MMA and me; day 194

Hmmm, a full body mellow soreness, or a highly concentrated degree of soreness in one body part? I think the full body mellow is what I prefer, but after last night, it's definitely not what I got going on. These are the perils of bump drills in kickboxing class! We started out with jumping rope, and then moved onto what I will call the front to back/side to side/diving plank drills. With two partners holding a jump rope at ankle height, we jumped our feet over it ten times front to back, then side to side, then dropped down to a push up position and launched over it head first, then slid under to the starting side ten times. Each partner did three sets, and then we moved on to putting our gloves and shin pads on and began the pain..... First was a low straight, dropping your hips to hit the abdomen, then raising up with a hook, and then stepping out and turning the shoulders to land a low leg kick. What I focused on the most was really turning my shoulder over to the outside and opening my hips before bringing the outside leg up and around to drive it into the lead thigh. It's also important to step out and lean over the lead leg to keep your head out of the way of a counter punch. Next was a nice 1-2-3 combo to kick things off (jab-straight-hook) followed by a straight knee to the body. As they double over from the knee, you then step out and deliver a thudding 10 (leg kick). When throwing the knee, focus on extending the hips and throw your hands down to really push the knee forward for maximum impact. We moved on to an interesting combo, where you paw your lead hand out to gauge distance and then slide in with a rear hand body shot, bring your hand back up to your head, and immediately whip another body shot with your lead hand, and as soon as it lands, finish by stepping out to deliver the low 10. As far as when you throw the body shots, it is all about gauging the distance, and when you decide to go, go hard. Make sure to bring the hands up after each punch to protect your head, and as with all of our combos, don't just stand there after you finish, turn off and work towards creating a new angle. We finished off with some light touch sparring, which I'm glad was light, because my lead leg felt about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Then, it was time for jiu jitsu!

We began with our stretching drills and shrimping drills, focusing more on forward shrimping. Making sure to keep our heads in front of our hips, and staying very low while rolling from hip to hip and adding a little hop to cruise forward. After several minutes of this, we went into what we have worked on for the past couple days, which was maintaining pressure during transitions from the top. It's one thing to ride on top of someone with all your weight, and it's another thing to implode into them and crush your weight on top of them. Coach likens it to the difference between standing on a scale, and kneeling on a scale with a towel wrapped underneath it, pulling your weight into it. The second one will be a much higher number on the scale, and translates into more a uncomfortable bottom man. KEEP PRESSURE AT ALL TIMES!! We knocked out our arm bar/triangle/omoplata drill next, making sure to get up on the shoulders and extending the hips for the arm bar, spinning to the opposite side with the trapped arm for the triangle, and covering the back while staying in tight with the hip to trap their arm. We finished with fifteen minutes of jiu jitsu grappling, and by that, I mean staying in tight, balled up, working to pass through pressure and patience instead of explosive moves. A really good class, especially for me, because I NEED to work on my pressure, but it's getting better, slowly but surely.