There is a simple shoulder lock that we teach the new folks to get them used to the idea that muscle is a poor substitute for technique. Basically you capture the wrist, rotate the arm and as the person passes by you move the locked arm into the upright position forcing that person to bend over or experience pain in the shoulder and wrist.
I’m in the middle of “monkey in the middle” at the tail end of class where we’ve been reviewing our locks. The idea is that you try it with everyone giving you an idea of what works with different heights, lengths of arms and skill levels.
Everybody gets a chance to be the Monkey and eventually I get up to the head of the line and one of my first people is Little Sister. Little Sister is notorious in that no lock can be put on her. Everybody has a spot that locks them out of course, but she’s only got one and it’s difficult to get her there. She is a veritable rubber man. I can’t believe how easy this is to forget, yet I do it over and over. On this occasion I presumed that a shoulder lock would work just fine. I actually knew the wrist lock was a failure as soon as I got a hold of her arm, but I went through the motions smoothly. Little Sister looked up at me when I confidently had her in position – which is to say that she was bent at the waist and her arm was pointed up at 45 degree position behind her – and then stood up straight while her arm rotated in the socket even farther up. The only thing that ran through my mind was my old G.I. Joe doll. Somehow when they designed it they left out any possibility of normal shoulder rotation, giving the children of America an unrealistic idea of the limitations of the body (not to mention the lack of genitals).
Long story short - I thought I for a second that I was going to be sick and since I wasn’t I immediately made fake retching sounds and dropped her arm like a hot iron. My discomfort made the class piddle themselves in hilarity. I actually had the Wonder Twins on the floor laughing.
Another incident of fine teaching.
2 comments:
Your post made me smile.
My elbows hyperextend. It draws questioning looks if I am working with unfamiliar partners. Once I was told jokingly that I was "broke".
It sounds like you have a great class.
I had a friend that had the same condition with his knees. Because his legs were so hairy we called him, "goat boy" for the longest time.
The class can be enjoyabe in the extreme. We have the Wonder Twins who love to laugh and me as a partial instructor who likes to make people laugh. A dangerous combo if you want to get something done.
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