Mizblog

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.

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.

Just 3 in the class today: me, TJ and Daniel. So we did a bunch of quick drills of top/middle/out where two would start in a position while the other watched. First it was full guard, and later it was full mount, then prone, then prone with a choke. I hurt my jammed thumb, jammed my right big toe, and got hit in the mouth. Learned some good practicals, like mount escape and don’t trust your neck. TJ had to leave early so Daniel and I rolled for 6 minutes.

My rib held up fine, but my thumb and toe are dinged.

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. :)

Mark was glad to see me come back. He even brought in some weight plates to show me an exercise to strengthen my upper core (awesome!).

We first covered tipping the turtle. Instead of going knee-to-knee and rolling the turtle guy over, instead we took a wide base and pulled the turtle over hard, then pulled them up onto our lap, got the upper hook, and then rolled over to make it the lower hook. The lower hook is the key to controlling the hips and putting them on the rack.

Then we learned some guillotine techniques. Standing guillotine, north-south stand-up guillotine, double-leg takedown guillotine.

I didn’t roll at the end of class, but Mark stayed for a minute to show me the exercise he wants me to do every warmup. Take a plate and circle it around your head (both ways) while keeping your head in a neutral position.

Afterward, my rib feels a little tender. Good thing I get to rest it until next Tuesday.

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.

I saw my new doctor last Thursday. He wants an x-ray of my ribs before he gives the OK to get back on the mat.

The injury is getting a lot better. One week in, it’s no longer excruciating when I flinch or sneeze or lean down to tie my shoe. It’s getting less uncomfortable to sleep as well. I think I got a good night’s sleep last night for the first time since the injury happened.

The time off is also allowing me to rest my hands and let that sprained finger to heal the rest of the way up.

The doctor also wants an x-ray of my left knee because it’s been a problem for 6 years. Try to find out what’s going on in there, and also get some physical therapy. I was supposed to call them about the physical therapy yesterday (there was some problem I guess) but I didn’t find out about that until they were long closed.

I got my new boxing gloves also on Thursday. Can’t wait to try them out!

Can’t wait to get back on the mat!

Covered the side control escape with the far side underhook again.

Then we rolled. I started with Rick, and within the first 4 minutes I’d tapped 3 times and finally had my rib pop, ending my class participation for the day. I got to sit with Mark and apply ice to my ribcage. Very disappointing.

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.

Jumped in at the last second for this one. There were a lot of advanced students, including a guest black belt whose name I forgot. Chris? Anyway, Rick was there. He’s that 6’4″ monster from Krav Maga, but today I found out that he’s also a purple belt in BJJ. NOT FAIR! He’s too awesome.

We started with some hip scoots and my left glute was screaming at me. The hyperextended left elbow was just a constant ache. The sprained finger was fine though, and no twinges whatsoever from the calf!

So the whole class we drilled defense from side control. Rotate for the underhook. Paste it to the back, turn in, get to the knees, and sweep/pass/pull guard. I paired with Josh again, and he was a good training partner.

After all that, it was live rolling. I had to leave early so I only did 2 rounds. First round was with the new black belt whose name I forgot already dammit. He showed me how to retain guard, starting guard passes and letting me try to recover. That was awesome. I learned a lot.

Second and last round was with Rick the, well, monster purple belt. I tried to keep him in my guard using all those techniques the black belt showed me, but eventually he got past and submitted me with a couple of neat moves. First an arm bar, and second a fist in the neck. After that I had to leave to get Sangeeta and Saranya from school, and take them to get Sangeeta’s car out of the shop.