I have gotten so much better at skipping rope. I can actually do it comfortably for 5 minutes now thanks to improving my footwork. Class size was big again last night. After the jump-rope warm-up we got in three groups and warmed-up with one group freestyling on the bag, another shadowboxing, and the other doing medicine ball slams. Rotated and did 3 rounds before we partnered up with Thai pads, shin guards, and gloves.

Drill 1: pad holder kicks, striker checks, switch-kicks, 2-3, inside leg kick.
Partner was south paw and this threw me off a little when remembering what side is what in the heat of the moment when holding, but I got it down soon. Partner kept kicking my knee on the inside leg kick. Corrected him to kick higher but by then my knee was already hurting. Come my turn I used my 12 oz gloves instead of the 16s. Trying to remember to drop my legs more when throwing the cross. Pivoted pretty well into the hook.

Drill 2: add in a left push-kick and right head kick
Struggled with going as high as my partner was holding for the head kick and badly stubbed my big toe because of it. Asked him to hold it lower and I kicked slower.

Drill 3: add left spinning back kick
Fun addition. I am actually better at this kick than I thought I would be, having practiced it a little before from Joe Rogan's inspiration. At first I fell well short of even touching my partner with my foot but then I got the range down and hit his pad nigh perfectly. The first time this happened after I kept missing coach Anthony happened to see and went "Nice."

Ended with ab work. Coach said that intense circuit warm-up at the beginning was because a lot of people in class need to better their cardio and that's why he's been adding things like that in. I don't blame him, I blame people who are not new to class and still gas hard.

Limped after class a little from the toe and the side of my knee hurts from the kicks.