Evening all, I’ve finally decided to sit down and play catch up with this blog of mine, and as always it’s good to be able to sit down and find the time to write. Training the past couple of weeks has truly been a thing of awesomeness. After spending well over 12 months contemplating training 6 times a week, I’ve found myself in a position where I am training 6 times a week, and on one of those days, I’m training twice a day.

How has this happened? you may wonder. The one thing I’ve noticed about the gyms in my neck of the woods is that although there are some great places to train (my camp, of course, is the best) some of them only train a couple of times a week in Muay Thai as there’s a lot of other activities and disciplines taking place too.

I’m pleased to say however that landscape is changing, it seems that more are offering the ability to train at least 4 times a week in your chosen discipline. Just recently, an open mat session launched at my camp on Thursdays and Fridays allowing me to step things up from my usual Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday to suddenly finding myself in a position where I could really put in the work I needed.

Although mornings the past couple of weeks have been a little shorter for me than my long evening sessions due to work commitments it’s good to know it’s there, one of my trainers is there and despite a quiet week before last (literally just me and him with me doing intensive rounds on the bags to improve cardio and speed) it was good to see familiar faces there this week, some of whom were sparring.

This means one thing. Next week I get there early because although no one likes being punched in the face at ten in the morning you can’t beat the grind.  I hope it gets more and more popular.

Of course, despite finding the gym hours I’ve been searching for it’s important to make sure I’m progressing in what I do. You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results so in order to put my money where my mouth is, next week onwards I need to make sure I’m bringing what I’m being taught into play in my sparring. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking. It just needs to hurt people. It’s down to me to discover what works and what doesn’t.

I’m determined to get my foundation better, as those at the top of their game have a very good set of basic skills. Mine isn’t too bad but it needs to improve. It’s getting there, however. I’ve been working a lot on getting my body kick faster and overall my speed seems to be improving on the bags.

I need to make sure I take that speed into sparring with me. I have a bad habit of fighting at someone else’s pace and not my own. fighting with the brakes on if you will The more I train the sharper I get but next week onwards I intend to get my responses to where they should be because at the moment I take too long and I miss too much. “Be first” as someone said to me once.

I’ve been bitten by the Muay Thai bug once again but I think I’m also going to go out and find people to train with who are at my level fight experience-wise to see where I’m going wrong and what I need to do to put it right. Good things may come to those who wait but good things also come to those who go out and make them happen. Have a good week, train hard and just like the last time.. I’ll see you on that road.