Tonight’s workout was a good one… we got started a bit late due to some holiday related festivities (thanks Sensei!) but it ended up being a good solid basics workout. Erbe-san and I collided in simple basics related sparring excellence, and we both had a good time doing simple punching and kicking drills.
In between classes, we had a stripe test for our two young white belt kids, they both did a good job and were happy to get their stripes.
The second class started out innocently enough with sparring combinations to warm up. Sensei Brewer had us do reverse punch and at the same time do front kick and for whatever reason I could NOT make the timing work out so that I was punching at the same time I would kick. The only person that I saw that did it with any level of consistency was Sensei Quinn (big shock).
And that’s exactly who I got paired up with when the time came to actually do this drill with a partner. I boned it up for about 15 minutes, neither he or Sensei Brewer could get me to do this right… I might have had one that was somewhat close but I’m not even sure enough on that to remotely claim even one good technique.
Sensei Quinn did have a few misses, probably caused by my distance away… he clocked me in the right knee three different times and by the third time it was getting mighty wobbly and weak. Luckily, that part held together for the rest of the night, but I iced it when I got home and its starting to get a little stiff.
We then switched partners and I ended up across from Oedewaldt-san. We switched to reverse punch and roundhouse kick at the same time, which was marginally better in the end but not by much. The VERY FIRST technique I threw, Oedewaldt’s elbow popped out chicken wing style and I caught it right in the middle of the instep. The resulting clack and groan was loud enough for Sensei Brewer to immediately ask if I was ok. It took several minutes, but I was able to get through it.
And then, for five excruciating minutes, it became Brewer’s House of Pain. We did leg lifts, the bicycle style of leg lifts, and switching back and forth between side kicks all while our legs styled up off the ground. For reasons unknown, I have been able to tolerate this type of punishment quite well lately. I don’t know whether I can thank the core training that Sochin provided last year, the Hartman’s House of Pain from early this year, or blind-arse luck but its not so bad for me and the stomach conditioning right now.
After we struggled our way back to standing upright we moved into spinning back kick sparring. It was average at best, which means all of my kicks just plain stunk up the place. Sensei Brewer kept congratulating me on a nice side thrust kick… it was one of those kind of nights.
Ice and ibuprofen later, I don’t hold out much hope for my mobility tomorrow.
Related Articles
No user responded in this post