805BJJ Class 25: Defend your neck, escape back mount

Scrambled to get to class after KM50, and still missed the bowing in. Slipped into warm ups.

The theme for the day was defending when someone’s got your back. We learned getting the head high and to the underhook side, walking the hips onto the thigh, and shooting out for side control. I pretty much sucked at that, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

One by-product of the drilling was to keep your hands up protecting your neck. Christian demonstrated that you need to be sensitive to when hands are getting in to get grips. I can’t feel that crap very well. Got to work on my awareness of my neck, or I’m due to be choked out a bunch. But I’m getting ahead of myself again.

I got a call from Rachel in the middle of class, asking about Marines training. Had to postpone that talk, and then leave early from class to handle it.

First rolled with Curtis. He tapped me to an arm bar once, and I swept him once off of kesa-gatame the way Eric showed me last week. Great roll!

Then I rolled with Tom. We ended up the last couple minutes content to stall with him in my closed guard. I was making him work to sit up, and he was out of gas so he just sat there. I was out of gas too so I just relaxed.

Final roll was with Christian, who showed me how easily I can be tapped by a black belt. Repeatedly and effortlessly. Good to know. Protect your neck. Keep your elbows hidden. Maintain good base. Etc. It all has to become automatic, and it will with practice. Keep practicing.

Just a note in postscript: This marks the day when I’ve done half as many 805BJJ classes as SVKM classes.

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Krav Maga Class 50: shoulder tag, bursting punches, knees, 360 defenses, knife defense

Christian is back, and he shaved his head and mustache! He looks much younger. I teased him about which High School he goes to.

Class started right into shoulder tag. I didn’t get hurt.

Then we did warm ups with abs and stuff. I didn’t get hurt.

Then we went into bursting punches – bare hands into focus mitts. I didn’t get hurt!

After that it was knees into bare bellies. I didn’t get hurt.

Then it was knees into pads. I did get hurt. Mike was pinching my shoulder and tricep, and slamming knees through the pad into my sore ribs. Damn. I tried to return the favor, but without the pinching.

After that we did 360 defenses overhead, and practiced the simultaneous counter punch to the face. It’s really hard to get a fist in one hand and a bladed hand opposite. I messed that up a lot.

That worked right into knife defenses with a wrist grab. We ran out of time on that one, but TJ is supposed to continue it on Thursday.

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805BJJ Class 24: weight plate exercises for rib strength, top-bottom-out drills

Between KM49 and this class, I drove my car around the parking lot, ate a banana and some almonds, stopped in at Big 5 to throw away my banana peel and see what they had for sale, and generally pondered the advantages and disadvantages of chickening out of BJJ class. Finally I manned up and drove back, unloaded my gear, and went in to change.

There were only 3 students in the class – me, TJ, and his friend Tom. We started with a bunch of weight plate exercises. Mark wants to prevent more rib injuries from people not having strong connective tissue in their ribcage, but generally strong muscles everywhere else.

The first exercise was the one he taught me before, where you hold the plate on opposite edges just above the center line, and swing it around so that you’re holding it behind your head. It’s important to not move your head, and have your arms do all the moving. It’s also important to spread your legs and bend your knees for good base.

The second exercise was where you set up to throw the weight away at a 40 degree angle to the front, and then you catch it out of the air and pull it back to your bread basket. Alternate sides.

The third exercise was the cat stretch. Then oblique sit ups, then bicycles.

Once we were warmed up, we started top-bottom-out situational drills. First was side control. We practiced resting on bottom and waiting for the top person to move before we made our escape. I improved a lot. Mark was impressed. He said it was a night and day difference between how I moved in my early classes and how I move now. I used to move like a creaky old man, and now I move much more athletically.

Next was mount. Then on the back with a standing person trying to pass, starting with hands on feet. Then starting with hands on knees. Then starting with hands on belt. I tweaked my lower back on the last one, when Tom got my back and his leg under my lower back. We’ll see if it amounts to anything. It felt fine after I got out of the position, and now 2 hours later it’s still fine.

I did a sit up sweep on TJ that caused him to tap because his toe got trapped under his other foot. Almost exactly what happened to me last Saturday when I was rolling with Josh. Josh is another guy who went down with a rib injury.

I came out of the class very glad that I had gone and not chickened out.

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Krav Maga Class 49: shadow boxing, flag tag, outdoor combos, full nelson defense

TJ’s Saturday class. Saranya’s class was before, and Brandon taught her since Christian is back on the East coast. My left knee was hurting, and I really had to consider whether or not I should train today. I finally manned up and lined up.

We started with shadow boxing, shoulder tag, and calisthenics. Then we had a game of flag tag, hopping on one foot. I was on team yellow. We won the first round, and then Calvin and I stalemated at the end of the second round so everybody but us had to do sprawls.

After that, we brought focus mitts and gloves out back to the tarmac, where we practiced combos on uneven terrain with the threat of cars coming past. I partnered with Mike again. Outside combos in the sun were different but not too uncomfortable. We added knees and kicks with thai pads too, and I didn’t have much problem except for one twinge in my sore knee.

Then back inside for self defense training. We did choke from behind first, but finished with an arm bar take-down. I don’t think I got the blade of the wrist on right, or the wave motion to turn the elbow. Got to work on that.

Then we did full nelson defense. It involves peeling the fingers off the back, with a samurai sword drawing grip. Use the finger to step out, throw combatives with the other arm, spin to get the finger bent toward the attacker, and then snap it down and continue the fight. Mike got my finger pretty good. I heard his pop, but he said it didn’t hurt at all. Anyway, that was the class.

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805BJJ Class 23: Kesa-gatame (scarf hold) submissions

This was a scary class. It was all about submissions from Kesa-gatame.

First it was just putting pressure, which really hurt my rib. Then we learned a shoulder lock (“the only submission in wrestling”) where you grab around their arm and then pull their shoulder over their face. Then there was the arm bar and Americana, where you move the arm over your leg in different ways. All of them involved keeping pressure, and gripping that head.

Rolling wasn’t so bad. Sure, I got tapped a dozen times by blue belts, but I didn’t get injured! At least, I don’t feel an injury yet, after just over 2 hours. I sat out the last roll. So did Brandon, who was just coming back after 3 weeks of rib injury recovery. Poor guy. He ended the class by puking in the bathroom.

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Krav Maga Class 48: shadow boxing, combos, leg kick checking

TJ’s Thursday morning class. I was pretty sure my toe would be okay once I got going, but it was still a little sore. I was right – it was fine.

Started with shadow boxing, then shoulder tag, then stretching.

Put on boxing gloves and focus mitts and just did punch combos 1-4 with Eric. He’s got a vicious uppercut.

Then we put on shin pads and practiced taking kicks on our legs. Eric kept kicking me in the knee, which hurt. Then we practiced responding to the kick with our own combatives.

Then we put on our gloves and focus mitts and did a drill where we’d do punch combos on the mitts and sometimes the mitt holder would throw a kick that we’d have to check or absorb. Eric kept kicking me in the middle of my combos, or during the last punch. Thanks, Eric. That sucked.

Final drill was a kick line, where we all lined up and took turns throwing leg kicks on one person, who had to check or absorb each one. Then we were done.

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805BJJ Class 22: Early start, underhooks from under side control, arms in or out in guard, rolling, stubbed toe

Class had already started before noon when I showed up and jumped on the mat. It was “What is Larry struggling with?” themed. So we practiced getting our underhook when on the bottom in side control, and preventing mount. Then we practiced keeping either both arms in or both arms out when in someone’s guard.

I rolled with Cosmo, and I pretty much dominated him on the top, ending with an arm bar tapout. Woot! Then he got on the top and pulled my head until the end of the round.

I rolled with Jen and she played a good open guard and mostly kept me off her.

I rolled with Josh and got some good sit-up sweeps on him, but he mounted me, but I swept him, and I stubbed my toe and now I’m limping. Hope it’s not serious.

I rolled with Ray and he’s gotten really good. Passed my guard by stacking me when I shot for a triangle. Mounted me and laid on my face and made me want to quit.

Then I came home and mowed the lawn, limping and slow the whole way.

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Krav Maga Class 47: shadow boxing, fireman’s carry/thai pads, sparring, horizontal stick defense, baseball bat defense, backhand knife defense

TJ’s Saturday morning class. Started right in to shadow boxing. I did okay mostly. Partnered with Mike for the class.

Next we took turns running out to the speed bump behind the studio with a heavy thing, then came back in to do combos in thai pads. 3 rounds then switch.

After that we did boxing sparring. I didn’t land a whole lot but I didn’t get tagged a lot either, except by Susan. But I tagged her a couple good times too, so I don’t feel too bad.

Then it was gear off and back on the mat for stick defense. I got a group of 3, with Mike and Leo (who I barely remembered from BJJ class, and who complimented me on looking “thicker” than when we met) and we went 1 for 1 for 1. It went really well.

Finally we did a stress drill with stick and knife defenses. When it was my turn to defend, I accidentally punched Curtis in the face. Oops. Sorry, Curtis!

After class, I found out that in Saranya’s BJJ class, she was awarded “Queen of the Mat”. Congrats, Saranya!

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805BJJ Class 21: forward fall breaks and rolling, stripe

Jumped in after KM46. The whole class was forward break falls. I kept getting confused with the KM ground fighting, and I really need to practice that. A lot. It was embarrassing.

After a whole 45 minutes of practicing that, we rolled. I decided to focus on survival and base. First was Howard the purple belt, who went easy and let me recover guard after he mounted me. Next was Phil, then Chris, then Daniel, then Jen. I pulled off an arm bar from mount vs. Chris, to the delight of Christian. I swept Jen from side control and she accused me of using “pure muscle”, so when she passed my guard later I accused her of muscling it. That was funny.

At the end of class, I got my first white belt stripe! Jen got 2 stripes. You get 5 stripes as a white belt, then you get blue. It should take a year to a year and a half of regular training.

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Krav Maga Class 46: ladder circuits, ground fighting

Christian’s Tuesday morning KM All class started off with some ladder circuits. Ali shuffle, Diki shuffle, etc. I came in with sore hands but once I got going they barely bothered me.

The whole rest of the class was ground fighting. Maneuverability drills with Melissa. Bag kicking drills. Then we had getting-up-and-running competitions. Melissa gets going fast!

After class I scrambled to change and get back on the mat for 805BJJ21.

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