Love At First Strike

Yeah… It’s been more then a week since my last post and I have no frickin idea what I did for a normal workout this day.

I know I went to MMA and we drilled ground and pound as well as did some light sparring where I was teamed up with Sifu Rick.  It is the best working with him because I know that he will not really hold back and give me my monies worth every single time we roll or spar.  I noticed when I was sparring with him how quick and accurate he was with his punches and shots.  On the other hand I was very telegraphed and slow because it is not second nature to me.  I felt like he could probably land shots on me at will.  It was actually a good feelings to be able to assess some of these things because it really helps me to be aware of where I am at and what I need to work on to get to that next level.  Great night.  I loved the sparring and I feel like I am getting better even though I have a long way to go.

Thanks MMA…

MMA Tuesday was just that.  I did not have a chance to do a regular workout with it but I was feeling pretty good from my workout on Monday.  We worked guard passing and clinch work today.  It was really nice because we got to do a few rounds of live MMA training with hits.  When we do this, depending on our training partner we usually do not go all out.  I am personally respectful that different people are at different places in their training or even wanting to do certain things in MMA like get punched…  Not everyone is a gluten for punishment.  As for myself, I don’t think that I enjoy getting hit, however… I do really like getting hit and seeing how I react.  I also like seeing what I can do or will do to defend myself.  Many of the most martial arts teaches are very cool and nice, but not many are very practical when there are no rules.  Example… I love playing guard.  I like to have people in my guard when playing jiu jitsu because I feel it is a pretty safe place, I have pretty good control and I can attack for submissions or a sweep.  Now when you are playing guard in MMA guard isnt such a wonderful place because there is a very real possibility you will have someone throwing punches in your face.  When we are playing MMA rules I want them as close to me as possible which means I have to break down there guard completely or I want them as far away as possible so they can’t sneak a punch through and clock me in my snot locker…

Anyhow, the training was great.  I really love it and I had a great workout.  I did about 15 minutes of jump rope and a couple of Tabata sets before practice but not a full workout.    See you all tomorrow…

Woke up and raced down to meet up with Tony to do a few rounds of sparring.  I did about 15 minutes of jump rope to warm up and then we rolled to warm up as well.  After that we did about 4 rounds of 4 minutes sparring.  Good work, way to start the day.  If I could do that all day everyday I would be in heaven.

My next workout was at Next Step Conditioning with Coach James.  Myself and about 10 other Bainbridge Island Fire Department members worked for an hour doing lots of kettlebell work, snatches, cleans, swings, wood chops, and combination of all of those together.  We also did some wind sprints with resistance bands and an ab workout using the kettlebells.  Lots of sweat.  I will go heavier next time.  I used 20KG kettlebells for 90% of the workout.

I ended my training day with a great MMA workout at my adult class at Bainbridge MMA.  We worked pummeling, pummeling for position and then shooting for the double underhooks and takedown into mount and side control.  We also drilled 4 out of the 5 moves we drilled last week from the guard.  Guillotine Choke, Triangle Choke, Kimura and Hip Bump Reversal.  We first just went through the motions.  Then added some resistance and finally tried to attack them live.  I played in my training partners guard most of the night because I am trying to get better in the guard.  I did really well.

Today we rocked out to one of the famous CrossFit female named workouts… CINDY.  A bunch of us from the FD went up to Station 23. Darrick, Chris, Jer, and myself.  We did a great job.  I had a total of 15 sets and I went about 45 seconds over.

“Cindy”

5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats

AMRAP for 20 minutes

After the workout I went up to Bainbridge Family MMA and rocked out my MMA training.  We worked guard passing like we did in the Adult class the night before.  We also drilled the takedowns we have worked on the past few weeks.  Good time.  We finished off the night with some dodgeball.  haha!

Today I did 3 workouts and I felt great the entire time.  Met up at Station 23 around 4:30pm and we did the following WODs:

First WOD from CrossfitFootball.com

12 right arm KB/DB Power Snatch 1.5 pood/55 lbs
12 left arm KB/DB Power Snatch 1.5 pood/55 lbs
12 Push Ups
25 Double Unders

Second WOD from KillSportKettlebells.com

15 minutes of pain and misery!!
Do as many rounds as you can in 15 minutes of the following:
1. kettlebell swings x 10
2. double kettlebell clean/squat/press x 5

Third workout was my regular MMA training.  We worked hard today but it was very technical.  We were tested on the moves we had learned the past 2 weeks which inlcuded:

Takedowns 1,2,3 – These are all start as single leg takedowns but end up as 3 different moves. I will shoot video Thursday of them and post to this blog entry so you can see the three types.

Far Arm Attack 1,2 – These two moves start in side control. Pin opponents near arm and then attack far arm with either an Americana or Straight Arm Bar.

Total Control Arm Bar and Total Control Arm Triangle were the other two moves we were tested on.  Again I will film on Thursday and post that night.

After regular training I rolled with Tony and then with Rick.  I felt that I really did well with Rick.  He got me in an ankle lock but I defended against his guard and a Triangle very well.

So instead I trained MMA tonight with the Teen Class.  We had a SICK workout.  Sifu Rick was on us from the second we walked into that joint.  First we had to do laps of bear crawls, crab walks, push ups, sit ups, summer salts, etc…  From there we went straight into takedown drills.  25 total take downs.  We did single leg, double leg and leg sweep take downs.  I was frickin gassed during and after that drill.  From there we did 25 guard passes.  After that we sparred for the rest of the time, full contact, full gear.  We had a great training session.  The sparring was really sweet.  I concentrated on shooting for a takedown when Nick went for punches.  I was able to get the takedown two or three times and eventually I submitted him with a Kimura.  I really love MMA and this is the what I get up for in the morning.

Thank you MMA!

Today was strictly MMA day.  Class was pretty great.  We worked a couple moves on the ground from guard and half guard.  These were basically the same moves from the Adult class with a slight variation.  We did not use the choke as we did the day before.  We got worked a bit by Sifu Rick in regards to some pushups, 150 total, and we also did some other rep work.  Partner holding feet we had to do more pushups and situps.  Killer workout.  I was almost glad I didn’t have any other workout today.  Last 10 minutes of class we rolled and then it was time to go home, eat and hit the shower.  Nuff said!

Monday marked me gettin back on it.  I really needed the two days rest but being idle for too long is no good for Sal.  I started my come back with a little workout we call “Fight Gone Bad.”  For those of you that are familiar with the workout you know my pain.  For those of you that aren’t, here is a brief description.

The CrossFit workout will be ‘Fight Gone Bad’. In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. This event calls for 3 rounds. The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of ‘rotate,’ the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball, 8 ft target (Reps)
2. Deadlift high-pull (Reps)
3. Box jump (Reps)
4. Push-press (Reps)
5. Row (Calories)

I scored 285 + rows.  What I mean by that is that the rower I used had a broken digital counter so I could not tell exactly how many calories I burned.  It’s a bit of a bummer cause I really want to know what my true FGB score is.  I think it would be approximately320-335.  I need to make it down to my boys gym King CrossFit and have them put me through it.  Reguardless, it was a monster workout and I thought I might drop the bar on my head doing push presses.  After this I took a lil break and then it was off to Adult MMA class.

We learned some pretty cool moves tonight.  They were both in working from the guard.  First one was when you have someone posturing up and trying to choke you with arm across the throat.  Basically relive some of the pressure by pushing hips up and then pull down quickly while passing the arm over and wrapping arms around opponent quickly.  Now you should have them pulled into your guard completley, right arm should be wrapped around the left side of their head with your hand holding your own bicep and left arm should be wrapped under their right arm and left hand should be on the side of your own head.  From here you can squeeze and apply a choke.  Second part of this move is to loosen choke a little but do not let go.  Now take your right foot and shrimp/slide out to your right a bit. Take your foot on that side and get it in their inner thigh.  This will allow you to sweep and land in full mount with same choke applied.

After class I rolled with Brian a couple of times.  Both matches were great.  I was able to apply a kimura and triangle choke.  The best part about both matches for me was not the tapout but the fact that I was totally aggressive both times.  I find at times that I am way too passive and then end up having to work really hard in the end to pull something out.  I also found that I was playing guard too much and I wanted to reestablish my side control work and moves from there.  It was great.  I was able to stay in control most of the time and I went for moves I don’t normally go for.  I was very very happy with all of it and it made me excited for more.  What else can ya ask for?

Thank you God and MMA.  You have truly helped save my life in many ways.

Met up with the boys again at Station 23 for out WOD.  We rocked HELEN today from the CrossFit archives.  This is what she entails…

Warm up:
1000m row
50 double-unders (200 singles)
(start with double-unders if rowers are in use)

WOD:
“Helen”
400m
21 KB swings*
12 pull-ups
3 rounds for time

My time was 10 minutes.  It is not exact because we haven’t mapped out an exact 400M run. We also added on 100 situps for good measure.  I did a mixture of using the decline bench, normal situp and also used a stability ball.  100 is a lot with no breaks.

For MMA we had a great session.  We worked 3 simple moves from guard.  Conventional arm bar, transition to triangle choke and then back to an arm bar but from the “pitstop” position.  It is applied by turning the wrist the opposite way and moving arm to other side (opposite of how you would have it in a triangle choke) of body.  I will tape the moves tonight along with the moves I learned in NY and post them. We also did some conditioning.  Tabata round of situps attached to partners hips.  So we jumped up on partners hips, they balanced out and we rocked situps from there.  I couldn’t believe this young guy Ray could actually keep me up but he did.  We alternated between those situps and wheelbarrel pushups.  Partner grabbed out ankles and we did pushups while moving in a circular motion.

We finished up with 2 tabata (20 seconds on 10 seconds active rest for 8 rounds)  of  bottom and top position.  So for 1 round (8 rounds of 20/10 split) we were on bottom trying to sweep, submit or pull guard and 1 round of top position trying to submit, hold position and move from position to position (mount, side control, knee in belly, north/south.  Great workout, loved the drill work on arm bar/triangle/arm bar.  Learned something new and can’t wait to try it live.

Below are some videos from this weekends open mat.