Workout Recap - Week of August 21, 2022
I hit my target of four classes for last week, with the extra feather on top that it was on four consecutive days. Technically, I was lightly injured by the end of the last one (torn blister on the bottom of my right foot), but I could've covered that and been set to go for a fifth had I not had other matters intervene. Still, that was a good step, and I will take it as my new baseline.
Monday
Muay Thai class
In preparation of needing to wear some for sparring (and because it's a good idea in general), I started wearing groin protection to my classes. It's not entirely comfortable (the guard presses into the insides of my thighs to an annoying degree), but it stays where it's supposed to, and the bit of testing that I did while wearing it felt fine. I'm sure I'll get used to it with time, which is more than I can say for the spinning side kicks that we drilled towards the end of this class. While I can imagine some use cases for spinning techniques in self-defense, that's one that feels so awkward that I think I'd need to get a lot better at more fundamental stuff before the return on time investment would favor working on spinning side kicks.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
We did a lot of low kicks against partner pads in this class, so I'm expecting to be bruised up rather nicely in the aftermath. More interesting than the class itself, though, was the realization after about a month of passive observation of how weakly committed so many of the other students are. There have been aspiring fighters complaining about needing to do additional strength and conditioning work, people who don't know how to use their own gear, and someone tried to quit and walk out on the finishing calisthenic burn-out in this class until the kru noticed and browbeat them into coming back. I know I'm not the best in any measure of skill or physical ability, but I'd stack myself against anyone else there when it comes to mental toughness even without considering how I've come into most of my classes with some dings still healing from the last training session. And to the kru's credit, she seems to be good at identifying whether someone is really trying and just not good yet or whether they're phoning it in; I've not noticed her go off on someone who wasn't being either dangerous or disrespectful, and she's supportive in her corrections for people who suck (like me).
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
I had a heart-sinking moment early in this class because we needed shin guards and I hadn't bought any yet (I hadn't been told they would be required for the normal classes, only for the sparring sessions), but there were lucky a pair I could borrow from the common stash, and that was pretty great because it was a limited/soft-touch sparring class, mostly with taking turns doing preset sequences but opening up some more towards the end. Honestly, if we had been going for real, I would've been popped around by most of the people I got to practice with, but that's to be expected since I'm pretty much the least experienced person in the class. More importantly, though, I was able to get a few personal wins: I was able to consistently get my leg high enough for proper placement when we were exchanging jab-head round kick sequences, I got at least one clean counter in against each of my partners when we were given freedom to fight back, and I kept my wits about me enough to at least constantly try to defend myself intelligently (rather than shelling up in a panic) during the whole thing. And I also had my suspicions of the lackluster commitment in some of my classmates confirmed when I learned that someone said they didn't want to fight because they were afraid of getting hurt. Fighting hurts. But at least for me, feeling helpless hurts more (though obviously that may not be as much on the minds of people who're there for reasons other than self-defense).
Thursday
Muay Thai class
Lots of leg work in this class, which I'm always game for because my kicks and knees definitely feel better than my punches (spinning side kicks notwithstanding). Granted, there was a sweat pool that I stepped in at one point which made me keep losing my footing when holding a kick shield for a teep-side kick sequence (well, along with later reflection that my stance was probably too short and I should've been more mindful of tensing before impact), but overall, it was a good class despite my mind being a bit distant due to a depression spell. I also got shin guards from the equipment shop so that I'll be ready for using those in the future, though I'll need to figure out a new arrangement to carry my gear since it won't all fit in my backpack anymore.
Saturday
Type: Pass/Fail
Uneven Pull Ups - 2 sets of 7, each side (pass)
Stand-to-stand Bridges, one wall touch on the way up - 2 sets of 6 (pass)
Pistol Squats - 2 sets of 6, each side (pass)
Hanging V-raises - 2 sets of 8 (pass)
Bonus: 50 push ups
Nice bit of strength work here. Only having one day where I focus on this is obviously going to slow down my progress, but I don't mind making that sacrifice to keep up my Muay Thai training.
