Mizblog

Kurtis taught this Saturday morning class. At first, I thought it might turn into a private lesson for me, but a couple people stayed from the StrikeFit class (Susan and Dave) and then Ray showed up in the middle of warm ups. Anyway, warm ups started with running around the mat for a few minutes. The usual. Broke into a few bouts of shoulder tag (Susan poked me in the nose) and then the stretching bit.

Gloves and focus mitts on, we paired up and did basic combos on the focus mitts. I paired with Dave, and coached him on how to throw his punches. He tends to lower his hands before throwing the punch, rather than throwing it straight from his fighting stance. So I coached him a little bit. Curtis did too, about twisting his body for the hook punch. On my turn, my punches were quick, crisp, and efficient (mostly). I had a little trouble throwing the upper cut after the hook on a 4, because I had to un-twist my body and that action didn’t load the upper cut.

After that, we took off the gloves and got a tombstone pad, into which we threw front kicks and round kicks. Then we learned a new technique – spinning round kick! Dave started, and he was having a hard time getting the whole rotation. I had a much easier time of it, and was landing some very good kicks!

Once we were done with the kicks, we put on headgear and gloves and mouth guard and got to boxing sparring. I started with Dave, and he immediately started bull rushing me so I put my jab in his face over and over, backing then circling. He was pawing at my hands, and Curtis had to stop us to tell him to commit to knocking my hands away and following with a punch. We got back to it and I mostly was lighting him up, but he did land a good right hook to the side of my head that hurt.

My next opponent was Susan, and we went very light. She landed a couple good body shots on me, and I landed several head shots on her.

Last opponent was Ray. He was surprised that I faced off with him in a southpaw stance. I asked him if he was used to fighting against southpaws, and he explained patiently to me that he’s a natural southpaw. I clarified that I was asking him if he was used to fighting southpaw opponents, and he said he was not. We got after it, and I noticed he has a habit of ducking way down, and then standing up with a left straight punch that was hitting me regularly. I told him it was serving him well, and he admitted it was a bad habit. I told him I was trying to time it, but he was hitting me anyway. By the end of the round, I was able to put some pressure on him and keep him busy dodging and not attacking, but I was getting tired and was forgetting to move my head. Still, I felt I improved.