Muscle memory… in general I don’t think I know much. I mean when it comes to martial arts. I have been training for nearly two years in Muay Thai and Kali, with a smattering of JKD, Silate, and very little BJJ. I am often looking toward the next little thing to tweak. The next skill to learn. So when my instructor says, we are doing X, and I know exactly what to do I am amazed. Further more when my instructor says we are doing Y, and I am hazy about the terminology but I have done it so many times, in so many different configurations, that I have muscle memory, and my body just does what I need it to do.
I googled Muscle Memory and this is the first response that came up: “The ability to reproduce a particular movement without conscious thought, acquired as a result of frequent repetition of that movement.”typing relies heavily on muscle memory” “
Tuesday 9/10/2019 – 2 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali
Muay Thai – compliments on my movement, heck I am moving more.
The ability to reproduce a movement without thinking about it. Yup! This week I am noticing more muscle memory. Movement… I am moving more. By this I mean pivoting my feet correctly, getting in and out of the pocket, cutting corners, and in general just getting out and away from strikes.
I got a compliment on my movement. My instructor Kru Kristen is so happy to see me moving more. What I mean is my pivot is much better on my punches. My head movement is getting better. I am getting my head off the line. I am slipping the punches more. I am covering with windshield wiper more. I am in general upping my fight game. Yay!
Today we worked on: Countering jabs and returning strikes
Parry jab down and returning a jab right away. (This is great for taller people, or people taller than their opponent. )
Parry the jab slip and return a gut jab (This is better for the shorter people.
Scoop the jab, pulling in your opponent, and then returning a over hand. (This is good for almost all people)
We returned hook, or upper cut, cross, and then bob and weave a hook to head, then boogie out or step in and shoulder bump.
Kali – disarms and chokes
In Kali, today’s training muscle memory kicked in. Because when my instructor asked us if we remember the high box. My brain did not remember the term, but when we were working on the drills, my body kicked in. 15 strike, block strike incoming, strike 2 returned, block incoming strike.
We worked on disarms, inside deflect which is plus sign disarm, and vine disarm.
We worked on disarms, outside deflect which is equal sign disarm, and snake disarm.
We worked on kumbiata switch to triangle chokes
We worked on getting out of those chokes and returning a paper cutter choke.
Today was a great day of training.
Thrusday 9/12/2019 – 1.5 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali
Class was fantastic today. I love love love Muay Thai and Kali. I can’t put into words how much I love the martial arts styles. I will try here… I really believe it is because of my two great trainers/instructors, and because of the culture of the gym. Because of these two ladies their teaching style and encouragement, this is such a part of my life that I rearrange my other obligations and jobs so that I can continue and improve my skills with these ladies.
I am crazy enough that I am going to try to add in BJJ into the mix. I am going to try to see if I can at least attend one BJJ class a week, maybe two starting next week.
Muay Thai – Countering crosses and returning strikes
In Muay Thai now, I know how to do many things. I don’t know all the things mind you. I rely on my muscle memory to carry me through, and then I try to focus on the little tweaks I need to make. Like lifting my elbow to more horizontal to throw the hook correctly. Working on my foot work (meaning pivots, and getting in and out of the pocket). In general working on my form. I know the basic drills, now its time to tweak and improve my fight game.
Parry jab, and parry cross down, returning a cross to head(This is great for taller people, or people taller than their opponent. )
return hook, cross, then bob and weave to get out
Parry the jab, then parry the cross slip and return a chest cross (This is better for the shorter people.)
return hook, cross, then bob and weave to get out
Parry the jab, then parry the cross slip and return a gut cross (This is better for the shorter people.)
return body hook, head hook, cross, then bob and weave to get out
Then we worked on pop the leather. Where each two group person does a 4 count combination.
Kali – disarms
We worked on disarms and chokes as well again. Today I had to leave early to go and get H from the airport. He was coming back in from a business trip.
I was acting as a single parent for 4 days of the week. Let me say those single parents out there my hats off to you. I was happy to see my husband, but I was also so happy to have my partner and fellow parent here to help with the kiddos.
This week I only made it to two of my martial arts 5 training days. Wednesday baby girl was sniffling and had a runny nose, and I was on my own so I decided to let her rest. On Friday I had my husband home and we got a much needed date night away from the kiddos. Today we decided to just rest and let everyone recoup. Life happens and I feel like I have grown realizing that not all the time will the schedule work.
I have a new martial arts class to look forward to this next week. Brazilian Jui Jitsu, I am hoping it will be ok for my back. All I can do is try it out and see.
Keep working to make yourself the best you can be, and thank you for reading. As always please let me know if you have any questions. My respects for you all.
Woo this month in Muay Thai we are focusing on boxing. For the more advanced students Kry Kristen is focusing on the more technical side of boxing. She mentioned when she started Muay Thai she would throw noise punches out there that did not do anything just to get to kicks, however, when she figured out how to pivot and move her feet properly to get power into her punch it changed her game entirely. Anyway this week I completed 6.75 hours of training.
Tuesday 9/03/2019 – 2 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali
So I know people learn in one of 4 ways. When I was a child they tested me and found I learn all 4 ways equally. This is… wait, I just read an article stating that the learning styles are not exactly accurate… however, when I was a little girl… Hrm… that makes me sound really old. But non the less… when I was little, they tested me and I learned all 4 ways equally. What are the 4 ways you ask? (Memorization, Visual, Auditory, and Doing/manual manipulation) Apparently your preferred method of learning changes based on what you are doing. You don’t learn math just verbally, and you can’t learn language very well just by seeing pictures. So what I was going to say goes out the window.
However, that all being said, and my verbose description aside, for me and martial arts visual seeing it done, verbal, and writing it down is really helping me. So I am going to make another chart for boxing ranges and High/Mid/Low lines shots. Here is the chart below.
For today’s class, Kru Kristen was explaining the different areas for strikes in boxing. How if your opponent goes for the high line, you drop your level and hit say a hook to mid section of your opponent and get the mid line etc. If the go low, you guy high, or mid line. She did not want to be to esoteric but thinking of the opponents body in terms of shapes and areas in those shapes to strike are helpful she said. For me this description is very helpful. I love the thought of this. I am an artist and I think and see shapes all the time. I see the way things are made up, so thinking of my opponent in shapes and how they are made up, to see where to hit in response to something just made a light go on. (see doll above, for shapes and strike areas)
Training:
1 x 3 minute round jump rope warm up
1 x 3 minute round plus sign range management drill
1 x 3 minute round plus sign range management drill with 1/4 turns
The goal of this drill is to focus on pivot, and foot placement on the punches, the head movement and the deep step, then the shoulder check to close range. You are going to be in the inner mid line with the hook before you bob and shoulder check.
Jab
Cross
Hook
Cross
Bob
Deep step in to right side of opponent and shoulder check
Either get out, or continue to press the strikes
Cross to Hook burn out drill
The goal of this drill is the same, pivot, foot placement, and range management, also adding change in level of strikes.
Jab
Cross
Hook to body
Hook to head
Bob
Deep step in to the right side, and shoulder check
Either get out, or continue to press the strikes
Body hook, Head Hook, Cross burn out drill
Windshield wiper shoulder bump drill
Windshield wiper = Lead hand covers belly, rear hand covers side of face usually on lead side face. Reverse when bobbing other side, rear hand covers belly, lead hand covers face.
Foot work, is female triangle, or rear step out to side of opponent.
Bob with lead shoulder toward opponent doing windshield wiper
Bump shoulders
Bring feet back together, and hands up covering face
Step with lead foot to lead foot to side of opponent
Bob with rear shoulder toward opponent doing windshield wiper
Bump shoulders
Windshield wiper shoulder bump drillwith hook, or uppercut
Foot work, is female triangle, or rear step out to side of opponent.
Bob with lead shoulder toward opponent doing windshield wiper
Bump shoulders Bring, throw a hook/upper cut to opponents head (for drill shoulder so you don’t hurt your opponent)
Step with lead foot to lead foot to side of opponent
Bob with rear shoulder toward opponent doing windshield wiper
Bump shoulders throw a hook/upper cut to opponents head (for drill shoulder so you don’t hurt your opponent)
Kali – 6 count drills
In Kali today we covered the basic 6 count drills. It was nice to work on something we have done before and we have the muscle memory for it already. Some days its nice not having to tax you brain. Muay Thai did that for us today already, so tonight was nice. I turned off my brain and just went through the movement. I tried to make my movements more smooth. Tried being the operative word there.
Wednesday 9/04/2019 – 1 hours of training Muay Thai
We worked on the same things we did yesterday, however, today we added one more drill. Also I worked with a girl who is brand new and because of that I went slower, tried to help teach her how to hold pads, and just made sure she was comfortable. While I go slower, I work on my form. Today I worked on my pivot and the escapes.
Escapes we worked on:
Lateral step in and bump with shoulder to mid section, then bump with other shoulder to create space.
Boogie out ( a way to get out of the corner, or cut a corner)
Quarter turned out and side shuffle out
Warm Up:
Monster walks with resistance band forward and backward across the mat
Side lounges across the mat with resistance band down and back across the mat
Contra Lateral Movement, bear crawls, side ways across the mat and forward and backward across the mat
Agility Ladder drill – Ali Shuffle x 3 minute round
Found the Agility Ladder drill on youtube so you can see it:
New combo we worked on today:
Jab
Cross
Lead upper cut
Cross
Quarter turn and side shuffle out
Today was a good day. Kru Kristen complimented me on my form and movement. She said the more I get into boxing stance. The more I move properly. I am using my body for my strikes and moving my head. That is great news, because when I spar I tend to feel very stationary. I need to learn to move and keep my movement dynamic.
Thursday 9/05/2019 – Took today off, scoliosis was hurting me and causing headaches all day.
Friday 9/06/2019 – 1.75 hours of training Muay Thai – Balance is king, and making your Thai pretty
I love working with Tony, he has a different perspective and he has points of view I had not thought of. When you train with a instructor in Muay Thai, and you go out there in the world, you are representing your trainer/instructor. Muay Thai practitioners really believe, that you represent all of your instructors. (I to believe this, and try to show respect in all things, and only do what would make my instructors proud.) I have mentioned it before, but when you learn from a instructor, when they take you under their wing and decide to teach you, they are taking you into their family. They are taking you into their lineage.
I am lucky and honored to have Tony, Kru Kristen, and Khun Kru Krysta instructing me.
Today while we were training he talked with us about making our Thai pretty. We are representing him out there in the world and he loves it when people recognize his families art as pretty. He emphasized taking the power out of the kicks and the knees. He wants us to put them out there, make them pretty, work on our balance and then the power comes later. He really likes us to feel our bodies and how they work. You can see this in the warm ups we do. I really love the differences between my instructors. I get the best of so many worlds.
I started my workout 30 minutes before class started.
Training:
5 minutes of stretching
5 minutes walking knees across the mat
10 minutes bag work for, working on kicks, teeps to kicks, and closing the distance for knees
10 minutes of windshield wiper bump drill first on bag, then with partner
Training in class:
10 minutes of jumping rope
1 round of easy walking kicks to shields, using both orthodox and south paw stance.
(He wanted us to losen up our hips, get our body moving, and feel how our hips move. Because all to often we are tight we are holding our hands up to cover our faces which is good, but then we tighten everything else.)
1 round of rear driving knees
20 push ups
1 round of pad holding for your partners rear driving knees.
(Tony emphasized that the pad holders responsibility is to hold well for your partner. If they are shorter you should lower your stance and hold it lower for them. His contention is that yes a shorter person can kick higher, but that is a different motion and different kick, than say a torso kick at the shorter person level.)
20 push ups
1 round of lead teep, to switch step to lead knee.
(The key here is balance. You want to be able to teep a person to stop them from coming forward, but not eject them. You then want to have your shield up for the second before you switch step into a driving knee.)
20 push ups
1 round of holding pads for your partner
(The key here is that he wants the pad holder to not move back on the teep, and to get enough resistance and push back that the knee-er knee is pushed back down and then can get back into stance again. We need to be good pad holders so that our partner can work the drill correctly too. )
20 push ups
2 rounds of sets of 50 machine gun kicks.
( We worked both sides. after about the 200th kick I was gassing. He wanted the power taken out of it and for us to feel the movement and get the speed in. We ended up doing about 250 kicks per round)
Today was a great day of class. I loved it. I am glad I took the day yesterday. I could have pushed through but the way I was feeling was not conducive to a great training day. Some days I just have to take it off. I am slowly coming to grips with that.
Also today I was working on putting more weight on my back leg, and less on my front leg. I have a habit of leaning forward in my stance and that is not good. I makes me slower and less able to react quickly and reduces my power. Tony wants us to feel our bodies and how they move. I noticed my driving knees were so much more powerful when I just leaned back more on my rear leg. This was a light bulb moment for me. We are told to do just that lean back more, but it is hard to feel/see what they are talking about till you drill it out and figure it out on your own body.
Saturday 9/07/2019 – 2 hours of training Muay Thai and Staff – waking up on the wrong side of the bed
Today was one of those days where when you wake up and all the little things that irritate you or upset you through the day add up, you wish you just had not gotten out of bed. Yeah… today was that day. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed as I heard my elders say when I was a wee little girl.
I won’t list all the things that made it bad, or annoying, or sad, just that it was, and so it colored my day. It also made me doubt myself and have to cut out of staff class just to go check that I had unplugged a waffle iron. I wanted to make sure I did not burn the house down. So I missed a good half of staff class.
I had the pleasure of working with my trainer/instructor Khun Kru Krysta and I got to see all of my Thai family and my Kali family. That was nice. I shown up, and I tried to put the work in. As my friend said to me today, “even if you only put in 25% while you are here, you are here and you tried. You did not give up when you had a bad day!” So yeah I did that.
Training today was all things we have done and have been studying. This is good. This is great, because I did not have to over think what I was doing. I could just let for the most part muscle memory take over. Even though I felt like the kicks I was putting in were terrible. I was putting them in, and correcting as I was going.
Staff – We worked on various redondos and backhands.
Striking/Muay Thai Class – we worked on catch, parry, and returning 4 counts to opponent, teeping them and then getting out.
This is a video of me working on some of the drills we did in class. As you can see I am working on my technique. I am just not 100% today.
Well I hate ending on a down note. Wait a second it is not a down note. I went to class I worked things out. I did not let the little things stop me. I might have had a moment here and there that got me down, but I worked through it.
Thank you all for reading. If you have any questions feel free to ask. My respect to you and I hope you follow your dreams to become the best you that you can be.
6.5 hours of training this week. Its been another great week of training. I had some hiccups in my week. Work, and life got in the way, so I missed my weight lifting workout, and got some needed chiropractic adjustments. This is a holiday week for us in the U.S. so there is no class on Saturday.
Tuesday 8/27/2019 – 2.5 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali
Muay Thai – Pra Jiad test prep
In Muay Thai today we practiced the fundamentals. We worked only on the Full 4 counts. The Thai 4 counts that he added to and developed by Guro Dan Innosanto. He took original Thai 4 counts and added 4 more. Starting with the Jab, and Cross.
Thai 4 counts are:
Left to Right –
left kick
right cross
left hook
right kick
Right to Left –
right kick
left hook
right cross
left kick
Left to Left-
Left kick
Right cross
Left hook
Left kick
Right to Right
Right kick
Left hook
Right cross
Right kick
The added combinations are:
Jab, cross, left to right
Jab
Cross
Left kick (walking kick)
Right kick (walking kick)
Jab, cross, right to left
Jab
Cross
Right kick (walking kick)
Left kick (walking kick)
Jab, cross, left to left
Jab
Cross
Double left kick (speed kick)
Jab, cross, right to right
Jab
Cross
Double right kick (speed kick)
We then worked on pop the leather where our partner got to do a 4 count then we got to do a 4 count.
A lot of power in Muay Thai comes from the hips. So when you throw a punch you are throwing your body and hip as well. Sometimes pivoting sometimes not but surely using your hips. Its all in the hips.
Kali – Saint Uriel
Woo in Kali we worked on a new running saint, Saint Uriel. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We worked on:
umbrella 6
Umbrella 8
Umbrella 7 (which always takes a minute to get used to)
Umbrella 18 (two sets of umbrella 7, with a transition)
Saint Uriel
I had a blast. My brain kinda bent, but was not melted today. After a Thai class I love having Kali. Its a great way to wind down the physical and get your mind going then I pass out when I get home and showered.
Wednesday 8/28/2019 – 1 hour of training Muay Thai
Today we trained for 1 hour. We worked on basics. Knees to kicks, working on range management (whether to do a leg kick, torso kick, hop kick, or stutter kick). When we go back to basics we get to work on our form and foot work. Which is supper important.
Warm up:
1 x 3 minute round of jump rope
1 x 3 minute round of shadow boxing
Training: (manage your range, and choose leg kick if you are two close, torso kick if you moved them a little with your knee, and if you moved them a lot do a hop kick)
Rear knee to Lead kick
Lead knee to Rear kick
Lead knee to Lead kick (focus on stutter step, to decrease time between strikes)
Rear knee to Rear kick (focus on stutter step, to decrease time between strikes)
30 sit ups
50 Russian twists
Stretching
That is all for today. I got a good sweat in, but it was not super taxing. I had fun, and I worked on form.
Thursday 8/29/2019 – 1.5 hours of training Muay Thai – Pra Jiad Test!
I was awarded my blue pra jiad! Woot!
Today was the pra jiad test. I was so excited. We get to see just how much we have learned, and how many skills we have picked up. Also today my left elbow is giving me hell. It hurts and I was annoyed it hurt. But this is part of Thai Boxing. Injuries will happen, its how you treat them, deal with them and train around them that matters. So I just did not throw the punches in with my left hand full force, and I made sure that my form was perfect as can be on my holding pads. One last thing I did was make sure my partner knew my elbow was being a bum and that I was going to not hit hard with that arm.
Kru Kristen had us separate in three rows of people. She had us start with a technique demo. To give you an partial example we did the following:
Boxing stance
Kicking stance
Elbows #1, #2, #3, #4, #9
Knees
Some kicks
Then she had us break into pairs and drill the following: (not in this order)
Trigg 10
Boxing 20
Full 4 counts
Four boxing hits and out
2 x 3 minute conditioning rounds (three kicks hard one side, three kicks hard other side, then clench and 5 knees)
Pop the leather
It was fantastic. It was hard, and the last two conditioning rounds had me gassed at the end. I love working that hard. I loved testing to see where I was. I made mistakes and I could see them, but I kept going.
So yeah I got my blue pra jiad. I could not be happier and or more proud. Woot!
Friday 8/30/2019 – 1.5 hours of Muay Thai Training, with Tony – Body Hooks
Today we got to work with Tony. He is an amazing instructor and has ring experience. He wanted us to focus on body shots today, and getting in for the jab cross and laying in the power with the body shots.
I look forward to Tony’s classes cause I know he is going to work us hard. His classes tend to be more conditioning, with an equal amount of skills training.
Before we started class I was working on the boxing 20, trying to make my flow better and keep my strikes coming in time, and keep moving. I also noticed after looking at the video among other things I need to bring my elbow up for my hooks. Sigh… but I am learning and hopefully getting better.
The combo is:
Jab
Cross
Hook
Cross
Bob and weave
Cross
Hook
Bob and weave
Hook
Cross
Cover incoming right body hook
Left Upper Cut
Cross
Cover incoming left body hook
Right Upper Cut
Hook
Cross
Slip the incoming Supper Man Overhand punch
Either should into opponents mid section, or deliver a right body hook
Left hook
Overhand Cross
Here is the video.
Training:
1/4 mile run
1 x 3 minute round of jumping low hurdles with both feet sprinting to the end and jogging back
Jab, cross, body hook
Jab, cross, body hook, head hook, cross
Left horizontal elbow, clear pad or hand, to throw right horizontal elbow.
1 x 3 minute round of conditioning kicking. 5 rapid/machine gun kicks, on the left and right hand side.
1 x 3 minute round of jumping rope
It was a fantastic class. I had a great time, and I definitely got my conditioning in. I get to work with a great group of people.
Thanks for reading. I hope you all had a great week. I sure did. I passed my pra jiad test or “powered up” as my daughter described it. I had a blast and got to work with my team mates my extended family. My respects to you all. Keep working to be the best you that you can be.
8.5 hours of Martial Arts training for this week. Yay!
08/20/2019 Tuesday 2 hours of training – Muay Thai and Kali
Today was a great day! I had a blast in class and felt really good. We worked on parrying the cross to enter with a knee. Then we added in elbows and kicks. It feels good when things flow together, and when your body just does what you have been training it to do.
parry the cross
post on the shoulder or head
throw rear knee
Burn out 25 skip knees #2
parry the cross
post on the shoulder or head
throw rear knee
Rear Tach malach or #8
Lead horizontal elbow or #1
Lead Knee
Burn out 25 skip knee #2
First 6 of the Thai 15
Parry the cross
High elbow cover for incoming hook
Lead #1 elbow
Rear #3 elbow
Rear knee
Lead kick or lead round house
Blitz drill
for 3 minute round, rear knee, to rear kick, you move your partner across the mat, continuing to do rear knee to rear kick for entire round of 3 minutes.
Kali – Punyo Sumbrada
In Kali we worked on the Punyo Sumbrada drills. The Punyo is the but end of the weapon. So for a sword it is the pommel, for a stick it is the shorter end that you hand is near, for a knife it is the but end. This is a Inosanto flow drill that uses the punyo of the stick, or weapon to strike at your opponent.
feeder feeds a #3 strike
you low wing block, and control the feeders striking hand
you punyo strike up to the face
feeder catches your blow with a C clamp/monkey paw
you strike with a witik toward the face
feeder blocks with the stick
You reach inside the box and rotate the hand of the feeder so you can hit them with your weapon
They wipe off your hand
feeder feeds a #1 strike
you high wing block, and control the feeders striking hand
You yank/pull the feeder to you, and punyo strike up to the face
feeder catches your blow with a C clamp/monkey paw
you strike with a witik toward the face
feeder blocks with the stick
You reach inside the box and rotate the hand of the feeder so you can hit them with your weapon
They wipe off your hand
feeder feeds a #5 strike
you low wing block, and control the feeders striking hand
You yank/pull the feeder to you, and punyo strike up to the face
feeder catches your blow with a C clamp/monkey paw
you strike with a witik toward the face
feeder blocks with the stick
You reach inside the box and rotate the hand of the feeder so you can hit them with your weapon
They wipe off your hand
From there we we worked on 4 disarms. We worked them into the above drills.
snake
vine
plus sign
equal sign
08/21/2019 Wednesday 1 hour of training – Muay Thai
Today we worked on the skills and combos we need to learn and know for our pra jiad arm band test. I originally wanted to get in early and get another hour in. But I had lost my bank card at a Starbucks, I went through the drive through and never got it back. I did not notice I did not get it back and the lady at the window did not give it to me. So I had a scare right before class and had to go get it. That put a dampener on my day. However, I went in and trained hard, and feel better now.
Pra Jiad – is a type of armband worn by Thai Boxing/Muay Thai athletes. Originally it was given to a fighter for good luck and confidence, from the family members. If I remember correctly, legend has it a mother tore her skirt and tied it around the arm of her son going into battle. She said, “bring it back to me, this is just a loan.”
The Pra Jiad is also used to show ranks in Muay Thai in some gyms, and by the WTBA (World Thai Boxing Association). Below is a chart of the ranks we have. These ranks are similar to belt systems in other martial arts. My gym and Kru are WTBA certified instructors and our gym is an WTBA gym.
I am currently a green pra jiad rank. I will be testing for the blue band. My instructor looked me in the eye and said you are training, so I guess that is that. =)
So on to today’s training:
Warm up –
1 round of jump rope
Banded monster walks forward and back across the mats
Banded side walks down and back across the mats
Bear crawl forward and backward
Sideways bear crawl forward and backward
Training –
Trigg 10
Boxing 4 count
Jab Cross Series
Thai 4 counts
Full 4 counts
Then we did one x 2 minute round of 25 right kicks, 25 left kicks, and 50 knees, then we hit the bag hard for the remaining time left on the 2 minute round. My goal is to do 10 in a row like one of our fighters does.
Some action shots I took from today. I am pivoting, and up on the ball of my foot. Woot!
08/22/2019 Thursday 2 hours of training – Muay Thai – 90% of Amateur boxing is straight punches, and Kali – brain melting after a challenging Muay Thai class.
So today is one of the days I have to go into the bakery early in the morning. I get there at 5 am and have to work on all the orders that are due for that day, and start on orders that are due for the weekend. Some require more time to do.
So I am tired by the time training comes around. I am really tired. But hey that is life and so I go. Just have to get my go’er going.
Muay Thai – “90% of Amateur boxing fights are strait punches then getting out of the pocket.” per Kru Kristen. What she is saying is the jab, and cross are your bread and butter. Get in, throw those jab, crosses, and maybe a kick if you can and get out. Don’t let the other person hit you.
Warm up:
1 round of jumping rope
1 round of shadowboxing
Training:
2 x 3 minute round of Trigg 10
30 seconds skip knee #1
2 x 3 minute round of boxing 20
30 seconds skip knee #2
2 x 3 minute round of Full 4 counts
30 seconds jab cross blitz
1 x 2 minute round of 25 kicks left, 24 kicks right, 50 knees
30 sit ups
And flutter kicks for 1 minute
Kali – Brain melting after a challenging Muay Thai class.
Kali today was challenging. But I felt good, and felt like I got into a flow. I video’d some of the drills we did today. It is good to look back and see the progress I have made, even if it is very slight.
Today we worked on:
Heaven six
Umbrella six
Cob Cob
Inward, backhand, backhand
We worked on all of those in a drill. After your body is tired and you ask your body and more importantly your mind to focus and move your body with sticks and avoid getting hurt by doing the drill right. Whew, does it melt the brain. My brain was giving me this, “ok… you get one or the other. We can work hard to make sure you don’t get hit, but you can’t move to much or you can move a lot and we will give you more energy.” I had to tell my body and brain, nope need both and just slogged through it.
Over all we did well. Had my hand hit a couple times with the stick. That hurts, but over it is ok.
08/23/2019 Friday 1.5 hours of training – Muay Thai – that hit/strike you take and you just know its going to bruise.
Today was an interesting day. I ended up going to the dealership 3 times, because during a routine maintenance appointment for my 1 year old car they could not get right the resetting of the tire pressure sensor after rotating my tires. Why? Because it is a new car, 2018 and the techs just have not learned how to do it yet. Mind you this is a dealership of the same maker of the car. Also of note, the dealership was very apologetic. They were nice, and they got me in right away both times I had to return with my vehicle so they could reset the tire pressure sensor.
I digress. I got a lot done today, but by the time I had to pick up H from the metro I was done for the day. However, I put on my big girl panties and we all went into the gym.
Despite the crazy morning I had, I had a great training day.
Warm up:
1 x 5 minute round of jumping rope
2 x 3 minute rounds of Knees across the mat, shadowboxing knees
Training:
Today was clench work and knees
We worked on clenching up and putting long leaning knees in.
We worked on clenching up and putting rear knees in. He taught us to bring them up and pivot on our feet to get more distance to push your opponent away. This is done to break their posture and you can then run your other knees. Like curved knees
We worked on a jab, hook, inward knee combo
We worked on a jab, hook, inward knee, with double left kick combo
We worked on a three elbow combo.
You Thai lean and control your opponents hands. Pushing their left hand out of the way, you throw a #1 elbow/ horizontal elbow to face. You throw a #2 or upward diagonal elbowMove the pad/head out of the way Throw a modified side in elbow with rear hand, it is modified by putting your hand on your head as if you are elbow covering, not high covering. Then you rotate and drop the elbow side in and diagonal.
We then did sparring.
We then ended with partner double kicks on the bag. Where your partner kicks twice on the back and then you kick twice on the bag
We finished with suicide runs, across the mat x 2
So during our sparring we wear shin guards. Even so we have a chance of getting hit and getting bruises. These guards only protect the top of the foot and the shins. But if some one knees say my knee then we have a boo boo. I got kneed in the side of my knee well right above my knee in the muscle/fascia . Our knees hit each other. And that is the moment when I realized yup that is going to bruise. It hurts and you can just tell that one is going to be painful. So right now I have a deep tissue bruise, you can barely see the purple under the skin, but I imagine it will blossom.
One last thing for today. I had a really nice compliment from one of the instructors at the gym. J said I was really looking good in Muay Thai. He said you can see all the time I had put into it. That my form was looking great, and I was moving around great. He said, “you can’t fake mat time.” He said you put the time in on the mat and you will see results. Yay!
08/24/2019 Saturday 2 hours of training – Staff training, Striking class
Today marks the last day of my training for the week. I did my weight lifting and run on Monday, then I had martial arts training for Tuesday – Saturday. For a total of 8.5 hours for this week. As you can imagine I am tired, but its a good tired. This is a tired of, I worked my body and now I need a rest.
Staff – Bo Staff Drill
In staff class today, it was a beautiful morning, and we worked Saint Rafael and then we worked on another drill. I don’t know what it is called or would be called but it contains a equis, witiks, redondo, abecedario 3.
I took a video of it and we are still working on getting down and smooth.
Striking class – feint entries
In striking class we worked on feint entries. We feint with our jab, cross, and or left kick.
Jump rope warm up
Feint Jab
Lead kick
Cross
Hook
Rear kick
Teep
Feint Low jab
Feint High jab
Lead kick
Cross
Hook
Rear kick
Teep
Feint Jab
Cross to mid section
Lead uppercut
Rear kick
Teep
Then we did a few rounds of pop the leather.
I had to leave early today to get to my friends wedding. But I had a great time in training, and I had a great time at the wedding. It has been a great week, and I am done. I need the rest day of tomorrow.
I have a few videos and lots of pictures in this post. Thank you for reading. I hope you have a great day. My respect to you all.
4 hours of Training today. Yesterday I had the honor of being able to train in Bo staff class, in striking, and in a seminar for woman’s defense.
Bo Staff
We worked on the High Box with staves. We also changed the #1 strike to the #7 piercing strike.
High Box:
opponent feeds you a #15
you roof block
you return a #1 strike or #7 piercing strike
opponent inside deflects
opponent returns #4
you drop stick defend
you return a #3
opponent turn the tip down, drop tip, or low wing?
opponent returns a #2
you roof shield
then you feed the #15 and the whole flow drill starts again
Bo staff was fun today. I enjoyed scrambling my brain to get it around the new strike.
Striking Class:
We worked on combos with counter attacks. We worked our teeps, and knees.
We emphasized evading a kick or a upper cut. Then added 4 counts return attacks.
Woman’s Self Defense:
I had the opportunity to go to a woman’s self defense class. This is my first official Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class. I have been a little worried about taking BJJ because I have scoliosis and don’t want to have my back wrenched. However, I believe it is good to up my game to grappling, and ground level. Kru Kristen was teaching this class, and she always says.
“100% of fights start standing, 90% end up on the ground.”
Kru Kristen
We learned how to break fall, how to get back up quickly and safely. We learned how to stop an assailant in open guard, how to keep them away. We learned how to deal with an assailant when they are in mount. We learned how to knee shield from guard, and shrimp away, then kick their head to get away. We learned how to deal with someone trying to pick us up in bear hug, and how to knee bar them.
The main focus was teaching us how to get away from the situation. Kru Kristen also reiterated you want to be all the way in or all the way out. Always try to get away from the assailant. But if you have to deal with them, get in and don’t let them hit you. Stop them from hitting you until you can get out.
This was a fun class and we were able to work on dealing with a choke as well.
Changing the format for posting:
So I have been thinking. I am now doing 5 days of martial arts. More importantly 5 days of Muay Thai. That coupled with my weight lifting workouts, means that weekly I would have been doing 6 posts a week. That is a lot, and its a lot of content to keep up on. Also it seems like a lot to bombard you all with. So I am going to be changing my posting status.
I used to post every time I went to train, so that I could keep track of what I was learning and how I was feeling/getting it. This is also so I could look back and see my progress in the future. I did this as well to catalog what I was doing, so I could go back and drill the same drills. This is a lot of posting, a lot of content, and it is hard for me to keep up with.
So I am going to try to do 1 martial arts post a week. This will be notes I took about each training session. I will break it out by day, and I will still have the drills/training we did every day represented in one post. Any videos I take for that will be in that post as well. This means there will be a weight lifting post, a martial arts post, and a food post when I have one to upload. That is 3 instead of 6 to 7 a week. I am going to shoot to have that weeks martial arts posted on Saturday after my training sessions that day.
Anyway thank you for reading. Keep working to be the best you that you can be. My respect to you and your family.
2 hours of training today. Gonna make this short and sweet. Today I have been up since 4:30 am. I did not sleep well, and had to work two of my jobs today.
Muay Thai
We worked on entries with knees again. This time we used a scoop of the jab or cross and returning an knee. This gets you in to return your 4 count strikes.
I got to work with one of our fighters that actually goes and fights in sanctioned fights. He is really awesome and helped me work the drills. He is tall and I surprised him that I can kick as high as his torso. We discussed the fact that these entries are only for when a person is committed to the punches. If they are just throwing noise then you can’t scoop the jab or cross and get in there. I am having a hard time in sparring knowing when they are committed. I have been assured by him and Kru Kristen that, that is just time and practice. You have to know/feel when they break the imaginary barrier to bring the distance in and hit you.
After that, the more senior of the students broke out and practiced clench sparring. That is a tiring set of 6 rounds. However, it is a lot of fun. I feel like my clench sparring game/abilities/skills have gone up since I was at Thai camp. We did a lot of it, and I got to work with a lot of people. I was able to get my timing right and get my opponents in class off balance.
To finish we did:
100 knees on the bag
30 sit ups
and x planks
Kali
We worked on knifes. Gunting or scissors move where you cut and pass the opponents arm when they attack you with #1 through #5 attacks.
We worked on disarms with:
a c clamp on the wrist
figure 4 arm control where you cut their throat with their own blade
control of opponents arm and sheath the blade into opponents on leg, or arm pit
three direction peel the blade away from opponents hand
We then got to spar with knives. We all wore mouth guards, eye protection, and gloves. One person had a knife, the other had just their hands. We tried to disarm the person with the blade and not get cut. The person with the blade was trying to cut but not get disarmed. This is another fun asymmetrical sparring practice.
We say in Kali/Silat/JKD in a knife fight you either drip or gush. You don’t want to be the one that gushes. What this means is going into a knife fight knowing you will be cut, but not knowing just how bad. Is more realistic. Knives cut fast and deep, and you will most likely get cut in a knife fight. If you get out of it with a few small cuts, and you did not die, you won!
That is all for today. Thank you for reading, I hope you have a fantastic day. My respect to you and your family.
2.5 hours of training. I warmed up by hitting the Thai pads for 30 minutes before class. Muay Thai and Kali were fun classes tonight. Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for the great classes.
Muay Thai – Trigg Combo
When we were at Thai camp we got to work with the one the only Ajarn Leonard Trigg. The guy responsible for our Trigg 10 drill. We love him and his drills. He worked with us at Thai camp and he gave us this combo to work on. I had the pleasure of working with my instructor for this combo and when we did I had so much fun. It was hard, but it was great. I asked that we do this combo in class.
So what did we get to do today in Muay Thai? Yup you guessed it. That very same Trigg Combo. I don’t know if it has a name, but suffice to say, Ajarn Trigg is well known for his amazing boxing skills.
The combo is this:
feeder feeds a jab
you swipe right
you return a R shovel hook
you return an R overhand
you return an L hook
you return an R cross
This combo is great. Ajarn Trigg emphasized that he wanted us to work on flow and timing. The goal is for every one hit the opponent tries to make you return 4 shots. There pop, your pop, pop, pop, pop in rapid succession.
I worked with one of my favorite partners, my husband. I got a great workout, and he know just how much to push me, and tries to keep me honest about keeping my hands up. I find sometimes when I work with people that are newer that my class is not as physically demanding cause we are going slower, and we are getting in less reps. So sometimes it is nice to work with some one I know that can hold pads well, and I can go at a faster pace with. I get more rounds in and I can work on my speed, timing, and form at the same time.
Some more combos we worked on today:
Opponent throws Right head kick
You lean back by – taking a step back, cover face on right hand side, left arm goes down to side of body and you shoulders are level.
You throw a right cross
You throw a left body hook
You throw a right roundhouse
Opponent throws inside leg kick
You step back to avoid the kick
You throw a left roundhouse
You throw a cross
You throw a hook
You throw a right roundhouse
Kali – Asymmetrical Sparring
In Kali we worked on disarms again, and mostly entering on the inside deflect. However, we also worked on a weave. We did some puno disarms and the inside deflect snake and vine disarms again.
Weave Leg Take down:
Inside deflect
control opponents right hand with our left hand
return a #4 rib shot
Step on opponents foot
weave our stick between legs
pull opponents hand and push opponent over with our stick
I got a video of me doing this.
Then we got to do asymmetrical sparring. In this version of it, we had one person with boxing gloves on, and one person with a boxing glove and a soft stick. We would attack each other. The goal of the one with just boxing gloves was to crash in and disarm the other. The goal of the one with the stick was to just keep the opponent with just boxing gloves away and don’t get disarmed and or punched.
Asymmetrical sparring is fun, and I have enjoyed it every time. It makes you have to think about how to get in, when you don’t have all your tools available to you.
Thanks for reading. I hope you had a fantastic day. Keep working to be the best you that you can be. Respect to you.
