MMA and me; day 50

Well, here I am with an extremely sore leg, and now I know why it is preferable to check leg kicks with the shin, instead of eating them in the thigh. So we worked leg kicks again, this time throwing a 10 then a 9, and having them both checked. Not too bad, they guy I was partnered with clearly has been doing this for a while, so his kicks land a little more cleanly, but it builds character, right? Anyways, the next drill, was checking your partners 10, then countering with a switch, high 9. I've had trouble with this in the past, mostly because I am not a flexible individual. Much to my surprise, I was getting my kick up to the ribcage/shoulder area! I'm very slowly working out the inflexibility I've had my whole life. So we did a couple rounds of that, and then we moved onto what I think may have been my least favorite drill to date. One person threw an inside 9, and instead of checking it, the kickee would swing the leg out as it was kicked, and then immediately counter with a low 10. Let me tell you, even with shin pads, taking a low 10 from someone who knows how to properly throw one.... is a less than desirable outcome. As the tears welled up (no joke!) We finished the drill, and moved onto the last couple of rounds. We lined up on the three heavy bags in the gym, and for five minutes, the first person in each line would run up to the heavy bag, throw ten 10s, then run to the back of the line, and the next person would go. After that we did the same with 9s, we finished up with our standard plank position, and then it was on to jiu jitsu.

After warming up with our standard shrimping drills, we went into three minutes of bear crawls. Let me tell you, if walking around on all fours sounds easy, try doing it that long without stopping, it is not so damned easy! With a good sweat going, we went right into a little leg lock flow. First you break down your opponents guard, by posting your hands on their hips, leaning back, digging your knee into their tailbone, and elbows into their inner thigh. As their legs separate, reach back, and swim your hand under their calf, and drop to your hip, throwing your same side leg as you have your hand under their calf, over their leg. From there, scoot your butt towards theirs, and work your grip down the calf, towards the heel, until you can feel the top of their foot in your armpit. Use your opposite arm to post up on, look over that shoulder, and arch your back, keeping your other hand flat on your stomach, and hopefully driving your wrist bone into their Achilles tendon.. This should cause them to tap, and is called an Achilles lock. It is painful, but not dangerous. The next submission in the flow, is in the event that you can't get the Achilles lock. Say you're trying, and trying, but just can't get it; drop to your back, and push their shin away with the hand opposite the one wrapped around their leg, with that hand, grab across the top of their toes, and site up, as you scoot your but out, bringing your leg that is over the top of their legs, in closer. From here, swim the hand not grabbing the toes under that arm, and grab your own wrist, then proceed to attempt to, and I quote my coach, "Try and put his foot, in his butt". It is the motion you want to really torque that foot and ankle, getting the tap out, and now you've learned an ankle lock! Good first day back after the holidays, now I'm going to wait and see how many pretty colors my legs turn.