The Human Obstacle Course

Monday night’s class started with a few warm-up drills. The first had you punch a Tombstone pad that was being held by a student. Behind you were two other students that were also holding Tombstone pads. When those students shouted hey, you had to turn and deliver a groin kick or a roundhouse kick to the pad, depending on where and how they positioned the pad. Once you delivered the kick, return to punching.

Once done with that drill, a student held focus mitts and you had to throw Bas Rutten combinations as well as any other combinations the mitt holder called out. All the while, two other students, holding kicking shields, moved around you. They positioned themselves so that when they shouted hey, you had to deliver a vertical front kick, side kick or back kick to the pad. Once the kick was delivered, return to the focus mitts combinations. One focus mitts holder looked like she could hold mitts for Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

The drill - before the human obstacle course - had us practicing knife defenses and counterattacks without the practice knife. An emphasis was being put on our knee strikes and controlling the attacking arm.

Let the Games Begin

As soon as I finished the previous drill, I was told to catch my breath because I was going to be the first to go through the course, just my luck!

I started by tapping a kettlebell, picked up a 10 lbs. medicine ball and then attempted to run the length of the mat covered floor area (54’) with it. Upon my way, I was subjected to all sorts of attacks, e.g., gun, knife, bearhugs, chokes, etc. Once an attack was made, I had to drop the medicine ball, make a defense, then pick up the medicine ball and continue my run. As soon as I reached the other end of the floor, I had to turn around and make my way back to the kettlebell. This routine continued until the instructor decided to rotate someone else in.

The instructor told us that he uses a similar drill... with some additional focal points... for a group of his police officer clients. When I thought about it later, the drill made me feel like I was in a video game having to meet certain challenges in order to reach my objective like Sam Fisher.