My Challenge.

So I set a challenge for myself to do 100 minutes of sparring for this past week.   I am close to finishing my 1000 sparring minutes, but that isn't what brought me to this challenge.  A week ago while sparring in the sparring class, I got punched in the nose pretty hard, and also in the stomach.  I covered it up pretty good, but I actually had a bruise on the bridge of my nose.  I really needed work on keeping my guards up and finding ways to get in on my opponent.  So I decided to focus on my sparring skills this week and challenge myself to do at least 100 minutes of sparring.  I did 130.

I got off to a great start with 40 minutes of working out on the heavy bags on Monday.  I focused on always keeping my guards up, and trying different combinations.  I worked on my projection step and coming in low on an opponent.  I was so thrilled.  It felt great to push hard with this workout.  Not only that but I figured if I could do 40 minutes on my first day of the challenge, I could do at least double my goal.  Then on Tuesday evening, I sparred quite a bit in class.  I really am enjoying this class, as it gives me a chance to spar with different belt levels and work on my own skills.  By the end of Tues, I had already sparred for 65 minutes.  I was going great guns, but then things slowed down, and I didn't get a lot of time the rest of the week to work on it.  Wed evening I spent time with my daughter, and Thursday evening I had demo practice after teaching the kids classes.  I did manage to get in a quick 10 minutes of working on the bag before the kids classes started.  Friday was busy again with evening classes.  On Saturday, I killed 2 birds with one stone by working on sparring skills in my fitness class.  I was hoping to help out some fellow I ho chuan team mates as well, to get in some sparring minutes.   I spent an hour at open training after my fitness class, but used all that time to work on my rope dart.  So by Saturday I had done my 100 minutes, but I wasn't happy with just reaching my goal, I wanted to beat it.  So today, I did another 30 minutes of boxing on the Wii with my son. 

Putting this kind of focus on my sparring has in no way made me a great fighter, but it has definitely made me more aware.  When I was sparring in the sparring class this past week, I was always aware of my guards, and worked harder to keep them where I needed them for protection.  I am happy to say that I didn't get punched in the nose either.  I also tried out my combinations that I had worked on, on the bag.  I actually made a hit or two.  So nothing remarkable, but it is a start for me.  Total number of sparring minutes for me so far. . . . . .904