I decided to put my diet on hold today because I remembered that Thanksgiving is in like a week and my grandma makes some of my favorite food. I was 155 ish after practice, but then I went to Waffle House and had some sweet tea and grits and hashbrowns and a chicken biscuit.
Tonight was a striking practice with the club. I had everyone do cartwheels and handstand walks as part of the warm-up (they’re terrible at them). Then I had them drill 50 jab-cross combos, then taught how to properly throw a hook. A few people were struggling with the idea that you’re not supposed to throw a hook with your power hand, ever. Too much watching fights and not enough actually training. After that I had them just throw hooks for a while so I could come around and correct their technique. The next combo was a jab-cross, partner throws a hook to the body, block with your elbow, end with a hook. Some people were having trouble figuring out which side to throw the body hook on, so I had to walk around again. We ended the drilling with 25 body kicks each, to reinforce the technique I taught them last week. Today was the first practice that everyone had both their 16 oz gloves and mouthpieces, so we sparred for a bit. We did 3 minute rounds, switching partners each round, and managed to rotate through almost everyone in the room. About half the team doesn’t have any striking experience, so there was a bit of a learning curve in knowing how hard to go. Josh caught Justin with a punch he didn’t expect and knocked him down. Luckily he was okay, but I had to talk to Josh and settle him down some. We were only going about 50%, but I accidentally gave John a nosebleed because he ducked right into my hook and it hit him perfectly in the nose. I apologized profusely, but he smiled about it and said it was no big deal. He did some TMA before starting BJJ and MMA, and has a bad habit of dropping both hands whenever he throws a punch. I wanted to help him drop the habit, so anytime he threw a punch I’d just jab him in the face. Eventually he started to figure it out, but it took a while.
I hate sparring with the big new guys, because they don’t know how to control themselves power-wise, and they hit harder than they intend. I didn’t get hit hard by anybody, but I slipped a few wild, winging punches that would not have been fun. Fortunately they don’t have a great deal of technique, so I just throw my jab continually until they calm down and realize they can’t just rush in and expect not to get countered. All in all it was a good practice, and Russell texted me afterward to say that it was a good workout and his lead arm was sore.
BJJ and Stuff 