fandomtownies | Combat Training For Adults - Atlas Gym [Thursday evening]

Max looked around, somewhat gratified that some of his nominal students had returned ~~assuming they had~~. He was keeping an eye out for newcomers. This wasn't a class at school, after all, no need to enroll. Just show up. And hopefully the word would spread and people would do that.

"Welcome back," he began. "Now I know that some of you are already pretty good with this sort of thing, but I mostly want to focus this class on those of you who haven't had a lot of training or experience with fighting. You're the ones who can get the most good out of this, I think."

With an apologetic shrug, Max looked out over the people he'd noticed were quite good last week. "The rest of you, please feel free to help out. I may be the official instructor here, but I'm not the only one with helpful advice to offer. So if you see something worth pointing out, speak up."

"Today what I want to focus on is balance. Whether you're standing still, or moving around, it's one of the most important things to focus on when you're in a fight. This is because once you're off-balance everything you do is weaker. You can't attack as well, or block, or escape. So balance is important."

"Two simple tricks will help you keep your balance when you're starting off. First, a good stance. The precise way you put your feet is going to be a matter of comfort and fighting style, but making sure that they're placed wide enough apart to give you plenty of support, and never letting your feet cross when you move," Max demonstrated a shuffling little side step, "will go a long way toward keeping you upright."

"The second thing to do is to be careful not to overextend yourself. It's easy to punch or kick too hard and end up leaning farther forward than you meant to. This can be really dangerous, so try to avoid it."

Max smirked. "And so, today, another paired activity. Each of you is going to find a partner, and you're going to practice your balance. You'll face each other, press your palms together, then link your fingers, and try to make the other person move their feet. Be sure to switch partners every so often so that you can get a feel for some of the different pressures you'll face when trying to keep your balance."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Still more interactive than a sign in. Besides, we don't really have a class roster...

Tim was here. He was encouraged by his not making a total fool of himself last time, so he'd come back.

Because you never knew when you might have to save the world again.

"Hey," Max waved. "Glad you came back."

"Well I didn't wind up in quite enough pain last time." Tim joked.

Max laughed. "We'll have to see what we can do about that this week."

"I'd appreciate it. I haven't really and truly gotten my ass kicked in years."

It was strange, he hadn't come as close to dying with the big time baddies as he had with just some psycho on the street.

"Well, I am pretty good at kicking ass," Max smirked.

"I would hope so, you teaching this class and all. Where are you from Max?"

"The Empire of Alera." Max grinned. "Which I doubt you've ever heard of."

"Nope fraid not. Not in my world I guess."

Millie decided to stop in and see what this was all about.

"Well, well, well," Max grinned. "Look who the cat dragged in."

He hadn't been avoiding her... exactly. But he had been avoiding thinking about the whole weekend with the kid...

Millie smiled at him a little shyly. "Actually, my cat would far prefer I was home curled up on my bed with a book where she could snuggle with me," she admitted.

She hadn't been avoiding him anymore than she avoided anyone in town. She was simply a bit of a homebody here. And she'd thought a lot about the child.

Mary was back once again. Last week hadn't completely scared her off.

"Glad you made it back," Max grinned at Mary. Somewhat predictably, he wasn't exactly looking at her face.

"Of course I came back," said Mary. "By the way, my eyes are up here."

Max pulled his gaze upward and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry about that."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," said Mary with a shrug.

Well, Jane had liked the first meeting so...why not?

"You're back. I take it we didn't bore you too bad last week?"

"It was interesting", she admitted that much. "And I need to get a social life of sorts, anyway."

"Well, plenty of people around here to talk to," Max grinned. "And even if you don't learn anything, maybe you can teach someone else a thing or two."

"Anything to help, I guess." The whole idea of teaching...well, she had heard there were some courses going on that weren't precisely what one would expect.

"So, besides organizing this meetings, what do you do?"

Summer was back again, seeing as she'd been at the first meeting and it had gone well.

"Hey, you," Max waved at summer with a warm smile.

"Hey yourself," Summer replied, returning the wave and the smile in kind.

Pair up, push each other around. It's fun!

"So this is like, low impact sumo wrestling?"

Summer had great balance thanks to all her years of surfboarding. She was all for partnering up and wondered if a stance similar to being on her board, would work for her during a fight.

"Hi, I'm Tim, wanna pair up?"

Who is all about this female-heavy class.

Because who am I to flaunt tradition?

Combat Training For Adults - Atlas Gym [Thursday evening]

Arrive, mingle, etc.

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The activity!

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Talk to Max

OOC