Culminating Blog Reflection

      Throughout this whole project, I've learned that there are things that seem easy and things that just look easy. Like Muay Thai for instance, you see all these great fighters in the UFC and Dragon House and you think to yourself, "WOW! I wish I can do something like that." UFC fighters make it seem as if it is an easy task. You watch them and you try mimicking every movement. But it is not as easy or simple as it may look.
      Muay Thai takes a lot of energy, time and effort. Using your head to think about how you're moving plays a part in the art of eight limbs (Muay Thai). You think about your next move and your opponent's next move. You must collaborate with them through movement. Yes, you're fighting each other, but that doesn't mean you can't work together as athletes. Your body movement depends on their body movements and vise versa. Creating a combination of movements also play a role in Muay Thai. be creative with it. Don't just stick to the boring combinations like jab, jab, hook, kick. be creative and add on to it. Confuse your opponent with your creativity.
      During this project, I have personally gained the knowledge of discipline. Muay Thai is not just about knocking down your opponent. It is also about having the knowledge to use this type of self-defense in a mature manner and not use it for your own personal purposes. Socially, it has helped me get out of my comfort zone even more. Doing something that was beyond my comfort level was a great achievement. Gaining the knowledge of what fighters go through to prepare for the biggest fights of their lives and what they go through just to have proper training is a good intellectual experience.
      Although this was a fun project, there are some challenges and obstacles that I had to go through. For instance, having the proper stance while fighting was difficult for me to get used to. Having a certain position just to stand seemed a little weird to me, but I knew that if I wanted to be a great fighter I had to do something out of the ordinary: even learning how to stand like a fighter the right way. Another obstacle was getting in to shape. The trainings are no joke! It wasn't just punching and kicking bags that I had to do; I had to do some running and abdominal exercises! And believe it or not, one of my biggest challenges was jump ropping... That's right. It seems that I can't jump rope to save my life. Although I did get somewhat better, I wish I improved more. This project was really fun and exciting for me to do. If I had to do the same physical project again, I really would like to do Muay Thai again.

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

FINAL HOURS
6:00am - 6:50am (50minutes) & 4:15pm - 5:55pm (1hr 4min)


I went out for a really quick run this morning before I got ready for school. Then I went home quickly to finish another hour so I went for another run and a quick shadow boxing before Senior Awards Night.

Overall Hours - (25hrs 8min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Twenty - May 13
10:00am - 11:16am (1hr 16min)

Didn't go to school today because it's Senior Ditch Day, but I didn't do much either. I decided to be productive and work out. Spent an hour running at the park and the last 16 minutes stretching and doing push-ups.

Overall Hours - (23hrs 54min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Nineteen - May 12
4:30pm - 5:30pm (1hour) & 8:45pm - 9:50pm (1hr 5min)

I got home from Senior Ball late this afternoon, but I wanted to do something productive so I went for a run and practiced my punches. Then after we went out for Mother's Day, I went on the treadmill then did some crunches.

Overall Hours - (22hrs 38min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Eighteen - May 11
8:50am - 9:55am (1hr 5min)

I tried to go for an hour run/jog just to see if I have gained enough stamina for it. Went on the treadmill before work and finished off with some stretches.

Overall Hours - (19hrs 48min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Seventeen - May 10
5:10am - 6:30am (1hr 2min) & 4:00pm - 4:30pm (3minutes)


I woke up too early and couldn't go back to sleep so I just went out for a run on the treadmill, did some push-ups and crunches, then practiced my jabs. I went out for another run before I got ready for my dance show.

Overall Hours - (18hrs 43min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Sixteen
4:25pm - 5:55pm (1hr 3min)

I didn't go for a run or jog today because I got lazy. Instead I just did some shadow boxing, practiced my punches and kicks, then stretched afterwards.

Overall Hours - (17hrs 11min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Fifteen - May 8
4:15pm - 5:15pm (1hour)

My friends and I decided to go for a run around the neighborhood and do some stretches afterwards.

Overall Hours - (16hrs 8min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Fourteen - May 7
6:30am - 7am (30minutes) & 4:15pm - 5:45pm (1hr 3min)

I got lazy today and just went for a 30 minute jog, but my friend asked me to come over to spar with him for a bit and then we went for another jog around his neighborhood.

Overall Hours - (15hrs 8min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Thirteen - May 4
9:00am - 10:00am (1 hour)

I decided to go for a run before work and practiced my kicks and shadow boxing. I did ab workouts and some push ups.

Overall Hours - (14hrs 47min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Twelve - May 2
5:45am - 6:50am (1hr 5min) & 4:50pm - 5:50pm (1 hour)

I woke up early today so I decided to go for a 30 minute jog, did some stretching and ab exercises to keep me awake throughout the day. I also did an hour after school before work; went out for a run and did a little bit of shadow boxing by myself.

Overall Hours - (13hrs 47min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Eleven - May 1
4:45pm - 5:50pm (1hr 5min)

I went to my friend's house today and we went for a jog together, then he helped me practice my punches and kicks and we sparred for a few minutes. We ended our little sparring session with some stretches.

Overall Hours - (11hrs 42min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Ten

5:30am - 6:30 (1 hour)

Woke up early once again to go for a quick run on the treadmill and did some abdominal workouts.

Overall Hours - (10hrs 37min) 

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Nine
5:30am - 6:20am (1hr 30min)

I woke up earlier than usual today to go for a quick run on the treadmill and work on the abdominal exercises I do after every session with my mentor.


Overall Hours - (9hrs 37min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Eight
7:32pm - 8:48pm (1hr 17min)

I worked out and trained myself for a little over an hour today. I ran for 30 minutes and the rest I worked on my jabs and kicks then some abdominal exercises. I have to continue doing this until I've met my goal for my hours including the sessions that I have with my mentor. Hopefully I built endurance and more stamina from this training.


Overall Hours - (8hrs 7min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Seven
10:30am - 11:00am (30min)

I didn't get to meet with my mentor this morning so I just ran for 30 minutes like how I'm supposed to as part of training. I'm slowly getting used to running now.


Overall Hours - (6hrs 50min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Six
6:30pm - 7:00pm (30min)

Part of Muay Thai training is running. My mentor told me to start running for 20-30 minutes and increase the time once I get used to running. Since I am not able to meet with him until Sunday, I am going to run for 30 minutes until then and continue on until the project is done.

Overall Hours - (6hrs 20min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Five
5:00pm - 6:00pm (1 hour)

Started of with 4 minutes of jump rope for warm up. I did two rounds of shadow boxing, one round including my right and left kicks. Afterwards, my mentor showed me how to do a kick push and I did 10 of it on the punching bag. Then we went about 4 rounds with the long pads and 2 rounds with the circle pads.

We ended the session with some abdominal workouts.

Overall Hours - (5hrs 50min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Four
2:30pm - 3:30pm (1hr)

Warmed up for 2 minutes with the jump rope.

My mentor had me do shadow boxing for 4-6 minutes with some combinations from our previous lessons. Then we added the right and left kicks with it. We did 3 rounds of pad work with the big pads including combinations and kicks. We did one round with the small pad afterwards, and then practiced my kicks with the big bag.

We ended the session with some abdominal workouts.

Overall Hours - (4hrs 50min)

Timed Writing Practice

     As I kid, we all wanted to do something that was fun and crazy. We'd beg our parents to let us take singing lessons, piano lessons, ballet classes, etc. These things become our hobbies and as we grow older and as time passes, these hobbies become something that we are greatly passionate about. Sometimes, we don't have theguts to show off these talents because we're afraid of what people might say and what they'll think. Even worse, we get intimated by those who are more experience than we are.
     When I was younger I've always found dancing amusing and fun. I wanted to take Hip Hop classes, but my parents thought it was a waste of time and money. As a little girl, I felt that it was a path for me to get out of my comfort zone and be comfortable around people. Knowing I couldn't take these classes I had to figure out a way to learn the techniques by myself. So I watched choreography videos on YouTube and tried them out on my own. As I got older, my skills have improved because of constant practicing on my own. I was determined to make my hobby into my passion.
     Although I was getting better at dancing, I still haven't gotten out of my shell. I was too shy to dance in front of anyone. Not even my family memebers. I always danced in my room by myself in front of the mirror. It was the easiest way for me to express myself. Its just too bad that I couldn't show off my talent to other people and let them know how I feel. i didn't have the courage to stand in front of people. I knew that if I wanted to keep going with dancing, I had to stop being shy and show everyone what I'm capable of. I needed to push myself out of rock i'm living under.
     When I first started high school, I was a bit shy and rarely spoke to anyone but my friends. It wasn't until my friends and I decided to join the Homecoming committee that I slowly became more social and I started associating with other people. And it wasn't until homecoming season that I had the guts to show off my talent, to show off what I'm passionate about: dancing. That was my first time dancing in front of people. I was pretty nervous but it felt great to have an audience watching and cheering. Right then and there, I knew that I have to keep this going. So I joined the Hip Hop Club and I thought to myself that if I do this, I need to commit to it. Little did I know, the club had several dancers who were much better than I am and I was so intimidated by them. I tried my best not to show it, but I couldn't help but admire the way they move. They were obviously better than I am.
     After we did our first rally performance, I ended up getting close to everyone in the club, and because of that I learned that people have a different level of skill. There are those who are just starting out with what they do, those who are used to what they do and are good at it, and those who get better every time they perform. With something like this, I learned that you need determination, endurance, and motivation. You need to be determined to get better and better. You need to endure all the obstacles that may come your way as you try to climb to the top of that ladder, and you need to be motivated. Use other people as your motivation if you want. But all of this will not be easy to achieve if you don't have the courage to actually do it. You need courage to go out there and perform. That's what I was missing when I started out with dance. i wasn't courageous enough to dance in front of a crowd. Now that I have that courage, I will keep it with me for as long as I need to.

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Three
11:00am-12:00pm (1hr)

We started off with the usual jump rope for 6 minutes with a 40 seconds break. We didn't do our normal across the mat routine with the jabs and hooks, but we went straight to circling around the gloves to practice my jabs and hooks.

After that, we did some shadow boxing. We added dips into it and put everything together. That went on for about 5-15 minutes with some breaks.

My jump rope warm up is improving, but I still need to learn the rhythm that goes along with it. My stance needs some improvement; my feet keeps squaring up and I tend to keep them close together. I need to learn how to pick up on the speed of shadow boxing. I need to practice outside of the gym so that when I'm on the mat with my mentor, the flow of my punches and kicks will be smooth.

Overall Hours: (3hrs 50min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day Two:
4:30-5:50pm (1hr 20min)

Today we went over how to wrap my hands with the hand wraps. My mentor, Taylor taught me another way to wrap my hands. As usual, we did a 3 minute jump rope warm up. I improved just a little on the jump rope, but I could still use more practice. After our warm up, we went over what we did last week to see if I remembered them and if I improved.

We pretty much did the same thing we did last week, but today we focused on my left kicks and knees. Taylor had me use the combination punches he taught me and added left knee and left kicks. Also, he taught me the proper way to uppercut my opponent. After teaching me the somewhat new lessons, he taught me the proper footwork for my left kicks and knee. I had trouble switching my feet and kicking on my left leg, but after practicing it a few times I got a hang of it. Of course, it still isn't perfect and still needs practice.

We went ahead and practiced with the pads for a couple of minutes and had 40 minute breaks each session.

In my opinion, I think I'm slowly improving and getting the hang of performing the movements I've learned. I just need some practice and maybe I'll get better each time I meet with my mentor.

For the next practice, I want to be able to perfect the new footwork he taught me and learn to get the hang of dropping my arm when it's supposed to drop and keeping them up to protect my chin.


Overall Hours: (2hrs 50min)

Capstone Project: Muay Thai

Day One:
12-1:30pm (1hr 30min)


I met up with my mentor this afternoon at 12pm at the FTCC gym in Daly City. We got started as soon as he finished teaching his Jiu Jitsu class.

The first thing he taught me was how to wrap my hands with hand wraps properly. This process wasn't difficult; it was probably the easiest thing I had to do. After wrapping my hands, we warmed up with jump ropes for 3-4 minutes. Sad today, jump roping was the most difficult task I had to do all day. I was having a hard time picking up the rhythm. The first thing we did after our jump rope warm up was footwork. I learned the proper stance in Muay Thai and how my feet are supposed to move when in motion or just in one place. Along with the footwork, my mentor taught me the arm movements, which are jabs, cross jabs, and hooks.

We took a 40 seconds break after every work we did. My mentor went on and taught me some combinations - jabs, cross jabs, hooks, along with kicking. With kicking, I learned that you always want to be on the balls of your feet so it's easier to pivot when doing side kicks. For the knee kicks, you have to make sure that whichever knee you're using to kick, your feet must be pointed and you want to use the pointed part of your knee. Again, you want to stay on the balls of your feet for knee kicks.

After learning the stance, foot work, and jabs, we went on and used the boxing gloves and punching bags to practice what I had just learned. Then, he had me practice as if I'm fighting and had me use everything I learned. Of course there are some things that I had trouble with, such as using the right arm to punch and keeping my feet far from each other.

The next session, we will be learning the same lesson but switching everything up to the left side of my body (arms and legs).