Workout Recap - Week of September 3, 2023
I did some good hard work this week, sandwiched in between helping newbies, for a nice mix of experiences. While it hasn't yet become internalized that I'm not complete crap, it is starting to feel more normal to not think of myself as a complete beginner. I'm definitely no expert, but I'm getting somewhere.
Monday
Muay Thai class
This classed worked on building extensions off of the typical jab > rear straight > lead hook > rear round kick sequence. I was partnered up with a newbie for it, and unfortunately, this person was not as attentive in responding to feedback as some of my other recent newbie partners have been. I tried to give them advice a couple of times, but when I noticed that they were only nodding along until they could go back to promptly ignoring it, I stopped and used that extra awareness to just try avoiding getting injured. I was successful in that, fortunately, but there was nothing else remarkable about this day's experiences.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
This classed focused on power shots, delivering two- to four-strike sequences with violent intent. I was partnered up with an experienced person for it, someone who I've flowed with in the past working in more than just what the kru was setting out as the drills to be done, so we rather naturally mixed in some defense checks as well, which I'm always on board with. I got praised by the kru at one point for having good form on my lead hook > rear round kick, and my partner said it was impressive that my stamina and intensity kept up for the whole class. That said, I did have a few stumbles in the last round doing double rear round kick > double lead round kick due to misstepping on the recovery from the third kick, so I felt less positive about my performance than that feedback would suggest.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
It was head-to-head drills today, and with a big fight event coming up on next week's Saturday, there were plenty of fighters looking to go hard in preparation, so I had a lot of nice exchanges. Unfortunately, I had to take a round off at one point to bandage a minor cut on my elbow from blocking a kick (small enough that it had clotted decisively by the time I got home; I likely wouldn't have noticed it at all except that my partner pointed it out), but aside from that, it was a good time. We even finished up with a couple rounds of light sparring; I didn't have any goals planned out in advance since I'd been planning to skip sparring this week, but I decided to try replicating some of my success from my last sparring day in slipping a punch and countering at least once per round, and I was able to achieve that.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
There were a lot of newbies having their first classes today, so the non-fighter side of the gym kept things simple to help them get acclimated. The end result was a good class with a focus on clean fundamentals. I felt good about how I did, both for the class itself and for the greater-than-usual amount of calisthenics that we did. I also had my second instance at this gym of witnessing someone act arrogant about being expected to modify their drilling to help someone new (the kru had distributed the newbies to work in trios with two more-experienced-but-not-nine-days-out-from-competing people). Frankly, the fact that it's only come up twice in the 13.5 months that I've been at this gym seems to reflect well on the culture here.
