Mizblog

Christian was supposed to be watching TJ’s awards ceremony today, and Renee was supposed to teach KM, but schedules change and Christian ended up teaching the KM class. Oh well.

Still wrapping my hands because of my right thumb. It’s still very sensitive.

We started class with mouth guards in. Taking turns punching each other lightly in the face with our top two knuckles. I worked with Jeff. No problem. Then we went to the body. Still no problem. Even the sore rib was fine. I may have to stop calling it the “sore rib” if it keeps not being sore.

From there, we worked on inside defenses (high and low) and I got better. Hard to be worse than I was at inside defenses vs. straight shots to the body. Thomas drilled that into me and I improved. Thanks, Thomas.

After that, we started mixing in outside defenses, which I’m way better at (though Christian reminded me to try to make the block at the striker’s wrist). It’s really hard for me to make inside defenses and move in at the same time, because I don’t see it in time to get my body moving. If I try to anticipate it with body movement, I tend to move right into the other straight which I didn’t anticipate. Anyway, awareness training will make my perception quicker.

We ramped it up by having the striker don focus mitts and use them to strike, then have the defender flurry at the end of the round. Then we made it hotter by mixing in combos, rushes, and sprawls. Fun times.

Then we did boxing sparring. Christian showed me the effectiveness of putting a double jab in your opponent’s face to keep him off you. I used that technique effectively against Thomas. Jeff got me in the head with a nice hook. I punched Thomas in the eye. Fun was had by all.

We did front and side chokes too. Pluck, strike, etc. Pairs and then with a stress drill where we would punch the target until we decided to choke him, at which point he’d have to do the defenses and get gone.

Closed the class by mounting a kick shield and trying to flatten it. 4 rounds of about 10 or 15 seconds with short rests in between.

Got through the class with a sore left bicep and a few twinges from the sore thumb, but fine otherwise!