BBM Challenge is BACK!

March 8, 2007 by Black Belt Mama · 4 Comments
Filed under: BBM Challenge

I started the BBM Challenge and then didn’t post about it often enough at all. It seems to have been dying a slow death. Well, the BBM Challenge was never gone; but now it’s back in full force. My family and I have been sparring over the past few months when we get the chance to do so (I know, so lame, because we need to make it a priority). When I say "family," I mean FAMILY, as in all of us.

Lil C’s favorite thing these days is to demand that things be put "ON" and she demanded the same of my sparring gear. I’ve been trying to teach her how to punch and do knife hands. The knife hands are coming along nicely, and she can even throw a decent little snap kick (mostly when getting her diaper changed). By far though, her best karate skill is the kiai, which is awesome! She also does a fairly nice growl, which will come in handy as well.

And when she’s not growling, kicking, or kiaiing. . . sparring gear helps to create a fabulous game of Peek-a-Boo.

Here she is asking where her next opponent is, as she had already taken Dada down to the ground. And speaking of taking Dada down, the last time that Mr. BBM and I sparred, I felt like I made some real improvement.

If you’re a martial artist and you want to improve your sparring skills, you need to read Living the Martial Way. There are some excellent tips in that book for how to improve your sparring skills. I also think that karate camp was a huge help to me. Despite the agony of the kicking drills session, I was able to take a lot of good information away from that session. Without going into too much detail, the most important thing I learned in that session is to get out of the way. It sounds simple but when you’re sparring in a controlled environment, it’s easy to be concentrating on your next move so much that you let your body get in the way of a kick or two.

The last time I sparred, I felt like I had improved greatly as far as quickness and retaliating against a kick goes. I think Mr. BBM would probably agree with that assessment because it wasn’t long into our session before he was telling me that his head hurt and he didn’t feel good (i.e. excuses for why my wife is kicking my butt).

Instead of just making improvements in sparring my goal, I have added abdominal exercises to the routine daily (and have stuck with it for the past 2-3 weeks now), an exercise that Mr. BBM tells me will improve total body toning (sort of like a squat that explodes up into raising the weights over your head and back down again), push-ups (which truthfully aren’t happening as often as they should because I hate, hate, hate them), and other light weight-lifting.

So, with about three months to go until the BBM family hits the beach, we are in full BBM Challenge mode here and I invite you to do the same. Pick up your challenge where you left off, or feel free to join for the first time. If you’d like to create a fitness or other type of goal and be added to the Challenge blogroll, just shoot me an email or leave a comment and I’ll send you the button and code. . . the more the merrier.

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Round 2

September 18, 2006 by Black Belt Mama · 9 Comments
Filed under: BBM Challenge, Work it out

Because I am a glutton for punishment, my husband and I sparred on Saturday after my testing. While in his basement office, he’s apparently been working some things out. For example, instead of leaping around and only throwing punches, he’s discovered kicks (or thinks he has anyway). I spent all this time between sparring sessions thinking about ways to defend against his punches and now he’s kicking. Great.

The good news is that I blocked most of his kicks. While at karate last week, my instructor and I were talking about the head of our dojo and his sparring techniques. My instructor was saying that he would often stand there sideways, and just wait. As an opponent would approach, he would throw out a back kick that would stop an attacker in their footsteps.

I thought I’d give it a go. So, instead of just throwing front snap kicks or roundhouse kicks, I threw in a side kick (I do need to practice these after all) and an occasional back kick. They seemed to do the trick and I will definitely try to incorporate those into my sparring in the future.

My problem with my husband doing a quick run by and bopping me on the head is still there. It’s his height. He has me by a good 6 inches. Last week in class, we talked about using inside, outside and knife hand blocks to defend against punches-that these blocks seem to be the most effective. With someone who is coming from so much farther above you though, it’s hard not to do upward blocks. And my upward blocks are not strong enough against his punches. I tried to parry and move out of the way. I tried to augment my blocks, but I have two problems: lack of upper body strength and I’m thinking entirely too much about what I want to do.

When I think too much while sparring, it slows me down. Speed is another thing I really need to work on. I’m quick when I play tennis, so why can’t that translate to karate? It’s frustrating.

I’m also frustrated with my husband’s lack of control. Grrr. He hit me in the nose so hard that I thought for sure I was going to have a bloody nose. I returned the favor with a shot that rolled off his head gear right into his eye. We have awesome sparring gear and I love it, but somehow I’m thinking we might have been better off wearing these. . .

So, as far as the BBM Challenge goes, I’m doing well with my goal of sparring once a week. I just need to concentrate on building upper arm strength. You’d think that carrying around my almost year old would help with that and it does sometimes. It’s just that now, Lil C much prefers walking/running around the house, and climbing the stairs on her own.

Look for Round 3 details later this week. Hopefully I can get some pointers at class this week.

If you’re interested in joining the BBM Challenge, it’s not too late. See here for details and email me for a coupon code for Everything Fitness once you’ve signed up.

The Carnival of Family Life is up here. Check it out for some great posts.

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Ding, ding, ding Round 1

September 3, 2006 by Black Belt Mama · 14 Comments
Filed under: BBM Challenge, Work it out

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.

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Chicken

September 3, 2006 by Black Belt Mama · 3 Comments
Filed under: BBM Challenge, Work it out

I am the initiator of the Black Belt Mama Challenge.

I should be setting a good example. I should be following through with my goals.

I have a problem. Unfortunately, part of my goal involves another person, Mr. BBM.

We ordered our sparring gear and being the nice person that I am, I even let my husband choose his color first. He picked black, the color I wanted. I let him have the black because I figured he’s a 10th kyu on a semi-permanent break and therefore I’ll let him have the black gear and feel all big and bad.

I ordered metallic blue which I thought would emphasize my eyes nicely. . . and it does.

We got our gear quickly (Karate Depot doesn’t mess around when it comes to shipping). On Friday it arrived and I ripped it open with enthusiasm.

My daughter and I had a blast trying it on and "sparring" in the kitchen.

My husband is one of those people who, on Christmas morning, immediately disappears to try on a new shirt or pair of pants as soon as he opens it. He’s very much like a kid. Because of that, this was the scene as soon as he saw that the gear had arrived. . .

Big I could care less that she doesn’t have sparring gear yet. She’ll use her bare hands to inflict pain. She’ll take out her Kindergarten frustration on her Daddy any day (notice the "height" of that particular punch). He’s grimacing for a pretty good reason, or so he tells me.

Because Mr. BBM and I will be sparring each other, and because my shins already are a lumpy bumpy bluish/purplish/greenish/yellowish/grayish (depending on the day and age of the bruise) mess, we also ordered shin guards.

But, besides the few brief moments of Big I threatening my husband with bodily harm, and her yelling "HEY!" every time I bopped her while sparring in the kitchen, our gear has remained relatively dormant. Mr. BBM and I have not engaged in any official sparring activity. (This, of course, does not include the argument we had this evening over the soaking of a certain pan that needed intense therapy after Salmon Burger Fest 2006 inflicted on it by none other than Mr. BBM himself). Yes, besides Mr. BBM walking around the house kicking things and remarking how thick and nice and padded and awesome our kickers and shin pads are, our gear has remained relatively inactive.

Sure, this was Kindergarten week and that took a lot out of all of us. Of course, the girls are on really messed up schedules right now that is throwing us all for a loop; and yes, we have spent a disproportionate time of our weekend shopping. But that’s no EXCUSE! Black Belt Mama needs to set an example, and I intend to start. . .

tomorrow.

Mr. BBM fell asleep upstairs while putting Lil C down for the night. An accidental nap? I think not. I think there’s a certain 10th kyu with black sparring gear that happens to be a bit afraid of his soon to be (hopefully) 3rd kyu wife who happened to take issue with his soaking pan comment.

My message to him is simple: BE AFRAID. Be VERY AFRAID, because I’m gonna look so good in my metallic blue gear that you’re not even going to see that roundhouse coming, or that back fist to the head that comes on the tail of a simple block. That’s right Mr. BBM, I’m throwing down the gauntlet. Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk. . . are you chicken. . . or are we gonna GO?

Think that will get his butt in gear?