Workout Recap - Week of May 7, 2023
I was able to work through my hand injury, though it's healing slowly enough that I opted to skip out on risking it in the chaos of sparring and did my own workout on Friday. The bruising has faded pretty much entirely by now, and I'm able to start applying some pressure when C-gripping again, but I'm planning to skip out on sparring again this week to try giving it a chance to heal fully. If past experience is any indicator, the last few sessions leading up to a major fight event would mostly be me trying to keep the gym's mirrors safe while the competitive fighters work with each other, anyway, plus doing my own workout essentially gives me an extra hour or so for that day, so there are benefits to taking my time with coming back, even if I am definitely anxious to get back in there.
Monday
Muay Thai class
I was a little restrained with my punching to start this class, but after a round of that and a couple rounds of feeling impact from holding pads, I started to get comfortable with the discomfort and slide into things. Most of this particular class was spent on doing a drill gauntlet, so at least I didn't need to do a lot of switching between holding pads and wearing gloves. One of the gauntlet stations was alternating right and left round kicks to the body, which I was awkward with; I was indecisive about whether to switch stance or work the recovery from one kick into a cheat step for the other, and the end result left me feeling like a mess. If it comes up again, I think I'll want to just go with switching since that ought to require less coordination, and then doing it more smoothly is something I can experiment with the next time that I get a chance to do some work on a heavy bag. On the plus side, though, one of the padholders near the end of the rotation threw some countershots to check my defense (which I hadn't experienced anyone doing during the drill gauntlet before), and being able to deal with that in the moment made me feel a lot better, even despite misreading the height of the incoming swings a couple of times. All in all, despite my injury and mistakes, it's good to be back here fully.
Tuesday
Muay Thai class
This was a head-to-head defense class, and the constant partner switching we do in those meant I got to work with a mix of competitive fighters and new trainees, which was good for getting some refinement in my technique both from critiques by experienced people and from checking my own understanding in explaining to someone else. Given that I'm also trying to tune up my stamina some (since the classes at this gym are generally more taxing than the ones at the other gym were, so I lost some edge there), I made it a mental point to do my responses quickly after defending, which led to some fun extended rapid exchanges. There's some rust on my reflexes, but it doesn't seem too bad, so I ought to be back to form with a little more practice.
Wednesday
Muay Thai class
This class focused on basics, keeping the drills simple to clean up common problems (and/or reinforce not committing them). I'd had a mental note going into the class to focus on my hip snap during my left kicks in general, so this was a good opportunity to hammer on being more consistent with that. We did some extra arm stuff to finish, which I took some extra breaks for since my hand was quite agitated by the end, but I'm satisfied with having the awareness to balance pushing myself with holding back from overloading.
Thursday
Muay Thai class
We did a variety of knees in this class, whether setting them up with grabs, mixing them into the flow of boxing sequences, or pounding them out from clinching. I was getting enough impact that my partner asked for me to do them into Thai pads instead of a belly pad; perhaps not the most impressive accomplishment since I'd made the same partner regret their choices in life when we'd worked on body punches in a class last winter, but it always feels good to hear that I'm tickling someone's insides enough to crush their spirit. To be less sadistic about it, I think it is ultimately helping to better condition their midsection to receiving impact, and if it also gives me a boost of confidence that I'm hitting hard enough to actually hurt someone in a real fight, so much the better.
Friday
Type: Pass/Fail
3 sets of:
5 Chin Ups (pass)
5 Pistol Squats, each side (pass)
5 V-Ups (pass)
5 Single-leg Calf Raises, each side (pass)
Bonus = 5 chin ups
I wanted something focused on my core and legs while also getting some arm work in there, and I also wanted to keep the whole thing light enough that it'd stimulate healing for my hand instead of needing so much recovery that my body was overwhelmed. I think I met those goals nicely with this workout. Given the present condition of my hand, I'll probably be skipping the next sparring class as well, so I'm taking this as a baseline to build up from next week.
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