Workout Recap - Week of June 25, 2023
This had the potential to be a bit of an odd week due to the holiday weekend, but aside from a little confusion at the end, it was pretty smooth.
Monday
Muay Thai class
Strangely low-attendance day, so we used it to give everyone plenty of opportunities to mix around during head-to-head defense drills, working a variety of target levels and striking techniques before finishing off with a round of light combo-for-combo exchanges. One of the other trainees is gearing up for a demo fight in July, and I had a fun round going back and forth rapidly with moderate power with them; I don't think I've done any work with this person before (neither in regular classes nor in sparring), so I hope it left them with enough of a good impression to be willing to do more with me in the future. I also felt like I was getting better at identifying the level of incoming round kicks during the finale, but there were still enough times that I took one cleanly to my ribs that I wouldn't be so confident about being able to read that in actual sparring.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
Front kicks seemed to be the focus of this class; we worked on finishing sequences with one and then eventually expanded to following it up as well. I had an awkward time of it, especially when trying to take a walking step after the kick to close distance during the recovery since that's not at all something I tend to do (I do like to continue offense after a front kick if the opportunity presents itself, but I prefer to recover in stance and then come forward). Honestly, though, I was also pretty checked-out mentally this day, so I should probably just take surviving as a win and move on.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
This class worked a lot on low- and mid-level kicks, with a nice mix of basic technique repetition, reaction drills, and situational practice. We also mixed in some front kicks, and I was feeling much smoother about following my rear leg kick with a walking step this time; not sure if the previous class's awkwardness was just an anomaly or if the bit of form practice that I did on my own after it helped more than I'd expected, but in any case, the difference was both palpable and welcome.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
Blending together the two points of emphasis from the earlier classes in this week, this one worked on blocking kicks and then countering, working on pretty much all the various combinations of which side the incoming kick was on and which side we returned with. I'm not sure if it was the drills we were doing or the fact that I was working in a trio, but whatever the reasons may be, the physical intensity for this class didn't feel up to the usual level. Then again, the calisthenic finisher made up for some of that, doing four sets of twenty sit ups and twenty push ups.
Friday
Type: Pass/Fail
1 set of:
40 Squats (pass)
30 Push Ups (pass)
20 Hanging Knee Raises (pass)
10 Pull Ups (pass)
Bonus: none
I had the day off from work, but I also had some plans for the evening, so I signed up to go for a morning class in place of the usual Friday sparring. There must have been some kind of mix-up with it, though, since when I got to the gym, the lights were off, the front and back doors were both locked, and nobody seemed to be there. Alas, probably some confusion on my end, but at any rate, The Century was fine enough as a simple workout to fill the gap. I also should do more pull ups during my day; those ten to finish felt harder than they ought to.
