Martial arts, to me, has always felt like a cannot-do-without requirement for being complete in myself. So, I have tried to learn martial arts whenever I get a chance. I have had my fair share of stints before, and all of them are special in some way. This article is about my latest experience!
The beginning-
When I started on 28 Jan 2021, I was out of practice! Hadn't been in touch with any sport/exercise for almost a year. I was in bad shape. Couldn't do simple stuff- a single pushup, chakrasana! Even simple stretching had become painful.
First day I stepped in here- I was a little early so the instructor gave me a choice- What did I want to try? Kickboxing, BJJ, Gymnastics, Wrestling, anything else? I chose wrestling. I had tried everything else here and there, but wrestling- never. When the instructor asked me what I knew about wrestling, my answer was Dangal. :p. So wrestling it was.
Wrestling After a basic warm up, he taught me to shoot. Shooting in wrestling is like dashing forward and clutching the opponent's leg, locking it and taking him down. Yes, it is pretty complicated. It was new and cool too. It took me a few classes to figure out that wrestling and I would take time. It needed everything I couldn't do. Close contact fighting was one thing I was uncomfortable with, however much I tried to hide it. After all, isn’t fighting all about not letting anyone close enough. The other pre-requisites- the 3S of wrestling - Squats, Sprawls and don't even get me started on Shoots. It took me 3-4 classes just to put my knee down without banging it. On top of it I was slow. Very slow. But MMA, I take on my pride. I was bad at it, so I felt if I could do this, I would lose another layer of fear.
Gymnastics If there is something that competes with my skill level in wrestling, it is Gymnastics. Rolls was all I could do. Rest everything- Headstand, handstand, splits etc etc- sorry. I didn't jerk my neck in wrestling like I thought I would, I jerked it by hitting my head on the mat while rolling. So much for being flexible! But the worst was cartwheel. Everyone here does it effortlessly and I was finding it hard to put my hands on the floor.
Strength Everyone can do it. In what shape you are left after doing it is immaterial. Limping after running, not being able to lift a water bottle after lifting people, or feeling broken if you are able to feel anything at all. Although after enough rest, you feel invincible too. Strength sessions have everything- jumping over tyres, pulling ropes, hammering, pull ups, weight lifting, running, everything that feels tiring. In strength, for break, you do push ups and squats. If you ever feel you are strong, try a strength session. Once Hitesh Sir asked me what I wanted to do that day. I said- Anything except strength. And we did strength that day. Since then, I have never given my choice. -:P
Kickboxing Boxing was fine. I knew how to throw punches, technically. What I did suck at - no prize for guessing- was footwork. You literally have to move your feet with every punch. Obviously I didn't do that. I thought I would easily be able to spar. But how could I be right!. I could throw punches all right, but I wasn't used to getting punched in the face. Once, I got beaten up with cuts on my face by a novice just because I didn't know how to keep my guard up. Obviously, it hurt my pride more than my face. Kicks, okay, this is one thing, I am okay at. I have many complaints, like I can't hit above the belt level with power. Can't do a simple full split. And on and on, but I am okay.
Grappling/BJJ Saving the best for the last -:D. Did I say I didn’t like close contact fighting. That was before I started grappling. Close contact fighting, after you get used to it, feels like therapy. If there is something, I have felt at ease with, it is grappling. *touchwood*. That may be because I haven't done it with people heavier than me or I have just started with it, so it is beginner's luck. I am yet to embarrass myself here. Haven't lost a single grappling fight yet. Having said that, I have already broken the luck chain I guess.. I find it easy and yes, given a choice, on any day, I ll go for grappling.
2 months down the line- Report card in short
Wrestling-
Shoots- check- I can do decent shoots now
Takedowns- check- I can more or less do them
Squats- check- I have done 100 at a time, and I feel so proud. On my first day I couldn't do 10
Sprawls- Check
I am damn slow, and have everything to learn in wrestling, but I can at least do these basic things now.
Gymnastics
I can do a headstand other than the roll now.
Twists and C jumps are still an embarrassment.
Handstand will have to wait Cartwheel- No comments -:p Flips- What are they -:p
Strength
Apart from pull ups and weightlifting, I guess I am doing fine. It's just stamina is something I will always probably fall short on.
Kickboxing
I have learnt to keep my guard up. Try sparring now-:D.
Kicks- I'll soon learn to throw the high ones too -:p
Grappling/BJJ Leg locks sikhaado sir, please!
The Instructors-
It has been two months and I haven't gotten bored like I usually do. I feel tired sometimes, but it energises me like nothing does. Needless to say, I have improved a lot and learnt a lot, still, it always feels less.
Someone (my friend Himanshu) said ,if something is important to us, we should find ways to make it interesting. And it is the instructors here, who have made MMA something I don’t like to miss.
Rahul Sir- I have had just 4-5 classes with him and I know why he is so popular. He is calm, composed but he makes you overdo yourself every single time. And I can't stress on how cool that is. Be it warm up, any drill, anything! He knows how much to push you. He is like those monks, or gurus who don't speak a lot and yet emanate knowledge and strength. I didn't know I could take punches on my face before he showed confidence in me that I could. The punches combos practice I got to do with him, has been my best one. In every class he takes, I don't get a single cut but I feel dead almost all the time while I am in it. At the end of it, it feels amazing. The kind of tired yet full of energy you feel after giving it more than you believed you could. After all, he is the guru of our gurus here.
Hitesh Sir- He was the first instructor I met here and one of the finest martial artists I have seen. Fast, fit, flexible, strong. It's like he is sculpted for being a fighter. Normally instructors don't do or cannot do what they teach. But Hitesh Sir, by God, he does every single thing so textbook and picture perfect. And with panache! Be it anything, you name it. Gymnastics, BJJ, sparring, wrestling, every single thing. *touchwood*. I could just watch and watch! Out of all the people, I have learnt the most from him. Not just the tangible MMA stuff, but intangible stuff too- respect, humility and sincerity. I got a chance to do sparring with him once. (Under the condition he would only defend and won't punch me -:p) And guess what, I couldn't connect one single punch. And that was the day I was my best. If I had to keep one standard, like when I would feel satisfied enough, probably when I could compete with him in MMA. Not necessarily win, just compete.
Deepak Sir- I have had very few classes with him. He takes the morning batch and I usually am too lazy to make mornings. But the few classes I attended, he sharpened a lot of things I didn't do properly. He is the only one who cuts me some slack from running and warm up once in a while. One thing I'll always remember is- Conditioning and Stretching. One day, for conditioning, he punched and kicked us to pulp while making us hold up in half squats position. And another day, he took an amazing stretching session where all of our pain just vanished and it felt like we were born anew.
Shivam- He is the youngest instructor. So young, it's hard to call him Sir. I had just one class with him. He was very systematic and organised in his approach. He didn't teach me the second punch till he was satisfied with the first one. The first and only one who let me try locks on him.
We hardly talk to our instructors! We talk to say- Sir break please? Water please?. To which the standard reply is- 50 burpees if you want water. And our thirst vanishes! Sometimes we greet, nod and say thank you and bye too. So, although I wanted to be more descriptive, that is all I could decrypt.
Coming back to where I started, my wish to learn MMA, it is hard to quantify it. I don't have any end point in MMA.
For as long as I can remember, martial arts has fantasised me. Be it our ancient folktales - and stories of Krishna, Karna, Abhimanyu, Arjun, Bhishma. Innumerable Warriors and stories after that- of Ashoka and Chanakya, Porus, Alexander, Akbar. Or the stories of Amazon queens. Or every superhero story I have read that has a Bahubali like perfect character who saves the day.
I don't want to be a professional fighter or go in armed forces or commando forces. Nonetheless, I don't want to be less than one. Just the idea of becoming strong fantasises me. So strong, I can do anything and everything. Climb walls, run marathons, sprints, fighting if need be, I don't want to be scared of anything.. And the thing about being strong is- you never can be enough. Just like you never can be good or smart or intelligent enough. And that is the beauty of it. So, the adventure goes on .....
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