MMA and me; day 76

So I preface this all by saying I was at the gym for four hours yesterday, and I may not recall everything perfectly. I started off stretching, and then jumped in for some bump drills with one of the coaches, and that was simply no fun at all. I've rarely gone against someone who throws hooking heel kicks, and never with someone who throws them up to the shoulder. To say my legs are sore and bruised is an understatement. Next, I grappled for almost two hours straight, and quite a bit with a young man who has me outweighed by over 100 pounds. I finished off with bag hangs for an undisclosed amount of time, and then worked on my grip by squeezing a medicine ball against my chest for about ten minutes straight, then it was time for boxing.

We worked another very long combo, but broke it down into manageable bits. The first bit went 2-3-2-roll-2-3-2-catch-2-3-2-3-3-2. Twelve punches. Next we added a roll-2-3-2, and upped the total to 15. Then we added 2-3-2-roll-2-3-2-catch, making it a 21 punch combo. We rounded it out at 25 punches total, by adding a body block-6-2-3-2. This took up the entirety of class, and it took me a moment just now to try and remember the whole thing. By the end, it was feeling really good, and fluid. The key is not throwing hardly any power, and just tapping the focus mitts, so you can get the timing and combos down. Fun stuff.

So the fourth and final hour of class was grappling, but it was a grappling conditioning class, and I wont run you through the laundry list of exercises we did, but suffice to say, they kicked my behind proper. It felt sort of good, but at this point, I was so worn down, that I started to give up a little, and I need to get tougher mentally. That being said, I am finally recovered from it as I type (24 hours later) and I realize that I need those classes from time to time. Not only to test myself, but to make me realize I need to check my ego at the door. A very good day of class not only from a physical standpoint, but a mental one as well.