Turn 75 of 226

Fix the minor imperfections in my knees, elbows, jumping knees and roundhouse kicks as well

The knees are the first because the knees are the strikes she trusts most and the trusting is the reason the imperfections hid. She reviews them on the steel mirror — the surface that has become the warehouse's diagnostic tool, the polished steel that shows the body what the body cannot feel — and the review is slow. The right knee drives from the rear leg and the drive is clean but the hip is not fully extended at impact. The not-fully-extended is a centimeter of range and a centimeter of range is the difference between the knee landing on the surface of the body and the knee landing through it. She drills the extension against the bag — the hip thrusting forward at the top of the strike, the pelvis driving through, not stopping at contact. The first fifty reps the hip stops short. The stopping is old habit. By rep one hundred and fifty the hip drives through and the bag's reaction changes — the swing is wider, the base shifts, the chain protests. The left knee has a different flaw: the foot is planted flat instead of on the ball and the flat foot kills the upward drive and the upward drive is what makes the knee a head weapon at her height. She drills the foot position until the ball of the foot is the platform and the platform is spring-loaded and the spring is the lift.

The elbows are next and the elbows are the strikes that live in the phone booth — the clinch range, the corridor, the space where there is no room for anything else. She reviews the horizontal elbow first. The right elbow is tight and the arc is compact but the shoulder rises on the strike and the rising tenses the trapezius and the tension steals speed. She drills the shoulder down — a mental cue, 'sink,' that keeps the trap relaxed — and the elbow speeds up by a fraction and the fraction is visible on the bag. The left horizontal elbow opens too wide. The opening is a three-degree difference from the right and the three degrees give the opponent a read. She narrows the arc until both elbows match and the matching is symmetry and symmetry is the body's signature. The downward elbow — the strike she uses from top position on the ground — has a wrist issue. The wrist is loose on impact and the loose wrist dissipates force at the joint. She tightens the wrist until it is locked and the lock is rigid and the rigidity transfers every pound of the strike into the target.

The jumping knee is the strike that makes Marcus widen his eyes and the widening is the reason it needs to be perfect. She reviews it on the steel mirror and the review requires her to jump and the jumping at four hundred pounds is a thing the floor notices — the concrete flexes, the warehouse echoes, the body leaves the ground and the leaving is an act of violence against gravity. The imperfection is the launch. She jumps off two feet and the two-foot launch is stable but slow and the slow gives the opponent a read — the knees bend, the body drops, the signal is clear. She drills the switch to a single-foot launch — the left foot plants, the right knee drives up, the left foot follows. The single-foot launch is faster. The body does not telegraph the jump because the jump begins from the knee drive and the knee drive is already a strike. The first hundred reps are awkward — the balance is different, the timing is different, the body is learning a new coordination. By rep two hundred the launch is fluid and the knee is higher and the higher is the head-height weapon that no one at her weight class should possess.

The roundhouse kicks are the last and the roundhouse kicks are the strikes that have been with her since the beginning and the beginning is where the deepest habits live. She reviews both sides. The right roundhouse — her power side — has a hip rotation that is clean but the follow-through carries the body past center and the past-center is over-rotation and the over-rotation leaves her squared up and vulnerable to the counter. She drills the check — the kick lands and the leg returns to stance, not past it, and the return is controlled by the core and the core is the muscle group that holds the body's center. The left roundhouse — her weaker side — has a plant foot that does not pivot enough and the not-enough limits the hip rotation and the limited rotation makes the kick arm-speed instead of hip-speed. She drills the pivot until the foot completes its turn and the hip opens fully and the kick's power doubles and the doubling is the left side catching the right.

The legal pad entry is the longest she has written. 'Knees: right hip extension corrected — drive-through confirmed. Left foot platform corrected — ball of foot, spring-loaded. Elbows: right shoulder tension eliminated (cue: sink). Left arc narrowed — symmetry achieved. Downward elbow wrist locked. Jumping knee: single-foot launch drilled — faster, no telegraph, higher strike. Roundhouse: right over-rotation corrected — return to stance. Left plant foot pivot completed — power doubled, parity with right. All strikes reviewed and corrected. No imperfections identified. Body: 7'7