Welcome back to my online diary documenting my very amateur experience training in Muay Thai. If you missed the previous entries on Bloody Elbow, read them here.
My plan this week was to once again double-up on my training, going to Muay Thai and following that up with jiu jitsu. Sadly that did not happen. Why you ask? Injury.
Now, I could try to sound all awesome and say I had this very manly injury, but that’s not true. During Muay Thai, we were working on catching kicks. My opponent caught mine, pushed me off, I stumbled and messed up my big toe. Not terrible, and I plugged on through Muay Thai, but the thing hurt, and I decided to call it a night.
This is not the first time this has happened to me. I broke that same big toe a few months ago, and since then, I haven’t been able to bend it much. This time, it didn’t fully break, but it’s all purple and unpleasant.
Again, this is not a “cool” injury. It barely even qualifies as an injury. And I’ve pretty much accepted that it’s just a part of training. But I do wish I could figure out a way to, you know, NOT break my toe. Any tips?
A few other random thoughts from the past week:
- I’ve always been bad at switch kicks, and this week, my partner helped me see why. When learning a technique, you break it down into parts, then work the parts more slowly to get the technique. Power and speed come later. But in its broken down form, a switch kick looks like two distinct steps: 1) Hop 2) Kick. And that’s what I’ve been doing. But doing that not only completely telegraphs the kick, it also sacrifices the momentum from the switch. Just as a cross-hook uses the momentum of the cross to help your hook, the switch can help my kick. Why I am just figuring this out now I do not know, but I’m hoping it helps unlock the elusive switch kick for me.
- I really love throwing elbows. They are great to work and just a fantastic technique. More MMA fighters should train them. But in most sparring, we don’t use them, so sadly, they remain a bag-work only technique for me. For now.
- I need to get a new cup. My terrible super basic version just isn’t doing it for me anymore.
Question for the week: Anything to do about those toes?
I train under Andre Madiz at Conviction Martial Arts, 4430 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL. www.convictionfitness.com. If you are in the Chicago area, come join us, and be sure to say hello.
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