This is my last week to train up before the big test. To say I am worried, even scared I will fail is a bit of an understatement. Everyone will be watching, but I am going to keep training, and try to be as ready as I can.
I have a week of training ahead of me, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. After this week it is active rest till Thursday of the next week. My trainer said she wants us to take a break before the test so that we are fresh.
I have been training for months for this test so here is hoping. I know that the test is designed to be hard, and to test you. It is physically challenging, mentally challenging when you get hit, and modulating yourself when the adrenaline dumps is going to be tough so you don’t gas yourself on the first round. I am going to do my absolute best, and put everything else out of my mind.
Tuesday 02/18/2020: 3 hours of Muay Thai and Kali
3 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali. Woot what a fun night. Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for two great classes.
Pad rounds before class
Thai class: 1) Jab, cross, rear kick combo 2) Jab, lead horizontal elbow, rear side in elbow, rear inward knee, teep 3) Catch kick combos, return quad spike, knee to hamstring, cross stomp the knee, side kick the leg. 4) Catch kick combo, with leg pass and 4 count afterwards.
Kali class: We worked on open box, to open box flowing into what ever disarms we could get through the flow. I like the 7 arm bar series personally. And the kumbiata switch to leaver on shoulder and smash trachea/chin.
Then we worked on sword and shield. Took a video of it we have not worked on this in a few months. But it came back to us and it was super fun.
What a great night.
Thursday 02/20/2020: 3 hours of Muay Thai
2 hours of Muay Thai practice. Thank you 🙏 Tony for the great class.
Pad rounds before class
Thai:
We warmed up with- 3x each exercise 1) high knee opposite punches 2) mountain climbers 3) jumping jacks
(This is assuming both people are orthodox fighters, if one of them is south paw then the logic differs, on which catch to do to protect the liver.)
1) jab, cross, rear teep, lead teep
2) catch a incoming rear kick with lead arm and a small step onto your rear foot instead of a slide, pass it and return a rear kick
3) catch lead kick with your rear arm, lateral back with your lead leg, turning your body away from the kick, (this distributes the force along your lower back and hip, saving you liver), pass the kick and return a rear kick from your temporary south paw stance?
4) rear knee, lead knee, rear flying knee
5) lead teep, rear teep, fake with lead teep to execute rear aerial knee called Hanuman Climbing the Mountain.
The break through with the last rear aerial knee for me was, that I realized it is like the crane kick like Mr. Miyagi taught just instead of kick you did a knee. Still need to work on it, and practice, practice, practice. =) So Mr. Miyagi was mostly right.
Cool down and ab work- Shadow boxing
Crunches Flutter Kicks Crunches Scissor kicks Crunches 15 Clockwise and 15 counter clockwise double leg circle
Friday 02/21/2020: 1 hour of Muay Thai
1 hour of Muay Thai training. I am about as tired as this picture looks today. Thank you Tony 🙏 for the class.
Warm up: 45 seconds rapid kicks on the bag 15 sec rest 45 seconds teeps on bag 15 sec rest 45 seconds rapid kicks other leg on bag 15 sec rest 45 seconds teeps on bag 15 sec rest
45 seconds left and right leg kicks in the bag 15 sec rest 45 seconds skip knees 15 sec rest 45 seconds left and right leg kicks in the bag 15 sec rest 45 seconds skip knees
Drills: Step in jab, cross Jab Lead teep Flying switch knee
Jab, cross, hook Catch incomming rear kick, Return a jab Shrug off and let go of leg pushing opponent back into ropes Immediately throw a flying knee into opponent on ropes
Then we did rounds of sparring just boxing first, and then legs and punches
Saturday 02/22/2020: 2 hours of Muay Thai
2 hours of Muay Thai practice. Thank you 🙏 so much Khun Kru Krysta for the test prep and the really fun class.
Test: Technique demo Thai 15 count Boxing 20 count 2 x 3 min test rounds with 30 seconds rest ( goal is 60 kicks 40 knees minimum for each round) (all the while the feeder is kicking and hitting you back)
My numbers for test rounds: first round – 76 kicks 46 knees second round – 77 kicks and 45 knees
Class: We worked on the entire Inosanto 18 count. I don’t have the permission to publish, and I would want to ask first anyway. But it involves knees, elbows, kicks, and punches in a flow.
Whew I am exhausted now!
9 hours of training this week. Next week is our test. It has been highly recommended by our trainer/coach to rest up the next few days. So we will rest Sunday and Monday, we will train lightly Tuesday, and then we will rest Wednesday, just so we can be fresh for Thursday our test.
I feel better after our last training session and our test rounds. Here is hoping I am ready. =)
Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a great weekend. As always please feel free to ask questions, if you like it like, and subscribe if you want to hear more of my rambling, recipes, and product reviews.
All last week I was sick as a dog. Something, and by something I mean some cold virus is going around here. It is knocking people out one by one here. Suffice to say, I did not do a damned thing last week. Stayed on couch coughing and trying to get better. Went to doc, and found out that this virus moved to my eyes and I developed viral conjunctivitus. So yeah last week was terrible, but I binge watched tv shows I have been missing so there is that.
Hard to workout when you can’t breath, and when you are super contagious. However, this week is not that way. This week I am back! I imagined myself breaking through the wall the way Koolaid man did and saying, “Oh, yeah!”
Cough, cough, cough. Well I am sorta back. I am easing back into it. I am still coughing, but I am feeling better than I was a week ago.
Tuesday 01/21/2020 – 1 hour 30 minutes… Muay Thai
Coach Tony told me he does not want me doing much cardio today, because he wanted me to take it easy.
Today was amazing. I helped teach, really helped this time. I am honored. But let me not get side tracked.
2 minutes Jump rope
2 minutes Burpees
2 minutes Jump rope
2 minutes Burpees
Soy Dao- long upper cut
We learned that the words for long upper cut, where you change levels and throw the upper cut. Different than the short upper cut, is called Soy Dao in Thai.
We were working on distance management. Kick distance, adjusting for kicks, step in, and step in to get cover and return elbow right away.
leg kick, opponent shields, torso kick, opponent shields, opponent returns kick to upper arm, and you stop it with forearm and hand, opponent comes in with hook, you shield with and come in with rear elbow.
2 x 5 minute kneeing rounds. Whew… working on form, and from form comes power. Was hurting my tricepts at the end. Leaning in to each other was hard.
Tony started teaching us the Wai Kru passed down from Tony’s family. These are the parts of the Wai we learned and how his family does each of the moves. The Wai your mother and father, the Wai your instructor, the Wai your diety, scooping up and thanking mother earth to the left, scooping up and thanking mother earth to the left, then scooping up thanking mother earth in front.n doing in front.
Tony explained that the Wai Kru was used in the past for the Thai people before fighting Bermese people, so they could limber up, grab some dirt and rocks to use in the fights, and also maybe make divots in the dirt to make your opponent, or enemie step into, and give you an advantage.
I have a lot to work on. I want to make it pretty, I want to honor Tony with my Wai Kru.
The Wai Kru has been used for many reasons. One of the ways people used i to help limber up a fighter (think of it like yoga and stretching), it has been used by others and people who are betting on a fight to size up and determine what a fighter might be like and who is likely to win. However, most importantly the Wai Kru is used and is intended to show respect for where/who you came from, your teachers, the diety you respect, the mother earth around, and the legacy that you have been touched by and will leave behind.
Thursday 01/23/2020 – 3 hours… Muay Thai
3 hours of Muay Thai and JKD training today. Woot! I did an hour of training before Muay Thai class tonight. Thank you Tony for a great class again.
We worked on distance management and responses after shielding. I got a chance to help teach again. We worked…Punches to kicks, and elbows to knees.
He told me more about the Wai Kru the second part where we are respecting Mother Earth. It also represents the past the present and the future.
Then I got to learn JKD from Sifu Bob. We worked on One Two offense, 3 offense, single angle attack, single direct attack, attack by combination.
Friday 01/24/2020 – 2 hours… Muay Thai training
2 hours of Muay Thai training. Woot! I got half way through before my cough became annoying and ever present.
Tony has us do an awesome warm up with plyometrics and foot work with drills. Then we worked pad work. Woot it was a fun class and and I and getting better gonna kick this congestion to the curb.
Also all the vitamins I take. Fish oil, vitamin d, condroitin and glucosamine, turmeric, woot!
We were working pad drills with each other. I am working on my response. So hit, shield, respond with a kick or hit. I need to get faster, and better. So that is my goal. I know the technique, I need to polish it now.
Saturday we normally go train again for about 3 hours. Today we took the day off. We are attending a seminar with Nakapan Phungephorn up in MD. So while my training week is not over just yet. I will dedicate a separate post to that training session. I am excited to learn and experience another great Thai fighters form, and style.
Thank you all for reading. 8 hours back into training after a week off stewing on the couch with my Fear Of Missing Out or FOMO is not bad. Next week I will be better still. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Keep working to be the best you that you can be.
What a quote to start the week on. “Don’t focus on kicking hard, you will just waste your energy.” Tony… This is such a Muay Thai mentality. In Muay Thai you are told that power comes later. It comes when you are throwing your strikes correctly. It comes when you are moving correctly. It especially comes when you are tired. Why does this happen? Its because your body is tired, so when you throw your kicks for instance, you will throw it in such a way that you don’t have the power to put it in hard. Hrm… Here let me see if I can explain it better.
What does not focusing on kicking hard do? Why does this matter? This seems so counter intuitive. I want to kick hard, shouldn’t I just kick hard? The reason is, this form of martial art is all about the mechanics of the body and how it moves. Instead of just using the strength in your muscles you use physics, and body mechanics. Anyone can put power in to a kick by trying to kick hard with your quads, glutes, and hamstrings. But how much harder can you kick when you use your leg like a bat on the end of a chain? You whip the leg with your torso like you would whip a flail with your arm. This lets not only the momentum that you can create with your muscles, but the huge amounts of force created since a small acceleration that happens at the center helps create a large velocity at the end of your leg.
The more tired you get, the harder you kick. Why? Because you are not forcing the kick. Your body is moving like you taught it, and your leg is going along for the ride.
Tuesday 10/29/2019 – 2 hours… Muay Thai, and Kali
There are some days after class that I sit here in front of the computer and have a hard time of thinking of much to say. Most of the time it is cause I am so exhausted I just don’t have the faculties to put to words what I am feeling. Sometimes I am so tired, I just don’t have much to say other than I just want to shower, and sleep. Tonight is the latter kind of night. So here is an overview of what we did.
In Muay Thai we were working on isolating jabs and kicks. We worked on traveling, distance management, and Thank you Tony for a great class.
In Kali we worked on panastas (cut and cover), funnel tapping and sticky hands, and Paula soot. Then we did a circle drill. It is hard to fend off a gang of five people. Thank you Paul for a great class!
Well I have been trying to listen to my body. I have been fighting congestion a small cold that my husband brought home so I stayed home last night and rested. Today I went in and only did Muay Thai for training. Returning home early so I can rest.
2 years ago I would never have thought to go and train, or work out at the gym on Halloween. I am so happy I did. I love Muay Thai. I love the people. I love my Thai family. I am so happy I went.
My husband and I went int costume and Khun Kru Krysta went in costume as well. I trained the entire time in costume and it was awesome. I should wear wings when training all the time. =)
Here are some pictures I was able to get. I was a Muay Thaicorn!
Enough of that frivolity. =) On to the training. Today we worked on the Inosanto 18 count.
Khun Kru Krysta broke it down into three digestible parts. Where we worked them working on our form.
Striking drill part 1
burn out, lead knee, lead kick done all the way down the mat and back as fast as you can.
Drill part 2
Burn out, rear knee, rear kick done all the way down the mat and back again as fast as you can.
Drill part 3
Burn out, jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow done all the way down to the end of the mat and back as fast as you can.
Put part 1, part 2, and part 3 together and do the whole 18 count.
I don’t have permission to publish the entire 18 count here. I would never want to disrespect my teachers and the great Innosanto, whom I have had the pleasure to meet. So until I do. I will only mention part of one of the drills we did.
There was a small part where it seems my Khun Kru was watching and she said I had perfect form. She mentioned that it was really just great, and that it was not because of the wings. I was over the moon about it. The part I am talking about is a cross, a rear elbow, a knee, and a kick.
You know what was even better. I took the compliment as it was intended. I did not second guess her, or doubt my abilities. Yay… that is progress for me.
I had a great time today. I am glad we went home after though. I needed to just rest.
Friday 11/1/2019 – 1 hour… Muay Thai – Everyone starts out with the same tools
Today we worked on something called Hanuman climbing up the temple a.k.a. flying knees. We also worked on hop double kicks.
I have some… a form of a mental block. I often think I can’t jump or do some of these more acrobatic moves. I am working on it. I see it and think wow how in the heckity heck am I going to do that. Mental blocks are the worst some times. However, I still keep trying. Today was a day filled with those things that my brain says ohh heck no we are not able to do that. So it is a great learning time for me. Pushing me beyond what I think my limits are.
Tony mentioned that all people start with the same tools. What he meant by this is that, everyone has a teep, is taught kicks, knees, elbows, and punches. But not everyone processes it the same way. They may morph it to what works for them. The basic is still there, but they may get to it in a different way. He does not want me to get down on myself about not being able to do a move just yet. He says, “you will get there.”
Training:
Warm up
Skip knees on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Jab, cross on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Skip knees on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Jab, cross on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Skip knees on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Jab, cross on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Skip knees on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Jab, cross on bag 30 seconds as fast as you can
Jump rope for what felt like 10 minutes but was probably more like 5 minutes.
Rear knee, to lead teep, to walking lead knee
10 kicks right side burn out
Parry the cross, to jumping knee
10 kicks left side burn out
Lead teep, to rear flying knee (Hanuman climbing the temple), to hop double kick
10 kicks left side, 10 kicks right side.
sparring
In training when he demonstrated the hop kick he said something that just clicked for me. Now this is not the first time we have been taught the hop kick, however, this is the first time that a light bulb went off and I understood the mechanics of it. He mention that at the beginning of the hop kick, to just pull the leg up like you are shielding, then put it down, and do the kicks. This may seem silly, like well of course… but for some reason my brain and my body did not understand each other. Today when he explained it like that, it felt like a puzzle piece just slipping into place.
At the end of the class not only was I doing the hop kicks, but I was also doing the Hanuman climbing the temple. I was doing it! Yay!
In sparring I had one of my class mates compliment me on my kicks. I am placing them well, and I am actually getting them in. We talked afterward and he mentioned that he did not know if I was just more relaxed in sparring or what but it was showing.
So yay today was a good day. I seem to have something to say today. One more day of training tomorrow and then I get a much needed. break.
Saturday 11/2/2019 – 2.5 hours… Muay Thai, Kali, and Silat -Asymmetrical Sparring, and Lead With the Heel
Woot today was a great day to train. H and I started on working the flying knees I am trying to get down. So we did that, and moved on to parry the cross to a jumping knee. We did this so I could get the leaping, pushing, movement down. Similar to the flying knee. The pictures above are of that training. I wanted to take pictures to see if my feet were leaving the ground and how far.
We worked on Kali, and Silat the rest of the time. Its getting cold upper 30 F, or lower 40 F. So we worked on Kali inside instead of staff class.
Kali –
Today we in Kali we work an asymmetrical heaven and full box with sword and shield. That was awesome. The main thing we had to work on was figuring out how to hold the shield to keep from getting hit. You might think ah whats the difference. However, there is a big difference in the way you angle your shield so that you can stop the incoming blow.
Today that is what we were working on and puzzling out.
Here is a video of us puzzling it out. We are not good at it yet, but we will keep working on it. It was fun trying to puzzle out the correct angles so that we don’t get hurt or hit.
Silat – Lead with your heels
We focused on the Puta Kepala, Biset Dolem, Sieko Kinjet (elbow compress), and then we learned a new very vicious or brutal way to end a fight. Put your heel on their chin, and walk through to break their arm.
Puta Kepala – you are redirecting your opponents head, you are facing them and using their moment put them on the ground.
Biset Dolem – you are facing away from your opponent, you control the body of your opponent taking moving their balance, weight and structure out from under them to put them on the ground.
Sieko Kinjet (elbow compress) – you are facing away from your opponent, and connecting hip to hip, you off balance them, and drive/compress your elbow in to their hip. This pushes them down onto the ground.
Once they are on the ground there are many things you can do to a person. You can knee on belly and arm bar them, or knee on belly and punch them. You can knee on belly and then drop knees into belly or face. When you drop the knee on belly, we started calling it knee on soul. You can return their knife to them or in them if they are attacking you with a knife. But the last one most vicious move we did was a… walk through to break the arm. You have their attacking hand or hand with weapon, you stomp their chin with your heel, keeping their shoulder up, then you hook your rear foot on their arm and walk through. This is not a compliance this is a break. This is a person is attacking you, and does not stop, you successfully got them on the ground and you still fear for your life, so you break their arm in hopes that they will stop trying to stab you. Here is a picture of me learning to do this in a very slow careful way.
It was a great day of training. I learned a lot. I worked on things I know. I was able to puzzle out things. Some days it is great to do that. Some days it is great to just move through the motions/strikes you know, and change it up. See how it feels to do it a different way.
Thank you for reading my blog. I am so amazed that you all read it. I started this blog to catalog my thoughts, and things I learned. This is a place I can look back and see how far I have come. I can see how much I have to work on still. I hope you all have a great weekend, and had a great week. I know I did. My respects to you and your family.
6.5 hours of training this week. Its been another great week of training. I had some hiccups in my week. Work, and life got in the way, so I missed my weight lifting workout, and got some needed chiropractic adjustments. This is a holiday week for us in the U.S. so there is no class on Saturday.
Tuesday 8/27/2019 – 2.5 hours of training Muay Thai and Kali
Muay Thai – Pra Jiad test prep
In Muay Thai today we practiced the fundamentals. We worked only on the Full 4 counts. The Thai 4 counts that he added to and developed by Guro Dan Innosanto. He took original Thai 4 counts and added 4 more. Starting with the Jab, and Cross.
Thai 4 counts are:
Left to Right –
left kick
right cross
left hook
right kick
Right to Left –
right kick
left hook
right cross
left kick
Left to Left-
Left kick
Right cross
Left hook
Left kick
Right to Right
Right kick
Left hook
Right cross
Right kick
The added combinations are:
Jab, cross, left to right
Jab
Cross
Left kick (walking kick)
Right kick (walking kick)
Jab, cross, right to left
Jab
Cross
Right kick (walking kick)
Left kick (walking kick)
Jab, cross, left to left
Jab
Cross
Double left kick (speed kick)
Jab, cross, right to right
Jab
Cross
Double right kick (speed kick)
We then worked on pop the leather where our partner got to do a 4 count then we got to do a 4 count.
A lot of power in Muay Thai comes from the hips. So when you throw a punch you are throwing your body and hip as well. Sometimes pivoting sometimes not but surely using your hips. Its all in the hips.
Kali – Saint Uriel
Woo in Kali we worked on a new running saint, Saint Uriel. But I am getting ahead of myself.
We worked on:
umbrella 6
Umbrella 8
Umbrella 7 (which always takes a minute to get used to)
Umbrella 18 (two sets of umbrella 7, with a transition)
Saint Uriel
I had a blast. My brain kinda bent, but was not melted today. After a Thai class I love having Kali. Its a great way to wind down the physical and get your mind going then I pass out when I get home and showered.
Wednesday 8/28/2019 – 1 hour of training Muay Thai
Today we trained for 1 hour. We worked on basics. Knees to kicks, working on range management (whether to do a leg kick, torso kick, hop kick, or stutter kick). When we go back to basics we get to work on our form and foot work. Which is supper important.
Warm up:
1 x 3 minute round of jump rope
1 x 3 minute round of shadow boxing
Training: (manage your range, and choose leg kick if you are two close, torso kick if you moved them a little with your knee, and if you moved them a lot do a hop kick)
Rear knee to Lead kick
Lead knee to Rear kick
Lead knee to Lead kick (focus on stutter step, to decrease time between strikes)
Rear knee to Rear kick (focus on stutter step, to decrease time between strikes)
30 sit ups
50 Russian twists
Stretching
That is all for today. I got a good sweat in, but it was not super taxing. I had fun, and I worked on form.
Thursday 8/29/2019 – 1.5 hours of training Muay Thai – Pra Jiad Test!
I was awarded my blue pra jiad! Woot!
Today was the pra jiad test. I was so excited. We get to see just how much we have learned, and how many skills we have picked up. Also today my left elbow is giving me hell. It hurts and I was annoyed it hurt. But this is part of Thai Boxing. Injuries will happen, its how you treat them, deal with them and train around them that matters. So I just did not throw the punches in with my left hand full force, and I made sure that my form was perfect as can be on my holding pads. One last thing I did was make sure my partner knew my elbow was being a bum and that I was going to not hit hard with that arm.
Kru Kristen had us separate in three rows of people. She had us start with a technique demo. To give you an partial example we did the following:
Boxing stance
Kicking stance
Elbows #1, #2, #3, #4, #9
Knees
Some kicks
Then she had us break into pairs and drill the following: (not in this order)
Trigg 10
Boxing 20
Full 4 counts
Four boxing hits and out
2 x 3 minute conditioning rounds (three kicks hard one side, three kicks hard other side, then clench and 5 knees)
Pop the leather
It was fantastic. It was hard, and the last two conditioning rounds had me gassed at the end. I love working that hard. I loved testing to see where I was. I made mistakes and I could see them, but I kept going.
So yeah I got my blue pra jiad. I could not be happier and or more proud. Woot!
Friday 8/30/2019 – 1.5 hours of Muay Thai Training, with Tony – Body Hooks
Today we got to work with Tony. He is an amazing instructor and has ring experience. He wanted us to focus on body shots today, and getting in for the jab cross and laying in the power with the body shots.
I look forward to Tony’s classes cause I know he is going to work us hard. His classes tend to be more conditioning, with an equal amount of skills training.
Before we started class I was working on the boxing 20, trying to make my flow better and keep my strikes coming in time, and keep moving. I also noticed after looking at the video among other things I need to bring my elbow up for my hooks. Sigh… but I am learning and hopefully getting better.
The combo is:
Jab
Cross
Hook
Cross
Bob and weave
Cross
Hook
Bob and weave
Hook
Cross
Cover incoming right body hook
Left Upper Cut
Cross
Cover incoming left body hook
Right Upper Cut
Hook
Cross
Slip the incoming Supper Man Overhand punch
Either should into opponents mid section, or deliver a right body hook
Left hook
Overhand Cross
Here is the video.
Training:
1/4 mile run
1 x 3 minute round of jumping low hurdles with both feet sprinting to the end and jogging back
Jab, cross, body hook
Jab, cross, body hook, head hook, cross
Left horizontal elbow, clear pad or hand, to throw right horizontal elbow.
1 x 3 minute round of conditioning kicking. 5 rapid/machine gun kicks, on the left and right hand side.
1 x 3 minute round of jumping rope
It was a fantastic class. I had a great time, and I definitely got my conditioning in. I get to work with a great group of people.
Thanks for reading. I hope you all had a great week. I sure did. I passed my pra jiad test or “powered up” as my daughter described it. I had a blast and got to work with my team mates my extended family. My respects to you all. Keep working to be the best you that you can be.
Day 2 is here, and day 1 is over. I wake up slightly sore from day one, and ready and raring to go. Now the fear of the unknown is over. Its the fear of not being able to complete the whole camp. Failing to finish. Day one was slow compared to day two, three and four.
I was warned by several people who have experienced Thai camp that day 2 was the worst day. In my experience day 2 was very hard. My body was just tired. It wanted me to sit down and relax with a glass of unsweetened iced tea in the shade of a tree with a good book. But that is not what I did for day two.
Training Day 2: (notes: curtesy Khun Kru Krysta, and Kru Caro)
~7 am :
We start shadow boxing, then Ajarn Greg Nelson leads everyone in stretching.
We then do 1.5 mile run. Even though I had that really bad charley horse due to desalination, and my calf was really sore. I decided to do the 1.5 mile run anyway. My calf felt like it had a small muscle tear or really bad D.O.M.S. set in.
We get back and Ajarn Chai starts us off with the combos that we will be working on for the day. We start with a combo and work on the variations each day. This day he wanted us to focus on addressing the incoming strikes and entering with knees. As always he wanted us to think about counter attacks.
Combos for today:
Lean to avoid head kick, step back with back leg lean back with shoulders straight, right hand covering right hand side of face with glove.
Left hand down by hips
body cross
overhand left
right knee
right kick
teep
Opponent grabs your neck and shoulders with one hand and knees you
You defend knee by stepping and turning to spike knee with elbow
You return an uppercut
You return an elbow 4 and
Then you plumb up, in full clench with duck feet
Opponent throws a kick
You shield kick and teep
Opponent they punch
You parry cover
You knee
You throw and elbow 8
Opponent throws a left body kick
You lateral back away from kick so that they miss
You return an overhand
You return 3 elbow
You return number 4
You clench
(speed is the focus)
You catch incoming jab
Return jab
Return Cross
Return Jab
(Speed is the focus)
You block the cross,
You return a cross
You return a jab
You return a cross
~ 9 am
Same as day one we broke for breakfast and a rest.
Today I was focused on getting enough energy into me and making sure I had the minerals and salts I needed to get me through the day.
My focus was so much more on packing in the nutrients and water to keep my body moving. It was a change in my view of the food.
~11:30 pm
We all came back. We stretched and shadowboxed. Ajarn Chai then had us working with each other in partner drills. He really wanted us to get the combos down.
We did one lap of 5 stations, each station being 4 rounds, then 30 second burn out for knees, and 30 seconds rest before lunch. However, the focus again was slow it down, learn the technique first.
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast“
Quote everyone, I have heard it from so many people
Learn the technique, and the speed will follow. I have heard this so many times as well. So I tried to take this to heart.
~ 2:30 pm
We break for lunch. Again the emphasis is on eating resting and getting ready for the circuits we will have to do. we ended eating and going back to the house. I took advantage of our return. My feet hurt, and we were in an air conditioned house.
The food was fantastic at camp. My thanks go to the kitchen staff again, and especially Ajarn Chia’s sister for cooking for the lot of us. I decided to put my feet up and take a nap. Boy did I need it, and boy did I miss it the next few days.
nap time!
~4 pm
We return. We all get ready, stretch, reapply sun block, and then shadowbox.
Then begin the circuits again… whew this was rough. It was two laps of 5 stations. We had, bag work station, shadowboxing station, flow/timing station, Thai pad station, and clenching station.
I put my head down, and just focused on getting to the next station. Doing the best I could while I was about ready to drop to focus on form. That is hard when your body just does not want to move any more
After those circuits of the stations. We lined up, and were spread out on a hill facing down hill. This is where we were supposed to do 100 x 8 count body builders, all in sets of 10. This killed me. I was unable to keep my balance facing down hill and so I opted to do squats instead of hurting myself and my back. Ajarn Chai always says if you cannot do something just listen to your body. He is very kind. I was a little bummed that I did not finish those, but here is hoping next year I will. On the flat ground I got 40 in the day before.
Day 2 was amazing an I was so happy I completed it. I did not know if I would be able to. But when we were done, I felt such a feeling of accomplishment. Going from trepidation, and excitement on the plane, to excitement and annoyance from my calf the previous day, to this day. I made it I did it. I did not have to quit, and I stuck it out.
I had upped my intensity while drilling, but its not the intensity of the rounds, is the sheer amount of them that is most difficult. Ajarn Chai, wants strength, flow, timing, focus, and form, but don’t kill yourself going so hard that these things suffer. No matter how hard or slowly you take the rounds the amount you do, and how long the day is will sap your muscles. We ended up completing 60 rounds on Day 2. *boggles the mind* That in itself is amazing.
Thanks for reading Day 2 of the 4 day Thai camp write up I am doing. I have two more to unpack and will get to them as I can. I hope you liked it, and if you have questions let me know. My respect to you and your family.
1 hour and 30 minutes of conditioning training. I started with a 2 mile run. Then we worked the pads, in 3 minute rounds. I have to say conditioning after a 2 mile run is hard right now. I am hoping here in three weeks it is easier.
Each day I am going to try to make my run faster and longer. I am going to try to get rounds in on the pad or on the bag.
I rand 2 miles in 25 minutes. That makes them 12.5 minute miles. I hate running. Running is a means to an end, and it is to get my cardio up and great for running away from predators. *grins* Serpentine, serpentine!
Then we worked the pads for 1 hour and 35 minutes.
We did:
10 minute stretch
4 x 3 minute rounds of kicks to knees, not super hard warm up the joints =) (1 minute rest between each)
1 x 3 minute round hold 2, kick 2 (1 minute rest)
2 x 3 minute rounds standard conditioning rounds. 3 kicks right, 3 kicks left, 4 knees (1 minute rest between each round)
2 minute rest to talk about the clenching
3 x 3 rounds off balancing
2 minute rest
10 minute stretch
Kicking after having run 2 miles is so very hard. My legs did not want to cooperate. You will also notice I drop my hands the more tired I get. I was also “cheer leading” with my hands and some of my kicks. Lets see what else I did wrong. I was tired, my knees were crap, and I forgot to point toes, my off balances were less technique and more force. Dropping my guard was the biggest problem, but oh man is there a lot of crap to work on.
Anyhow I had a great day of training, even if my form went to crap as I got more and more tired. My partner H was making sure to call me out on my dropped guard. He was gently punching for my head every time he saw my guard drop. This is a good reminder to keep guard up and not get hit in the face.
I am exhausted, and am going to bed. We shall see if I can actually get my conditioning up, before Thai Camp. I am going regardless. I just hope not to die so fast there. So I am training.
I hope you all have a fantastic day. Thanks for reading, and keep working on being the best you that you can be.
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…
Lead round house kick to lead tee
Rear round house kick to rear teep
Lead round house kick, to lead shield of kick, to lead round house kick to lead teep.
Rear round house kick, to rear shield of kick, to rear round house kick to rear teep.
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.
