Workout Recap - Week of February 12, 2023
Started at the new gym this week, and while I wouldn't say it was bad, it was a letdown. I'm just not finding it as well-suited to my goals and learning affinities as my previous gym was. I'm trying to be patient and learn as much as I can, though.
Monday
Muay Thai class
The class started with a (for my tastes) prolonged focus on mobility drills and basic general exercises. I get that some focus on fundamental athleticism is important, but that's something that can be done easily on my own. I want my membership to be going towards things that I need coaches and partners for, not doing bunny hops on high-quality mats. That said, the class was structured to develop more stamina, with shorter breaks and more prolonged work between switching roles, so maybe I'll get some benefits from that. As well, the kru did go into some more technical depth on a couple things that my previous one had been willing to gloss over, so maybe I can pick up some useful details. All in all, a disappointing start, but there were some positives.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
This was an improvement over the previous class already, with more useful shadowboxing since the kru mixed in having us react to random signals. I got partnered with a newbie for drills afterwards, which was a good opportunity to refresh myself on the basics because I did have some rust to work off from my time away from training. We also finished up with some light sparring under various restraint conditions, and it was great to get in there and have some success in a semi-live environment like that. The general skill level at this gym seems lower than where I was before, but it might also be that the regulars were holding back to avoid leaving a bad impression. Anyway, if nothing else, it did seem to serve as a nice barometer that I developed a lot at the previous gym.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
Each successive class is making me feel better here, like my issues are coming mostly from differences in teaching style rather than objective quality. For instance, we did a lot of head-to-head drills this day (which is always nice), but we did them with light touches to each other's palms rather than proper head/body defense (which was less to my tastes but probably understandable to reduce the risk of injuries). My punching form felt good, and I even got praised for it a few times from the coach (plus getting criticized once for stepping in too close for some hook punches). My round kicks are still not quite where I'd like them to be, but they're improving decently and ought to be back up to where they were with a little more practice.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
I had an epiphany on my way home from the class this day; this gym seems to be aiming more for recreational students rather than being a competitive fighters' gym that other people can also train at. If that's accurate, it might explain a lot of the tension between what I was expecting and what I've been getting so far. In any case, the focus for this class was on countering single punches and kicks aggressively. It was mostly stuff that I was used to from the fast pace that I'd often take to head-to-head drills at my previous gym, but we finished with some light sparring again that including rounds of doing only kicks versus punches, and the times I was doing kicks only were awkward for me because I'm very much not a keep-away kick fighter naturally. That said, perhaps that's all the more reason to work on it.
Friday
MMA class
This class felt much more useful, likely in no small part because it was my first bit of formal grappling training. We worked on transitioning from striking into single- and double-leg takedowns, as well as a couple of basic escapes from grounded side control. It was very challenging for me to coordinate all of my limbs (I'm sure that my neurodivergence didn't do me any favors with that), but my general athleticism seemed to make up in part for my lack of technical prowess. Granted that I seemed to be working with other newbies, so it's hard to judge much, but it felt like I was mostly maintaining control at will when I was on top and working my way out pretty quickly from the bottom, even when we did a couple rounds of going up to full resistance at the end. Even if the Muay Thai classes at this place don't feel like the most efficient use of my time, the grappling should give me plenty to learn.
