Where to start, where to start. Actually, a few hours before club, I ran into B (Still thinking of a nickname...) and since the weather was so nice, we took some time to train out in a field for a bit, after a detour to his house. The additional stick training was nice, although my arm was killing me by the end of club yesterday. The biggest plus was learning deflections to angles of attack that always seem to dumbfound me. I got to brush up on knife defense drills, too.
The first hour of last night was mostly devoted to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques. At last, my BJJ knowledge takes a step forward! Up until now, I knew a couple of takedowns, one way of escaping a mount, passing the guard, how to post and transition into a couple of easy submissions, and a few chokes. Now, I've got three of the five or six dominant positions down, a new way to escape a mount and a way to escape a cross-body.
Having a good partner helps, too. Although having a female partner (dunno how that happened) is always a tad bit awkward, everyone involved seemed cool with it. Actually, what was more awkward about my partner wasn't the gender factor. It was the limb she was nursing -- a bone injury she had surgery on a couple of years ago that I won't describe because even while I'm typing this, I'm getting the usual "broken bone heebie jeebies."
And, while on the subject of partners, Mr. SPEAKMAN was back and in rare form. I ended up inadvertently (I swear!) stepping on another of his toes during a drill. Hey, one time was an accident. Twice, and you were asking for it. Then, in another drill, a takedown, he was whining about how I was grabbing his wrist too hard. Now, while I don't expect anyone to "just suck it up" and risk serious injury while training, there's a difference between letting your partner know he's using excessive force and whining like a pu$$y.
Needless to say, I was a bit more active in trying to switch partners as often as I could, which wasn't easy. SPEAKMAN was in "hog-mode" again. Plus, he was hyper, too -- maybe his biorhythms were high that night, I don't know. He can never just work the f**king drill. He either needs to talk himself through it, or talk you through it. He can't just concentrate on the application of the technique.
The icing on the cake though was when he committed what, to me, is the unpardonable sin. B was coaching BILLY JACK (a new nick for a new character -- see below) through a technique that he was having trouble with. There was a moment where BILLY JACK was having trouble with hand positioning. So SPEAKMAN has the nerve to walk up in the thick of it to give his (unsolicited) help. I was beside myself. I stopped for a split second because I had to run a "systems check" through my senses, because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
All I'm saying is that he better wear shoes the next time I work with him.
Which brings us to BILLY JACK -- yes, the "I'm gonna kick you right there, etc." character. He's not a bad guy. His heart's in the right place, and he generally works hard. His height and lankiness works against him sometimes, though. The best way to describe how he moves is like "an octopus playing the drums" (from Mystery Men).
What qualifies him for the title BILLY JACK is his propensity to resort to dirty fighting techniques when left to his own devices during various drills. And, I don't mean "martial arts" dirty tricks like shots to the groin or other "cheap shots." I'm talking hill billy tactics. Case in point, last night I was workin a takedown with him and his counter (because he's always thinking up counters) was "Hyuh hyuh (ok, maybe he just said "Huh huh")... if someone does that, I'll just bite him in the finger." Not that I'm criticizing. Heck, anything goes in a real fight. And, there's something to be said about having a comfortable set of, um... I guess you could call them "techniques"... to fall back back on. His are just funny.
I do have to say that I feel my brain approaching critical mass as far as the amount of information being thrown at me in short periods of time. I've resigned myself to the fact that I simply cannot absorb them all. Sometimes when a technique is demonstrated (pad drills, FMA, whatever), 2 or 3 variations and "what ifs" are presented. I basically just pick the one I'm most interested in working. But, I've observed something wierd -- it seems that most of the other students will often work on the last variation presented. In any case, I just trust that whatever techniques I don't immediately absorb will come up again and so long as I'm learning the general principles, chances are I can come up with a given technique in my own practice.
The first hour of last night was mostly devoted to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques. At last, my BJJ knowledge takes a step forward! Up until now, I knew a couple of takedowns, one way of escaping a mount, passing the guard, how to post and transition into a couple of easy submissions, and a few chokes. Now, I've got three of the five or six dominant positions down, a new way to escape a mount and a way to escape a cross-body.
Having a good partner helps, too. Although having a female partner (dunno how that happened) is always a tad bit awkward, everyone involved seemed cool with it. Actually, what was more awkward about my partner wasn't the gender factor. It was the limb she was nursing -- a bone injury she had surgery on a couple of years ago that I won't describe because even while I'm typing this, I'm getting the usual "broken bone heebie jeebies."
And, while on the subject of partners, Mr. SPEAKMAN was back and in rare form. I ended up inadvertently (I swear!) stepping on another of his toes during a drill. Hey, one time was an accident. Twice, and you were asking for it. Then, in another drill, a takedown, he was whining about how I was grabbing his wrist too hard. Now, while I don't expect anyone to "just suck it up" and risk serious injury while training, there's a difference between letting your partner know he's using excessive force and whining like a pu$$y.
Needless to say, I was a bit more active in trying to switch partners as often as I could, which wasn't easy. SPEAKMAN was in "hog-mode" again. Plus, he was hyper, too -- maybe his biorhythms were high that night, I don't know. He can never just work the f**king drill. He either needs to talk himself through it, or talk you through it. He can't just concentrate on the application of the technique.
The icing on the cake though was when he committed what, to me, is the unpardonable sin. B was coaching BILLY JACK (a new nick for a new character -- see below) through a technique that he was having trouble with. There was a moment where BILLY JACK was having trouble with hand positioning. So SPEAKMAN has the nerve to walk up in the thick of it to give his (unsolicited) help. I was beside myself. I stopped for a split second because I had to run a "systems check" through my senses, because I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
All I'm saying is that he better wear shoes the next time I work with him.
Which brings us to BILLY JACK -- yes, the "I'm gonna kick you right there, etc." character. He's not a bad guy. His heart's in the right place, and he generally works hard. His height and lankiness works against him sometimes, though. The best way to describe how he moves is like "an octopus playing the drums" (from Mystery Men).
What qualifies him for the title BILLY JACK is his propensity to resort to dirty fighting techniques when left to his own devices during various drills. And, I don't mean "martial arts" dirty tricks like shots to the groin or other "cheap shots." I'm talking hill billy tactics. Case in point, last night I was workin a takedown with him and his counter (because he's always thinking up counters) was "Hyuh hyuh (ok, maybe he just said "Huh huh")... if someone does that, I'll just bite him in the finger." Not that I'm criticizing. Heck, anything goes in a real fight. And, there's something to be said about having a comfortable set of, um... I guess you could call them "techniques"... to fall back back on. His are just funny.
I do have to say that I feel my brain approaching critical mass as far as the amount of information being thrown at me in short periods of time. I've resigned myself to the fact that I simply cannot absorb them all. Sometimes when a technique is demonstrated (pad drills, FMA, whatever), 2 or 3 variations and "what ifs" are presented. I basically just pick the one I'm most interested in working. But, I've observed something wierd -- it seems that most of the other students will often work on the last variation presented. In any case, I just trust that whatever techniques I don't immediately absorb will come up again and so long as I'm learning the general principles, chances are I can come up with a given technique in my own practice.
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