Bingo taught class last night, and did a terrific job. We started with a warm-up that included, god forbid, Jeff B's version of 10 Minute Abs. It goes a little something like this:
"On your backs, feet up in a closed guard position. We're going to do crunches. With each one, reach up between your knees as though you're going for a cross collar choke."
After 150 reps of these, we immediately started flutter kicks... with no count. We just did them until he yelled out, "Now sprint. Faster. Go."
Then up to frog kicks... I think we did 100 of those.
Then hip ups. I'm sure I've described these before, but I'm too lazy to do a search. A hip-up is a terrific core exercise. I start on my back with my elbow on the mat. I'm going to kick my legs out, then bring them in (kind of like a frog kick). I will then push my feet as high as I can, extending my hips so that I'm as high on my shoulders as possible. I need to do this with some control, trying not to allow the back of my head to touch the mat. Then I bring them back down, extend them all the way out and repeat. That's a basic hip up. We did... I think 25 of these.
For more of a grappling specific workout, we also added a twist at the top. So, I will do everything the same, but then twist my hips first one way and then on the next rep the other way. This simulates the motion necessary to lock in an armbar from guard. We did 10 reps of these, where one up to the left and one up to the right is one rep.
We finished with 50 or 60 oblique crunches on each side.
After that, we broke up into small groups of 3 or 4 and worked on the Armbar/Triangle/Omoplata/Triangle/Armbar transitions. It's a nice flow and I'm always happy to work on my fundamentals.
We did this for about 20 minutes and then moved on to about 40 minutes of sparring. I think I did well, but had very little stamina. I managed to get through a lot of matches, but was dragging by the end of class.
I did feel really good working with Mark. Mark's a blue belt who teaches the kids classes during the week. He's a great guy and I had fun sparring with him, but I was really pushing the pace and rolling at what, for me, was pretty close to 100%. I'm not sure what got into me....
Well, actually, I do know. Last time I sparred with Mark, I was really unhappy with my performance. I turtled up and allowed him to dictate the entire match. He ended up controlling me the entire time, and managed to pull off a highlight reel armbar that I'm still scratching my head over. It's been a few months since then and I wanted to do better, so I was determined that I was going to be a little more assertive. I ended up getting three good armbars, and was really pleased. Mark is a solid guy with a lot of experience, and I felt tight and in control. While each of the armbars was a little different, I was very happy with how I controlled the arm, rolling with his defense and finishing the submission.
I had a couple of other good matches, too. Ultimately, after about 2 weeks of just feeling crappy, it was good to have a clear head after each of my matches. Even though my stamina was very low, I felt able to really exert myself for the first time in weeks.
I'm looking forward to class tomorrow.
"On your backs, feet up in a closed guard position. We're going to do crunches. With each one, reach up between your knees as though you're going for a cross collar choke."
After 150 reps of these, we immediately started flutter kicks... with no count. We just did them until he yelled out, "Now sprint. Faster. Go."
Then up to frog kicks... I think we did 100 of those.
Then hip ups. I'm sure I've described these before, but I'm too lazy to do a search. A hip-up is a terrific core exercise. I start on my back with my elbow on the mat. I'm going to kick my legs out, then bring them in (kind of like a frog kick). I will then push my feet as high as I can, extending my hips so that I'm as high on my shoulders as possible. I need to do this with some control, trying not to allow the back of my head to touch the mat. Then I bring them back down, extend them all the way out and repeat. That's a basic hip up. We did... I think 25 of these.
For more of a grappling specific workout, we also added a twist at the top. So, I will do everything the same, but then twist my hips first one way and then on the next rep the other way. This simulates the motion necessary to lock in an armbar from guard. We did 10 reps of these, where one up to the left and one up to the right is one rep.
We finished with 50 or 60 oblique crunches on each side.
After that, we broke up into small groups of 3 or 4 and worked on the Armbar/Triangle/Omoplata/Triangle/Armbar transitions. It's a nice flow and I'm always happy to work on my fundamentals.
We did this for about 20 minutes and then moved on to about 40 minutes of sparring. I think I did well, but had very little stamina. I managed to get through a lot of matches, but was dragging by the end of class.
I did feel really good working with Mark. Mark's a blue belt who teaches the kids classes during the week. He's a great guy and I had fun sparring with him, but I was really pushing the pace and rolling at what, for me, was pretty close to 100%. I'm not sure what got into me....
Well, actually, I do know. Last time I sparred with Mark, I was really unhappy with my performance. I turtled up and allowed him to dictate the entire match. He ended up controlling me the entire time, and managed to pull off a highlight reel armbar that I'm still scratching my head over. It's been a few months since then and I wanted to do better, so I was determined that I was going to be a little more assertive. I ended up getting three good armbars, and was really pleased. Mark is a solid guy with a lot of experience, and I felt tight and in control. While each of the armbars was a little different, I was very happy with how I controlled the arm, rolling with his defense and finishing the submission.
I had a couple of other good matches, too. Ultimately, after about 2 weeks of just feeling crappy, it was good to have a clear head after each of my matches. Even though my stamina was very low, I felt able to really exert myself for the first time in weeks.
I'm looking forward to class tomorrow.