Gettin' shrimped...

Last night was my first time to "try out" the grappling club. I almost punked out because I didn't have the right uniform and I am completely sore from Wednesday's karate class. But, I went through with it anyway.

My hubby shamed me into it...which is exactly what I needed. Sometimes he steps into the coach role and gives me the kick in the pants I need to get off my rear and step out of my comfort zone. You see, I don't like people in my personal bubble. I get teased about that too because my friends know that about me. In fact my personal bubble is more like a personal force field. I really don't like people in my personal bubble! Grappling is all about people in your personal bubble. I mean you are up against someone, sweating all over them, rubbing up all over them. Can I just say....EWWWW! I don't care if it is a male or a female. It is still just EWWWW!

But, ladies. If and when you're ever attacked out there, there is a very high probability you will end up on the ground. Ground tactics are what you need to learn. Grappling is the single most important skill you need to learn to defend yourself. It could save your life one day. You have to learn this. Forget all that MMA, Ultimate Fighting Championship bullshit your boyfriend or husband watches on TV. That's just a sport. You need life and death self defense. You don't need a seminar. You don't need a week-long workshop. You need practice, training, and more practice with a great teacher who is into continuous professional development himself....or herself.

So, there I was on the mat. I have to put my body through a whole new set of physical demands. Like shrimping. WTF!!!?? Well, it is a way of escaping your opponent when your pinned up on the ground. You need to develop your core (hmmm, sounds a lot like this will help my other sports and like this will apply to my WholyFit yoga alternative and to my karate training). You need to develop stamina. And you need to make the shrimping skill an automatic part of your repetoire. So, we do the drill over and over across the mat. This is a great, full-body workout.

Let's see if I can post the YouTube link correctly....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGFBmVw8KGM