MMA and me; day 125

Kickboxing with Vern! It was my first full day with him, and the guy knows his mma. We worked the low 10 all class yesterday. First focusing on back and forth bump drills alternating between the outside 10 and the inside 10. When throwing the 10, make sure you're stepping across far enough to turn your leg out and connect with your shin to their thigh, then pushing off and returning to your stance. Next we worked a jab to low 10 combo, where you step in to throw the jab, then step off and lean into the 10. One of the main reasons to lean over the 10 is to avoid getting counter punched in the face, a point driven home by having our partner throw a straight right down the pipe after we threw our jab. If we weren't leaning over, we'd get punched in the face. Lastly we worked on throwing a jab, and throwing a 10 that would get checked. To properly check a low 10, you bring your lead leg up and out, keep it firm so it doesn't get swept out from underneath you, and slightly pop your hips forward. This should make shin on shin contact, and is much preferable to getting kicked in the thigh. We finished by doing 100 skip 10s, and then two minutes of partner leg throwdowns. On to jiu jitsu.

We worked knee bars yesterday, two different entries and a defense. Both entries were from half guard, with the first having you sweep your outside leg over their body to a crouching position, and bringing your other knee up so you're sitting on your opponents hips. Bringing your other knee up raises their legs up, so you under hook it with one of your arms, and use the other arm to straighten their leg by running it up their calf to the achilles and trapping it next to your head. Start to arch your hips, and roll to your side, which is what ever side they let you roll, it will happen. From there stay bunched up, pinching their thigh with your knees, and your feet on their bottom, and arch your back and extend your hips until they tap. The other entry is slightly different, where you spin the opposite direction and temporarily give up your back, but if you immediately under hook the leg, and pinch the thigh, they wont be able to do much to defend. Unless they do the defense we learned. If you're being knee barred, and the attacker is on their side, try to turn your knee up and away from them, giving yourself a chance to sit up. From here, over hook their leg that is nearest to you and kick away their other leg. As soon as you have gotten your knee clear of their hips, turn to your stomach, and push your other foot on their behind and shove yourself clear, knee bar avoided!