Last night at Scranton MMA the best BJJ students and best Judo students in the area once again came together to train hard and improve their skills. Before this great workout even got started many of the top students, assistant instructors, and instructors were inside Keystone CrossFit improving their strength and conditioning with CrossFit coach Tim Muenkel. After a great workout, everyone started with a fantastic BJJ class taught by Jeff Reese. The class focused on the most fundamental principles of the finishing a triangle against an opponent that is striking from inside the guard. In attendance were a variety of students, both men and women, ranging from brand new white belts to our most seasoned purple and brown.
Right after the BJJ class ended, student moved into the Muay Thai and Judo classes. Once again both classses had a mix of beginners and experienced students alike. This is very important as the mixing of skill levels allows our more advanced students to constantly focus on working to refine their basic skills, which are vital for success in any martial art, while simultaneously affording our newer students the benefit of working with someone of a higher skill level helping them to improve at a rapid pace.
The Muay Thai class went through some great technical footwork that stressed the importance of angles and finished out with lots of drill and sparring. The instructors were able to help correct some mistakes being made by the newer students as well as help improve the technique of the more advanced students. Everyone left with more confidence in their striking ability and everyone got a great workout in as well.
The Judo club continued to get ready for the upcoming freestyle judo tournament. Students worked a lot on both standing and ground techniques in preparation for this great event. Freestyle Judo is a mix of rules that works well for well rounded grapplers. The participants start standing and continue to compete on the ground. Unlike IJF Judo tournaments, Freestyle Judo has fewer rules and restrictions. One of the biggest is that ‘shots’ or leg grabbing takedowns are allowed under Freestyle rules. Additionally, much more time is given for the competitors to finish the match on the ground with chokes or submissions. Pins can not end a match.
So, in just a few hours, students were able to improve their strength and conditioning, work on their BJJ and then focus on either Judo or Muay Thai. That is really a wonderful benefit of belonging to Scranton MMA. You can get a lot of training done in a short amount of time all under one roof! Some people call this a great night of training, we call it just another Tuesday! See you on the mats!