above is one round of The Burn, taken from the full session breakdown for Nak Muay Nation members, in the running series PhD Padwork

When Pi Nu has a conditioning idea, it’s always going to be really difficult and, yes, I am often his Guinea Pig; he tests the routines out on me and then, when it inevitably passes that test, he brings it to the boys and tells them, “Sylvie did it, so you can do it.”

I hate this burn routine. It’s actually a development off of his last invention, which was 50 kicks followed by 50 pushups for a total of 400. Then he changed that to be a timed exercise, so it was 30 seconds of each for a total of 4-6 minutes. That was hard. But then he came up with this new one and my whole trick for using the pushups to catch my breath went out the window and I had to re-learn how to catch my breath doing burpees also. He also seems to really love making me do this burn either directly before or immediately after my rounds on the pads, so it either exhausts me for the pads or I’m already exhausted from the pads. Pick your torture, except I don’t get to pick. And the boys never have it attached to their padwork. They just have to do it at the end of training. Even though it’s horrible and I’m never excited to do it, I will say that I can feel how much it benefits me. Obviously it has cardio elements, as well as the mental component of having to push through and find ways to bring your breathing and heart-rate down without stopping. But my vanity has profited as well. Pi Nu’s 9 minute ab routines (that’s another post) definitely strengthen up your core, but I can alternate between those ab routines for weeks and it’s only when the burn is added that I actually see the defined muscles on my stomach. It’s the “shredded” part of a strength regimen and it lets you practice how to push when you’re tired.

Okay, so it’s simple enough that anybody can hold for it. A friend at the gym or even can be adapted to work on a bag if you’re by yourself and can push yourself.

30 seconds of jab, cross, kick (alternating the side of the kick, left and right)

30 seconds burpees

30 seconds knees, alternating

30 seconds pushups

30 seconds right kick

30 seconds pushup

30 seconds left kick

30 second break between sets. Do 2 sets.

Pi Nu will take pairs for this drill, so one person starts and while they’re doing the 30 seconds off the pads the next person starts. It works well as you alternate on and off the pads and one person has their short break while the other person is finishing up their set. You can’t do more than two persons with one padholder if you want to keep it tight, without breaks. And for the knee part, sometimes I grab Pi Nu’s arms and neck like in a clinch, sometimes I do longer knees without holding. You can pick which one you do.