Almost every year I have been to camp the weather is always hot, so there was no reason to think this one would be different. I was wrong, it was about 54 degrees when we showed up at 630am. The morning started off with a 3 mile run followed by some shadow boxing and more technique training. We were given time to eat breakfast followed by a 130 minute downtime. The downtime is the time you can relax and take a nap, it is also a great time to catch up with what is going on in the Martial Arts community. Most of the participants are either fighters, instructors or school owners.
The next session started at 930 and ended up lasting until 230. During that time the stations were set up with the full instructors teaching. Since their was an explosion of MMA fighters, Master Chai asked me to teach a takedown from the clinch and show a basic arm bar. I am still amazed at all the camp members who had never done the armbar I showed before. Some of the Thai Boxers were veterans of many camps. Not sure if everyone was happy about the station I was teaching at because they had to train in the dirt and grass.
The other 5 stations were the same as the day before 1. Heavy bag 2. Shadow Boxing 3. Thai Pads 4. Timing Sparring 5. Clinch The difference is the students got to spend at least 30 minutes at each station learning all the techniques and tricks that the full instructors had accumulated through years of training. Some of the top Thai Boxing in the TBA had showed up this year so the stations had a lot of wisdom. Zac and Karl was still trying to figure out who was who and during the break would let me know which instructors impressed them the most.
The lunch was more authentic Thai food that always had you going back for seconds. I have been to many Thai restaurants but it seems like I can never find one that serves food that tastes as good. It could be because the chef is flown is Thai and has been a chef for years or it may be because you are starving from training so much. Karl and Zach always went up for 2nds and couldn’t wait till the next meal. After lunch we had another couple of hours of downtime.
Evening started off slow with more boxing with Leonard Trigg. The combinations from the day before were reviewed and more combinations and footwork was added. Listening to Leonard Trigg opens your eyes to how much of a science boxing is. There are a lot of people that claim they teach boxing but this showed what a high level boxing coach really is .
After that more rounds at the stations, these rounds were like the first day 3more hours of stations, followed by more calisthenics. By the time dinner rolled around it was 8 pm. Eating took another hour and a half. The morning session was so cold we decided to go get some gear at this store called Fred Myers. The east coast does not have these mega stores but they contain everything from groceries to car parts. By the time we got our gear and got back to the hotel it was after 12 am . As I was setting the alarm for 5am I thought to myself how much fun this experience must be for Zach and Karl but I think it sucks!
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