(Longest title in the history of all Krav Maga titles, I know…)

I was super pumped about Krav tonight; I usually feel great after class. Tonight was tough on me though. I know for a fact I did 90% or more of my straight punches incorrectly. Here’s how I know:

Both rows of lower knuckles on both hands are scraped and/or bruised to hell and back. Only the index and middle finger knuckles should be sore and bruised. With each combination of punches, I’d see little specks of my skin stick to the bag, my knuckles stinging. Gross.

I asked M what I was doing wrong and he said I’m swiping my straight punches across, as if I’m throwing a hook instead. So I’ll have to watch that. Good technique is just as important (if not more so) than power.

As far as the defense goes, I can’t be sure if I correctly deflected my partner’s punches with my forearm swipes. Once again, I was paired up with a girl who was extremely new. She was having a hard time throwing a real punch at me, but that’s no excuse for my lousy defenses.

So, I’m pretty disappointed in myself… I had entertained the idea of taking the upcoming Level 1 test, but now I’m reconsidering. I can’t even throw a proper straight punch!

Ten bucks says I’m putting too much pressure on myself to test in November and it’s affecting my performance. From now on, I’m taking it one day at a time and focusing on really learning the defenses. It’s good to have a goal, but it doesn’t make sense to pressure myself into bad technique.

At the very least, I’ll go to the workshop before the test to see what I’m missing in my classes. (But I have to admit, I’ll probably take the test anyway just to see where I’m at.)

Aside from all that, I’m taking some advice I’ve recently received and getting hand wraps. ASAP.

This is going to be a bit of a gripe-fest. I went into class tonight at any earlier time, in hopes I’d beat the mad rush to the later class. There were fewer people, but we were also in a smaller room. I always feel like there’s not enough room to move around.

I know what you’re thinking. The likelihood of being attacked in a nice, spacious area is slim–to–none. But there’s definitely something to be said about a smaller class size. I just hate tripping over other people (and other people tripping over me)… They should consider expanding the physical gym size and/or find a way to create more Krav Maga classes throughout the week.

And although tonight was a really great workout, I also don’t feel like I’m learning anything new. We practiced front choke holds… again. I know they’re important, but I also know there are a billion other ways to be attacked.

I’m going to send my gym an email and see if we can switch up the curriculum a bit. Even if we work on front and back chokes with a push… it’s something besides just stationary chokes!

The room was packed tonight. We had a sunny weekend, so I imagine everyone was trying to get in their Krav fix.

I partnered up with, A, a girl completely new to Krav Maga. I want to preface this by saying I have no problem with new people in class. In fact, I want to see more women learning to defend themselves. But I can definitely tell a difference in my workout tonight from class on Sunday.

I didn’t break a sweat and I only vaguely remember getting a little out of breath. Half the time I was trying to help out A, correcting her form—pushing her to put her weight into her strikes.

I tried to concentrate on my own strength and speed, but a lot of what we went over tonight depended largely on our partner being aggressive. She was too new to realize what the difference being aggressive can make.

On Sunday, I looked to H to push me. He probably didn’t even realize he was pushing me, but just looking over at him and realizing he was ready to continue on… I was able to dig down deep and find some tiny speck of energy.

So, I was really disappointed in my lack of a workout tonight. I feel I only started to really get the defenses, because of my lack of using them. Is it weird that I want to be manhandled? I want to know what the feeling would be like if someone were to actually attack me. I want to know I can really defend myself.

As with everything, I’m sure I will have classes where everything doesn’t go perfectly. Next class will probably be better.