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“Yes.” I mimic his position. “This feels weird. My shoulder’s basically touching my chin. Is this right”
“Yes. It’s the rotation of your body that throws the punch and generates power.”
“Okay.” We try that out a few times. I punch. Zeb corrects. I punch again. Slowly, it begins to feel more natural.
“Let’s work on your fist.”
“Am I not doing it right?” I show him my fist. My thumb is where he said to put it.
“Yes. What I want you to focus on is striking with the top two knuckles.” He points at his first two knuckles, then taps mine.
I stab at the air, pretending I know what I’m doing.
“We call this the striking surface. It’s a direct extension of your hand, through your wrist, to your arm, and to your shoulder.”
“When do I actually get to punch something?”
“We’re getting there. Form over function. We work the basics. Now, as far as what to hit, your target areas are eyebrows and below.”
“Why?”
“The skull is thick and can take a hard hit.”
“Gotcha.”
“As you punch, move slowly and deliberately. Remember your legs drive off the ground, your hips rotate your shoulder forward. That momentum is what throws the punch and generates the power. Your arm is weak when used alone. You have to engage your entire body.”
“Never knew there was this much behind a punch.” I try it out a few times, feeling more comfortable and almost like I know what I’m doing.
“We talked about eyebrows down and you asked why. Not only is the skull thick, but eyebrows down is what we consider the soft areas of the face. Effective punches there will affect vision and breathing. More importantly, you’ll create a pain response in your opponent. Which means, these are the areas you’re going to want to protect on yourself.”
“Oh lord. I’ve barely figured out how to punch and now I have to defend?” I shake my head. “How do you make it look so easy?”
“Because I have hours, weeks, months, and years of practice.”
“I don’t have that.”
“All we’re trying to do is get you to minimal proficiency. Your entire goal isn’t to engage in a fist fight, but to learn how to escape an attack. Failing that, how to fight for your life.”
“How about a break?” I nibble my lower lip, but I know what he’s going to say.
“You get one break every half-hour. We’ve been at this less than twenty minutes. Come on, you’ve got this.”
“And how long did you say we were going to train?”
“Three hours a day sparring and another hour on basic physical conditioning.”
I blow out a puff of air. “When you said relocate to HQ, I didn’t think I’d be doing hard time.”
“Hardly.” He shakes his head and laughs. “What else are you going to do to pass the time?”
“I don’t know? Sit on the couch and eat bonbons? You could spend that time ravaging me.”
His gaze heats with that comment, just like I hoped. Anything to get his mind off training and to something far more exciting.
“We’ve got all day…” I gesture around the gym, which is relatively empty this time of day. “Who’s going to know if we slip off and…”
“I’ll know, and there’s no way I’m going to be the reason you’re unprepared for a fight.”
