t you can do calisthenics in your hotel and room and core workouts. I will write about a core workout I am going to do in room soon.

Now we are going to go to the amusement park and walk for miles and just enjoy each other’s company. The kids are ready and raring to go ride some rides. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for reading.