[quote]hel320 wrote:
I decided it wasn’t fair for men and women to spar against each other. Too uneven. [/quote]
BWWWAAAAAHHHHAHAHA!
God Bless Lonnie
[quote]Capacity wrote:
Sunday: Off
Monday:
MT 8:30
Weird class. All clinch work. Uneven number of students and no other women. Damn. I hate it when that happens. That means I end up being a 3rd wheel because no guy wants to pair up with a woman.
Frankly, I don’t mind working with men. THEY get all weird about it though, which makes me feel weird. I just try to stay focused and relaxed, but damn it’s hard when you know they’re worrying about where various body parts are in relation to mine. And no doubt about it, clinch work is close.
So just when I get cozy with my little 3-some we have to swap partners and go through the weirdness all over again. And so on and so forth each round.
It’s just a lot easier on the psyche when the other female is present and she and I can work on this kind of stuff together. It’s more realistic for me to do clinch work with her than a bunch of guys, even though I know it’s probably good for me to do it.
No cardio or lifting. Too busy with other stuff.
Cappy
[/quote]
They’ll get over it. Sounds like a great opportunity for you to work against larger competitors. If they are actually bigger than you. Don’t MT fighters tend to run small?
[quote]skidmark wrote:
They’ll get over it. Sounds like a great opportunity for you to work against larger competitors. If they are actually bigger than you. Don’t MT fighters tend to run small?[/quote]
Yeah. But some of these guys are HUGE. Seems to be a large number of the class is in law enforcement of some sort. From Feds on down the line. There are a couple of bounty hunters, a few prison guards and several city and state cops.
(All men) There are also two guys who own/operate their own MA dojos and they come there to further their own MT and/or BJJ training. I’d say that on any given day there’s maybe only two or three guys that are just regular Joes.
(Unless there’s a bunch of first-timers) For women there’s me and Min. Min isn’t even 5’ tall and weighs MAYBE 105 lbs. If Min isn’t there, it’s just me representing the female gender.
The few guys who are my height or only slightly taller are pretty jacked. Both of the instructors are on the smaller and leaner side of the equation.
Some of the guys are getting over it. Others, not at all. Oh well. It just makes you feel like crap sometimes.
Cappy
Wed:
8:30 MT
A frigging packed class! A lot of guys trying things out I guess. Hence, punching practice. Pretty basic stuff. No problem … can always use the basics! The punches I have down, so I worked on keeping my guard up, speed, etc.
BJJ:
Don’t even know how to explain stuff yet. Too much of a rookie. Still at the stage where I forget everything I’ve “learned” already. What a dork! Going to try a Saturday afternoon class. I’ve been told that it’s all men, but hey … I can’t learn this rolling just once a week. I hate the dork factor!
Lifting:
legs, abs, grip. Nothing exciting to report.
Stretching: 30 mins
Thursday:
Cardio: Elliptical intervals, 30 min.
Agility practice: 40 mins. Lots of work on jumps and weaves. She is SO fast! Need more work on weave poles. Ug. Not our favorite!
Friday:
Lift:
Chest/shoulders/abs
Again, nothing exciting to report. Pretty much the same old, same old. Not that this is bad, just … well, kinda dull. If anyone wants to read the specifics of what I’m doing, say so. I’d be glad to write it out.
Cardio: Run. Moderate pace. 30 min.
Stretch: 20 min.
Crazy week. We are in the final planning stages of a major kitchen renovation from the floor up. It’s getting close to crunch time and the pressure to make sure every T is crossed and every i dotted is insane.
Oh, and everything is fully MY responsibility. Once stuff is on order I’ll have a few weeks to get things packed up and sorted out before the work begins. I’m a bit of a wreck as this is MAJOR $$$ stuff! Yikes!
Cappy
Cappy, You are a plodder, I really admire the focus of your training.
Good luck on the kitchen renovation. I’m glad you have to deal with that rather than me! I suspect that will be more trying than a bunch of you ‘wrassle’ with.
Good Luck!
[quote]j_willy3 wrote:
Cappy, You are a plodder, I really admire the focus of your training.
Good luck on the kitchen renovation. I’m glad you have to deal with that rather than me! I suspect that will be more trying than a bunch of you ‘wrassle’ with.
Good Luck![/quote]
Glad you are keeping with it.
One thing you might want to work on is grip fighting. It is amazing what you can do when you control the gripping game.
Had an outrageous experience over the weekend. As I think I’ve reported, I’ve taken exactly two BJJ classes. Both classes were rather humbling and well, for lack of a better word, awkward. So much to try to remember and so many limbs to contend with. It’s a bit overwhelming.
Anyhow, one of the instructors pushed me to come to the Saturday afternoon class. There were lots of reasons why I couldn’t or shouldn’t, but I had a funny feeling a door was being opened. So, yeah, I went.
There were six students of mixed levels. I was the only beginner and only female. The class is taught by a five-time BJJ world champion. Holy crap! Talk about personalized instruction!
We ran though about 15 minutes of warm-up work, then worked on a technique to pass the guard. I got paired with a very strong male partner who was about my height.
Pound for pound he looked like he could kick ass and then some, but come to find out his BJJ experience is intermediate to advanced beginner. Still, certainly light years ahead of two-class me.
My partner was a very good sport about being paired with me and later actually chose to partner with me rather than another guy! I’d like to think this is because I have a certain work ethic that lends itself well to this sort of training; I don’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
And he wasn’t cutting me any slack for being 1. a woman 2. a good 12+ years older and 3. a beginner.
After that it was time to partner up and roll. Again, we were paired off by the instructor. Guess who I got? Yup … the head honcho himself. Holy crapola again! Yeah, I WAS nervous! I mean, who wouldn’t be?
He said not to worry, he’d just go with the flow and I should do my best to try to get him to submit or keep from submitting to him. Well ya think? LOL! We were all supposed to roll for five minutes, then swap partners again. Well five minutes can be an eternity for a beginner!
So we get started and we roll and roll and roll … and when we finally stopped (to switch partners) we had been rolling for a full TEN minutes! Dear God Almighty! Even he was shocked that I had the stamina to roll non-stop for that long.
I was pretty spent, but we all paired off again. I got my first partner, who by now was ready to push me a bit harder. Again, I held my ground and actually got him to submit once.
(armlock … probably by accident!) and was able to hold my own pretty well. I’m sure that was a fluke! By the time we finished up I was toast, but much less inclined to hold back or let my inexperience intimidate me.
It wasn’t until I was driving home that it really hit me who I’d been rolling with for ten minutes. Yikes! It still blows my mind.
All I could think was that I was real glad I didn’t lift earlier in the day like I’d planned!
Later that night I was pretty tired and felt kinda banged up, but I was fine the next day.
I can’t wait for next Saturday!
Sunday:
Cardio: Run 35 minutes, moderate pace. Walk: 25 minutes, incline, fast pace.
KA practice
Stretch
Cappy
[quote]Capacity wrote:
Again, I held my ground and actually got him to submit once. (armlock … probably by accident!) and was able to hold my own pretty well.
Cappy
[/quote]
By accident or by design, a submission counts. What a great day! Thanks for sharing.
[quote]j_willy3 wrote:
Capacity wrote:
Again, I held my ground and actually got him to submit once. (armlock … probably by accident!) and was able to hold my own pretty well.
Cappy
By accident or by design, a submission counts. What a great day! Thanks for sharing.[/quote]
It does indeed count.
I think you will be impressed at how far a good attitude, good physical conditioning/strength and attention will take you.
You sound like the perfect student.
Me 'ats off te the Laidy!
I agree by fluke or by design a win is a win.
All fighting situations are in a fluid enviroment. Unlike katas, poomse, etc. there is no predetermined order to your or your opponents moves. When an opportunity presents itself its taken whether it corresponds to the practiced optimum positioning or not. I.E. weren’t no accident. Good going.
Holy Crap, that is good stuff!
Grats Cappy! Makes me want to take a run at it. I have zero wrestling or fighting experence but it sounds like allot of fun!
Thanks guys! It’s fun, but I think there’s a high injury rate in this stuff, even at just the recreational level. Guys have been tweaked left and right. It just happens. IMO, that’s the only real drawback in starting this kind of stuff so late in life. If you don’t (already) have pretty good flexibility and a great ROM then you’d need to start working on that. And if you’ve already got a long list of injuries and joint issues then it’s probably not going to be your best game. Ditto if conditioning ain’t really your thang…
In the last four months I’ve seen a very badly torn hamstring, a sprained ankle, a bad groin pull, a tweaked knee, a dislocated shoulder and several broken or jammed fingers and toes. All on guys who are much younger and have been at this a pretty long time. Also, I would have to say this is a fairly conservative environment; unless you are getting ready for a fight or are pretty advanced, they don’t let most students spar flat out. Seems like kind of a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many new guys walk through the door thinking they’re gonna be a UFC contender in about a week or two!
With this I think it’s a matter of “when” you’re gonna to get hurt, not “if.” Granted, I could probably say that about lifting, but it seems like the injury factor is a bit more ‘random’ with this sport than lifting. But if that doesn’t bother you then hey, I highly recommend it!
Cappy
Cappy, it sounds like you had a great time the other day. Well done! With your strong work ethic, you’re going to improve quickly! That alone will help the guys who are still squeamish to roll with a woman.
And I’m willing to bet your champion was a very generous partner with a good attitude. If someone comes in with a “hard” attitude, they are often extremely inexperienced.
Its funny, you saying injuries are more a matter of when than if. I was just thinking today about the many injuries I’ve seen at my school. My sister-in-law was asking me about my own injuries - she thinks we’re crazy. I just told her that I’m really working hard to stretch the boundaries of my capabilities, and if I reach too far, sometimes I get my hand slapped. You’re right, its part of the deal. I’ve been wondering how doing groundwork has been affecting your back.
I agree with you when you state that the sport picks the individual. It’s funny how you can be good at a lot of sports. The moment you try your sport however you know. It all clicks into place and you can never get enough.
You have an amazing amount of inner strength. Your journey tells a powerful story. I am always inspiring by the struggles and successes of individuals. Your new choice of sport speaks volumes and the warrior spirit in you will thrive. You have already shown your inner spirit with your fight to live your life on your terms.
I look forward to watching your journey unfold. Stay strong and you already know the rest. Give’r hell!
[quote]Miss Parker wrote:
Cappy, it sounds like you had a great time the other day. Well done![/quote]
Well at one point I was working on technique and I got really frustrated with a bad case of the stupids. I kept hearing this little voice in my head saying, “Well damn … I’m a rookie you know … I have no clue what I’m doing here and you’re not cutting me any slack!” So I apologized to the instructor. I said something along the line of, “I’m sorry, I know I’m an idiot. I really don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing!” His reply: “Look. You’re strong, you’re really fit and you’re very bright. Plus, you learn fast. You’re going to be very good at this if you just keep with it.”
I was flattered, but I still felt like a jerk.
However, I will say this. He gave me no time to sit and ponder what I didn’t know. And he didn’t treat me like a beginner. Somehow, I think that helped 'cause I probably would have used the beginner thing as an excuse for holding back or not thinking things through.
It didn’t seem like the guys in this class were at all worried about rolling with a woman. I felt like I fit right in. Just one less thing to have on my mind when I need my mind on what I’m doing. I don’t think the guys know how distracting it is for us (women) to have part of our brain focused on how we’re supposed make it OK for them … for us to be there! Sheesh …
He seemed like a regular guy. No ego at all and a great sense of humor. Unfortunately, he has a very strong Brazilian accent, he talks fast and he kind of mumbles. Needless to say, most of the time I didn’t understand a frigging word he said unless he was talking directly to me and holding eye contact with me. That’s really not his fault … I’m slightly hearing impaired. I can see where this might present a bit of a challenge!
Well sweetie, you ARE a tad out there yanno … 
I dunno. I just can’t look serious injury in the eye with such a cavalier attitude. The last 11 years I’ve lived with enough pain to last me a lifetime … I’d do just about anything to avoid wracking up more. Maybe that doesn’t sound macho enough, but there you have it. I’ve learned the hard way that pain doesn’t make you a better person, it just makes you hurt. Period.
Put it this way: I have some serious concerns. Twice I got flipped over his leg which hyperextended my lumbars under just enough pressure (from his weight) to make me panic for a second. It REALLY hurt, and not in a good way! I have no ROM for hyperextension so that’s a bit scary. It’s a very complex situation. All I can do is give this a try and see if it’s doable for me. But I have some doubts. It wouldn’t take much to snap things back there. That would be bad, but that’s not the only concern I have for my back either. We’ll see. I’m just taking it slow and I’m prepared to let it go if need be. That would be sad because I think I could do pretty well at this if I wasn’t bringing so much baggage to the table to start.
So how’s your shoulder doing? Are you still going and helping with class? How’s PT? I miss reading your class reports!
Cappy
[quote]Capacity wrote:
However, I will say this. He gave me no time to sit and ponder what I didn’t know. And he didn’t treat me like a beginner. Somehow, I think that helped 'cause I probably would have used the beginner thing as an excuse for holding back or not thinking things through.
[/quote]
This is good. That’s a good teacher.
My shoulder is coming along nicely. I can pick things up with that arm easier & the muscle spasms are maybe 20% of what they were. 
I have a physical therapy session this thursday. Yes, I’ve been really diligent about going to class on my regular schedule, helping the level 1’s & watching the other classes I’d be taking. They’re letting me take on more responsibility, which makes me happy.
I agree with you about the injury thing, btw. Regular old injuries, like I have, are part of the deal. Serious, life-changing injuries, like you have, scare the shit out of me & I want to avoid them at all costs.
And I’m really enjoying reading your class reports, since I can’t make any of my own!
[quote]Miss Parker wrote:
My shoulder is coming along nicely. I can pick things up with that arm easier & the muscle spasms are maybe 20% of what they were. I have a physical therapy session this thursday. [/quote]
Good! Sounds like progress to me! The hardest part is waiting.
That’s great! You’re staying in the loop and habit of going, and teaching helps nail down what you already know.
Yanno what? I don’t think you CAN avoid them. I just don’t. Stay in the game long enough and shit happens. They have this saying about horseback riding … that for every 500 hours in the saddle you’ll have an injury or a wreck. Or something to that effect. Well I’ve been riding since I was 7 years old and never had a really bad wreck … one that resulted in my horse or me getting seriously injured. Oh sure, I had my spills and thrills, but nothing that resulted in a bad or lasting outcome. So I thought I’d cheated fate. Then, about 15 years ago I had a wreck where my horse and I both got hurt. Six weeks later, I had another wreck and I got hurt again. Yes, I’d escaped injury for a long, long time, but eventually … shit catches up with you and your ticket gets punched.
That’s why they call certain things HIGH RISK sports. If you’re going to play high risk sports then don’t stick your head in the sand or minimize the risks, then scream bloody murder when the shit hits the fan. I don’t care if you’re a recreational player or a pro, eventually the odds of getting hurt will even out. And the only major difference I can see is the recreational player doesn’t get paid to sit on the sidelines.
I’m not so sure I’m at a stage in my life where I want to get seriously hurt playing, and with this “sport” there’s a very real possibility something like that can happen. Once it does, it’s all over but the cryin’… you can’t go back and say, “Wait! Wait! I was just doing this for fun!” I don’t think it makes me any less of a person to have some limitations. I used to think that, but injury has a way of sharpening your focus and making you very aware of your quality of life and what you truly value.
[quote]And I’m really enjoying reading your class reports, since I can’t make any of my own!
[/quote]
I always try to read your class posts, then walk away shakin’ my head!
Cappy
Oh, one secret, tape your fingers when they aren’t hurt. Fewer injuries and they are grippier as well.
Now you are making me want to start up the Judo again, though my wife insists that I have to have my rotator cuffs fully rehabilitated first.
Back to the stretching.
Monday:
MT class. Funky class, funky mood. Mostly teep drills and kick sparring. Not much to say about it except it was a lot of repetition and my calves were fried the next day.
Shoulda run, shoulda lifted. Didn’t do either. Worked outside instead.
Tuesday:
Elliptical: 30 min intervals.
Stretch
KA practice
Wed:
MT Class. Phew! Sparring the entire class. 3 minute rounds, swap partners, one minute between rounds. 30 minutes of this. Not all out, but most were pushing it. Damn. Each person had to take turns with the instructor. He was throwing stuff I’ve never done. Felt stupid and clueless overall. Sparring with some guys is a lot harder than others.
Mostly seems to be a reach issue. Just can’t get inside and close enough to have any effect. My hand defense is still too damn slow. Kicks and punches are doing well though. I still tend to get locked into a pattern. Gotta break that habit. Got clocked good a couple of times. Kept my cool though. One guy nearly kicked the wind out of me with a hard kick. Nice! Love it when the really tall guys teep me in the chest … NOT!
BJJ:
Feeling pretty gassed after MT. Same scenario: all rolling, 3 minute rounds, rotate partners, roll again. I actually felt like I did pretty good once I got going and hit my stride.
My mid back has been tight since the weekend. I should lift today, but it’s really bothersome. I may just wait until tomorrow.
Cappy
Edit: Sucked it up and lifted. Nothing exciting to report!