Alright, so today was all about hitting the mats and working on the sprawl. Nothing fancy, just grinding out the basics because, honestly, that’s what saves your bacon half the time.
Getting Started
First thing, I cleared some space in the garage. Didn’t need much, just enough room to drop and recover without banging into the lawnmower. Did a quick warm-up, jumping jacks, arm circles, you know, the usual stuff to get the blood pumping. Didn’t want to pull anything.
Then I started slow. Practiced just shooting in, like a basic takedown attempt on an imaginary opponent. Then, from that shot position, I focused on the reaction – the sprawl.
The Main Grind
This was the core of it. I spent a good chunk of time just drilling the sprawl itself.
- Dropping the hips: Really focused on slamming my hips down hard and fast. Trying to get that feeling of driving weight onto the imaginary shooter’s head and shoulders.
- Kicking the legs back: Snapping my legs back straight and wide. Had to consciously think about getting my feet out of reach.
- Chest up, head up: Tried to keep my posture strong even when flat on the mat, ready to circle out or counter.
Did sets of ten, took a breather, then went again. Over and over. It wasn’t pretty. Lots of just hitting the mat, scrambling back up, feeling the burn in my hips and shoulders. At some point, I just put on some music and went into a rhythm. Drop, kick back, hips down, recover. Repeat.
Honestly, after about 20 minutes, I was breathing pretty heavy. It looks simple, but doing it repeatedly, trying to be explosive each time, really takes it out of you. My forearms started feeling it too from catching myself.
How It Felt
Felt clumsy at first. My timing was off, wasn’t dropping my hips quite low enough sometimes. But I kept at it. Just focused on the movement. Consistency over perfection, that was the mantra today. By the end of the session, maybe after 40 minutes or so of drilling, it started feeling smoother. More automatic. My hips were dropping faster, the leg kick-back felt more powerful.
Sweat was dripping everywhere. Floor was probably gross. But it felt good. Like I actually worked on something fundamental. It’s that repetitive grind that builds the muscle memory, right? No shortcuts.
Wrapping Up
Finished off with some light stretching, mostly for the hips and lower back. Packed up my stuff. Felt tired but solid. It’s just basic sprawling, nothing groundbreaking, but putting in that time always feels worthwhile. Gotta keep those defenses sharp.
