Week 2, Day 2

2 down, 1 to go!

Well, in every great narrative, you're introduced to protagonist with whom you can easily identify.  He's handsome, charismatic, adventurous, a little mysterious, perhaps even an athlete of some type.  Problem is, he's always got that one fatal flaw.

Well, things seem to be going well for our hero, but inevitably there is an external conflict which happens to highlight his internal struggle.  He is then forced to make a decision: does he give up & accept defeat, or does he fight back, against the situation & his own character, to emerge victorious?

OK, so maybe that's a little bit over-dramatic.  Lemme just break down the day.

• Diet
• Breakfast - 3 eggs, red smoothie to drink
• Lunch - Italian BMT sub, water to drink
• Dinner - Chicken & pasta, Romain lettuce, water to drink
• Exercise
• 10 push-ups
• 10 squats
• 30 bicycles
• 1 burpee

What??  Ben, I thought you said you'd be doing 10 burpees a day, why you slacking?  This is where we hit the external stressor: I woke up with a sprained ankle.  Don't ask me how I pulled that one off, but I did.  Went to bed 100% A-OK, woke up sprained.  So I popped 2 Aleve & went to work.  I hobbled my way through the morning & by lunch time was fed up.  I rolled over to my neighborhood CVS & bought myself an ankle brace.

I wrapped up & went back to work.  It was still bugging me & I had to make a decision.  I could either fold like I had in the past & use the reasonable rationalization of a bum ankle as an excuse to lie on the sofa, or I could suck it up, go the gym & get some work in while still being wise about my ankle.  As you may have guessed from the pic at the top of the page, I chose the latter.

• Training
• Judo:
• Warm-Ups
• I actually missed these.  I was late because 5 things came up at 4:45pm that "just absolutely must be done by 5 o'clock".  I did show up, however, just in time to be thrown on my head by Trey twice & Andrew once.  What a wonderful welcome!
• Modified Uchi Mata
• Your opponent grabs a single leg on you (illegal in Judo, but common in BJJ, MMA, street, etc.).  You reach over his shoulder to grip his belt in the small of of his back with your inside hand (same side as the captured leg) while simultaneously gripping his sleeve with your outside hand (same side as your base leg).  Draw his sleeve up to your waist, look back over your outside shoulder (as though someone's calling your name) and hop back-and-into your opponent.  This cause his inside leg to lift up, placing all his weight on his outside leg.  Continue to hop back-and-into him until his rising leg & compromised balance results in the throw.
• Uchi Mata to O Uchi "Gake"
• In this one, you attempt the Uchi Mata, but your opponent counters by trying to return his weight to his inside leg.  As you feel him start to make that transfer, you place the foot of your inside leg behind his base leg & drive into your opponent, tripping him.
• Sparring
• Everyone was really great about being mindful of my ankle.  Played with Matt & Andrew, who both did a nice job of letting me play a little, making me pay for my mistakes, & then letting me know what I did wrong!
• Muay Thai - Advanced
• Warm-Ups
• Rounds of jump roping with push-ups in between.  My ankle held up better than I had expected.
• Catching the kick
• As your opponent throws a kick, you step & slide with the kick, dissipating its force.  The instant it touches you, whip your arm around it, "guillotining" the knee tightly.  With your free hand, immediately & forcefully post on their chest to maintain distance while back-stepping with your inside leg.  Great for a tall guy to use on little people.
• Cut-kicking the base leg
• Again, as your opponent throws a kick, you step & slide with the kick, dissipating its force.  This time, however, you are going to use that step to throw a kick of your own, underneath the plane of your opponent's kick, and take their base leg out from under them.  Great for smaller individuals to use on bigger guys.
• Sparring
• Again, everyone was really cool about going light with me.  Tried to keep the speed & flow of the rounds up, but not blasting away at each other.  Really worked on putting together combos & finishing with a kick.  Problem was, I found myself wanting to throw a lot of switch kicks, which entailed pivoting on my bum ankle.  Found myself having to switch mid-technique.  Then, in the last round of sparring, seconds before the bell rang, I threw a right kick & my left knee popped.

Enter external stressor #2:

Mysteriously mid-night strained right ankle, now a questionable left knee.  I've been RICEing since I got home & will be babying them both throughout the day tomorrow (gotta remember to brin my ice packs to work).  I can give up & lay on the sofa tomrrow night, or I can go to the Competition Class.  I know which I want to do right now.  We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.  Until then, I'll see y'all around the intra-webs.