Wanna get hit?

By Nicholas Grenke
Western Herald

Editor’s Note: Nick Grenke participated in a mix martial arts class as part of an assignment for the Western Herald and the following is his a journal of his MMA class.

In my cutoff tie-dye shirt I drove down to Lightning Kicks Martial Arts Center blasting my Pearl Jam album in hopes of getting some adrenalin flowing for mix martial arts first m class. Like my feelings towards my old Dodge’s brakes or visiting an ex-girlfriend, there was no idea what to expect upon arrival at Mills St. and Jackson, which was scary and exciting at the same time.

As I walked in the office I introduced myself to the head of the gym Amir Killah, (as in like Kill-ah, as in like, damn, this dudes got a sweet name for a fighter) who as opposed to Brock Lestner was a very calm and jovial, smaller than me, but without an ounce of fat. He smiled and handed me out a waiver to sign while asked him if I could spar today.

“Well, do you want to get hit?” Killah asked.

I told him about my experience boxing in high school and said I figured I’d be fine. At this, he laughed and said to go meet the other fighters and to get stretched out.

When walking into the training area of Lighting Kicks I quickly realized I was the only one wearing shoes so I sheepishly walked back out to take them off.  Everyone else was stopping to bow to the American flag as they walked in and I quickly ran back out and then in so I didn’t offend anyone. Later Killah told me that everyone was supposed to do this, but not to worry, if a new guy forgot they weren’t going to take my head off.

The workout started with everyone in a circle doing conditioning exercises such as pushups, up-downs, sit-ups and mountain climbers. In case you don’t remember from pee-wee football or, ladies volleyball, mountain climbers hurt. By the end of the first round of exercises I was glad that during the past few days I had to quit smoking as many cigarettes (it was either pay for smokes or not eat) because I was already sweating like Shaq at the foul line. While we were getting to work, the gym speakers started playing the new Pearl Jam CD (which I have yet to be able to afford), which gave me a good omen.

Luckily for me, one of my old high school wrestling teammates from St. Joseph High School, Pat Wallace, had been going to the class for a month and informed me when the conditioning period of the session was almost over. After the last set of up-downs, Killah asked me how I was holding up and I responded with a cocky smile and said, “Well that’s too bad at all.”

During the next session, Killah taught the people and my fellow fighters several submission holds and chokes that are at the basics of MMA. During the middle of his examples, Killah explained that “Making them fall asleep,” isn’t caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, but by not allowing carbon dioxide out of the brain.  After this example, everyone partnered up in order to practice the moves and I got matched with Wallace.

The first thing I realized that getting chocked, even if you’re just practicing getting chocked, is terrible. A panic goes through your brain that makes freaking out hard not to do.

Even though I was close to swinging wildly at my practice partner, it’s key to listen to instructions and simply tap out if you can’t breathe.

After this session, we squared off with different members in the class to practice our techniques on the mat. Being a former wrestler myself, I had a hard time getting on my back in a fight as opposed to rolling on my stomach. During this mostly botched attempt at practice, all other members of the gym were kind and had great patience in showing me how to react to different situations.

The third and my most anticipated part of practice for me was the striking/sparring session in which we put on gloves and had a chance to go against each other with a chance to hit. I didn’t have any of my own equipment so Killah introduced me to TJ, who had a few extra sets of gloves. But to my distress, he didn’t have any spare sets of leg pads. TJ assured me it wasn’t so much a worry of getting kicked in the legs but protection for people I would kick. Since I had never kicked anyone I figured this was fine.

I started sparring against Wallace and started doing a basic left-left-right boxing technique against him. Things were going alright until he kicked me in the leg, causing me to go, “Dude why’d you kick me?” bringing laughs from Killah watching. After a few moments of practicing my boxing style, the bell sounded and we were told to switch partners.
TJ was my next partner, and since I was around 60 pounds heavier than him and I planned on taking it easy to be nice. Little did I know that he was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. At the start of the bell I moved in with a last left jab which and promptly in me getting kicked square in the face, a first. With TJ being less than 5’10” and me at 6’ 2”, I was shocked that anyone but Bruce Lee could kick like that. After regrouping I started back with jabs while watching his feet. Suddenly, a foot came flying at my face, which I dodged, and then a right, which I did not.

I didn’t fall hard or cry, but I sat down, hard. I was only down for about five seconds; thankfully, TJ didn’t go in for a finishing kick or punch as I sat there dumbfounded. Killah came over to check if I was ok which shook me out of my daze as I got back up for some more sparring. To be honest the next few moments were a blur for which I appreciate TJ taking it easy on me, because I’m sure that littler guy could have knocked me senseless.

At the end of practice the gym came together and Killah asked everyone to give a hand to the new guys, which included me. Wallace and I talked for a bit afterwards about the old high school days, although I was really too sore to carry a conversation.

My overall aches and pains from my first MMA session were a swollen nose, bruised forehead, and another major bruise on my foot from a bad attempt at kicking at Wallace in his shin. But as I got back to the car, I felt that a mass of bad energy had left my body. Sure, I was in pain in a lot of places, but I felt better afterwards than before I came, which was something… although I was too dizzy to figure out what.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Oct 2 2009. Filed under Sports, Sports Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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