MMA and me; day 73

Three more hours in the bag, and they were a rough three hours. In MMA class, all we did was grapple, but there was a little more to it than that. We warmed up for the first ten minutes by jogging around the mat, and at random intervals doing push ups, sit ups, and squat jumps. We then all got in a circle for a drill called the shark tank. The first two people to our coaches left, then grappled for a minute. After the minute was up, the first person (in this case me) stayed in, and then the next person to the left jumped in and grappled with me for a minute. It went like this all around the circle, until I had grappled with everyone, a total of nine people. Then the guy to my left jumped in, and he grappled with everyone for a minute each. By the time I was done, I was exhausted, and had a new appreciation for endurance. So that's why MMA class kicked my ass so hard.

Kickboxing was the same as Monday. We covered front and rear leg push kicks, and then worked combos with those kicks as well. For the straight push kicks, I'm getting better at bringing my knee straight up and leaning back while popping my hips forward to get a lot of force out of the kick. The first combo was the lead leg push kick to mid 10. The key to this is to bring your lead leg down across the body of your opponent, so you don't have to reposition it to throw the mid 10. As you drop it down to the side, lean over your hip, and really whip the second kick around, with the intention of digging it into the ribcage. The second combo was a rear leg push kick to mid 10. This one feels a little more awkward, mostly because your instinct is to bring your rear leg back to your orthodox stance after you've thrown it, and what you really want to do is bring it straight down from the opening push kick, essentially switching your stance, and from there you almost run up to reset your stance and throw the mid 10. It felt very awkward at first, but you can get some really impressive power on the second kick once you get the motion down. We finished off with five minutes of alternating flutter kicks, over unders, and leg holds.

Grappling was all about sweeps. First was one from the guard. You open your guard, and get a butterfly hook on their left side. Next, slide the hook to mid thigh, and simultaneously pop their leg out with that hook and lift, while bringing your other leg down to block their right leg, and flip them onto their back, then kick your leg out and end up in high judo, making sure to grab a far side under hook. Next were a couple of sweeps from half guard. The first was if they have a really wide base, and have an over hook on your side that is off the mat. You want to grab a under hook on the same side as you have their leg wrapped up in your half guard, and post up on the other arm. From here, dive your arm you are posting on under their far side leg, get in tight, and from there all you have to do is roll them back across your body until you are in side control, with a far side under hook. The last sweep was also from half guard, but was for an opponent who was a very narrow base where you can't get that arm under their leg. So from the exact same position, instead of slipping your arm under their leg, simply lunge your outside leg behind you, and drive your shoulder into their ribcage, pushing them back over their butt, once again ending in side control with a far side under hook. Simple, but effective.