Snoopy

What do you think about cycling for cardio? I do 25-30 minutes before training 3 times a week, plus some HIIT training.

I have an issue with incorporating running to my training as I have a hip injury/weakness (something biological I have to live with it seems) which results in pain and stiffness in my right hip and thigh muscle if I run a lot. I've been trying different types of training, runs etc. to see what causes pain and what doesn't. It seems that anything apart from long distance runs are ok. Anyone with any thoughts or tips on how I can get cardio done for Muay Thai without too much running? In the gym I do cardio rounds on the bags, circuits, rope skipping etc but I'm always worried it's not enough as running seems to be such an integral part of Muay Thai training.

Where exactly in the hip is your pain? I constantly struggle with my right hip, somewhat towards the outside and back, combined with a very sore point on my right lower back. My physiotherapist said that I have a slight over-mobility in the joint while around it's too stiff, causing the ligaments/tendons to get inflamed. Also, he said I might have a "bump" in the joint capsule and with the many kicks in Muay Thai this irritates the joint capsule and cause further inflammation. Not sure if any of this is applicable to you, but he advised me to use foam roller a lot, if I get a lot of pain avoid certain exercises for a few days (like running, jumping or excessive roundhouses) until the pain eases off and he also gave me some hip strengthening exercises to stabilize it. Basically, I was told that I just have to learn to manage the condition but there's not need to stop training. It used to bother me a lot but now I'm much better as long as I keep an eye on it and follow his advise.

I broke my ribs sparring before my first amateur fight and I didn't think they were broken as I could live with the pain. It just hurt a bit with impact and if I had to do exercises that involved bending. Then I took another punch to the rib again in sparring and the pain was super-sharp and after a few hours it even hurt sitting upright. When I went to check it out it was clear they were broken. The doctor told me it was not much to do apart from avoiding impact to the ribs for a couple of weeks and keep them as stable as possible. I was allowed to train, but avoided holding pads for a couple of weeks and obviously no sparring (not a great preparation for a fight....). It worked out ok as I had 5 weeks to my fight but actually the only sparring I got in before the fight was with my instructor as he was able to control where he hit/kicked and how hard. After 3 weeks the pain was much better so training with pads and drills wasn't an issue. If you take it easy now 2 weeks should be enough to make the worst pain go away and be ready for Thailand. I would get it checked though with an xray. If they are broken it's important to know that the bones are aligned so they grow back correctly and are not damaging surrounding tissue. Apart from that ice, some painkillers and adjusting training should be enough to heal it :) Hope this helped! Good luck :)

Interesting topic and never a one solution to fit all. I work 8-5/9-6 Monday to Friday so I'm pretty lucky with normal office hours. This means I can join evening classes every night, Saturday morning class and I also get in 2-3 morning sessions a week (normally that's shorter sessions of conditioning or yoga). However, even if I can fit in training daily, I can relate a lot to the juggling of work, a social life and other commitments. My friends have pretty much stopped inviting me to parties or dinners as I hardly ever join, or if I do I come late and leave early. At work we have monthly social events, which it is my job to organize but I'm almost always gone by the time the event starts which is not always appreciated by colleagues who then have to take over as hosts. Luckily my partner is also my coach, so he understands and also is there during training. What I've learnt lately though is that even though I can train pretty much every day and also fit in mornings, I need to take time off too. My job can be very busy and also physically draining at times so even if I can fit in the hours at the gym it doesn't mean I necessarily should... It's a hard lesson to learn... balancing work and training is not only about the hours but also about balancing energy and also planning enough time to recover from both. How does women with families manage? Also interested to hear more about the motivation topic. I'm only training to learn, keep fit and do some amateur fights, no at all to win any titles or even make a career out of it. At times it can be hard to keep motivated with no specific goal in sight/no fight scheduled. Over here there's not plenty of shows so the chance to get a fight only comes up 2-4 times a year and that is if there's any other girl in the same weight category. How do you keep motivated to keep improving?