This week has been a very intense week of training, and being honest the tougher it is, the better it is. To say I never have a ‘tired’ day now and again wouldn’t be honest of me but one thing I’ve noticed over the years I’ve been training for is that whenever you feel like that (especially when you have a fight coming up) is that your trainers seem to go out their way to put you through hell and back. It’s like they pick you up on their ‘can’t be bothered’ radar and make you really push yourself. Which of course ultimately is the way it needs to be all the time. Whoever turns up at a Thai boxing session hoping for an easy time is most certainly in the wrong place. 

So this week it’s been good to get back into the swing of things after having to take the peddle off the gas a little, and I’m pleased to say I’ve put in the work. We’ve spent a lot of time focusing on stamina  and coping under pressure, so the training has been intense and the rounds of sparring have been tough. It’s sessions like this that I always take a lot away from as I get to see what I can and I can’t do under pressure. I’ve talked before about how we’re always told it’s important to be able to learn to change the tempo or pace of a fight, or break the other person’s rhythm with an attack or counter attack. In the same respect it’s just as important to keep what you do varied. Both of these areas for me are something I want to improve on. and I guess really it comes down to staying consistent with training and listening to what’s being said to you and like most things in life, it always comes right. 

I’ve found that it can be easy sometimes to over think a situation when your sparring with or fighting someone. What I mean by that is instead of trusting yourself to find the shot (or shots more appropriately.) you want you can spend too much time wondering what you need to do next, or in a worst case scenario what that person is going to throw at you next, which is why I find that pressure testing myself in training always helps with this. When I say pressure test I don’t mean hammering your training partner or let them hammer you, we’re often told no one learns anything from adopting that attitude. It helps me a lot more if I have a tough round with someone at a good level that keeps me on my toes and more importantly keeps me thinking. I don’t always pull the new wonder technique out of no where, but at the very least I get to see what I can rely on when I need it the most. I guess really this comes down to being able to let it go when necessary. 

I think being able to ‘let it go’ is an important part of  training and something I want to work more as usually when you stop thinking about what your going to do and trust yourself to do it, that’s when the magic happens and before you know it, everything is just.. flowing. Again I think a big part of this is drilling basic combinations that you know you can rely on under pressure as well as the defense that you know will be there when you need it the most, whether it be shin blocking a low kick, (don’t even get me started on how often we drill this, but if you’ve ever had your leg nailed with a low kick in the same place about 3 or 4 times then you know how important it is to be able to block well.) or catching kicks all of it will be there when you need it the most. And of course, letting it go helps a lot with keeping the pressure on in those last rounds. Not an easy task when your 4/5 rounds into a fight but hey, that again is why we keep our fitness levels high. Right?.

So next week I intend to keep in the same vein as this one, and I’m sure that there’s going to be a lot that I’ll take away. I’m fighting in Cardiff next Saturday as well as in May and I’m pleased to say I’m feeling ready. It’s going to be good to be back in the ring and of course I want to win. I’ll let you know how I get on, and just like the last time. I’ll see you on the road.