Mizblog

Curtis’ Saturday morning class, and the first one since my dad came to live with me. We started out with a TON of cardio, and my bronchitis was inflamed. Then we worked on kicks (front/round/turning-back) with a little bit of live look drill on the turning back kick at the end. The finale was kick shield mounting, destroying it and alternately standing and stomping.

Brandon had laryngitis for his Saturday morning class. My first class in a month and second in 2 months. My chronic bronchitis has started to clear up so I decided to take a risk and jump in.

Warm up was easy. I went light on the thai pad combos, swapping John in and Susan out as a training partner. He coached me to keep a tighter line for the front/side kick combo. I worked on my recoil and balance for the scissor kick.

Sparring at the end with no head gear, mainly targeting the body with the techniques focused in the class. It was *very* light and I did fine.

Brandon’s Saturday morning class, and my first since injuring my rib on July 4th. Two KM classes this month, woo!

Easy warm up, thai pads, front leg front kick and round kick, with followup combos.

Sparring sucked. We were limited to straight punches + body hook, and front leg front/round kicks. Going to the body feels dangerous if that knee might come up into your face. I spent the whole time covering up my rib and turning it away, so my left side took a lot of beating. At least I landed a shot or two against everyone I matched up with, but I feel like they all got the best of me.

I remembered a part of a dream I had last night. The snippet started after Brandon had been the victim of an aggressive driver on the street. Some guy had done something dangerous and had acted like Brandon was intentionally messing with him by using the street. Anyway, the guy stops at the next traffic signal and Brandon pulls up next to him, parks his car, gets out, and goes over to this guy’s car. Brandon opens the door and pulls the guy out onto the ground. The guy’s a short thin man with wavy light brown hair and a beard. Brandon is huge, weighing in north of 300 lbs, and a trained self defense instructor. Anyway, Brandon carefully drags the guy out and onto the hot pavement, where the guy ends up lying with his legs under his own car and his seat belt wrapped around his neck. Brandon calmly sits in his driver’s chair, secures the guy’s car so it won’t roll off, puts his foot on the guy’s chest, and calmly starts to explain to him that his behavior is unacceptable and that it could have dire consequences.

I was very impressed with Brandon’s calm, gentle violence and teaching method. Even though the guy he taught isn’t a real person, and I would never be able to pull off that maneuver, I bet it would go over well in a movie.

Brandon’s class started just as we got there. Saranya’s BJJ class started late too, thank goodness. Class started with 2 straight minutes of jumping jacks while Brandon figured out the sound system. Then it was a quick warm up circuit before shoulder tag (I jammed my thumb) and the kicking combo game (Ray and I got to 9, the lowest in the class).

Next was thai pads and boxing gloves. We did 1-4 combos followed by a kick, then 1-4 combos followed by a sprawl. Then we did boxing sparring for a couple rounds, then we did the same with one puncher and one who could only do a front kick. The last round I went to kick Dave and he blocked with his forearm and my toe went straight into it, jamming it and dropping me to my knees. It was very painful.

Last was defense/attack combos against straight punches. I did not do great.

Pam’s Saturday morning class started with her complimenting me on my carry-fold of my BJJ gi. Then we got into shadow boxing mixed with jumping jacks, push ups, squats, sprawls, and sit ups. After that we paired up and our partners pulled us back using a belt around our waists while we sprinted across the mat and side-shuffled back for 2 minutes each. It was exhausting! The clock felt broken.

That done, we did a couple rounds of focus mitts. Combos 1-5 and then the same with a quick double jab cross added to the end. I did alright. Hardest part was holding pads for Scott, and that went okay too.

After that we did a one-in skill drill where we slowly and deliberately defended with all the level 1 and 2 chokes, bear hugs, etc. I did remarkably alright, with a few hiccups from rust. After everyone got their two minutes, we got further instruction on the carotid choke defense, as well as the bear hug from behind with a lift. Pam thought it was an orange belt technique, but I thought it was green belt. Anyway, it was the first time I’d seen the technique taught outside youtube in all my Krav Maga training. I just checked the green belt curriculum and yes indeed there it is! IN YOUR FACE PAM! ;P

Anyway, after that we went to the back alley where we did choke defenses while being pushed against the wall. On stucco. Fun! Then we did a drill where one half of the class would spin with eyes closed, and the other half would administer chokes (front or back) and the spinner would have to do the defense.

In the middle of this, I was called to see the kids’ class, where Saranya got her first stripe on her yellow belt.

Brandon’s Saturday class was tuned to the five new students on the mat. We did tombstone pad punching and kicking, then we did thai pad combos with kicks. Saranya hurt her back attempting a double leg takedown when Ella sprawled on top of her, but she was alright.

Curtis’ Saturday morning class saw him running on reduced sleep after a bounty hunt in Compton last night. He started us running and kept us running for 5 minutes. We did about 15 minutes of warm ups before we got to hammer fist drills. I was in a group with Susan and new guy Scott. I hit the pad so hard that my pinky finger knuckle injured my ring finger knuckle. Then we did a stress drill with hammer fists only.

Last we did gun defense from the side, front of the arm.

Pam’s Saturday morning class started with shadow boxing, interspersed with squats, push ups, sit ups, squats, push ups, and sit ups. We then paired up and got straight into focus mitt combos. I was in a group of 3 with Susan and a new guy named Jose, so we swapped out with the heavy bag.

After that, we got kick shields and got one person in the middle. Then, for 2 minutes straight, the person in the middle was kicking the pad of the person who called their name. All angles. Front, back, and side kicks. Moving in with step kicks. It was exhausting!

Then we put on shin guards and did a couple short rounds of kick boxing sparring. I did a half round with Susan and half with Jose, then I went a whole round with Ray. It went okay. We didn’t have head gear on so we didn’t hit very hard to the face.

Once that was done, we put away our gear and practiced straight knife defense. It’s a wrist redirection with the outside hand, pinning it to the abdomen while the other hand comes under the knife grip hand. Pull the knife wielding forearm vertical and throw some lower body combatives while you keep straight arms to control the knife, then do the ol’ wrist roll takeaway. Push forward toward the knife, then unroll the fingers as you strip the knife out.

I got to class late because of lingering issues following a server Ubuntu LTS upgrade that went pear shaped last night and into this morning, plus insufficient sleep from being woken up to try to help a bratty daughter who didn’t want help but instead wanted someone to do her homework for her. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up when the girls left, got coffee, burrowed back into work, and didn’t finish until 10:40am.

Got on the mat while Dave was warming up the class. We did shrimping and tumbling and fall breaks until coach Mark stopped us and told us that our fall breaks sucked, and that we should practice them right from the beginning so we don’t get addicted to bad technique. I was guilty of the following sins: crossing my feet on the fall break stand up, coming up to my elbow on the fall break, not cupping my hand when slapping the mat, and slapping the mat too far away from my body to be effective. I have to work on all of those bad habits. Oh, and not rounding my body and rolling a little to dissipate energy when I land. That too. Especially on the side fall break, which I barely learned in Krav Maga for my orange belt test.

Then we did some broken down practice drills solo before going back to trying the shoulder roll fall break again. I found it very awkward to get back to my feet without crossing them, so I guess I just need more momentum.

Anyway, that took a half hour, and then we were on to side control and far arm isolation. Use your underhook arm to make a shelf under their shoulder. Use your other hand to backhand windshield wiper their far hand and staple it onto the mat. Then turn that hand over to a monkey C grip as your underhook turns over and hooks your own wrist under your opponent’s arm, and then pull the elbow down toward the hip and lift.

For side control, it’s all about controlling the hips and maintaining an over/under of some sort. I learned two new grips. One was pants grip at the butt cheek, and the other was between-the-legs pants grip. Both of them, you grip the fabric and pin it to the mat. I also learned how to control the hips in reverse kesa.

Then we rolled. I got regular top-ups from the Goo tube I brought, so I was ready to roll. I started with Greggo and he gently dominated me for the first 4.5 minutes before tapping me with a fist in my jaw. Very excellent hip control from top side control on his part. No more letting me have dominant grips to start off. I’m moving up!

I next rolled with Cowboy. I again got him in the bow and arrow choke, and coach Mark thought I was closer to finishing than I was, so he urged me to just keep cranking on it. My grip gave out after a couple minutes and Cowboy escaped.

Then I rolled with Cosmo. I frustrated him a lot in my closed guard, but he did eventually break it and I tried to turtle and go for a single leg on him. I don’t know why I try to do that to him, because it never ever works.

Then I went with Ryan, who I took down from the knees and tapped with an arm bar. As we restarted, he expressed frustration at being taken down so much, and he swore I wouldn’t take him down again. 3 seconds later, I had taken him down again, and he was laughing. I can relate. I used to get taken down regularly too. Now I’m doing my share of the takedowns.

After that was Phil. He let me get top side control and then tried to lock up a baseball bat choke. Instead of mounting him, though, I rotated to north-south and un-twisted his grips for him. When he tried to switch them up, I secured one of his arms for an arm bar, and applied consistent pressure to try to get him to let it go and give me his arm. He eventually did, but as I was trying to lock up the arm bar he went belly down, so I followed, and he did a sky cartwheel to escape and end up on top of side control. Wow.