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…

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: