Challenge no 1 - kettlebell swings
Long since finished - thankfully!
No 2 - 'Lent'
Surprisingly, still going strong. Nearly caved last week though. Was v late leaving work and was absolutely starving. Managed to only lick the vending machine instead of buying any rubbish from it.
No 3 - chi kung and mobility exercises
Unfortunately largely went the way of my other classes and training over the past couple of weeks. Pretty disappointed with that actually, although I got back into the swing of it over the weekend.
No 4 - 100 reps
See above.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Last night's krav
UTP was MIA due to having hurt her ankle. We missed her :=(
We were a small but select bunch who were really put through our paces last night. The warm up consisted of a series of races, done in pairs:
Whilst one of the pair did star jumps the other sprinted out and did either - punch bag, squats or pressups. You then sprinted back and your partner sprinted out and did the same whilst you did star jumps. We did two each of the three exercises for a total of 6 races. My partner duly informed me that I was a nice shade of pink at the end - I think he meant puce actually!
We then went on to our pad work, moving quickly through our combatives. Then we looked at getting up from the floor in a hurry, in case we fell or were taken down by an opponent. That was interesting - I was fine right up until the bit where I had to bend or push off from ma poor wee tootsies.
From there, we went on to defending what I suppose would best be described as 'rear naked chokes'. Somehow I don't think the krav defence for this would be entirely legal in the MMA world!
We then had a quick trot through checking and parrying an outside hooking attack before the lovely Lee lined us all up and had a swing at us all - all in the interests of verifying that we knew how to defend this attack, of course. Then we split into pairs and practised attacking each other. Cue loud sounds of flesh on flesh impact! Sincere apologies to the poor guy that I think I kind of really dunted at one point - hope it wasn't as bad as it sounded :=(
Overall, a good class. Definitely a good workout anyway.
We were a small but select bunch who were really put through our paces last night. The warm up consisted of a series of races, done in pairs:
Whilst one of the pair did star jumps the other sprinted out and did either - punch bag, squats or pressups. You then sprinted back and your partner sprinted out and did the same whilst you did star jumps. We did two each of the three exercises for a total of 6 races. My partner duly informed me that I was a nice shade of pink at the end - I think he meant puce actually!
We then went on to our pad work, moving quickly through our combatives. Then we looked at getting up from the floor in a hurry, in case we fell or were taken down by an opponent. That was interesting - I was fine right up until the bit where I had to bend or push off from ma poor wee tootsies.
From there, we went on to defending what I suppose would best be described as 'rear naked chokes'. Somehow I don't think the krav defence for this would be entirely legal in the MMA world!
We then had a quick trot through checking and parrying an outside hooking attack before the lovely Lee lined us all up and had a swing at us all - all in the interests of verifying that we knew how to defend this attack, of course. Then we split into pairs and practised attacking each other. Cue loud sounds of flesh on flesh impact! Sincere apologies to the poor guy that I think I kind of really dunted at one point - hope it wasn't as bad as it sounded :=(
Overall, a good class. Definitely a good workout anyway.
On the plus side ....
.... ma wee tootsies weren't ever broken, just badly sprained.
I popped them along to the osteopath on Saturday, along with a 'tight' shoulder. He's an excellent osteopath but derives way too much amusement from the things I do to myself lol. He does always tell me that at least I bring him "interesting" things to work on.
I popped them along to the osteopath on Saturday, along with a 'tight' shoulder. He's an excellent osteopath but derives way too much amusement from the things I do to myself lol. He does always tell me that at least I bring him "interesting" things to work on.
Difficult and challenging
That's about the kindest description of last week.
Not only was my mother (who was 80 in February) still in hospital, but significant redundancies were announced at work. So far, it would seem that I am not currently at risk. I suppose I should be grateful / relieved / pleased etc, but it's hard to feel anything for myself when lots of other people will have to leave. I think there is more of this to come as well. The situation is not good.
At least I finally got to go and visit my mother last week. She's in a high dependency ward (which tells its own story I suppose) and I wasn't allowed anywhere near whilst I still had the cold. She certainly better than she was when she went in, but her doctors are still no closer to finding out what's actually causing her symptoms. She has low blood pressure and can't walk without falling over. Actually, she can't even sit up for very long. All a bit worrying really.
I was on annual leave on Friday and spent a chunk of the day charging around doing bits of business for her, eg paying bills, sorting out her pension etc. It's a really good thing she set me up with access to her pension and bank accounts at the tail end of last year really.
I suppose I should be glad that she's at least in the right place, but I don't exactly live next door. I'm not a million miles away but far enough that I don't get into the hospital as often as I might like. Still, just got to get on with it I suppose. There are worse things that could be happening right now.
Not only was my mother (who was 80 in February) still in hospital, but significant redundancies were announced at work. So far, it would seem that I am not currently at risk. I suppose I should be grateful / relieved / pleased etc, but it's hard to feel anything for myself when lots of other people will have to leave. I think there is more of this to come as well. The situation is not good.
At least I finally got to go and visit my mother last week. She's in a high dependency ward (which tells its own story I suppose) and I wasn't allowed anywhere near whilst I still had the cold. She certainly better than she was when she went in, but her doctors are still no closer to finding out what's actually causing her symptoms. She has low blood pressure and can't walk without falling over. Actually, she can't even sit up for very long. All a bit worrying really.
I was on annual leave on Friday and spent a chunk of the day charging around doing bits of business for her, eg paying bills, sorting out her pension etc. It's a really good thing she set me up with access to her pension and bank accounts at the tail end of last year really.
I suppose I should be glad that she's at least in the right place, but I don't exactly live next door. I'm not a million miles away but far enough that I don't get into the hospital as often as I might like. Still, just got to get on with it I suppose. There are worse things that could be happening right now.
That didn't last long!
Being 'back', that is.
My cold got worse and the last thing I felt like doing was training. I was halfway ready for krav on the Tuesday, but realised the best thing to do was to stay home. So I did.
And it panned out that I didn't really do much of anything last week either. I just felt so run down and out of sorts.
:=(
My cold got worse and the last thing I felt like doing was training. I was halfway ready for krav on the Tuesday, but realised the best thing to do was to stay home. So I did.
And it panned out that I didn't really do much of anything last week either. I just felt so run down and out of sorts.
:=(
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
I'm b-a-a-a-ck!
Went to krav class night, despite tender toes and a cold. And I survived without too much pain.
I chose common sense during the warm up and walked instead of running. Felt a right numpty though when I got 'lapped' several times. After the warm up we moved on to our benchmarking. I normally like the challenge of this, but I was a bit concerned that I maybe wouldn't do as well as I could due to my cold. Well, I shouldn't have worried about that! Shoved a menthol cough sweet in my mouth and off I went.
Press ups: 60 (55 - improvement of 5)
Bodyweight squats: 175 (140 - improvement of 35)
Really, really wanted 200 on the squats. The legs were willing but the rest of the body cr@pped out on me! Felt a wee bit wobbly - esp around the arms - afterwards and it took me a wee while to get into things once we moved onto the pads.
We started off working alternate palm heel strikes - jab, cross, jab. Once we were comfortable with that we worked on punches, elbows and knees - jab, cross, straight elbow, upward elbow, knee. Here we were training the footwork and body positioning for each strike. Finally we added in shin strikes delivered off a roundhouse kick, first one then two. Lee quite correctly picked me up for not kicking properly, but UTP jumped in to remind him I had a sore foot! The kick was right footed so I needed to spin on my dodgy left foot which I was being wary of.
We also practiced hammer strikes from a variety of angles - high downward, side and low downward. Lee pointed out that this particular strike is much more effective when the arm is kept relaxed until the point of impact. Hammer strikes are fun!
We then looked at defending a roundhouse kick. This involved a variation of the 360 degree parry from last week. Essentially it's the same move, but delivered at a low level to parry (or indeed catch) the kick as it comes in. The parry takes the defender off the line of the attack, puts the attacker off balance then allows the defender to move to a zero pressure area where they are chest to back with the attacker. This allows the defender to deliver a variety of moves, eg kick to the groin, hammer fist to the head etc.
This led onto to hubud. Hubud is similar to the pelampas drills I've done previously. The one we practiced last night involved defending a right hook attack on the inside using your left arm to check the attack, then folding at the elbow both to 'pass' the attacker's arm and to begin pressing it down. You then bring your right arm up to continue to pass the attacker's arm across their body, and then use your left hand to press / check the arm down across their body.
Although I'm used to this style of drill, I found it hard to remember to 'fold' at the elbow before passing the arm. I'm not sure if this is because I've just gotten used to just passing the arm 'high' then checking down or if it was a height (lack of) issue. It was certainly easier to fold when working with UTP who is shorter than me. The folding movement certainly makes sense, so worth practicing.
This was a v small class - only 5 of us and just the one guy. Poor guy fairly got picked on for the demos esp the kicking to the groin lol.
Got spin class today, so it will be interesting to see how the foot holds up for that. Will decide later about krav class tonight.
I chose common sense during the warm up and walked instead of running. Felt a right numpty though when I got 'lapped' several times. After the warm up we moved on to our benchmarking. I normally like the challenge of this, but I was a bit concerned that I maybe wouldn't do as well as I could due to my cold. Well, I shouldn't have worried about that! Shoved a menthol cough sweet in my mouth and off I went.
Press ups: 60 (55 - improvement of 5)
Bodyweight squats: 175 (140 - improvement of 35)
Really, really wanted 200 on the squats. The legs were willing but the rest of the body cr@pped out on me! Felt a wee bit wobbly - esp around the arms - afterwards and it took me a wee while to get into things once we moved onto the pads.
We started off working alternate palm heel strikes - jab, cross, jab. Once we were comfortable with that we worked on punches, elbows and knees - jab, cross, straight elbow, upward elbow, knee. Here we were training the footwork and body positioning for each strike. Finally we added in shin strikes delivered off a roundhouse kick, first one then two. Lee quite correctly picked me up for not kicking properly, but UTP jumped in to remind him I had a sore foot! The kick was right footed so I needed to spin on my dodgy left foot which I was being wary of.
We also practiced hammer strikes from a variety of angles - high downward, side and low downward. Lee pointed out that this particular strike is much more effective when the arm is kept relaxed until the point of impact. Hammer strikes are fun!
We then looked at defending a roundhouse kick. This involved a variation of the 360 degree parry from last week. Essentially it's the same move, but delivered at a low level to parry (or indeed catch) the kick as it comes in. The parry takes the defender off the line of the attack, puts the attacker off balance then allows the defender to move to a zero pressure area where they are chest to back with the attacker. This allows the defender to deliver a variety of moves, eg kick to the groin, hammer fist to the head etc.
This led onto to hubud. Hubud is similar to the pelampas drills I've done previously. The one we practiced last night involved defending a right hook attack on the inside using your left arm to check the attack, then folding at the elbow both to 'pass' the attacker's arm and to begin pressing it down. You then bring your right arm up to continue to pass the attacker's arm across their body, and then use your left hand to press / check the arm down across their body.
Although I'm used to this style of drill, I found it hard to remember to 'fold' at the elbow before passing the arm. I'm not sure if this is because I've just gotten used to just passing the arm 'high' then checking down or if it was a height (lack of) issue. It was certainly easier to fold when working with UTP who is shorter than me. The folding movement certainly makes sense, so worth practicing.
This was a v small class - only 5 of us and just the one guy. Poor guy fairly got picked on for the demos esp the kicking to the groin lol.
Got spin class today, so it will be interesting to see how the foot holds up for that. Will decide later about krav class tonight.
Monday, 15 March 2010
bruised but unbowed (and unbroken)
Decided not to waste NHS time by going to have my toes x-rayed as I was walking much better - albeit slowly - by Saturday morning.
In fact, I'm *almost* back to normal today, although it might be a wee while before I'm running or jumping / skipping again. Now all I have to do is work the 'kinks' out of my calf and the opposite hip which took the strain when I was hobbling about ....
Of course now that the toes are better, I've got a cold lol
In fact, I'm *almost* back to normal today, although it might be a wee while before I'm running or jumping / skipping again. Now all I have to do is work the 'kinks' out of my calf and the opposite hip which took the strain when I was hobbling about ....
Of course now that the toes are better, I've got a cold lol
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