Okay, so it's been a few months since I've started Muay Thai training and it seems to be going pretty smoothly. I train 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Thurs) for 1.5hours a session. Classes are tiny so I get a lot of 1on1 time with my trainer. I'm still learning the basics, but they're feeling smoother and more natural and while my balance is still generally ****, I have moments of clairvoyance [I think I used that right] and manage to actually pivot AND not fall down at the same time. I'm feeling increasingly confident in my ability to carry out what my trainer asks me to do.

...

Except breath. I am pretty fat. Lost nearly 20kg since coming to Thailand and still technically overweight by the Online BMI Meters. My stamina, which has always been ****, is really letting me down in training and not allowing me to make the most of each class as while I can push it and finish nearly every exercise, by the end of a lot I am gasping and wheezing and flailing like a little girl (having lost all form and technique ages ago) and it gets worse with each subsequent round.

I've been pretty good with keeping up a 3-day a week running schedule of about 4km now (Usually Mon, Wed, Fri or something close to that) in the mornings before work and my eating habits are fine (I'm eating 3 meals a day, few snacks as of a while and the meals are usually small-portioned rice or curries). But at the end of each session my trainer will look at me and say "Still fat, still weak".

So what I'm getting at is I need a hand. I need to loose some more weight (Started at 100kg, now 82kg, goal somewhere around 70 or below) and build up my stamina (most important) in the ring. I've been thinking about maybe increasing the days I run and adding things like more jump rope outside of muay thai class and sprinting but not completely confident in my ability to make the most of it (aside from JUST DO MORE OF EVERYTHING RAWR).

I do NOT have access to the boxing gym outside of class time and work from 10am-7pm with runs coming before and boxing after. I have access to a sports stadium/track with a pool and weightroom and basic stuff like that.

Any and all help is appreciated.

hill sprints

Hahaha oh **** I can't believe you said that. While there are precious few hills here (actually only one) I am going there tomorrow to try out hill sprints. If it goes well I was planning on adding it as a regular weekend "thing" (so once a week, it's not practical for me to do any more, sadly).

And my roommate said he trained hill when he did MT up in Chiang Mai a few years ago (one of those intensive 6month camps and all)

cycle everywhere

A possibility I might toy with soon; possibly after October vacation. I have a bike (well, my roommate has an extra one) and while it's a single-geared piece of ****, it'll at least get me from place to place and many of the teachers at my school already bike as their main or only means of transportation... (Hell, if I ever get my Phantom fixed for when I need a motorbike I could even sell my scooter for a nice gear-y bike for city-travel but that might be getting a bit ahead of myself...)

Both good ideas, keep 'em coming please.

give up alcohol and tobacco (if you use them) and rest properly between workouts.

No problems there. I'm not a big drinker and I haven't smoked since Uni... well, aside from the occasional joint :P

[QUOTE=WorldWarCheese;2610903]Except breath. .... my eating habits are fine (I'm eating 3 meals a day, few snacks as of a while and the meals are usually small-portioned rice or curries). I need to loose some more weight ...... and build up my stamina (most important) in the ring.QUOTE]

How many food calories a day do you consume? How much rest/sleep/recovery time do you take each day?

Not sure on calories. Typical daily food intake is something like this:
Breakfast (7AM) - Glass of Milk and a Pastry

Lunch (12PM) - Plate of rice with chicken or pork. Plate size is about the size of a size 10 (US) shoe (not in height, but in like a flat surface. With water (plenty of water, it's fucking hot here). Once a week this is accompanied by an ice cream

Dinner (7PM) - Rice or noodles of same portioning as lunch.

And I get between 6 and 8 hours of sleep every night. I do MT on Mon, Wed, Thurs (as stated before) and usually run 3 days a week with 1 day breaks -weekends.

Speaking of weekends, I did hill sprints today (not many, just a feeler for the terrain and exercise) and felt great. It's the same type of exhaustion I get from muay thai and I'm probably going to add it as a Saturday thing with maybe a light jog.

Do you track your daily water intake? Not just total - times and amounts?

Has 6-8 hours always been your normal routine? Have you tracked your rest periods by the week since you've been in Thailand?

Sure, but nothing is scientific or exact.

I drink two small/"regular" size bottle of water by noon everyday (plus an orange juice if you want to count all liquids) and then usually make a good dent in the pitcher at whatever restaurant I'm eating at during lunch, and am usually teaching without break after that until 7 when I make another large dent in a pitcher of water for dinner (and maybe another bottle afterwards).

On days I run I have en extra few glasses after the run in the morning and after muay thai I have a packet of "electrolytes" or hydration salts in my water.

Tracking of rest won't be as specific or accurate I'm afraid. When I first came here (read: 1-2 month period of time) I would sleep and wake very early (Up by 6:30 whether I wanted to or not with plenty of energy) and has slowly regressed back to my natural state of staying and waking up late 'till I hit the wall of "You MUST be up by NOW for RUN or WORK" and then try and sleep at a reasonable hour before then.

I feel sleep is very, very important and while I don't always get my 7.3 (How many it takes me to get the full REM Cycles **** done usually) I try very hard to.

buy a heart rate monitor to ensure you are in your target area during your cv work. I used this formula and it worked for me http://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm
with hill sprints pick two points approx 30-50 meters apart, when warm get your fastest time, recover, then aim to cover the distance in 90% of that time, walk back down and repeat until you cannot physically get within 90%.

apol's you add 10% to the time so 110% of the time not 90% dohhhh

Don't know how your knees are, if they hurt and you can swim...swim.
Besides, im pretty sure you are making good progress, dont hasten stuff! it's not healthy.
working out 6 times a week is enough! add to your runs some pull ups and pushups and be patient

buy a heart rate monitor to ensure you are in your target area during your cv work. I used this formula and it worked for me http://www.briancalkins.com/HeartRate.htm
with hill sprints pick two points approx 30-50 meters apart, when warm get your fastest time, recover, then aim to cover the distance in 90% of that time, walk back down and repeat until you cannot physically get within 90%.
I don't have a heart rate monitor and sadly I don't think I can get one (read: afford one) at the moment. I'm a bit tight on funds already and only earning Thai Baht so it's a bit different.


Don't know how your knees are, if they hurt and you can swim...swim.
Besides, im pretty sure you are making good progress, dont hasten stuff! it's not healthy.
working out 6 times a week is enough! add to your runs some pull ups and pushups and be patient
And my knees are fine ever since I switched to the Vibrams Five Finger shoes (and generally minimalist/barefoot running), but there is a pool at the Stadium and I'd love to get in some laps, for me it's one of the hardest exercises of all. And thanks for the encouragement. It's just tough because I made so many quick gains (or losses, for weight) and now it's sort of slowed/plateaued and I just want to keep the momentum going.

That's alot of water. What are you doing to compensate for possible electrolyte loss?