Mizblog

Brandon’s Saturday morning class got going before I got on the mat. I was listening to TJ’s story about his arm, and how he’s going to need surgery but he can’t get it now because he’s stabilizing his workplace in a time of turbulence and chaos. I got into jumping jacks, and what seemed like a very brief and easy warm up that included shoulder tag. Then we paired off into partners with thai pads, and I got paired with Ethan, who’s a tall skinny teen blue belt. He came into class with black jeans, a concert tshirt, and his iphone in his pocket. He wore MMA gloves and didn’t bring a mouth guard. His thai pad combinations were all straight punches, and he stood southpaw and insisted on reversing the order of right-only then left-only kicks after the punching combinations. I had to go very easy on the kicks because I would knock the pads into his face if I went very hard.

Next was knee strikes. He was very sloppy and didn’t put much pressure on me at all, and I was able to just walk away if I wanted to. I did once, just to see. I told him to get heavier and get that forearm up against me. At least his knee strikes were noticeable through the pad. Then it was my turn and I showed him what I meant. He was holding the pad away from his body, so I guess he was feeling those knees even though I was going fairly light and conserving energy. We drove each other across the mat and back with knee strikes, then we geared up for combat.

The first rounds of sparring was just one person attacking and the other defending. I got hit with a good upper cut when I was expecting a hook, so I learned from that. I also was reminded that slipping inside leaves your head exposed to power punches, so that’s a real bad idea.

Then we sparred 20% each side. Ethan and I landed some good shots on one another. Apparently I leave my body open a lot.

Next round was with Ivan, who was suffering from allergies. He kept me away with some good body kicks, which didn’t feel good. I didn’t do as bad as I usually do against him.

Then I sparred with Dave, who clinched and messed me up pretty good.

Last was Susan, who joined me in going very very light.