Not been a great week this week. I only managed to train on Monday, Thursday and Friday although something strange did happen on Wednesday.

Monday I sprained my foot kicking the pads sparring in the ring and Tuesday morning my wrists and feet were too painful to even contemplate kicking and punching. I was able to ride the bike though so I rode approx 4Km to the supermarket. Coupled with the heat and the worry of getting taken out by a truck I worked up quite a sweat. Wednesday I didn’t feel able to kick and punch again but woke feeling like I needed to do something. I tried pacing around the room in my trainers to see if my ankle was up to a run but decided instead to go out on the bike again. This is at 7.30am I hasten to add. I rode for about an hour solid. Getting off the bike and running up hills that I couldn’t ride to the top of. By the time I’d finished I’d had a good workout without the impact to my wrists and feet that kicking and punching would have had.

I started to get a bit frustrated that I can’t train every day but I’ve spoken to lots of people and they’re all going through the same thing. I just need to take it at my own pace as I’m here for a while and there’s no point pushing it so much that I injure myself so badly I can’t train at all. It’s very difficult when you get in the ring not to punch as hard as you can but I’m going to have to hold back a bit I think until my body gets used to it. Having said that I’d still lost another Kilo when I weighed on Friday before training so things are still positive and when I do train I’m coping well with the cardio side of it. I’m also eating healthier here naturally and not drinking any wine which is also helping.

I’ve been up all night on Coke Zero!

I’ve had terrible trouble sleeping over the past week. My sleeping pattern is all over the place but I think I’ve realised why that is. It’s so hot over here I’ve been drinking Coke Zero like it’s going out of fashion. I’ve been doing so much Coke I don’t even know what night and day is

I’m just brewing a Coffee to trying bring me back down then just maybe I can get a good night’s sleep tonight

Training hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped this week. Unfortunately I hurt my foot on Tuesday and all the punching and kicking took it’s toll on my feet and wrists. I trained Mon, Tues & Fri and went out on the bike on Thursday.

I’m not too disheartened though as this is to be expected. It’s very difficult not to give it your all when training and others I’ve discussed it with have had the same issues. I just have to remember I’m here for a while and there’s no point rushing it and injuring myself.

On the plus side I’ve really noticed an improvement in stamina and I can do 10 situps whilst being whacked in the stomach by the trainer and laughing (I also let out a pump by accident at one stage which lightened the moment ) and repeat that between each of the 10 x 3 minute rounds that we do. I’m starting to laugh in the face of exercise!

I’d also lost 4 Kilos in 2 weeks which I’m really pleased with considering I’m still only doing one 2 hour session a day.

Here's a few pictures from the BBQ night (click here).

First of all please accept my apologies for the poor quality photographs. My photography skills really need to improve and I know I need to do better. If I can I will try and plaguerise some decent shots from some others at the gym.

It was a good night. You can’t really complain for only 100 Baht (£2). For that we had food and entertainment.

I’ve really no idea how they make any money selling Thai food out here and why I’ve never looked at coming here before. The reason I chose to come to Thailand was primarily when I did my research that I could spend a whole month here in comparision to one week in the UK. When you compare Bournemouth to Phuket there’s only going to be one winner!

The night consisted of 4 bouts between those foolish enough to volunteer (I say foolish because these guys have only been here the same length of time as me and you’ve really no idea what level of experience people have back home. Of course the trainers try to make sure things are pretty even but you never really know and of course one kick to the knee or a broken arm could end someone’s stay here. That aside it was good entertainment and there is a lot of respect between everyone).

The first 3 bouts were pretty even in that they all battered the shit out of each other for 3 rounds and they were all judged to be draws. This was always going to be the case and had been pre-planned. In between there were displays from some of the local Thai fighters living at the gym. Fighting with sticks and The Ram Muay ritual dance which is a dance that has to be performed by every fighter before a bout.

For the final bout one of the Aussie girls took on one of the Thai guys from the gym. He was acting the goon which all the locals were lapping up and going a little bit easy on her but she wasn’t messing and everyone found it highly amusing when she knocked him down a few times. It was all in good humour but I wouldn’t have got in there with her and I don’t think there are many others that would either. Of course this time the girl was judged to be the winner to everyone’s amusement.

Some pics from the fights last night here….

***WARNING-PICTURE OF SPIDER!!!***

The devil sent two of his top disciples to tempt me away from the path of righteousness

I did miss training this morning due to a hangover though. Damn!

Seemed to be a lot more people at training this morning and I was wondering how I would get through it with the blisters on my feet but luckily a bit of tape solved that one. I’m quite pleased that I don’t seem to be struggling at all with the push ups and sit ups although when the trainer came over and slapped me on the back I nearly taught him my own version of kick boxing. He wasn’t to know about the sun burn  I guess the work at the gym before I came here actually made a difference. Thank you Vicky if you’re reading. Again I found a few more muscles I never knew existed when we were learning how to kick properly. It’s ok though as long as I don’t move I feel fine  There were about ten people in the beginner’s group but one of the girls from last week was missing. I thought that was a bit strange because she was really doing well and had been going to both sessions every day. Unfortunately she’d been involved in a scooter accident over the weekend. She’d jumped on the back of someone elses scooter outside the gym and it sounds like the throttle was stuck and the bike just shot off and hit a tree. They didn’t even get out onto the road! It sounds funny but it was actually quite serious. The guy that was driving fractured his shoulder and is on his way home now. I bumped into her after breakfast and she had some nasty bruises and doesn’t think anything is broken but she’s in a little bit of pain. It just shows how quickly things can turn around when you least expect it.

The daft thing is last week her and I were talking about whether or not we should get scooters and we were both pretty wary.  Most people seem to have them and being here long term it really is essential to get around and see the island. I know a few of you will be thinking if ever there was an accident waiting to happen……..

Apparently there were 5 accidents last week involving people from the gym!