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

[Mark E. Hurling]

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I got an email from the Karate guy who also teaches K that he had gotten a call that K was in a bad accident. No luck reaching him by phone, email, or text. But he did show tonight, even if 15 minutes late and moving like the Tin Man before Dorothy put some oil on him. His brakes failed and his neck and back are whacked out. But he was determined to get his belt rank promotion tonight, so we bowed in, and I presented him with his 1st Degree ranking.

Then, taking pity on him, I said he was not up to getting thrown and twisted up tonight, if that was OK with him, and we bowed out. He had to get a ride from a friend to get there tonight so I offered to drive him home. He may have to move back up North for a while to recover and earn some more money to support himself and get another car. I may not see him again for a while. Sad, but life takes precedence.

This was the last session until August 3rd. Next week the martial arts camp starts and K will not be able to assist. Challenges ahead.

[Mark E. Hurling]

The heat finally broke and I was looking forward to some time in the kayak or riding the Dark Lady. But I woke up with sore illiotibial bands and low back. So, given the MA camp next week, I decided to give them some recovery time.

Thus, I did rounds of speed bag, BoxingMaster, and round bag with stretching at the end.

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Average HR was 126 bpm @ 82% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

I took a leisurely walk around Lake on the Campus today to try walking out the ITB's and lower back. A little warmer than I liked, but a nice one nonetheless. Interestingly, the slow pace I picked kept my HR below the cardio zone. A sure sign of improvement.

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Average HR was 98 bpm @ 64% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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First day of Jujitsu camp. E texted me saying he'd be there tomorrow, him being a typically disorganized teen who forgot about this in lieu of his social calendar.

I have 12 kids, ranging from age 6 to as a guess I'd say 12. Talk about herding cats. Thank God for the counselors. More girls than boys. The younger kids thrive on chaos and trying to teach more complex techniques than kick or punch was challenging working solo with so many. Taught them front and back falls and then moved into escapes from grabs and chokes in no particular order. I got out the focus pads and had the girls especially work on hitting hard. In between techniques, I asked them if they knew their addresses and phone numbers. This comes out of the Iddy Biddy class from Master Bellman that I doubted I'd ever teach, but the younger kids need this. So I gave them some home work to come back with for tomorrow.

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Average HR was 111 bpm @ 72% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Working on being bro-ficient.

Lateral Raise: Sets of 8, 110-115-115.

Rope Pressdowns: Sets of 8, 195-200-205.

Hammer Curls: 140 for 3 sets of 8.

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Average HR was 120 bpm @ 78 of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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E showed up to assist this morning. Yay! Sadly, his Summer hiatus seems to have drained his memory banks and I had to coach him a little too. Although the kids and counselors enjoyed my joshing him about it. He's grown maybe 2 inches since I saw him last.

So. More regimentation today. Drills that were not quite so exciting, but kept them focused better like striking and blocking standing as well as lying down. This was interspersed with escapes from grabs. One of the kids asked about weapons yesterday and I told him and them all to run. Don't let the bad guy with the weapon freeze them in place, just boogie. To illustrate why, I gave the kid with the question about weapons a red marker. Then I told him to use it like a knife when I tried to grab him. I have red marks all over my hands and forearms which I displayed to the kids.

"And THAT is why you should run!"

I asked the kids at the conclusion of the class if they liked what they were learning. Mostly enthusiastic yeses.

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Average HR was 116 bpm @ 75% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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The beat goes on. The mix of regimented drills with techniques seems to be working with the kidlets. I had E demonstrate the 10 part stepping drill and then used it as a cue for some of the techniques to gauge it's effectiveness with this young audience. Mixed at this point and strangely effective with some of the younger kids, which I would not have expected. They are gradually becoming more attentive and responsive to demonstrations and instruction. I explained appropriate use of force when one of the older kids asked about hitting someone in the head with a bottle. Which of course, the bottle was the wrong answer. Gotta watch that kid.

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Average HR was 108 bpm @ 70% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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I seem to have found the mix of regimented drills to instruction in techniques. The kidlets are staying on course progressively better, although DB came to watch this morning and was appalled by the chaos. Ah well, that's what you get with a mix of ages from 6 to 12.

I taught some pressure points today, the two fingered poke to the throat notch, and the nose fulcrum along with instep and shin stomps. Then a two handed grab to a one handed chest push called the wishbone. You separate the ring and middle fingers with the thumbs and use them like a turkey's wishbone. Intersperse some numbered blocking drills and punching drills to settle back the adolescent chaos, and hey presto! At least some oil on crazed waters. I concluded using E as my crash dummy for the Dance of Pain. He reaches for a grab or shove, I parry and apply a right angle hold, to a goose neck, to some finger bars, into a hammer lock. Very entertaining. To watch rather than experience, although I throttled the torque back considerably.

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Average HR was 107 bpm @ 69% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

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Woof! Long week of this. Still, it was a learning experience for me, as in working directly with kids under 7. Which has been a first. A very challenging first and one that has tested my inner curmudgeon. Still, there were several boys, N, T, and A, who were rock steady and whose performance both I and E praised. Too bad about N, he was from TX and only visiting for a few weeks. He said he was of East Indian ancestry and I mentioned that if he was interested in the martial arts of his ancestry form India, he might look up Varmannie. It's a few thousand years old and legend has it that it was brought to China by Buddhist adherents and morphed into the Chinese martial arts. He was fascinated. Sad to see him leave. He gave me the inspiration to use Johnstrangeway's red marker suggestion as an object lesson about knives. A and T seemed interested in the upcoming class, but we'll see.

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Average HR was 111 @ 69% of MHR.

[Mark E. Hurling]

But wait, there's more!

I knew lifting was a sucky idea, but, gotta try to keep up. I was supposed to lift yesterday, but didn't want to risk drawing on my reserves too much to make sure I gave the kitten herding my best efforts.

So:

Overhead Press: 130 lbs. 5 reps and 4 reps. Gassed.

BUT! I hadn't deadlifted in waaay too long, so I got out my belt (the red one with the 15th Century runes embossed on it saying "UP"), chalked up my hands and gave what I had.

Deadlift: 255 lbs. for 5 reps.

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Average HR was 124 bpm @ 81% of MHR.

I felt like Rutger Hauer near the end of Blade Runner. Time to die.