7/28 addendum Forgot to add: Wrist rehab: 5 5-sec isometric holds up/down, gyroscope exercise 7/29 Shoulder maintenance 1 (blue band, exercises repeated on each arm, 2 sets): - 10x abduction - 20x external rotation @ 0 - 10x Y-fly Walked 32 min @ 2mph, avg HR 119 BPM. Ankle rehab: - 8 eccentric calf raises, both legs - 2x8 eccentric calf raises, both legs up, single leg down (repeated on both sides). Shoulder maintenance 2 (blue band, exercises repeated on each arm, 2 sets): - 10x abduction - 20x external rotation @ 90 - 15x reverse fly
7/30 Ankle rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises, both legs up one leg down, repeated on both sides. Walked 31 min @ 2mph, avg HR was 109 BPM.
7/31 I skipped the ankle rehab & a walk today as my ankle was a bit sore and I didn't want to aggravate it before Muay Thai. Muay Thai, beginners class I warmed up with 2 rounds of striking a heavy bag with very light punches (had only wraps on) and knees/kicks. (Mostly knees, I was on a teardrop bag.) Then we did a jabbing drill (jab, partner returns, jab again) for a round each (one round starting, one round returning). After that we clinch sparred (by which I mean, no back & forth, both of us were attacking & defending freely) for the remainder of the time, starting with freestyle clinching (focusing on positioning, not strikes), then working on bicep control (no head attacks), then working on making & defending attacks to get head control after starting in bicep control.
8/1 Ankle Rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises, single leg for the eccentric portion, repeated on both sides. Walked 32 min @ 2 mph, HR avg 109 BPM. Swam 1 hour for cardiac output, HR avg 132 BPM.
8/7 Muay Thai, beginners class & advanced class (a little over 2 hours total) No HR graph today, forgot my monitor. In the beginner class we worked on clinching stuff--transitions & positioning mostly. We ended with a few rounds of clinch sparring. In the advanced class we worked on low kicks at angles that are across a joint. E.g., setting up angles to impact the front of the thigh. This both makes it harder to evade (the leg pick up/move defense doesn't work if the kick is coming at that angle) and can do extra damage by hyperextending their joint. (And is legal in Muay Thai, as it isn't directly attacking the joint, the kick is landing on the thigh/quad.) We worked angles for attacking both the front & the rear leg like this. I was ok cardio wise til the clinch sparring, when I got to breathing really hard. The advanced class was rough cardio-wise for me, but I ended up working in a group of 3. The extra time resting really helped. I need to get back on hitting my cardio outside of class.
8/8 5.5 hours sleep, I tried going to bed early, but ended up lying awake for a while (over an hour), and then woke up early and wasn't tired, couldn't fall back asleep. This often happens when I ramp up my exercise past what my body is used to. Walked 31 min @ 2mph, HR avg 114 bpm. Ankle rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises (single leg on eccentric portion, on both sides). Tempo Intervals, 15 I warmed up with ~5 minutes of: shadow boxing, a few forward rolls, jumping (not too much, maybe 20 seconds, I didn't want to aggravate the ankle which is still sore). Then 15 tempo intervals (12s work @ 70% effort or so, 1 min rest).
8/10 Did a mobility session for about an hour, along with 3x8 eccentric calf raises for ankle rehab, and a few sets of rows. Tempo Intervals, 25 I warmed up kicking the heavy bag, a little shadow boxing, a few forward rolls. 25 intervals of 12s work (70% effort), 1 min rest or active rest depending on how my HR was recovering. Around 75% of the work intervals I just worked on throwing multiple kicks in a rapid barrage. I've always had a bit of trouble with this, but recently saw a video that broke down the technique of some Thai fighter who is really good at it and has videos of him doing it (I forget who, I couldn't find the video again). Sometimes I felt it really clicking, and other times it felt really sloppy. I was not putting much power in them, and varied how fast I was firing the kicks depending on my HR recovery from the previous rest interval as well. (Anywhere from medium speed to fairly quick.) The other 25% of the work intervals I was punching my uppercut bag & working on footwork.
8/12 Muay Thai, advanced class + some sparring I started the monitor ~10 minutes before class started. I warmed up hitting a heavy bag (ankle still not good for jump rope). Then we worked on some passing drills; occupy their arm with a kick on that side (so they can't pop you as you pass), pass to that side. Then we also worked a slide back at an angle (sometimes with a jab as you go) and coming back with a cross. We worked on some clinch entries towards the end. Then I did 3 rounds of sparring (with breaks in between, as I don't have the stamina to do back to back rounds).
8/14 Muay Thai, beginners class + advanced class I started the monitor ~10 minutes before class started. I warmed up on a heavy bag as my ankle is still no good for jump rope. In the beginner class we worked on clinch entries & knee strikes, and on defenses against clinch entries and knee strikes. At the end we clinch sparred. (I'm guessing its that section where I go into the red zone a little after 1 hour.) In the advanced class we worked on drills involving punches leading into a clinch knee. At the end we worked a trigger drill where our partner threw straight punches for however long they like, then kick to one side or the other, which triggers the counter:same side punch (lead: hook, rear: cross), opposite side punch (lead: hook, rear: cross), clinch with the hand that didn't punch last & secure the arm with the hand that did punch last, and then knee. I felt pretty exhausted during the second hour and got a bit sloppy especially towards the end.
8/15 Walked 30 min @ 2mph, HR avg was 118 bpm. Ankle rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises, single leg on eccentric portion (repeated on both sides).
8/17 I did a brief weight training session but pulled a back muscle doing deadlifts (I was sloppy). It is relatively minor and I hope it will heal up this week.
8/22 My back is pretty much feeling fully better today. Swam 1 hour for cardiac output, HR avg was 129 BPM. ~9 minutes in the steam room afterwards, then a cold shower.
8/23 Ankle rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises, single leg for eccentric portion, done on both sides. Haphazard wrist rehab: 10 push-ups. Wrist felt mostly ok, a little jolt of pain on one rep. I haven't done my wrist rehab exercises in a while, but I think its mostly healed. I should get back to doing the isometric holds too... Walked 31 minutes @ 2mph, HR avg was 111 BPM.
8/29 I've been really bad about getting exercise in lately. I went to Muay Thai today though. Muay Thai, beginners class The class did 2 rounds of jump rope with 10 squats, 10 pushups after each round. I warmed up with a cycle of 5 squats, 5 push-ups, 5 crunches during the 2 rounds, and only did some of the between-round squats and push-ups. We grabbed Thai pads & belly pads and worked some combos (punches, knees, kicks, elbows, teeps). 3 rounds of that (for each partner), with 10 kicks on each side between rounds. (I think the HR spikes into the red zone were from those.) I got nauseous a few times during class despite mostly going slow. My partner held pads first, so I was still not fully recovered from the warm-up. After the combo rounds that we did a couple rounds of teep catching & various responses to having your teep caught. Now I'm going to rant a little bit, which is unusual for me. The usual instructor wasn't in today, and the class was run by an advanced student (maybe he is close to being an instructor? Not sure) who doesn't think very highly of me (as far as I can tell). I partnered with him once maybe 1-2 years ago in a beginner class. He tends to start drilling with his partner right away after instructions (vs waiting for the round timer to start). He seemed impatient with me waiting for the round timer (at the time, I could barely make it through class at all, so I tended to maximize my rest time). And then later in the class I accidentally kneed him in the groin during a more alive drill (which I apologized for, and thankfully he was wearing a cup). I tried partnering with him a few weeks later as he is a fairly big guy like I am, and I felt like I got a lot of useful feedback from him the last time I partnered with him. He usually just puts his hand up when the Kru tells us to partner up, and he did so that day, so I went up and signaled I wanted to partner with him. He agreed, but seemed a bit hesitant about it. Then maybe 5 seconds later he told me to actually go partner with the 13 year old in the class (who is maybe 1/3 my size) and he partnered with someone else. (Maybe he just wanted to specifically work with that guy... I haven't ever approached him to partner up again as I don't want to make him uncomfortable if he doesn't want to work with me; I do put my hand up sometimes for a random partner, I figure if I'm wrong about how he feels he can always approach me.) So all that is fine, I am guessing from his perspective I am lazy, don't want to drill hard, go too slow, and don't have good control (and maybe he figures I'd exercise better control partnered with someone smaller than me). Fair enough--I think he jumped to conclusions about me a bit quickly, but such is life. (And who knows, I could be wrong... I feel like people often are incorrect about the thoughts & motivations of others, and yetvery certain of their conclusions. So while I do reach conclusions about other people's thoughts and motivations, I try not to attach too much certainty to those conclusions.) Anyway, today during the warm-up I was breathing hard and took a couple ~5 second breaks in the second round, and he made a comment to me about how its just the warm-up and I shouldn't be tired yet. His demeanor was somewhat joking--he had a big grin (he often does) and his tone was easygoing. Then after one of the combo rounds, after the 10 kicks on each side, before he gave instructions for the next drill, he asked me (across the room, with everyone watching him to get the next instructions) if I did all 10 kicks on each side. I said I had (which I had). He then asked me if I was lying to him. I said something like feel free to ask my partner. All this was with that same demeanor described above. I didn't get angry or upset at the time, but the more I think about it the more I feel like I should have responded differently. It makes me think of how a school teacher asking a young kid about something she is sure the kid is lying about. I feel like I should have pulled him aside after class and talked about it (though as soon as class ended he started running the advanced class for 7, so it would have been a bit disruptive). If he ends up running any classes I'm in again, and acts similarly, I think I will have a talk with him after the class is over. I mean, I get that sometimes people lie about stuff sometimes, but the way he was poking at me wasn't cool, IMO. I don't always do everything the instructor says (e.g., skipping some of the squats/push-ups between rounds in the warm-up), but I don't lie in situations like that. If I didn't do 10 kicks on each side, I would say no I didn't do all 10 kicks. And if I really felt that I shouldn't for whatever reason (e.g., close to vomiting), I'd say no I'm not going to do that. Again though, I know some people do lie in situations like that... but even so, I don't feel it was appropriate to ask me that. It was probably inappropriate to ask me if I did the full 10 kicks on each side in front of the whole class too, but if he really thought I didn't, I don't really resent that. It would have been better in my opinion for him to walk over to me and ask more privately, but whatever. While I'm ranting, there is another advanced student (I saw him giving a private lesson today, so maybe he is also close to being an instructor?) who I also feel doesn't think very highly of me. I partnered with him once and accidentally kicked him in the elbow. He was holding pads, but they were shorter than the normal pads and I didn't realize it, and was probably being a little sloppy. Anyway, kicked him right in the elbow with the top of my foot. I didn't think to apologize at the time--I wasn't really thinking about it, but I think I assumed the elbow was fine/didn't think that it would be hurt. I was mostly just (with more swearing) "that really sucked, was that your elbow? argh, that really hurt", the instructor told me to sit down for a few minutes to help keep the swelling down. As I was going to sit down the guy I kicked muttered something about how his elbow hurts too. I hadn't thought about that in the moment, and didn't really process what he said until I had already walked away. And after that, the instructor of the class held pads for him and had me working on the heavy bag instead, so I didn't have a chance to talk to the guy further. (I don't recall why I didn't approach him after class.) I did feel bad that I hadn't apologized or asked how his elbow was. So that one is on me, and I'm not sure how to change the social situation between us at this point. He ignores me, basically (e.g., he greets a bunch of people near me, doesn't make eye contact with me or say anything to me). I also don't greet him or say whats up though... I just get the feeling he thinks I'm a jerk and doesn't want to talk to me. I could of course be wrong; maybe if I did initiate conversation/greeting/whatever it would be fine. I just get the feeling he would prefer I didn't, and I tend to respect that (i.e., if he really does feel that way, I wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable/make him interact with me). Ok, done ranting now.
9/5/19 Walked 30 min @ 2mph, HR avg 105 BPM. Ankle rehab: 3x8 eccentric calf raises. First set both legs at once, last two sets were single leg on the eccentric portion (did both sides). I am still having pain and stiffness in the ankle, I'm seeing the doctor about it again tomorrow. (It probably doesn't help that I haven't been doing the PT for it recently.)
9/6/19 I saw the podiatrist about my ankle & a persistent issue with my big toe joint or maybe tendon on that foot. He ordered MRIs for both issues, which I'll be getting later this week. He thinks cartilage damage is possible in the toe joint, and suspects a stress fracture to the bit of the Talus bone that sticks out the back near the heel (IIRC, I could be mis-remembering). 9/7/19 Strength Training Mostly just worked on hamstring recruitment as my left knee had been bugging me. Single leg curls on a machine, valslide leg curls, hip thrusters. 9/10/19 I need to get moving... I have been very into a couple video games lately and just letting exercise fall to the wayside. Swam 30 minutes, HR avg 130 BPM. A few minutes in the steam room afterwards.
9/16 Walked 26 min @ 2mph, HR avg 105 BPM. 9/18 I got the MRI of my ankle & big toe (two separate issues in the same foot), and saw the doctor today to go over them. Luckily there doesn't appear to be any structural damage, but I do have a lot of fluid in both areas. The Dr. is putting me on a strong anti-inflammatory for a few weeks to see if it will clear that fluid out. If not, the next step would be a cortisone injection to both areas. In the meantime, I am to avoid all weight bearing exercise. No walking, elliptical, etc. I can swim or cycle though. I need to get back to exercising, haven't really done much exercise for weeks now.
9/23 Ok, finally got off my butt and exercised. I've been concerned about my (limited) conditioning taking a dive. I've just been sitting around saying to myself I should do something about it, but each day saying 'eh, I'll do it later'. I plan to swim at least 2 more times before next weekend. Swam 30 minutes for cardiac output, HR avg 131 BPM. 5 minutes in the steam room afterwards.
