This is the first Krav Maga class I’ve been late to. I’m usually a few minutes early, but traffic was atrocious. When Chris and I walked in, we found our class doing side crunches. You lay on your side and lock your legs in your partner’s legs while crunching upwards. At the height of your crunch, you throw a right, left punch combination into your partner’s open palm. I found them relatively easy. I’ve noticed my ab/core strength is getting strong these days. Don’t even think about asking me to do squats though. Ew!

Since Chris and I arrived late, we partnered up again. We practiced defending straight punches to the solar plexus and then counter-attacking with our own defenses. This, I have to admit, was extremely painful. In order to defend a straight punch, you keep your arm in an ‘L’ shape and sort of rotate your arm forward and around, so most of your opponent’s strike ends up pushed to the side by the meatier, back portion of your arm. We have a plethora of bruises and sore spots because of this little trick.

The really hard part is determining with which arm your opponent is going to use to strike. I noticed if I tried to over-think it, I’d get hit in the gut.

Luckily, I just read Fight Mash’s post on how to read your opponent. I noticed if I watched Chris’s movements (particularly his shoulders), I could determine which arm he would use to throw the punch. Now I just need to keep my own thoughts and attacks imperceptible.

**UPDATE: I just found out Level 1 tests will be moved back to December. Not sure why. All I know is that extra month is greatly appreciated.

They still hurt like crazy, but they’re healing pretty fast. I’ve been letting them breathe throughout the day and then wrapping them with Neosporin at night. That seems to be working pretty well.

I had a lot of work to do tonight, because I’ve been outta town, so I didn’t get a chance to go to Krav. In the past week, I’ve only gone once… it feels like I haven’t been in forever! The good news is this gives me an opportunity to let my hands heal a little more!

I’ll have a bigger, better post for you on Wednesday when I go to class…

(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 thought legitimately crossed my mind at Krav tonight. The gym here seems to be a little more intense on the cardio than my previous gym. We did the usual push-ups, crunches, and squats. Instead of just leaving it at that, however, W decided we should hold them for ten second intervals.

Squats = the devil. My legs have never burned like that. Ever.

For the defenses, I paired up with a much younger girl I’ve seen in previous classes. I think I beat her up pretty good… Not on purpose, of course, but I accidentally clipped her once or twice while we practiced getting out of front choke holds. The look on her face as she went back to her two friends was one of pure terror. Poor kid. I should probably pair up with people my own size from now on.

Aside from that, I’ve got some pretty mean scrapes on my right hand from the open palm strikes. After class, I asked J, the owner, if that was normal or if it meant I was striking incorrectly. He said I should try to strike higher up on my hand. Next class, I’ll ask the instructor to pay attention to my open hand strikes, so I know I’m delivering the most strength.

New vocab: “Badge” — A feature or sign that reveals a particular condition or quality; In Krav Maga, this refers to any injury sustained from learning to defend yourself.

Ladies and gentlemen… my badge from class tonight: