Tag: Jab

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My criteria for equipment, is:

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

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

Bo Staff Training – Redondo like a helicopter

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

Training:

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

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

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

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

https://youtu.be/SbKUDx9WmIA
This is the upward figure 8, with low back hand and high back hand
https://youtu.be/IR4wC2hGTsk
This is the lop sided figure 8, with low back hand and high back hand
https://youtu.be/bT-5tVj0_Y4
Redondo high, low, high, with a low back hand and high back hand

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

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

Striking class – ABD – Attacking by Defense

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

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

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

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

Striking/JKD training we worked on Jab, Cross Defense

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muay Thai – Hands to Knees

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

Workout:

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

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

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

Pad Holding

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

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

Kali – Left and Right Submissions

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

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

Kali workout/training

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

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

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Boogie Out, Rubbing is to Racing as Bumping is to Boxing

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. It has been a busy day, but had a fantastic time at training. We worked on boxing and head movement in Muay Thai, and redondos again in Kali.

I had so many things pulling at me for my time. I had my usual teaching my kids, and regular household things (cleaning, feeding people). I also had to work on fondant flowers due for a cake I have to make later on this week. So super super busy today. I made these flowers for the cake all by hand.

Enough jabbering, here is what we did no class today.

Muay Thai – Boogie Out, Rubbing is to Racing as Bumping is to Boxing

In Muay Thai we were working on boxing again. Mainly Kru Kristen wanted us to work on our head movement. I can tell you mine is not great. If we can move our head and keep it moving, we can possibly avoid getting hit in the head. That is at least the theory.

We started with slips. We did a slip drill. Your partner throws a jab and you slip to the right, on the cross you slip to the left. We had to do 50 of them. Then we switched up and fed for our partners.

Then we did a bob and weave drill. We would start on one side and our partners would throw a cross and touch the opposite shoulder making sure we squat, turned correctly and then stood up, only to do it again by bobbing and weaving to the other side. We had to do 50 of those as well, then we switched up and we fed for our partners.

Next Kru Kristen taught us a really cool move called the Boogie Out. What it is, is after you have bobbed and weaved out of a hook that was thrown at you, you do a shuffle turn so that you can cut the corner, or get around your opponent. Because if you can get behind or to the side of your opponent, and all of their weapons are pointed away from you, that is great for you. Then you can hit them when they are not able to block, from behind or the side. I have taken video of me doing this below. What you will notice when I focus on a new skill I am working, my strikes often times suffer. In this video I see my strikes sucking. My hooks look like caca, and I am not bringing my hands back fast enough. However, I am getting that Boogie Out move. However, if I practice enough I think I will be able to include this in my repertoire.

  1. Jab, cross, body hook, head hook, cross, bob and weave, boogie out, then strike the head.

After that we worked on shoulder bump cut corner/step out to take the back of your opponent. Here Kru Krsiten said rubbing is to racing as bumping is to boxing. In boxing bumping your opponent as you step out/cut corner, is a way to off balance your opponent. You bump them not only once but then you do it again from behind. This gets your opponent off balance, messes up their stance, and then you can hit them from behind or the side. I filmed this as well. Kru Kristen says that this is great for a short fighter like me. I can cut out/step out and still stay in the pocket. However, all the while getting out of range and away from my opponents weapons. I can then hit them after stepping out and around.

  1. Jab, cross, upper cut, cross, bob and weave, shoulder check through, then shoulder check behind, and hit again.

After this we did survivor drills. This is where we get put up against the wall and we are not allowed to do anything but avoid getting punched with our head movements. We can block or catch hits with our gloves, but Kru Kristen just wanted us to avoid the hits. She had the other half of us punching our team mates, trying to hit them not hard but trying to think around their defenses.

https://youtu.be/SW3243fB0Lo

Kali – Redondos

Today in Kali we worked on redondos again. Kru Krysta is a great teacher. It felt good, and I felt like I knew these moves pretty well. We worked on high redondo, low redondo, low back hand, high back hand. We also worked on the figure 8, with low back hand, high back hand. I filmed us doing this as well. My knees are hurting a bit today, probably because I did to much yesterday, then we did a lot of bob and weaves today. =) Generally they don’t hurt, but once in a while they will hurt. When that happens I just baby the hurt area, and then train around it.

After that we we did the Running Saint Rafael. I was able to do it no problem when I was the aggressor, however, when I was feeding, I would keep messing up the last heaven six. If you block with the wrong stick you will be out of alignment and have to quickly reset for the last heaven six.

https://youtu.be/3p4BDODTbFU

Anyway thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great week. I must get to bed.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali… Boxing/Feeding, Double Ordabis, Finding my niche?

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. In Muay Thai this month we are working on our boxing. In kali we were doing double stick , ordabis, and Saint Rafael.

Today was a mixed bag for me. I felt good boxing, and am working on my cross still. I got a compliment on my bob and weave. Conversely for Kali, I was frustrated… I kept making mistakes.

Muay Thai – Boxing/Feeding

In Muay Thai we are starting on focusing our boxing. We started with the Trigg 10.

Trigg 10: (this is a boxing drill that the feeder counts out the number and you execute the corresponding strike. Example: Feeder says 3 and you perform Jab Jab Jab.)

  1. Jab
  2. Jab Jab
  3. Jab Jab Jab
  4. Cross
  5. Cross Cross
  6. Cross Cross Cross
  7. Jab Cross
  8. Cross Jab
  9. Jab Jab Cross
  10. Cross Cross Jab

Now feeding is just as much a skill as knowing and executing the strikes. When you have a good feeder you look like a million bucks. They make you look good and can prevent injury. When a feeder is new and does not know how to provide the correct resistance with the pads you can hurt yourself. For instance when punching at a focus mitt. If the feeder does not respond with the correct force, you can hyper extend your elbow. I have had feeders that are new and go home with sore elbows. I have since learned that if a feeder is new and does not know how to feed. Even with coaching them on how, I will save myself and just not throw the punches in there with a lot of force. Better to work on form and not on speed and strength in those instances.

We worked on combination of throwing a double jab, responding to a strike with a backward u slip, then returning a cross, and then bobbing and weaving a cross. I got a good compliment on my bob and weave. Yay!

After that the more experienced students worked on a wall drill where we took turns punching at our fellow class mates while their back was to the wall and they had to move their heads to avoid the punches. Then we switched places. We had to move our heads and avoid the blows while our class mates punched at us. This is good for head movement and understanding how to avoid incoming strikes. This is all relatively light and we are not trying to take each others heads off with a punch.

Kali – Double Ordabis, Heaven Drill, and Saint Rafael

We worked on double stick today in Kali. There is a strike called the redondo. That is a strike that goes around the head. If it is a forehand strike then it is an Umbrella strike. If it is a back hand strike then it is a Ordabis.

Kali was a bit of a brain melt-er today. I have done these flow drills before, however, it was 4 or 5 months ago so I had to pull back in my memory banks and try to remember. However, towards the end I started to pick it up again. I took video of me doing the double ordabis with sticks pointed to heaven. Then the double ordabis flow drill with some standard strikes, and a heave 6 flow drill.

https://youtu.be/lR-JewmKVfQ
https://youtu.be/jKFrvaAiDwQ

This was the Saint Rafael. I took video of it. I have not done this saint drill for months. I was pretty happy at how fast I picked it back up again. However, as you can see I am very rusty still.

https://youtu.be/9aaC2EJ3lQM





Finding my niche?

So officially I have been studying and practicing Muay Thai and Kali for a year now. It seems that some people have their thing. That one thing that they are known for in the class to the team mates and to the instructors. One person say is fast, another is very agile, still the next has great kicks. I don’t feel I have a niche yet. It is kind of disappointing. I get compliments on my form, and on certain things. I have plenty to practice and fix. I have a long way to go before I am proficient in any one of these arts. However, I don’t have a niche yet. Nothing I stand out in.

I love kicks, I love teeps, I love take downs, and I love off balances. Kru Kristen says find something you love and work those all the time. I do and still have so far to go. I guess I am just feeling down about myself. I want to be good at something. Maybe one thing… right now I don’t feel like I have that niche. Will it come? Who knows? I will keep practicing and trying till I do get it, or find it.

That is all for tonight. I need to sleep. Have a good night. Thanks for reading.

Saturday Bo Staff, Striking class…Thrust and Slash, Panantukan/Dirty Boxing

2.5 hours of Martial Arts training today. Have you ever had a morning that rolls around and don’t want to get up, but I can’t sleep any more? Yeah? Me too. Even so, today was a great day of training. I picked up some new drills without much trouble, some others were a bit of a pain in the butt.

Bo Staff – Thrust and Slash

Today’s drills included thrust and slash flow drills. The first drill I picked up with ease. However, the second one kept tripping me up. Something about it was just not clicking today with me.

I took video of me doing the drill but for some reason it is flipped on its side. However, here it is anyway. It was super windy out today as well so the wind is blowing through the microphone. It was a beautiful day though.

https://youtu.be/_K8J6zoVpTk

I attempted to mess with the video editor and was unable to flip this video over. I am sorry. One day I will figure it out. =)

Here is a video of my instructor for the day showing us the second drill.

https://youtu.be/uvO3KfnzI9c

As you see he is much more fluid in his motions than I am. I am still working on that. And as you can see I am not that fluid in my movements. I am trying to remember every step while getting my footing right.

https://youtu.be/bQqrZxfrvBY

Class was fun, and it was beautiful outside.

Striking Panantukan/Dirty Boxing

Today in Striking class we worked on Panantukan. Our instructor was nice enough to type up what we did in class, and post it for us so here it is.

Panantukan/Dirty Boxing


-3 counts on female triangle. (Jab, Cross, Hook, JC Uppercut, JC BodyHook, Overhand/Uppercut/Overhand) 
-3 Counts on focus mitts with a lead switch in between each combo. 
-BLITZ: CRISS-CROSS, HOOKS, UPPERCUTS, BODY HOOKS. – repeated as fast as possible. 
——————————————————————————————————————
-Split Entry counters the Jab into combinations Left and Right (Follow W/ Lead Knee) — 
1.CHC (cross,hook,cross)
2.CUC (cross,uppercut,cross)
3. CBHC(cross,body-hook,cross)
4.OUO (overhand, uppercut, overhand)
——————————————————————————————————————-
Cover Up to Elbow & Knee Series (Follow W/ L Elbow-R Elbow-Knee or R Elbow -L Elbow – Knee) Feeder feeds a left or right wide shot to the head.
1. L Cover
2. R Cover
BLITZ: L Elbow – R Elbow – R Knee, R Elbow – L Elbow – L Knee. (fast as you can)
——————————————————————————————————————-
Cover & Ride Series (Follow W/ CHC Knee or HCH Knee) Cover headshots, ride body shots (move with the punch on body shots)
1. L Cover 
2. R Cover
3. L Ride
4. R Ride
5. 2 to Head
6. 2 to Body
7. 3 to Head 
8. 3 to Body 
9. 3 Mixed Head/Body
BLITZ: CHC L Knee, HCH Right Knee.
——————————————————————————————————————-Cover & Hit Series 1 ( Counter the following & Finish W/ L Elbow-R Elbow-Knee OR R Elbow – L Elbow-Knee) Feeder feeds Jab then Wide Cross. Parry the Jab and Inside Stop the Wide Cross with your left arm (the John Wayne) while simultaneously throwing one of the following with your right hand. 
1. Vertical Punch 
2. Finger Jab
3. Claw (Ze Clouww)
4. Vertical Elbow

The dirty part comes with the grabbing of the hair to control the head. We just mimed this part, but in Panantukan, you are not looking to be nice. This is not a sport. This is an art to save yourself, your family and your fellow soldiers. So this particular style favors eye gouges, hair pulling, and eye raking.

Today was great. I got to learn some new things. I got to practice and have fun with my friends and team mates. I could not ask for anything more. Thank you for reading and have a great weekend. As always let me know if you have any questions.

Saturday Krav, Bo Staff, and Muay Thai…Exhaustion, Full TBA 17 count, and Minnesota Shuffle.

3.5 hours of martial arts training. With D.O.M.S set in from my weight lifting workout yesterday. I woke up to my daughter asking about a math problem, and my legs screaming at me about my workout yesterday. We rolled out of bed and grabbed breakfast.

Krav

I started my training with Krav. We worked on striking, different striking patterns. Jab, cross, hook, uppercut. Jab, jab, cross, hook. Jab, cross, hook left side, hook right side. I even was able to show a lady in my class some the Thai parries to knee, elbow or clench entries. I also was able to show her the Thai scoop to knee, arm lock, and elbow or clench entries. That was fun and a great warm up.

Bo Staff – swinging from the hip

In bo staff class, we warmed up with a double hand swing of bo staff. We then worked on the 17 strikes to the body. I was able to help the new people with the 17 strikes. I was so surprised at how well I remembered the 17 count with the staff. You can see the strike positions on the paper doll I made bellow.

We then worked on upper strike, low strike, low strike, upper strike. We had some new people that came from another gym and we were able to work with them. They had not had a chance to train with bo staves and had a great time. We worked on controlling the center line again, and swinging from the hip.

Muay Thai – Exhaustion

We start Muay Thai, and at this point I have been training for 2 hours, and am going into my third hour. I am feeling the exhaustion set in. But I pull up my big girl pants and push on. Let me just say this was one of the most exhausting training sessions we had, but it was fantastic.

Kru Kristen wanted to work on and finish up the TBA (Thai Boxing Association) Thai 17 count.

Muay Thai 17 – this is the full 17

  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 – (does not count as a step)
  9. Upward Rear Knee or Upward Right Knee for me
  10. Rear kick or Right Roundhouse Kick
  11. Hook
  12. Cross
  13. Lead torso kick, or Left round house kick for me
  14. Rear knee
  15. Rear torso kick, or right round house kick for me
  16. Hook
  17. Cross
  18. Clench, 6 skip knees, swing out/off balance partner, then double kick.

Oh my goodness, we worked on the 17 count for an hour with our partners. I am so tired at this point.

So to give you a little glimpse into how we train. Kru Kristen will show us the first 5 count of the Thai 17. We will practice it with our partners holding pads for a 3 minute round. After that round she will tell us to do 25 skip knees of one of the three kinds. Then we switch the pads and hold pads for our partners. Let them practice that same 5 count for 3 minute rounds. Then they have to do the skip knees. Kru Kristen will demonstrate the next set 5 or 6 steps/strikes of the Thai 17. We will then lather rinse and repeat, till we learn all of the 17 count.

The last round we did, she had us do the Minnesota Shuffle. What is the Minnesota Shuffle you ask? Well let me tell you. It is hell when you have been working so hard for hours ahead. I have a love hate relationship with it. It is fantastic for cardio, and training, but hurt so much when you are tired.

How do you do the Minnesota Shuffle you ask? You have to do “machine gun kicks” or rapid kicks. These kicks are not meant to be hard, but to be quick. Your feeder chooses a side and says 1, you do one kick. Then they say 2, and you do 2 kicks rapidly. Lather, rinse and repeat up to 5 kicks. Then you have to do 25 skip knees, and then wait for it… 1 to 5 kicks on the other side. I love, and I hate these. Today I was so happy to get through it not be supper gassed, but I was/am exhausted. That means my cardio is getting more awesome.

Then after that, she split us upper class men/higher armband students out and had us sparring. She said, “no one will be hitting hard now in sparring cause we are so tired.” She tired us out, and then threw us in to a ring and told us to spar. Which sounds bad, but I think the goal is to replicate the ring environment, when the adrenaline dumps, you revert back to your basic skills. Also, when you are that tired you are forced to focus on technique. There is certainly a method to her madness, and I love it.

I love leaving a class feeling this exhausted, because I worked so hard. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I push my body further. Even if I hate the recovery for the next few days. =) I know I am working to improve myself.

If you have read this far, wow. I have been really wordy, but had to get a lot of information in from my three and a half hours. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a great holiday weekend if you celebrate Easter/Passover, or just a great weekend in general.

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
https://youtu.be/CFLJWjmUlzI

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

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Fear of God, Knives in Hammer Lock, and Puta


2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. I need to work on the Fear of God , and we got to play with knives. D.O.M.S set in from yesterdays workout. My shoulders and delts are so sore.

Muay Thai – Fear of God

Today and this week we will be working on knees. We used the knee as an entry into combo drill. So catching a jab, parry a cross, post on opponents shoulder, then driving knee, to right kick, hook, cross, left kick four count. Then we did a parry jab to post on shoulder, knee, to left kick, cross, hook, to right kick four count. Below is a video of me doing this.

Kru Kristen said my form is great, now she wants to see me kick harder, kick through my opponent. She said, “you kick hard, now put the fear of God into your opponent.” Make them not want to take that hit. She went on to say there is a magnitude of difference between some one who kicks hard, and some one that you really don’t want to take the next kick from cause they scare you due to their force.

I take these videos mainly to see what I am doing wrong, and what I need to improve. In these drills, I was not kneeing hard enough to get the distance I needed, so I was getting jammed up. I have to work on those. I also have to work on kicking significantly harder, than I do. Kru Kristen said, “give yourself the permission to kick harder. Kick through your opponent.” As a girl we are always told not to hit people and to be nice. Don’t get into scuffles. I find that this ingrained lessons make it hard sometimes for me to break out and do what I need to do. I am going to work on making my hits and kicks go through my opponent, and allowing myself to let go.

https://youtu.be/RNKER7SV2z4

Kali – Knives in hammer lock, and puta

Kali was fun today. We have been working on the Puta Kapala a lot from different entries. Puta Kapala is the move where I twirl my opponent to the floor and knee on belly to control them. Today we did it with a knife. This is a dull or non bladed practice knife. We also worked on the hammer lock with the knife. That is where you control their arm, put it behind them, and control them with the knife in the neck and kick out the back knee.

We worked on gunting/scissor, inside gunting, and outside gunting. You can see below when I parry the strike and cut the opposite direction with the knife.

Kru Krysta had us also using pens, flash lights, and other objects to show we could do the same moves with any pen like object around us.

https://youtu.be/1j9BTfAQNXU

It is getting late and I need to sleep, so I will stop here. I had a blast in class again. I love going to train.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day.

Saturday Kali/Bo Staff and Striking… Bo Staff, Flow, Sore

2.5 hours of Bo Staff and Striking training today. Yeah you heard it Bo Staff training! Heck yes. I was and still am excited. We have started Bo Staff training, as an offshoot of our Kali training.

I have to say I am so pooped from class/training today, and I am going to be sore tomorrow. =)

Kali/Bo Staff

Did any of you ever want to be a Ninja Turtle when you were little? No? Maybe? Well I did. So getting to play with Bo Staves was so awesome.

We warmed up with single stick first inside the academy. We practiced (heaven watik, low strike, then high strike), (heaven redondo, low strike, high strike), (equise, low strike, high strike). This was a warm up for our Bo Staff practice.

We then went outside. Where it was sunny, but it was so so windy. It was so cold that after an hour I could not feel my fingers. I think it was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit or 7.222 degrees Celsius for those not in the states. But through all of that I had such a blast. Kru Krysta was amazing and she had her instructor Kru Mossy with her. We learned to perform the moves by pushing the top hand and pulling the bottom hand to perform a strike.

I felt clumsy and uncoordinated, but I was surprised how fast I was picking it up with a longer weapon. There are some things to think about when blocking with a longer weapon so save yourself from extra pain. Like moving your foot out from under your staff when you block so that your opponent does not slide down your staff and hit your heel. I need to remember to do my footwork. Kru Mossy hit my thigh to help me remember to do my footwork. Because we are learning a martial art that is meant to do damage, and I don’t want to learn bad habits.

Also for those that don’t know what a Bo Staff is, here is Donatello from Ninja Turtles to show you. We have not learned this move yet. *joking* =)

Striking, Sore

We worked on teeps transition to Thai four counts again. We also were working on a 7 count drill as well. In this drill my partner and I were working on flow and movement. So we were moving around, getting out of the box, and out of striking range, making sure to our feet moving.

7 count drill
Left Teep
Left kick
Cross
Hook
Cross
Right Knee
Right Kick

We also worked on elbows. Working on some on both sides, but one of note is we did a front teep/left teep, left kick, left knee, jab, left elbow. In this we were working on our distance management. Where for teep we are making them move away, we then do a kick, which is long distance, then move up to knee short distance, and jab shorter distance, then elbow shortest distance.

I am super tired, and going to be sore tomorrow. I should take a bath in Epsom salts. I held pads for Kru Mossy and he hits hard as he demonstrated. I feel like I might have some bruises from holding the pads. This may sound like a complaint but it is not. He is full of wisdom and he was helping us learn more. Not only that, feeling his full force, shows me what can/may achieve if I keep working at it.

I had a wonderful time today. Learned some things on a Bo Staff, and cannot wait till the next class Bo Staff class. I worked hard in striking and got a fantastic workout in. I feel accomplished.

Thank you for reading and if you have an questions, please let me know.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Hop Kicks, Puta Kapala from Jab Cross entry

I just got done with 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali, and boy was it nice to get to do my training. Doing something that is normal in my life. Because this morning did not start off normal. I had one of those cringe moments that every parent has, when the dreaded pink eye mentioned.

Waking up to find that your son has pink eye, will throw off your day. So today my son woke up and told us that his eye was crusty. I had been keeping an eye on him… haha, no pun intended. I had been keeping an eye on him, because he was around another kid who’s eye was red and crusty on Monday of this week. I got him into the pediatrician at 8 am, and we promptly found out that he has pink eye. He has medicine, and as of tomorrow will not be contagious any more.

On top of doc appointment, getting the medicine from the pharmacist, and dealing with every day family stuff. I also bleach bombed my house. I bleached and disinfected every surface of my house that I could think of that would have been touched. Everyone’s sheets and blankets, and his winter coat as well. So I am and was tired getting to the gym, but ready and raring to go. I needed this.

Muay Thai : Hop Kicks

Let me just hop… (hahah that was an accidental pun as well)… into the Muay Thai. Today both Kru were away at an Inosanto instructor camp. So we had a guest Thai teacher. He had us warming up with stations, jump rope, teep to kick on bags, shadowboxing, and then mirror movement to teep.

We worked on partial Thai 4 counts, where we teep with lead leg, right kick, then cross. The reason this was emphasized is that it is a different rhythm to what we normally do. You see in Thai a lot of the time if you do a right kick you return with a hook or cross, because you will have set up your body to do the opposite hand hit. So when you kick with the right leg then hit with the cross as an orthodox fighter, your opponent will not expect it.

The other partial Thai 4 count we did, is the front teep, left kick, to cross. What was emphasized on this one was the teep to cut step quick left kick. Because the habit or what your body wants to do is to teep and then put your foot down right in front of you. However, doing this drill we try to work on our balance bringing the foot back to do a quick cut step and left kick. It changes the rhythm again and my take your opponent of guard.

After all that we worked on Hop Kicks. Man trying to make the lead leg do a hop kick my brain is telling my body to do this thing, but either my leg is stupid or there is a miss fire/miss communication between my brain and my leg. That is what it feels like. We have to bring our knee forward and up, with momentum going forward place the foot down then do the kick. Yeah… I am going to have to work on those on my own, in front of the mirror. I have to get my brain and my body to synchronize.

Kali: Puta Kapala from the Jab Cross Entry

In Kali we had another guest teacher, because again both our Kru are at an Inosanto Instructor camp. He had us doing Silat again. We worked on the Puta Kapala again, but this time from the Jab Cross entry.

There were 4 entries we got to 3 of them that we were able to rep out.

  1. Outside Deflect from the Jab Cross to Puta Kapala
  2. Slip the Jab Cross to Puta Kapala
  3. Inside Deflect from the Jab Cross to Puta Kapala
  4. Reverse slip/Scissor/Gunting from the Jab Cross to Puta Kapala

We did 1 through 3. It was all clicking and I was not have a brain melty moment.

What you are seeing here is the instructor showing the first two, number 1 and number 2. I thought you might like to see some one who knows what they are doing instead of me. =)

https://youtu.be/4mJcpmlWez8

Here I am doing the outside deflect entry of the Puta Kapala.

https://youtu.be/_rYrzjXTxNU

Here I am doing the slip entry of the Puta Kapala.

https://youtu.be/lZYlv7lQ37U

I did not get video of the 3 rd one. This one we deflect the cross with the right hand and mouse the bicep, followed with control of the other arm, eye sweep, throat punch, elbow, knee, to the Puta Kapala.

This was a fun class, and things were clicking. The Puta Kapala we were doing Tuesday and last week we were doing from the shield of kick. So this is the Puta Kapala with different entry. Either way you get your opponent on the floor, and then you can deal with them as you need to. Goose necking the wrist or submitting them, or hitting them and running away.

I got home was a little hungry so I made a snack of yogurt, fresh fruit, and a small bit of granola. It is important to refuel your body. Especially when it is telling you that it is hungry. Just make it something that your body can put to good use.

Thanks for reading again. I hope you have a great rest of your week.