Workout Recap - Week of September 18, 2022
Well, I had been planning on this week being my first time attending the open sparring class, but I got hit with a nasty wave of depression on Friday and skipped out on it because I figured, at best, I'd just be wasting the time of whoever I was sparring with, and at worst, I'd actively be trying to get hurt. Being neurodivergent really sucks sometimes, but this is hardly something that can't be made up in the future, so it's not a huge loss. I made sure to message the kru afterwards to let her know that I was just dealing with some personal stuff (this would be my second straight week not attending after a class of head-to-head drills, so I was paranoid that she might get the impression those were too much for me; I doubt she noticed because she was preoccupied getting people ready for fights all week anyway and I'm just a forgettable scrub, but hey, paranoia isn't rational).
Monday
Muay Thai class
Two things stood out from this class: I broke my third training partner by setting too fast a pace as padholder for them to keep up with (at least there was no vomit this time), and I got some applause for being the first person to fall while doing head-level round kicks through a loose pad with full rotation. I'm choosing to interpret the latter as appreciating that I committed to the technique rather than going lighter to make it easier to balance. Perhaps more importantly, the drill highlighted that I sometimes let my hips get ahead of my shoulders on my round kicks, so I should be more aware of moving them together when I'm looking to get maximum power.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
I seem to get lucky to pair up with experienced people coming back from injuries. That was the case with my favorite padholder, and I got to work with another such person on their first day back today. I'm not sure if that's exactly why I've had very good experiences with both of them, but they both strike a good balance of offering occasional tips to help me while still leaving room for me to work techniques how I want to, and they both add in movement and defense-checks and make me isolate stuff that I'm struggling with, which makes the padwork more fun and more useful. Aside from that, it was a lot of leg action today, and I was pleasantly surprised that my thighs had only minor bruising afterwards from holding a shield for low kicks. I am becoming an anvil.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
I got to work with returning-student #2 again today, and we actually exchanged names this time (even when it's about going to classes to punch and/or get punched in the face, social skills remain an eternal challenge for me). I got to put my anvil-status to the test with more low kicks, woven in with medicine ball slams. I started out with a 15-pound ball for those since I didn't want to overreach like a fool, but that was easy, so I went for a 30-pound ball for the second round and found that to be a better level of resistance. My partner warned that I shouldn't have returned the 15-pounder after the first round because we were going to need them again (they had gotten the 30 for their turn hitting the shield), which seems to reinforce that I look like a scrawny weakling because my body doesn't put on muscle even though I can do things like pistol squats or handstand push ups. I'm actually ok with that; it's a little annoying at times to be treated like a glass doll, but that's probably an asset in the real world, where someone attacking me won't expect what I can do in return.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
Head-to-head defense drills are always a good time. Granted, I spent a round getting swept repeatedly because something about those just doesn't make sense to me, but that's fine; if nothing else, it was good to get practice at falling on my back and bouncing right back up. Aside from that, there were a few rounds of rapid kick exchanges that were fun, since I got to out-stamina another of the competitive fighters. Part of me wonders if I should talk with them about metabolic conditioning because I get the feeling they're falling into the usual trap of confusing that with cardiovascular conditioning, but at the end of the day, I'm just a layperson without any formal training or extensive practical experience, so it's not like I could tell them anything that they couldn't find out for themselves easily enough. Maybe their conditioning is just low from cutting weight, or maybe they really don't care enough about it to prioritize it as much as I do. In either case, I'm content leaving it up to them to ask the newbie who seems to keep running others out of steam for their wisdom on the matter instead of forcing it on them unsolicited.
