Tag: Stick

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

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Martial Arts, Muay ThaiLeave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kali – Redondos

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

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

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

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

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Martial Arts, Muay ThaiLeave a comment

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

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

Muay Thai – Boxing/Feeding

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kali – Double Ordabis, Heaven Drill, and Saint Rafael

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

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

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






Finding my niche?

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

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

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

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

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Martial Arts, Muay ThaiLeave a comment

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

Muay Thai – Thai 17 count/Clench Sparring

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

Muay Thai 17 – the 15 we did so far:

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

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

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

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

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

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

I made a video of us doing these things.

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

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

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

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

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Left Thai 4 counts, Punyo Sumbrada, and a blooper

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Muay Thai, FitnessLeave a comment

I just finished 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali. I had a great time and caught a blooper, see below.

while I had a great time. I was having a hard time holding pads for my partner. I was not great. Toward the end I figured it out was able to hold for her. Holding pads or feeding pads is a skill in of its self. Holding pads well will make your partner look like a bad ass. We worked on the Muay Thai 4 count left kick, cross, hook, then right kick. Then we worked on the Muay Thai 4 count left kick, cross, hook, to left kick again. We also worked on the 1/4 step posting our hand on their shoulder and landing a left kick into their mid section to a cross. We then did a 1/4 step posting our hand on their shoulder to knee and right elbow. It felt good when a girl who had not worked with me in a long time, was amazed at the strength of my kicks. She said they were great. Much stronger than the last time I worked with her. Yay!

In Kali, we worked on something I have never done before. Punyo Sumbrada is what it is called. This is one of those days where Kali just clicked. As soon as I was shown it, and we worked a few reps in slowly I had it down. I knew it, and was able to do it pretty well with good flow. This was one of those nights where I was not having a brain melting problem. It all seemed to click. I was able to change from feeding the 1, 3, and 5 attack angles. In turn receiving the 1, 3, and 5 attack angles, blocking punyo attacks, and then also disarming, using the snake disarms.

It was fantastic. Here is a video of me working on the Punyo Sumbrada. =) It feels good when it clicks.

And then there are funny things that happen. These are contact sports/arts so there will be contact and sometimes the camera man gets it too. I was laughing so hard. It did not harm the person, just startled them, the stick landed in their lap, and knocked the phone over. Here is the video.

Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Thai 4 counts, snakes and vines oh my!

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Muay Thai, FitnessLeave a comment

Today was 2 hours of Tuesday night training for Muay Thai and Kali. I had a blast in class, and although I think I am horrible compared to my class mates I am still showing up and trying every time. All I can hope is that if I keep showing up I will get better. My coaches/trainers and some of the other class mates that study with me, also say that all we have to do is show up and put the time in.

In Muay Thai we worked on the Thai 4 count. Right kick, hook, cross, to left kick, and also the right kick, hook, cross to right kick. Below is a video of me doing the Thai 4 count. I need to pivot more, I need to keep my left hand closer to my face. You can see when I don’t pivot correctly on my second set, that I hurt my foot on the pads a little. (It was slapping pain, I caught the edge of the pad.) Muay Thai is very much a skill set that when learning it is self correcting. Whether you working the bag, or you are kicking Thai Pads. If you kick them incorrectly it will hurt your foot. Not necessarily in a bad way, but will sting, cause a bruise or it can mess you up depending on how badly you hit the pads or bag.

In Kali, we practiced snake and vine disarms. These are not something you really wanna do with a knife, but when some one is attacking you with a blunt object or a stick these are effective. If you do it right. I have a lot to learn and am not great at this at all. Here I am practicing Kali, snake and vine disarms. Equal sign disarms, and plus sign disarms are the vine disarms that we worked on today. A vine disarm is one that uses a tool to help you disarm in this case we use our stick to create a fulcrum to remove the weapon from our opponent. The snaking disarms are the ones where we wind our arm around theirs and trap the weapon. In snake disarms we do not use another tool to create a fulcrum, we use our own bodies to trap the weapon.

You made it to the end, so thank you for reading. Let me know if you have questions. I must now shower and go to bed. I have an early morning, and it is almost midnight here.

Thank you Kru Krysta Scharlach, and Kru Kristen DeBruycker for great classes.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…Working with New Students, Full Box with all the Weapons

On By Thinks with SpinksIn Fitness, Kali Escrima, Muay Thai, FitnessLeave a comment
my crazy messy self after 2 hours of workout

Today is a good day! I was energized and raring to go to class. My teachers and I too have come to value working with new students. When we started and were new they kept reiterating that the senior students (which I am considered now… that is crazy) like to help the new students. Not only does it help the new students. But it helps us older students to help teach them, and lets us go back to the basics and review things we may have not been isolating.

So today we worked on the left leg or lead leg kicks. That is teeps, leg kicks, and torso kicks or round houses. I was working with a new person, and he seems timid. He does not want to kick or hit hard, and when he gets tired his form breaks down like we all do, but his was faltering more than I expected. I kept checking in on him to see if he was okay. He said he was, and that he was just tired. Today was hard cause he would move away from the teeps, and drill kicks we were doing, so it was hard to get my reps in. But I was able to get him kicking harder toward the end. Hopefully he will see that he does not have to be so nervous in future classes. We worked on catching the kicks again, but this time putting our knee and shin across and into the torso, while clenching up and framing so that your opponent can’t do anything and in the ring the ref would have to break you up. I got dumped by the new guy by accident but he was so afraid of catching the kick that he did not have my leg right and I fell on my side and hip. I hope that my back does not scream at me tomorrow.

Kali, we worked on full box. Using double stick first, stick and knife, double knife, single knife and then stick and shield. We used all the weapons at our disposal, and each change we made to our weapons brought new interesting variables that we had to change for, or exploits we could use more for with one combination than the other. For instance with double stick we had distance and could keep people at distance. Stick and knife we had to get up closer and see where we could cut the opponent all the while keeping an eye on that stick that has more range. Which weapon we used to check and trap changed as well. With double knife, we had to aim more for areas where cutting would not only cause damage, but we had to make sure to place them so that we could control the opponents weapons. Cutting above the elbow to control one knife arm while then simultaneously coming in with another attack. All very much fun, but brain melty.

I had a great day. I loved the workout. I love Muay Thai and I am growing to love Kali as much as well. I am icing my back as I type this up. I hope you are all having a good day, and continue working out. Get up get into the things you love to do. Live and love life. If I let my physical “limitations” stop me from doing things I would just be in the house, babying my back, and afraid to hurt myself. I have scoliosis as I mentioned in my Working Out Through Herniated Disk post. Listen to your body, but don’t be afraid to get out there and do things. Believe me it takes me a minute to quick check and tell myself, that I could just lay there waiting and worrying about getting hurt, or I can just go live life, and see where I can go. How far can I get?

I went to my chiropractor yesterday, to find out my hips were out of alignment and I had a dislocated rib. I live with back, neck, and lower back pain. So small things like that don’t tend to bother me. Till they accumulate and then they bother me. =)

Well that is enough rambling from me. Thanks for reading this far. I hope you have a great rest of your day, and talk to me if you have any questions.