Krav Maga class 13: deception and technical sparring

Jeremy taught us tonight. Starting out with a circuit of 10 each jumping jacks, squats, push ups, then 3rd set added 10 burpees after the squats. I wanted to quit.

Next we went to partner drills. I partnered with Brian. We did left/slip, right/slip, alternate. Then left/inside defense, right/inside defense, alternate. Then left hook/bob, right hook/weave, alternate. I was gasping after that.

Drink of water, MMA gloves, and then light sparring (just hands) with Brian. We tagged each other in the face a couple times. Lots of body shots. I cramped. Seriously dying afterward.

Then we learned a sneaky front groin kick and a spinning back kick.

Finally, the last 10 minutes of class, we geared up and sparred. I started vs. Brian and then vs. Adam. Traded shots. Not too hard. Didn’t die. Didn’t get too injured. Good result!

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Krav Maga class 12: cardio, level 1 choke defenses, choke against the wall (front and back)

It was a squishy morning. 5 trips to the throne and I was worried that it would interfere with my class.

It didn’t. Much.

Pam taught the class. Starting with jumping jacks for about a minute, then squats, push-ups and sit-ups. Repeat. Repeat again. Then shoulder tag. 15 squats and pick a new partner. 15 push-ups and pick a new partner. 10 sit-ups and pick a new partner. Exhausting.

Then we paired up and took out the heavy bags. One of us would do Bas Rutten’s workout combos on the bag while the other would occasionally put on chokes and the other would have to defend. I did 3 rounds and was absolutely dying by the end of the 2nd round, but I gutted out the 3rd round cramps and all.

After that we retired to the back room where we were instructed in defending chokes against the wall, where you can’t just step back and rotate out. And that was it. No injury, just pushing hard on the cardio. I needed that!

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Door paint

We had our front door painted today. Had to keep it open all day long, letting in the critters. Still, it came out beautiful and shiny. I’m still getting used to it.

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Krav Maga Class 11: Focus Mitts, Inside Defenses, Knife Defenses

First day back after a cold and a business trip to Menlo Park. Second day in 2 weeks because of the old foot injury that seems to be a thing of the past. (Yay!) Warm ups had me devising strategies to quit before doing any sparring, but I recovered pretty quickly.

Part of the warm up was inside defenses, which I am TERRIBLE at performing, so I got hit in the head quite a bit. Focus mitts went very well.

We did sewing machine knife attacks to the midsection. I was pretty terrible at that too. Then we did “The brown belt killer” straight stab to the face defense. I was better at that but still awkward.

Wrist came out bruised and a little bit scratched.

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sick again

I think I got Saranya’s cold. Irritated sinuses, congestion, and coughing. Feeling a bit miserable. Had to skip KM class tonight.

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Ontario Reign at Bakersfield Condors

After Krav Maga yesterday, I drove up to Bakersfield with my girls and my brother Rob to visit my good friend Diane and her girls, and to watch an AHL hockey game. The Ontario Reign were in town to face the Bakersfield Condors and it was a great excuse to make the drive and visit. Diane got us seats in the lower level, adjacent to the visitor’s net. It was great! I hadn’t seen a live professional hockey game since I was a boy scout, so it was great to experience the game as a real activity with real people playing it, rather than just a television spectacle.

I went to the Reign’s first game to scout the Kings’ young prospects and see what they were like. Some things I noticed – Backman is really short. Auger is freakin’ HUGE. Zykov was most noticeable when he was dumping the puck in and going for a change, though he did have one rush up the middle that started with some fancy moves and got angled off into the corner by the Condors’ defense. Kempe was similarly incognito. Mersch was a wizard out there, twice stealing the puck from the Condors’ goaltender during a penalty kill, and using some sort of magic to send the puck on net with surprising speed and timing and angles. The rest of the offense looked professional, I guess. They blocked several shots on the PK that looked quite painful.

LoVerde is the captain of the Reign and he exudes confidence, calming things down on the back end. McBain was crafty and solid on the blue line. The rest of the defense was solid, always present to clean up messes in the slot. Outlet passes were generally crisp and quick. Budaj was a wall in net, and all the Condors’ screen chances that he didn’t stop were shot or deflected wide before they got to him (hence the 5-0 shutout).

The Condors’ shooting was terrible. It could have been a 5-2 game with a little better shot accuracy. They reminded me a lot of the Kings in that regard.

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Krav Maga class 10: thai pads, choke review and stress drill, gun defense from the front (2h cup)

My 10th Krav Maga class since returning was taught on a Saturday morning by AJ Draven. The warmup started with shadow boxing, then push ups, sit ups, squats, and then immediately into a review of all the level 1 chokes, with various partners. It was great for me because I’d forgotten so much. I partnered with Ed and Scott and Calvin.

I learned a new one for me – the carotid choke from behind. If someone puts their forearm across your neck and wraps you up there with a choke, you pull the hand/arm away while turning toward the opening, driving your shoulder into the attacker to make space, then twisting out and under the arm, leaving you free with an arm lock.

After that it was more warmup. Push ups, fast feet with jumps and/or sprawls on command, and then AJ slowed it down with stretching. Arm and shoulder, squat stretch, some yoga poses and stretches.

Then I got my first stint holding Thai pads. We did the same combos like we do with focus mitts, but we follow it up every time with a round kick from the leg opposite the side that threw the last punch of the combo. Ed and I were paired up, and he was even newer to kick combos than I was. We kept messing up but we got better as we practiced. AJ noticed one of my better combos and complemented me on it. :D

After Thai pads, we did a stress drill where we had groups of 3 and a tombstone pad. One person would hold the pad for various strikes while the other went nuts. Then the 3rd team member would put on a choke and the striker would have to do the defense. I went first. I did okay. Not great.

Following the stress drill, we did gun defenses from the front. It was the two hand cup method, which takes the gun to the outside and immediately lets you get 2 hands on it. I found it felt natural to throw a shoulder at the same time as I put my knee to the groin and broke the grip on the gun by punching it through.

After class I socialized with John and Calvin, who both gave me encouragement. Calvin’s been doing Krav Maga training for 2 years. John has shoulder problems that kind of fade once he warms up, but he says it’s common in Krav Maga to have shoulder issues. I told him I hadn’t had them myself, but that I’d had just about every other injury.

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new stereo

I had my dead Kenwood stereo replaced by a new Kenwood. The installation labor cost almost as much as the hardware. They kept telling me how cool the bluetooth integration with my phone would be, but my phone doesn’t have bluetooth and I don’t use my phone in the car anyway. They were disappointed but amused that I’m such a relic.

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foot ache

Aborted my 10th Krav Maga class tonight because my right foot is getting more and more sore. For most of the day my right foot was sore, between the first 2 toes and about an inch behind where the toes separate. It was fine during walking but when I sat down it hurt. As class approached, I pushed it a little harder, with some jumping, and it started hurting a LOT worse! So I’m going to try to get it X-rayed tomorrow and see if there’s something broken in there.

EDIT: I saw the doctor and he didn’t think it warranted an X-ray. Just rest it and ice it for 3 more days and it should be good to go. That means I can train again on Saturday morning before heading to Bakersfield to see the Reign visit the Condors!

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electronic death

In the last couple weeks, the SSD on my laptop died, making it unsalvageable. My video card in my home computer died, and I replaced it with something new and expensive and noisy. Then my car stereo went dark. It had been acting up for years but finally it just gave out and went black. At least nothing caught on fire, but now I’m wondering if there’s something I’m doing that’s causing this, or if it’s some other common cause that’s not on me, or if it’s all just an odd coincidence.

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