Ok, first off, going in, I knew this was going to hurt. Jim limped for a bit after the seminar in Sudbury. Add Master Yves and his crew to the mix, and I know the bar had already been notched up again.
Kru Nick Hewitson started off with the workout from hell. I quote: "we need to go to the point of failure, where muscle memory takes over and your not all fresh and able to think". Go that. Got that fast. Just let it be said that mountain climbers are cruel and unusual punishment.
When the gloves went on, we moved right into penetrating front kicks. Even with 15 pounds of leather wrapped kick pad on, it didn't seem to help with the force that a proper Muay Thai kick can generate. I think my spine is crooked from Huskey's hooves. We moved into knee strikes, which for some reason seemed to hurt even more. The leaning back was new for some of the stand up fighters, but there was no doubt about the effectivness of the strike.
The Thai clinche was entertaining, because no matter what way you tied Nick up he had a great defence for it, which left some of us wondering why'd you want to even try. Combine the twists and movements with knees and everyone was quietly crossing their arms over their ribs as they watched.
We moved to some leg work, which is designed to "de-sensitize" your leg muscles from crushing kicks. You've all heard the stories about smashing trees with your shins. It was painful with Jim and Huskey as partners, but as I wailed with all my strength on Nicks legs, he just smiled. He gave me a tap back which (in his cool british accent) "dropped me like a bag of hammers". I still have a 1/2 baseball lump on my leg. I think he actually brought BJ to tears.
Big thanks to Jim for bringing Nick in, I can say that the whole HSS crew who attended will be talking about this one for awhile (between the advil and limping). Pictures and video posted...
Larlo...
