Tag: Fitness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Schedule: Week of Training

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

My Martial Art Focus:

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

Drills for this week:

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

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

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


Weight Lifting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nutrition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Schedule: Week of Training

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

My Martial Art Focus:

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

Drills for this week:

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

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

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

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

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

Kali: We missed this weeks training


Weight Lifting

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

Weight lifting: Glutes and quads

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nutrition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Schedule: Great week of training.

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

My Martial Art Focus:

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

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Weight Liftingf

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

Weight lifting: Glutes and quads

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nutrition

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

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

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

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

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

Martial Arts and Training: Being flexible in training is key to successful training.

week of 7/5/2021

Being flexible in training is key to successful training, and I don’t just mean flexibility in getting your kicks higher. So I have learned that through my years of training that my schedule as much as I may try to stick to it will have to be flexible. Family, friends, people getting sick, cars breaking down, and life in general just gets in the way.

Try as I might this last week I did not get all of my weight lifting sessions in. I however, did not let it derail me entirely.

Many many moons ago when I first started this adventure. If I ran into a bump, or a interruption of my schedule I would think, “well there goes my week. I am going to have to start over.” Well that is flawed thinking. Because even if you miss one workout or two, you can still get some in. You can squeeze it in maybe another day. Maybe you even just miss it.

You do want to stick to a schedule but scrapping your workout, and all your progress just because you missed a workout is like shooting yourself in the foot.

Consistency is important, but I argue consistency over time is more important.

Say your goal is five days a week of working out. If you only get three workouts in a week for a month because your schedule is just too crazy. That is far better than missing workouts one week so you decide to scrap that week, and try again. Only to find that your schedule is messed up again, and you have to start over again. Lather rinse and repeat. A few months down the line you are still starting over and you did not make any progress. If you stuck to the three days a week and did what you could during that time. You might very well see progress.

So what I am saying is… when you are getting started don’t get yourself bogged down and bum yourself out if you have missed a workout.

I say this with years under my belt, and I have been doing an 8 week weight lifting program. Where the last few weeks were rough for me. I missed two workouts every week. I got 4 others in but still. I contemplated just restarting the whole 8 week program. But I told myself to just stick it out. If I have to do it again I will. But doing what I can now is better than starting over.

Have you started over often? Try not to in the future. Just keep going.

Schedule: I got what I could in. I missed one day of weight lifting because

  1. Monday 6/28/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/29/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/30/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/01/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/02/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/03/2021: 1 hour of weight lifting, 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training
  7. Sunday 7/04/2021: Muay Thai 2 hours of training

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. We are working on footwork, distance management, counter attacks and 4 count drills
  2. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weight Lifting

Focus on for this 4th week of 8 weeks is still strength and form.

Weight lifting: back and bicep focus

1) lat pull down- reps – 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15
2) standing barbell row – reps- 10, 10, 10, 10
3) resistance band face pull – reps- 15, 15, 15, 15
4) seated wide grip resistance band row – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
5)dumbbell bicep spider curls – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Nutrition

  1. This week like I said was difficult. So I decided to switch to maintenance. I have been just making sure I get food into me. But have not been pushing the protein.
  2. I did eat a bunch of carbs though… lol
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein971241671431029581115.57142919074.42857143
Carbs184302199232183391164236.428571160-76.42857143
Fat764612170909011787.142857167-20.14285714
           
Calories18082118255321301950275420332192.285712003-189.2857143
7/05/2021 – 7/12/2021

Don’t let things that pop up in your life get in the way of your goals. The key is long term. There will be things that mess us up. But we just need to push through.

Thank you for reading. If you liked it please hit the like button. If you want to chat please feel free to comment. If you want to keep following my crazy adventures, and some weeks less crazy… subscribe. For day to day things you can find me on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Getting a breakthrough after a plateau in training.

week of 6/28/2021

Hello everybody, this is a day late, because I focused my time on the family this weekend. Yay! We had a holiday here in the U.S.A. It was 4th of July or our independence day. Anyway back to the regularly scheduled program.

pushing knee

Getting a breakthrough after a plateau in training. You can get these breakthroughs in anything you are doing. Weight lifting, you notice after a while you are not progressing, you try to add more weights and just not strong enough to pull those. However, one day you will find that the normal weights you did are not taxing you as much so you can push through that weight barrier.

You get breakthroughs in running. You have you pace, you have your pushing yourself in a sprint pace and will literally die if you try to keep running that fast. Then one day you are running and you just out paced yourself and shaved 30 seconds off your time not even trying.

In martial arts it looks a little different. Well it looks a little different for me. Clearly, I have only experienced my plateaus. I have heard about training from others but let me just speak from my experience with my own training.

So in Muay Thai training we put hours on the mat. Sometimes just drilling and drilling specific skills. And oftentimes you will hear what you have to do to fix things, to make your strikes better. You are cognizant of the fact you have to fix them. But try as you might, drilling, and training, it may not click entirely. It may be that the biomechanics just don’t make that much sense to you. But you keep working it, and try to fix it.

Sometimes you don’t feel like you are getting anywhere. Sometimes it just feels like grinding. Most of the time it is just grinding. However, you are working and working muscle memory. What I have found and what has happened in the past 3 weeks is for me is I made strides and positive improvements.

I noticed my clench game has been on point these last few weeks. It is just easier for me. There is no other way to describe it. Before in clench I would try to muscle it. I would fight and try to do the moves as intended but I would muscle it making it much harder.

The things I have learned and the information I have been given just clicked. I could see where I was making mistakes and fix it. It happened again this week. Our focus on Muay Thai is knees.

  1. Pushing knees to create space
  2. Upward knees to strike your opponent
  3. Side in Knees to get over guards and to cause damage

I had an epiphany. I realized what I was doing wrong and how I was bleeding off my power when hitting knees. I realized my foot work needed to change in a certain way (namely my shuffle in). I changed it, and low and behold it freaking worked. All those tips and training days just clicked. I figured out the body mechanics and it felt good. It felt more effortless than before. I was getting power into my knees, and I was getting my flying knees in too.

Am I saying I am perfect? Nope, but it just clicked for me today, and for the past couple of weeks.

Will it return to my grinding through the next phase? Yea I am sure it will. But I will keep putting time in on the mat. Because that is how we improve our skills.

The main goal is to keep putting time in. Even if you feel like you are not making any more progress you are, and you will.

There are many ways and suggestions to get over a plateau. Many people have many ideas some of which are:

  1. Change up your training –
    • train more
    • train less
    • mix up your training, adding eccentric movements (or what is often referred to as negative movement)
    • supersets
    • add HIIT training
  2. Be patient – sometimes it is just putting the time in on the mat, in the gym, under the weights
  3. Get more sleep – in the US at least there is a culture of look how busy I am, and look at all the things I am doing, with emphasis on I am tired but so productive. Other countries their emphasis is family, rest, and relaxation.
  4. Look at your diet –
    • are you eating enough
    • are you eating to much
    • are you hydrated
  5. Focus on a different aspect of what you are training – For instance if you are having a hard time learning how to kick or learning that small tweak to make your kicks better. Switch up to elbows, train elbows. Give your body and your brain a break from kicks. Then come back to kicks and see if any of the tweaks from before have settled in to your understanding.
  6. Go to a training seminar, class, week, camp – this has helped me make strides in the right direction.

Keep in mind there are a lot of websites out there to help you through them. Here are some websites to go take a look at that might help if you hit a plateau:

  1. NerdFitness.com https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-hit-a-plateau/
  2. BodyBuilding.com https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek23.htm
  3. MuscleandStrength.com https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/9-steps-to-eliminating-a-plateau.html

In my case with the martial arts… I just needed to be patient put the mat time in. My body needed to discover the body mechanics on its own.

I have also noticed huge strides and advances when I go to seminars, and special training day/weeks. I am mentally more open, like a sponge because it is a different gym, different teacher, or different training style.

Upward striking knee

Schedule: This week I was all over the place. I go only one day of weight lifting in. But I did get my Muay Thai training in.

  1. Monday 6/28/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/29/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/30/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/01/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/02/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/03/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training
  7. Sunday 7/04/2021: holiday with family

My Martial Art Focus:This week we focused:

  1. We worked Knees, pushing knees, striking knees, flying knees, and side in knees
  2. We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench
  3. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope
2) mirror knee drill – plus sign foot work then knee

3) jab, cross, pushing knee
4) held pads for H

5) jab, cross, elbow, upright knee, or flying knee
6) held pads for H

7) defend jab, cross, hook, tie up, three skip knees, off balance and throw partner, follow with kick
8 ) held pads for H

9) clench spar with curved


Areas I need to work on:

  1. I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
  2. Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
  3. Shift in, and work on footwork to produce power in the knees
    Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • Hip in for knees
    • Push off ground with foot of leg that is kneeing

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

This week is week 3 of an 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.

Knee on belly, after throwing my partner
  1. barbell hip thrust – first two sets warm up- reps – 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
  2. dumbbell Bulgarian split squats- reps each side- 8, 8, 8, 8
  3. dumbell sumo squats – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
  4. standing leg extensions with resistance bands- reps each side – 12, 12, 12, 12
  5. dumbbell squats – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12,
  6. Super set: do all exercises through before a rest
    • kettlebell pike crunches with – reps – 18, 18, 18, 18
    • plank stands one minute – reps – 1 m, 1 m, 1 m, 1 m

Nutrition:

  1. Although this week was not scheduled to be this way, I just let it evolve to a maintenance week.
  2. There are times where tracking and trying to meet your Macro goals is tedious, and you need a break. I sure did.
  3. No worries I will be back on track.

What it looks like on my averages and goals, is I did not get enough protein in. I was a little over on carbs, and a little over on fats. I was not eating enough to meet even my normal cut even though I did not follow my food goals. Onwards and upwards.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein85997912198657388.5714286190101.4285714
Carbs173198199164113202198178.142857160-18.14285714
Fat851019210349796682.142857167-15.14285714
           
Calories17972097194020671285177916781806.142862003196.8571429
6/28/2021 to 7/4/2021

How have you gotten past plateaus?

If you have not, have you tried any of these tweaks to help you?

I wanted to say thank you all for reading my blog. I started this as a way to just keep track of my journey/adventures/ you name it. But I enjoy hearing from you, so please feel free to comment. If you liked this please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow my adventures day to day I am on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Clench Work a.k.a Standing Grappling – its all in feeling your opponent

week of 6/21/2021

My primary martial art I practice is Muay Thai. A major component of Muay Thai is the clench work, or clenching. I have heard some people call it standing grappling.

I will say that is one area I am not great in. However, I feel like I have made huge strides for the better in this area.

I have scoliosis and clenching is hard on your neck shoulders and back. However, I have been working on strengthening my neck, shoulders, and back. Not only that I have been working on getting my footwork correct, and trying to execute the moves as intended. When you study Muay Thai, you will realize that this art form uses body mechanics in everything you do. I mention this because when you perform the movements correctly it can almost become effortless in some cases.

Now don’t get me wrong… there is a lot of effort in clech work. In some cases the tired I get from clech work is the kind that seeps into your bones and you feel like you could sleep for days. But when you execute an off balance just right, or you swim out of a clench and get the clench on some one else it can seem effortless.

Now what do I mean by clench work is feeling your opponent?

If you have done any grappling. You will note/remember/understand that most of the time you are protecting your head, and keeping it close to the body of your opponent. This happens in BJJ, this happens in Muay Thai. When you keep you head close to the body of your opponent in grappling you cannot see what they are doing.

You have to feel. You have to feel what your opponent is doing. You have to feel the moment they lift their leg, so you can off balance them. You have to feel for when they try to spin you off balance, so you can use their momentum against them.

Everything is by feel. The slightest movement and that can me you dump your opponent. Most of the time you cannot see where their head is, you know that it is at the top of their bodies, but you have to feel for it and push their heads away to get out of clench.

It is small nuances the we learn in the way the opponent cants their bodies as if they are trying to elbow you.

With clench work, we often off balance and throw our opponent. Which is to say we end up on the floor often… I was really happy that when we did, I remembered my little bit of BJJ and based. Denying my opponent the ability to roll me over and be in control. This too was done by feel, where he moved I moved so that he could not get an opening.

I really love the nuances of Muay Thai, it is also one of the reasons it is so frustrating at times. Just the small little things to clean up your form, to make it so that it seems/feels effortless. Watch great practitioners of Muay Thai and watch them closely, they look like it is not hard. It is but they have learned to work their bodies, and with their opponents bodies.

Every martial art I have had the pleasure of working and learning, Muay Thai, Kali, JKD, Weng Chun, and especially BJJ all have a component of feeling where your opponent is. You either go with their force or meet their force. You feel their movements often times before you see it. That is when you are supposed to respond. Of course easier said then done, it takes years of practice to notice small movements and then know what to do when you notice them.

Schedule: This week I was on target and got everything done. Yay! I stayed on schedule even if it was hard. Well mostly, I missed one day of Muay Thai training because of work.

  1. Monday 6/21/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/22/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/23/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/24/2021: 1 hour of Weight Lifting, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/25/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/26/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/27/2021: Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

clench with knee
  1. This week we focused:
    1. We worked gunting (scissor or destruction) of incoming attacks.
    1. We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench, and defence to entry into clench, defending against clench.
    1. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai Training:
1) jump rope
2) jab, cross, catch parry
3) jab, cross, inside gunting
4) jab, cross, back hand gunting

5) parry jab, cross, hook, return vertical gunting, the tie up, (I specifically worked the single wing, take down, abs knee to face)
6) fed for H

7) jab, cross, inside backhand, fence
8 ) held pads for H

9) jab, cross, hook, rear knee, step in and switch stance, cross, hook, cross, lead kick, step back into original stance.
10) held pads for H

11) jab, cross, hook, destroy face, reverse puta kapala
12) same as above

off balancing your partner


Areas I need to work on:

  • I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
    • Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
  • Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • more practice with clench
    • makes sure I have better head control of my opponent

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week is week 2 of an 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.

Weight Lifting: back and bicep focus

1) 3 minutes of fast feet
2) dumbell inclined chest press – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
3) dumbell chest flys – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
4) diamond push ups – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
5) cable/resistance bands tricep extensions -reps- 12, 12, 12
6) barbell overhead shoulder press -reps – 10, 10, 8, 8
7) leaning one arm dumbell lateral raises – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

Nutrition:

  1. I was able to get closer to my carb and fats goals but was complete trash on my protein goals. I did not meet those by half. Ok gonna need to focus on protein this coming week.
  2. Have I mentioned I am a carbasaur. Love carbs… not so much love for the meat.
Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
76136791289710810410419086
142156220176135260217186.571429160-26.57142857
47774692811068976.857142967-9.857142857
          
129518611610204416572426208518542003149
06/21/2021- 06/27/2021

Anyway that is the training post for this last week. I stuck to my schedule except when work got in the way on Sunday. But I got all of my weight lifting days in. I am feeling it today.

What martial art do you practice? Did you notice in your martial art that feeling your opponents movements are as important or more so when you are grappling, or in contact bodily with them?

Thank you for reading. If you want to talk to me please feel free to comment. Like this post if you liked it, and please subscribe if you want to see more of my adventures. My day to day stuff is on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Why do we try to stay relaxed in Muay Thai?

week of 6/14/2021

This is a person who takes accidental photos. Hah

In Muay Thai we generally tell ourselves and our students to be loose, and to be relaxed. While we also tell them to keep your guard up, cover your face, and be ready to counter attack.

Often times it feels like they are telling you to do opposing things at the same time. Like hold your breath and breathe at the same time.

However, there is merit to what they are saying. You should aim to be loose, relaxed, not tight and coiled like a spring. If you are tight, your strikes will be tight not flowing and not fast. You tend to telegraph your movements as well.

Staying loose and relaxed helps with:

  1. Helps with flow – You are smooth, your strikes are chained together and that makes you faster. You are then better able to land strikes on your opponent.
  2. Helps with reaction time – You are relaxed so you can react better, faster, and without having to uncoil
  3. Conserves energy – You don’t know how long the fight will go. Well out in the real world you don’t know how long the fight will go. If you are in the ring you know it will be on average 3 minutes. You want to only exert energy when you are trying to defend or attack. Staying tense the entire time is just going to tire you out. That is good for your opponent or your attacker.
  4. You want to be relaxed when falling – If you take a fall, are off balanced, and or thrown you want to be relaxed. If you are tight and try to brace your fall you might break something. You want to practice your break fall, slapping the ground to stop your momentum, while aiming to fall on the meatiest parts of you, butt/shoulder area. The only thing you want to keep tight when falling is your chin to chest to stop you hitting your head.

Try it out for yourself.

Tighten your fists into a ball, tighten your arms and your biceps and cover your face, now try to punch. You can certainly punch but it feels forced. This is because your mind is telling your body to keep it tight, be ready, stay clenched. If a strike is coming toward you or you want to strike, your brain has to tell your body to let the muscle loosen and strike. This takes seconds, does not seem long, but it is, it is the time it takes some one to strike you 3 or 4 times.

Now if you have your hands up to your face your hands are not clenched and you are not tight through your arms, and shoulders. If some one were to strike at your face you can deflect, defend and or counter strike much easier, because you don’t have to unclench. Your body flows in a more natural way.

I have seen this very phenomenon in brand new students. They are tight waiting for that strike, worried they will get hit, want to counter and attack. But their tightness is a detriment and slows them down so that they do get hit. In brand new students you can see their strikes coming because their body is uncoiling.

It takes a long time to learn to be loose. I still tighten up when I get into my own head, and worry about my performance.

In a striking martial art you will get hit. It is inevitable. It is necessary. It is part of the training.

So we try to stay relaxed in Muay Thai because we want to flow, react in time so as not to get hit, or injured, and to conserve our energy.

We were practicing Wing Chun and JKD on Saturday during our Kali class. We worked on trapping, passing, and striking. Wing Chun and JKD use firm/unyielding in opposition or in compliment to pliant/yielding strikes, or hard and soft techniques. The goal is being relaxed and then going into unyielding. You can use your opponents energy against them. You see similar themes in Muay Thai in the parry strike combos, and in the clench off balance drills we train.

How do you train? In your martial art do you try stay relaxed?

Schedule: This week, I unfortunately missed two days of weight lifting. As much as I tried, I had kids doctor appointments, and work got in the way. I wedged in what I could and then moved on. Next week should be similar, just making sure to get my weight lifting days in.

  1. Monday 6/14/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/15/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/16/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/17/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/18/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/19/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/20/2021: Fathers Day in the U.S. we ran around and played soccer

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench, and defence to entry into clench, defending against clench.
    • In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork, block pass and trapping, wing chun
    • Drills for this week:
Knee/Tang

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, lead elbow, tie up
3) held pads for A

4) 50/50 clench, cross off balance
5) was clench dummy for A

6) jab, cross, lead elbow, knee, tie up, run skip knees, spin off, round house kick
7) held pads for A

8 ) defend the incoming jab, and cross, then tie up
9) held pads for A

10) escaping the full plum tie up, pushing face swimming, or posture up push elbows
11) was clench dummy for A

12) break fall practice

Horizontal elbow
  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
    • Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
    • Still need to keep working bringing hands back to my face after a strike.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • more practice with clench
    • makes sure I have better head control of my opponent

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week started a new 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.
  2. First 4 weeks are time and attention focus, second 4 weeks are HIIT

Weight lifting: back and bicep focus

1) lat pull down- reps – 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15
2) standing barbell row – reps- 10, 10, 10, 10
3) resistance band face pull – reps- 15, 15, 15, 15
4) seated wide grip resistance band row – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
5)dumbbell bicep spider curls – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Nutrition:

This week was a cut week. I redid my numbers, and changed up my macro numbers. I did much better getting my protein in. I also made timers for me. This seems to be helping. I am meal planning, taking my meals with me and when a timer goes off I have my food there for me to eat. I am am generally only at most an hour behind my timer.

I averaged 130 g of protein, woot! Need to adjust down my carbs, and fats, but overall I did well with these new numbers. Yay!

Next week will be even better.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1421851431168015592130.42857119059.57142857
Carbs167145273168246148212194.142857160-34.14285714
Fat847148105781419088.142857167-21.14285714
           
Calories19921959209620812006248120262091.571432003-88.57142857
6/14/2021 – 6/20/2021

Well that is it for this week. June is a busy month for me. I know each of us have that month in the year where everything seems to converge. June is one of these months for me.

I can only strive to be better, do better every week.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow my shenanigans and adventures please subscribe. If you want to chat comment below. For day to day stuff, you can find me on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: De-loading Week, Applying Training Fixes in Sparring

(week of 6/6/2021)

Wanted to talk about two things in this blog post this week. De-loading, and Application of Training in Sparring. Namely the difficulty in applying what you are learning in sparring.

Note: I noticed my dates were off on my last training post. Because I thought I was a month ahead. Hah! I fixed it retroactively

De-Loading:

This week was a De-loading week. Experts far smarter than I am have suggested that after you finish a weight lifting program you give your body a week where you let it rest from that particular training. So that is what I have done.

What is deloading? A de -loading week is not taking a week off of any activity, it is simply shifting focus on your training. Or reducing the amount you are. It is a chance to focus on rest, recuperation in the form of sleep and nutrition.

How I chose to de-load. I decided to give my body a week off of weight lifting, because I also train martial arts 4 days a week. I am eating to hit my macros, and I am trying to get enough sleep in.

What I noticed:

  1. I was getting better sleep over all
  2. My body did not hurt.
    • My body was not in the perpetual D.O.M.S. (Delayed onset muscle soreness) cyle. Train –> Sore –> Train different area –> sore etc.
  3. I did not lack energy in my martial arts
    • I noticed I was not getting enough rest between, working, training, and my martial arts
  4. The scale went down a little bit
    • I don’t know if it was water weight, I don’t know if it was a little bit of muscle loss. I don’t think so.
  5. I feel good, still getting some training in

I finished an 8 week weight lifting session. I got great results and wanted to start in on my second 8 week training session. However, I was smart and waited like the experts say to. So when you read this I will have started on my next 8 week training session. I am focused for the next 8 weeks on shredding, instead of bulking.

To be honest, I feel a little silly talking about shredding and bulking because I am not going to be an IFBB (International Federation of Body Building and Fitness) pro, or even compete. But shredding and bulking is what I am doing. I am following programs to help me “Bulk” or put on muscle mass, and to “shred” or lose fat and keep muscle. It is the same or similar process that these pros follow, and even if I don’t plan on competing I love to train and have goals I have set for myself.

Applying My Training Fixes in Sparring:

Can we take a minute to just sit and realize how hard it is in sparring to remember what you just were working on. When the adrenaline drops and you are facing your opponent… well everything goes out of your brain. You forget how to even practice Muay Thai. At least that is the case when you first start.

When you have been sparring for a while though, and practicing Muay Thai for a while though, you start to remember your form when you spar. Let me say though, your bad habits will show in sparring. Part of your brain will be screaming don’t get hit, and the other part will be saying focus on your skills. Or at least so far after 3 years of training and sparring time, my brain still does this.

Now try to throw in any of the things you have been working on. For me lets say it is remembering right now not to telegraph my jab to my opponent. It is near impossible. That goes straight out of the brain, and all I can think of is stay out of range to your opponent, then get in with an entry you know you have trained, what they see that jab coming. Hey how do I get my entry into the pocket when they see me coming? (You know what brain, we just worked on that in pad work, if you just…then I get smacked in the face. Then the brain goes crap crap punched in the face… don’t let that happen again.)

Lets say it is hard. I know I am not the only one that feel that way. Another girl that is brand new to sparring, has had the same problem. We have been told often by our trainers that this is a problem and the goal is to relay on our training and not think so much. Easier said than done. So we continue to practice.

Schedule: This was last weeks schedule while I was doing a de-loading week. No weight lifting

  1. Monday 6/7/2021: No training
  2. Tuesday 6/8/2021: No training
  3. Wednesday 6/9/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/10/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/11/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/12/2021: Muay Thai and Kali 2 hours
  7. Sunday 6/13/2021: Muay Thai training 2 hours

This will be my new schedule going forward for the next 8 weeks. I am going to try it out and unless I run up against any major problems I will keep it. I am starting a new weight lifting program for 8 weeks.

  1. Monday 6/14/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/15/2021: Weight lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/16/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/17/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/18/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/19/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/20/2021: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai training, Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • Boxing and elbows
    • We worked on footwork for getting into the pocket and getting out after the close range elbows.
    • In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork, and gunting.
    • Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, lead elbow
3) held pads for H

4) cross, hook, rear elbow
5) held pads for H

6) jab, cross, hook, lead elbow
7) held pads for H

8 ) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee
9) held pads for H

10) jab, cross, hook, spinning back rear elbow
11) held pads for H

12) jab, cross, hook, spinning back rear elbows, spinning back lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee
13) held pads for H

We then worked in Kali on, gunting 6 ways:
1) The in and out avoiding blows
2) The meet the force
3) The following the force
3.5 ) gunting left hand follow the force
4) gunting, then return shot with left hand or knife hand
5) gunting, then return shot with stick or right hand
6) gunting, then return stick and knife shot

  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my short range hooks. Bringing the hand tight and using body for power.
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
    • Still need to keep working bringing hands back to my face after a strike.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • I am going to work on footwork drills 2 minutes before every run, and 2 minutes after every run. Per my Kru’s suggestion.
    • Repetition of the above short range hooks, no tells, returning hand to face, and entries.

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week was a de-loading week. So I did not weight lift or run. Because I still had martial arts training.

Nutrition:

Hey this week I have gotten so close to meeting my protein requirements. This is the closest I have gotten 120 grams average is great.

The alarm system has been great for helping me get my meals in. During work my phone will go off and I did my best to take my break soon after. I averaged about 1 hour after the alarm but better than forgetting to eat so that is a positive move in the right direction.

I am going to redo my numbers and tweak my macros again.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein15914611992108120101120.71428617352.28571429
Carbs188184106146199283250193.7142862017.285714286
Fat63781121459480131100.42857190-10.42857143
           
Calories19552022190822572074233225832161.571432306144.4285714
6/7/2021- 6/13/2021

Have you tried a de-loading week?

Have you had that adrenaline drop in the ring and forgotten how to do anything?

That is it for my past week. It was a welcome time off to recuperate. Now back to working to improve my fitness, and martial arts.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to follow please subscribe, and if you want to see day to day stuff, check out my Instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Nutrition Is the First Thing That Goes For Me

(week of 05/31/2021)

I know I don’t represent everyone, but I know I am also not alone. For some people when life gets busy, the first thing that goes is their activity/workouts. When I am stressed, life gets in the way, or just upset the first thing that falls apart for me is nutrition. I can eat later right? Wrong… I run out of time, train my body not to be hungry. Its no good.

It looks a little like this for me: When I get stressed, busy, upset… I forget to eat. I put it off till I have, what I think is time to eat. This leaves me in a pickle. Because then when I surface for air, I realize I am hungry and if I have not planned I can make terrible decisions. I also find myself at the end of the day having not hit my macros.

Let me restate this about macros: I use macros as a tool. They are a tool to help me reach the nutritional numbers my body needs. Macros are a tool, but not to be focused on to much to be a detriment. Also your body works on averages. So if you did not eat enough protein in one day, if you make sure to eat enough the next day it will average out. That is why I focus on the averages.

I tend to default to carbs…they are easy and tasty!

So to combat this I am taking today to work on my eating schedule. Hopefully if I schedule it out it will happen more often.

This last week I was supposed to do just that, schedule out my food and keep to the schedule as best as I could. This last week I got busy… super busy, kids, work, workout/training… you name it. I did not make the schedule.

My schedule when I wake up alternates. So I don’t wake up the same time each day. That is my biggest problem. On days I work I get up at 4:30 am and tend not to eat till 9 or 10 am when I have a break in the day at work. I need to schedule eating my meals and snacks not at certain times, but at regular intervals that change based on when I get up, rise like the dead out of my bed.

So I am going to plan to do this:

  1. wake up (4:30 am or 7:30 am)
  2. Eat first meal: by 1 hour after waking 5:30 am or 8:30 am
  3. Eat a snack: try 3 hours later 8:30 am or 11:30 am
  4. Eat second meal: 3 hours later 11:30 am or 2:30 pm
  5. Eat a snack: try 3 hours later 2:30 pm or 5:30 pm
  6. Eat last meal: 3 hours later 5:30 pm or 8:30 pm

Hopefully this will work for me. I have made up meal plans, but it does me no good if it sits there and I don’t eat it. I have to do this for me. I have to break this cycle and make it a priority. This is the next step in my fitness journey. I have the training. Now is the time to hone in on my nutrition.

Schedule: This is a pretty typical week of training at least for the last 8 weeks (although now I am changing up my weight lifting program going forward because I just finished an 8 week program)

  1. Monday 5/31/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/01/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/02/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/03/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/04/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/05/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 55 minutes
  7. Sunday 6/06/2021: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai training, Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • On foot movement. Not only in our drills, but when I was sparring on Sunday I was getting lazy and crossing my feet when backing up. That is a no no. Will cause me to off balance and or fall.
    • On Teeping and knees to create distance. Using the right tool for the right time. Trying to teep when you are to close for instance is hard to pull off, but kneeing would might be better.
    • Drills for this week:
Knee

Muay Thai Training: class focus is on keeping our feet moving, and cover/block, and return strikes
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, parry

3) jab, cross, hook, catch, parry, cover

4) cross, hook, cross, slip, bob and weave, parry

5) high hook to your left, high elbow cover, uppercut, hook, cross,
High hook to your right, high elbow cover, uppercut, cross

6) incoming body hook to left, uppercut, hook, cross
Incoming body hook to eight, uppercut, cross

7) feeder choice, hook to head or body

Teep

Muay Thai training: Knees and teeps

1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, Teep
3) held pads for H

4) jab, cross, knee
5) held pads for H

6) Teep, rear kick, hook, cross, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 ) scoop Teep, kick leg, hook, cross, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick, lead teep
11) held pads for H

Kali-
We worked on meeting the force in the strikes 1 – 12
We worked on going with the force in strikes 1 – 12
We worked witic to umbrella
We worked half T
We worked Full T

We also had cicadas that were super interested in Kali class too.

  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • I am going to work on footwork drills 2 minutes before every run, and 2 minutes after every run. Per my Kru’s suggestion.

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. Currently for running I am just using it as my cardio. Gonna add in some footwork for my martial arts before and after.
  2. Weight Lifting, I have been on an 8 week training program. 3 day split. This was the end of week 8. So now:
    • I have chosen my next 8 week program, a shred weight lifting program
    • This coming week will be a de-loading week for me.

Nutrition:

This week because of how busy I was I went a little over on carbs. Its easy to pick up a carb full snack when you go to the store. This week I got much closer to my protein needs. Next week is a new week and I will keep trying.

I have notice that my recovery time has decreased since eating more of what my body needs. When D.O.M.S. (delayed onset muscle soreness) sets in I noticed it last for less time, and I recover faster.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein124108105202104128116126.71428617346.28571429
Carbs284210213245212220282238201-37
Fat77105961551098974100.71428690-10.71428571
           
Calories23252217213631832245219322582365.285712306-59.28571429
06/31/2021 – 07/06/2021

Well that is it for my last week. I finished up my 8 week weight lifting program. I am proud of finishing up. I have gained muscle , toned up, and have improved on my Muay Thai and Kali practices. All around it has been a good week

I have noted where I have a problem with my nutrition intake, and I am actively working to fix it.

What is the first thing that goes when you are stressed out, busy, or just don’t have time?

Thank you for reading. I have had positive feedback from my blog changes. If you liked this please hit the like button. If you want to comment please feel free to drop me a line. If you want to follow along on my adventures and musings, please subscribe.

You can catch my daily shenanigans on instagram @sharpcupcake. More photos, more just day to day stuff.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Blog Changes

( week of 6/24/2021)

I got busy with family and forgot to write up my post yesterday. I was thinking as I lay there in my bed willing myself to sleep because I had an early 4 am morning work day to get to. It is time to change up my blog.

As martial artists we look to better ourselves and change. I am constantly changing and learning in my art, in my training, and in my fitness. So too this blog is changing.

I have many readers. Some readers come for the healthy recipes I post. (Hey recipe lovers there is another recipe post coming soon. I promise!) Some readers are here for my martial arts posts. Some readers read my posts for the workouts. I don’t know what you like, but my training has significantly changed such that Muay Thai is consistent. It does not have tons of new drills. I am making minor tweaks, that I work on for days/weeks/months. So my training is looking similar day to day, week to week.

So… I will put my main focus for the week here in the blog. I won’t have the nitty gritty day to day stuff here. If you want to see that you can always go to my Instagram account @sharpcupcake. Along with what I am focusing on, will be the drills we used to focus on that for that week.

Outline of what my blog posts will look like maybe: (I reserve the right to change it cause I am mercurial like that)

Schedule: (for those who would like to see how I plan my training)

  1. List of days and workouts/training done.

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Any drills I did that week to work on that focus (if repetitive over multiple days I will only post the drill once here per week)
  2. Areas I need to work on
  3. Problems/solutions I found

My Training Focus:

  1. Weight lifting
  2. Running
  3. Rowing
  4. What ever I am doing at that point in my workout adventure

Nutrition:

  1. Macros
  2. What ever I am trying out now

I started out this blog posting ever time I was working out. That was nearly every day, and that got tedious real fast. Then I switched to this current format.

Now I switch again. I am hoping this will be more streamlined, and helpful to you my readers. You can just skip to the parts you like or want to read.

On with the blog…

Schedule:

  1. Monday 6/24/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/25/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/26/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/27/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/28/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/29/2021: Mile Run, Weight Lifting 55 minutes
  7. Sunday 6/30/2021: extra rest day because inertia got ahold of me after my work meeting

This was a pretty light schedule for me. There are two days of Muay Thai that did not happen due to holiday, that is 3 hours missing, 1 hour of Kali missing no class, and I was lazy on Sunday so no run or weight lifting.

Martial Art Focus:

This last couple of weeks I have been focusing on keeping my hands up, not flaring my elbows, and punching from my face. The last focus I mean not dropping my hands down to my chest for example before I hit the cross.

Hard part of all this is… remembering all of that when sparring, and trying to avoid being hit. Focusing on this during drills when you are tired is hard, not letting all of that fly out the window when sparring is so much harder.

Currently I only remember these things I am focusing on at most half the time. Which is an improvement to when I started sparring and everything I learned just flew the coop. Hahah

Muay Thai Training:
1) jump rope
2) jab, cross, rear kick to leg
3) jab, cross, rear kick to body

4) cross, body hook, cross, lead kick
5) he’d pads for H

6) (high) rear elbow cover, uppercut, cross
(High) lead elbow cover, uppercut, hook, cross
7) held pads for H

8 ) (low) rear body cover, uppercut, cross
(low) lead body cover, uppercut, hook, cross
9) held pads for H

10) feeders choice ( we did random order)
11) held pads for H

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. Currently for running I am just using it as my cardio. I am not training for a marathon, however I have noticed my times have been slowly improving.
  2. Weight Lifting, I have been on an 8 week training program. 3 day split. This week was upper body, lower body, lower body. This week was week 7.
    • My partner has noticed and commented that I have toned up
    • I Have upped my weights that I can lift by 10 lbs for both dumbbells and barbells

Weight lifting: back, shoulders ,triceps, abs

1) inclined under hand chin ups- 8, 8, 7, 7

2) standing dumbbell tricep overhead extensions- 15, 15, 15, 15

3) standing dumbbell lateral raises – 10, 10, 10

4) leaning shoulder front raises – 10, 10, 10, 10

3 supersets below: do all exercises in a set before taking a break

Superset 1: do this set x4
1) standing dumbbell upright row- 12, 12, 12, 12
2) dumbbell back fly – 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset 2: do this set x3
1) seated tricep overhead extensions – 12, 12, 12
2) overhead resistance band tricep extensions – 12, 12, 12

Superset 3: do this set x3
1) crunch into side to side crunches – 20, 20, 20
2) sit ups into twists – 20, 20, 20
3) upper crunches – 20, 20, 20

Weightlifting: lower body quads and glutes

1) dumbbell squat – reps- 20, 20, 20, 20

2) standing leg extensions- reps each leg- 12, 12, 12,

Superset: do all exercises once before rest
1) barbell hip thrust – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
2) floor glute bridges with weight plate on hips – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset: do all exercises once before resting
1) resistance band abductor – reps- 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell sumo squats – reps – 15, 15, 15

Nutrition:

Macros for the week of 6/24/2021

Ok sooo this week… was first week back on cut, cutting week, but I was not able to keep up the protein. I think I am going to have to start timing food and planning better, shakes etc to make sure I eat on time.

OH but carbs are my go to when I have not planned properly. Carbs are not bad just not an all the time food. lol

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1151571311427910289116.42857117356.57142857
Carbs207223162296151273259224.428571201-23.42857143
Fat56103126106124719497.142857190-7.142857143
           
Calories17922447230627062036213922382237.71429230668.28571429
6/24/2021 – 6/31/2021

Well there you have it. The new format. Let me know what you think.

Here is your chance to chime in. Tell me what you like to see, what would be helpful in this blog. I of course will take these things into consideration.

Thank you all for reading. Please hit the like button if you liked this post. Subscribe if you want to see my posts as they come out.

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