Mizblog

My 8th class since I started up Krav Maga again. Jeremy taught. We started with shadow boxing, then shoulder tag. Susan chastised me for blocking.

Next up was focus mitts with grappling gloves. We did combos mixed with going to the ground and machine gunning punches. On the ground we were either on top or bottom, guard or mount. It was seriously exhausting. I was paired up with John and he pushed me to keep going through the 3 minute drill. Exhausting, but I made it. I’m getting better!

After that we started ground work. First was armbar from the guard. I got to practice it with John and Adam, so I didn’t practice that much, but I got my neck cranked and it popped. Let’s see how bad it hurts tomorrow. I’m icing my back and neck right now and I had an ibuprofen.

After armbar from the guard, we worked on triangle from both sides. I was seriously rusty with the BJJ stuff. It felt alien after all the time off.

Finally we did defense against mounted knife attack (in the last 5 minutes of the class, when apparently Susan always injures Larry) and Adam wasn’t committing to his knife strikes so I couldn’t wrap his arm. I should have bucked my hips to get him to fall forward! Didn’t realize until after class was over.

I got to listen to the Kings play the Ducks on the radio on the way over and on the way back. Got home in time to watch the 3rd period on TV. Kings lost in 3-on-3 OT when Ehrhoff left Perry alone in front of the net.

Saturday morning. Saranya had a sewing class so it was just me, driving in last minute, almost out of gas, scrambling for the bathroom, and paying for Saranya’s ongoing KM lessons.

I got paired up with Mike while Adam taught his first class. I didn’t know either guy, but I had seen Larry, Susan, Brian, and Brian before. Warm ups were not so bad, but both Mike and Brian were unable to jump because of their knees. I didn’t feel so bad about being gimpy compared to those guys.

For focus mitts I learned combo 5 – the liver punch finish. I need to work on that one. Also I need to work on holding my hook pad right in front of my face instead of out to the side. Nobody mentioned that I need to get my hands up in front of my face after a combo, so I might be getting better at that.

We also warmed up on all the level 1 chokes. 2 hand pluck from the front and back, 1 hand pluck from the front and the side. Head lock from the side. I was very very rusty.

Then we did basic gun from the front. New one on me. It seemed simple but I messed it up every single time in stress drill at the end. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After that we did overhand knife from the front (again) and then underhand knife from the front. They used to call it “Chinese Stab” but now they call it “what we used to call ‘Chinese Stab'”. That was harder but I did okay for my first time.

Finally, for stress drill, we did “Circle of Death” where one person goes in the middle and everyone else throws attacks on without a break, and the person in the middle has to defend as best they can. I forgot the choke from the side defense and I did the gun defenses wrong every damn time. Blah. But I kept my intensity and never quit. Survived the class and I’m not terribly sore or bruised up, as far as I can tell.

Found out they’re starting some daytime classes now. Tuesday 12:30pm is a Strikefit class, and Thursday 12:30pm is a KM ALL class (taught by AJ Draven himself). I might hit that one up…

Last week, my work laptop started progressively seizing up. I took it to the department tech shop and their analysis was “reinstall Windows”. I still suspect it’s a hardware issue, so the reinstalling Windows should have no effect, but I guess we’ll see.

Also last week, my home computer started crashing during video games. Today the graphics card just went blank, so I got a replacement. The new card is a Radeon 370 and is a lot noisier than the previous card (2 fans vs. 0 fans) but hopefully it’ll be better at video games. And text editing.

Tonight’s class was a technical class, and while it did get me sweating and breathing hard, I was able to keep up with everything.

Starting out with shadow boxing, then shoulder tag, then focus mitts with 1-2 combo, a hook defense, and another immediate 1-2 combo. My footwork needs a lot of work, but I did okay.

Next we did long gun defense, and learned a bit of history. It seems that KM Alliance is teaching a new method of long gun defense – redirect, wrap for control, attack and take away. The old way was more of a hand grab thing rather than a wrap, so the new system gives you more control of the weapon. I got a gnarly bruise on my right bicep. It’s a red mottled welt. I’m icing it.

The finale was stick-on-stick defense. The technique (overhand attack blocked crosswise overhead, followed by redirect and strikes) comes from old bayonet moves, since after WWII the Israeli military had a lot of surplus German bolt action rifles with bayonets.

My 4th Krav Maga class back went down this Saturday morning. There were lots of people invited to the classes to participate for publicity videos that AJ was having filmed. They were regular people. I liked them fine.

We had interesting rope-ladder warmup drills where we worked on footwork and took turns standing in line (big class!) so I feel the class size contributed to my sense of improving cardio. I wasn’t gassing out by the end of warmup.

Then we partnered up. I got paired last, with a girl. We did straight punches for what seemed forever, with a flurry drill that left me gassed by the end but I didn’t give up. We did round kicks and groin kicks, with the “Cheshire Cat” pad drill (or “Pendulum” drill, more traditionally) where the pad holder holds the pad at various angles and the kicker throws the appropriate kicks continuously. Exhausting!

For the defense technique, we did defense against a gun to the midsection from the side, in front of the arm. I may or may not have done that drill before, but it felt somewhat natural so maybe I did. I’m still kind of intimidated by guns. I view them with reverence and respect for their power and utility, and danger. Finally a defense technique that doesn’t hurt the defender (like the knife defenses we’d been doing the week before) but it sure bruises up the gun hand when you’re playing the attacker and having the gun twisted out of your hands repeatedly. If you do it right, you’re going to have a bruise between thumb and forefinger.

Saranya did her 3rd class (first with equipment and a belt) and I got to watch. The kids’ classes are way less intense than the adult classes, and Saranya’s home practice sometimes made her look like an expert in front of the other slacker goofy kids in the class. She learned 1-4 combos, groin kicks, and front choke pluck.

UPDATE: Four hours after the class, I’ve had a nap. My left knee feels really gimpy. When I try to straighten it, I feel pain on the outside of the joint.

UPDATE 2015-09-13: Knee feels better already, but sometimes goes “out” and has to be “popped” back in. This has been “normal” for years, but the discomfort of it being “out” feels worse now.

I signed up for a month of Krav Maga on Tuesday, and took a beginners’ class. Thursday morning and I’m quite sore. I’m banking on the prediction that the soreness will become more manageable the more I train. Maybe I can one day work my way up to taking 3 classes in a week!

In my Tuesday class we did punches, forward elbows, groin kicks, and 360 defenses. That was my 3rd class back, and my 3rd class in a row doing 360 blocks (first 2 were downward knife stab defenses). My wrists are darkening.

Saranya also started training Krav Maga this week. She should be passing me by in about a year, just because she’s able to recover more quickly and take more classes (3/week for her, half that for me so far.)