Krav Maga Class 40: getting punched in the face, getting punched in the body, boxing, choke defenses front/side

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!

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Krav Maga Class 39: 1-4 combinations, combos in/from guard, mount defense and shrimp escape

Christian’s Tuesday morning class. Started with just me and Thomas, but Jeff jumped in just as soon as we started warm-ups.

Once we got the warm up and stretch done, we got on heavy bags and practiced our 1-4 combos. Then we partnered up and did those combos either in the guard or while holding the pad holder in our guard. It was exhausting. Then we did a mount drill where the person on bottom tried to defend strikes while scooting to keep the top person from trapping their arms with a high mount. I got Thomas at the end with a high mount, and he was very unhappy about it. When Jeff was on top of me, I was able to keep him almost constantly off balance.

After that we learned shrimp/elbow escape from mount. Make space, get your leg out, shrimp the other way, kick them off and get to your feet. I felt very comfortable doing that. Jeff was impressed with how quickly I was able to hit the escape. Like a wizard!

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Krav Maga Class 38: shadow boxing, shoulder tag, bursting punch/elbow/kick, gun defense from front/back

TJ’s Thursday class. Feeling good. Started jogging, then shadow boxing, and a little shoulder tag. Moved into stretching, and then did bursting in punches with focus mitts. After that it was bursting in elbows with tombstones, then turning/bursting elbows to the rear with tombstones, and then front kicks. My thumb got dinged a few times.

We wrapped it up with gun defenses from front/back. Had to go in the back room to finish, as BJJ class was starting up. Had a surround drill with all level 1 chokes plus guns front and back.

I survived. Need to work on explosiveness of my defenses.

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Krav Maga Class 37: legs, kicking, ground fighting and get up, gun defense

Christian taught this Tuesday morning class. I came in early to wrap my hands, but Christian said I wouldn’t need the wraps.

We started with partners, one holding the other’s single leg and moving around, so the “hopper” would have to hop around to keep balance until the timer dinged. Both people, both legs. Then we did the hip twisting hop, turning the hopping leg 90 degrees and pivoting the hip to turn the held knee in and down.

Next was thai pads, front kick, round kick, all the way down the mat and back, then switch pad holders. Then we did front kick, round kick, knee down and back. Then we switched stances and did it all again.

After that we did ground stuff. Pad holder bumps non-pad-holder, who falls and does a fall break, and moves into ground fighting stance. Pad holder walks around and grounded fighter has to track them. Pad holder moves in and grounded fighter throws a kick to the pad. Once, twice, thrice. Then grounded fighter does a get-up from the ground and becomes the pad holder.

Next ground drill was the same, but after throwing the first kick, the pad holder dropped the pad and mounted the grounded fighter, raining down punches. Mounted fighter does punch defenses and then bridges to knock them down. Buck, trap, and roll. Throw punches, break guard and get up. I dinged my thumb on Thomas’ knee throwing a fake groin punch while getting up. Ouch. I didn’t want to do that.

Lastly we did gun defenses, which was not fun with my injured right thumb. I held lefty. It went okay. Then I iced my thumb.

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Krav Maga Class 36: shoulder tag, focus mitts, ground strikes, mount escape

TJ’s Saturday morning class. I started with hand wraps. Typical jogging warm-up followed by shoulder tag. I was very careful with my right thumb. Susan gave me lots of sympathy (apparently she’s been hurt by Rick too) but Eric (Thor) chastised me for too much backing up. So I touched his shoulder and he touched mine and he was happier.

We did some focus mitt work. I paired with old man Mike, and he showed me some stuff and I got better.

The rest of the class was ground stuff. Getting up off the ground, and getting out from under the mount, and getting up from the guard. I really struggled with the nuances of getting up from the guard. I kept wanting to raise the front knee instead of the rear one. Gotta practice that.

Saranya waited for me, spending the hour doing 4 pages of Kumon and getting ahead of her KMX homework.

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Krav Maga Class 35: focus mitts, elbows, full nelson defense

TJ taught the class. I barely made it. Feeling fragile and hungry going in.

Shadow boxing and shoulder tag. I jammed my right thumb again in shoulder tag. I need to tuck it in or something, because even wearing the hand wraps didn’t protect it at all.

I practiced holding focus mitts for a lefty (Melissa) again. I’m getting better at both ways, but it’s going to take a LOT of work.

We did elbow strikes. Meh.

We did a combo+elbow stress drill. Meh.

We learned full nelson defense, and my fingers didn’t get broken. :)

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Krav Maga class 34: thai pads, brown belt kicks

First class back after injury! 3.4 weeks off and I jumped back in today.

TJ taught the class, and we had a fun warm up that culminated with a 3-way medicine ball toss between me, Thomas, and Melissa.

We moved on to thai pads. Melissa is a southpaw, and I was holding 3 combos for her and 3 combos for Thomas (who’s a righty) so it was more than a little disconcerting. Still, it got me some practice in a low stress environment, and neither of those guys were kicking through me or punching my shoulders off. Good things on a first day back.

Thomas had asked TJ about brown belt kicks and combos, so we went over several of those. Step-in front leg front kick. Scissoring knee. Outside slap kick + front kick. Outside slap kick + round kick. I did great on the slap kick, despite my gimpy knee. It feels wonky now but not too bad.

No stress drills though. TJ promised us 2 drills in the next class.

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Krav Maga Class 33: shadow boxing, slip, bob, and weave, Rick

TJ’s Saturday KM ALL class. I came in with a left knee that sounded like sizzling bacon as I bent it, so I threw on a knee sleeve and hoped for the best.

Started warm ups with some jogging and side shuffles and backward running. Knee was fine.

Did some shadow boxing and then shoulder tag. Paired up with Rick first, and he just about shoved his fingers through my chest. Ouch!

Next was slipping punches and bobbing/weaving. Stuck with Rick, who is a monster. I got my hands pummeled, though I only got hit in the head once.

Then we did front kicks from neutral stance, and Rick bruised my right thumb so bad that it’s got a huge red welt on it. Vicious kicks.

Ended the class with knife threat from distance, where we smack the knife across the attacker’s body, kick them in the junk, and run away. Didn’t hurt as bad as holding pads, surprisingly enough.

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Krav Maga Class 32: strikes, stress drill, chokes with push

Came into class late with a sprained finger. Got in late because Sangeeta’s car had to go into the shop for 2 new tires and an alignment. Barely did any warm-up.

First drill we did was striking. I paired up with Josh (yes, the same guy who gave me the hickey in BJJ a couple weeks ago). Punches and palm strikes to tombstone pad. Elbows and knees to a tombstone pad. He had heavy knees but not so strong elbows. I was destroying with everything. Hammer fists and front kicks. Lots of cardio and intensity on the strikes. I very early on strained my left gluteus minimus (when twisting on a left elbow strike I think) and it’s been bugging me ever since, but I didn’t stop.

After all this cardio, we did a stress drill where we circled the one in the middle, pushing them with kick shields, and the person in front of them held their shield for some particular kind of strike. I think this is when I hyperextended my left elbow.

After that we took the party out into the alley behind the school and did choke with push defenses. From the front and from behind, we learned and practiced both. We even got into stairways and among the parking pillars to add real world obstacles and awareness to the drill. I think I did a pretty good job.

Afterward, I got ice on my left elbow/bicep and moved on to 805BJJ.

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Krav Maga Class 31: shadow boxing, scissoring knee, focus mitts, gun from behind

After watching Saranya’s KMX ALL class, I stayed for Krav Maga. TJ taught, starting us out shadow boxing. I did okay but tired quickly.

Next we got a kick shield and did scissoring knees. I paired with Thor (Eric) and did kind of okay I guess.

Then we gloved up and got focus mitts and I paired up with Ray. He’s a southpaw, and I’m really awful at holding mitts for a southpaw. I mean, I’m bad at holding them for regular folk, and I’m special awful when I try to do it all backward.

On one of the first left hooks, I re-aggravated my left bicep. It was painful, but I didn’t quit. Stumbled through the combos and felt really awful the entire time.

Then we did knife and gun defense from behind. I did pretty good on those. We ended with a drill where we lined up and practiced the defense against all the others in the class, and they’d get to choose knife or gun that we’d have to defend. The difference is you don’t grab the sharp part of the knife, and you don’t put your hand in front of the gun barrel.

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