Devastator Tuesday

I decided to take the day off on Monday and that meant no training so I was fresh and full of energy when I walked into class. I and a partner warmed up with the padded Eskrima sticks and after getting use to the Heaven and Earth drill we mixed it up a little with a low strike to the knee instead of the high strike in the drill.

Class was called to order. One of the junior students lead the warm-ups with a MMA warm up routine. It included what he referred to as devastators. It seemed quite effective and soon I was dripping sweat and my heart was pumping. It was a welcome change to see something different in class and I will definitely give this one a bit more investigation and implement it in my home training.

We did a bit of body conditioning and then some bag work, but the general consensus was that it would be syllabus and that it was. Soon the Sensei was migrating from one group to another tweaking techniques and demonstrating moves. Since me and my friend trained over the weekend he was gracious enough to let me work with the Tonfa on him. I asked one of the more senior students to demo a few moves and quickly got more comfortable with the Tonfa. The one thing I still need some input on is cuffing and escorting techniques.

We closed the class off with kata dante. I was in the mood for a fight and I was pleased to see some of the other students putting on their gloves. I was a bit in two minds about sparing with MMA gloves, but decided for the greater good I would stick to the 12 oz boxing gloves. I enjoy better defence amongst other things and when I connect the little bit extra padding to protect my opponent. It felt good to rumble a bit and I didn’t have to push hard to get my opponents huffing and puffing for air.

Embrace the shadows.