Afternoon storms have been a staple of this summer's afternoons and Tuesday was no exception. This time the rain hit during the beginning of class which kept us from running. We did a traditional set of stretches and exercies before Sensei split us up to begin training.
I was paired up with Special Ed as we went through a series of techniques with an intial focus on strikes. As is often the case, Sensei built on these by then adding a knee strike and eventually a take down. We eventually moved onto a series of control techniques that Sensei explained were more for managing drunks at parties than for self-defense or fights. Some of these were as simple as placing pressure on a single thumb joint. They might have been simple but that doesn't mean they didn't hurt and leave some of us yelping in pain.
I ended the class working with a brand new student, John. We couldn't be much further apart in body types. He's more than a half-foot taller than me but likely weighs 30 or more pounds less. He has a seven-foot wingspan and is all knee caps and elbows. That said, he was strong, coordinated and picked up on the techniques quickly. We worked on another series that Sensei built for us. We first controlled an puch-throwing opponent by guarding our head, driving the opponent to the wall with our head in their chest, controlling their arms and then pulling them into guard when they pushed away from the wall. Eventually, we added a knee-push sweep into mount and a couple submissions. John did really well and kept up the pace with no complaints. I'm interested to see how his frame holds up to this initial pounding. I guess we'll see on Thursday.
I took in another spinning class today as I'm trying to improve my stamina. It's a great workout and I think is helping. For strength, I'll be back chopping down trees this weekend.
