Heads I Win Tails You Lose!

[Abbax8]

So were in class tonight and I have an odd number of students show up. Good for me I get to workout as a partner with our "extra" student tonight instead of just teach.

We warm up with ne-waza. I fight my son Joshua first, 15 years old and about 170 lbs. We roll for 10 minutes, holds, armlocks and chokes. Water break. We switch partners, I roll with Danny, 15 years old , 300 plus lbs. Holds, chokes and arm locks, for another 10 minutes. I'm beat.

We take a water break. "Not bad Dad", says Josh. "That's my black belt skill", I said (with a smile on my face).

"Well how do you explain Danny beating you?"

"What, you mean he's actually going to brag about beating a guy who can join AARP?"

We had a good laugh.

Peace

Dennis

[Dale Lackey]

You warm up with newaza? From there, what do you do? Just curious. Is it random, or do you have certain days you focus on something?

[Abbax8]

Yes we warmup with ne-waza. I use to do the stretching and running and situps and such and got bored with it. Since classtime is limited I decided to keep class activities judo specific. We start light and as we feel ready, the intensity increases. Everyone in class is a teenager. They roll out of bed loose and ready. We go 20 to 30 minutes on the ground. Then I teach a technique, usually standing, sometimes grappling which we practice 15 to 20 minutes, static and moving uchikomi. Then we do about 20 to 30 minutes of randori. I am now also adding 15 minutes of self defense applications. Finally we will do cool down stretches. I also throw in ukemi practice after the ne-waza and before the uchikomi. There is a bit of variety to the class schedule to keep it from getting mundane.

Class time runs 60 to 75 minutes, it depends on how everyone is feeling. I thinking of stetching it a bit longer and adding a Saturday class devoted entirely to Kata.

Peace

Dennis