Workout Recap - Week of February 26, 2023
The trends both continued this week; having a great time being back at my first gym and continuing to feel frustrated and dissatisfied with my second gym. I wish it was just a matter of being because I'm better at striking than I am at grappling, since then I could theoretically get over it by just getting better, but...well, I won't spoil the details below just yet, other than to say that I skipped training on Wednesday to help with recovering from the minor toe injury I suffered on Monday.
Monday
BJJ class
This class focused on applying and defending triangle chokes, as well as doing a couple of guard escapes. I noticed that I had significant differences in my comfort with going to one side or the other on the techniques, particularly when trying to escape the triangle with my left arm trapped, so that's something I'll have to be mindful of improving going forward. We finished with some six or eight rounds of sparring, which remains the best part of the classes at this gym. I got submitted three or four times while working with a more experienced student, which made me feel good (that I was getting meaningful practice and that my ego would not endanger my health), and I also came close to initiating a triangle choke on them once (got into high guard and isolated an arm, but they got out before I could bring the hand across to the other side of my body), so all in all, I'm very satisfied with how I did.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
This class worked a lot on same side punch>kick and kick>kick transitions. I had some issues with judging my spacing at times; granted that I was impacted some from trying to protect a toe injury from the previous day's class, that's still something I should be better at. Otherwise, though, I was feeling alright, and my stamina held out as well as ever, even during the shoulder isometric Tabata finisher that we did (which was a surprisingly modern exercise format compared to the usual stuff we do at this gym).
Thursday
Muay Thai class
Well, perhaps I shouldn't be saying too much about my stamina, since this was a grinder of a class, focusing on non-stop fundamental aggression (...mostly, since we also did a round of spinning backfist practice). I held up well through the padwork itself, but the prolonged series of calisthenics we did to finish managed to wear me down around the fourth set. In cool news, though, there's a pro fighter stopping by on next Tuesday to give an impromptu seminar. I had a great time at the seminar with Carnage Corbett, so I'm hoping this one will also be awesome.
Friday
MMA class
I've had bad martial arts classes before, and I've complained a couple of times about feeling like I didn't get much out of a class, but I take those complaints back, because this is the first one that truly felt like a waste of time in retrospect. We were working on striking and setting up strike>grapple entries, but the partner I had was afraid of getting hit and kept cringing away from everything or throwing out senseless nonsense while backing up during the scripted drills we did. I have zero problems working with someone who's less skilled (trying to help them is usually a great way to check my own understanding and execution), but when someone keeps throwing out strikes that are stopping about half a foot short of touching my guard or keeps asking for a broken arm when preparing to block a round kick, even going through the motions of what I'm supposed to do feels like it's teaching bad habits. To make matters worse, the coach came over to walk me through the drills as if I was making a mistake by wanting to do them properly. Maybe that was an effort to protect my partner's ego, but honestly, it's leaving me very tempted to just say fuck this place and go back to my first gym exclusively.
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