[thethirddiaz]

I began Muay Thai about two weeks ago and have been following this schedule:
T 6-7 Th 6-7 Sat 930-1030

If I get invited to fighter training, I will be able to train more/longer, but I don't know how likely or far away that is. Goal one is to be invited to fighter training. So far, my instructor seems to think I am doing well. He points out little mistakes to me, but rarely ever stops me and makes me go over something he has taught unlike with the other two guys who started about the same time as me.

I see the fighters and how fast/fluid they are and realize that it will not come overnight for me no matter how smart or athletic I am. With this in mind, I do my best to throw my techniques with ~80% power and really focus on EVERY little thing that I am supposed to do for that technique. My instinct is to do more than I have been taught to get ahead, but I am trying to go against that because I know there are only so many MT techniques and the way to be good is to be proficient at each, not just good at the "best" or most powerful techniques. I guess that is my second goal, to slow myself down and focus on the techniques so as not to get sloppy.

I tend to be able to slow myself down well when I am on the bag, or doing individual techniques or combos. However, I get a little carried away when I shadowbox. I tend to think too far ahead and I forget the small things like dropping my hand to get more power on a push/roundhouse kick. I will have to work on this.

Updated 10-12-07 because I forgot about my crappy lead uppercut.
One technique I am particularly bad at is the lead uppercut. I tend to throw it while trying to push with my back fight, like it is a straight. I have improved this a bit, but can still definitely improve it more. Also, I have learned body punches and they don't feel quite natural to me, and I will need to focus on them until they feel more natural.

MT goals:

1. Obtain invite to fighter training. I don't know how I will be able to tell how this is going, but I will attempt to judge from my trainers reactions to my workouts. Another part of this goal is that I do not want to ask directly or indirectly about fighter training. I want to be asked because of my skill, not because I keep asking/hinting about it.
2. Slow down and focus on little parts of the techniques I am learning. DOING WELL.
3. Work on lead uppercut and body punches. IMPROVING
4. Work on footwork, specifically, sliding around opponent after a strike as learned from Matee on 10/27/07. I STILL SUCK.

^Caps added on 1/6/08

These goals will likely change and I will probably have sub goals throughout, but I think they are a good start.

Lifting

I will begin with Bill Starr's 5x5 program for a newbie.

http://www.eclipsegym.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=57

I lifted throughout college, mostly with a BB routine because that is what I knew from my soccer coaches and friends. Thus, I am pretty weak when it comes to the big 3. I found my maxes for deadlift, mil press, and squat last night and they are pretty close to this training so I will be using them. I am buying a bench this weekend so I will find my max for bench and rows this weekend. I am pretty confident that my bench is significantly higher than that listed for this program, so I might adjust the numbers for bench. Also, I would like to end this ten weeks with a 5RM of 185 so that I can begin the next ten week program Starr has on that page. Finally, I will be substituting BORs or Pendley Rows for Dynamic Rows as I am not confident of my form for Dynamic Rows.

Lifting Goals:
Below was edited 1/6/08
1. get 600 pound Big 3 total (given if I complete the newbie 5x5). DONE
2. Complete Newbie 10 week program before Christmas. DONE
3. Be ready for Starr's advanced 10 week program, to start second week of January. DONE

My unofficial (might be slightly higher) total is 715. This is from Bench = 185x2, Squat = 215x5, DL = 315x1.

Goals:

1. Finish Bill Star advanced training 5x5 with 900+lb total from 225 bench, 275 squat, 405 deadlift.
2. Do some damn grip work.

I think I mentioned this somewhere before, but I anticipate this program will be significantly harder and I may hit a wall on squats and/or deadlifts. Not really a big concern though, I want to lift hard and get my big 3 as high as possible as I may take a break from heavy lifting after this program to focus on conditioning and fighting.


Conditioning goals:
Might start working conditioning after this 5x5.

1. Complete 300 workout.
2. Complete 100 burpee challenge.
3. Complete Sherdog Conditioning Challenge.

Grip Goals:
1. Table No Set the CoC Trainer. DONE
2. Pinch 2x25 for 5 sec. I WISH

[thethirddiaz]

I knew I would forget something.

Age: 22
Height: 5'11" (approximately)
Weight: 180

I would like to lose about 10 lbs and get back to where I was about a year ago, but I'm not going to do much to specifically lose weight outside of MT and lifting described above. I have changed my diet recently, though (Thank you D&S and Berardi). This is a typical day for me.

breakfast
1c oatmeal with some blueberries

10am
apple and banana (I should add Natty PB here)

12pm
Turkey and cheese on whole wheat

2pm
2c(?) Spinach with 1 hard boiled egg and light oil based dressing

4pm
1 serving baby carrots with 1 serving Natty PB

6pm
1 6 oz Chicken Breast
1c green beans
1 sweet potato or 1c brown rice

I need to eat more and especially eat more protein, but I am sort of adding more food as I workout more. I didn't eat this much before starting MT and now it feels great, so after beginning lifting the extra food shouldn't feel like too much.

Also, I must say eating every few hours helps a ton because I hardly ever have a desire for an unplanned snack. The organization makes it MUCH easier to stick with the diet. No plan = planning to fail; I saw that in another thread today (Bubble Boy's D&S thread I think), and it is definitely true.

[thethirddiaz]

Muay Thai tonight went really well. For the first time, I felt like I could keep going after the entire workout.

A few new things I worked on were body shots and defense. The body shots are slightly different than I thought, but I'm glad I learned them. My instructor told me I basically learned everything there is to learn offensively except elbows. There are variations to everything, but he has taught me the straight forward techniques.

For defense, we worked on avoiding and blocking. For avoiding, the idea is just getting *just* out of range and getting back in quickly. For blocking, you should attempt to make the block hurt the attacker and set you up in a good position. I was having trouble getting back into position so I will have to work on that.

I want to make a note about my log here. I don't plan to go over every combination that I do at MT. I will discuss the things I think I do well and the things I need to work on. For example, I did a jab, cross to the body, hook, roundhouse combination that was particularly difficult for me. I need to work on technique for the body shot and positioning after the hook to set up the kick. This is a great combination to practice changing levels and including body shots.

I will be picking up my squat stand and bench sometime this weekend as well as finding out the maxes I talked about in the first post.

[MatterOverMind]

Welcome to the logs!

Wow, I could eat everything you listed in one sitting!

I started with B.S.'s 5x5 and I highly recommend it, especially for someone with little to no squatting experience.

I look forward to seeing how your MT and lifting progress.

[thethirddiaz]

I work about 10 hours/day sitting in front of the computer so I think the fewer calories will be ok for now. In a few weeks, I may start adding more food, but for now I would like to lose some weight, so I am going to stick to this and see how it goes. Glad to hear you are interested in my future progress!

It is hard to have such low weights when I have lifted previously and for so long. But I know now that I was focusing on the wrong things and I look forward to doing this full body lifts. The only thing that I see as a problem is the pull ups. I don't want to put a bar in my apartment because the door frames seem weak. So I am going to do towel pull ups on a tree outside. This could become a nuisance when the weather gets cold.

Also, I just found out last night that the man who my MT gym is named for is coming for a seminar in two weeks. I am almost definitely going to go.

I can't really describe the difference between the techniques of MT and TKD (which I used to do) because both require speed, accuracy and power (MT is slightly more focused on the power), but there is definitely a different mindset when throwing techniques in MT. I knew that going in, but I guess the TKD training I had affected my fighting instinct more than I thought.

Either way, I am loving MT and look forward to every practice.

[thethirddiaz]

There are the weights. And no, I probably couldn't even walk that out. I just thought it looked cooler with more weight

As for the 5x5 maxes, I will be using the exact same weights as the newbie routine except for bench. I maxed at 135 5RM (I got 145 3x and didn't want to risk dropping it). THis should be good because after this ten weeks, I shouldn't have to do too much work to get to 185 afterwards before starting the advanced trainee program. I also was able to do 5 pull ups. Monday will be Day 1 of the 5x5.

I haven't decided what to do about the bench yet. I can either simply subtract the amount and find what weight I should use or do the math and find percentages. I'm a nerd so I might do both and see which gives me a higher max at the end and go for that. Just did the math and found out with percentages, I would finish up at 200 lbs for my max. I may try to do something like is but tone it down, because I am afraid that if I do just the percentages I will fail too often and won't make it to 200 (or possibly not even 185).

Muay Thai is going well. I felt great after the workout today, like I could have gone for another hour of practice. As much as I would love to fight tomorrow, the more I learn, the better I feel about coming along slowly and going over the basics. I didn't do this when I took TKD, but it feels so much better to really focus on the basics before moving on. In short, I try my best to do only what my instructor says, don't try anything fancy during shadowboxing warmups and focus on my form.

Today we did defense again, except we added punching defense. We did blocking, parrying and catching. I am awful at boxing. I havenoticed my punches are more crisp are coming along, but I am horrible at recognizing punches and blocking. Oh well, I have a new goal! It felt good getting hit and getting blocked. There is no need to go without shinpads at 90% or something crazy. My shins are a little bruised, but not hurting really. Just enough to let me know I trained.

Tomorrow is rest.

[MatterOverMind]

Originally Posted by thethirddiaz

As for the 5x5 maxes, I will be using the exact same weights as the newbie routine except for bench. I maxed at 135 5RM (I got 145 3x and didn't want to risk dropping it). THis should be good because after this ten weeks, I shouldn't have to do too much work to get to 185 afterwards before starting the advanced trainee program. I also was able to do 5 pull ups. Monday will be Day 1 of the 5x5.

I haven't decided what to do about the bench yet. I can either simply subtract the amount and find what weight I should use or do the math and find percentages. I'm a nerd so I might do both and see which gives me a higher max at the end and go for that. Just did the math and found out with percentages, I would finish up at 200 lbs for my max. I may try to do something like is but tone it down, because I am afraid that if I do just the percentages I will fail too often and won't make it to 200 (or possibly not even 185).

.

Did you go through and try all the lifts to get YOUR 5RM on each? If not, then do so. Don't worry about the numbers in the sample routine, use your own. As for bench, find your 5RM and do what it says. Don't worry about where you'll end up.

Actually, I think using percentages of your 5RM isn't a very good way to go about it. I prefer to do 5x5 at whatever weight I think I can do. If I can do it, I add weight next time. If I can't, I stay there next time. Then for the intensity days, just consider your 5x5 weight to be 90% of your 5RM.

[thethirddiaz]

I did go through and try each exercise and find my 5RM. While I may have been able to do a few more lbs on DL, BOR, and squat, The maxes he had listed were reasonably difficult and my form isn't great. That is why I am using this program: to work on form and get stronger. It just happens that the numbers are quite close to my actual maxes so I will use the exact numbers he uses.

Unlike, those exercises, I have trained bench a lot and my form is good (still will focus on improving it). That is why I will be starting higher with bench. As for your plan, That sounds pretty damn good, and I think I might just folow that. Thanks.

[thethirddiaz]

I don't plan to post on rest days, but today I bought a Gel Max Shock Doctor mouth guard per my trainer's recommendation, and it feels pretty good and allows me to breathe reasonably well. I've also looked at muaythaistuff.com for thai shorts recommended by someone at my school. They have good selection and are cheaper than any other site I have found. Just wanted other people to know this, and to see if anyone knows of anywhere cheaper/better.

5x5 Day 1 tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

[ScottAM]

Do you train muay thai at sitdragon in pittsburgh? if not where do you train?