It’s been a good week training wise this week. I feel that I’ve got back into the swing of training and despite there only being a week  left before the Christmas break, I’m looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow evening and onwards. This week I’ve thrown in 4 sessions plus a couple of good runs and I hope next week to end the year on a good note by training all week. This is really how I’ve taught myself to deal with the slumps we all get hit with from time to time. I just keep training and the rest falls into place.

So at the moment my main goal is to improve my technique and get better at what I do. I’ve learnt a lot about myself and about fighting over the past year or so, and I feel refreshed and it’s good to have my focus back. I’m still in good shape and there’s still a lot left in the tank. I’m pleased to say that next March I’m heading back out to Thailand to train at Sitsongpeenong again, and of course before that I’m hoping there’s a fight coming my way in February. These are all very positive goals to work towards and I’m hoping to get some good wins under my belt next year. I’d really like to fight out of town more and I guess anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

I’m currently training still with Bristol Thai and also at Combat Warriors who are also in central Bristol. Dave Wilmot from Team Tieu/ East West Muay Thai  is here every week at Combat Warriors, so on Tuesday it was good to get some new insight and I walked out the class feeling like I’d really learnt something. Not that I don’t learn anything from anyone else that teaches me it’s just good to get a new perspective sometimes and the clinching was awesome.

I found running this week I’ve pushed myself more than I have before and have managed to get my distance nearly back up to the same it was in Thailand and hey hey! today I was a little quicker too. I’d been running the same route for a while and although it was a good run, it had me settling into a comfort zone so I feel this weekend I’ve pushed myself more than previously. Today I ran nearly five and a half miles at a good pace and improved on my time too. I remembered that in Thailand running is used for stamina and to keep your weight down, so I think I’m going to adopt that mentality for a while and see what happens.

Sparring this week hasn’t been too bad, I’ve felt a little scrappy at points and I want to start relying on my hands less and start thinking out the box a little more. I’ve realized I enjoy training in traditional Muay Thai (or just Muay Thai as it’s taught in Thailand ) more than the European fighting style (very close to K1 and a lot more work with your hands) although to be fair  this is also an effective way of fighting too, I guess it’s good to be able to adapt. I want to be able to start to really develop what I do  and focus more on the way Thais fight as I can see that working for me (I love all the sneaky and downright nasty things that can happen in the clinch and the venom and intent behind shots you throw is clearly the way forward ) and most importantly I just want to have fun doing it too.

I think I’ve found myself in a place for a while now where I’ve been content to train and practice what I know rather than make a definitive effort to push myself to get better and I think it’s about time I changed that mentality. The fact that I’m still training hard is an achievement and I’ve learnt a lot about myself. I hope that over the course of time, I learn a lot more. Train hard, fight easy and just like always.. I’ll see you on that road.