Tag: Teaching

Martial Arts and Training: Teaching martial arts is… fun, rewarding, hard, and so educational

Hello beautiful people, I had the awesome chance to teach an entire class last week. I will be able to teach another few classes for this month.

Teaching martial arts is… fun, hard and so educational.

Let me back up a little bit. I am not new to teaching. I taught B&P (Baking and Pastry) and Cake decorating for the public school system for 13 years. I went to school and got a degree in the the things I was teaching. Yes there is still trepidation the first couple of times you get up and teach in front of a class. However, this being my profession, and what I taught it faded after the first year and then teaching became easier.

However, with martial arts, I have only been studying it for 3+ years. My brain asks what do I know. How much do I know to be able to teach.

Teaching can be hard:

So I made a plan on what I wanted to teach. Screwed up my courage, and hoped I did not fall on my face when I was demonstrating the strikes/skills I wanted to. It was hard in that I kept telling myself remember the basics and make sure you explain why you are doing something. They may not see the little nuances.

Teaching is very educational:

Teaching my fellow trainees is so educational. The biggest thing that I learned is that I know more than I think I do. I taught about the fundamentals of the Thai round house kick. The kicker is when some students asked questions I was able to answer them. When they wondered why we did it the way we do I was able to answer them. I was able to go around watch what they were doing and see the small tweaks they needed to do. This is different then my own training. In which I just train, and try to make my skills better. I sometimes don’t see what I need to do to change my own movements. I sometimes can’t see what I can need to do to fix my strikes even when I record it and look back. I can see it in my fellow students.

Teaching others also cements what you know. It does this because you have to figure out how to explain what you know to your students. They may not see/understand what you are saying/showing the way you are showing it. So you have to know the what, why, and how of what you are showing so that you can change the way you are saying it.

Teaching is fun:

Teaching was so much fun this week. I really enjoyed teaching people cake decorating and pastry arts. I find I love teaching martial arts. It is so rewarding to see that light bulb, or light go on behind peoples eyes. I found it rewarding when teaching pastry. I find the same reward when teaching martial arts. I also love to see people having a good time. It is rewarding to see people fall in love the martial art that I love so much.

I have the chance to teach again this month and part of next month. I think I will learn so much. I am excited.

The best thing about teaching is everyone coming up and telling me how much I helped them. They mentioned how much fun they had in class. That is in itself rewarding.

Schedule: Week of Training

  1. Monday 8/30/2021: HIIT Sprint Run, and Weightlifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 8/31/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  3. Wednesday 9/01/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 9/02/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai Training
  5. Friday 9/03/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 9/04/2021: Off holiday
  7. Sunday 9/05/2021: unscheduled but needed rest day

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Working my distance management and learning my distance
  2. Stay light on my feet
  3. Teaching fellow students

Drills for this week: the lesson I taught (focus on pivot and hip placement/turnover)

1) jump rope
2) isolated hip turn partner drills ( partner holds your foot and you balance pivot the foot and turn your hip)
3) jab, rear kick / jab, lead kick
4) jab, cross, rear kick / jab, cross, lead kick
5) jab, cross, hook, rear kick/ jab, cross, hook lead kick
6) pop the leather – shield and response kick drill


Cardio Run / Weight Lifting: Week one 3 day split finding that 3 days is gonna be more like two days for the foreseeable future due to scheduling.

Weightlifting: focus – back biceps and abs

Cardio Run: focus – sprinting HIIT

HIIT:

1) warm up – 200 meter sprint and stretching
2) 4x 200 meter sprints
3) 30 x jump squats
4) 200 meter sprint
5) 20 x push ups
6) 200 meter sprint

Weightlifting Back Biceps and Abs

1) standing barbell row- reps – 15, 15, 10, 10, 10

Superset
2) pat pull down wide grip – reps -12, 12, 12
3) cable rope face pull – reps – 12, 12, 12

4) barbell rack pull – reps- 10, 10, 10

5) seated cable rows – reps – 15, 15, 15

6) dumbbell standing double arm bicep curl- rep- 12, 12, 12

7) dumbbell biceps spider curl – reps – 12, 12, 12

Superset
8 ) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
9) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
10) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
11) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
12) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
13) kettle bell sit ups – 30 seconds
14) half v-ups with leg extensions – 30 seconds
15) sit ups into twists – 30 seconds
16) kettle bell sit ups – 30 secondsd

Nutrition

  1. Maintenance week for me.
  2. Lets just face it. This week I just did not try to much. I did not eat well, I did not eat on time. I did not eat enough. I feel back into my old ways. Gonna make it better this coming week.
MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein9438798553688271.2857143190118.7142857
Carbs17731169212201109192155.8571431604.142857143
Fat8455919839659675.428571467-8.428571429
           
Calories1840771181120701367129319601587.428572003415.5714286

Well that is it for this last week. I did terribly on making sure I ate enough, and ate what I needed to. I am working on making sure I meal prep for this week. I had a great week and I got to teach my fellow teammates. I get a chance again coming up. How was your week? Did you eat well this week? Did you do what you needed to do?

Thank you for reading. If you like this, please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow along on my adventures, please feel free to subscribe. Comment below if you want to chat. My daily shenanigans is on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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Training Martial Arts 12/21/2020: Teaching, Training, Festivities Oh My!

My Ugly Christmas Sweater I wore to work says naughty on one side and nice on the other. I love it.

With the holiday comes alternate schedules. You have the choice of just sitting by the wayside and not adapting, or you can adapt and embrace the chaos that is the holidays. Okay… that might be a little dramatic, but in general that is how my holidays are.

You see I work as a pastry chef/Cake artists at a bakery. This means I have really early mornings, and sometimes have to deal with the unruly customer. On top of that I have my family, that I work very hard to make sure has a magical Holiday Season. Whatever you celebrate I am sure you have, or are that someone that tries to make the holidays great.

I knew going into the holidays, that my schedule was going to have to change. That my family was going to be asking me to join them on making merry and the frivolity of games that we love to engage in during the holidays. I also knew that the weather coming up was going to be less than perfect, sometimes outright frigid, so I was going to have to work around that too.

I also knew that my Khun Kru was going to be gone for the holidays and I was being called upon to teach the Muay Thai class this week as well.

So here are some thoughts I have and things I learned about teaching others martial arts.

What I know and some thoughts:

  1. I like to make sure I have a clear and concise lesson planned out. When new to teaching a skill winging it is never a good idea. I had been a teacher of pastry/cake decorating for 14 years so I could wing the lesson. However, even then I would always have a lesson plan to fall back on.
  2. Keeping to the traditions and ways the class is run, while subbing is a great stepping stone to succeed in teaching. Your students are accustomed to this and your transition will be easier.
  3. Know the material you are teaching. I can’t tell you how many classes I have taken, that the teacher clearly does not know what they are teaching and it can really change the way your students see you.
  4. Always encourage questions. I always encourage my students to ask me questions. It helps give an idea of areas that you may not be explaining, and or misunderstandings that your students have.
  5. When you teach another person a skill it helps you solidify your understanding of the subject. Often times to teach you have to internalize the information and then retell it in a way that makes sense to your student.
  6. Different people have different ways of learning. Some will learn visually (demo and writing it down on the board), some will learn by getting time to repeat the drill (hands on), some will learn by the information you tell them (hearing).

What I learned:

  1. Teaching other students you learn what you do know and what you don’t know.
  2. You can see your progress, that maybe you could not see before while you are drilling away.
  3. Teaching is full filling. I love teaching. I love helping people out.
  4. Getting through an active recovery not looking winded, and being able to project your voice so that you can be heard is a skill.
  5. Your students will surprise you in good ways.

Monday 12/21/2020: 55 minute workout, run, working the bag, core

Ok so my garage is unheated which means that the heavy bag sets up solid in the cold, the leather material on the outside is harder. Lol But I put in the time.

We got this new to us Thai Heavy bag so now we can also practice leg kicks as you can see below. Yay!

Training:
1 mile run

30 minutes bag work

6 minutes core:
30 seconds on 20 seconds rest
Repeat following three times

1) lat pull to leg tucks
2) 25 lb kB pike toe touches
3) bicycles
4) Superman with flutter kicks

Tuesday 12/22/2020: Training/Teaching: 1 hour of Muay Thai

Today I got a wonderful opportunity to teach the Muay Thai class. Still am amazed I know enough to teach but teach I did. H and I demoed a class we put together.

We focused on distance management today. It’s a skill we all need to work on. You use it to get into range, stay out of range, cut the angles, counter and attack.

We talked about footwork, plus sign movement, shuffle in, shuffle out, quarter turns, and the accordion effect (when you strike, shuffle in, strike, shuffle in strike, shuffle out, strike, shuffle out).

Training:
1) shadow boxing footwork, plus sign, shuffle, and quarter turns
2) jab, cross, Teep

3) jab, lead elbow # 1, rear knee, rear kick
4) do above drill south paw

5) long guard, rear elbow # 2, lead elbow # 3, body shove, rear kick
6) do above drill in South paw

7) lead Teep (stopping Teep), jab ( shuffle in), lead hook, rear knee, rear kick
8 ) do above in south paw

9) lead Teep (stopping Teep), cross, lead elbow # 1, rear elbow # 3, rear knee, rear kick
10) do the drill in south paw

Saturday 12/26/2020: 1 mile run

Good Saturday Afternoon! I just did a quick mile run. When I got up this morning it was 21 degrees out! Brrrrr! So I waited till it was about 32 to 34 degrees out. Much easier to run in warmer temperatures.

Family wants to watch movies and play games, so it’s just a shot workout/run today. The holidays only come around once a year so family time is important to me.

There was ice out, but over all it was pleasant. I dressed warmly and did not encounter many people.

Get up get out and do something!

This last week was a short week of working out. I did 3 days instead of my normal 5 to 6 days. I knew I was going to have to alter my schedule and so I am giving myself that grace of understanding. I had a great if not weird Holiday week. We spent time together as a family, and we did not get to see our friends due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We contacted our relatives long distance. But in all this we still had a great time.

I worked out when I could, I was not overly concerned about it. I have my habits down and I know I will be back at it. I mentioned in a previous post a break is not a bad thing. As long as that break is not over 2 weeks, and does not interrupt your good habits all should be well. As a matter of fact I just got my HIIT and core workout in for this Monday.

I had the honor of teaching our Muay Thai class by my Khun Kru. I learned a lot, and I loved teaching.

The schedules are still going to be a bit wonky because of the new year coming up. However, I know that this time with the family is important too.

I hope your holiday week, whatever you celebrate is wonderful. I hope you all stay warm, dry, and healthy.

Thank you for reading, and if you liked it let me know by hitting the like button below.
Hello and welcome to all my new subscribers. To all my faithful subscribers hello and I hope you are having a great day. Please feel free to comment if you have a question or just want to say hi. If you want to see some of the workouts and videos I put up daily I tend to post those to instagram #sharpcupcake.

Remember Don’t photo edit, just go get it!