Tag: Weight Lifting

Martial Arts and Training: Getting a breakthrough after a plateau in training.

week of 6/28/2021

Hello everybody, this is a day late, because I focused my time on the family this weekend. Yay! We had a holiday here in the U.S.A. It was 4th of July or our independence day. Anyway back to the regularly scheduled program.

pushing knee

Getting a breakthrough after a plateau in training. You can get these breakthroughs in anything you are doing. Weight lifting, you notice after a while you are not progressing, you try to add more weights and just not strong enough to pull those. However, one day you will find that the normal weights you did are not taxing you as much so you can push through that weight barrier.

You get breakthroughs in running. You have you pace, you have your pushing yourself in a sprint pace and will literally die if you try to keep running that fast. Then one day you are running and you just out paced yourself and shaved 30 seconds off your time not even trying.

In martial arts it looks a little different. Well it looks a little different for me. Clearly, I have only experienced my plateaus. I have heard about training from others but let me just speak from my experience with my own training.

So in Muay Thai training we put hours on the mat. Sometimes just drilling and drilling specific skills. And oftentimes you will hear what you have to do to fix things, to make your strikes better. You are cognizant of the fact you have to fix them. But try as you might, drilling, and training, it may not click entirely. It may be that the biomechanics just don’t make that much sense to you. But you keep working it, and try to fix it.

Sometimes you don’t feel like you are getting anywhere. Sometimes it just feels like grinding. Most of the time it is just grinding. However, you are working and working muscle memory. What I have found and what has happened in the past 3 weeks is for me is I made strides and positive improvements.

I noticed my clench game has been on point these last few weeks. It is just easier for me. There is no other way to describe it. Before in clench I would try to muscle it. I would fight and try to do the moves as intended but I would muscle it making it much harder.

The things I have learned and the information I have been given just clicked. I could see where I was making mistakes and fix it. It happened again this week. Our focus on Muay Thai is knees.

  1. Pushing knees to create space
  2. Upward knees to strike your opponent
  3. Side in Knees to get over guards and to cause damage

I had an epiphany. I realized what I was doing wrong and how I was bleeding off my power when hitting knees. I realized my foot work needed to change in a certain way (namely my shuffle in). I changed it, and low and behold it freaking worked. All those tips and training days just clicked. I figured out the body mechanics and it felt good. It felt more effortless than before. I was getting power into my knees, and I was getting my flying knees in too.

Am I saying I am perfect? Nope, but it just clicked for me today, and for the past couple of weeks.

Will it return to my grinding through the next phase? Yea I am sure it will. But I will keep putting time in on the mat. Because that is how we improve our skills.

The main goal is to keep putting time in. Even if you feel like you are not making any more progress you are, and you will.

There are many ways and suggestions to get over a plateau. Many people have many ideas some of which are:

  1. Change up your training –
    • train more
    • train less
    • mix up your training, adding eccentric movements (or what is often referred to as negative movement)
    • supersets
    • add HIIT training
  2. Be patient – sometimes it is just putting the time in on the mat, in the gym, under the weights
  3. Get more sleep – in the US at least there is a culture of look how busy I am, and look at all the things I am doing, with emphasis on I am tired but so productive. Other countries their emphasis is family, rest, and relaxation.
  4. Look at your diet –
    • are you eating enough
    • are you eating to much
    • are you hydrated
  5. Focus on a different aspect of what you are training – For instance if you are having a hard time learning how to kick or learning that small tweak to make your kicks better. Switch up to elbows, train elbows. Give your body and your brain a break from kicks. Then come back to kicks and see if any of the tweaks from before have settled in to your understanding.
  6. Go to a training seminar, class, week, camp – this has helped me make strides in the right direction.

Keep in mind there are a lot of websites out there to help you through them. Here are some websites to go take a look at that might help if you hit a plateau:

  1. NerdFitness.com https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-hit-a-plateau/
  2. BodyBuilding.com https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek23.htm
  3. MuscleandStrength.com https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/9-steps-to-eliminating-a-plateau.html

In my case with the martial arts… I just needed to be patient put the mat time in. My body needed to discover the body mechanics on its own.

I have also noticed huge strides and advances when I go to seminars, and special training day/weeks. I am mentally more open, like a sponge because it is a different gym, different teacher, or different training style.

Upward striking knee

Schedule: This week I was all over the place. I go only one day of weight lifting in. But I did get my Muay Thai training in.

  1. Monday 6/28/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/29/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/30/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 7/01/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 7/02/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 7/03/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training
  7. Sunday 7/04/2021: holiday with family

My Martial Art Focus:This week we focused:

  1. We worked Knees, pushing knees, striking knees, flying knees, and side in knees
  2. We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench
  3. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope
2) mirror knee drill – plus sign foot work then knee

3) jab, cross, pushing knee
4) held pads for H

5) jab, cross, elbow, upright knee, or flying knee
6) held pads for H

7) defend jab, cross, hook, tie up, three skip knees, off balance and throw partner, follow with kick
8 ) held pads for H

9) clench spar with curved


Areas I need to work on:

  1. I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
  2. Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
  3. Shift in, and work on footwork to produce power in the knees
    Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • Hip in for knees
    • Push off ground with foot of leg that is kneeing

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

This week is week 3 of an 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.

Knee on belly, after throwing my partner
  1. barbell hip thrust – first two sets warm up- reps – 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8
  2. dumbbell Bulgarian split squats- reps each side- 8, 8, 8, 8
  3. dumbell sumo squats – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
  4. standing leg extensions with resistance bands- reps each side – 12, 12, 12, 12
  5. dumbbell squats – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12,
  6. Super set: do all exercises through before a rest
    • kettlebell pike crunches with – reps – 18, 18, 18, 18
    • plank stands one minute – reps – 1 m, 1 m, 1 m, 1 m

Nutrition:

  1. Although this week was not scheduled to be this way, I just let it evolve to a maintenance week.
  2. There are times where tracking and trying to meet your Macro goals is tedious, and you need a break. I sure did.
  3. No worries I will be back on track.

What it looks like on my averages and goals, is I did not get enough protein in. I was a little over on carbs, and a little over on fats. I was not eating enough to meet even my normal cut even though I did not follow my food goals. Onwards and upwards.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein85997912198657388.5714286190101.4285714
Carbs173198199164113202198178.142857160-18.14285714
Fat851019210349796682.142857167-15.14285714
           
Calories17972097194020671285177916781806.142862003196.8571429
6/28/2021 to 7/4/2021

How have you gotten past plateaus?

If you have not, have you tried any of these tweaks to help you?

I wanted to say thank you all for reading my blog. I started this as a way to just keep track of my journey/adventures/ you name it. But I enjoy hearing from you, so please feel free to comment. If you liked this please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow my adventures day to day I am on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Clench Work a.k.a Standing Grappling – its all in feeling your opponent

week of 6/21/2021

My primary martial art I practice is Muay Thai. A major component of Muay Thai is the clench work, or clenching. I have heard some people call it standing grappling.

I will say that is one area I am not great in. However, I feel like I have made huge strides for the better in this area.

I have scoliosis and clenching is hard on your neck shoulders and back. However, I have been working on strengthening my neck, shoulders, and back. Not only that I have been working on getting my footwork correct, and trying to execute the moves as intended. When you study Muay Thai, you will realize that this art form uses body mechanics in everything you do. I mention this because when you perform the movements correctly it can almost become effortless in some cases.

Now don’t get me wrong… there is a lot of effort in clech work. In some cases the tired I get from clech work is the kind that seeps into your bones and you feel like you could sleep for days. But when you execute an off balance just right, or you swim out of a clench and get the clench on some one else it can seem effortless.

Now what do I mean by clench work is feeling your opponent?

If you have done any grappling. You will note/remember/understand that most of the time you are protecting your head, and keeping it close to the body of your opponent. This happens in BJJ, this happens in Muay Thai. When you keep you head close to the body of your opponent in grappling you cannot see what they are doing.

You have to feel. You have to feel what your opponent is doing. You have to feel the moment they lift their leg, so you can off balance them. You have to feel for when they try to spin you off balance, so you can use their momentum against them.

Everything is by feel. The slightest movement and that can me you dump your opponent. Most of the time you cannot see where their head is, you know that it is at the top of their bodies, but you have to feel for it and push their heads away to get out of clench.

It is small nuances the we learn in the way the opponent cants their bodies as if they are trying to elbow you.

With clench work, we often off balance and throw our opponent. Which is to say we end up on the floor often… I was really happy that when we did, I remembered my little bit of BJJ and based. Denying my opponent the ability to roll me over and be in control. This too was done by feel, where he moved I moved so that he could not get an opening.

I really love the nuances of Muay Thai, it is also one of the reasons it is so frustrating at times. Just the small little things to clean up your form, to make it so that it seems/feels effortless. Watch great practitioners of Muay Thai and watch them closely, they look like it is not hard. It is but they have learned to work their bodies, and with their opponents bodies.

Every martial art I have had the pleasure of working and learning, Muay Thai, Kali, JKD, Weng Chun, and especially BJJ all have a component of feeling where your opponent is. You either go with their force or meet their force. You feel their movements often times before you see it. That is when you are supposed to respond. Of course easier said then done, it takes years of practice to notice small movements and then know what to do when you notice them.

Schedule: This week I was on target and got everything done. Yay! I stayed on schedule even if it was hard. Well mostly, I missed one day of Muay Thai training because of work.

  1. Monday 6/21/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/22/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/23/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/24/2021: 1 hour of Weight Lifting, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/25/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/26/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/27/2021: Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

clench with knee
  1. This week we focused:
    1. We worked gunting (scissor or destruction) of incoming attacks.
    1. We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench, and defence to entry into clench, defending against clench.
    1. In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork

Drills for this week:

Muay Thai Training:
1) jump rope
2) jab, cross, catch parry
3) jab, cross, inside gunting
4) jab, cross, back hand gunting

5) parry jab, cross, hook, return vertical gunting, the tie up, (I specifically worked the single wing, take down, abs knee to face)
6) fed for H

7) jab, cross, inside backhand, fence
8 ) held pads for H

9) jab, cross, hook, rear knee, step in and switch stance, cross, hook, cross, lead kick, step back into original stance.
10) held pads for H

11) jab, cross, hook, destroy face, reverse puta kapala
12) same as above

off balancing your partner


Areas I need to work on:

  • I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
    • Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
  • Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • more practice with clench
    • makes sure I have better head control of my opponent

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week is week 2 of an 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.

Weight Lifting: back and bicep focus

1) 3 minutes of fast feet
2) dumbell inclined chest press – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
3) dumbell chest flys – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
4) diamond push ups – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10
5) cable/resistance bands tricep extensions -reps- 12, 12, 12
6) barbell overhead shoulder press -reps – 10, 10, 8, 8
7) leaning one arm dumbell lateral raises – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

Nutrition:

  1. I was able to get closer to my carb and fats goals but was complete trash on my protein goals. I did not meet those by half. Ok gonna need to focus on protein this coming week.
  2. Have I mentioned I am a carbasaur. Love carbs… not so much love for the meat.
Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
76136791289710810410419086
142156220176135260217186.571429160-26.57142857
47774692811068976.857142967-9.857142857
          
129518611610204416572426208518542003149
06/21/2021- 06/27/2021

Anyway that is the training post for this last week. I stuck to my schedule except when work got in the way on Sunday. But I got all of my weight lifting days in. I am feeling it today.

What martial art do you practice? Did you notice in your martial art that feeling your opponents movements are as important or more so when you are grappling, or in contact bodily with them?

Thank you for reading. If you want to talk to me please feel free to comment. Like this post if you liked it, and please subscribe if you want to see more of my adventures. My day to day stuff is on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Why do we try to stay relaxed in Muay Thai?

week of 6/14/2021

This is a person who takes accidental photos. Hah

In Muay Thai we generally tell ourselves and our students to be loose, and to be relaxed. While we also tell them to keep your guard up, cover your face, and be ready to counter attack.

Often times it feels like they are telling you to do opposing things at the same time. Like hold your breath and breathe at the same time.

However, there is merit to what they are saying. You should aim to be loose, relaxed, not tight and coiled like a spring. If you are tight, your strikes will be tight not flowing and not fast. You tend to telegraph your movements as well.

Staying loose and relaxed helps with:

  1. Helps with flow – You are smooth, your strikes are chained together and that makes you faster. You are then better able to land strikes on your opponent.
  2. Helps with reaction time – You are relaxed so you can react better, faster, and without having to uncoil
  3. Conserves energy – You don’t know how long the fight will go. Well out in the real world you don’t know how long the fight will go. If you are in the ring you know it will be on average 3 minutes. You want to only exert energy when you are trying to defend or attack. Staying tense the entire time is just going to tire you out. That is good for your opponent or your attacker.
  4. You want to be relaxed when falling – If you take a fall, are off balanced, and or thrown you want to be relaxed. If you are tight and try to brace your fall you might break something. You want to practice your break fall, slapping the ground to stop your momentum, while aiming to fall on the meatiest parts of you, butt/shoulder area. The only thing you want to keep tight when falling is your chin to chest to stop you hitting your head.

Try it out for yourself.

Tighten your fists into a ball, tighten your arms and your biceps and cover your face, now try to punch. You can certainly punch but it feels forced. This is because your mind is telling your body to keep it tight, be ready, stay clenched. If a strike is coming toward you or you want to strike, your brain has to tell your body to let the muscle loosen and strike. This takes seconds, does not seem long, but it is, it is the time it takes some one to strike you 3 or 4 times.

Now if you have your hands up to your face your hands are not clenched and you are not tight through your arms, and shoulders. If some one were to strike at your face you can deflect, defend and or counter strike much easier, because you don’t have to unclench. Your body flows in a more natural way.

I have seen this very phenomenon in brand new students. They are tight waiting for that strike, worried they will get hit, want to counter and attack. But their tightness is a detriment and slows them down so that they do get hit. In brand new students you can see their strikes coming because their body is uncoiling.

It takes a long time to learn to be loose. I still tighten up when I get into my own head, and worry about my performance.

In a striking martial art you will get hit. It is inevitable. It is necessary. It is part of the training.

So we try to stay relaxed in Muay Thai because we want to flow, react in time so as not to get hit, or injured, and to conserve our energy.

We were practicing Wing Chun and JKD on Saturday during our Kali class. We worked on trapping, passing, and striking. Wing Chun and JKD use firm/unyielding in opposition or in compliment to pliant/yielding strikes, or hard and soft techniques. The goal is being relaxed and then going into unyielding. You can use your opponents energy against them. You see similar themes in Muay Thai in the parry strike combos, and in the clench off balance drills we train.

How do you train? In your martial art do you try stay relaxed?

Schedule: This week, I unfortunately missed two days of weight lifting. As much as I tried, I had kids doctor appointments, and work got in the way. I wedged in what I could and then moved on. Next week should be similar, just making sure to get my weight lifting days in.

  1. Monday 6/14/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/15/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/16/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/17/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/18/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/19/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/20/2021: Fathers Day in the U.S. we ran around and played soccer

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • We worked clenching, off balance, offence to entry into clench, and defence to entry into clench, defending against clench.
    • In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork, block pass and trapping, wing chun
    • Drills for this week:
Knee/Tang

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, lead elbow, tie up
3) held pads for A

4) 50/50 clench, cross off balance
5) was clench dummy for A

6) jab, cross, lead elbow, knee, tie up, run skip knees, spin off, round house kick
7) held pads for A

8 ) defend the incoming jab, and cross, then tie up
9) held pads for A

10) escaping the full plum tie up, pushing face swimming, or posture up push elbows
11) was clench dummy for A

12) break fall practice

Horizontal elbow
  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my break falls, namely my side break falls
    • Tighten up my footwork with clenching.
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
    • Still need to keep working bringing hands back to my face after a strike.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • Practice break falls on the bed at home, or on the matts at the gym
    • more practice with clench
    • makes sure I have better head control of my opponent

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week started a new 8 week program. 4 day split, 2 upper body, 2 lower body.
  2. First 4 weeks are time and attention focus, second 4 weeks are HIIT

Weight lifting: back and bicep focus

1) lat pull down- reps – 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15
2) standing barbell row – reps- 10, 10, 10, 10
3) resistance band face pull – reps- 15, 15, 15, 15
4) seated wide grip resistance band row – reps – 15, 15, 15, 15
5)dumbbell bicep spider curls – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Nutrition:

This week was a cut week. I redid my numbers, and changed up my macro numbers. I did much better getting my protein in. I also made timers for me. This seems to be helping. I am meal planning, taking my meals with me and when a timer goes off I have my food there for me to eat. I am am generally only at most an hour behind my timer.

I averaged 130 g of protein, woot! Need to adjust down my carbs, and fats, but overall I did well with these new numbers. Yay!

Next week will be even better.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1421851431168015592130.42857119059.57142857
Carbs167145273168246148212194.142857160-34.14285714
Fat847148105781419088.142857167-21.14285714
           
Calories19921959209620812006248120262091.571432003-88.57142857
6/14/2021 – 6/20/2021

Well that is it for this week. June is a busy month for me. I know each of us have that month in the year where everything seems to converge. June is one of these months for me.

I can only strive to be better, do better every week.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button so I know. If you want to follow my shenanigans and adventures please subscribe. If you want to chat comment below. For day to day stuff, you can find me on instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: De-loading Week, Applying Training Fixes in Sparring

(week of 6/6/2021)

Wanted to talk about two things in this blog post this week. De-loading, and Application of Training in Sparring. Namely the difficulty in applying what you are learning in sparring.

Note: I noticed my dates were off on my last training post. Because I thought I was a month ahead. Hah! I fixed it retroactively

De-Loading:

This week was a De-loading week. Experts far smarter than I am have suggested that after you finish a weight lifting program you give your body a week where you let it rest from that particular training. So that is what I have done.

What is deloading? A de -loading week is not taking a week off of any activity, it is simply shifting focus on your training. Or reducing the amount you are. It is a chance to focus on rest, recuperation in the form of sleep and nutrition.

How I chose to de-load. I decided to give my body a week off of weight lifting, because I also train martial arts 4 days a week. I am eating to hit my macros, and I am trying to get enough sleep in.

What I noticed:

  1. I was getting better sleep over all
  2. My body did not hurt.
    • My body was not in the perpetual D.O.M.S. (Delayed onset muscle soreness) cyle. Train –> Sore –> Train different area –> sore etc.
  3. I did not lack energy in my martial arts
    • I noticed I was not getting enough rest between, working, training, and my martial arts
  4. The scale went down a little bit
    • I don’t know if it was water weight, I don’t know if it was a little bit of muscle loss. I don’t think so.
  5. I feel good, still getting some training in

I finished an 8 week weight lifting session. I got great results and wanted to start in on my second 8 week training session. However, I was smart and waited like the experts say to. So when you read this I will have started on my next 8 week training session. I am focused for the next 8 weeks on shredding, instead of bulking.

To be honest, I feel a little silly talking about shredding and bulking because I am not going to be an IFBB (International Federation of Body Building and Fitness) pro, or even compete. But shredding and bulking is what I am doing. I am following programs to help me “Bulk” or put on muscle mass, and to “shred” or lose fat and keep muscle. It is the same or similar process that these pros follow, and even if I don’t plan on competing I love to train and have goals I have set for myself.

Applying My Training Fixes in Sparring:

Can we take a minute to just sit and realize how hard it is in sparring to remember what you just were working on. When the adrenaline drops and you are facing your opponent… well everything goes out of your brain. You forget how to even practice Muay Thai. At least that is the case when you first start.

When you have been sparring for a while though, and practicing Muay Thai for a while though, you start to remember your form when you spar. Let me say though, your bad habits will show in sparring. Part of your brain will be screaming don’t get hit, and the other part will be saying focus on your skills. Or at least so far after 3 years of training and sparring time, my brain still does this.

Now try to throw in any of the things you have been working on. For me lets say it is remembering right now not to telegraph my jab to my opponent. It is near impossible. That goes straight out of the brain, and all I can think of is stay out of range to your opponent, then get in with an entry you know you have trained, what they see that jab coming. Hey how do I get my entry into the pocket when they see me coming? (You know what brain, we just worked on that in pad work, if you just…then I get smacked in the face. Then the brain goes crap crap punched in the face… don’t let that happen again.)

Lets say it is hard. I know I am not the only one that feel that way. Another girl that is brand new to sparring, has had the same problem. We have been told often by our trainers that this is a problem and the goal is to relay on our training and not think so much. Easier said than done. So we continue to practice.

Schedule: This was last weeks schedule while I was doing a de-loading week. No weight lifting

  1. Monday 6/7/2021: No training
  2. Tuesday 6/8/2021: No training
  3. Wednesday 6/9/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/10/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/11/2021: scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/12/2021: Muay Thai and Kali 2 hours
  7. Sunday 6/13/2021: Muay Thai training 2 hours

This will be my new schedule going forward for the next 8 weeks. I am going to try it out and unless I run up against any major problems I will keep it. I am starting a new weight lifting program for 8 weeks.

  1. Monday 6/14/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/15/2021: Weight lifting 1 hour, Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/16/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/17/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/18/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/19/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 1 hour
  7. Sunday 6/20/2021: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai training, Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • Boxing and elbows
    • We worked on footwork for getting into the pocket and getting out after the close range elbows.
    • In kali we worked on Espada y Daga, and footwork, and gunting.
    • Drills for this week:

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, lead elbow
3) held pads for H

4) cross, hook, rear elbow
5) held pads for H

6) jab, cross, hook, lead elbow
7) held pads for H

8 ) jab, cross, lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee
9) held pads for H

10) jab, cross, hook, spinning back rear elbow
11) held pads for H

12) jab, cross, hook, spinning back rear elbows, spinning back lead elbow, rear elbow, rear knee
13) held pads for H

We then worked in Kali on, gunting 6 ways:
1) The in and out avoiding blows
2) The meet the force
3) The following the force
3.5 ) gunting left hand follow the force
4) gunting, then return shot with left hand or knife hand
5) gunting, then return shot with stick or right hand
6) gunting, then return stick and knife shot

  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my short range hooks. Bringing the hand tight and using body for power.
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
    • Still need to keep working bringing hands back to my face after a strike.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • I am going to work on footwork drills 2 minutes before every run, and 2 minutes after every run. Per my Kru’s suggestion.
    • Repetition of the above short range hooks, no tells, returning hand to face, and entries.

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. This week was a de-loading week. So I did not weight lift or run. Because I still had martial arts training.

Nutrition:

Hey this week I have gotten so close to meeting my protein requirements. This is the closest I have gotten 120 grams average is great.

The alarm system has been great for helping me get my meals in. During work my phone will go off and I did my best to take my break soon after. I averaged about 1 hour after the alarm but better than forgetting to eat so that is a positive move in the right direction.

I am going to redo my numbers and tweak my macros again.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein15914611992108120101120.71428617352.28571429
Carbs188184106146199283250193.7142862017.285714286
Fat63781121459480131100.42857190-10.42857143
           
Calories19552022190822572074233225832161.571432306144.4285714
6/7/2021- 6/13/2021

Have you tried a de-loading week?

Have you had that adrenaline drop in the ring and forgotten how to do anything?

That is it for my past week. It was a welcome time off to recuperate. Now back to working to improve my fitness, and martial arts.

Thank you for reading. If you liked this post please hit the like button. If you want to follow please subscribe, and if you want to see day to day stuff, check out my Instagram @sharpcupcake.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Nutrition Is the First Thing That Goes For Me

(week of 05/31/2021)

I know I don’t represent everyone, but I know I am also not alone. For some people when life gets busy, the first thing that goes is their activity/workouts. When I am stressed, life gets in the way, or just upset the first thing that falls apart for me is nutrition. I can eat later right? Wrong… I run out of time, train my body not to be hungry. Its no good.

It looks a little like this for me: When I get stressed, busy, upset… I forget to eat. I put it off till I have, what I think is time to eat. This leaves me in a pickle. Because then when I surface for air, I realize I am hungry and if I have not planned I can make terrible decisions. I also find myself at the end of the day having not hit my macros.

Let me restate this about macros: I use macros as a tool. They are a tool to help me reach the nutritional numbers my body needs. Macros are a tool, but not to be focused on to much to be a detriment. Also your body works on averages. So if you did not eat enough protein in one day, if you make sure to eat enough the next day it will average out. That is why I focus on the averages.

I tend to default to carbs…they are easy and tasty!

So to combat this I am taking today to work on my eating schedule. Hopefully if I schedule it out it will happen more often.

This last week I was supposed to do just that, schedule out my food and keep to the schedule as best as I could. This last week I got busy… super busy, kids, work, workout/training… you name it. I did not make the schedule.

My schedule when I wake up alternates. So I don’t wake up the same time each day. That is my biggest problem. On days I work I get up at 4:30 am and tend not to eat till 9 or 10 am when I have a break in the day at work. I need to schedule eating my meals and snacks not at certain times, but at regular intervals that change based on when I get up, rise like the dead out of my bed.

So I am going to plan to do this:

  1. wake up (4:30 am or 7:30 am)
  2. Eat first meal: by 1 hour after waking 5:30 am or 8:30 am
  3. Eat a snack: try 3 hours later 8:30 am or 11:30 am
  4. Eat second meal: 3 hours later 11:30 am or 2:30 pm
  5. Eat a snack: try 3 hours later 2:30 pm or 5:30 pm
  6. Eat last meal: 3 hours later 5:30 pm or 8:30 pm

Hopefully this will work for me. I have made up meal plans, but it does me no good if it sits there and I don’t eat it. I have to do this for me. I have to break this cycle and make it a priority. This is the next step in my fitness journey. I have the training. Now is the time to hone in on my nutrition.

Schedule: This is a pretty typical week of training at least for the last 8 weeks (although now I am changing up my weight lifting program going forward because I just finished an 8 week program)

  1. Monday 5/31/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/01/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/02/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/03/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/04/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/05/2021: 2 hours of Muay Thai and Kali training, Weight Lifting 55 minutes
  7. Sunday 6/06/2021: 2.5 hours of Muay Thai training, Weight Lifting 1 hour

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. This week we focused:
    • On foot movement. Not only in our drills, but when I was sparring on Sunday I was getting lazy and crossing my feet when backing up. That is a no no. Will cause me to off balance and or fall.
    • On Teeping and knees to create distance. Using the right tool for the right time. Trying to teep when you are to close for instance is hard to pull off, but kneeing would might be better.
    • Drills for this week:
Knee

Muay Thai Training: class focus is on keeping our feet moving, and cover/block, and return strikes
1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, parry

3) jab, cross, hook, catch, parry, cover

4) cross, hook, cross, slip, bob and weave, parry

5) high hook to your left, high elbow cover, uppercut, hook, cross,
High hook to your right, high elbow cover, uppercut, cross

6) incoming body hook to left, uppercut, hook, cross
Incoming body hook to eight, uppercut, cross

7) feeder choice, hook to head or body

Teep

Muay Thai training: Knees and teeps

1) jump rope

2) jab, cross, Teep
3) held pads for H

4) jab, cross, knee
5) held pads for H

6) Teep, rear kick, hook, cross, rear kick
7) held pads for H

8 ) scoop Teep, kick leg, hook, cross, rear kick
9) held pads for H

10) lead kick, cross, hook, lead kick, lead teep
11) held pads for H

Kali-
We worked on meeting the force in the strikes 1 – 12
We worked on going with the force in strikes 1 – 12
We worked witic to umbrella
We worked half T
We worked Full T

We also had cicadas that were super interested in Kali class too.

  1. Areas I need to work on:
    • I need to work on my entries in sparring. I am short and will forever be out of range if I don’t work my entries
    • I need to work on my tells. I have a tell where I cock my shoulder back before I jab.
  2. Problems/solutions:
    • I am going to work on footwork drills 2 minutes before every run, and 2 minutes after every run. Per my Kru’s suggestion.

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. Currently for running I am just using it as my cardio. Gonna add in some footwork for my martial arts before and after.
  2. Weight Lifting, I have been on an 8 week training program. 3 day split. This was the end of week 8. So now:
    • I have chosen my next 8 week program, a shred weight lifting program
    • This coming week will be a de-loading week for me.

Nutrition:

This week because of how busy I was I went a little over on carbs. Its easy to pick up a carb full snack when you go to the store. This week I got much closer to my protein needs. Next week is a new week and I will keep trying.

I have notice that my recovery time has decreased since eating more of what my body needs. When D.O.M.S. (delayed onset muscle soreness) sets in I noticed it last for less time, and I recover faster.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein124108105202104128116126.71428617346.28571429
Carbs284210213245212220282238201-37
Fat77105961551098974100.71428690-10.71428571
           
Calories23252217213631832245219322582365.285712306-59.28571429
06/31/2021 – 07/06/2021

Well that is it for my last week. I finished up my 8 week weight lifting program. I am proud of finishing up. I have gained muscle , toned up, and have improved on my Muay Thai and Kali practices. All around it has been a good week

I have noted where I have a problem with my nutrition intake, and I am actively working to fix it.

What is the first thing that goes when you are stressed out, busy, or just don’t have time?

Thank you for reading. I have had positive feedback from my blog changes. If you liked this please hit the like button. If you want to comment please feel free to drop me a line. If you want to follow along on my adventures and musings, please subscribe.

You can catch my daily shenanigans on instagram @sharpcupcake. More photos, more just day to day stuff.

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

Martial Arts and Training: Blog Changes

( week of 6/24/2021)

I got busy with family and forgot to write up my post yesterday. I was thinking as I lay there in my bed willing myself to sleep because I had an early 4 am morning work day to get to. It is time to change up my blog.

As martial artists we look to better ourselves and change. I am constantly changing and learning in my art, in my training, and in my fitness. So too this blog is changing.

I have many readers. Some readers come for the healthy recipes I post. (Hey recipe lovers there is another recipe post coming soon. I promise!) Some readers are here for my martial arts posts. Some readers read my posts for the workouts. I don’t know what you like, but my training has significantly changed such that Muay Thai is consistent. It does not have tons of new drills. I am making minor tweaks, that I work on for days/weeks/months. So my training is looking similar day to day, week to week.

So… I will put my main focus for the week here in the blog. I won’t have the nitty gritty day to day stuff here. If you want to see that you can always go to my Instagram account @sharpcupcake. Along with what I am focusing on, will be the drills we used to focus on that for that week.

Outline of what my blog posts will look like maybe: (I reserve the right to change it cause I am mercurial like that)

Schedule: (for those who would like to see how I plan my training)

  1. List of days and workouts/training done.

My Martial Art Focus:

  1. Any drills I did that week to work on that focus (if repetitive over multiple days I will only post the drill once here per week)
  2. Areas I need to work on
  3. Problems/solutions I found

My Training Focus:

  1. Weight lifting
  2. Running
  3. Rowing
  4. What ever I am doing at that point in my workout adventure

Nutrition:

  1. Macros
  2. What ever I am trying out now

I started out this blog posting ever time I was working out. That was nearly every day, and that got tedious real fast. Then I switched to this current format.

Now I switch again. I am hoping this will be more streamlined, and helpful to you my readers. You can just skip to the parts you like or want to read.

On with the blog…

Schedule:

  1. Monday 6/24/2021: Mile Run, and Weight Lifting 1 hour
  2. Tuesday 6/25/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  3. Wednesday 6/26/2021: scheduled rest day
  4. Thursday 6/27/2021: Muay Thai Training 1 hour
  5. Friday 6/28/2021 : scheduled rest day
  6. Saturday 6/29/2021: Mile Run, Weight Lifting 55 minutes
  7. Sunday 6/30/2021: extra rest day because inertia got ahold of me after my work meeting

This was a pretty light schedule for me. There are two days of Muay Thai that did not happen due to holiday, that is 3 hours missing, 1 hour of Kali missing no class, and I was lazy on Sunday so no run or weight lifting.

Martial Art Focus:

This last couple of weeks I have been focusing on keeping my hands up, not flaring my elbows, and punching from my face. The last focus I mean not dropping my hands down to my chest for example before I hit the cross.

Hard part of all this is… remembering all of that when sparring, and trying to avoid being hit. Focusing on this during drills when you are tired is hard, not letting all of that fly out the window when sparring is so much harder.

Currently I only remember these things I am focusing on at most half the time. Which is an improvement to when I started sparring and everything I learned just flew the coop. Hahah

Muay Thai Training:
1) jump rope
2) jab, cross, rear kick to leg
3) jab, cross, rear kick to body

4) cross, body hook, cross, lead kick
5) he’d pads for H

6) (high) rear elbow cover, uppercut, cross
(High) lead elbow cover, uppercut, hook, cross
7) held pads for H

8 ) (low) rear body cover, uppercut, cross
(low) lead body cover, uppercut, hook, cross
9) held pads for H

10) feeders choice ( we did random order)
11) held pads for H

Training focus: Weight Lifting and Running

  1. Currently for running I am just using it as my cardio. I am not training for a marathon, however I have noticed my times have been slowly improving.
  2. Weight Lifting, I have been on an 8 week training program. 3 day split. This week was upper body, lower body, lower body. This week was week 7.
    • My partner has noticed and commented that I have toned up
    • I Have upped my weights that I can lift by 10 lbs for both dumbbells and barbells

Weight lifting: back, shoulders ,triceps, abs

1) inclined under hand chin ups- 8, 8, 7, 7

2) standing dumbbell tricep overhead extensions- 15, 15, 15, 15

3) standing dumbbell lateral raises – 10, 10, 10

4) leaning shoulder front raises – 10, 10, 10, 10

3 supersets below: do all exercises in a set before taking a break

Superset 1: do this set x4
1) standing dumbbell upright row- 12, 12, 12, 12
2) dumbbell back fly – 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset 2: do this set x3
1) seated tricep overhead extensions – 12, 12, 12
2) overhead resistance band tricep extensions – 12, 12, 12

Superset 3: do this set x3
1) crunch into side to side crunches – 20, 20, 20
2) sit ups into twists – 20, 20, 20
3) upper crunches – 20, 20, 20

Weightlifting: lower body quads and glutes

1) dumbbell squat – reps- 20, 20, 20, 20

2) standing leg extensions- reps each leg- 12, 12, 12,

Superset: do all exercises once before rest
1) barbell hip thrust – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
2) floor glute bridges with weight plate on hips – reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset: do all exercises once before resting
1) resistance band abductor – reps- 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell sumo squats – reps – 15, 15, 15

Nutrition:

Macros for the week of 6/24/2021

Ok sooo this week… was first week back on cut, cutting week, but I was not able to keep up the protein. I think I am going to have to start timing food and planning better, shakes etc to make sure I eat on time.

OH but carbs are my go to when I have not planned properly. Carbs are not bad just not an all the time food. lol

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1151571311427910289116.42857117356.57142857
Carbs207223162296151273259224.428571201-23.42857143
Fat56103126106124719497.142857190-7.142857143
           
Calories17922447230627062036213922382237.71429230668.28571429
6/24/2021 – 6/31/2021

Well there you have it. The new format. Let me know what you think.

Here is your chance to chime in. Tell me what you like to see, what would be helpful in this blog. I of course will take these things into consideration.

Thank you all for reading. Please hit the like button if you liked this post. Subscribe if you want to see my posts as they come out.

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

Training Martial Arts 5/17/2021: Fixing the Minor Things Will Fix Overall performance

What am I working on right now? What am I tweaking to be just that much better at Muay Thai?

I have gotten used to the boxing gloves, and the Thai pads. Both of which are large, bulky, and fluffy. You may be thinking what boxing gloves are large? Well yes they are, we use 12 oz to 16 oz boxing gloves to train with. If you have ever had boxing gloves on you will know that they look like balloons on your hands. When you put on a pair of MMA gloves, whoo boy your hands profile gets a lot smaller.

What happens when your hands profile gets a lot smaller?

Your guard area is smaller, the bulky gloves protect a lot of your face. Not so with MMA gloves. You have to remember to move, parry, catch, slip, and bob and weave. Boxing gloves you can pillar up and it will save help you out.

Your elbows can flare out with boxing gloves leaving a channel up your body for a great upper cut from your opponent. So when our hands profile gets smaller you elbows can come down and you have a tighter profile.

Your hands are less protected so you can’t be lazy about your hooks. When you get lazy with less protection, you can break your hands, or your wrists and that is no fun.

Your hands are smaller, so they can split the gloves, or your opponents guard much easier.

The major minor fixes that I am working on lately are:

  1. Using smaller gloves, to work making my guard tighter
  2. Using smaller gloves reminds me of my real area/distance for attack and defend
  3. Using smaller gloves, to work on me turning my hand raising my elbow so I hit the hook correctly.
    • when you use MMA gloves you feel it, and you know if you hit right
  4. Punching from guard at my face, instead of dropping my hand, and cocking back to punch.
    • when I drop my hand even a little bit and cock back,
      • I am giving a tell to my opponent I am about to hit – they will then hit me
      • I am losing seconds to hit.
      • I am losing the surprise
  5. Remembering to bring my hand back to my face instead of back to chest level.
    • when I bring it back to chest level I am
      • losing time (seconds really but it maters)
      • I am leaving my guard open till I get my hand back to my face

Those are the minor things I have been working on fixing. What did I work on before. My foot work, or getting off the line. Will I have to tweak those again? Yeah I am sure I will. This art takes a lifetime of learning, I will always have something else I can make better. But right now this is what I am doing, time in training, and drilling will make me better.

At this point in my training, the drills are not new, the moves are things I have done a thousand thousand times.

I am making those minor tweaks. Just like in swimming, to take off seconds in timing. Those tiny tells/things that give away my intentions to strike.

Just like training for nationals in swim team, shaving off seconds in my 500 freestyle time took months of work. Months of tweaking:

  1. when I breath
  2. just how I turned
  3. my jump start
  4. how much water I pulled
  5. breath management

Muay Thai is no different in that regard. Fixing minor things, helped with my overall performance. Well there is one thing that is greatly you get punched and kicked a lot more in Muay Thai then at swim team. lol

Cutting Macros for the Week

Lets see… I did get closer to my protein levels on average. I have made sure to get my protein shakes in, and protein bars when I could not eat lunch at work right away. I can cut carbs and fat, ay

Went over on my carbs and my fats a little this week. But over all felt good. My training was good, and I am getting closer to being on point with my protein intake.

MACRO AVERAGES
 Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7AverageGoalDifference
Protein1231209115489145108118.57142917354.42857143
Carbs290165193276180203257223.428571201-22.42857143
Fat95839212571117174108.14285790-18.14285714
           
Calories25071887196428451715244530262341.285712306-35.28571429

Training Monday 5/17/2021: 45 minute run and weight lifting leg day

Today started out with a walk with my partner.

Then I went for a mile run after digesting breakfast.

Then it was on to first day of this weeks weight lifting workout. Which happens to be leg day again. Weee!

We can do anything we put our minds to. Anyone telling us we can’t are just showing us their limitations not yours!

Leg day with an emphasis on Quads and Glutes:
1) dumbbell squat – reps – 20, 20, 20, 20
2) standing leg extensions- reps – 12, 12, 12

Superset: do all exercises once through before rest
1) barbell hip thrust -reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
2) body weight floor glute bridges -reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

Superset: do all exercises once through before rest
1) resistance band abductor -reps- 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell sumo squats -reps- 15, 15, 15

Training Tuesday 5/18/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai

Some days you eat the kick to the ribs because you missed the subtle change in you opponents movement and then since they were nice enough to put their leg up there on your ribs you catch it to off balance them. Making lemonade out of lemons is helpful in my training.

Look I am not… I am still learning and have a lot to learn. But I have been noticing subtle changes in how I perceive my opponent.

I frankly see more now. Reaction time I am working on. 😂 lol

Muay Thai:
1) jump rope warm up
2) jab, catch, jab drill
3) cross, parry, cross drill
4) hook, high elbow cover, hook drill

5) respond to the jab cross hook, return a hook, cross, lead kick
6) fed pads for H

7) respond to jab cross hook, high elbow cover and return a jab/strike, cross, hook, rear kick
8 ) fed pads for H

9) respond to jab cross hook, you bob and weave on the hook, return a hook to torso, cross, lead knee
10) fed pads for H

11) pop the leather where we responded to the jab cross hook
12) same as previous round

Training Thursday 5/20/2021: 1 hour of Muay Thai

Who has two thumbs and had a long day at work? Yup that’s me. But I powered through my training. I did for a little bit contemplate just resting today, but I threw on my Beast Mode shirt and trained.

It was a balmy 97 degrees F in my gym today. Whew! When you are tired the heat can suck more energy out of you.

I am glad I went in. I am glad I trained.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class again!

What did I focus on while I was so tired? Keeping my hands up, bringing them back to my face, getting out of the pocket after I completed the drill! Yay!

Training Saturday 5/22/2021:1 hour- 1 mile run, and weightlifting upper body

We took the morning and spent it with the kiddos. They needed time with mom and dad. Ordered breakfast out, and had a family picnic.

But I still had to get my run and weightlifting in. I have a schedule to keep. I waited till the kids had to do their daily chores to get away. So a little later in the day than I like to but it’s done woot!

1 mile run, with new better run time in steady state run. Woot!

Weightlifting: upper body – chest, back, biceps

Superset: do all exercises once through no rest till all are done in one set.
1) push ups- reps- 10, 10, 10
2) dumbbell chest fly – reps- 10, 10, 10

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

2) lay pull down wide grip- reps- used resistance bands- 15, 15, 15, 15

Superset: do all exercises once through no rest till all are done in one set.
1) resistance band chest flys – reps- 15, 15, 15, 15
2) dumbbell standing double arm bicep curls -reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

1) preachers dumbbell bicep curls – reps each side- 10, 10, 10

Training Sunday 5/23/2021: 2.5 hours- 1.5 hours of Muay Thai, and 1 hour of upper body weight lifting back, shoulders and abs

Today was a great day of training. I got to work with my training pod. We worked on pads and sparring.

I focused on keeping my tools in the box, keeping my arms, elbows, and punches tight.

I worked on making sure I don’t drop my hands from my face/guard then punching. When I do that it takes longer for my punches to come, and I send a huge signal that I am punching. A tell. When I say longer I mean a few seconds but those few seconds allows some one else to get a punch in when my guard is down. Really it’s a game of milliseconds and millimeters. You give one you get punched.

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta, Amanda Benson Early, and H for helping me tighten my game.

Then after lunch was eaten it was on to my weightlifting.

Weightlifting: back shoulders and abs day

1)inclined bench double-arm dumbbell rows – reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

2) seated wide grip cable rows (resistance band) – reps – 10, 10, 10, 10

3) bent over barbell high row- reps- 12, 12, 12, 12

4) Superset: do all exercises one after another in a set before rest
1) barbell front raise -reps – 12, 12, 12, 12
2) barbell upright row -reps – 12, 12, 12, 12

5) leaning one armed dumbbell lateral raises- reps each side- 12, 12, 12,

6) Superset: do all exercises one after another in a set before rest
1) laying leg raises – reps – 20
2) crunch to side tap -reps – 20
3) standing crunches – reps – 20

7) Superset: do all exercises one after another in a set before rest
1) laying leg raises – reps – 20
2) crunch to side tap -reps – 20
3) standing crunches – reps – 20
4) laying leg raises – reps – 20
5) crunch to side tap -reps – 20
6) standing crunches – reps – 20

What small things are you trying to tweak in your training?

I hope you are all happy and healthy. Thank you for reading my blog/s. If you liked this one, please hit the like button. If you want to follow my adventures feel free to subscribe. As always if you have a comment please feel free to chat. For day to day stuff you can find me @sharpcupcake on instagram.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The difference between the MMA gloves and boxing gloves is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maintenance week 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Workout:
1 mile run

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parry the cross slip tight

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

Thank you Khun kru Krysta!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you khun kru Krysta!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am back at it today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are we trying to do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week 2 of Maintenance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Instead I did a Tabata battle rope rouitine for cardio.

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

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

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

Weight lifting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today we worked on the same drills as last Thursday.

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

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

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class.

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

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

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

Training:

1) jump rope

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

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

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

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

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

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

What a day! But I got it done!

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

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

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta!

Training:
1 mile run

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Training: 2 hours of Muay Thai training

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

Love that spinning back elbow to spinning back fist combo.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4) goblet squats – reps – 15, 15, 15

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

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

Do each Set x 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maintenance Week #1

This last week was maintenance week #1.

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

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

Man Carbs are so good though.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Workout:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you Khun Kru Krysta for a great class!

Muay Thai:

1) Jump rope

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Muay Thai:

1) Jump rope

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today was lower body legs and abs.

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

Yay! Celebration day! And mmmm cake!

Weight Lifting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today we worked on Muay Thai, entries on the:

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

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

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

Training:

1) jump rope

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

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

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

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

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

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

Training: 2 hours of training Muay Thai

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

I practice my free feeding and feed back.

I was working on flow, and chaining attacks better.

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

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

Then sparring with Bunches of Punches that lead into kicks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Weight lifting:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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