Beach Burpees

I'm taking it pretty easy this week since I'm on vacation down in Cape May. I've been laying on the beach for about six hours each day, reading, floating in the ocean, stuffing my face with seafood and drinking about six pack of Victory lager a day, however, despite my week of leisure, this past Saturday morning just didn't seem right without some combat fitness.

The place I'm staying in is close enough to the beach that I could a throw a medicine ball and hit it,  so it was only natural to hit the sand for some beach burpees. I did a leisurely 1-mile barefoot run to an isolated part of the beach where signs warn you not to proceed any further. Beyond those signs is a live fire range used by the  Coast Guard.

Since sprints have become a regular fixture at Saturday classes, I couldn't resist sprinting on the wet sand. Then I did our basic stuff: squats, jumping jacks, push-ups, burpees ... all while facing the distant horizon where the Atlantic and the sky merge.

Despite the pleasant setting, doing this stuff on the sand adds a little bit of difficulty since it gives way beneath feet and hands, but the sand also temporarily kept the record of my workout in the burrows dug from my burpees and the divets cut by my sprints until the next high tide wiped it away.

When I was all done, dripping sweat and breathing hard, I only needed to take five steps before I was submerged in the cooling ocean waters.

I'll close out this blog post with a modified version of how we end each class: Heroes don't quit! - but on occassion they do go on vacation.

Happy B-Day Sir

We were warned that Wednesday's combat fitness class would be challenging. "You're gonna hate it," Mr. Stuart said to us at the end of class on Monday night and pretty much told us how bad it would suck and how hot it was going to be.

It was hot, but the air conditioning was on, it was mild in the gym and combat fitness, while it involved some tough sets, I don't considered it one of the hardest classes I've been through... at least not physically. However, it was tough psychologically. You see, at the beginning of class Mr. Stuart announced that it was his 53rd birthday and then, as is the case in every combat fitness class, he went on to out perform everyone, even 19 and 20 year olds who are in very good shape.

While that can be a bitter pill to swallow - seeing a man twice your age kick your ass - it offers hope to a guy like me who's 39. It offers hope because it says you don't have to get old if you don't want to. It says that fitness can be yours as long as you never stop. It says that even when the muscles and tendons and joints cause you pain and try to limit your performance, experience, will and sheer determination will defeat youth.

Action is faster than reaction

Last week's boxing class had us focussing on breaking our opponent's rythm. Letting your opponent build rhythm is bad. When your opponent builds rhythm you become the bass drum they're beating on.

The main drill we worked to break rhythm was jabbing our opponent the moment they reached their set line. Set line is the point at which your opponent can reach you with their weapons. Set line is different for everyone because it is dependent upon size and reach. The drill involved starting in no man's land. No man's land is where you cannot reach your opponent with kicks or punches and your opponent cannot reach you with kicks or punches. From no man's land we would step to our firing line. The firing line is the point where you are just out of punching distance, but one more step will get you to your set line and close enough to connect to your opponent. As soon as our opponent reached their set line, BLAMO, we would fire a  jab to break their rhythm and disrupt their plans.

This technique is cool because it's prempting the attack. You're not waiting to slip or sit, you're jamming up your opponent so that the attack never materializes. It's like being in a battle and letting your enemy's jet fighters taxi out of the hangers and while they're idling on the tarmac waiting for takeoff you fly by and straff them. Don't let them get off the ground and then rely on evasive maneuvers and chaff to avoid their rockets. Kill 'em before they ever take off, or jab 'em before they can throw a punch. Just like you have to let the jets come out of the hangers and into the open where they be can be seen before being destroyed, you have to let your opponent move closer to you and reach their set line before you can break their rhythm.

I really dig the idea of stiffling the attack instead of responding to the attack. It might sound dumb, but it was a revelation to me. It was one of those AHAH moments. I thought to myself, I don't have to wait until my opponent punches and then react. Matter of fact, I should never really be reacting to my opponent's moves unless I'm reacting offensively, like if they drop their guard and I can fire in a punch. My opponent should be reacting to my moves. Action is always faster than reaction.

The same thing applies to a slip. I dont' have to wait to see the punch coming and then decide to slip it. I am slow and not very good at slipping once the punch is on its way. But, if I see my opponent moving and getting ready to reach his set line, I could slip, step in and deliver some hooks to the body, or I could jab and then slip and step.

In my totally unprofessional opinion, I think it's important to note that while our intention is to break our opponent's rhythm with a jab, that moment doesn't exist in a bubble. Keep in my mind that the jab's job is to stabilize your opponent in order to land more punches. Always punch in combinations. Don't just jab and let them restart their attack. Jab, step in and land some body shots.

I thought I had the breaking rhythm thing down, and then in our next class Mr. Stuart turned that thinking on its head. He had us practicing moving from no man's land to our firing line, then our set line, but we were doing it with the intention of drawing our opponent's jab so that we could slip and step in to land hooks to the body.

This is getting into the chess aspect of boxing where you're thinking a few moves down the road to lure your opponent into a trap. It's way too advanced for me. I would just end up creating a trap for myself.

So, while it's good to break your opponent's rhythm by jabbing when they reach their set line, you could be walking into a trap. That said, it doesn't mean you don't jab to break the rhythm, it means you have to be aware of what might be coming at you once you jab.

Self destruction is reconstruction

Rare is the time when some part of my body doesn't hurt. My hips are sore just about every day and for the last week there's been a small spot on my left elbow that reacts dramatically from the slightest touch. The top of my right foot hurts, a sharp, sporadic pain right at the base of my toes. And my left quad has a knot, or a tear, or whatever goes wrong with a muscle being called on to do sprints at 8:40 on a Saturday morning.

Not working out, just giving up isn't an option. And really, it's only during class that the pains go away. When my body is moving, jumping, running, punching it doesn't hurt. It's sitting at my desk at work when my hips scream out to be stretched, or my elbow bangs into an open drawer.

So it becomes routine to use the foam roller after class, apply ice packs, wraps, drink ginger tea and for the most part just become accustomed to to constant, mild discomfort.

The exercise is the cause and the cure. I'm sore because I exercise and I feel better because I exercise.

There is a certain element of self-destruction to taking classes five days a week. But this self-destruction is more in line with reconstruction. In order to renovate an old house you must first strip it to the bones and go from there.

Get the drop on your opponent

A boxing/kickboxing class doesn't go by without the importance of changing levels being stressed. Switching up your attack from head to body, or head to legs if kickboxing, is critical in mounting an effective and damaging attack on your opponent. The idea behind it is simple: if you get punched in the face, all of your attention goes to your face and not being hit there again. Your mind says, "That hurt. Don't let it happen again," so you cover up for the anticipated follow up punch to your face. That's a basic survival instinct hardwired into your brain and it's also an instinct you have to try and overcome because with all of your attention/defense focused on not getting hit in the face again you leave the rest of your body open for attack.

This shows the drop right. The fighter
on the right as avoided the jab by sitting
and then he fires the drop right.

Going upstairs then downstairs with your attack creates unpredictability. In classes this week we have been practicing the drop right and the left hook to the body with an immediate left hook to the head. The drop right is simply a straight right handed punch thrown to the stomach from a crouch or sitting position. Your opponent fires a jab, you avoid the punch by sitting and then blasting them with a right to the gut. The mechanics of the drop right are the same as throwing a right from the standing position - generate torque by pushing with your legs and rotating your hips. For the left hook to the body and head, we practiced this by avoiding a left jab thrown by our opponent by stepping to 11 o' clock. This closes distance, gets you inside the pocket and in great position to employ the left hook to the body followed by an immediate left hook to the head.

Switching levels, going upstairs then downstairs, whatever you want to call it, it works. And it works defensively as well as offensively. If I get punched in the face I'm thinking about avoiding another punch to the face. I'm not thinking about my exposed midsection. Likewise, if I'm attacking the head, my focus is upstairs and therefor an effective and surprising counter from my opponent would be to go downstairs. This is where the drop right becomes a sweet, sweet move.

Although I've not used this combo in sparring, just during shadow boxing, it seems that using a combo of jab-right-jab-right-jab and then throwing in the drop right is good way of lulling your opponent into a rhythm and then breaking that rhythm of working upstairs by going downstairs with the drop right.

Would you rather face a big pistol, or a little pistol?

If given the option of having to take a bullet fired from a .22 or a .45, there's no question I'm going to prefer being shot with the .22. However, if facing an attacker armed with a pistol, I want him to be brandishing a monstrous handgun, think Dirty Harry or Desert Eagle. Reason being is that it's way easier to grab a large pistol than it is to grab a small pistol, there's just more of the weapon exposed when it's large. Small pistols, like snubnose revolvers and .380s, get almost entirely concealed by the hand holding them, leaving very little surface area for grabbing and ripping.

We've been practicing our handgun disarms with three different pistols: a large frame Glock, a snubnose revolver with external hammer and a tiny, pocket-sized .380. Without a doubt, the Glock is the easiest pistol to take from the attacker because it presents a large surface area to grab because so much of it protrudes from the hand, and for that same reason it also offers leverage points when wrenching it from the attacker's hand. The tiny Keltec .380 is very difficult to grab, and due to its short length it is very common to place a finger or part of your palm directly over the muzzle. That's not where you want your hand to be. The small revolver is also tough to grab without a part of your hand being in the line of fire.

So, while a larger pistol might look intimidating and pack a larger caliber bullet, it's actually easier to take away from the attacker.

Is it a plateau or a rut?

Saturday’s combat fitness class was another doozy. No sprints or split sets at each station of the circuit, but there were hundreds – literally hundreds – of crunches. So many crunches that, besides my abdominals hurting, the front of my neck hurts from holding my head off of the mat for so long. Jumping rope replaced the morning run and the typical circuit was thrown out the window. Instead of 10 or 11 stations on the circuit, there were only 4 on Saturday: pull-ups, hanging knee lifts, dips and tricep raises (hands behind your back on a low wall, legs straight out in front of your body and resting on heels and you raise and lower your body). We split into groups of three and all three people had to complete three sets at each station before moving on to the next station. Our first set was 15 reps, second set 12 reps, third set 10 reps. It was tough, especially the pull ups. Fifteen is about the most pull ups I can do on a good day, so trying to do 12 after doing 15 is next to impossible for me.

I haven’t been pleased with my fitness performance lately. Mr. Stuart says I’ve hit a plateau, but I feel like it’s worse than a plateau. I feel like I’m regressing. While I’m seeing improvement in my fighting skills, I’m not seeing improvement in my fitness. This is frustrating. Two elements from Saturday’s class highlighted my fitness stagnation: push ups and pull ups. The amount I can do really hasn’t increased in months. If we use these two exercises as a way to measure overall fitness, I’m standing still. I guess I need to start pushing myself harder and always try to do one more pull up than I could do the week before. Actually, what I need to do is a fitness test so I know exactly what my max is for several exercises. I wish I did this when I first started class more than a year ago, that would have given me a much clearer picture of progress. I can say without a doubt that I’m way more fit than I was when I first started, but just how much I can’t say.