Days 1 and 2 of training @phukettopteam complete @kuwaitmma

Thanxs to a sponsorship from Combat Athletics I’m back in Asia for awhile, and am hooked up at Phuket Top Team for some training this month.

Since filming Al Batal completed in Abu Dhabi, a reality tv show on fox movies also featuring Ole Laursen of the legacy gym and combat athletics Ajarn KhunSuek, I have been making preparations for the Ramadan holiday and helping BJJ Blue Belt Jalal prepare for the Ramadan Nogi games in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Also done a bit of fitness, but having hurt my elbow during filming of Al Batal, many of my lifts have gone down and there is still some swelling and tenderness if I lift too heavy.

Yesterday I checked out my first Muay Thai class for Phuket Top Team. While I had trained at PTT previously–it was only as a part of Adam Kayooms camp for his win against Gregor Gracie in One FC. (Meaning I didn’t take any thai classes)

The class size was small, not split into skill levels, but literally 1 trainer for every two people, which meant you were receiving essentially a free private from the trainer you and your partner were working with.

Since injuring my elbow in filming I haven’t done any Muay Thai training, and let’s just say that the humid thai rainy season was so hot it felt like I was taking half breathes with a garbage bag around my head while training…lol.

I arrived a bit early, and got wrapped up and did a few warmups and shadowing before jumping on the skip rope. My trainer had me do 20 mins of rope, followed by a 15 minute variety jog around the mat. I got 4 rounds of 5 minutes on the pads with a very friendly trainer…today is his birthday, mental note ….I gotta remember to bring him the thai staple bday present of Red Label tomorrow…lol.

My trainer(will get name sure, tomorrow) was fun to work with and did a good job of mixing in all the strikes-kicks,punch,elbow,knee,…and even some Muay Thai wrestling during the rounds. Pushing me, he didn’t break me with repetitive 10-15kick sequences knowing I still had not adjusted the the climate of training outdoors in the tropics, which was really appreciate, even if he was trying to cartwheel kick me between combos…555+

Truth be told, prolly about 5 minutes into my jumprope I was already forming a calf cramp–simply due to my failure to prepare by adequately drinking enough water.

Following the pads I jumped onto the bag for 3 rounds, at a mostly “cardio kickboxing” rate with the goal of burning fat in mind. Following each 5 min round of shadow, pads, and bag I completed 20 push-ups.

Finishing the bag work the rest of the class did a bit of sparring, sitting that out I did a bit of ab workout and stretching. At the conclusion of the class sparring, the trainers then put together another bag kicking drill where you and a partner exchanged sets of 30 kicks with each leg twice, which I did with the group.

To complete the 2 hour class the instructors had us all line up and Wai before shaking hands.

Kuwait is about 6 hours behind in Kuwait, which became a problem last night…lol.

After training in Muay Thai I was exhausted and picked up some cheap local thai food near the Chalong circle.

I figured I would pass out, which was good because today I wanted to attend Former Bellator FW Champion challenger Anthony Leone’s Nogi class today at 9am.

Anthony is the brother of One FC star Andrew Leone and I saw him take a bronze at the 2012 Nogi Worlds, an accomplished wrestler this boys got some skills.

After dinner I figured I would fall asleep right away, however once the lights got turned off and I tried to sleep–my body was wide awake and just tossed and turned.–eventually falling asleep around 7am (1am Kuwait) and 2 hours before Anthony’s class!

A bit tired, and barely able to walk after my 20 minute jumprope torture chamber the day before…I jammed my favorite thai canned coffee and headed to the gym.

Having learned my lesson the day before about the lack of water, I brought a 6liter jug filled with BCAAs and electrolytes.

Anthony was cool enough to let me show some techniques during the class so we worked a sneaky sweep series from the knee shield guard position. There were prolly 8-9 students who showed up and I got in 5 rounds of 5 mins worth of BJJ sparring…being on 2 hours of sleep on calves that felt like I was wearing high heels…I was D-E-D…Dead…lol

After the Nogi classis the Gi program ran by BJJ Pioneer Olavo Abreau. Olavo is old school, and actually back when I was a purple belt ref’d one of my bouts at the Abu Dhabi International Cup in 2007!!

The room filled up quickly with probably 25+ students all in the Gi, including another black and brown belt and several professional mma fighters.

Dead tired, I skipped the class, but stuck around to see Olavo show some tricks from the front headlock position before breaking the class into drills. I was really impressed with the energy of the group, and am gonna take advantage of having an instructor like Olavo and throw on the old pajamas a bit.

Muay Thai went from 5-7pm today, however following the 2 hours sleep last night and my 2hr thai class the day before, I just find myself too drained and my calves too sore to push through. Since I’m here awhile I figure I’ll give myself a week or two to get adjusted to the time change, weather conditions, and training times.

My plans for tonight are to get an early sleep and make the early 7am thai class tomorrow…inshallah.