And it kind of was, we warmed up for around 15 minutes, did some shadow boxing. Then the trainer had us do combinations.
We stand in front of each other, one dude makes like jab, cross, low kick and the other one tries to block. We did that for 4 rounds. Then the trainer said "Alright, ladies, do some sparring, just don't go hard on yourselves, I will spar too, each round with a different dude!". We did 4 more rounds like this. It was already a decent session and the trainer called it a day.
Then shit hit the fan. A dude said "Can we go more sparring?". The trainer just looked at him, visibly annoyed. But he complied. He just said that because of this disrespect he wouldn't go soft on whoever he's sparring with.
A few days before this session I was watching Muay Thai videos and I fell in love with the Sitmonchai gym style. It is based on relentless forward pressure with punches backed by hard low kicks. If you want, you can check some Pornsanae video. Not only his ring name starts with "porn" but he is also an exceptional champion with the greatest fighting spirit and a heart as large as the Koln cathedral. Not going to spoil more.
So I tried to emulate this style. Needless to say, it wen't poor for me. Because of my bad habit to not cover my ribs properly they were beaten relentlessly. Mostly by the trainer though, the other guys are better than me but still it's way easier to defend them and punch / kick them.
After 3 more rounds I thought I will collapse. But I pushed myself and kept on, barely holding my guard, I felt my punches had no power or technique behind them, I was just waiting for this to end.
When it did end, we had to do core training for about 10 minutes. It was a relieve not to try to defend punches but just do some repetitive motion.
The trainer, being the funny guy he is, said "Well now, seems like the doctor got the most beating! Doc, don't go mess the animals' injections in the afternoon, please! But you did good all in all, at least didn't quit.". This totally made my day. I grinned and thanked him and all the guys before leaving for home to put some ice on my forehead.
It was not that I was punched in the face, I wasn't.
Just that I defended probably like 50 punches with the gloves kept high. When you defend a punch like that, it's fine, it doesn't hurt. But the repeated pressure of my glove on the skin of the forehead can bruise it and I usually bruise like a peach so I felt the ice was a proper choice.
That was the toughest training so far. I loved it and I am looking forward for more like it!
gl hf, Tl.net!