Tag: Teep

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Same side flow like water, Thai shirts, 7 count knife drill

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

2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training. Today was so much fun. I was excited to unveil the shirts I had made. Also thought today was going to be a test day. But alas it was not. Kru Kristen had to do some book keeping and see where everyone is first. And then we worked on espada y daga or sword and knife drills. Kru Krysta took over an taught both classes.

Muay Thai – Same side flow like water, Thai Shirts

So today was a great day for training. We worked on same side flow from, teeps, to kicks, to knees and back again. But all on the same side. So this make it difficult cause if your balance is not correct you will fall. You will not have power if you balance is off, and if you do not step out. If you do not teep your partner hard enough they may not step back far enough for you to get your kick in, so then you have to step off the line.

So I took video of me doing some of the drills. Meh…

  1. Lead round house kick to lead tee
  2. Rear round house kick to rear teep
  3. Lead round house kick, to lead shield of kick, to lead round house kick to lead teep.
  4. Rear round house kick, to rear shield of kick, to rear round house kick to rear teep.
  5. Lead round house kick, to rear teep, rear feint, to lead knee.

Ok let me pick this crap apart. For some reason today I was dropping my hands, all the time. That is going to get me punched in the face. I was a bit off balance today that is not great for teeps, or kicks. My shields of kicks were down right sad. I need to remember to keep my foot flexed tight to shield, but I kept failing at that. My timing was not great and I felt slow, sometimes waiting for a few seconds to long to move to the next move. The strikes should be smooth and flow like water. So many things wrong with my drilling today… my body was just not doing what I wanted it to today. I know what I need to do, but just not executing it today.

And don’t get me started on how I looked. A hot mess is what comes to mind. But I digress, I know focusing on that does not help me flow like water.


I made Thai shirts for my team. I made the design, and had them printed up. I was able to hand them out today. I was so excited to do this. But the back of my head that little mean part of my brain was saying what if they hate it, what if they don’t like it? Trying to make me doubt myself.

So I ignored that mean chatter, and took them in anyway. My team loved it. They thought it was so cool and thanked me for it. I was very happy to do it and relieved that it was received well. It was a surprise and they did not know it was coming.

It says:

Crew AmpliThai

Nak Muay (means Thai Fighter) 
Respect
Hard Work
Perseverance
Dedication

Then Kru Kristen’s quote:
“Less Talking, More Hitting”

I like the way the shirts came out. =)

Kali – 7 count Knife Drill, T drill, all with Espada y Daga

Today in Kali we worked on the 7 count knife and stick drill or espada y daga (sword and dagger). We worked on the T drill separately, then hubud drill, then the 7 count separately. Finally we worked on the T drill and 7 count together in one full flow drill.

I filmed the T and 7 count full flow drill. Here is the video in all its um… glory? Well its something.

It is 12 pm here, and I must go to bed. I have a 5 am wake up. Weeee! Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Advertisements

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

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

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

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

Kali/Bo Staff

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

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

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

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

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

Striking, Sore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muay Thai : Hop Kicks

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

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

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

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

Kali: Puta Kapala from the Jab Cross Entry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali… Thai Test Leveling UP!, Silat Puta Kapala, and another take down.

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

Just a little sore from yesterday… Yay! My hamstrings are not happy with me, but that is ok. That means I targeted them and got a good workout in yesterday. 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training.

Testing for Green Band

Today was a great day again in Muay Thai. We had a Thai Test. What that means is we all line up and demonstrate our knowledge of the the Thai, Kicks, Elbows, Knees, Teeps, and Punches. Kru will say lead leg round house kick through, and shield, go. Then we have to demonstrate that we understand what she is saying.

We then worked on (Cross, Jab, Lead Kick), (Cross, Jab, Rear Kick), (Cross, Jab, Rear Knee), (Cross, Jab, Lead Knee), (Cross, Jab, Short Teep/Rear Teep), (Cross, Jab, Long Teep/Front Teep). This was a lot of fun. The Kru goes around viewing us and seeing what level we are at. What our moves look like.

After that we worked on the Thai 4 count. (Left/lead kick, cross, hook, right/rear kick), ( Right/rear kick, hook, cross, Left/lead kick), (Left/lead kick, cross, hook, left/lead kick), (Right/rear kick, hook, cross, right/rear kick). I am making it a point to say front or rear, because I was working with a south paw all night and his jabs come from the opposite side of mine, his hooks, everything is is different, and he has to think of it as rear kick, verses right or left. For him the rear kick is his left kick. =) So its a different way of thinking and it makes it hard to hold pads for someone that is opposite your stance. But you know what we both will be super proficient on both stances if we work together more.

Anyway… lets get to the point. I tested today. I was an orange band and was testing for green band. I got it! I passed and now have a green band. I leveled up! I am so happy. I was beaming, and Kru Kristen gave me a huge compliment, on how I bring everyone together as a family. Before I started she said “everyone did not feel like family, and now that I am and have been here. I draw them together.” I almost shed a tear, because that was so sweet of her to say. I was tough and did not get emotional and embarrass myself in front of the whole class. =)

This is the armband progression we are following.

Kali- Silat Puta Kapala and two more take downs I can’t remember the name of.

Kali was fun today, we worked more on Silat forms. We added throat gouging in, pulling the opponent off balance toward us, hooking our foot behind their foot and then simultaneously pushing them and sweeping their foot. Your opponent then falls backward and is in a prone position.

We worked on a move where we parry the jab, slip the cross, upper cut them, hit them in the genitals, then controlling the arm they used to throw a cross at us, we step forward off balancing them. Putting our leg behind theirs and lowering our center of gravity, elbow them in the stomach and then push them over our leg, right on their behind. I believe this is a version of the Puta Kapala that you use if they step with the inner foot.

It may say something about me, but I like moving a few limbs, countering an opponents move, and using their energy to dump them on the ground. One of these days I will get better and be more smooth about it. When it works it goes so fast and is amazingly easy. When I am not doing everything right it is more difficult, I have to muscle it. Then I know I am not off balancing my opponent correctly.

That is all. That was my night and as I sit here typing, I am eating a snack of Hot N’ Spicy pickle bites. I really was craving the salt.

Thank you for reading this far. Have a great night, and keep working toward your goals. I never thought I would be studying/learning Muay Thai, 2 years ago. You never know where you will be.

Tuesday Muay Thai and Kali…Kick High, Guillotine Choke Hold

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

My good friend DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Sorenes) set in again today at around 3 pm. Wee… this time thought it was my deltoids, biceps, and triceps. My hamstrings and abductors are a little sore. But my focus was on upper body so, it makes sense that those are more sore.

We did 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali today.

Muay Thai- Kick High

I had a great day today in Muay Thai. Thanks to Kru Krysta for the fantastic class. The workout was hard, and fantastic. The conditioning we did where we did 20 kicks in a row, 5 on each side was amazing and while gassing, cause I was not breathing right, was amazing. I was having one of those good days where things were clicking. Where I have been training, and training, and it finally feels like my muscle memory is taking over. Even though I was sore I was able to do it all. As I am sitting here and things are cooling down, I can feel how sore I am and it is going to be fun tomorrow!

We worked on the Thai four counts again, this time with a teep first. We teep our training partner and then we have to chase them down to get the first kick in. What that had us practicing was our hop kick, and closing the distance. If you teep a person correctly it will send them back. When we work on teep to same side kick, to our punches to same side kick. We are forcing our bodies to practice and get better hip mobility. Which is key to landing our kicks correctly.

I got some really great compliments. I was working on our teep to 4 count, right teep, to right torso kick, hook, cross, to left kick. Kru Krysta came up to me and said “great job Tanya, look how high your kicking! A month ago you were not kicking that high.” I was working with some one that is nearly 6 foot, and I have to kick about just below shoulder level for me to hit his torso. We were continuing our drills, and she came back around, and Kru said “your kicks were looking great”. I was getting my rotation in on the ball of my foot, and my teeps were sending him back and I was chasing him down for my kicks.

Kali – Guillotine

After an hour of Muay Thai that kicked my butt, but was a blast. We went right into Kali. We worked on Silat again. Let me tell you when your triceps and deltoids hurt already, and some one does an arm control on you where they are putting the blade of their forearm into your triceps it does not feel good. We continued with learning how to smoothly take your opponent/assailant down. We also worked on how if they fight you and your move how to counter their trying to muscle up. We added something called the Guillotine Choke hold where you can either choke and cut off oxygen to the head thus rendering them unconscious and you can run away. Or doing the Guillotine on the jaw line, as a pain submission were they will stop fighting and want you to stop because the pain is unbearable. Then we did a variation where we do the full Guillotine with a thumb pressed into the hollow of their neck. This is also a pain submission, and if they don’t tap will also restrict airflow to the brain.

I have to remember to make sure to control the arm better. I sometimes let go of the arm, or stop framing against their neck with control of their arm. If I do that the assailant will then get out of my hold and then continue to possibly harm me.

I am super tired, need a shower, an need to rub down with Thai oil so I will stop there. Thank you for reading. Leave a comment if you want, and have a great day.

Bonus Muay Thai Training…Synchronized Thai

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


When plans fall through, you have bonus Muay Thai training, or at least I did. I got 3 hours of training in tonight. I have to slather my arm in Namman Muay Thai oil. I will do a review on it in the future. But I digress… I am tired and feel accomplished.

I meant to be out of town, and I was going to see friends. However, the friend I was going to go with had a family thing pop up and I fully understand. Family is always first, it is the case with me, and I fully support them. So I got a bonus training day in. Woot! This was not a formal class but a time in the gym when I could work on my form, timing, and get ready for an upcoming test.

Warm Up:

  • Complete 3 sets of the following
  • 2 minutes of jump rope
  • 60 seconds rest
  • 2 minutes of shadow boxing
  • Bag ladder pyramid drills. You decrease the punches by 2 and the kicks by one on each side till you are only doing 2 punches and 1 kick each side, and start ascending again.
  • 20 punches, and 10 right kicks, and 10 left kicks
  • 18 punches, and 9 right kicks, and 8 left kicks.
  • Lather rinse and repeat

We all lined up at the heavy bags, and worked together on our ladder pyramid drills. One of our friends that was rolling in BJJ looked up and said, “woo hoo look its synchronized Thai. ” We all looked back and laughed.

Then we worked on right leg kick, right torso kick, and then a fake out right kick again that lead into a teep. This kind of kick to faint to teep is one of my favorite moves. I think it will be my bread and butter. I am short and therefore my range is shorter than others, so a lot of times I can create noise with my glove in their face, and then get a kick in without them noticing. This is similar, they are expecting a kick and then get teeped. Now I am not perfect at this at all, and it is going to require a lot of practice, but I love this kind of move. My feeder was amazed I picked it up so quickly. I have a lot to work on with it, but I find when it is something I find exciting, or fun to do I pick it up faster. =) Strange how we are like that.

We worked on the boxing 20. I have to get it ready for testing. I am still dropping my hands. I need to make sure I get my hand turned with thumb up to do my hooks.

We worked on knees, and a hop knee. My instructors tells us that everyone is bad at something. My bad thing is the long leaning knee. The one used to create distance between you and your opponent. I am just crap at that.

We then did two 5 minute conditioning rounds back to back with a 60 second break in between. First 5 minute round, we had to put the kicks in fast and the knees in fast. 3 kicks on on side, 4 knees, and 3 kicks on the opposite side. For the second round we had to do the same kicks and knees with all the power put in. I was gassed after the second 5 minutes. I hated them during it, and I hated the person feeding me, but that was just cause it was hard. But I did it, and I got it done. I kept my form consistent, and while I have a lot to work on still keep it consistent and being able to stay in the ring for 5 minutes each time is fantastic.

I had a blast and I feel accomplished. I got a great workout in while I was here. I was able to do two 5 minute rounds back to back that I thought I might not be able to do. =)

Thanks for reading again. I hope you had a great day. If you have plans and they fall through find something you love and take that time to do that.

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali…violent rainbows, and Silat Puta Kapala

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

Thursday Muay Thai and Kali, Thursdays are hard. The week is almost over, and I have had to deal with kids who are 9 and one turning 11. The 11 year old thinks he knows everything, and so does not need me to tell him anything any more. I had a great time at class, but man I come tired. I am not the only one. My class mates all come in on a Thursday and they all work, but you can see it on them too. Thursdays are just hard for everyone. Traffic around here is full of the “suck”. Fridays are a bit better, because if you have a regular 9-5 job, you know at least if you get through today you have a weekend. Not so much for me. I work odd hours and odd days, but even so Fridays are/seem better. Never mind the tiredness, we have Muay Thai and Kali on Thursday and I love these training classes.

Muay Thai…Violent Rainbows

Muay Thai today we worked on redirecting teeps into a sweep instead of a catch today. We then would work in a Thai 4 count. Sweep the teep, return a leg kick, hook, cross and same right side torso round kick. I got to work with a brand new student. Kru Krysta asked me to work with her. Its her first day, and would I work with her, because, “coming to a martial arts class with mostly men is very daunting.” Kru Krysta’s comment got me thinking. I had the same concern when I was starting out. I was scared to work with strangers, and stranger men. I have been abused in the past and it might stem from that. The fact that I don’t know how or what the person is going to react like when they get upset. I don’t know if the feeling of dread/worry about starting a class with mostly men is a learned feeling or if we just tend to flock to people/sexes we are most comfortable with. That is something I will ruminate on I guess. I of course was happy to work with her. We talked a bit during training, and she mentioned she had some bad times. I gathered what she meant and know that this training will help her confidence in those kinds of situations in the future. I know it has with me.

So I mentioned this in a previous blog post. Working with brand new students you take the power out of your elbows, punches, knees, kicks, and teeps. You are there to help them get a feel for the moves. Its our job to help them, and it makes us better in the long run. I remember my first day. I felt so uncoordinated. But even when you take the power out of the move you still work on your form. I got a compliment that my form on my kicks was great. Yay! *happy dance* I let her know I was happy to work with her. I broke a sweat a little bit. It was not the hardest workout, but you know what if I got a chance to make another person happy and have a good time it was well worth it. We were laughing and giggling like school girls while she tried to get the kicks in. It was good for her, and I. Favorite quote of the day is, “violent rainbows“. Kru Krysta came up with that one when she was explaining in detail to the new girl how to do a downward diagonal elbow. Downward Diagonal Elbows == Violent Rainbows

Kali… Silat – Puta Kapala

We worked on Silat again tonight in Kali. In my previous blog I talked about Silat. The short version is that it is an Indonesian form of martial arts, but used in Kali. We worked on take downs again, and I took some video this time of the moves. I went slowly on these moves for two reasons. 1) I am still learning this. 2) I do not want to hurt my partner. But the moves are catch jab, redirect cross power, elbow the assailant, knee them, step out, and rotate the assailant around putting their head were your left foot is. From that point keeping hold of the opponent/assailants hand you then put knee on belly, or arm bar them, and continue to attack. I like throwing, off balancing and dumping people. I am a short person and if your assailant is on the floor they are much shorter than me now and I can have the upper hand, or kick as it were.

Puta Kapala with knee on belly

Puta Kapala with arm bar



Anyway that is all for today. I had a great time. I got to meet a new person, and work with them. I hope she comes back. I got to learn some new Puta Kapala variations, and I had a blast doing it.

Let me know what you think about the reason females like me would be intimidated coming to an mostly male martial arts class for the first time. Or do you think everyone feels that way and it is not just females. Thanks for reading this far. Have a great night.