MMA and me; day 213

Wow, did I really not write about last Thursday? Looks like it. Man, have I been out of it or what? This will be brief, as we worked on mostly techniques that we have been drilling for the past week or so. Started with light bump drills, went to defending push kicks and then worked on defenses that didn't involve blocking, but instead we were switching stances to avoid strikes. When your opponent throws a push kick with their lead leg, the defense is to circle parry down and out with your right hand, and slide off to the left at a diagonal. As they bring the leg down, this is the perfect chance to attack. You are almost in a switch stance, so all you have to do is step across with your right leg, and throw a low 9.The same is true if they throw a rear leg push kick. Circle parry with your left hand, slide diagonally back to the right, and since you are still in your orthodox stance, step over and throw a low 10.

If someone comes at you with a low 10, instead of checking it, pivot on your rear leg to a switch stance, but instead of staying there, as they come around to put the leg down, step forward to throw a 1, even though from the stance in would be considered a 2, and end back in your normal fighting stance. Again, when they throw the 10, step back, but instead return with a low 9, and as they turn to get squared up with you, step hard around and load up a straight that you bring right down the middle! Fun class, and it was on to grappling.

We mostly worked on the things we have been working lately, but focused mostly on defending the leg lock. On to those defenses we talked about. When it comes to leg locks, there are really two main tenets you want to stick to, either bend your leg, or straighten it out. For a knee bar, if you bend your leg, you cannot be knee barred, period. You also want to turn your knee away from their belly button, slide your other leg over to get your foot behind their butt, put your foot in their hiney, belly down and kick out of there! For an Achilles lock, when you straighten your leg, it engages your calf and Achilles tendon, making it very hard to get the requisite pressure and leverage to get the submission. For a toe hold, you straighten the leg, and push on their hands with the other foot, because like Coach said, if the toe hold is on properly, it's barely on, so kicking and pushing at it should slide it off, no problem. Muscle locks are a no brainer; when the leg is straight, there is no muscle to lock or compress. Lastly, for a heel hook, you do want to straighten your leg, but that is only a part of it. You want to take your other foot, and pummel it into his arm pit, and push with both legs, because trying to heel hook two legs is really freaking tough.

I kinda cheated and went word for word on a lot of the defense stuff from last week, but it's my blog and I get to do things like that from time to time!!! Back in the gym tonight, needed time to let my bumps and bruises get better, and away we go!!