Workout Recap - Week of January 7, 2024
It was a week. A good one, since the classes leading up to big fight events often have some more interesting stuff sprinkled in specifically for the fighters, but in the end, it was a week.
Monday
Muay Thai class
This was a kick grinding day, focusing on high volume work and following kicks with more kicks. It felt like my front kicks were doing better than some of the shakier performances I've had lately, though that made it a bit awkward to follow them with further strikes because I was getting so much separation. Still, I'm a stalker (in combat), so I adjusted by adding a shuffle step to close the distance and continue from there. Overall nice class and confidence booster.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
We did boxing plus some knee strikes for this class. Some of the drills were more complex and athletically demanding than we usually do, which was a cool challenge, if sometimes frustrating in the moment. We finished up with needing to read a countershot coming mid-offense and punish it; a difficult task, but I wasn't without some measure of success. Regardless of that, though, it was all very practical and relatively simulationist stuff, so definitely a useful class overall.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
This was a hybrid offense/defense day, with a slight emphasis on kick defenses. My lead front kicks seemed to continue their positive development from Monday, and we also did a neat reflex drill of parrying a kick and then reacting to the target presented by the padholder. The finishing calisthenics were a weave of round kicks and push ups, which I always feel good about being able to keep up with, since I typically feel like my push up endurance is bad.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
Disappointingly, this wasn't a head-to-head defense day, but I suppose there was enough defensive work spread through the earlier days this week to make up for it. Anyway, it was still a good class, working on moving and countering while striking. The kru said I was doing well aside from tending to under-rotate when recovering from a round kick to continue punching, which was good to hear that I'd overcorrected the problem I used to have with over-rotating in that situation and ending up too bladed. It was nice to get back up to four classes after a couple of shorter weeks; hopefully I'll also be returning to sparring soon to make it five per week again.
