Monday

It has been a busy weekend! I had the pleasure of watching my recruits survive their 2.5 hour long defensive tactics final! (I am one of their assistant instructors, and their lead PT instructor.)

It was great to see how their cardiovascular endurance, and fluid body movement (lots of joint mobility drills) along with their def-tact training went hand in hand. To give you an idea, the last portion of their test requires them to be in a circle and they are surrounded by approx. 11 or so of their peers who are also taking the test. One by one, their peers attack them with a variety of attacks, and the student must respond to the attack. It is a beautiful thing to see!

This bug is hanging on, but I made myself train a little today. A couple of my coworkers are starting to get the KB bug, and it is good training for me to train someone in an informal manner. Here's what we did today.

JM drills
Sled drags (Ken, the sled is awesome!) Walking back, walking forward, side to side hip torque

Swings
Figure8s
Slingshots

Swings to a throw
Walking swings
Racked KB Lunge
Racked KB lunge press

Overhead KB walk-racked-farmers walk 60 yards x 2
Bottoms up clean
Bottoms up press
snatch

more of a show and do session than a formal workout. Trained outside in the morning sun. Beautiful!

I missed the Hughes vs. Gracie fight, but I got the rundown from people at work and on the Dragon Door forum. I am very impressed that Gracie got into the octagon. He has nothing to prove after all he has done for the sport. The introduction of the original UFC has got to be one of the pivotal points in martial arts training for the last 2 decades. Watching some of the old Bruce Lee footage of his philosphy of where he wanted martial arts to go, it made me wonder if he would have done something like the UFC way before Rorion Gracie. The UFC of today is certainly more of a sport than the original "No Rules, NHB" concept. I mean, in a real fight, they don't pull you apart and make you restart in a standing position if a third party thinks there isn't enough action. Of course, the way it is now sells more future tickets. Who can forget those old matches where they circled each other for 10-15 minutes, and then had 30 secs. of action to a submission. Ok, I digress.

I am going to the Spring 2007 RKC as an assistant instructor! I am excited and honored at the idea of going. I have 10 months or so to hone my technique, and lose some body fat. I really should make that more of a priority.