Striking Classes

I’ve lost count of the amount of people at DMMA that have said I “look karate”! I didn’t know you could look “karate”. Mind you, now that I think about it Machida looks and acts distinctly karate when in the Octagon. 

Anyway, I’ve been training at DMMA for just over two months now, but I still feel very new. I’m still mostly learning the basics in wrestling and mma striking rather than sparring, but I’m so eager to get sparring! I’ve done a bit of sparring since joining DMMA and each time it’s been a real thrill, and I’m sure once the instructors feel I’m ready and let me spar that even more “karate” will instinctively come out, so DMMA members you’d better be ready! 

Haha only joking. But once I’ve got the basics down and I find my rhythm I’ll be able to incorporate some karate into my fighting game. Until then……

My first striking class was back in August. I began MMA knowing that learning new ways of striking would be a huge challenge. I’m constantly battling my karate instincts; my punches, kicks, stances, how I hold my head, where my hands are, weight distribution, feet placement etc is all ingrained in me. I’ve done things a certain way for so long I don’t even know I’m doing them. In order to combat some of this I purchased a wee notebook so I could note down some pointers from each class I attend:

(ok so it’s a bit girly, but I can be girly and badass at the same time!)

The notes I made after my first class were:

• Chin down (minimises chances of getting KO'd)

• Hands up to the temples (in point-scoring karate my hands were quite low to defend against kicks to the body as well as the head, but in full-contact my priority is to protect the head and learn to crunch/absorb body shots)

• Shoulders hunched over (build-in defence against hooks to the chin)

• Check leg-kicks with your own leg rather than gedan barai/low block (blocking kicks leaves your head WIDE open)

• Jab to close distance

In addition, some drills I noted down were:

• Jab, cross, hook, leg kick (remember weight distribution)

• Jab, cross, duck, hook

• Jab, jab, cross, step-off-to-the-side body kick

Going over these techniques a few times in class isn't sufficient in committing them to memory, but I’ve found that shadow boxing at home has been a good way of developing the muscle memory required. A bit of shadow boxing can be done quickly before starting a shift and it’s fun to do with Thin Lizzy blaring in the background. Although I’m still terribly inconsistent with keeping my hands up, shoulders hunched over etc, I’m pleased with my progress. 

Just as an amusing, self-mocking anecdote; one of the coaches has spotted a tell I do just before fighting. I quickly punch the air before getting into my stance. Sounds so stupid, right? I honestly had no idea I did this, and at first I had no clue why on earth I would do this. He was concerned that I would do this in the cage and get knocked out, and I became concerned about this too; how do you stop something you don’t even know you’re doing?! I’ve realised what it’s about; I’ve trained for a long time with a restricting gi, so I did this to loosen the gi before starting a drill. I must have been doing this for years as I still do this even though I don’t train in a gi anymore. Imagine if UFC fighters had conditioned themselves to punch the air before fighting, all we'd see is 2-second finishes! I'm working on cutting it out, but it's taking a while.

I hope some of these basic striking pointers have been useful. I'd love to hear some of the striking techniques you learnt when you first started out. My next blog will discuss the techniques I've been learning in wrestling classes.

Life getting in the way of training, my fatal error, and an awesome video you just have to watch

My nursing registration came through yesterday (yey!) but it bothers me A LOT that shifts will get in the way of attending training sessions at DMMAYACSA. Their classes are in the evenings so I’ll still be able to attend when I’m not on a 12 hour shift/back shift/night shift. Wait, that only leaves early shifts and days off! I really wish illnesses would only affect people 9-5…

Anyhoo, DMMAYACSA do various classes throughout the week; freestyle wrestling, submission wrestling, BJJ, fitness, striking specific to your skill level, beginners MMA and Sambo. I attend a couple of classes each night, so my week until now has looked like this:

Monday: freestyle wrestling, then basic striking with pads

Tuesday: fitness, then beginners MMA

Wednesday: striking drills and light sparring

Thursday: fitness, then basic MMA

Friday: fitness, then submission wrestling

Saturday or Sunday: go for a run around the pretty gardens where I live.

(credit Scott Malone via DMMAYACSA's Facebook page)

My shifts will get in the way of attending classes, but I’ve been doing drills outside of classes to augment my learning, so I’ll just keep this up. For example; before a back shift I’ll shadow box in the morning, or before starting night shift I’ll practise sprawls and other wrestling drills. So if one of your excuses for not training is work, it ain’t valid! Although I can fully appreciate how valid it seems, it was certainly one of my own excuses…

I made a fatal (ok not quite fatal) error last night though. For the first time since I started training I had to leave class early. I’d completed the 1 hour fitness circuits class, then started the 2 hour wrestling class, but about half an hour in I felt faint as fuck, and nothing people were saying was going in. My training partner had to tell me at least 10 times where to put my hands for a simple arm lock. I pushed through and wrestled to about the 1.5 hour mark, but just half an hour before the end of class I had to stop. What was my fatal error? I didn’t consume electrolytes or carbs after an intense circuit class, or eat enough of the right things before training. I hate that I had to leave early, I’ve woken up really annoyed at this, but my lesson is definitely learnt! 

You may have noted that I don’t attend BJJ or Sambo. I’ve been debating whether to add in BJJ at this stage or wait until I’ve got the basics down in striking and wrestling. On one hand I would love to develop a ground game as it’s currently absent, and it would flow nicely with the rest of my training. After all, I didn’t start MMA just to focus on striking and do a bit of wrestling. However, I am currently of the opinion that I’m better to wait until I’ve got more experience in these areas before I can really focus and spend a lot of time on BJJ. 

That being said, I’d welcome any thoughts on this and would be happy to change my mind if you would advise starting BJJ now. 

As for Sambo, I think this would definitely be information overload at this point!

I gotta go for just now; I'm about to practice kata. As much as I'm loving learning all these different fighting styles, karate will always have my heart and there's just something blissful about practising kata. Plus, watch this short video of Machida to see how kata is utilised within MMA; 

(credit to Emmanuel Shepherd via Youtube)

I actually squealed watching this, ahhhhh so exciting! Or maybe that's just me...