Guerrilla Journalism: Ground and Pound 101
After a couple days of swinging at mitts and pounding punching bags, today’s jujitsu session was a welcomed change.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve enjoyed my boxing days and trainer Tae has done wonders for my standup game, but I’ve seen enough mixed martial arts to know that it’s not a good idea to be one dimensional in this business.
So it did me good to grapple with jujitsu instructor John and drill the submissions and sweeps he has shown me. We worked on arm bars, triangles and shoulder locks before he introduced me to a new, yet exhausting, wrinkle — ground and pound.
Yep, I got hit in the face today.
It was nothing too serious. I’m sure John could have done far worse, but I might just have a bruise or two to show off tomorrow. I wonder if chicks dig those as much as scars?
Anyway, ground and pound is not only draining, it’s a lot more complicated than it looks on TV. There’s definitely more to it than lying on a opponent and pounding his face to mush.
The key is controlling your opponent’s hips to keep him or her from squirming away and focusing on your posture instead of just trying to throw leather.
Once you have your elbows on the inside of your quarry’s thighs and your weight is on his hips, it’s time to let loose a barrage but you better be careful because — as I found out on more than one occasion — if you’re facing a crafty guy, you could be staring down the barrel of an arm bar or a plethora of chokes.
I have to say, I’m feeling good about the progress I’m making. The weight hasn’t exactly started falling off yet but after going to Zamora Boxing Gym two days a week for a little over three weeks now, my ground game has really improved.
I’m getting the hang of all the techniques that go along with the sweeps and submissions and I even got some praise from John after countering one of his sweep attempts to stay in top position during a sparring session.
I’ve also noticed a real improvement in my recovery time. I’m still sucking wind light years before any of my trainers, but the day-long exhaustion that resulted from my first couple of sessions and the debilitating soreness are gone.
Now I’m ready to do some more 15 or 20 minutes after class ends. In fact, even though today’s intro to ground and pound was exhausting, I went home and did some jogging, sprints, lunges and, of course, stretches.
I guess that goes to show hard work and dedication might just pay off after all.
Posted by Maggie Ramsay at 03:49 PM. Filed under:
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