Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

I've reviewing meet results posted for the year so far by the USPA up to early April and all over the US. I discovered that I am apparently a very rare bird indeed in my age and weight class. Because I couldnt find anyone else in the 60-64 Masters in the 275 weight class at those meets from coast. Strange that, it seems to me.

The next meet I'm going after will be in Long Beach in September. Nice and close with no need to get a room.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 252.5

5 minutes warmup on the bike. Assistance exercises.

Seated Dumbbell Press: 55-8, 60-8, 65-8.

Pull Ups: 3-3-3.

Pinch Grip: 135 for 25 seconds.

Stretched. The session lasted 28 minutes with an average heart rate of 117 bpm @ 72% of maximum heart rate.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Weight: 251

Jujitsu last night had me teaching the new kids with a completely new way of introducing the escapes to them. Master Bellman took some the methods he uses to teach the under 7 year olds in the Iddy Biddy class and use those. It seemed to work pretty well. I taught them the back fall and side fall as well.

The adult class lead off with a very unusual double handed upward deflection of straight right punch. The defender steps outside and to the left of the attacker and then reaches their right arm over the attacker's shoulder to tie them up and while the left hand comes in from behind the neck. They grasp the left sternomastoid muscle with the index, middle, and ring fingers pulling downward and backward taking the attacker flat.

He went on to show a counter to a right roundhouse using a left outer block and a downward angled right hammer fist to the sternum followed up with a palm heel strike under the chin. The green belts I was working with couldn't get the downward angle right and all they did was bounce it off my chest. So I asked master Bellman over to demonstrate it on me. He's 5'6" and maybe 160 yet he delivered the strike and the shock wave traveled down and underneath my sternum to the solar plexus taking the air right out of me. So I had it confirmed, they weren't using a good angle of attack. They never did get it effectively last night.

We worked on a double lapel grab by stepping back and dropping to one knee with the left forearm coming over the top of the attacker's right forearm and being grabbed by the defender's right hand pulling both down. This pulls the attacker down and roots their feet to the spot unable to come up because of the strain of the lower back with the body well over the midfoot. Very bad leverages for them. Their balance is also compromised and they can easily be knocked over backward or taken down forward with a hand on the side of the head and jaw turning the head and neck in a corkscrew.

From there he showed us how if in the course of an attacker getting taken down and tries to get up again from an all fours position. This was a direct attack on the neck with the left hand stabilizing the right side of the head and providing counterpressure for the right hand to attack the left side of the neck. The "C" formed by the thumb and index finger comes in on the neck pressing inward and downward while the left hand rotates the head counterclockwise. The other guy folds up as the pressure on the cervical vertebrae take all the strength out of his supporting arms.

Continuing on some ground fighting we learned how to use a roundhouse strike from the mount to get a figure 4 arm bar (ude garami) on the other guy. once the right roundhouse is blocked with a left outblock by the guy on the ground, the person in the mount position grabs the wrist with their left hand and drops forward pinning the blocking arm to the mat over the head. then the right arm of the person in the mount snakes under the pinned arm and grabs the left wrist, and it's all over but the tapping.

He concluded by showing how to use the forearms and elbows on face and head of the guy on the ground in an attack to set up for a choke or another strike. The elbows are not used to strike, rather they are forced along the head, cheek, jaw line, or nose to cause the other guy to keep his head down on the mat and not try to raise it or the rest of the upper body. It looked very nasty!