Supplemental Training

As I'm cooped up studying for boards, anything to procrastinate. So a few of us got together today, we started with passing the guard with the off the wall person calling position. We then covered a flow:

• Kimura (inferior shoulder lock)
  
• Defends by straightening arm, take same-side (reverse) arm bar
  
• Pushes through, rotate 90^o toward other side for (crossbody) arm bar
  
• Pulls barred arm out, rotate 90^o back for triangle
  
• Defends by tucking arms, take oma plata
  
• (Technically, if partner defended oma plata by tucking arm and rolling to guard, this drill could be made continuous)

Played some king of the hill first take down. Its beneficial to take the angle step, I seem to hit more of my shots.
Lastly we worked some muay thai combinations enhancing the basic jab-rear kick and jab-cross-lead kick combinations:

Adding a middle beat (with props to JKD)

Double-rear kick

Jab-double cross-lead kick

Adding an end beat (with props to JKD)

Jab-rear kick-lead kick

Jab-cross-lead kick-rear kick

Entering/intercepting

Lead tiip-jab-rear kick

Lead tiip-jab-cross-lead kick

Premptive counterreaction

Jab-rear kick-tiip

Jab-cross-lead kick-rear tiip

Switch-up

Lead kick-cross-lead kick

Rear kick-lead hook-rear kick

Finished with some "tag team" timing where people switched out amongst the four people timing.

Today I saw the latest internet flurry about the overstuffed Chicago bodybuilder who trolled about MMA not being tough and eventually got an invitation to "spar" with Shonie Carter. Essentially, the "big" man was all big mouth and failed to show up and enjoy Mr. Carter's invitation. There are two annoying things about this incident

1. Why should the tools of the world get the chance to fight for free with a great fighter and cool guy like Shonie? I'd love to spar, wrestle, or grapple with Shonie, sure he'd whip my @$$ but it'd be educational and an opportunity that would not be commonly available.
   
2. Competition is tough, combat sports competition makes tough look easy. There is no intrinsic unit of toughness: wrestling, muay thai, MMA, boxing, judo, submission wrestling, and any other high impact/contact sport is brutality defined -- you're rewarded by hurting the other person without the excuse of putting a ball in the way of the playing arena. When people who do not compete make judgment it's just silly. When competitors decided to evaluate another sport they belittle themselves and show that they are insecure in themselves and their "art". If one defines toughness by who one can beat, there is a shallow answer for this, sneak up behind the toughest guy and waylay them repeatedly with a 2 by 4. Toughness is a significantly nobler trait than ones ability to hurt another...although it helps.