Tag: Escrima

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Same side flow like water, Thai shirts, 7 count knife drill

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Today was so much fun. I was excited to unveil the shirts I had made. Also thought today was going to be a test day. But alas it was not. Kru Kristen had to do some book keeping and see where everyone is first. And then we worked on espada y daga or sword and knife drills. Kru Krysta took over an taught both classes.

Muay Thai – Same side flow like water, Thai Shirts

So today was a great day for training. We worked on same side flow from, teeps, to kicks, to knees and back again. But all on the same side. So this make it difficult cause if your balance is not correct you will fall. You will not have power if you balance is off, and if you do not step out. If you do not teep your partner hard enough they may not step back far enough for you to get your kick in, so then you have to step off the line.

So I took video of me doing some of the drills. Meh…

  1. Lead round house kick to lead tee
  2. Rear round house kick to rear teep
  3. Lead round house kick, to lead shield of kick, to lead round house kick to lead teep.
  4. Rear round house kick, to rear shield of kick, to rear round house kick to rear teep.
  5. Lead round house kick, to rear teep, rear feint, to lead knee.

Ok let me pick this crap apart. For some reason today I was dropping my hands, all the time. That is going to get me punched in the face. I was a bit off balance today that is not great for teeps, or kicks. My shields of kicks were down right sad. I need to remember to keep my foot flexed tight to shield, but I kept failing at that. My timing was not great and I felt slow, sometimes waiting for a few seconds to long to move to the next move. The strikes should be smooth and flow like water. So many things wrong with my drilling today… my body was just not doing what I wanted it to today. I know what I need to do, but just not executing it today.

And don’t get me started on how I looked. A hot mess is what comes to mind. But I digress, I know focusing on that does not help me flow like water.


I made Thai shirts for my team. I made the design, and had them printed up. I was able to hand them out today. I was so excited to do this. But the back of my head that little mean part of my brain was saying what if they hate it, what if they don’t like it? Trying to make me doubt myself.

So I ignored that mean chatter, and took them in anyway. My team loved it. They thought it was so cool and thanked me for it. I was very happy to do it and relieved that it was received well. It was a surprise and they did not know it was coming.

It says:

Crew AmpliThai

Nak Muay (means Thai Fighter) 
Respect
Hard Work
Perseverance
Dedication

Then Kru Kristen’s quote:
“Less Talking, More Hitting”

I like the way the shirts came out. =)

Kali – 7 count Knife Drill, T drill, all with Espada y Daga

Today in Kali we worked on the 7 count knife and stick drill or espada y daga (sword and dagger). We worked on the T drill separately, then hubud drill, then the 7 count separately. Finally we worked on the T drill and 7 count together in one full flow drill.

I filmed the T and 7 count full flow drill. Here is the video in all its um… glory? Well its something.

It is 12 pm here, and I must go to bed. I have a 5 am wake up. Weeee! Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…A Little Uncomfortable, Time to Play

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. I woke up had a lot on my plate, went into work early to get a cake done that my boss needed me to do. Her boss asked for me personally to do the cake. =)

Everything on this cake is made by me, and is edible.

I don’t usually show my work here. But this is just an example of what I have/had to work on today.

I digress though… back to the martial arts. =)

Muay Thai – A Little Uncomfortable

There are days we cover so much, and then there are days were we need to just drill out what we have been working on. Lately we have been working on the T.B.A. (Thai Boxing Association) Thai 17 count. But today Kru Kristen broke down some of the combinations.

The first combo we worked on left knee, left kick, cross, hook, right kick. With this combo we were working on knee to left kick, we needed to load the kick and not just land heavy on the left foot. We needed to set it back almost parallel with our back foot so that we could take the quick step and land the kick. With this combo we were working on flow, and transition, trying to make them smooth, and in my case kicking harder.

The second combo we worked on is right knee, right kick, hook, cross, left kick. Again we were working on the knee to right kick, with a quick step to load and step out. Producing power, and a better striking kick when you do. Flow and transition are again things we needed to strive to attain.

Its important to learn new skills but it is also important to take apart the new skills, drills, moves, and work the parts through. I feel that doing this, gives me time to develop the skills I need so that next time we go through the entire Thai 17 count I will be just a tiny bit improved. Its all about them baby steps.

We worked on clench work after that. We worked with the less experienced students, and were helping them learn half clench, to off balances.

Kru Kristen said an interesting thing. Training is important, and taking people to a high fear level, like throwing them into sparring to soon, is a detriment. The high fear just hinders their learning, however, on the other hand letting them stay in this cushy close, comfortable area does them no good. You can have a great technician, that does not know how to practically use the skills they have. You have some one that is good at fighting but does not have the technical skills. Its taking a student out of their comfort zone, and making them a little uncomfortable is where the real learning comes from. So practicing the skill in a safe environment is important, but then letting the student play around with it is also important. I personally have noticed this is true. You can see how a skill can get used, then strung together with another move, and you can begin to see the openings. When I first started learning Muay Thai, and Kali, the instructors would talk about seeing openings in a persons attack. This was daunting for me then. How was I supposed to remember the attack or move and see an opening at the same time? I can tell you it gets better with experience. You will see the openings when you know what they look like, and you will see what they look like when you learn the moves and how to make your body do the strike.

Kali – Time to Play

In Kali we worked on playing with each other. Kru Kristen says that playful drills where we are able do some flow drills, while then being able to find an opening and using a previously learned move is the beginnings of sparring. Now I have been sparring for a while now, and she has mentioned this before. I agree with her. Being able to take the fear out of it, but making it it fun, and just a partner and yourself just trying to find an in/entry. Or you and a partner trying to find a way to alternate drills that you are doing forces your brain to look for those openings.

We worked on hubud drills again, body pummeling, wrist pummeling, and Thai Boxing pummeling. She encouraged us to talk while doing it. She did not want us to focus on our hands but what our partners energy was doing. Where were they moving their body to, and could you counter without looking directly at their hands.

So to bring the same theme into the Kali class, she wanted us to have time to play. Because if we can play and flow through the hubud, flow drills, then into the body grappling, and then out again into striking, you can see where you would have a opening. Again play is the precursor to sparring, and allows us to be in a safe environment but again, makes you slightly uncomfortable.

This has become a long blog, and if you read this far, wow and thank you. I need to wrap this up and head to bed.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali… Ring My Bell, Hubud

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali, practice. Today I was feeling much better energy wise. I was feeling some D.O.M.S from yesterdays workout in my triceps, but over all feeling great. Today was another one of those satisfying you know you worked hard workouts.

Muay Thai – Ring My Bell

Today we worked more on the T.B.A.’s Thai 17 count. I was able to go through all of it no problem. Woot! However, today it was over 84 degrees F or 29 degrees C for you across the pond. So hot when you are in a gym with 30 other adults and they don’t have the air conditioning on. The heat saps your energy, but you keep going cause you don’t want to quit. However, there were a few people who had to bow out for a few minutes due to heat, exhaustion or other problems. Not I though. I toughed it out and you can see how sweaty we all got just from my picture.

When I say Ring My Bell…No I did not mean this song:

What I mean is getting one’s bell rung inside the ring. That is what happened to me. During our sparring section of the class, I am working on being more aggressive, but in smart way that does not telegraph what I am doing. Notice the operative phrase “working on”. I am not there yet have a lot of practice sparring to do to get there. Getting ones bell rung in the ring is when a hard blow lands. Now for me everything got a little fuzzy. I had to stop for a second shake it off, and crack my neck right after. Kru Kristen was concerned for me and kept checking up on me. What happened was a hook landed on my cheek and part of my temple. Luckily we were just sparring so my opponent was not going as hard as he could have. But he did land a harder hit than he meant to. So that meant my head snapped around to the side, causing a few seconds of disorientation, and an internal monologue, “are we alright, all systems functioning, are we good to go?” This internal monologue happened within 30 seconds to a minute.

Is this the first time it has happened? Nope, I can count on my hand how many times it has happened. Maybe 3 times at most in my full year of training with Muay Thai.

Will it happen again? Is the Pope Catholic? Yes to both questions. I imagine it will happen again. This is a striking martial art and as such you will get hit. I cannot block every sing incoming strike. I would love to be that good, but no one really is. There are variations of that good, and I hope to learn enough to get better at blocking, but some hits will land no matter what you do.

Kali – Hubud

In Kali we worked on the hubud. This is the flow drill where we practice trapping and feeling the energy or flow of our partner. What we mean by energy is the feeling when a person is changing their stance, or when they lean in, or when the release pressure. We are using these drills to get the feel for when a person is changing something in their body stance, aggression, etc. When we learn what it feels like when a person say changes from defensive to aggressive moves, we can change out hand work, and trap their hands, or arms, or protect ourselves from the weapons that they are using.

Here is a video of people working on the Hubud. With the hubud, we meet the force of the attack, redirect, pak the arm, and trap the arm.

We also worked on, grappling flow drills.

1) Bicep control
2) Single arm clench
3) Wrist control

Kru Kristen says all martial arts have some sort of grappling and if we can learn how to grapple even just a little bit we will have more tools to deal with an opponent.

That is all for today. It is late and I must go to sleep. Have a great night all.

Thursday Muay Thai, and Kali…Thai 17 count/Clench Sparring, Figure 8 family, Kilap Lightening

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. We worked on new things and I got a great day of training in. Clench work will tire you out faster than anything. I am bushed.

Muay Thai – Thai 17 count/Clench Sparring

In Muay Thai today we worked more on the 17 count drill, we added hook, cross, right cross, right leaning knee, to right kick again. I believe I got that right. If I have to fix it I will. =)

Muay Thai 17 – the 15 we did so far:

  1. Lead Teep
  2. Lead Torso Kick, for me Left Roundhouse Kick
  3. Cross
  4. Hook
  5. Upward Rear Knee, or Right Upward knee for me
  6. Lead Horizontal Elbow or Left Horizontal Elbow
  7. Downward Diagonal Rear Elbow or Right Downward Diagonal Elbow
  8. Parry Cross
  9. Upward Rear Knee or Upward Right Knee for me
  10. Rear kick or Right Roundhouse Kick
  11. Hook
  12. Cross
  13. Rear torso kick, or right round house kick for me
  14. Rear knee
  15. Rear torso kick, or right round house kick for me

In Muay Thai we continued with clench sparring. Kru Kristen said students of all levels can work on that together today. The thing with clench sparring, or grappling, is it will sap your energy. You are trying to fight another persons grappling to keep them from off balancing you, and kneeing you, and getting a better clench on you.

I got to work with very tall people, and I worked on underhook clench, controlling the elbows above my head clench, and also bicep control clench. I need to remember to relax and just let my body framing do the work. When you fight it and try to muscle it you gass yourself faster. My instinct is to muscle it cause I am so much shorter than everyone else. After clench sparring, where everyone is drenched in sweat and dying of exhaustion we stayed for an awesome Kali class.

Kali – Figure 8 Family Flow Drill, Kilap Lightening (I might have kilap mispelled, but can’t find a comparable work on the internet so it will stay this way till I can ask Kru Krysta)

We worked on the figure 8 family flow drills. Where we started up high to hit the head then come back up to hit the ribs in a figure 8. We then followed up with an abecedario where we hit the knee then the head again with a #14 strike. We moved to mid area, or standard doing the same thing, aiming for the ribs and then, then knee strike, and head strike, then we worked on the lower range, aiming for the knees. All figure 8’s, and flowing so we get motion of how you want to move through the person.

Kilap Lightening was the next. It is also called tres personas ( father, son, and holy ghost), this is where you witik your opponents head, then come back with a forehand strike to 14, then you do a power shot down to crack open the head.

I made a video of us doing these things.

The next skill we learned was the half T and full T flow drills. This drill is called this cause you are attacking the head of your opponent, then leaning down to attack their feet, pulling up to hit what you can on the up and then attacking the head again.

I recorded a video of us practicing this drill as well.

And last, I was going through and trying to remember where the shots in the figure 8 flow drill were supposed to land. Because understanding where on the body the blows were supposed to hit, is a crucial part of Kali. This informs your swings and lets you see where you need to hit, how to twist your body, hand and feet placement.

It is really late here, and I have a early morning wake up. So I am going to end it here. Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your week.

Saturday Bo Staff, and Muay Thai…Swing from the hip, Speed vs Power

2.5 hours of Bo Staff Training and Muay Thai. I had a late night at work last night, so lets see if I can remember everything we did today. I made a diagram today! I write my blogs up after my training, sometimes right away and some times hours after. The time I write it up depends on what my schedule looks like. So inevitably I forget parts of training, but here is what I remember. The highlights if you will.

Bo Staff Class – Swing from the hip

(note: The numbering system for these strikes sometimes differ depending on your Goru. Each gym may follow a different Goru, but the targets are the same regardless of the numbers. )

For this class we worked on 17 count again. With staves we have to slide our hands along the staff when we change which side we are holding from. But we do not have to change all the time. Just when we are swinging from the hip. When we are striking with a 1 or 2 blow, we just keep our hands where we had them. When we work on 3 or 4 strike you have to slide your hand down the staff and use your hip and foot work to push through your opponent. So I have a lot to work on. I made a diagram of the 17 count strikes, because its helpful to me, and easier to explain with a picture I think.

We worked on controlling the center line with staves. Where we meet the force of a #6 thrusting strike, and move it off center line. Then follow the staff up with ours to complete thrusting strike ourselves, either to abdomen or face. Our instructor wanted us to work on controlling the center line because a person may swing wildly but if you can get in close and control the center line. It is hard to deflect. So learning how to deflect thrusting blows, and also how to give them is a huge tool in our tool box.

Muay Thai striking class – Speed vs Power

So lately I have been working on power in my kicks and knees. But there are different reasons to work on speed. We are told often that when we relax and let the kick happen instead of forcing it. We will kick far harder.

It is hard and counter intuitive to think this way. If you are asked to hit harder, or kick harder, you instinctively try to muscle your way through it. However, in Muay Thai that is just what you have to do. Kicking is not about muscling your way through its about doing the form as perfectly as you can, using physics and momentum with the torque of your full body to lay the kick in.

Today we worked on same side teeps, kicks, punch/elbows, to knees. If you have read some of my other blog posts. I mention the 4 counts. Where you go left to right. Left kick, cross, hook, right kick is just one example. Today we were teeping with right leg, to right kick, to right punch or elbow, to clenching up, then getting the knees in.

We also worked on knees to push the opponent away, to kicks, to punches.

Our object is to get speed and timing in. Less worry about the power, but get the feel and timing in.

It is my understanding and hope, that sometime in the future the speed and power will meet and I will have both. But for now I have to just work on both and hope to keep improving.

Food -choices/lifestyle

We went to late lunch, early dinner after, and I wanted to share something with you that I do often. I know a lot of my friends and family say they cannot eat out, or eat anything fun while dieting. I say dieting is not the way to go. Changing your lifestyle is the way to go. You can eat out if you choose healthy options. Making small good for your health decisions is easier than, saying, I can’t go out and enjoy food and company of friends and family. Soon you will resent your “diet” and may even fall off the wagon.

This picture is the food I ordered at The Cheesecake Factory. This is the dish I got.

CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAP TACOS

Butter Lettuce Leaves Filled with Grilled Chicken and your Choice of:

ASIAN
Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Cucumber, Cilantro and Rice Noodles with Spicy Cashew Sauce

450 calories, 140 fat cals, 15 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 80 mg cholesterol, 1040 mg sodium, 49 g fiber, 3 g total carbs, 32 g sugar,
29 g proteins

This was from the appetizer part of their Skinnylicous menu. This is huge for an appetizer, and perfect for a meal. Most of their regular menu items are 1500 to 2000 calories, and loads of fat and cholesterol. If you are in the U.S.A. just keep an eye out for healthy options, and you will be successful with your goals.

Well that is all, this blog post is long enough. Thank you for reading. Have a great rest of your day.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali… Upward Knees, Knife Flow Drills, Flowery Death

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Today was a regular day, nothing remarkable about it, but I was able to get some more practice in. Its these days that sometimes we have to slog through to get to the progress we want. Its hard not to think that you might be stagnating when you have a just regular day. But I am telling myself that you don’t have to have extreme days to make progress. It was neither to hard or to easy. It was able to do all the moves, and did not get confused. Yay!

Muay Thai – Upward Knees

We worked on pummeling, 50/50 grip or half plumb. We worked on knife hand pummeling. We worked on bicep control pummeling. Then we worked on knees. Then we worked on defense with knee. Tuesday we worked on offence with knee.

Opponent enters with a jab, we parry, grab neck and shoulder, pull them into our knee, then downward diagonal elbow, to full plumb, 5 skip knees, off balance and throw the opponent, then two kicks either left or right.

Opponent throws jab, we catch jab, opponent throws cross, we parry cross, grab back of neck, and shoulder, pull them into our knee, downward diagonal elbow, to full plumb, 5 skip knees, off balance and throw opponent, then two kicks either left or right, depending on which way you throw them.

We then did pummeling drills where we off balanced our opponent and swung them around. The key to off balance and throwing your opponent is. Where their head goes their body goes. You pull their head off center line, their body is more likely to go there.

Kali – Flowery Death, Knife Flow Drills

We started with practicing our palm stick gunting drills. Then we went in to our knife drills. We worked on getting the sensitivity to the opponents moves and dealing several blows in flowing motion to one limb. In this case the arm.

For the Knife Flow Drills -we started with the pakal grip (or ice pick grip).

  • The opponent feeds a 1 (coming from right hand side of opponent at a downward diagonal angle to me), I gunting (scissor) his arm, then cut into his triceps controlling that cut arm I stab into the well of his neck.
  • The opponent feeds a two (coming from left hand side in a horizontal ark), I zone, block with the blade of my arm and the actual blade cut up, cut bicep while controlling the hand/arm with a pak (slap) and then sink the blade into the well of his neck.
  • The opponent feeds a 3 (coming from the right hand side in a horizontal ark), I zone and block with blade of my arm and blade of knife, cut bicep, while controlling the arm I just cut and sink blade into the well of opponents neck.
  • The opponent feeds a 4( coming from the left hand side of opponent in a downward diagonal angel to me), I gunting (scissor) his arm, then cut the triceps, control that arm with a pak (slap), then sink the blade into the well of his neck.

For this drill, the 1 and 3 strikes you pass the energy using gunting (scissor) and for strikes 2 and 4 you meet the force. Using the blade of your forearm and the knife you stop the force and cut the opponent in the process.

Apparently I bring the flowery death. I will make your death look pretty. Lol When we were practicing this drill, for the strikes 1 and 3 I was flourishing with my knife. Which while pretty, eats up a few extra seconds. Our guest instructor for the day wanted us to pass the energy and just cut quickly into the meat of the triceps. He said because severing the triceps will make it so your opponent cannot use that arm to do anything.

I have a 5 am wake up tomorrow, so that is all for me today. Thank you for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day.

Saturday Bo Staff and Striking… 17 count Bo Drills, Knees take the piss out of you

Grinning like fool. So tired its hard to get a selfie. LOL

2.5 hours of martial arts training. Today we worked on 17 count bo staff drills and knees. I woke up with really bad neck and shoulder pain. My scoliosis was acting up again, and I must have slept wrong. So I woke up in incredible pain. I showered, and had my husband put Namnam Thai Oil on my shoulders.

17 count Bo Drills

Today we worked on the 17 count Kali/Escrima drills using the bo staff. We worked using the staff holding it in the middle. Think like Little John in the Robin Hood movies.

(note: Keep in mind different schools/Guros have different numbering systems. We use the Guro Dan Inosanto system.)

17 Count – done with sword/stick/knife/and now bo staff

(note: this is my descriptions of the moves)

  1. Downward diagonal from the right side
  2. Downward diagonal from the left side
  3. Swing from right side of hip
  4. Swing from left side of hip
  5. Inward stab to torso
  6. Back hand stab to face/chest from left side
  7. Thrust to stab face/chest right side
  8. Head shot from left hand angle
  9. Upward strike to knee from right side
  10. Upward strike to knee from left side
  11. Downward strike to knee from right side
  12. Downward strike to knee from left side
  13. Side step/zone to the right with a horizontal shot to head from the right
  14. Side step/zone back to left while striking a horizontal shot to the head from left
  15. Over head straight downward shot to the head. Think Kendo or caveman style club to head.
  16. Step forward with right leg, and strike head again, this time a small swing, almost like a sideways redondo
  17. Striking hit to jam knife, stick, staff up in the jaw of an opponent, as you turn the body. Body is giving torque and power for shot.

With staff we worked on distance management as well. Because we only want to hit towards the ends of the staff when holding it in long style. We only moved in when committing to shots. So much fun to work staves and see the similarities and differences between, daga/knife, sword/stick, and the staff.

Striking – Knees take the piss out of you

Today in striking we worked on several things, however, it was the clenching and knees that were great and the worst.

We worked on a stopping teep/foot jab, right kick, to cross (this is weird cause it is same side), hook, to right kick again. This teep is different because we were not trying to push our opponent away, like we normally do. We just needed to stop their momentum, so we could hit them.

We also worked on the hop kicks to the rest of the 4 counts. I really, really need to work on my hop kicks. I am not so great at them. If you can imagine a drunk gazelle trying to hop or maybe a albatross trying to do a hop kick. You might be picturing me.

Then we worked on clenching. Pushing our opponent while keeping our hips in, and keeping our weight on them. This was hard on my neck but I kept at it. We worked on putting our knees in, knee number 1’s and the knee number 2’s. Knee number 1, is both feet on the ground and you knee in to your opponents quads or torso. Knee number 2, is you have one foot on the ground while your other foot goes out behind you. You open up your hips and then you knee the person in the quads or the torso.

This is especially hard when you are trying to hold on to your opponent. Frame on their shoulders, hang off of them while keeping your hips correct, and then putting the knees in. When they lean into you, you then spin them and get a knee in.

We then worked on pummeling just so we could work on getting the upper hand and keeping our framework. Can I tell you we all were huffing and puffing and dying of exhaustion.

The knees take the piss out of you. I was so exhausted by the end of the class at 2 pm, that I wanted to just pass out and sleep on the mat at the same time as I wanted food. But I don’t think at that point I could have put the food in my mouth. I would have had to have some one feed me I was so tired.

So what do you do? I just sat there… well lets be honest laid there, rested, and let my body cool down. Got dressed one piece of clothing at a time slowly and hauled my butt and my equipment to the car.

We went to get lunch and run errands. We got a screw in a tire, and had to wait at the dealer. Tire wont be in till Monday or Tuesday, but we have a loaner car, so all is well. I am exhausted and I hope to sleep well.

Have a good night, and as always thanks for reading. If you have questions or want to say something, drop a line. Also I started a glossary of terms on a separate page if you are interested.

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

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Yesterday I worked on kicking through my opponent, and I was sore from that work out. But today after I practiced my Wai Krhu I loosened up.

Muay Thai – Timing and distance management are the real skills

Kru Kristen had us drilling more knee entries from catch jab and scoop of incoming cross. When you were able to push your training partner back we then worked into the Thai 4 counts. We also were working drills to feel when your opponent breaks the distance or enters your striking range with knees.

I find my knees are the worst skill in Muay Thai. I realized today that it was because when I had a herniated disk, they hurt so much to put knees in, that I have been babying my back since then. I was placing my knee but not pushing through. Kru Kristen told me again to give myself permission to hit and push through. So today I was working on pushing through my opponent to knee into and through them. Driving them back, so I could kick. I was putting the knees in and it was not hurting at all. This makes me so happy.

We also worked on full plumb to fence control of the opponents arm, and then to controlling the opponent with a choke or a putting the blade of your hand into the pocket of the arm and controlling your opponent by controlling their shoulder socket.

Toward the end, Kru Kristen wanted to emphasize that you may know the moves, but in a fight it is about knowing distance and timing management. If you cannot judge distance correctly then you will be hit, if you cannot get the timing down right, and avoid their hits you will get hit. In a fight you want to get hit less and hit more. Its the energy your opponent gives you, that you need to harness and return to them. If they commit to a shot then do a destruction, step off the line and return shots at them.

Kali/Silat – Panantukan Palm Stick and Trigg Ten

In Kali we worked on Silat again, Panantukan, and we practiced the Trigg Ten. Kru Kristen wanted us to do the Trigg Ten to focus on committing to the shots. Because with panantukan tonight we worked with palm stick. Where we could use the inside gunting and outside gunting to mouse the funny bone nerve cluster. This is were we find the entry for the gunting and use the palm stick, we can really hurt our opponent, or attacker.

A palm stick is any implement, usually a short stick, but can be a flash light, or a sharpie that you can use to do destructions (a destruction is a move where you damage the attackers hand with your elbow, knees, or a weapon in hopes to deter your attacker) on your opponent with.

Here are some examples of palm sticks:

So when your attacker throws a punch instead of parrying, or blocking you can hit your opponents hand with a palm stick, sharpie, flashlight, or the punyo/butt of a bladed weapon. Most people will stop trying to punch you if you hit them with this. Also it has a good chance of breaking their hand.

The Trigg Ten is a punching/boxing drill, I filmed me drilling below. Here are the punch combinations.

Trigg Ten:

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

It is really late and I need to go to bed. I hope you all had a great day. Thank you for reading.

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

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

Muay Thai – Level 1 test


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

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

Level 1 test round 1
Level 1 test round 2

Kali/Silat – pummeling 4 ways

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

Pummeling:

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

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

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

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Conditioning Kicks, 7 Weapon Rotations

I had one of those bad days… you know the ones that are epic in their badness? I am not going to go into great detail here, but suffice to say that Company A that I purchased a good/service from, made 3 accounting errors in two days. We caught one yesterday and thought we dealt with it. We were understanding and were fine with their reversal and their apology. We wake up the next morning
to them having pushed through another duplicate payment. They tripled charged us for the same good/service. We don’t know why they did. Our credit union has a fax from Company A saying sorry we made a mistake, from yesterday. So we had to deal with that, and in the mean time even though they made a mistake we have to wait till those charges are reversed. It was not an insubstantial sum of money either. If it was I would have taken it in stride.

I digress though. It was hard to get into the head space to workout. It would not have been as much of a problem, but I had other things go wrong today. I came, I have shown up and I worked through the problems during the day and I have worked through my workout. 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali.

Muay Thai – Conditioning Kicks

We worked on more Thai 4 counts. I worked a fantastic sweat and it was well needed. I did not realize I needed to just kick the crap out of pads today, and it was very cathartic. We then did conditioning kicks. We were supposed to do testing today, but due to the fact that one Kru was out of town, and the other got a horrible cold they postponed the testing till Tuesday. Hopefully we will do it then. I got to work with a friend that I had not seen for a while. She was impressed with the quality of my kicks. She was around when I had my horrible back injury. So she is finally getting to feel my true power in my kicks.

I need to remember to breath. I am getting gassed cause I am not breathing. That is why we make sounds, or make a chhhh sound. Where you put your teeth together and pressing your tongue to your teeth exhale.

I got to use my new gloves, and I will do a full review of them in a later post after I have had about two weeks to break them in and get a feel for them. But here is what they look like. Are they not pretty? But after my first use of them for this class. I love them.

Kali – 7 Weapon Rotation

Kali was interesting today. We had a guest instructor today, cause our Kru was out of town. He had us doing a number of things one of them is in the video below. Where we start with a cob cob, and pie pie, then high low high, and low high low.

The most interesting and hard part was when we did the full box drill but had to switch between 7 combinations of weapons and open hand. For instance we had to do the full box drill up to 20 moves:

  1. Open hand one stick
  2. 2 sticks
  3. 1 stick and one knife
  4. 2 knife
  5. Staff
  6. Double handed sword
  7. Stick/sword and shield

This was interesting, hard, and wonderful at the same time. I realize what he was going for. He wanted to get comfortable with using all of it and transitioning between the different weapons. We have done the full box drill 100 times before but we would focus on say double stick then double knife. This gave us perspective about distance management and also forced us to think through our moves, when you had a completely different weapon then the last time we drilled this.

It is 11:38 pm here, and I have to be up in the morning at 5 so I am going to stop here. I am tired, and had a rough day. But I am glad I got into the gym. I am glad I pushed through even though I just wanted to hide my head under a pillow and ignore the world.

If you have read this far, you deserve a reward. Lol…Get yourself a nice fru fru coffee, you know one of those $4 dollar ones that have some special sprinkling of spices on it. Yeah one of those, you have my permission. =)

As always let me know if you have any questions, or just want to say hi.