Tag: Muay Thai

Training Martial Arts 5/03/2021: Taking Off The Gloves

Sometimes taking off the gloves is all you need to tweak your training. I write about my adventures and what I am learning in my blogs, and it is amazing how much I still learn every day. Sometimes I can’t see it right away, sometimes it takes days like this where I sit down and reflect on my week of training.

So today I am thinking about my training, and remember back to a day in the week where my instructor is telling me for probably the 100,000,000th time, probably more, to not flare my elbows and keep my guard tight when I have my hands up covering my face.

Often times I hear the advice, and internalize it, and try to fix it right away. If I don’t understand I stop and ask. However, for this I tighten my arms I think, and keep going.

Then she says, “stop, next round I want you to use my MMA gloves.”

The difference between the MMA gloves and boxing gloves is:

  1. The weight – (boxing gloves tend to be 12 oz to 16 oz), the weight slows down your punches, and helps your body work more
  2. The size – think big balloons on your hand verses slightly padded leather gloves
  3. The protection for your hands and your opponents face – With less padding on the hands, if I am lazy and hit wrong with the MMA gloves I can break my hand, I can also do a lot more damage to my opponent because there is less padding to dissipate my blows.

Mostly she is using it for its size. The profile is much different on the MMA they have less surface area and the tactile difference when I put them on my temples for my guard is completely different.

It was a moment of genius she had when recommending them. I clearly was struggling to do what she asked and she thought of a different way to get my body to ingrain that muscle memory.

What I learned was the boxing gloves are huge in comparison… Duh right, but hear me out. We use boxing gloves for everything, they are usually 12 oz to 16 oz depending on the gloves. They are great for weight, and they soften the blow when you punch your opponent. They protect your hands from breaking on your opponent.

They are also huge. So when I was told to bring my elbows in, I was not understanding because I was keeping them on my face and rotating them in, but the gloves were so big I could not feel it. Just switching up my training with the MMA gloves has helped me not only see what she was talking about but adjust my boxing gloves to mimic the same feeling with them on.

The dangerous part was I had to be very careful about knuckle placement so I did not break the little bones in my hand with the MMA gloves, I also had to be careful with my training partner, because they are not padded like the boxing gloves. One well placed hit and he would have been knocked out.

So we trained slow and deliberate, working on form and flow. I took the power out of my strikes.

I literally took my gloves off, so I could train in a different way. So I could physically feel the changes my instructor wanted me to do.

I love that the little tweaks we are doing is what is going to make my form and flow better and better. I don’t always see it, but every day on the mat, is a day I am improving even if by fractions.

Maintenance week 4

This week went off the rails for me. I was going to just do another maintenance but ended up letting myself indulge a little more than normal. It was a week where I had to take a few days off to let my back heal up. I have scoliosis and have days weeks where things get out of whack.

For the last three days I did not focus on getting the protein in, or even hitting my macros. It was Mother’s Day weekend and I just kinda let myself have a break.

I noticed I did not even come close to my protein intake, I did better on my carbs intake, and my fat intake was on average low.

What this means to me when I try to intuitively eat, or just eat the way I want to, I lean more toward carbs, eat lower fats, and little protein.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1051171482009878116123.14285721086.85714286
Carbs178242234290219158257225.42857124519.57142857
Fat976311410750467078.142857110930.85714286
           
Calories20052003255429231718135821222097.571432801703.4285714
Maintenance Week 4 – 5/3/2021 -5/9/2021

Monday 05/03/2021 Workout: 1 hour run and upper body weight lifting

This post is for the people who have reached out to me. Saying I have helped them in some way. I am so happy to have been able to help them.

I am no where near perfect. I have days where I don’t want to do my workout. I hate pictures of me, I see every flaw. I see stretch marks, from the time my body grew and cared for my babies. I have fat cause I like eating bad for me things like cookies, and pastries.

I am working every day to be the best person I can be. I am working every day to try not to compare myself to everyone else. There is no one else like me. I am genetically diverse. I am half Japanese, other half is Irish and Cherokee.

I am never going to look pretty when working out. I get red when my body is working hard.

But I am working, I am trying, and I am dedicated.

I am not perfect, but I am constant trying to be the best me. I am going to celebrate my 42nd revolution around the sun this year. So I am not a youngster. I am flawed and imperfect but I am trying.

Thank you all for the kind words, the awesome stories you have told me. Thank you for letting me know that/if I am an inspiration to you.

Know when I say if I can do it, I truly believe you can do it too. Just keep trying. You are going to fall down, the important part is getting back up!

Workout:
1 mile run

Upper Body : Chest, Back, Triceps
1) dumbbell one armed bench row – each side reps- 8, 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

2) barbell dead lift – reps – 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

3) resistance band narrow grip pull down – reps – 8, 8, 8, 8

4) dumbbell incline bench press – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

5) dumbbell incline chest fly – reps – 10, 10, 10

6) diamond push ups – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

Tuesday 05/04/2021 Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

We worked the same drills as Thursday. However, I am at a level where we have to make small adjustments. Where I literally have to tighten my slip so my opponent can’t throw an overhand into my head.

It’s repetitive but necessary. Toward the end of three solid minutes of slipping the cross. I was keeping it tight. I was not throwing my head to the side.

When the gloves come off (quite literally) it gets me hyper focused. Practicing slipping the cross when you training partner does not have gloves on and if they make contact will give you a shiner, gets me paying attention.

Parry the cross slip tight

Same for kicks with intent those will get you to lateral quickly. Don’t want to go home with a limp. Not being there when a strike comes in is a great defense.

Thank you Khun kru Krysta!

Thursday 05/06/2021 Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai training

So like I have mentioned before, unless it’s a new drill ( strikes strung together in a different way) myself and a couple of other students know the drills. We know the basic rules, and if called upon to throw any number of strike we can.

However, and this is a big ‘however’ there is always room for improvement. I am always going to be working on flowing, polishing my form, and working defense with counter strikes.

1) Today was the day I was working keeping my guard tight together, but loose at the same time.

2) today I worked on turning over my hook, snatching it back, and keeping it on my face till the the next bunches of punches.

Khun Kru Krysta had an ingenious idea. To have me wear mma gloves or bag gives. They have a smaller profile, so it helps with my muscle memory.

We worked slow because not only can the mma gloves help knock a person out ( less padding), but because the can also damage your hand. If you don’t throw the punch correctly. You hit the outer Knuckles and you run the risk damaging or breaking your hand.

The gloves helped me keep my hands and arms tighter in my guard, helped me to understand where my fist were. Because the 12 oz gloves have so much ch padding you loose sense of where your hands are in relation to your face. Which I need to work on.

Thank you khun kru Krysta!

Slow and deliberate was the way to drill. to fix my form. I need to raise my elbow and make sure I am punching with my first two knuckles. We will speed up when my form is looking better.

Saturday 05/08/2021 Muay Thai : 1 hour of Muay Thai Practice

Went to train. I had to take it slow. My back was hurting went to chiropractor yesterday.

Hip and lower back not happy with me. So I took it slow and worked the forms. My hip is joint was pinching my sciatic nerve which messed up my back a little with my scoliosis.

Gonna not skip weight lifting today and tomorrow let my back rest. Then I will be back at it.

Do what you can, work around your injuries. Life is gonna happen and you gotta pick yourself back up. Keep going.

And that is it for the past week. I took three days off of training because my scoliosis and hip was pinching my sciatic nerve. I let myself take a break from trying to meet macros. I let myself have a good mothers day.

I am back at it today.

I hope you have a great week. If you liked this blog post please let me know and hit the like button. If you want to keep up with my adventures subscribe. As always feel free to comment. For more day to day stuff you can find me at Sharpcupcake on instagram.

Remember, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!

Training Martial Arts 4/26/2021: Keeping Focus While Injured and Tired

Hello lovely people who are reading my blog. So many times we talk in training… I say talk in training, but it is more a helpful hint (yelling in my ear) while training, “keep your hands up when you are tired”. Our instructors say this and have said this while we are drilling, because it is important to get into your muscle memory that you keep your guard up, and your hands up when you are tired.

Why? Why keep your guard up/focus when you are tired?

I have written about this before, but I will touch on it now again. The reason you want to keep your hands up when you are tired is it helps burn into your muscle memory. When you are tired you return to your base level of expertise. What does that mean? You are only as good as your lowest level of understanding. You may be able to throw that kick perfectly when you are not tired, but when you get tired you will get sloppy, your kick will not turn over as well, you kick will not come up as high, because your muscles are tired. This is normal.

What are we trying to do?

We are trying to train ourselves when we are tired that we keep our form up. If we learn to keep our guard up, and keep our form proper, we have a much better chance of avoiding getting hit, and being able to hit our opponent. We make less mistakes. Easier said than done, but never the less we work on keep our hands up when we are tired. We work on keeping our form proper when tired. We often slow down so that we can work form when tired and not worry about power.

The truth is you are going to get tired in the ring. It is what you do when you get tired that is important.

Example of exhausted fighters in MMA. You will see some of these guys get sloppy. Those fighters you see looking cool and calculated through the fight are tired, and hurting but they have trained to keep focus.

A fight is not won in the ring. It is won in the gym, in the training you do. Let me say that a little louder for the back of the room.

A fight is not won in the ring, it is won in the training you do in the gym.

Last Sunday during training I rolled my ankle. I accidentally stepped on my opponents foot, and landed on the side of my foot and ankle. It hurt. I have been training around it and through it.

As I was training I noticed, no I realized something. Training and keeping focus while injured is harder than doing while tired.

Yes I just waxed on above about training and keeping focus and your hands up while tired… but man when your ankle and foot are sore, and you are worried about stepping on it, rotating on it the wrong way. Guess what drops or did for me. My hands. My hands dropped I did not keep my guard up, I reverted to my base level of understanding.

So while training I was repeatedly reminded to keep my hands up. Take it slowly so as not to hurt myself any more, but to keep my hands up and keep my focus.

My injury kept pulling my focus away from what I was doing. When you get into the ring you are going to get hurt. You are going to get hit, you are going to sustain some damage. It is inevitable. Being able to compartmentalize that and keep going is the key.

This last week was a lesson for me in training that way. I had to compartmentalize my pain. I know that it hurt, I know that I needed to be careful spinning on it, and I know I also had to keep my hands up, and my focus up.

These are some of the ah ha moments that happen in training for me now. We are making small tweaks and cleaning up form, flow, power, etc. But I know the basics. So when new ah ha moment comes up, I make sure to focus on it and mark it.

The smaller injuries like a well placed leg kick, or an accidental elbow spike to the knee are often forgot about in adrenaline rush while training. Injuring a part of the body that feels less stable is a much different injury. The next hours/day/week you still feel that instability till it heals. For the bruises you feel it when they are hit again but it does not pull away from your focus till then.

I am always learning and progressing. I look forward to the next lessons that this martial art I love will bring.

Week 2 of Maintenance

Ok this week is looking similar. I mentioned to my partner that my maintenance week is look a lot more like a lighter mini cut. I on average eat the amount of carbs and fat my body needs for the macros. However, I just miss the protein side.

So in order to try to keep making changes for the positive. I have decided to wake up earlier on days I don’t have to work so I can get a meal in before my workout. I have been waiting till after, and that is a good chunk of time that I miss out on eating. So by the time it comes to bed time, I can’t make up the difference. I also added a second rest day in. Wednesday and Friday!

I originally thought I over did carbs, because I had a few days there… but I came under, and I hit my fat macros… it is the protein I will keep trying to get in. In all forms, animal, and plant. But I am happy my I am narrowing in on my macros.

I will try to do another week of maintenance… and will see if this change in my schedule will help me hit my macros this week.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein76164124184134139130135.85714321074.14285714
Carbs182238111281238314213225.28571424519.71428571
Fat82127909610217087107.7142861091.285714286
           
Calories177027511750272424063342215524142801387
Week 2 of maintenance 4/26/2021 – 5/02/2021

Monday Training 04/26/2021: Workout: 55 minutes – 10 minute battle ropes, upper body weight lifting

I rolled my ankle in Muay Thai yesterday abs it hurts a little so I am just going to baby it. No running for me today.

Instead I did a Tabata battle rope rouitine for cardio.

I also went up 5 lb in my bicep curl and added reps in some of my exercises. Woot!

Tabata Battle Rope:
45 seconds on 10 seconds rest
3 x each exercise
Chain them together with only the 10 seconds rest between them

1) single whip x3
2) double whip x3
3) double rope rotation x3 (left, right, last round 1/2 left 1/2 right)

Weight lifting:

1) standing barbell row- reps 8, 8, 6, 6, 6, 6

2) seated cable rows – reps 20, 20, 20, 20

3) seated dumbbell shoulder press- reps 10, 10, 8, 8, 6

4) seated dumbbell lateral raises – reps 10, 10, 10, 10

5) dumbbell incline fly – reps 12, 12, 12, 12

6) dumbbell incline bicep curls – 10, 10, 8, 8

Tuesday Training 04/27/2021: Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

Today we worked on the same drills as last Thursday.

However, today I worked slower and more deliberately. My foot and ankle are still sore from rolling it Sunday. So instead of pushing it, I worked on form and worked slowly.

Avoiding the things that hurt and kept training around my injury.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class.

Thursday Training 04/29/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai training

First day since I rolled my ankle I did not baby it so much. It’s sore now but I worked all night and and had fun. Will keep working it. Gonna give my body a second rest day tomorrow. H convinced me too. I have been only taking one day a week.

It was a lot of fun today, thanks for the class Khun Kru Krysta!

Training:

1) jump rope

2) cross, parry, cross rear kick plus sign drill
3) opponents turn

4) jab, cross, hook, rear kick
5) fed pads for H

6) jab, cross, split the cross
7) fed pads for H

8 ) jab, cross, hook ( high elbow cover + hit or dump)
9) held pads for H

10)jab, cross, hook, rear kick (catch kick, dump, spike quad, elbow, and or dump)
11) held pads for H

Saturday Training 05/01/2021: 4.5 hours- Mile run, Leg Day weight lifting, Muay Thai, and Kali

What a day! But I got it done!

I realized something…We often talk about how important it is to keep your hands up. Your guard up when you are tired and still training. It is natural for your hands to drop lower in guard cause your arms, shoulders, body is tired. That’s hard to do but we train that way and drill it into our heads.

You know what else is supper hard to do? Keep your hands up, watch your form (make sure it is right) when you are injured. You may be modifying what you are doing, maybe babying or favoring that part of the body that is sore or hurts, and you have to remember to keep your hand up so you don’t get hit.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta!

Training:
1 mile run

Weight lifting leg day: glutes hamstrings
1) dumbbell Bulgarian split squats- each side reps- 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4 (up 5 lbs each hand)

2) barbell stiff leg dead lift – reps – 8, 8, 8, 8

3) single leg dead lift- each side reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

4) dumbbell b stance hip thrusters- each side reps – 8, 8, 8, 8

5) dumbbell frog pumps- reps- 10, 10, 10, 10

Super set do x3 all exercises as one set no rest till you you through a set

1) knee crunches into leg extensions- reps 14
2) straight leg Russian twists -reps- 14
3) dumbbell v ups – reps- 14

Muay Thai training:
1) jump rope
2) jab catch jab, cross parry cross, hook bob and weave hook drill
3) held pads for H

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

6) cut kick away from rear kick, rear leg kick, lead round house, cross, hook, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 ) part and split an incoming cross, lead hook, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) jab, cross, lead kick, slip cross, hook, rear kick
11) held pads for H

Kali:
We worked on
1) cob cob, high standard and low
2) heaven six, standard six and earth six

Earth six was hard, earth six with earth grip was harder. Gotta work on this.

Sunday Training 05/02/2021: 2 hours 40 minutes Muay Thai training, and Weight lifting Leg Day

Training: 2 hours of Muay Thai training

Thank you Amanda, Khun Kru Krysta, and H for a great training session.

Love that spinning back elbow to spinning back fist combo.

Now on to Leg day weight lifting. Yay! I think I got enough cardio in today.

Workout #2: 40 minutes weight lifting Lower Body Quads and glutes focus

Got my weight lifting workout done after Muay Thai training today.

I got elbow spiked in the knee today and forgot all about it till I went to squat. 😂 lol. But it’s all good. It surely does not hurt as much as it did when I first started. De sensitized to the typical injuries of Muay Thai.

I went up 30 lbs in my barbell hip thrusts. Woot! It was hard for the last two 6 reps, but doable

Weight lifting: 40 minutes
1) barbell walking lunges – reps – 20, 20, 16, 16, 12, 12

2) barbell sumo squats – reps – 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

3) barbell hip thrust – reps – 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

4) goblet squats – reps – 15, 15, 15

5) hyper reverse frog pumps on bench – reps – 20, 20, 20

Superset: do these three exercises in a set no rest between each exercise only rest between each set.

Do each Set x 3

1) dumbbell Russian twists – reps – 20
2) reverse crunches – reps – 15
3) dumbbell upper crunches – reps – 10

When you train do you try to keep focus/your hands up when you are tired?

Have you tried to push through a rough workout, and compartmentalize an injury?

If you are looking to train to fight in the ring, remember the fight is not won in the ring. The fight will be won in the gym before you ever set foot into the ring.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you are all having a great week. If you are not subscribed and want to keep up with my adventures, recipes, and cool products I get to try out please subscribe. If you liked this post please hit the like button so I know. As always if you have a question or comment please feel free to do ask/comment.

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

Training Martial Arts 4/19/2021: Bunches of Punches

Good after…morn… what ever time of day you are reading this, I hope it is good and amazing. Anyway, Bunches of Punches is not a mnemonic per se, it is more of an alliterative phrase. My Kru uses it to remind us when sparring to throw many punches, knees, kicks instead of just one or two at a time.

Why would you care how many punches you throw at a time?

There seems to be many different opinions on this matter. Surprised that there is a lot of debate about this…I am not. It seems in the martial arts world, nay in any sport, or physical activity there are people with so many different points of view. So let me just wax on about what I know and what I have learned.

Reasons why you would want to throw more punches/strikes then just 1 or 2:

  1. Throwing one strike is predictable
    • Throwing just a jab for instance, your opponent is going to predict that it what you are going to throw and can counter, and return a strike to you. This is not to say that, that singular jab is not a good way to evaluate your opponents response, and or to feint and then throw something else. But in general just throwing a jab out there will not win you any rounds.
  2. Throwing one and just blocking/waiting for a strike
    • Throwing one strike then turtling up, or pillar blocking up puts you on the defensive, you are then just reacting to your opponents strikes. If your opponent is pressing you don’t get the chance to strike back as easily.
  3. Throwing multiple strikes keeps your opponent guessing
    • You could throw jab, cross, uppercut through the uprights, catching them off guard, then when you square up again, jab, cross, over hand… your opponent may be thinking oh I saw them do a uppercut let me dodge, or parry it away. You are mixing up the strikes to keep them guessing.
  4. Throwing multiple strikes helps you enter striking range
    • I am short. I am 5 foot nothing, and my striking range is short range. Against a taller fighter, and lets get real everyone is taller than me. I have less range. So in order to get into range, I will have to crash in. I can pillar block up and crash in, but I am going to take some blows. I want to hit not get hit. If I don’t throw bunches of punches which usually means my hands are in their face, they will hit me. If I do throw bunches of punches, they will not see my leg kick coming till I sink it into their quad.
  5. Throwing multiple strikes helps you cut the line
    • So cutting the line is important. Especially if you vertically challenged like me. I don’t want to be in the front of my opponent all the time. That is where their tools are. Their fists for punching, the elbows, the knees, and kicks. However, if I can cut the line and get to their side, I can land blows, and be relatively safe. They can all ways spinning back kick, elbow, or duck. But I have a better chance of getting in range if I cut a 45 degree angle and get to their side, to do damage. I can throw a jab, cross, hook, and cut the line. The can set me up for an unprotected round house (unprotected torso of my opponent).
  6. I am not Roy Jones Jr, or Manny Pacquiao, and I can’t bet on a one punch KO in the ring.
    • It is possible, though improbable at this point in my career.

This is all great, and easier said than done. However, I hear my teacher/Kru Krysta saying, “bunches of punches Tanya, bunches of punches.” While I am sparring. It is her way of reminding me to do more than just 1 or 2 punches. To fall back on our training. Even when I am tired and just want to throw one or two… throw multiple and get into the fight. Press the attack, surprise my opponent and win the round.

For reference when we are sparring we are not focused on winning we are playing. But that is a whole other topic to write about. We wanna win in the ring at a fight match. We want to play and learn from our mistakes in a sparring round.

Maintenance Week #1

This last week was maintenance week #1.

Looking at these numbers I did not hit my protein goals. I over did it on carbs, but I was feeling the need for carbs… so I had home made pop corn a couple of nights that threw those numbers over. My fats I stayed close to goal.

So this week I am going to have to work harder to get the protein in, and slow down on the carbs.

Man Carbs are so good though.

Good news, I am seeing some body recomposition. I am toning, and building muscle and my pictures are showing progress. Gonna keep plugging along and dialing in my macros.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein102176101102989691109.428571210100.5714286
Carbs234309162293219362288266.714286245-21.71428571
Fat678698147879011097.857142910911.14285714
           
Calories19472714193429032051264225062385.285712801415.7142857
Maintenance week 1 – 4/19/2021 to 4/25/2021

Monday 4/19/2021: Workout: 1 hour – mile run, and weightlifting upper body, chest, back, triceps

Guess who’s triceps were sore from Sunday Muay Thai training? Yup mine, but it was upper body day today.

So after a rainy mile run I went to do my upper body workout.

I am still waiting for some dumbbells I ordered to get in so I subbed in barbell inclined bench press over dumbbell bench press.

Also don’t have a cable system so subbed in resistance bands.

Diamond push ups are hard. So I did them standard 3 x each set and then switched to doing them on my knees.

It is always ok to find work arounds if you don’t have the equipment, and or if you need to modify an exercise till you can do it. At least that is what I tell myself. 😊

Workout:

1) dumbbell one armed bench row- reps x 8, 8, 8, 8, 6, 6,

2) barbell dead lift – reps x 8, 8, 8, 8, 8

3) resistance band narrow grip pull down- reps x 10, 10, 10, 10

4) barbell inclined bench press – reps x 8, 8, 8, 8

5) dumbbell inclined chest flys – reps x 10, 10, 10

6) diamond push ups – reps x 12, 12, 12, 12

Tuesday 4/20/2021: Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

We are working on the basics again. It’s been great I love going back to the 4 counts. I like returning to the 4 counts especially after training other higher level drills. I think of it as re-honing my basic skills.

It also feels good just doing something I know without thinking about how to do.

And lastly you can always improve on the basics. I will always have something I can improve on.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class!

Muay Thai:

1) Jump rope

2) plus sign footwork drill, with rear leg kick
3) H’s turn to lead

4) 4 count – right to left- rear kick, hook, cross, lead kick
5) fed pads for H

6) 4 count – left to right- lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 )4 count – rear to rear – rear kick, hook, cross, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) 4 count – lead to lead – lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick
11) held pads for H

Thursday 4/22/2021: Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

I would not say I completely successfully left my shitty day/mood off the mat this time. But did just sink into the workout.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta that it was basics again 4 counts and it was nice to just work it and try to forget life for a bit.

Was leaving my foot in the bucket for South Paw stance doing drills, but I was getting rotation and landing my kicks well. Yay!

Muay Thai:

1) Jump rope

2) plus sign footwork drill, with rear leg kick
3) H’s turn to lead

4) 4 count – right to left- rear kick, hook, cross, lead kick
5) fed pads for H

6) 4 count – left to right- lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 )4 count – rear to rear – rear kick, hook, cross, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) 4 count – lead to lead – lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick
11) held pads for H

Friday 4/23/2021: Workout: 1 hour weight lifting and run

Today was lower body legs and abs.

I went on my mile run, did my weight lifting. Then we have celebrations for my eldest son’s birthday.

Yay! Celebration day! And mmmm cake!

Weight Lifting:

1) deficit snatch grip dead lift with feet elevated – reps 8, 8, 8, 8

2) dumbbell glutes bridge- reps 12, 12, 12, 12

3) pause hip thrusters with barbell- reps 10, 10, 10, 10

4) barbell split squat – reps 8, 8, 8, 8

5) dumbbell goblet squat – reps 15, 15, 15, 15

Super set- do all three exercises as a set no rest till one set is done. X3

1) side plank 30 seconds
2) plank stand 30 seconds
3) side plank 30 seconds

Saturday 4/24/2021: Training: 1 hour Muay Thai

Today we worked on Muay Thai, entries on the:

1) cross (parry and return strike)
2) the hook (high block return strikes, and or dumps)
3) the kick (catch kick and return strikes or dump)

We dot to do Silat take down called the Basset Dal, rear facing inside leg sweep. We worked on a figure 4 Leg take down that Jay taught us.

It was a lot of fun today, thanks for the class Khun Kru Krysta!

Training:

1) jump rope

2) cross, parry, cross rear kick plus sign drill
3) opponents turn

4) jab, cross, hook, rear kick
5) fed pads for H

6) jab, cross, split the cross
7) fed pads for H

8 ) jab, cross, hook ( high elbow cover + hit or dump)
9) held pads for H

10)jab, cross, hook, rear kick (catch kick, dump, spike quad, elbow, and or dump)
11) held pads for H

Sunday 4/25/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai, and 55 minutes of Weight lifting

Training: 2 hours of training Muay Thai

We have our little training pod, where we work together to work on higher level Muay Thai techniques, and sparring on Sunday!

I practice my free feeding and feed back.

I was working on flow, and chaining attacks better.

I was also working on keeping my hand and elbow in.

I was working on landing shuffling out, and the switching stance if need be.

Then sparring with Bunches of Punches that lead into kicks.

We got to do a new drill that was so much fun. Jab, cross, lead kick, slip the cross, hook, rear kick. That was really fun, and you can feel the weight distribution as you drill it out.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta , Amanda, and H for training with me and helping me learn to clean up my fighting.

Now on to leg day weight lifting. Gonna skip the run today as I think I hit my cardio needs. Lol

Workout # 2: 55 mins- Leg Day quads and glutes

After 2 hours of Muay Thai today leg day was a slog to get through but I did it. I just let my body rest more between exercises. Normally I try to stick to 30 seconds rest but ohh man today I needed extra time.

I also rolled my ankle at Muay Thai and now I am icing it.

Great news is… for the barbell lunges I went up 10 lbs, and for barbell sumo squats I went up 10 lbs. Woot!

Question: do you all get lazy and not take out the smaller weight befor stacking a larger weight? Picture below… when I was switching exercises up to squats instead of reloading largest first to smallest I just slapped the largest weight on the end. 😂

Weight lifting:

1) barbell walking lunges – reps 20, 20, 18, 18, 12, 12

2) barbell sumo squats – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

3) barbell hip thrusts – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

4) dumbbell goblet squats- reps 15, 15, 15

5) hyper reverse frog pumps – reps 20, 20, 20

Super set- do each exercise one after another without rest, rest only after each set of 3 exercises

3x this superset
1) dumbbell Russian twists- reps 20
2) reverse crunches – reps 15
3) dumbbell upper crunches – reps 20

How do you train? Do you train drills with three or more punches?

What do you think? Would you rather just punch once or twice and get out of the pocket?

Thank you all for reading. For those of you who are knew welcome. I am amazed you all read my little journal/blog. If you want to ask me any questions please don’t hesitate to comment or email me. If you want to follow my adventures and know when I put a knew post up right away subscribe. If you liked this post please let me know and hit the like button.

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

Training Martial Arts 4/12/2021: Cross Training and Pushing Through

Hello happy people. As you know I practice martial arts. I am also cross training, weight lifting, and running being the main forms of cross training.

What is cross training?

Generally Cross Training just means training with a few different types of exercise, movement, or modalities

Cross training is done by athletes because not only does it help with cardio, muscle strength, and movement. It also prevents injuries because you are avoiding over development of one set of muscles and helping to create more of a balance to the muscle mass you are trying to develop.

I digress… I have started a new weight lifting program it is 8 weeks long, and I am officially on my second week second day of the program. It is a 3 – 3 split, meaning 3 days a week I will weight lift, and it is split into lower body, upper body, lower body for the first 4 weeks then switches around to upper body, lower body, upper body for the following 4 weeks.

Why would I be mentioning this you are probably thinking to yourself. Well… Ouch! I hurt. D.O.M.S. (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) has set in. Ok so weight lifting has been something I have done for a while now. However, I wanted to challenge myself and I actually have found a person that I jive with and like. So I am following their program and she makes me do things I don’t like doing. I can only think that is a good thing. Because, when I make my own routine up like I so often do. I can avoid some exercises that are not the most fun, and tell myself its ok cause I am doing another exercise in the same vein or I am doing full body. I know this, and I accept this. Hence the new program.

What does this mean for me? Well I have been sore, very sore, because we are hitting muscles that I have bee training before but in different ways, with different volumes, and more consistently.

Boy does that make for interesting training days/nights in Muay Thai and Kali. My glutes were sore the first week, and what do you use when you do a round house kick? Aside from your core, torso, and legs, but your glutes. Along with my glutes my hamstrings were screaming at me on Tuesday. So what I did was power through my training, even though it hurt, and made sure to stay hydrated, stretch and used the hypervolt muscle massager. I often have H help me with the hypervolt cause he can get to all the areas that need attention.

What to do when extremely sore or have D.O.M.S:

  1. Train in your sport that you participating in. (I find that when I work out after being sore, it helps to flush the muscle, helps keep it warm and functioning. I feel like I heal faster as well. When I sit and wait for it to heal I hurt for longer.)
  2. Drink lots of water, fluids to help with the repair of your muscles
  3. Stretch
  4. Massage (helps to again in my experience heal the muscle faster. )
  5. Ice the affected muscles

Here is hoping as my body gets used to this level of cross training it gets a little easier. As it is I train Muay Thai 3 to 4 days a week, and run + weight lifting 3 days a week. I had to stack Sunday weight lifting with Sunday Advanced Muay Thai training. That ended up being a good 3 hours of training. We will see if I can keep that up or have to move my schedule around.

So as I am typing this out, thinking about this last week of training. My triceps are very sore from Sundays training, and I had upper body (back, chest, triceps) workout today.

Last week of 3 week Mini Cut

It is not till I look back at my week that I see I am actually almost hitting my macros. I often think that I am not hitting them as well as I could be. The easier thing would be to eat the same thing every day with no variety to make sure I hit my macros, but that seems boring. I don’t want to eat chicken, broccoli, and rice every day.

This week it looks like I almost hit my averages on macros. I am just still under on protein. I will keep dialing it in. I just have to fill my day with small protein snacks. Roasted nuts, protein bars, and protein shakes have all been helping.

I have gone down on the scale, which is great, it is going slowly. So I have had a scale victory, but I have noticed other small non scale victories. Like my run time is better, my profile in pictures is different slightly, and my clothing is fitting different. So Yay! Onward and upward.

Next two weeks are maintenance eating, then I will be back on a mini cut.

MACRO
AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein190168721199882130122.71428617350.28571429
Carbs159311144158219201224202.285714201-1.285714286
Fat668849678712214088.4285714901.571428571
           
Calories19902708130517112051223026762095.857142306210.1428571
4/12/2021 to 4/25/2021 Third week mini cut

Monday 4/12/2021: Workout: 1 hour- 1 mile run, upper body weight lifting workout

Back, shoulders, biceps, abs

Great workout and I am pooped. I don’t have all the equipment and had to come up with ways around. So instead of a cable machine I used resistance bands. Instead of 25 lb dumbbells, I used my 25 lb plates. Don’t give up on a work out you can find work arounds.

1 mile run

Weight lifting:

1) standing barbell row- reps 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4
2) seated cable rows / I used resistance bands – 12, 12, 12, 12
3) seated dumbbell shoulder press – 8, 8, 6, 6, 6
4) seated dumbbell lateral raises – 8, 8, 8, 8,
5) dumbbell inclined fly backs – 12, 12, 12, 12
6) dumbbell inclined wide bicep curls – 10, 10, 8, 8

Tuesday 4/13/2021: Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai training

We had a great time today. My glutes, quads and hamstrings are still sore from Sunday’s workout. But I went in and put time in on the mat.

Even so working the drills was fantastic.

Thank you khun kru Krysta for a great class.

Also wearing my new Yokkao clothes. Love love love the shorts. So pretty!

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, catch, jab, parry cross, throw cross, parry cross, bob and weave from incoming hook, return cross, bob and weave incoming cross
3) fed H the drill

4) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
5) fed H pads

6) jab, hook, lead elbow, lead knee, lead kick
7) feed H pads

8 ) jab, cross, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) feed H pads

10) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, lead elbow, rear knee, double kick
11) held pads for H

Thursday 4/15/2021: Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai training

As I as working tonight. I had a thought. We as martial artists, or athletes in general are the culmination of all of our instructors, their instructors, our will, and our dedication to the art/sport.

I know it seems like a Duh Tanya thought but, that is incredible to just think about. The legacy that has gon into making me and my martial artists family.

Anyway great day of training. I tried to leave the rest of the world off the mat and was ok for the most part doing so.

Thanks for the great class Khun Kru Krysta!

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, catch, jab, parry cross, throw cross, parry cross, bob and weave from incoming hook, return cross, bob and weave incoming cross
3) fed H the drill

4) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
5) fed H pads

6) jab, hook, lead elbow, lead knee, lead kick
( goal is to chain hook to lead elbow so you can get in fast)
7) feed H pads

8 ) jab, cross, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) feed H pads

10) jab, cross, lead spinning back elbow, rear spinning back elbow, lead spinning back elbow, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick

(goal is to assess the range after the spinning back elbows, of opponent is close reset and shuffle back to throw last elbow. If opponent moves back spin through and shuffle in for last elbow)
11) held pads for H

Friday 4/16/2021: Workout: 1 hour 15 minutes mile run and weight lifting glutes and hamstrings

I am doing a 3 day split lower, upper, lower body. Today was day 3.

Today has been a great day. I had a scale victory. While I try not to put to much value on the scale it is still a tool you can use to see changes, like a measuring tape.

Had some weird dude watching me run. But that’s ok. Having a good day anyway. This is what I wore to run in and I feel like it is not something risqué. Tank top and tights.

1 mile run, my average was lower again to day by just a few seconds.

Weight lifting:

1) dumbbell Bulgarian split squats each leg- reps x 8, 8, 6, 6, 4, 4 ( I normally do this with body weight only 15 each side so I felt these more today)

2) barbell stiff leg dead lift- reps x 8, 8, 8, 8

3) dumbbell single leg dead lift each side- reps x 10, 10, 10, 10

4) dumbbell b stance hip thrusters each leg – reps, 8, 8, 8, 8

5) dumbbell frog thrusts – reps 10, 10, 10, 10

Super set: do each set of three exercises back to back without a rest – only rest between a super set

x3 sets

1) knee crunches + leg extensions back to knee crunch – reps 14
2) straight legged Russian twists – reps 14
3) dumbbell V ups – reps 14

1) knee crunches + leg extensions back to knee crunch – reps 14
2) straight legged Russian twists – reps 14
3) dumbbell V ups – reps 14

1) knee crunches + leg extensions back to knee crunch – reps 14
2) straight legged Russian twists – reps 14
3) dumbbell V ups – reps 14

Saturday 4/17/2021: Training: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali

Had a great day of training today. I felt like I was getting great rotation on my kicks. Woot!

Here is whe we worked on.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great set of classes!

Muay Thai:

1) Jump rope

2) plus sign footwork drill, with rear leg kick
3) H’s turn to lead

4) 4 count – right to left- rear kick, hook, cross, lead kick
5) fed pads for H

6) 4 count – left to right- lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 )4 count – rear to rear – rear kick, hook, cross, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) 4 count – lead to lead – lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick
11) held pads for H

Kali:

We worked strikes 15, 1, 4, with a Kali stick, and with staves.

We alternated counters, bocks, and strikes for the 4 to 5 with staff.

Sunday 4/18/2021: Workout 1- 1 hour 1 mile run and Weight lifting lower body, Training 2 – 1 hour 45 min Muay Thai training

Workout 1: 1 hour – 1 mile run and weight lifting

Leg day- quads and glutes focus

Whew that’s done. I got my run in, my weight lifting done, and now I go to my Muay Thai training 2 hours slated for today.

My glutes are going to be sore tomorrow.

1 mile run

Weight lifting:

1) barbell walking lunges – reps 20, 20, 16, 16, 12, 12

2) barbell sumo squats – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

3) barbell hip thrusts – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

4) dumbbell goblet squats- reps 15, 15, 15

5) hyper reverse frog pumps – reps 20, 20, 20

Super set– do each exercise one after another without rest, rest only after each set of 3 exercises

3x this superset
1) dumbbell Russian twists- reps 20
2) reverse crunches – reps 15
3) dumbbell upper crunches – reps 20

Muay Thai Training:

Today we made it into the gym to do some higher level pad hitting.

Intuitive feeding

Cleaning up some of our movements/strikes (little tiny changes like stepping through, and foot placement shorten time between strikes by seconds, but may give you that opportunity to land a strike)

Working on some spinning elbows

This was after my weightlifting workout so I was already a bit tired. But I got through it. So total today time working out/training was about 3 hours. I am pooped. 😆 But this was a great day of training.

Thank you H and ladies for the training.

Are you cross training? If not finding something to cross train is a good Idea. It will help you in your primary martial art, and your sports. I used to cross train when I was on water polo and swim team in school. I ran to cross train.

What do you do to cross train?

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button so I see it. If you want to follow my adventures please subscribe to my blog. If you want to drop me a like, ask a question, or say hi, please feel free to leave a comment.

For my every day shenanigans you can catch me on instagram @sharpcupcake

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

For The Love of Martial Arts: Inaugural Interview with LTC. Jay Man

3/20/2021 Jay and I

Hello all you wonderful people. I decided with the help of my partner to start doing interviews of martial artists around me. I may open it up to fitness personalities etc. as I go along down the road. However, H and I were talking, and it has been amazing how many masters, teachers, and just amazing martial artists I have worked with.

I truly believe just like the great master Bruce Lee, that we can learn so much from each other, and every person we meet. I think there is a lot of hubris in thinking you have learned everything you can from one person and that they cannot teach you more.

I have not invented a “new style,” composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from “this” method or “that” method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see “ourselves”. . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don’t, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one’s back.
— Bruce Lee

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeet_Kune_Do

This above, is a philosophy we follow in our school. We try to embrace learning everything we can. This new series is going to be a way for me to showcase and highlight people that I have had the pleasure of working with and continue to learn from.

Col. Jay Man

About LTC. Jay Man: A Colonel in the Army, loving husband to his beautiful wife. He is the sweetest man you will ever meet. He is a tall man, I believe he may be 6 ft 1in, but to me a 5 ft woman he is a giant. When you talk to him, he has a smile that will light up the room, he is warm and inviting. If you have any questions he will stop what he is doing and devote all his attention to you. If you ask about martial arts he will gladly sit and talk with you for as long as you want. His passion for the martial arts he practices just emanates from him. I have trained and gone to seminars in Muay Thai with this man. He teaches and studies BJJ. He studies Kali, and has trained in all these martial arts for decades. (these are all facts and I will brook no argument)

What got you started in Martial arts?

Jay, “It was something for me. I was a Boy Scout and it was kinda something my mom kinda encouraged. But martial arts was kinda my thing.”

Jay, “Things that I enjoyed? Uhh, I always enjoyed Bruce Lee movies growing up.”

Me, “I think a lot of people started martial arts because of Bruce Lee, right?”

Jay, “Yeah, laughs”

Me, “He is a big influence.”

Jay, “I started boxing when I was 19, right before I joined the navy at the time. After I graduated High School I went into the military. So I always just thought that being a warrior and martial arts is something you should just do. So that is why I started (martial arts), and then it turned into something way more than that.

Me, “its your life now!”

Jay, “It turned into a lifestyle.”

What do you love about martial arts?

Jay, “I love the personal growth aspect. That’s the biggest part of it. I don’t really care about, (clears throat), it goes back to that whole warrior lifestyle thing, I don’t really care to much about metals or even winning. It doesn’t really matter that much.”

Me, “Yeah so you are competing against yourself.”

Jay, “Yes, um I read something recently which I really liked, it talked about how your mastering your calm, you know being able to… the most impressive thing I think I have ever heard even in combat, was the guy who was able to remain calm even when he could hear bullets hitting around him, and he was able to maintain his calm and maintain his focus. To be able to execute what was required to be get his people out of and survive that situation. He succeeded at his mission and continued on in service. “

Jay, “That to me is what martial arts is really about. Is being able to remain calm to do what is necessary, to do the right thing, in the most stressful situations you can find…you know the ultimate obviously being combat, but even without combat, if you are able to maintain calm when someone is trying to stress you out in work. If you can do it in combat you can do it with some idiot at work.”

Me, “Yeah exactly, exactly, a bad day is not going to cause you go and kill a bunch of people.” (Note: of context, this was right after the shooting at the massage parlor and the mans excuse was he was having a bad day.)

Jay, “That particular situation frustrated me because, where is the personal responsibility.”

Which martial arts do you prefer to practice?

Me, “Its not a good or bad thing, but do you love Jiu Jitsu more, or do you like the striking martial arts more?”

Jay, “I love them all so lets just get that out there.”

Me, “I figured it would be a hard question.”

Jay, “Yeah it is a hard question, I think that um, to me its all one thing, in that combat is not limited to one particular position. I mean let me ask you this, I mean, which style would be best to defend yourself against an IED that is placed under your vehicle. That is the first time that style means jack and shit.”

Me, “Right it is about what ever works at the time.”

Jay, “Exactly, so if I am being attacked in my house, by someone who has a knife, Jiu Jitsu is great, but a gun is better. I mean it really just depends on the situation.”

Jay, “Now what do I like to practice for personal growth its going to be Jiu Jitsu, and that is because the again going back to the original point of being able to learn how to defend yourself in a real situation, but also how to remain calm in a stressful environment, because Jiu Jitsu puts you into these weird physical positions that really stress you out. There is a visceral reaction in a human being when their being held against their will and they can’t move and they can’t do anything. You definitely feel it when some one is choking you and you can’t get out of it. Very stressful. I personally think that is why women should learn it, because that particular situation, that art, teaches you how to deal with that kind of panic, so that you learn how to deal with the panic, so you can work effectively to get out of a situation.”

Me, “It all goes back to that whole being calm in a crazy stressful situation, because a lot of times for women at least in my experience, for women, the perpetrator whether its a man or woman or whatever, uses their weight and their size against you, so being able to make space and get the hell out, is really really important in my opinion.”

Jay, “I couldn’t agree more. And striking is one of those things that, the person that is the bigger stronger person, has the advantage, because striking requires a lot of force, and force is generated by mass times acceleration, and guys generally have more mass. That does not mean a woman is inherently fated to lose, a woman just has to fight smarter. Which shouldn’t be to hard cause women are smarter anyway.”

Me, “That is the whole thing about fighting anyway, you wanna win, you have to fight smarter.”

Jay, “There is a quote in War and Peace that I really liked, attributed to Napoleon, I highly recommend the book, anyway it says,”The key to victory is being stronger than your opponent at any given point.” , Its not about being stronger than your opponent always, it is being stronger when your opponent is weak. And that is where I think Jiu Jitsu is effective and helpful, because first of all you can use your body weight and positions to negate strikes, or to make strikes less effective. Now we are not talking about weapons, that is a different story. You do Kali, so you know, a weapon is a tool so if you can get a weapon you should use the weapon. But if you are not talking a rape situation and there is no weapon involved, then Jiu Jitsu is a good tool to utilize against a stronger opponent, because you are learning to use your strengths against their weakness.”

Me, “Yeah, and even physics goes into it, points of areas of if you push the body is going to turn, so you just got to… knowing that is highly highly helpful in those situations.”

Jay, “A simple example that I can put up, in Muay Thai you already learned that, you push the head their whole body they can’t strike as well.”

Me, “Yeah where the head goes…”

Jay, “Where the head goes the body follows, its a simple understanding of simple stuff like that, that I think is so useful for Jiu Jitsu, and it translates very well to Muay Thai, because Muay Thai like Jiu Jitsu is based on reality and body physics.”

Me, “I 100% agree!”

What would you tell an aspiring martial artist?

Me, “Young or old, just anyone wanting to start”

Jay, “Be persistent… persistence is the most important thing. Consistency and persistence, in what ever you are learning. Don’t get all freaked out about rank. That is completely irrelevant. I like to say this all the time. Martial arts and self defense skills are a perishable skill, I don’t care if you have won 17 different national titles. You know, if you don’t train for two years your not going to be able to use it in an actual self defense situation, which should always be your focus. If you are focused on getting rank, so you can look good, or look like a bad ass, you have missed the entire point. Being able to be successful in combat, requires constant and consistent training.”

Me, “It goes back to being your own…you are competing against yourself…you are constantly trying to improve yourself. Not go against this guy, or against this guy or whatever. I often fall into that, feeling I am not good enough.”

Bonus Point Mental block:

Jay, “So there is a converse to that, you may have that mental block were you are thinking you are not good enough. There are other people who think, hey I have it down. That is another mental block.”

Me, “Oh that is so true.”

Jay, “Both of those are equally dangerous, because they interfere with your ability to actually do reality.”

Me, “Yeah that is true, I never thought about the other side, yeah, because I always think ok I can get better, look at these other people over here, I never thought about if you over think it and you think you are better than everyone else and you come out swinging, and you are just not… you are going to get your butt handed to you.”

Jay, “Right, right… and that over confidence is just as…I have seen that become equally as dangerous and especially when you are in charge of soldiers, or you are leaders of men, and you have that over confidence you get a lot of people killed, I have seen that before.”

Me, “oh yeah that makes sense, you are not thinking about your men, you thinking you can do it…”

Jay, “Those guys are thinking, I am immortal, my guys are immortal, my guys have this skill level that they can do anything, so I have a lack of planning, I don’t need this particular communication system, or I don’t need to follow this rule because hey my guys are awesome they were able to do all this stuff, they went through this kind of training, they should be able to handle it, and those guys get killed.”

Me, “That is scary and terrible all at the same time.”

Jay, “I am specifically thinking of Operation Red Wings for any of your listeners that want to look that up. Its a lone survivor mission.”

Back to: What would you tell an aspiring martial artist?

  1. Consistency in training
  2. Don’t worry about rank
  3. Constantly looking to better themselves

Jay, “The mantra of the highest level of soldiers and warriors that this country produces, Tier 1 Units that does not mean a lot to most people, they are constantly evaluating where they are, they never rest on their laurels, always training to get better, always taking a very very critical look at themselves, always always trying to find out what they screwed up so they can improve. Even if they did something to perfection, they are going to find the things that are a problem, and try to fix them.”

Me, “There is always things you can learn, always,”

Jay, “Right, and they are always trying to improve. That is the mentality that I think you need to take into martial arts. If you want to continue and be successful. That does not end… there is no end goal.”

Me, “Right, I say it all the time, its a lifelong learning process.”

Jay, “A lifelong learning process, I don’t care… I mean Guru Dan (Dan Inosanto), is the best example of that, he is one of my biggest inspirations, Guro Dan put on a white belt in Jiu Jitsu in his 60’s because he wanted to improve in martial arts. He did that with Systema, in his late 70’s.”

Me, “Yeah anyone who is willing to start at the beginning, and just go.”

Jay, “He does not care, he just wants to learn, he wants to constantly improve himself through his entire life. That is who he is, he got that from Bruce Lee, that is the quintessential example of what you should be as a martial artists. And that is how you will get to the best possible capability. I am not even talking about elite athletes, elite athletes are a short term process, those guys will be successful for a specific time that they are physically able to do it. But if you want to have a life time success in martial arts, its all about continuously improving yourself regardless of where you are and what stage you are in your life, and constantly pushing to get better. Always trying to learn, does not matter if you get to black belt in your life.

Me, “Yeah 100%, I could be white belt in Jiu Jitsu for the rest of my life, and that is fine, so long as I learn. And I learn what I can do, what my body can do, not what some one else can do.”

Jay, “Guru Dan is a great example, he would be effective in combat today, because he would evaluate the situation and solve the problem.”

Bonus Point Confidence is not ego:

(we digressed and talked a little about ego and Jay wanted to add another point)

Jay, “I will leave you with this perspective…I have been thinking about this a lot, because you are right, ego can get in your way. But there is another part to ego that is important, and that is self confidence. Confidence, how do we define confidence, is not thinking you can do something, but doing it so much that you just know you can do it. Like right now do you have an doubt that you can do a right round house kick to my leg?

Me, “No, not at all”

Jay, “Why?”

Me, “Because I have done it so many times.”

Jay, “Because you have done it thousand of times. So it is not over confident, that you can round house kick me in the leg. To most people it sounds like boasting. Its not boasting, and it looks like ego and boasting.”

Me, “I have said that on my blog, It sounds like boasting, and I have told people, and I am really not, but I have put hours and years into this, this is what my third year into Muay Thai, and thousands and thousands of hours. I am confident I can pull off a kick or a combo or whatever.”

Jay, “When I say that example, most people don’t spend thousands of hours on a round kick, but they spend a lot of time walking, are you confident right not that you can walk across a floor. Its not boasting. Of course you can and that is the kind of confidence you need to build in martial arts, and it is not ego.”

Me, “I am sorry if I took up a lot of your class time. Thank you for talking with me and answering my questions”

Jay, “No no this is great conversation, I love it, this is great, ask any time.”

This was a fantastic interview, I could talk to Jay about martial arts all day. For those people who do the TLDR (to long didn’t read) the questions and answers are below. However, I really recommend reading he has some really great points and explanations. I never knew about Operation Red Wings, that was an interesting read. I have linked it above click on the words in the interview.

  1. What got you started in martial arts?
    • He had many outlets given to him when he was a kid, but martial arts ended up being his own personal thing. Bruce Lee was a huge influence when he was little. He started with boxing, went into the navy, and always thought it becoming a warrior was the right thing to do.
  2. What do you love about martial arts?
    • Personal growth aspect, you are competing against yourself, bettering yourself.
    • Learning to remain calm in a stressful situation.
  3. Which martial arts do you prefer to practice?
    • He loves them all
    • But in terms of personal growth Jiu Jitsu is his favorite.
  4. What would you tell an aspiring martial artist?
    • Consistency in training
    • Don’t worry about rank
    • Constantly looking to better themselves
  5. Bonus points:
    • Confidence is not ego
    • Mental blocks can be over thinking you are not good enough, and also over thinking you are the best
    • His inspirations Bruce Lee, and Guru Dan Inosanto

I have trained with Jay for years and I felt I got to know him so much better after this interview. It is nice to sit down and pick the brain of some one who is so experienced in martial arts. When I asked him he did not hesitate to say yes. I was amazed.

That is it for my first interview and featured martial artist. Thank you for reading. I will be interviewing more people as I go along. I really wish I thought of this sooner. But no time like the present to start. There is so much I can learn from each person who has been in, near, trained with me, or adjacent to my martial arts training.

What would you like to hear about?

What kind of questions should I ask?

What did I miss?

If you liked this kind of post, please hit the like button. If you would like to keep up with my adventures, subscribe, and please feel free to comment. You can find day to day shenanigans on my instagram @sharpcupcake

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

6/9/2019 Right to Left – Khun Kru Krysta, Ajarn Chai, Me, JD, Jay – We were at a seminar with Ajarn Chai

Training Martial Arts 4/05/2021: Leaving Everything Else Off The Mat, Kinetic Chain Sequence

I am well aware that people are all different what may be hard for me is a no brainer for them. What may be easy for me is super difficult for others. Then there are those people that seem like they are perfect. Nary a problem had for those people. I am not one of them. I sometimes struggle hitting every obstacle in my way, instead of clearing them with a single jump, sometimes I just climb over them.

I write this blog so that I can record, ruminate, and hopefully pass on what I am learning. I often look back and see some of the progress I have made. Whether the progress is mental, physical, or spiritual I can see it. Sometimes I can only see the progress because of the posts I have made.

What am I waxing on about? Leaving everything off the mat. Letting things go, and ignoring the problems you faced during the day. I am not one to normally let it go. I worry that (thing of contention, problem, or issue) like a dog with their favorite bone. Sometimes its those areas that are friction for me that I use to drive my energy on the mat, however, I have noticed when I just let it all go. I ignore everything else that happened that day, for the 1 or 2 hours I am on the mat, I am more fluid, my body responds to my commands, and I look like I know what I am doing.

Why is that? Why when I leave it all at the door, or the edge of the mat, do I work better? That is a good question, and while I have been thinking about it, the only thing I can come up with is. When I am upset, annoyed, pissed off, worried, etc., I will work the drills. I will follow the lead of my trainer/Kru/coach. I will do what is asked of me, but I am torn between training and issues of the day. It feels like I forcing the drills.

Why is forcing the drills bad?

Well for instance in Muay Thai especially, I can only speak for Muay Thai, because my previous experience with martial arts is with those Mc Dojos as a kid. For Muay Thai, you will notice that the mechanics of the drills, moves, strikes follows and flows with the physics of the body. If I force say a drill of kicking, I tighten up, my leg/hip/glutes, all tighten up and in doing so shorten my muscles up, and while I may try to muscle it or force more power, it will convey less power. In Muay Thai power is conveyed in turning over of the hips, aiming through your opponent, and letting your body follow physics.

The best way it has been described to me from one of my Kru Kristen was imagine your leg is a bat on the end of a chain. You could try to muscle the bat and hit a person with the bat. You will do damage and it will hurt, however, if you swing the bat on the chain, your body torque, your limbs working in unison, you will create far more force.

Funny enough I looked it up in order to understand it better. They have a name for it. Often used for batters in Baseball. However, it can be used for jumping, kicking a soccer ball, kicking in Muay Thai, etc. Far smarter people than I have named it… Kenetic Chain Sequence.

The Kinetic Chain Sequence is the way to explain the biomechanical:

“term for body parts working together and moving in a specific order to create a movement.” “The main contributors to swing power, in order, are the following: Ultimately, the power produced by the hips, torso, lead arm and hand is delivered to the bat, which then smashes a baseball deep into the bleachers (hopefully!)”

https://blog.tannertees.com/drills/the-baseball-softball-kinetic-chain-basics.html

There are whole sites/blog pages/etc dedicated to understanding Kenetic Chain Sequence. If you are interested there is so much more information out there.

https://diamondkinetics.com/from-the-ground-up-the-kinetic-chain-in-nick-senzels-swing/

I digress, when I am trying to muscle or force a drill, I mess up my kinetic chain sequence in my body. Step, pivot on ball of foot, torso and hip turn over, leg kick to side of the opponent. I tighten up and still make the connection but I don’t do so with the most power I could. This also mess up flow. If you are already tight it is hard to switch feet, shift out, flow. You have to unclench your muscles so that you can move and contract them again. It takes seconds off of your flow, it does not seem like a big deal, but it does effect your energy output.

If your flow and biomechanics is slowed, it feels to me like trying to kick through some viscous fluid. I can do it but it tires me out faster. Forcing your moves simply makes you more tired. And people who are new to Muay Thai do it all the time. So we are telling them to relax and let whip your body hip over. Easier said than done when you are new though.

When I am focusing on things that are making me mad/upset/angry/stressed, I notice I am just barreling through my workout/training.

What helps and makes me feel like I am having a fantastic training day? When I leave everything from the world at the edge of the mat. I can pick it up later when I am done training. I had a day where that happened this week. I am still learning how to do that. But everything flowed. I felt good. My partner said my strikes (boxing, elbows, knees, kicks) were 30% more powerful that day. I flowed well. I was faster, my drills looked good. I was not exhausted all the time. I felt great. I am chasing that feeling on the mats. I want to have that be my every training day. I know that it won’t always be, but I want it to be more common than not.

Goals are to be more relaxed in training. Easier said than done for me, but I will work on it.

Mini Cut Week 2

Ok mini cut week 2, I am still trying to dial in my protein intake. This last week I went a little over on carbs. I hit my fat macros dead on. So I just need to dial in my carbs and push the protein. Currently for this week the scale is not really moving.

I am also actively weight lifting during this. So I know it is all body recomposition (building muscle, burning fat).

I am not perfect and dialing in my food intake is taking time. However, I am invested in me and will keep going.

Again the calories for the day vary, on average I burn 3000 to 3500 a day. On the high side I burn 4000 depending on my activity that day. On my off day I burn between 2000 and 2500. I work out 6 days a week, and have a job where I am on my feet.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein14512312117015974115129.57142917343.42857143
Carbs18119238726694312257241.285714201-40.28571429
Fat129788478998313197.428571490-7.428571429
           
Calories24651962278824461903229126672360.285712306-54.28571429
Mini Cut week 2 4/5/2021 to 4/11/2021

Monday 4/05/2021 Workout: 1 hour- 1 mile run, 45 minute weight lifting workout

I am working toward a goal, and trying to ignore the bumps, lumps and yuckiness I see. I know putting in the time will eventually lead to results. Just have to grind and keep going.

For me it helps having clothing I love and feel good in. It’s a reward I give to myself for sticking to my routine even when I don’t want to.

1 mile run

Weight lifting: 3x sets of each

1) back squats- x 10 reps
2) kettlebell swings- 1 minute
3) goblet squats- x 10 reps
4) tripod tricep row- x 10 reps each side
5) clean and press- x 10 reps each side
6) hip thrusters- x20 reps
7) Bulgarian split squats- x 10 each side

That is it for today. I have to take kiddo to eye exam, and run some other errands. Oh and get food in.

Tuesday 4/06/2021 Training: 1 hour Muay Thai

Training a was great even though I am exhausted. I had work, errands, chores, feeding family, and I have been running around getting paperwork together for the gov’ment. For a super secret maybe adventure.

We worked on a goofy foot/shin compression drop again today.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a fun.

I did windshield wiper drills before class.

I Need to keep the working on the windshield wipers drills. I also need to remember to throw the leg down instead of around so that it’s easier to kick the leg.

Training:
1) Jab, catch, jab
2) fed H

3) catch jab, parry cross, inner mouse the tricep or, catch jab, parry the cross, outer mouse the tricep with back hand
4) feed H

5) catch jab, parry cross, return mouse back hand, high block incoming hook, post and push off, brace foot on leg for knee to leg destruction, push opponent, and return lead kick.
6) held pads for H

7) catch jab, parry cross, mouse arm, post high cover hook, destroy the wrist, goofy foot/shin compression and dump.
8 ) held pads for H

Wednesday 4/07/2021 Workout: 1 hour- run, battle ropes, weightlifting

And workout is done. I am still sore from Monday’s leg and upper body day. Today was upper body and core day.

It’s beautiful outside today! The workout was great even if I dis not starting out wanting to do it today.

1 mile run

9 minute battle rope Tebatta: 45 seconds on 10 seconds off, x 3 each set
1) single whip/alternating arm waves
2) double whip/double arm waves
3) figure 8

Weight lifting: x 3 each set
1) standing tricep overhead extension- 12 reps
2) standing tricep kick backs – 20 reps
3) front raise to lateral raise – 20 reps
4) standing side crunches with KB – 20 reps each side
5) reverse crunches – 20 reps
6) sit ups- 20 reps
7) push ups – 20 reps

Thursday 4/08/2021 Training: 1 hour Muay Thai

Good day of training, not getting the shin compression right is a little frustrating but I will keep working on it.

Main takeaway from this class was taught to Khun Kru Krysta by Greg Nelson. It is the contact points on opponents body so you can better control their body, the head press into opponents body, turning of their body to make them/their spine/center of gravity compromised, shin contact with foot hooked behind and applying contact and pressure together to drop opponents.

Need to work more on it. But I was able to get some good dumps on my partner. Yay!

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta!

Training:
Jump rope

1) Jab, catch, jab
2) fed H

3) catch jab, parry cross, inner mouse the tricep or, catch jab, parry the cross, outer mouse the tricep with back hand
4) feed H

5) catch jab, parry cross, return mouse back hand, high block incoming hook, post and push off, catch the incoming kick, elbow spike destruction to the leg of opponent, leg kick, and return lead kick.
6) held pads for H

7) catch jab, parry cross, return mouse back hand, high block incoming hook, post, lead knee, lead kick
8 ) held pads for H

9) catch jab, parry cross, mouse arm, post high cover hook, destroy the wrist, goofy foot/shin compression and dump.
10) held pads for H

Saturday 4/10/2021 Training: 2 hours training of Muay Thai and Kali

Today was a great day of training. One of the best I have had in ages.

I did not overthink what I was doing. I trusted in my training and my body knowing what to do. I did not force it. It was fantastic. I am going to work on that. It’s harder than you might believe for me.

The reason it was fantastic? I have had a few emotional days. I have had some rough days this week.

I put it aside, I did not even think about it. I just came to train. I just worked, allowed my body to do what I have taught it. And the result? I flowed, my strikes were 30% harder without trying, I did not force it I just worked. H told me my strikes were harder, and I was flowing fantastically.

Hardest thing for me to do is to put away the things I deal with. To leave them off the mat. Today I did. I just worked. I turned off my brain!

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for great classes.

Training:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, catch, jab, parry cross, throw cross, parry cross, bob and weave from incoming hook, return cross, bob and weave incoming cross
3) fed H the drill

4) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee
5) fed H pads

6) jab, hook, lead elbow, lead knee
7) feed H pads

8 ) jab, cross, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
9) feed H pads

10) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, lead elbow, rear knee, double kick
11) held pads for H

Kali:
1) heaven six
2) standard six
3) heaven umbrella six
4) standard umbrella six
5) all together- heaven six, standard six, heaven umbrella six, standard umbrella six

Sunday 4/11/2021 Workout: 1 hour – 1 mile run and weight lifting

Leg day- I am trying out an app that puts together workouts for me. Because while I can do some things I also can focus on exercises I like better. So this helps break up my routine. That’s what coaches are good for. 😊

My glutes are going to be sore tomorrow.

1 mile run

Weight lifting:

1) barbell walking lunges – reps 20, 20, 16, 16, 12, 12

2) barbell sumo squats – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

3) barbell hip thrusts – reps 8, 8, 8, 6, 6

4) dumbbell goblet squats- reps 15, 15, 15

5) hyper reverse frog pumps – reps 20, 20, 20

Super set- do each exercise one after another without rest, rest only after each set of 3 exercises

3x this superset
1) dumbbell Russian twists- reps 20
2) reverse crunches – reps 15
3) dumbbell upper crunches – reps 20

Leaving everything off the mat. That is going to be a hard ask for me. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. But I am going to try to just let it go at least while I am on the mat.

What part of training do you have a hard time with?

What are your goals, tangible or intangible?

Do you notice a difference in your training when you don’t carry your worries with you?

Thank you all for reading. I hope you all have a great week. This was a record of my last week of training and nutrition. To my new subscribers welcome, and I am humbled that you want to read my ramblings. Please feel free to drop me a line if you have questions or want to comment. If you liked my post let me know by hitting the like button. If you want to see more of my adventures subscribe.

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

Training Martial Arts 03/29/2021: Fighting for your life vs Fighting like you are in the ring

So my instructor is fantastic about teaching not only the in the ring legal strikes, but she also teaches as she calls it the behind the 7-Eleven fighting. Behind the 7-Eleven fighting is that fighting when you are fighting for your life. Understanding the use of force and what level of force you need to use when you are training is important. I have noticed that new students often don’t understand what force to use right away. They seem to lay on either side of the line. A new student will use to little force because they are worried about hurting some one. On the other hand a new student will use all their force and not have the control necessary to pull the punches.

Ring/training

In the ring, you want to score points. You want the judges to see you make contact so that you can win the fight. In the ring you cannot reap your opponent. Once your opponent goes down you have to break off.

In training, we aim for the meaty parts of our training partners. We are not trying to destroy each other. We want our training partners to keep training with us. If I were to destroy my partners knee when I train with him, he won’t be happy and won’t be able to train with me. But if I am trying to

Behind the Convenience Store

In the back of a convenience store, you are fighting for your life. You are aiming at joints. You are trying to disable the assailant. You are trying to make it difficult for the assailant continue on, to follow you, to keep fighting.

At this point you want to make sure you live and they stop. Whether you incapacitate the assailant, or at the worst case you stop them completely you are not playing in the same field.

Why distinguishing force it important?

This differentiation is important because you have to know what your situation is and know what sort of force to use at the time.

I would not want to permanently physically maim my opponent in the ring.

However, if I were fearing for my life, I would have to use enough force to at the least disable the assailant. Also in an instance where you are in fear of your life using enough force to make the assailant hesitant to continue their attack is ideal.

Now this is my understanding, but here seems to lay the difference between Muay Boran and Muay Thai. Muay Boran is the original martial unarmed martial art of Thailand. Additionally Kabri Kabroong was the martial art with weapons developed in Thailand. Both these martial arts were taught to soldiers and the best of the best in Muay Boran was recruited into the royal guard.

Muay Thai is the more modern of the two. Muay Thai is a martial art used in the ring.

With this in mind, Muay Boran was used to fight their enemies, and they were not worried about maiming or killing their opponents. That is the way of war. Understanding the art of the Muay Thai, and its progenitor Muay Boran, and what the original targets were is I feel important to understanding the art itself. I find that understanding the history helps me understand the strikes.

Understanding what force to use, situational awareness, and the history of the art is paramount in my opinion to understanding, practicing, and passing on the art.

Mini Cut Week 1

Ok so this is the start of Mini Cut, week 1.

I honestly thought I did not do so well this week. However, after looking at these numbers and my averages…
I almost met the fat macros.
I was way closer to my protein macro only missed it by 28 grams on average. Yay!
I was way over on my carbs, well 30 over.

But hey on average I hit my calorie requirements. I am still trying to dial in my macros. It seems I did not do as bad as I thought I did.

What has helped I have been trying to make sure I get protein in with little snacks in between meals. I have those little bags of nuts, protein shakes, and protein bars.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein13318918317198101141145.14285717327.85714286
Carbs295290278271132228225245.571429201-44.57142857
Fat54867299766413583.7142857906.285714286
           
Calories21982690249226591604189226792316.285712306-10.28571429
Mini Cut Week 1

Monday 03/29/2021 Workout: 1 hour 15 minutes- 1 mile run, battle ropes, weight lifting

It is a beautiful Monday morning. 45 degrees F and sunny.

I got my run in, and worked in my garage gym. I am dead.

1 mile run

Weight lifting: each set x3 , done as a superset (superset is both exercises done right after another no break)

1) 45 seconds double whip battle ropes
2) tripod tricep row x 12 each side

3) 45 seconds single whip battle ropes
4) back squats x8 reps

5) 45 seconds double whip battle ropes
6) 1 minute KB swings

7) goblet squats x 12
8 ) standing lateral ab crunches x 12

9) hip thrusters x10
10) reverse crunches x 15

Tuesday 03/30/2021 Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

We do drills for the sake of drills, so we can work on form in our strikes.

However drills are different from actual fighting. Drills are for muscle memory, and learning the strike but in a fight or out in the real world you most likely won’t be able to string together to gunting and mousing the arm, or windshield wiper block and mouse the inner arm.

But we more likely will parry a shot, bob and weave and then parry and mouse the arm.

So drills are great for training, but sparring is where the drills get put to use.

A) Destructions
B ) Siko 4 ways
C) Wind shield wiper defense, mousing the arm
D) Parry and mousing the arm

I am still bad at the wind shield wiper bock, parry, return strike, but I am getting a little better.

Thank you Kun Kru Krysta!

Muay Thai Training:

1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, opponent parries both ( stand your ground no backing up)
3) parrying your opponents jab and cross (stand your ground)

4) parry incoming cross, mouse the inside bicep/tricep
5) feed H so he can practice

6) windshield wiper, parry, return inside mouse strike to bicep/tricep
7) feed H so he can practice

8 ) parry cross, mouse arm, cover incoming hook, fence, and either (run knees, dump, elbow, what ever works)
9) feed H so he can practice

10) Siko 4 destructions- parry jab into your elbow, parry cross, into your elbow, shuffle in to spear elbow the pectoral muscle
11) fed for H so he can practice

12) parry the jab, Siko the cross/destruction, high elbow cover the hook, catch the lead leg round house, either ( destroy the leg with elbow spike, or spinning back elbow)
13) fed for H so he can practice

Wednesday 03/31/2021 Workout: 45 minutes- 1 mile run, battle ropes, weight lifting

It is a great morning to get out and move. I ran a mile, and did a short workout of battle ropes and weight lifting superset.

I have to work later in the day so I had to cut it short to get the rest of my day going. All the other errands done.

Workout: do this as a superset, no rest between battle ropes and weigh lifting set.
x3 each set

1) single whip 45 seconds
2) back squats x8

3) double whip 45 seconds
4) dead lifts x6

5) single whip 45 seconds
6) Bulgarian split squats x12 each side

Thursday 04/01/2021 Training: 1 hour of Muay Thai

We got to train the same drills that we did on Tuesday. I am still working on my windshield wiper defense and counter attack.

Khun kru gave us a cool drill I can practice on the heavy bag at home for working on my windshield wiper defense.

Drill:
Lead Shoulder bump in windshield stance, uppercut, hook, Rear shoulder bump in windshield stance, hook, ( lather rinse and repeat)

Thank you Kun Kru Krysta for a great class again!

Muay Thai Training:

10 minutes of bag work before class

1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, opponent parries both ( stand your ground no backing up)
3) parrying your opponents jab and cross (stand your ground)

4) parry incoming cross, mouse the inside bicep/tricep
5) feed H so he can practice

6) windshield wiper, parry, return inside mouse strike to bicep/tricep
7) feed H so he can practice

8 ) parry cross, mouse arm, cover incoming hook, fence, and either (run knees, dump, elbow, what ever works)
9) feed H so he can practice

10) Siko 4 destructions- parry jab into your elbow, parry cross, into your elbow, shuffle in to spear elbow the pectoral muscle
11) fed for H so he can practice

12) parry the jab, Siko the cross/destruction, high elbow cover the hook, catch the lead leg round house, either ( destroy the leg with elbow spike, or spinning back elbow)
13) fed for H so he can practice

Saturday 04/03/2021 Workout: Training: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali

Today was a great day of training. I had a lot of fun and we worked on different kick block with a posted knee, it is more of a destruction to the kick. I forgot the name of the block.

Then we worked on a goofy foot/shin compression drop.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for great fun classes.

Training:
1) Jab, catch, jab
2) fed H

3) catch jab, parry cross, inner mouse the tricep or, catch jab, parry the cross, outer mouse the tricep with back hand
4) feed H

5) catch jab, parry cross, return mouse back hand, high block incoming hook, post and push off, brace foot on leg for knee to leg destruction, push opponent, and return lead kick.
6) held pads for H

7) catch jab, parry cross, mouse arm, post high cover hook, destroy the wrist, goofy foot/shin compression and dump.
8 ) held pads for H

Kali:

1) 15 strike, 1 strike, 4 strike, with various blocks for the 4
2) playing with sword and shield and doing the 15, 1, 4 with sword and shield

Ohh and new Yokkao wraps came in!!! Woot!

Sunday 04/04/2021 Workout: 1 mile run, Tabata Battle Rope routine, Heavy Bag training

I ran a mile, took the kids with me while they rode their bikes. It was a little nerv wrecking so that run was different.

Tabata Ropes: 45 seconds on 10 seconds rest 3x each set. No rest between sets.

1) double whip x3
2) single whip x3
3) double rotation x3

30 minutes Heavy Bag work:

I focused on the windshield wiper.

1) Started with- foot work, switching lead leg, switching hand placement

2) Worked on the bag- shoulder bump, foot work, switching lead leg, switching hand placement

3) Finally worked – shoulder bump, uppercut, hook, switch lead leg, shoulder bump, uppercut, hook

Great day outside, and kids attempted the battle ropes. Hahaha

Whether you are training for the ring, or you are training for self defense, understanding the use of force and what your intent is, is paramount to training properly.

Are you fighting in the ring or behind the 7-Eleven? Are you afraid for you life, or are you just trying to score some points and win that shiny new belt?

How do you train? I train for the ring and also for self defense.

Thanks for reading. If you liked this blog post please hit the like button. If you want to follow my adventures subscribe. If you have something you want to say please feel free to comment. I hope you all have a fantastic week.

For day to day stuff you can find me @sharpcupcake on instagram.

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

Guess Who is an Official Yokkao Brand Ambassador?

I did not even know how to title this, so a simple title seems best. I am amazed, I have had several brands reach out to me. Some of the brands want me to review some of their items, some of them want me to be brand ambassadors.

Some of the companies truly want honest reviews, and some don’t or have allterior motives. I have rejected some offers and obviously accepted some offers. I recently did a product review of a company that sent me a product and asked me to do an honest review. So I was happy to accept. I am always happy to look at/try something new that is sent to me and give an honest review.

Then a brand I have used, and loved for almost 2 years now reached out to me and asked me to be a brand ambassador. As a matter of fact two people contacted me personally from Yokkao.

This is a long way of me saying yay, I am a Official Yokkao Ambassador. Do you see that picture? Me?!? Why me… why ask me was my question. I am the biggest goof ball. But ask me they did. I already use their carbon fit shorts. I love the fit and their styles.

I am going to keep using their shorts and products. I love Yokkao. I love their designs. I have a new pair of Thai Shorts on the way the Angry Bunny ones. I cannot wait to get them.

I mean look at these… so flipping cute! I love them already and I have not gotten them yet.

So the good stuff is:

I have a special code that I can share with you all that will give you 10% off on your purchase. Use this code: sharpcupcake10​ at yokkao.com

https://yokkao.com?ghref=2411:115460&discount=sharpcupcake10
direct link using my code

Cool beans right? I think it is really cool. When you love the brand already it is a much easier decision to work with them. At least that is the case for me.

Ohh and something really cool. A fighter I have been watching and loving for a while has just signed with Yokkao. “Our newly signed fighter Rodtang Jitmuangnon is fighting in 7 days.” If you can get a chance to watch one of his fights, please do so. He is amazing.

What would you do if a brand you loved reached out to you?

If you have what have you done? Did you end up working with them?

Let me know if you end up ordering something, and show me what you ordered so I can be excited with you.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this post please click the like button. If you want to keep up with my adventures subscribe to this blog. As always please feel free to comment and talk to me.

Find me @sharpcupcake on Instagram for day to day shenanigans.

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

Training Martial Arts 03/15/2021: Striking Flow w/ Weight Shifting, Maintenance Week

Striking Flow/Shifting Weight

I really love in my training when things just flow right. What I mean by that is I can feel it work. It feels almost effortless in some ways. Not always for me, but some days I get a glimpse of the effortlessness. I wonder is that what it is like for these martial arts masters. Those people who make it look effortless.

What I mean is if you have trained in any striking martial art you may have noticed that the drills are made often times so that you strike with one side say your left, and then you strike with you right side. You do this because we are left/right sided animals. If we are in orthodox stance and hit with a cross our weight shifts to the right side as our arm extends. Then we will return with say a cross from the lead hand or left side. When you do that your weight shifts from left to right, and it flows.

It is nice when working drills and the flow just makes sense. You strike, kick, elbow, knee, kick…your weight shifts back and forth. When it is working right, it feels effortless. This week working on one of the drills it felt that way. It was great. I could literally feel my body shifting, moving, flowing form one strike to the next.

I was being watched by my instructor and she came over to let me know it looked great,fantastic even. I was totally expecting her to say “but” do this instead, or this is needs work. There was no but. It was great. I was turning my lead leg a little bit to much for the hook but it was all good, easy fix.

YAY!!!

When you watch those martial artists on TV or the masters you notice they move form position to position with ease and like well a master. That is the goal. I am starting to notice once in a while I feel those flows. It is going to take a lifetime to get to a point where I feel it all the time. But it is nice to feel it some times.

Martial arts goals!

Maintenance Week

This last week I came off my three week mini cut. I am on a maintenance week. What that means is I need to try to keep to my macros, and eat the same amount of calories that I burn. Lets me just say ahead of time. I have had a hard time meeting those goals this week. I end up being under. But the reason we do this, is to basically reset your body, so that it knows it is not starving.

This stops your body from trying to reach homeostasis and adjust to the mini cut. Keep them confused I say.

By them I mean keep your body confused, and let it think everything is all right. Because if your body thinks you are not getting the food you need, it will go into saving everything you eat mode.

Deficit:

My biggest deficit is in protein. I tend not to eat enough protein. I have one more week of maintenance so I will work on that.

Scale:

The scale has stayed the same.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein12312510215610679116115.28571421094.71428571
Carbs349242205141258286196239.5714292455.428571429
Fat62122101156127105181122109-13
           
Calories24462566213725922599240528772517.428572801283.5714286
maintenance 3/15/2021 to 3/21/2021

Monday 3/15/2021: Workout – 1.5 hours

Warning emotion assault triggers may be present.

Woke up and processed the last dream I had prior to waking. I have always had nightmares about attacks that have happened to me. This morning was no different in that regard. However, I noticed they have shifted or changed tone.

When the person attacked me I defended myself. Yelling “ No, GTF off me” then I dropped him like a rock with an elbow and a reap. “I said stay down and stay the F away.”

Instead of scared and trembling I was pissed. I was pissed he attacked me, I was pissed he immediately started to scream about me assaulting him.

So this morning I guess I was still feeling that way when I chose my leggings – the don’t cross Grrrl leggings. And I choose my Dangerous Woman crop hoodie from No Prince Charming.

Then I realized we girls sometimes or at least I do wear the bright colors, the sayings about our dangerous nature. It’s like the bright colorings to deter predators.

So especially girls wear your gear that makes you feel powerful and let those predators know that you are not to be trifled with!

Workout:
A) 1 mile run
B ) 20 min Plyometric HIIT:
55 second hard push intervals, 45 seconds rest

1) x4 lunge + shoot a basket ball, x4 lunge + jack, 4x uppercuts, burpee, 4x uppercuts, burpee, 4x uppercuts, burpee, 4x uppercuts, burpee, 4x lunge side + lunge side + tap floor+ tap floor
2) same as above

3) quick feet, 2x 180 jumps + 2x jacks, 2x 180 jumps + 2x jacks, 3x squat + high jump, 3x jack, 3x squat + high jump, 3x jack, 4x jacks + 4x sumo squat and touch, 4x jacks + 4x sumo squat and touch
4) do the same as above

5) 2x jacks + run in place, 2x jacks + run in place, 4x side to side lunge with floor tap + 4x lunges reaching high, 4x side to side lunge with floor tap + 4x lunges reaching high, 4x jump lunges, 2x high knee lunges + run in place, 2x high knee lunges + run in place
4) do the same as above
5) do the same as above

C) Sliders:
Do this set x3
1) slider sit through x10 reps each side
2) posterior plank to L sits x7 ( these were hard for me)
3) flye push-ups x5 double hand, x5 each side
4) plank wipers x20

Tuesday 3/16/2021: Training -1 hour of Muay Thai training

We are working on dumping again. It was so much fun, and I have so much to work on.

Again we were not trying to rip people’s heads off.

1) Catch jab, slip the cross, return gut shot, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee, frame and push opponent off balance, then Puta Kapala.

2) Catch jab, slip the cross, return gut shot, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee, frame and push opponent off balance, if he postures up, push face away, and step behind push him over to dump.

I am to tired to write up the rest. We did a lot of punchy, kicky, elbowy, kneeing things. Yay!

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class.

Wednesday 3/17/2021: Workout- run and calisthenics

I was thrown onto the mats a lot in class last night. I worke up tired and kinda stiff. So I went for a run and did a simple calisthenics workout. The reverse crunches kick my abs… haha see what I did there?

100 push-ups
100 sit-ups +plus kb press
100 reverse crunches

That is all. Now I am going to be lazy.

Thursday 3/18/2021: Training- 1 hour of Muay Thai

Guess who forgot to take a picture of the white board. Yup me!

What did we do, oh yeah a lot of dumping, punchy, elbowy, knees, and kicking. I joke, but we worked on distance management. With an opening drill
To get us moving in our feet and keeping them under us.

Training:
1) jump rope
2) jab, catch, jab
3) catch, jab, catch

4) catch jab, leg kick, hook, cross, lead kick
5) fed pads for H

6) catch jab, split cross, return the gut shot, lead elbow, shoot your forearm into you opponents throat, rear knee, step through, then puts kapala
7) fed for H

8 ) catch jab, slit the cross, return gut shot, lead elbow, rear elbow, lead knee pushing, lead kick
9) fed for H

10) catch jab, split cross, return gut shot, lead elbow, shoot your forearm into your opponent’s neck, rear knee, step through, your opponent postures up, turn the face away and step behind the opponent to dump.
11) fed H

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class.

Saturday 3/20/2021: Training – 1 hour of Muay Thai

I hour of training Muay Thai. It was finer learned and worked on a drill series that we had seen once before but it’s been 18 months since we did it. So lots like learning it new again. I really enjoyed the the back and forth flow of the drill.

The drill was the Inosanto 18 count.

Training:
1)jab, cross, jab
2) feed for H

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

5) incoming rear kick, cut kick inner lead leg, rear kick outer lead leg, lead kick torso, hook, rear kick ( this is my favorite, I liked the feeling/flow of the back and forth)
6) held pads for H

7) parry the incoming cross, return cross, hook, rear elbow, rear knee, rear kick
8 ) held pads for H

9) full Inosanto 18 count- scoop the Teep, rear kick, lead kick, cross, hook, rear kick, incoming rear kick, cut kick inner lead leg, rear kick outer lead leg, lead kick torso, hook, rear kick, parry the incoming cross, return cross, hook, rear elbow, rear knee, rear
10) held pads for H

This drill is all about countering, teeps, countering kicks, and countering punches, and immediacy returning a 4 count strike or more.

I missed most of Kali, because I had the honor of interviewing one of my favorite training people. He has to move soon and wanted to get him before he left. He has done martial arts for decades. Yay! Gonna start a new series on my blog where I interview awesome martial artists.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for such awesome classes.

Sunday 3/21/2021: Training – 2 hours of Muay Thai training

We did pad work and sparring. I worked on free feeding again. It was great to just work.

I woke and was congested from the freaking pollen in the air. Spring is attacking my face parts. So I was really not feeling working out/training today. But when I started I got going and had a blast.

Thank you H, Khun Kru Krysta, and Amanda for the great training.

I think I got out of training today without a new bruise. Lol

Have you ever gotten that everything is flowing properly feeling? Have you ever felt that moment when your movements flow like water?

Thank you all for coming and reading. If you liked this post please let me know and hit the like button. If you want to see more please subscribe, and if you are feeling chatty please feel free to comment. Let me know what you think, what I might have missed.

Stay tuned for more adventures. I will also be adding interview with martial artists blog posts. I have had the opportunities to work with some amazing martial artists. I have worked with some legends and some who have just been working tirelessly at their martial art just for their love of the martial art.

My day to day stuff is on instgram @sharpcupcake.

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

Shiny New Product Review: Elite Sports Duffle Bag First Impressions

As promised here is my initial impressions and review of the Elite Sports Warrior Series Blue Large Duffel MMA Gear Gym Bag & Backpack. Elite Sports are a sports equipment company that supplies equipment for BJJ, Boxing, MMA, Muay Thai, and Judo. I had seen their products around but had never bought any. I was surprised when they contacted me to do a honest product review of their products.

I am always happy to try a new product that will help me with my training and in this case help me lug my gear to and from the gym.

If you would like to see the gym bag in all its glory I made a video of me pulling out all of my gear that I stuffed into the bag. I carry around a lot of gear to help me train Muay Thai and Kali.

https://youtu.be/QeWrviEQtQE

As I am typing this today I have used this bag for 3 days of training. However, I have packed and unpacked that bag a good 20 times. Why you might ask? Because I am a huge dork or nerd you name it, and I had to re-record that video many times.

First Impressions:

  1. Holding Capacity: I was happy to be able to get all of gear in the bag. I found that it was well made. I love the quality and thickness of the zippers. When I unboxed the bag, I was impressed with quality of the fabric. It is thick and I absolutely love the color.
  2. Durability: It seems very durable and we will see as I continue to use it how well it holds up. I love the structure in the bag. The other duffel bag I had, had absolutely no structure. So this bag standing up is wonderful.
  3. Many Pockets: I was impressed with the amount of pockets in the bag. It has 8 total! I love pockets. Maybe I am a little strange but I love to be able to organize my stuff and know exactly where it is.
  4. Comfort: This bag is comfortable to wear as a backpack or as a duffel.

A few things that could be reengineered for future versions of the bag:

  1. The plastic mesh and how durable that will be. If I accidentally leave the bag in the car will it melt to my gloves on a hot day?
  2. The side pockets on the bag zip from the bottom up. I would encourage the new versions to open from the top down. This would be especially helpful when opening if you are using the bag like a backpack and having it stand up. I found my items falling out onto the floor.
  3. It might be nice to have a pocket that is a thermal pocket. So that we can put cold water bottles or snacks in.

So there you go. I love the bag. I was happy to get a chance to test it out. If you are interested in getting a bag like this of your very own… I have some links you can use down below. Helpful right?

https://www.elitesports.com/
https://www.elitesports.com/collections/muay-thai-gear-gym-bagshttps://www.elitesports.com/products/elite-sports-warrior-series-blue-large-duffel-muay-thai-gear-gym-bag-and-backpackhttps://www.borntough.com/ (this is their other brand)

  • old bag and shiny new blue bag side by side
  • inner mesh pocket
  • really cool handle
  • I got all of this in that blue bag!

What would you look for in a bag?

Did I miss something that you would like to see in the review?

Thank you all for coming and reading. If you liked this post please let me know and hit the like button. If you want to see more please subscribe, and if you are feeling chatty please feel free to comment. Let me know what you think, what I might have missed. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Don’t forget, Don’t Photo Edit, Just Go Get It!