Workout Recap - Week of October 15, 2023
After last week's very short regime, I pushed it up to six days today. Returning to sparring was also a good feeling; it is annoying that I know I'll be missing the next one, but I'm aiming to get that practice more regularly.
Monday
Muay Thai class
We worked on extended offensive sequences this day. Things started out simply enough with just doubled round kicks, but we built up eventually to doing six or seven strikes. This was honestly one of the most tiring classes I can remember having since I started, which made it a little funny that my partner said I made it look effortless. Granted, that sounds like a fair lie to boost my ego, but given that they said the reason they started mixing in some defense checks was to give themselves a chance to recover because I was hitting with good power, maybe there was some truth to it. In any case, seeing as this was not the first person in recent memory to say I was making Muay Thai look effortless, I suppose I should at least believe that part to some degree.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
This was a head-to-head defense drill day, practicing a variety of long and short sequences. I was working with some of the young newbies to start, but the kru set up a couple of their experienced age-mates to work with them, so I ended up in a 3-person rotation with an older newbie and a competitive fighter. I finished up by doing a light combo-for-combo sparring round with the latter, which was a confidence-builder that I ought to not be dangerously rusty whenever I get back to actual sparring. The kru said that we should expect to do these sorts of classes more often because she was dissatisfied with the rate of improvement people have shown from doing padwork primarily, which is fine with me because these classes tend to be quite fun for me.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
This was another head-to-head day, though it was exclusively boxing this time. Most of it was spent on reviewing the fundamentals of blocking straight and hook punches; nothing amazing, but a solid foundation is always a good thing. I got a few compliments on my power, which surprised me because I wasn't trying to go hard (slightly harder than I would in sparring, sure, but I still try to be mindful of protecting my partners' brains). That said, I did have some issues with gauging distance for good extension, so that's something I need to focus on. Back on the topic of going hard, though, we finished up with some body conditioning, which I don't mind putting some force into because abdominal organs heal far more effectively, and I think the kru noticed because she complimented me on seeming to push my partner well without endangering them.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
This was a head-to-head defense drill day, with kicks being back on the menu. There was a good mix of newbies and experienced in attendance, so I got a nice variety in the intensity of my rounds, and I'd guess that was also a factor in us sticking with very basic sequences of one or two finished with a kick. The kru finished by again saying these classes would be the general norm for the foreseeable future and asked everyone individually if they intended to come to sparring the next day; everyone said they did, though we shall see how it plays out.
Friday
Muay Thai sparring
It was great to be back. I was one of only four experienced people in there (the others being two competitive fighters and one aspirant), which was kind of weird when my usual experiences were almost always being one of the least skilled people in sparring, but I was fine rolling with mostly going light and focusing on keeping good technique, pushing the pace, and paying attention to what advice I could give my partner after each round. My personal goals were to land two lead body hooks cleanly each round and to not get caught holding my breath while defending, and I achieved both of those smoothly enough. Unfortunately, there was one point in my last round with one of the competitive fighters where I leaned forward right as they were doing a rear straight punch and took some big impact; I recovered well enough to engage for another one or two exchanges after that, but then I felt some wetness on my upper lip and realized I had gotten my first bloodied nose. I called off finishing the round out of hygiene/messiness concerns and cleaned myself up, though the bleeding had clotted almost immediately and there didn't seem to be any serious damage. A sour note to on, but in the greater scheme of things, it's fine.
Saturday
Muay Thai class
My usual Saturday morning appointment was canceled this week, so I decided to finish up with another class. There was only one other person there, so we did padwork with pretty much the whole gym to ourselves. The kru was complimentary about my performance multiple times during the class, despite that I had a couple of minor stumbles, but perhaps she was concerned about not wanting to be too discouraging when I was clearly at a higher skill level than my partner. Well, potential political machinations notwithstanding, it was a fine class, and I personally liked having a lot of space to work in without concerns about bumping into anyone else. I don't imagine Saturday classes will be a regular thing for me any time soon, but it may be a possibility in the future.
