[quote]alexus wrote:
Cool, a bjj log. I’ve been thinking about learning this (my balance is so crappy I’m sure that if I tried to learn any other martial art I’d spend most of the time on the ground anyway). I’m going to enjoy reading through your log. [/quote]
My first log has my beginner experiences if you want newb insight, lol. If you need recommendations for a school let me know!
[quote]nlmain wrote:
wow this fighting is so close and personal I’d have real issues with that. I’d probably grab a chair and start screaming some scary shit.lol.[/quote]
I started crying on the mats today.
Sometimes you can’t really control visceral reactions, well at least I can’t. Guys that have left are home for the break and I got my butt kicked, that combined with life (home for thanksgiving isn’t feasible) resulted in me crying on the mats. The whole point though is to be scared and freak out in a controlled environment, where you can acknowledge it and then keep going. If start crying and freak out in real life, no one’s going to stop so you can gather yourself.
I got my ass kicked, started crying and am going to go get my ass kicked again tomorrow. Hopefully without the crying part.
I also have to acknowledge that the guys in the academy play a huge role in making it ok. I started crying, took a minute and then got a hug and we started rolling again. Not many guys can handle that.
That is cool. I will read through your earlier log - thanks for the info on that. I’ll admit that I’m a bit worried about the personal contact part. I’ve seen the guys roll and I didn’t see any other girls (there is a guy who teaches a class on this at my gym). I’m not sure how I"ll go with the physical contact… Will be interested to read about your experiences. Cool that you can cry and get a hug and keep rolling.
You are right - I know I sure as hell can’t control my visceral reactions sometimes and it is good to be able to freak out in a safe environment to help us learn to deal with our freak outs in not safe environments. I feel like that in the gym a lot. Whenever I try something new that is scary for me I have this weird girl crazy laugh response. The guys look at me a bit strangely but I think they are getting to know it is more of an involuntary distress signal that will go away once I’ve done whatever it is a couple times.
Great for the self confidence to experience and learn from that. A lot of people don’t have the courage to experience it in the first place, I think. Not sure I’m brave enough for the Bjj thing, though.
That’s intense Pch but sounds like you got a good group. I would have left, but I’m a pussy like that.
[quote]nlmain wrote:
That’s intense Pch but sounds like you got a good group. I would have left, but I’m a pussy like that.
[/quote]
Oh, I finished that round, then finished crying in the shower. C’est la vie
Aw did someone make you upset?
[quote]alexus wrote:
That is cool. I will read through your earlier log - thanks for the info on that. I’ll admit that I’m a bit worried about the personal contact part. I’ve seen the guys roll and I didn’t see any other girls (there is a guy who teaches a class on this at my gym). I’m not sure how I"ll go with the physical contact… Will be interested to read about your experiences. Cool that you can cry and get a hug and keep rolling.
You are right - I know I sure as hell can’t control my visceral reactions sometimes and it is good to be able to freak out in a safe environment to help us learn to deal with our freak outs in not safe environments. I feel like that in the gym a lot. Whenever I try something new that is scary for me I have this weird girl crazy laugh response. The guys look at me a bit strangely but I think they are getting to know it is more of an involuntary distress signal that will go away once I’ve done whatever it is a couple times.
Great for the self confidence to experience and learn from that. A lot of people don’t have the courage to experience it in the first place, I think. Not sure I’m brave enough for the Bjj thing, though.[/quote]
The first time you roll, the physical contact is a little weird, but after that the coolness of what you can do takes over. It’s sounds kinda odd, but you’ll forget you’re awkwardly close really quickly. I managed to get my head sat on today, and we both just analyzed the weird position for a second before realizing we didn’t need to keep talking with him sitting on my head. Once you know the contact isn’t coming from a creepy or sexual space, it’s totally comfortable.
We’ve had a few guys that have issues with being touched, but they mostly just wore a lot of clothes. If you do gi, it’s like rolling in a winter coat and pants, there doesn’t have to be any actual skin to skin contact.
You’re brave enough, man, if I can do it, anyone can. I’m the geeky girl that crys at commercials.
[quote]Bobbi Miller wrote:
Aw did someone make you upset?[/quote]
Me, mostly. I’m super lazy, and haven’t really been pushing myself to roll and get my ass kicked. I’ve been doing a little too much ‘learning’ and not enough doing. I tend to do that, then something knocks me back into reality, I cry, and I start to fix it.
I’m going to start sacrificing class time for open/mat rolling time. I know a lot, but I can’t do a lot. It’s odd how that happens. For the rest of the year, I’m putting learning new techniques on the back burner and focusing on actually using what I already know. I’ll occasionally cry about it, but I’ll be getting my ass kicked for a while.
You’re more then welcome to come in here and kick it, if I stop letting others do it.
Crying lead to the revelation that I just don’t put myself out there that much, so that’s what I’ve been doing. The last few days I’ve just rolled.
Thurs: Open Mat: Ok rolling hard post big meal, not the best idea but I felt really bad about wends. I did a bit of self defense drilling because one of the guys asked me to. There were a few things I didn’t know/couldn’t remember. I had never seen headlocks against the wall, so will have to ask about them next self defense class. There was also an escape from the arm in gullitione I’d never seen before, but it was just like the one on the knees, where you step around and end with them in an arm lock.
Then I rolled. I couldn’t for the life of me remember how to escape half guard, but then after class when I did it slowly I had it down pat. The same thing happened with passing the butterfly guard. Which shows that I need more doing less learning (not that I’m done learning, but that I need to make what I know more a part of me). I also kept seeing opportunities for the knee wedge, which is a motion I think I have to drill, since it feels so foreign even slow.
Fri: Open Mat
More Self D drilling. I don’t roll properly out of the head lock if he’s already broken you down. I keep falling and landing the dude on me. It’s not fun.
Rolling: I need to be better at ‘surfing’ people. I can keep from being swept from butterfly guard, but I don’t switch the angle of my hips fast enough to get side control. I just end up back in butterfly guard. I’m also doing something weird when I first open my guard that gets me thread passed. I’m not sure what’s going on. It’s something to be aware of.
If you skip to like a minute into the vid he’s surfing the ball, like you’re supposed to surf the guy under you (giggles).
Sat:
Ankle Rehabby Stuffs
YTLW
10 Single arm snatch
Plank
25 DB Swings
Plank
3x
I wanted something complexy, but didn’t look up anything so I did what I like. I was ready to puke at the end, which shows that I should be doing more cardio.
Open Mat: The thread pass thing kept happening again. I think I’m not creating enough tension in my open guard. I need to push away with my feel and pull with my hands. I also kept getting randomly hit in the face. I need to protect it better, or start wearing a mouth guard.
My brother has been in town for med school interviews! So, no real training lately. We did go to Melt. Awesomeness!
I guess I’m just doing it for the fun of it. When you’re rolling with someone who’s on the same plane as you and using technique, it’s really pretty. It really is just human chess. Little movements on both peoples parts make such big differences.
I’m aiming for a tight controlled game, no cartwheels, no circus tricks and when it works, it’s fantastic. You don’t have to be stronger than your opponent, just smarter and know more. The trick is to let them go where they want and let them use force, but to use it against them. The problem is that my technique isn’t better than the guys strength yet.
Well, that is it then, I have to do it now. Thats part of what I love about olympic lifting. Except there your opponent is the bar. It would be super cool to be able to throw / move people around. Help me feel better about myself / my body, too. I was going to take a class over summer school but it was a MMA / bjj class and you needed a gi, mouthguard, rash shirt, board shorts, mma gloves etc so looked a bit full on.
Pretty sure the ones during the semester only require a gi (and I got full body compression gear that I like to wear to the gym) so I’ll look to enroll in the first semester. Thanks for your logs. A great read for me now, and I’m sure they will be useful for me when I start to learn.
Alexus, I’m glad you’re finding the log helpful. If you have any questions let me know!
Ok, last week got insane, and I only made it into the once 
Thursday 12/2
Ankle Rehab
YTLW
A1) Inverted rows 5x5
A2) Push Ups 5x5
I did some ankle stretching in between. The lack of flexibility is really affecting my base and it’s super annoying. It’s getting there, just not fast enough!
DL 135x5 155x5x4
I had an awesome weekend.
A bit of background, for context. Our academy was founded by a purple belt (he’s now a black belt) but he moved a few years ago and left the academy to my instructor. He got the academy as a blue belt, but I met him a few years ago (its been that long) and he’s been a purple belt since I’ve known him. Our academy and association don’t really emphasize the belts or getting the belts. You can learn something from everyone; so it’s never been a big deal to me that we don’t have a black belt at the academy. On the other hand, not seeing black belts on a daily basis makes it really cool too. If our purple belt instructor knows so much, black belts must be ridiculous. I’ve been able to roll with a few, they are! In our association only black belts can give promotions. Our instructor can give stripes, but we only stripe white belts and they tend to be impossible to get after the first one. So, not many promotions happen.
So, we got to class on Sat and there were a lot more people than usual there. Our instructor assumed the stars had just aligned correctly and there were no sports on the tv. We all got dressed and then lined up by belt to start class. He always gives a little speech before class and we bow in. Since there were so many people in class he started to remark on it: " Guys, thanks for coming. It’s good to see so many generations of students in the academy. We have guys from the newest generation just starting. Guys a generation older, that have been here a little longer…"
At this point from back we hear someone starting to talk “And guys from the very first generation.” Out from the locker rooms comes the black belt founder of the school to surprise our instructor. The looks in his face were awesome. First he seemed irritatedthat someone was interrupting class, then recognition set in and he was just shocked. The BB (black belt) went on to tell us he had been getting calls. There was a purple belt teaching things purple belts shouldn’t know yet, and something had to be done about it. He then reached into his bag and pulled out a brown belt! It was tied in a big knot and he explained that it had been his brown belt. When you are promoted, you and our instructor tie the old belt in a knot in order to tie in all the knowledge that you gained while wearing the belt. We also don’t wash belts for that reason. It holds your knowledge. He then untied it and said he always knew he would be giving it to our instructor. At this point of course everyone starts clapping, he really deserved the belt. So the BB untied the purple belt from our instructors waist and tied the brown belt on. They then tied the purple belt in a know together. It was an awesome surprise promotion, and everyone was really touched and proud.
what a fab story Pch! straight out of a movie 
The BB then went on to teach an amazing class. I’m just going to list what we did, in class this week we will be going over it all again so I’ll go through details in subsequent posts.
Grip Breaks: lapel and sleeve
Takedown based on the Russian aka two on on that involved stepping one foot around him and falling over a bent leg.
Takedown based on defending the Russian (super cool) involved drop step and pivoting
Another takedown involving the Russian, but I didn’t get this one. My partner kept landing on my face, ouch!
A sweep for when he defends the de la riva guard that involves backwards rolling into mount.
A sweep for when he knee drives but you still have the ankle, it reminded me of a half guard sweep.
A sweet choke from when he locks down on your foot when you’re trying to negative pass.
There was probably more that I’m forgetting, but we’ll get it all over the course of the week.
[quote]nlmain wrote:
what a fab story Pch! straight out of a movie :)[/quote]
The surprise was perfect, it was like they had planned the speech. And there’s more!
sweet choke - that’s gotta be good 
So after class, we line up again to bow out of class, and the BB says he’s got more in his Santa bag! He pulls out a blue belt and gives a speech about how the belts are relative and specific to each person. A person that’s athletic and comes in with a lot of grappling knowledge will have a higher bar to cross than some one who came in knowing nothing. He explained that a lot people are close to their blue belts, but it’s better for the belt to be chasing you than you chasing the belt. He made a lot of points in his speech that were very interesting. Of course the whole time you could see the white belts squirming wondering who was being promoted. He explained that a lot of people deserved to be promoted, but he was only promoting a few. He promoted three of the white belts. Dallas is finally a blue belt, he’s been kicking my ass for ages!
Then he pulled out some purple belts! The first blue belt to be promoted was one of the first guys to start at the academy. He’s about 50 and has been a blue belt for 5 years. The second blue belt to be promoted was a guy that started BJJ at about 300lbs a few years ago and is now in shape and under 200lbs. He used to have to tie his blue belt around his waist an extra time since he’d lost that much weight. The third guy is one of the most technical guys in the academy, he’s about 200 lbs but moves like he’s a featherweight. The last blue belt to be promoted to purple was a Muay Thai guy that’s been doing BJJ at our academy for the last year but started almost 10 years ago. His soft kicks hurt for days! So, they were all guys we are really close to and can see really deserved it. They’ve been really dedicated to BJJ and the academy.
Then we got to hit them! We form two lines and the guys that got promoted get hit by belts. One of the guys posted his back after, I’ll find the pic and post it. I think he got the worst of it.