MMA and me; day 174

Ahh kickboxing, how I have missed you. So we worked on some bump drills yesterday. Starting throwing punch combos and working in the kick at the end. First it was just the typical kicks, low 10s and 9s, with an occasional heel kick. Then we started mixing in push kicks, and switch kicks, and different punch set ups. After several rounds, we moved onto working the Thai clinch. We began by doing skippies, which is alternating knees to the body while in the clinch, and also dragging your partner around and then throwing knees. The key things here are keeping your elbows in, and pulling the head in while you throw the knees. We then worked reclaiming the clinch in two ways. First by reaching across the face, and grabbing the shoulder, then with the other hand, pummeling around the back of the neck, and then reaching over and behind the head with the first hand. The other way, was to reach both hands over the clinch, and push your partners chin up, tilting their head back, and walking towards them, until you could swim your hands under the clinch, reclaiming an offensive position. We next moved to a move where you go from the Thai clinch to an under hook with your dominant arm, and hold their head down with your other hand, from there you throw a knee into their leg closest to you, then step through with that leg, and throw a knee to the head with your other leg. Lastly, we worked on legged knee drills for a minute per leg, where for the whole minute, while engaged in the clinch, you throw knees with one leg, not letting it touch the ground. It was quite intense, and then it was onto...


NO GI JIU JITSU!!! Man I love grappling. We mostly worked on take downs, but from so many different positions, and reclaiming better positions when the take down falls through. First, we stretched, which I needed since I have grappled in forever. We then worked on the rhythm and balance of the take down, mostly by staying on our knees and sweeping across the gym, rocking back and forth, then pivoting while still on a knee, and shooting back in the other direction. Next we incorporated grabbing a double, and pivoting for the take down, and then pulling guard. We followed that up with Working the take down drills from a standing position, and then finally, working the drills with a partner. It felt good to go back to my wrestling roots, but I felt rusty as hell. Well, it's gotta start somewhere, and it began yesterday.