Muay Thai, Day 7
Sorry for the lack of posting, it's been an interesting couple days.
Many aspects of training have been getting much easier. Today I had a great sparring session with an older American expat named David, we both got a couple good hits in. I then had a sparring session with one of the trainers and was thoroughly trounced, while he danced circles around me and literally kicked my ass up and down the ring, laughing the whole time. However, I take this as a good sign . . it means that he wasn't trying to take it easy on me. The trainers have been getting uniformly more diligent with pushing me harder rather than letting me slack a little since I'm woefully out of shape.
Mainly I've been working with a kid no more than 18 or 19, Trainer Sohn. He's been working with me very closely, and doing increasingly difficult drills. Today I got through all three sparring sessions, three pad sessions (where the trainer holds up pads for us to punch), and three punching bag sessions without stopping. This is a MAJOR accomplishment.
The downside to all the work though, is that I have severe, severe shin splints. They're realllly painful. They feel better when I ice and Tiger Balm the crap out of them after sessions, and Trainer Sohn gave me a leg massage with boxer's liniment which helped a lot. But it can hurt to run, and especially to jump rope, which we do for about 20 minutes as part of our warm-up, after a half-hour technique session (oy vey!!). I had to take it a bit easy last session, though they tend to feel better if I work them, rather than leave them be.
I only have 4 days of sessions left (no classes on Sundays). I'm going to treasure my time here immeasurably. I can't believe it's almost over, I want to stay forever!
Many aspects of training have been getting much easier. Today I had a great sparring session with an older American expat named David, we both got a couple good hits in. I then had a sparring session with one of the trainers and was thoroughly trounced, while he danced circles around me and literally kicked my ass up and down the ring, laughing the whole time. However, I take this as a good sign . . it means that he wasn't trying to take it easy on me. The trainers have been getting uniformly more diligent with pushing me harder rather than letting me slack a little since I'm woefully out of shape.
Mainly I've been working with a kid no more than 18 or 19, Trainer Sohn. He's been working with me very closely, and doing increasingly difficult drills. Today I got through all three sparring sessions, three pad sessions (where the trainer holds up pads for us to punch), and three punching bag sessions without stopping. This is a MAJOR accomplishment.
The downside to all the work though, is that I have severe, severe shin splints. They're realllly painful. They feel better when I ice and Tiger Balm the crap out of them after sessions, and Trainer Sohn gave me a leg massage with boxer's liniment which helped a lot. But it can hurt to run, and especially to jump rope, which we do for about 20 minutes as part of our warm-up, after a half-hour technique session (oy vey!!). I had to take it a bit easy last session, though they tend to feel better if I work them, rather than leave them be.
I only have 4 days of sessions left (no classes on Sundays). I'm going to treasure my time here immeasurably. I can't believe it's almost over, I want to stay forever!