Jiu Jitsu Intro

My two month Intro to MMA at Robot is in its 6th week as of today, and we have been working on takedowns and groundwork. I have about zero experience with wrestling of any kind- though I confess, I was into WWF as a 5th grader- like really into it. My friends and I used to have pillow fights and jump off the couch at each other. This is pretty much nothing like that. This is much more like learning chess moves, that you have to make with your body. They are precise moves and meant to be executed with force and quickness. Jiu Jitsu is not, however, a sport I'm familiar with. And there is no off the ropes action. Hitting someone with a steel chair is also not permitted.



So how does class go? I'm glad you asked....

We start with three 5 minute rounds of conditioning.
Round 1-
Shadow boxing (3min)
Mountain climbers (30 secs)
Sit ups (30 secs)
Squats (30 secs)
30 sec rest

Round 2-
Shadow boxing (combinations) (3min)
Push-ups (30 secs)
Jump Squat (30 sec)
Leg lifts (30 secs)
30 sec rest

Round 3-
Shadow boxing (boxing + kicks + blocks)
Mountain climbers (15 secs)
Push ups (15 secs)
Squat (15 sec)
Jump sqaut (15 sec)
Sit-ups/leg lifts (30 sec)

1 minute plank

Thia, for me, has been the best part of each class. I've definitely seen improvement in all these exercises- in capacity to do reps, in form, and in overall, strength.



Segment 2- Drills
Today we formed tow lines and worked on sort of a lunge attack that's meant to bridge Muay Thai boxing with Jiu Jitsu.
We followed that with a dive bomber type exercise called a sprawl in which you fall down to your stomach and spring back up.
After that we did some defensive maneuvers in which you are backing out of a hold or from a strike on your butt. You sort of slide back and can form an L- sort of hinge your way away from your oopnent.

Segment 3- One on One
We paired up and did two different holds that had about three parts each, sort of involving a slight choke, and a flip. It was a little weird at first grappling with guys you don't really know but you get used to it pretty quickly. It was definitely an intro, and I had some trouble with remembering the sequence of which knee goes where and when the leg comes over etc.



I thought back to my Dad though who used to wrestle in high school and college and was actually the captain of his teams. Our coach, Coach Robby, sort of has my dad's build from his college days- a smaller guy but in great shape. Wish there was a time machine to be able to see my Dad wrestle back then.

The Advanced guys came over to our class tonight and were saying they hoped some of the bigger guys kept going- as they need sparring partners. Oh boy...plot thickens.