Friday:
woke up, chilled out
9 AM “MMA” class (jiu jitsu)
learned a little bit about take downs:
- head to the side, grasp under their butt, lift them up, and drive them to the side with your head
- lower your level, drive your forehead into their sternum, and lift their legs so they slam onto their back
- pummel, bump your shoulder with the shoulder of the hand NOT in the underhook (keep the underhook), push their head down and wrist clasping their chin, yank them down so you’re in a sprawl and their knees are on the ground
- pummel, bump your shoulder with the shoulder of the hand NOT in the underhook (keep the underhook), push their head down and wrist clasping their chin, yank them down so you’re in a sprawl and their knees are on the ground–> then finish off with a choke by turning them onto their back and pull their neck forward. something like that : /
Then we had an in-class grappling tournament (5 min rounds), with the class split into shorter/smaller and taller/bigger groups. I was obviously in the shorter/smaller group. The first guy I had to grapple was a good, challenging roll and he finally tapped me with a min or so left in the round. The second guy I had to grapple was a taller, more slender guy and he wrapped me right up with a guillotine and dropped me to the ground and got the submission right away. Fun times though!
11 AM private jiu jitsu lesson: reviewed all the stuff from before, plus we went over the (a?) single leg takedown, guillotine choke from guard, guillotine defense from guard (grab the hand, deeply underhook your other hand so you exert pressure on their trachea, stand your legs up and pin them down with your knees, transfer to the same(?) side as the shoulder weighing down, and exert more pressure on their neck to tap them. and a bunch of things from half guard. Let’s see if I can remember:
- from half guard, push the hand not in underhook across their face to create space, and underhook your arm. turn to your side and go onto your forearm, shove their hand out of the way, get on the back, and put in the other hook
- if they wizzer (sp?) your arm so you can’t shove it out of the way and get to their back, then grip their wrist with your twisted arm, and your other hand grabs the inside of their knee, and sweep them onto their back
I think we did more but I forget.
Afterwards, I came home, showered, ate, took a short nap (!) then it was time for my private Muay Thai. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn much technique (again), it was mostly cardio. And I sucked really bad! I could hardly go at all before I would have to stop and rest. TERRIBLE! Not impressed. I need to work on upping my anaerobic as well as aerobic threshold! This is not acceptable. I will never be able to take the advanced MMA class with my cardio like that. Guess somewhere I am going to have to pull out some jogging and some sprints! Exactly when, I don’t know. But it’s on the agenda, okay.
At night we went to to Muay Thai fights! It was at Suwuit stadium, only a few minutes motorbike ride from Tiger. There was live music and it was neat! There were several children fighting, like two pairs who looked about 6 years old, a pair that looked around 13, and a pair that looked around 15. I was a little sad when in two of the child fights, the fight was stopped due to major pain or injury. In the fight with the “6 year olds” one of the little boys got knocked out cold with what looked like a kick to the face 🙁 In the fight with the “13 year olds” one of the boys got kicked in the cojones or something, he was wracked with pain. The rest of the fights were either Thai’s fighting each other, or a westerner fighting a Thai.
Saturday:
I took the INTERMEDIATE Muay Thai class. After doing beginner Muay Thai Monday & Tuesday, and those cardio privates on Wednesday & Friday…I decided I wanted to jump into Intermediate because Beginner was getting boring, even after only those two classes Monday and Tuesday. So I jumped into Intermediate, and it was a great choice! I felt re-invigorated. We put on gloves and shinguards to spar. I sparred a boy and got in a lot of punches and kicks on him, weeee! *delight* Also we did pad work and I got paired up with a trainer I’m not too fond of, so pad work wasn’t SO hot but it was still fun. THEN at the end of class we learned the dance that all Muay Thai fighters do before they fight called the Wai Kru Ram Muay, and that was fun, too! Here is a little about the dance from Wikipedia:
“Wai khru ram muay (Thai: ไหว้ครูรำมวย, RTGS: wai khru ram muai, IPA: [wâːj kʰrūː rām mūɛj]) is an action of respect in Thai culture that is performed by participants in Muay Thai competitions. Wai is an action of Thais to show respect to others by putting the hands together like in prayer. Khru means teacher. Ram means dance in the old Thai traditional style. Muay means boxing. Usually Thais prefer to call it short ram muay or wai khru. Ram muay is the way to show respect to the teachers and the trainers. Also, in past muay thai was usually fought in front of the king, so ram muay was also to apologize to the King for the brutality in fighting.
The fighter first performs the wai khru, circling the ring three times before kneeling and bowing three times as a sign of respect to God and man. He also bows to Buddha to ask for protection for himself and his opponent and for an honourable fight.
The fighter then performs the ram muay, whose simple movements demonstrate a fighter’s control and style. Each fighter performs the ram muay on each side of the ring to demonstrate his prowess to the audience. The ram muay is a personal ritual, ranging from the very complex to the very simple, and often contains clues about who trained the fighter and where the fighter is from.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92ibgC1JXo&feature=related
Then I learned/reviewed a little jiu jitsu (Am I good yet? [the answer is NO< FAR FROM IT< KEEP WORKING).
- 4 variations to pass guard
- your back is taken: one way to get out of it (the other I forget)
- how to get from sitting on your butt (e.g. at the start of rolling) to take their back
- if you have their back- farthest arm hooks (in underhook) toward ear, other pushes their head away, wrap your leg around into arm bar
- if you have their back- guillotine choke
- if you have their back- guillotine choke but they are resisting with their hands, wrap your legs around their hand to trap it, turn them to the side, and re-guillotine them
Then I hit the weights briefly for like 20 min. My left elbow still bugs me so I do push ups like a stupid girl and avoid overhead presses and anything else that causes painful range of motion : /
Later, time for an excruciating Thai massage, then Tina and I are going to check out Patong, which is allegedly the exciting, albeit seedy area of town.
Tomorrow is REST DAY! 🙂
It’s been fun working out here at Tiger Muay Thai & MMA training facility in the tropics of a Thai island!!! As much as I love it, I know the machine needs to rest a little too. So tomorrow (Sunday) Tina and I are planning on going to the beach. FINALLY! Will of course keep you posted. XO
DEC