Saturday, June 21, 2008

I've started training Muay Thai after a forced break throgh injusry. I had severe muscle damage to the tibia region in my left leg and I think the tibia itself was damaged but not broken. It is strong enough to stand on and support me while I kick with the right. It is not ready for left kicks yet but that's fine, I can wait. I can deliver knee strikes with both legs and my boxing is not hampered at all, which is a bonus.

After training the other day my training partner out of class, Graham remarked that my right kick was much stringer and technically better than before I was injured which surprised him since I hadn't kicked in over 2 months! I think this is because while I was unable to train I was helping teach kids who were new to the class and muay thai. I think this gave me a better understanding of the mechanics of a kick. Also, I thought of nothing but fighting while I was injured, which also may have helped!

That just goes to show you that visualisation can work, at least for me. This is something I've used before but not really ever noticed a marked difference, whereas now that I have, I will certainly be using it more.

I've been doing boxing sparring with Graham the past two weeks in class. I started off rusty and ended up getting clocked quite hefty on my jaw (still stiff!) but I've improved much more since then; its as if not doing anything for months has left me really hungry but also really understanding of muay thai. yesterday, we were sparring and I was doing exactly what I had hoped to do, which was use my significant reach advantage a lot (my jab reaches about two to three inches longer than Graham's, for example), link up head and body punches to catch my opponent off guard and try to dictate the pace of the session. until the final 30 seconds, I done all this and while Graham caught me with a few jabs and hooks, nothing really caught me too bad until he turned up the heat and didn't give me time to keep him at bay. After talking about it, he told me he realised that while he tried to play my game, he would always come out second best since he would not pick shots as he kept getting caught first and as I kept him at range, I was able to evade most of his attacks. His best plan of action, which proved to be totally successful was to just get in as close as possible and bang non-stop.

The theory behind this is that while Graham may eat some shots on the way in, he will be able to get off a lot more while so close because I am at a disadvantage since I cannot use my main advantage which I had been relying on a bit too much.

Next training session I plan on working on defending this. My idea is that while he is so close, the only short range weapon which is effective enough to stop him advancing is the uppercut. I plan on trying out these to the body and chin and see what happens. I think I am fast enough to be able to weave to one side and hit his body with an uppercut. But we will have to wait and see since he is on holiday for a week and on 12 hour shifts after he comes back, for two weeks!!! :(

I hope to start training some parkour in the very near future but I am getting married very soon and I need to work my arse off to pay the bills and the remaining wedding money so there may just not be enough time in the day. I still do balance work and my workouts are useful for both parkour and muay thai so hopefully I'll be a bit rusty but not too bad when I start training parkour again!

Kieran