Weight: 249
tertius and bob both have it right Doc. My right ankle problem stems from having broken it twice, one in junior varsity high school football as a sophomore and the other time in college as a senior at the NCAA regionals in judo. That wasn't even the worst of the judo injuries either. A nasty dislocated shoulder is probably at the root of my delt problems recently. Then there was the wrenched left knee and having broken every toe (except the big ones) on both feet at least once and a few several times. All these problems combined I think cause my occasional back and left foot and ankle problems to throw off my gait and bring them on. Thanks for the fit at any age tertius, I have to say July has had me feeling every day of 60, but August is a new month and I'll by God be better or know the bloody reason why. bob's counsel is right on track and well worth keeping in mind at any age.
Jujitsu today had me working with the 12 year old blue belt I haven't seen lately. He did better than usual and showed more confidence than in the past. I'm pretty sure his mom has moved back in with her parents so I spent extra time between coaching the techniques to joke with him and telling him what he was doing right. The wrong thing is always what gets focused on by too many others I see teaching, and I want to give the positive feedback of emphasizing the good stuff the learner is doing. He in particular I think, needs it.
We did some counters to a two handed long arm choke from behind with an over-arm capture, hook punch to the ribs, with a final hooking in of the head displacing the neck a step back to a takedown. Then there was the two handed push from behind where the arm is dropped under the attacker's arms and then raised as you walk through the attacker's linear attack which knocks him over backward. The latter was a very smooth and neat technique. A two handed front push or attempt at a front choke was stopped by a direct high palm heel strike to the sternum with the wrist then cocking forward into a spear hand thrust with the palm facing down into the trachea. It not only stops the attacker's linear frontal assault but the spear hand drives them right back. I outweigh this kid by 120 lbs. and he stopped me, something I made sure I pointed out to him given our size and strength differential. You could see him inflating.
We then did another two handed push frontal attack disruption with a bow and arrow arm separation to fingertip thrust to the mastoid that makes your eyes blur and renders you buoyant as you try to rise on the toes to get away from the pain. Then you begin to cause the head to turn with a push pull of the finger tips causing the rest of him to turn, because as I learned at 18 in judo, where the head goes, the body follows. Once you have spun the attacker so that his back is to you, the fingertips dig in deeper and further inward while you pull him backward and on to the ground.
I finished off the session with the brown belt I worked with last week. We had a frank chat about control and he agreed to be more careful in the future.