September 3, 2006

Ding, ding, ding Round 1

Mr. BBM and I have been kind of crabbing at each other all weekend. It started with shopping, then turned into an argument about a pan; and I was very annoyed that we had yet to spar. I mean come ON, we got the equipment on Friday. So knowing my state of grumpiness, Mr. BBM knew he had to do something to salvage the rest of the weekend. That and I called him a "chicken."

This afternoon Mr. BBM put Lil C in her port-a-crib and told Big I to entertain her. "Let’s go," he said, "We’ve got 10 minutes" which is about the limit that Lil C will happily tolerate being in her port-a-crib with Big I as an entertainer. We geared up quickly and ran down to our sparring room (aka the basement) and got busy.

Without the self-consciousness that I have at the dojo, sparring was a piece of cake. My roundhouse kicks were killer and sent Mr. BBM retreating most of the time. I tried to follow my kick with another kick, or by moving in and getting a good punch in at the belly or a back fist to the forehead. I definitely held my own. It was obvious that Mr. BBM was trying to figure out how to defend against my kicks. He’s going to have to think long and hard about that because the kicking is definitely my strongest asset.

I have super long legs. Even though my husband is a good 6 inches taller than I am, our legs are the same length. When I was pregnant with Big I, I wore his jeans during that in-between stage. So, the kicking went well. I’d also like to introduce you to my two new best friends:

(Those are not my legs by the way.) Sparring with shin guards on makes a world of difference. I was not tentative with my kicks. Without anticipating the pain that usually occurs in the shin area, I felt uninhibited and was free to let loose. I have to say that the shin guards are my favorite part of my sparring gear. I did not feel ANY impact what-so-ever. At our dojo, we use Century Lightening gear, so the Macho Warrior was an experiment. . . one that turned out very well. I’m super happy with the extra padding on the kickers and shin guards, because when sparring a 10th kyu you need all the padding you can get.

There was one place where Mr. BBM could have used some extra padding, but I’m sure you can figure that out without me spelling it out for you. Before all of you guys start doubling over with sympathy pain right, let me just tell you that as a girl, it is not any fun to be kicked where it counts either. Since Mr. BBM invaded my personal space first, his nether regions were fair game. (Just to be clear, I didn’t aim for the jewels; but if he’s going to kick and leave his leg hanging out at awkward angles. . . well, he should expect a wake up call or twelve.) I think we’ll probably start using our mouth guards next time, because we had some close calls with a hit to the eye, chin (both on him. . . . WHAT? He turned his head right into it!), and nose (like my nose needed even the threat of swelling or injury).

Mr. BBM likes the gear as well, especially considering he’s a white belt and well, let’s just say that we had some conversations about a little word that in karate, we like to call "control." Actually, for not having any real experience sparring in a dojo, Mr. BBM did very well. I found that I could easily defend against his kicks though, because I could tell when they were coming. His punches were my problem.

Being that he has me by 6 inches, he would often sort of make a fly-by and quickly run across the floor, and then lean in and bop me on the head. It got really annoying. Blocking against his punches and head bops was a little rough. I did great blocking kicks and I blocked almost all the shots to my stomach, but the head is where I’m lacking. This is definitely a problem. Mr. BBM has some muscles; he’s strong and I have skinny string bean arms that don’t do well when blocking against a punch coming from him. I’m going to have to figure out how to work on that. I really don’t know any other way other than to work on my upper body strength, or get quicker so I can move out of the way. Any suggestions on this would be happily appreciated.

I’m sure that as we spar more, I’ll be able to start reading my opponent better and will be better prepared. Sparring someone for the first time is always an adventure. You never really know what someone’s fighting style is going to be. The trick will be changing up my fighting style to keep him guessing.

Now that we know that we can break a good sweat with only a 10 minute escape from the kids, sparring on a regular basis is not going to be a problem.

Any suggestions from the karate crew on defending against punches to the head when your opponent has much more upper body strength than you have? I would be very appreciative of suggestions, and so would my brain that seems to be rattling around in my skull a bit since we sparred.

If you would like to join the Black Belt Mama Challenge, it’s not too late. The BBM Challenge is on-going and new participants can sign up at any time. Go here for details. Participants in the BBM Challenge will receive a coupon code to use at Everything Fitness, and a wealth of support from other blogger participants.