Lunch time drill session at London Fight Factory!

Way up North when the time comes to 12 noon GMT, schoolchildren and workers go on what is known as their dinner break.  Down here in London they go on their lunch break. After a hard days toil and the clock slowly reaches the 5pm mark, northerners leave work to go home and have their tea, while southerners go home and sit down to dinner.

 

Should a Northerner at 5pm, loftily announce to his co workers that he is off home for dinner, he will be greeted with a barrage of feet and fists and questions of his sexuality will be asked in earnest.

 

If I arranged to meet a Southerner at the gym at dinner time and was still in Northern time mode, I'd be waiting there from 12pm and the Southerner would casually tip up after 6pm.

 

Such are the time based hazards that befall me while living in the Big Smoke, so with these time based discrepancies ironed out, I took a tube down to Old Street and made my to London Fight Factory for the 'lunch time' (Southern GMT) class.

 

Thursday is drill day and after a good warm up, the drills started; Jackson took the class and showed five drills that were practiced one minute at a time, taking it turns to complete them all, then two rounds of drilling out all five in one five minute round.

With Jackson and Luiz

A few rounds of rolling ended the session and after a long session on the foam roller, I was good to go.  I've been away from the gym for more weeks than I care to remember due to combination of work and lower back related woes, but work issues have been resolved and I'm as good as I'll ever be physically, so it's back to the hard grind of getting my fitness and sharpness back.

Approach with caution!

Being in my 45th year, any extended absences off the mats does not bode well upon one's return and I thought I was in for a very hard time; however, I was pleased to find I wasn't as knackered as I thought I would be. The drilling was fun and not too taxing, the rolls were tough although I did find it hard cardio wise and my timing was out, but I survived the session and all in one piece.

 

Result!

 

So, for all you readers out there in the 40+ age bracket, find solace in this post; if you're coming back from a lay off, tell your coach (who'll already be aware of this) and more importantly tell your sparring partners, especially if they're under 25, regardless of belt colour.

 

If you're in a bad spot, tap out and start again; if you've explained beforehand to your partner they'll be cool with you and you can carry on rolling, refilling the cardio tanks along the way.

 

Don't let injury lay offs keep you off the mats. Train hard and train smart!