Mizblog

TJ’s Saturday morning class. Started right in to shadow boxing. I did okay mostly. Partnered with Mike for the class.

Next we took turns running out to the speed bump behind the studio with a heavy thing, then came back in to do combos in thai pads. 3 rounds then switch.

After that we did boxing sparring. I didn’t land a whole lot but I didn’t get tagged a lot either, except by Susan. But I tagged her a couple good times too, so I don’t feel too bad.

Then it was gear off and back on the mat for stick defense. I got a group of 3, with Mike and Leo (who I barely remembered from BJJ class, and who complimented me on looking “thicker” than when we met) and we went 1 for 1 for 1. It went really well.

Finally we did a stress drill with stick and knife defenses. When it was my turn to defend, I accidentally punched Curtis in the face. Oops. Sorry, Curtis!

After class, I found out that in Saranya’s BJJ class, she was awarded “Queen of the Mat”. Congrats, Saranya!

Jumped in after KM46. The whole class was forward break falls. I kept getting confused with the KM ground fighting, and I really need to practice that. A lot. It was embarrassing.

After a whole 45 minutes of practicing that, we rolled. I decided to focus on survival and base. First was Howard the purple belt, who went easy and let me recover guard after he mounted me. Next was Phil, then Chris, then Daniel, then Jen. I pulled off an arm bar from mount vs. Chris, to the delight of Christian. I swept Jen from side control and she accused me of using “pure muscle”, so when she passed my guard later I accused her of muscling it. That was funny.

At the end of class, I got my first white belt stripe! Jen got 2 stripes. You get 5 stripes as a white belt, then you get blue. It should take a year to a year and a half of regular training.

Christian’s Tuesday morning KM All class started off with some ladder circuits. Ali shuffle, Diki shuffle, etc. I came in with sore hands but once I got going they barely bothered me.

The whole rest of the class was ground fighting. Maneuverability drills with Melissa. Bag kicking drills. Then we had getting-up-and-running competitions. Melissa gets going fast!

After class I scrambled to change and get back on the mat for 805BJJ21.

TJ’s Saturday morning class. Starting off stiff and tender, and ending even more so.

We started with warm up, then shoulder tag, then a very slow intro to various punch defenses. Bobbing and weaving, answer-the-phone blocking, slipping, inside defenses. Then we started putting them into practice in pairs.

Spent the last 2 minutes of class boxing sparring, and I got lit up by a guy who was not even wearing headgear.

Skipped the Krav Maga class today because I overslept. Came into BJJ fresh.

Started with Kimura from half guard. C-grip the overhook-side wrist, pull it away from the body, hip out, reach over for the monkey grip on your own wrist (of the hand that’s C-gripping their wrist, got it?), same-side calf across their back, and pull the arm over their own head for the tap.

Rolled pretty easy with Daniel, TJ, Jen, and prof. Mark. Learned a ton about maintaining and resting in closed guard. Survived without injury! I think…

Small-ish class. Me, Thomas, Jeff, and Arlene. We were all a bit beat up, but warm up commenced.

After a push-up circuit, I started getting a cramp in my left triceps. I rubbed it and favored it until it calmed down.

We did face punching and leg kicking to toughen each other up.

We did some kicks and movement drills, then mixed in inside and outside drills. I felt I did way better than I used to do.

We mixed it in with kick blocking drills. Then we incorporated them in the partner work, doing punch and kick blocks. Finally, we got to almost-sparring.

Jumped into this one last second. Feeling brittle.

Warm ups, culminating in getting dragged across the mat by my belt under my armpits. That sucked.

Then some choke techniques from mount. My throat is bruised.

Then arm bar from mount. I realized I was terrified of crushing the guy under me, but I never did. Eric did crush me though. Got his forearm on my collar bone and made me tap.

Then we rolled, and I got demolished. Smashed the shit out of me and tapped me just from pressure on my ribs. I thought I was getting tougher but nope. I sucked today.

Feeling delicate going in. This one is going to suck, but I’m going anyway.

Started with a cardio circuit, then kick combos to our unpadded partner, then kicks to the bag, then kicks to a partner with a pad.

Then we did a getting punched drill. Eric messed me up. When it was his turn to block, he messed me up more.

Then we tried to pick each other up, and finished with a rugby scrum.

First BJJ class that I saw Mark since he went to Thailand. He has an infected cyst that he’s on antibiotics for, and he’s a little loopy. Still, he’s better than yesterday, and he taught class despite his ailment. I was humbled.

We started off right away with review of the seated gi choke. Kind of like a bow and arrow choke. Anyway, it was the one that in a previous class, Josh had given me a crazy hickey. I got in a group of 3 (Chris and Jen) and barely got any practice. Then we did a half nelson version of the same, where instead of pulling down on the gi with the other hand, it instead hooked the elbow out and up high over the opponent’s head, and then shot down behind the neck to complete the choke. We then learned to apply this to a turtled opponent, rolling them into our lap, hooking and racking them, hooking that elbow up and then shooting the hand down behind their neck to complete the choke.

Then it was all rolling. I rolled with new Chris, Ray, Sean, and Curtis. All went very well in the sense that I didn’t get injured. I suspect guys were going easy on me because I’m old, and I very much appreciate their treatment of me. Curtis tapped me a couple times, but at least he was gentle. :)

And I made it to Costco and then home safely.

Curtis’ Saturday KM All class. Saranya was doing her first ever BJJ class with Jasmine (we didn’t know it would be going on, so she didn’t bring her gi) while I was working.

Class started with shoulder tag. I accidentally poked my finger into Calvin’s nose. Sorry, Calvin.

Then, thai pads and combinations followed by a knee. I partnered up with white belt Mike.

After that we worked on inside defenses, which is great because I suck at them. Mike and I went slow and I don’t know how much I improved but I feel like maybe I did. We also did defense against straight punch to the body. Then we did one hand defenses against straight punches. Then we put on boxing gloves and headgear.

As I was getting my stuff, Christian yelled at me from the kids’ training room that Saranya knew how to pull guard. I yelled “Yeah!”. I’m so proud. :)

I got to introduce Mike to sparring. We started one handed, then switched who was one handed, and then went normal.

After that I sparred with Scott, Alex, and Renée. Scott got me a few times. Alex was being showy and elusive, so I just started chasing him around with punches (to the great satisfaction of Curtis). Renee and I traded some pretty good shots. She’d just come in and wail on me and get out, so I started trying to time her with uppercuts as she came in.

And that was class.