Weight: 101.8kg
Condition: Tired, Stomach cramps, muscle aches, dehydrated
On the 1st day (Tuesday) of Rest my body gave to me:
An old injury involving my right calf. It seized up during my warmup on Tuesday after I was looking forward to a hard workout so I can rest on the following Wednesday which was Hari Raya New Year day... but, to my dismay I have to pull out of muay thai class almost 5 mins into warmups. Sigh.. the problems of being old with injuries.
On the 2nd day (Wednesday) of Rest my body gave to me:
More signs of muscle fatigue as I continue to stretch my workout muscles in my calf in preparation that I return to fitness and training the following day or maybe even Friday.. but no lor. Sigh.. It is cold and sore.. a sign of over-training. It must have been the Sunday I went hiking with Lauren over 12.3km from our home in Joo Chiat all the way to East Coast then from there to Stadium. It was quite a walk but I loved every minute of it. It would have been even better if the entire family could have done it together.. soon I hope :) Fingers crossed.
On the 3rd day (Thursday) of Rest my body gave to me:
Same trouble with the leg so no training but I gave it a good workout in terms of stretching (v. important) and of course food intake.. yumms. Did my usual workout with my upper body and abs.. hope it will compensate for my lack of cardio.Sigh.. always happens during my crucial stages whereby I need to up my game.
On the 4th day (Friday) of Rest my body gave to me:
My two kids down with stomach flu. In fact Lauren already kena yesterday but I had to bring her to the doctor and got turned away because it was just past consultation hours.. (Bad daddy.. Badddd daddy).
My youngest one followed suit with bouts of throwing up and tummy aches as well.. no choice.. DOCTORS AT A&E KK Hospital for Children. Sigh.. 4.5 hours of wait.. in the end everyone was exhausted.. Luckily nothing big just lots of medicine for everyone~!~
On the 5th day (Saturday) of Rest my body gave to me:
A nice rest day with Pam and kids as we were both up till 6am this morning due to KK's A&E visit. My body is recovering nicely and hopefully Sunday would be a good day to kick start my new routine :)
On the 6th day (Sunday) of Rest my body gave to me:
A fever, stomach cramps and body aches. Sigh. I guess all that late nights, stress and visiting places with germs finally caught up with me and Pam. We both fell ill and Pam got the worst of it by having fever on top of everything else. Guess today's run is off and err.. Monday is a sick day liao?..
On the 7th day (Monday) of Rest my body gave to me:
Yeps! I was right :( Body aches all over. Grrrr.. Rule of thumb I don't train on the day I feel under the weather and the following day as well, due to cardio concerns. I have see, heard, witnessed too many cases where people who are unwell pushed too hard and well, fit as they are.. I am alive and they are not. God rests their souls. :( Some of them are my friends. :((((
Pam had a really bad fever spike this evening after her SGH class then Zumba class.. she pushed too hard. This wife of mine is a workaholic. Love her la. Almost had a heart attack when we found her shivering and spiking a 40 degree temp. Rushed with the entire family down to SGH A&E.. and after almost 6 hours there.. (the girls gave up waiting after 4 hours.. well done kids!) we all arrived safely home and Pam is duly rested.
I managed to convince Pam to rest and closed the studio for 2 days under the reason of quarantine. I do not want to spread the this virus to the rest of the people working out here. Unless I want a pending lawsuit... better safe than sorry. Right?
On the 8th day of (Tuesday) of Rest my body gave to me:
Here I am typing into my blog for the record of all the past 8 days of so called rests and eventful events plus a lot of exciting happenings which did not make it to this blog.. Hopefully it will never make it here... but you never know! Everyone seems rested.. the fever have all but subsided.. I managed to sweat it out this morning and resumed my weights training.. hopefully I make it through tomorrow without any incident AND then maybe I can finally resume my exercise and training regime. Oh and I also happened to meet Sensei Mark Wang. He is a legend in the circle of karate. I will blog about him at a later date about how he influenced my karate training.
9th day (Wednesday) of Rest calls......
~CJ
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
A quick look back at karate
Hi hi,
I was just surfing the web this morning when I stumbled across and old article I did for Men's Health Singapore.
I was surprised it is still there.. lol.
Speaking of karate...
One of my clubs which I belong to..used to be the ONLY club.. Shitoryu Karate Association, is falling apart.. in my opinion. Not by any fault of its own, but by the powers that be.
I guess I was not surprised that the "mighty" SKA eventually will fall because of politics. We used to field the best karate-kas locally and in the region, however, as with all things... pride comes before a fall.
I still remember the first time I heard of karate. It was at a bookstore in Bras Basah where I chanced upon this book...
I remembered I was so intrigued by what I read inside I bought it even though I had to spend my week's allowance on it (I was in secondary 2 at that time and I didn't really have much money).
I was fat.. oh dear.. real fat. I guess I have always been big due to my family. I looked at the book and there were step by step illustration of this sequence of karate moves called kata. WOW. I thought.. after learning this, I now know karate. Somehow, unknown to me, this was to become a lifelong love for the art of karate. I guess if I had picked up a book on Muay Thai or Judo, I would have chosen those arts?.. Nah
When I was in primary 6 in 1983, heh, I remembered there was a TV serial about judo. And there was a craze amongst my primary schoolmates (St. Anthony Boys' School) about judo. Everyone would be challenging each other with judo moves. There was these 2 kids in particular I want to single out in my blog now who gave me a hard time and bullied me into submission overtime we would "horseplay" around during, before and in-betweeen class times. Lyndon Chow, he was a tall lanky fellow whose mother was one of the teachers in the same school, we called her Mrs Angela Chow. This guy would wrestle me to the ground and pin me down and make me say I give up. I would ALWAYS refuse and tried my best to get up... well, you guessed it, I would always be "mopping" the dirty classroom floor.. and once I even tore my school uniform so badly, I had to hide it by leaning back into my chair the whole time during school until dismissal, lucky it was the last period.. I think.. :)
The other boy.. I forgot his name, but lets call him X. But he was slightly bigger than me, (well back in primary school, EVERYBODY was bigger than me). He would always brag he was the better judo player than I ever will be and can never beat him, and to prove that, he would constantly challenge me to impromptu judo matches... at the assembly yard, during recess.. and once during PE lesson... but it was always in front of a crowd.. maybe that was what he craved (shrug). I would lose.. and lose horribly because I want to win, but I have no idea how to "judo" and hence get toss around like a rag doll by my bigger "friends". Sigh.
My dad was a judoka 3rd dan, I remembered, and when I asked him for advice on how to improve my game, he laughed and ignored me. I remember telling myself back then (it was to become one my life mottos), never to depend on anyone else to improve yourself, no one will be in your corner if you don't have a chance of winning, who wants to be on a losing team?
Anyway, back then I couldn't go out by myself, so library was out of the question. I was in a primary school, so the school library did not have any material on judo. The internet was not invented back then. By some coincidence, I happen to catch a very interesting episode of that judo TV serial I was mentioning about earlier. I remembered watching it intently for the entire episode. Little did I know back then, this was one of my life talents.. the gift of photographic memory for martial arts. Weird right? Of all the things in the world to possess.. well at least its one of the quirky gifts god gave me.. I will take it!
Back to the judo TV serial.. I practiced on my sister... I practiced on my smelly bolster... I practiced by pillars... I practiced by myself... and practiced and practiced... hard. I told myself I never want to be humiliated by others again just because I cannot protect myself. Anyway, before you know it.. I had to study hard for my PSLE and judo was at the back of my mind.. but in the meantime, I continued getting bullied in school.. sigh
After I got posted to St Josephs Institution, I remembered it was day 3 or 4.. in my new secondary school.. I thought.. wow new school, new start! One morning, right in the middle of the school yard where the whole school was gathered before assembly, I saw X. I remember him coming over and started calling me names almost immediately. Grrrrr. I can still remember that arrogant face.. smiling and grinning, making fun of my size and gloating over the fact he would trash me overtime he saw me. He started to poke me in the chest and challenged me to... you guessed it.. judo. Sigh. This time I was ready.. and to make it interesting, he got his new friends to gather around and told them I was the one he used as target practice for his new love judo.
-Long story Cut Short-
I trashed him. Ooooh how I trashed him. I threw him into the drain, I threw him amongst the trash bins nearby, I pinned him to the asphalt ground and made him call uncle...all these in front of his new friends. SATISFACTION. I still remembered his eyes. *smile
The bonus came immediate after.. I remember I was leaving the scene of "carnage" where the kids were all gathered to gawk at that bleeding X with his white uniform all roughed up and brown and dirty... 2 bigger boys came running after me. I was thinking.. uh-oh, X's new seniors are coming to take revenge.. SIGH. One of the said, "Oei!" I felt like disappearing into thin air, seriously, that is how I feel always right before someone bullies me. HOWEVER....
The other boy said they have seen what I did in the school yard, and was wondering if I would like to join SJI's Judo Club? OMG!!! I should have said yes back then.. but I guess I was just glad they were not there to beat me up.. I just talked them hastily I would think about it and ran off. Ahhh.. sweet!!
-Cut to present day-
Shitoryu Karate Association. The present day karate politics is killing the martial art. It is killing my desire to attend any classes... not that I need to attend classes.. I conduct classes.. heh heh. But still, I would have loved to see more karatekas in Singapore. MMA is taking this tiny island by storm. Not that its not good, its just that I have a passion for karate. SKA being booted out from the NSA is already bad enough to stifle young talents not to mention any chance of representing Singapore in any international competitions, but now we have 2 major organisations. I am not going to discuss politics here but all I have to say is what happened to the principles of being a karateka...
SINCERE
RESOLUTE
HONOURABLE
HUMBLE
I was taught to bow towards these principles for 28 years. Surely it must mean something.
~CJ
I was just surfing the web this morning when I stumbled across and old article I did for Men's Health Singapore.
I was surprised it is still there.. lol.
Speaking of karate...
One of my clubs which I belong to..used to be the ONLY club.. Shitoryu Karate Association, is falling apart.. in my opinion. Not by any fault of its own, but by the powers that be.
I guess I was not surprised that the "mighty" SKA eventually will fall because of politics. We used to field the best karate-kas locally and in the region, however, as with all things... pride comes before a fall.
I still remember the first time I heard of karate. It was at a bookstore in Bras Basah where I chanced upon this book...
I remembered I was so intrigued by what I read inside I bought it even though I had to spend my week's allowance on it (I was in secondary 2 at that time and I didn't really have much money).
I was fat.. oh dear.. real fat. I guess I have always been big due to my family. I looked at the book and there were step by step illustration of this sequence of karate moves called kata. WOW. I thought.. after learning this, I now know karate. Somehow, unknown to me, this was to become a lifelong love for the art of karate. I guess if I had picked up a book on Muay Thai or Judo, I would have chosen those arts?.. Nah
When I was in primary 6 in 1983, heh, I remembered there was a TV serial about judo. And there was a craze amongst my primary schoolmates (St. Anthony Boys' School) about judo. Everyone would be challenging each other with judo moves. There was these 2 kids in particular I want to single out in my blog now who gave me a hard time and bullied me into submission overtime we would "horseplay" around during, before and in-betweeen class times. Lyndon Chow, he was a tall lanky fellow whose mother was one of the teachers in the same school, we called her Mrs Angela Chow. This guy would wrestle me to the ground and pin me down and make me say I give up. I would ALWAYS refuse and tried my best to get up... well, you guessed it, I would always be "mopping" the dirty classroom floor.. and once I even tore my school uniform so badly, I had to hide it by leaning back into my chair the whole time during school until dismissal, lucky it was the last period.. I think.. :)The other boy.. I forgot his name, but lets call him X. But he was slightly bigger than me, (well back in primary school, EVERYBODY was bigger than me). He would always brag he was the better judo player than I ever will be and can never beat him, and to prove that, he would constantly challenge me to impromptu judo matches... at the assembly yard, during recess.. and once during PE lesson... but it was always in front of a crowd.. maybe that was what he craved (shrug). I would lose.. and lose horribly because I want to win, but I have no idea how to "judo" and hence get toss around like a rag doll by my bigger "friends". Sigh.
My dad was a judoka 3rd dan, I remembered, and when I asked him for advice on how to improve my game, he laughed and ignored me. I remember telling myself back then (it was to become one my life mottos), never to depend on anyone else to improve yourself, no one will be in your corner if you don't have a chance of winning, who wants to be on a losing team?
Anyway, back then I couldn't go out by myself, so library was out of the question. I was in a primary school, so the school library did not have any material on judo. The internet was not invented back then. By some coincidence, I happen to catch a very interesting episode of that judo TV serial I was mentioning about earlier. I remembered watching it intently for the entire episode. Little did I know back then, this was one of my life talents.. the gift of photographic memory for martial arts. Weird right? Of all the things in the world to possess.. well at least its one of the quirky gifts god gave me.. I will take it!
Back to the judo TV serial.. I practiced on my sister... I practiced on my smelly bolster... I practiced by pillars... I practiced by myself... and practiced and practiced... hard. I told myself I never want to be humiliated by others again just because I cannot protect myself. Anyway, before you know it.. I had to study hard for my PSLE and judo was at the back of my mind.. but in the meantime, I continued getting bullied in school.. sigh
After I got posted to St Josephs Institution, I remembered it was day 3 or 4.. in my new secondary school.. I thought.. wow new school, new start! One morning, right in the middle of the school yard where the whole school was gathered before assembly, I saw X. I remember him coming over and started calling me names almost immediately. Grrrrr. I can still remember that arrogant face.. smiling and grinning, making fun of my size and gloating over the fact he would trash me overtime he saw me. He started to poke me in the chest and challenged me to... you guessed it.. judo. Sigh. This time I was ready.. and to make it interesting, he got his new friends to gather around and told them I was the one he used as target practice for his new love judo.
-Long story Cut Short-
I trashed him. Ooooh how I trashed him. I threw him into the drain, I threw him amongst the trash bins nearby, I pinned him to the asphalt ground and made him call uncle...all these in front of his new friends. SATISFACTION. I still remembered his eyes. *smile
The bonus came immediate after.. I remember I was leaving the scene of "carnage" where the kids were all gathered to gawk at that bleeding X with his white uniform all roughed up and brown and dirty... 2 bigger boys came running after me. I was thinking.. uh-oh, X's new seniors are coming to take revenge.. SIGH. One of the said, "Oei!" I felt like disappearing into thin air, seriously, that is how I feel always right before someone bullies me. HOWEVER....
The other boy said they have seen what I did in the school yard, and was wondering if I would like to join SJI's Judo Club? OMG!!! I should have said yes back then.. but I guess I was just glad they were not there to beat me up.. I just talked them hastily I would think about it and ran off. Ahhh.. sweet!!
-Cut to present day-
Shitoryu Karate Association. The present day karate politics is killing the martial art. It is killing my desire to attend any classes... not that I need to attend classes.. I conduct classes.. heh heh. But still, I would have loved to see more karatekas in Singapore. MMA is taking this tiny island by storm. Not that its not good, its just that I have a passion for karate. SKA being booted out from the NSA is already bad enough to stifle young talents not to mention any chance of representing Singapore in any international competitions, but now we have 2 major organisations. I am not going to discuss politics here but all I have to say is what happened to the principles of being a karateka...
SINCERE
RESOLUTE
HONOURABLE
HUMBLE
I was taught to bow towards these principles for 28 years. Surely it must mean something.
~CJ
Friday, July 1, 2016
Short short Update
Weight: 105.4kg
Just wanted to blog in and record my progress. My waist has shrunk from 48" to 42.5" from April as of today (thats 2 months). Weight has went from 121.6kg at my heaviest to current weight.
So let's see, 5.5 inches off my flabs and 16.2kg gone. 2 months. Nice. I am charting myself and comparing to my training and exercise progress from 2008. Looks comparable at the moment. That means I am on way back to myself FINALLY.
After years of depression, hopefully I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I am promising myself NEVER to go back. EVER. Bye bye 110+.. bye bye 3 digit weight. Say hellllloooo abs again.. sigh.
Today I did a really good 1 hour work out at Evolve followed by another good run in the evening with my daughter then some conditioning weights back at the studio. Nope not tired at all.
Ahhhh...
With this progress, I know I can do it. I am on my way back. This time I am loaded with Karate, Judo, Muay Thai and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.
Kekeke..... KEKEKEKE.... (cue lightning and thunder...) KEKEKEKEKEK!!!
~CJ
Just wanted to blog in and record my progress. My waist has shrunk from 48" to 42.5" from April as of today (thats 2 months). Weight has went from 121.6kg at my heaviest to current weight.
So let's see, 5.5 inches off my flabs and 16.2kg gone. 2 months. Nice. I am charting myself and comparing to my training and exercise progress from 2008. Looks comparable at the moment. That means I am on way back to myself FINALLY.
After years of depression, hopefully I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and I am promising myself NEVER to go back. EVER. Bye bye 110+.. bye bye 3 digit weight. Say hellllloooo abs again.. sigh.
Today I did a really good 1 hour work out at Evolve followed by another good run in the evening with my daughter then some conditioning weights back at the studio. Nope not tired at all.
Ahhhh...
With this progress, I know I can do it. I am on my way back. This time I am loaded with Karate, Judo, Muay Thai and Brazilian Ju-Jitsu.
Kekeke..... KEKEKEKE.... (cue lightning and thunder...) KEKEKEKEKEK!!!
~CJ
Saturday, June 18, 2016
More time to myself
Weight: 106.9kg
Its been like 3 weeks to the day I started my diet change and workouts. The changes to my body is nice. Not only am I constantly dropping weight, I am also dropping inches off my waistline.
Every week, I would retire some clothes and take out the smaller sizes which couldn't fit just months before. First, its a nice feeling, second, at least my wardrobe is changing lol.
Stamina, strength and flexibility is up.. not yet back to my usual self, but I feel we are almost there. For one thing, I KNOW my speed is back up.. which will lead to more explosiveness, more strength and definitely lead to more speed. Ahhh.. that is a good feeling.
In the beginning, I guess no one gave me a second glance at Evolve as I began my Muay Thai training as a level 1 beginner. 3 weeks later, yesterday at training, I got this suspicious feeling I was being quietly observed by the trainers. (For what? I don't know.. but I definitely got their attention)
Ever since my mother passed away, Pamela has been wanting more time to herself and her friends, my kids are all grown up. They want to be independent. My youngest one seems frustrated I am tagging along to her ballet lessons... my eldest one would like more time to go out on her own.
Sigh. Nobody needs me around anymore.
For almost 24 years, I have build my activities and life around my family. I keep thinking that if my kids would leave the fold sooner or later (I hope later.. but argh), I would still have my wife by my side. But boy was I wrong, now everybody has their own lives to live. And I am getting depressed.
Well, depressed and happy. Oxymoron. At least I have time now to go back to training for myself. My favouritest outfit in the entire universe... my karate gi. I have finally shrunk back to a size where I can wear it comfortably again. Not to mention my kuro obi. THE belt which is 22 years old :)
Once I think I look more like my former self in my go, I will post another picture of it here. Unless depression gets the better of me and I kinda die. Then you will still see me in my gi, except it will be in a casket. Yeah.. I hope my wife remembers that I specifically ask to be cremated in my karate gi.
Ex-wife, ex-kids, all these are no longer important. What matters is how to move on from here.
We shall see.
...we shall see
~CJ
Its been like 3 weeks to the day I started my diet change and workouts. The changes to my body is nice. Not only am I constantly dropping weight, I am also dropping inches off my waistline.
Every week, I would retire some clothes and take out the smaller sizes which couldn't fit just months before. First, its a nice feeling, second, at least my wardrobe is changing lol.
Stamina, strength and flexibility is up.. not yet back to my usual self, but I feel we are almost there. For one thing, I KNOW my speed is back up.. which will lead to more explosiveness, more strength and definitely lead to more speed. Ahhh.. that is a good feeling.
In the beginning, I guess no one gave me a second glance at Evolve as I began my Muay Thai training as a level 1 beginner. 3 weeks later, yesterday at training, I got this suspicious feeling I was being quietly observed by the trainers. (For what? I don't know.. but I definitely got their attention)
Ever since my mother passed away, Pamela has been wanting more time to herself and her friends, my kids are all grown up. They want to be independent. My youngest one seems frustrated I am tagging along to her ballet lessons... my eldest one would like more time to go out on her own.
Sigh. Nobody needs me around anymore.
For almost 24 years, I have build my activities and life around my family. I keep thinking that if my kids would leave the fold sooner or later (I hope later.. but argh), I would still have my wife by my side. But boy was I wrong, now everybody has their own lives to live. And I am getting depressed.
Well, depressed and happy. Oxymoron. At least I have time now to go back to training for myself. My favouritest outfit in the entire universe... my karate gi. I have finally shrunk back to a size where I can wear it comfortably again. Not to mention my kuro obi. THE belt which is 22 years old :)
Once I think I look more like my former self in my go, I will post another picture of it here. Unless depression gets the better of me and I kinda die. Then you will still see me in my gi, except it will be in a casket. Yeah.. I hope my wife remembers that I specifically ask to be cremated in my karate gi.
Ex-wife, ex-kids, all these are no longer important. What matters is how to move on from here.
We shall see.
...we shall see
~CJ
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Working Out Everyday :P
Weight: 108.5kg
Waist: Down
Strength: Up
Stamina: Up
Energy Level: Up
Ahhhhh Enough said. :P
~CJ
Waist: Down
Strength: Up
Stamina: Up
Energy Level: Up
Ahhhhh Enough said. :P
~CJ
Friday, June 3, 2016
I have EVOLVED!
Weight: 109.8kg
First and foremost I would like to state.. never in my life would I ever want to see 110+ kg again.
Next target is double digit weight. We shall see. :P
Anyhoo... I have finally caved in and evolved. When I say evolved, I mean every sense of the word. Evolve Mix Martial Arts Academy is the place where I am pursuing my next level of martial skills. First I am going to continue my training in Muay Thai and then either I continue my Judo training or perhaps hop on the Brazilian Ju-Jitsu wagon. I know I know.. its late in the day for me to hop on, but at least I am not entirely missing out on the train.
My stand up game is so far ok, with Karate and now Muay Thai.. my ground game however, leaves a lot to be desired. Judo being the only martial arts I know and not very good at that, I will be supplementing it with BJJ I suppose. However, I do have a few doubts, which I have to face before I can fully commit to training.
Evolve, Shinyuu Kai Karate dojo, Shitoryu Karate Association and Singapore Judo Club. Of course, how I can I forget Rawai Muay Thai, Khao Lak. :) Ahh the memories... So far these are the 5 places I have been to and will go and continue my martial education.
Before I get carried away and blog too much banter and no real info. I will just stop here to make sure my blog gets on record of my progress back to fitness and upgrading of my skill sets.
Till next time :P
~CJ
First and foremost I would like to state.. never in my life would I ever want to see 110+ kg again.
Next target is double digit weight. We shall see. :P
Anyhoo... I have finally caved in and evolved. When I say evolved, I mean every sense of the word. Evolve Mix Martial Arts Academy is the place where I am pursuing my next level of martial skills. First I am going to continue my training in Muay Thai and then either I continue my Judo training or perhaps hop on the Brazilian Ju-Jitsu wagon. I know I know.. its late in the day for me to hop on, but at least I am not entirely missing out on the train.
My stand up game is so far ok, with Karate and now Muay Thai.. my ground game however, leaves a lot to be desired. Judo being the only martial arts I know and not very good at that, I will be supplementing it with BJJ I suppose. However, I do have a few doubts, which I have to face before I can fully commit to training.
Evolve, Shinyuu Kai Karate dojo, Shitoryu Karate Association and Singapore Judo Club. Of course, how I can I forget Rawai Muay Thai, Khao Lak. :) Ahh the memories... So far these are the 5 places I have been to and will go and continue my martial education.
Before I get carried away and blog too much banter and no real info. I will just stop here to make sure my blog gets on record of my progress back to fitness and upgrading of my skill sets.
Till next time :P
~CJ
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Sawadee Krap!!
Weight: 112kg
Hello from sunny and often humid Thailand!
My fellow trainees and I have gotten to calling this place "The Constant Land of the
Sweat"
Why? Because we are always sweating.. really.. constantly sweating. We sweat when we train, when we eat, when we walk, even in the cool evenings, when we train, we walk, we eat... you get the general idea. Lol.
First things first, I did say Sawadee Krap to you at the start of the post didn't I? So I was being polite. Well, beautiful people of Thailand are almost always polite. Everywhere we go, we get a smile back in return. Really! I love it here. Well, maybe its because us farangs (foreigners) have money.. but mostly because they are simply just.. NICE :P
Nice is one thing oh.. their national pride OTHER than their King and Queen is Muay Thai. And boooooy is it Muay Thai. If you get the right person to discuss Muay Thai with you, be prepared for a short demo and lengthy discussion on the art of boxing and Muay Chaiya.
I am currently over in Khao Lak, Thailand in Rawi Muay Thai Camp for a personal retreat. I wanted to experience first hand what Muay Thai is in its native and unadulterated form. I am also intrigued by Muay Boran (Chaiya). The krus' (trainers) here are friendly, as down to earth as can be and simply talented in what they do. Fighters all of them! Local and regional champions who have fought in stadiums all over Bangkok, Lupine, Khao Lak..
I live on the campus. Its a very small maybe 3 football fields big camp which comprises of a training area with 4 rings and a big padded open space, a heated pool, a yoga rest area (currently under construction), a score of bungalows, a nice double storey apartment, and a nice quaint lil cafe (which was unfortunately closed while I was there.. oh well). They also rent out cars, motor scooters and bicycles. Taxis are easy to call and hire here so travel to the nearest town is easy, I took the easy way out and rented myself a sccccccooooooottterrrrr!!!! *GRIN
First day I walked a few kilometres out from camp just to get a feel of my surroundings.. and boy did I regret it. Not only did I find nothing of particular interest, other than the fact that I discovered a small village of refurbished houses meant for the victims of the Tsunami, I was soaked from head to toe and hurt all over.
Second day, I hired a scooter. From then on, it was like I was given a free pass to go anywhere! :P
I scooted to town which only took me a few mins this time.. lol.. WOW the wind blowing in the your face.. shiok!
I came across souvenir stores and also ...yes.. 1 miserable MacD's... Back home we have 3 /4 MacD's serving the same size area. Meh, things we take for granted back home.
On my 2nd week, I finally found.. YES a supermarket and got myself some healthy food.. like cereals and milk. And also cheese and ham! yum! I also got wholewheat bread, just in case I got so hungry and decide to dine-in with carbs.
Brb, 2nd cup of coffee....
So.. my thoughts on Muay Thai and Boran so far? Decidedly violent yet refined. I think I am only qualify to speak my thoughts on Karate... but based on what I have seen, Karate has a certain refinement and character steeped in traditions and discipline. Muay Thai on the other hand, in the eyes of this newly convert, it is beautiful in its execution and so much is based on its long history of warfare and culture.
The wai-kru for instance is beautiful war dance paying tribute to its past and opponent. So much so, its like a peacock strutting its feathers.. almost as if, the fight has already been won or lost just based on the wai-kru. Then there is the Muay Thai Boxing itself. For the competition aspect of Muay Thai, gloves are a must and sometimes shin guards (most of the time is without). Speed and brute force. Enough said. It must be my poor understanding of the art because it cannot be just these 2 elements, so I will investigate further in the course of my study and journey to learn the art of Muay Thai Boxing. Muay Boran, however, is a different animal. You fight without gloves, but with hand wraps only. The stances are much much lower like, traditional karate. The movements are cat-like but yet stable with wide stances alternating either left or right lead. Hand guard positions resembles combats of old, front hand low, back high. (Karate?)
Ooo, I did my own laundry here as well, the sun dries up my wet stuff really quick so nothing really stinks atm.. ATM.
My weight is going down, stamina is going up, so is strength training.. I am hitting the gym here every other day. Today I am taking a day off training as I am beginning to feel the effects of training 4 hours of Muay Thai. My ankle was injured somehow... don't know how, but now its really sore and hard to put weight on it.
Mai Jap, Mai Jai Muay Thai...
No Pain, No Muay Thai.
~CJ
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