something new... girls only class at DMMA

Today, I went to my first ever girls-only class.

Really, I should be sick of driving all the way to Melbourne, having done it for the last seven weeks or so. But an invitation to train with the girls at DMMA, together with another excuse to make a trip to the big smoke was to hard to resist. So I had an early start and headed off for the 10am class.

It wasn't a very big class, but to me it was rather a novelty. I knew the instructor and three of the girls from the comp training and I was made to feel very welcome.

After a warmup, we went through some solo drills to learn specific moves. First a bridge over onto alternating shoulders. Then from there and step over to end up face down and in turtle. Finally, a set of moves consisting of a few little steps to the side (on our back), a bridge and then step over so end up face down heading the opposite way. This would be a series of moves that could be used to regain guard when someone is starting to pass our guard and going for side control.

Then we worked on regaining guard, specifically if the guard passer is going under a leg.

First option: If we can make a stiff and heavy leg before she lifts out leg on her shoulder, we make a plank with our body, turn a bit to the side to give us room to put the other leg on her hip and push off with it. This separates our bodies. If she pushes into us, we have time to either reestablish closed guard or use open guard.

Second option. Same stiff and heavy leg on her arm when she goes under the leg. If she lifts it up hard, we can use that momentum to roll over, around our own axis and land in open guard position in front of her. Sort of like the crocodile roll I learned a few months ago. This worked well, I had to ensure that as I roll over, I keep me legs apart so that they can't be trapped together if she drives forward while I roll. Legs together mean she can hug them together an pass.

Third option: she has progressed to getting my leg bent and on her shoulder. Say she has lifted my right leg. I need to stiff arm her right hip and hip out to my left to create distance. My right foot has to point right and I'm aiming and getting my right knee to the mat by pulling it down pas her head/neck. This seemed very counter-intuitive to begin with. We practiced this with a lot of space to begin with and then worked on achieving the same with more pressure by the guard passer and less space. Once the right knee is on the ground and the foot is freed, I can have the shin across her belly to maintain space, assisted by my left hand on her shoulder. Then I can hip out more to re-establish closed guard. This, I will need to work on.

I think that the stiff leg versions will fit in well with what I'm doing, but the other method gave me a lot of new stuff to think about.

We had brief open mat after and did a little bit of free guard passing after some more practice of the aforementioned techniques.

Well, I think that I might (just occasionally), make the trip to Melbourne. It makes a nice change and I won't be so out of my depth when I get to fight girls at competitions ;-)

this last week

As much as I enjoyed the Vics and all, it's great to be back to familiar face in regular classes. And it was nice to hear that I've been missed :-)

On Monday, we worked on chokes. Firstly the half lapel nelson from side mount and then a variation. Say he is with this right side up I can't get his right arm isolated so that I can put my top hand behind his head (he might clasp his hands or grip onto his gi) to get the choke. If I stick my left shin behind his neck, to the inside of left arm (my left hand has his right collar) and sit down, I can add the push of my hip against my left arm to get the choke. Whether he lets his right arm go or not.

Then collar choke from turtle top. From head to head, I grab his right lapel with my left hand and pass it to my right (hand inserted over his shoulder). My left hand shoves his right elbow across towards his centreline quickly and comes out behind his head, pushing on in while I insert my head into the gap between his right elbow and hip. Then I roll over my left shoulder and under him and end up holding him in an upside down collar choke. Ha, that one will take some work....

Finally we worked on how to roll into a crucifix when the bottom person is turtled and how to set up collar chokes from there, using either his left or right collar. If the choke doesn't come on, I can put my leg over his head for extra leverage.

On Wednesday and Friday, we did some rubber guard stuff. I will say I hate the names because they bear no resemblance to what we are doing. Some of it is working for me, for example the lockdown from half guard bottom and the whip up. Other stuff.. hmm. But to be fair, I have not had enough time to properly assimilate and try these things out. My flexiblity is good enough, and it's good to learn some extra options. Some of the setups seem very complicated though, and for now I think that I would specifically work for some of those positions. If, however, I found myself in stoner control (!), I guess I'd know what to do from there :-) .

Some of the stuff we worked on was a transition from armbar from guard to jiu claw and then omoplata. It works if the guy in your guard turns aside to pull his trapped arm out and leaves his other arm exposed.

Another thing we learned which I think might be useful to me is a half guard sweep. Instead of lockdown (say if I can't get double underhooks), I overhook his right arm tightly (assuming his right leg is trapped) and put my right arm on his left hip. I need to use my left leg to bend his right leg and bring his right foot to the mat on the outside. His body has to shift to his right to follow the leg. As his weight shifts, I swing my right leg right and then in an arc which sweeps him. If he is swept, we clear our left leg and go to side control. If (which is more likely), he counters the sweep by posting out with his left leg and coming back over, I keep my right leg out wide and take him back in my full guard when he lands. Of course there is a name for this, but I can't remember it :-)

The assorted wrestles I had during classes varied considerably. Early in the week, I escaped every armbar attempt, but on Friday I was caught by several guys. Hmmm. The consistent underlying theme of the week was how good my defence is and how bad my retention of top positions and attacks. Though I did score a triangle a couple of timess, an armbar and a figure four. I am making some small improvements on regaining guard.

I've finally figured that I need to play a different game altogether with one of the guys who uses a lot of unorthodox positions and has a horrible habit of grabbing hold of various bits of my anatomy and then slowly but surely bulldozes over me. I need to make sure I don't expose bits of my anatomy, I need to play more open guard and keep him off me.

I had some positive comments from our senior guys, but all too often I make dumb mistakes. Sometime it seems that I make a few little steps forward in some area, just to find out that in most other areas, I have no skills at all. But I figure that the rolls that leave me most embarrassed are probably the ones that contribute the most to my learning experience. And if I can roll with one of the hot shot young guys and make him work hard, and we can both be amused, then I guess it's not too bad ;-)

no-gi essentials

I found out that Roy Dean's new instructional is available for pre-order, both from the Roy Dean Academy website and from Budovideos.com .

To find out more, check out this in depth review by Slideyfoot.

I've ordered my copy. Hope it's here soon. :-)

Victorian Championships

Well, I had a thoroughly great time at the comp. I had some 'nerves' before. Got there early and when they finally set up and the loudpeakers came on, my stomach churned... But when it was time to step on the mat, I was all good. Focussed, but not like with tunnelvision and dry mouth :-) Actually just looking forward to getting into it.

Funny how everyone has been saying that they remember every move they make when they fight in a competition. I don't. I'm often hazy on details. I remember positions but I can't recall how I got there. So if my descriptions are lacking, that's because I can't remember.

First fight with in the gi. She got ahead of me on points early in the piece when she moved to mount. I bridge and rolled out out of that and spent the rest of the fight trying to pass her guard, but time ran out and I lost on points. She couldn't break down my posture and I broke the legs open a few times, but there was always something in they way and she could close her legs again. I had a very good corner man for this and it made such a difference.

Second fight was no-gi. We had a reasonably lengthy grip fight and some pummeling. I think I initiated the takedown but it went pearshape and she ended up in my guard. I had one leg around and one shin across her belly. But I couldn't bring her forward for a sweep so I went for full guard until I spied an opportunity to get a triangle. Got it and tightened it. Remembered I wasn't allowed to pull on the head, only on my knee and remembered to angle off. It was tight but not tight enough. I brought the arm across and still no go. Meanwhile she was standing up, tried to angle off, tried to get her arm out etc. I could hear her corner giving advice. When I realised the triangle didn't do the job, I attacked her arm. Armbar, figure four, cutting armbar, back to triangle, depending on where the arm was. In the end I put the other foot across her face and armbarred her. When I came out, several total strangers congratulated me and said that was a great fight to watch.

Same division, another no-gi fight. I lost that one on points. She tried various things but my defence is first rate (must be all those big guys I wrestle with all the time!) and she near busted her backside to get anything, until I escaped (once from back contol, once from side control). I had her far arm trapped from side control bottom and was within a whisker of getting a reverse triangle. From there I progressed to bottom half guard, and managed a lockdown that she couldn't get out of or launch an attack from. Finally reversed her into a bad position. Had the fight been longer, I may well have won, but I left my run too late :-) Again, a couple of people commented on a good fight. Later on, in the crowd, I passed the ref for those two matches and he said: hey, you have some good moves!!

Then another gi fight. Very aggressive young girl who went straight for a flying arm attack. I'd seen her fight before, and mostly, she smiled when she submitted her opponents, and I think she bulldozed her way through her other divisions. Well, I gave her nothing much to smile about and she had to work her arse off. Unfortuately, she swept me and got points for that and the mount. No submission, as usual, my defence is pretty tight. I busied myself with the knee-elbow escape and I don't know if I was in half guard or getting there when time was up. She looked tired, but she won on points. I think that was the only figtht she didn't win by sub. Her parents came up to me after and thanked me and said: good fight.

Last fight was no-gi again in a different division. Similar story to the previous fight. I remember a pretty hard takedown and in the ensuing scramble, she got mount. I couldn't buck her but managed to get to my left side. Fended off attacks on my left arm and chokes. There was a spot when I had her in my half guard and I controlled her head and threatened her right arm. Absolutely have no recollection of how I got there but it lasted for a fair while. Then it was time up, and same old story... she won on points.

All in all, there aren't too many places where, when I think back, I'm horrified with myself. Compared with how I fought at my first comp six months ago, this was hugely improved. I enjoyed every fight, even the ones I lost. I don't mind losing if it's fair and square and I feel I went well, and it's all mutual respect afterwards because both had a good fight. I certainly came off the mat smiling every time and can genuinely say I enjoyed myself.

The fight I won, I won by sub. The ones I lost but were on points, none by sub, so that's waaaayy improved from where I used to be. What surprised me mostly were the comments from people I didn't even know :-) But I also had a lot of good feedback from friends.

I ended up getting silver out of two in my weight class in the no-gi division, silver out of three in my weight class in the gi division and bronze out of 8 in the open weight no gi.

fat ear

My ears have been sore on occasions. Early in my "grappling career", I didn't give it a second thought, nothing was ever badly swolling, but they were sore on and off. However, I didn't know about cauli ear. As a result, my right ear has become a little thicker and stiffer. Can't really see it (well, I can't anyway!), so I guess I was fairly lucky.

Then I figured what was going on and bought some earguards. One pair didn't fit at all and was way too big and cumbersome. Then I bough a pair of lightweight Brute earguards which stay on and don't bother me too much. I hate them when it's hot though and it does make hearing a little harder.

Lately I haven't worn them much because my ears have been fine.

After Monday however, the left ear was hot and painful. On investigation, I realised that there was in fact a bubble of liquid. Having read a lot about it, and not wanting to spend time hanging around waiting at the doctor's surgery (and then running risk of getting a doctor who doesn't know how to deal with it!), I decided to use the self help approach.

Due to having a farm full of horses, I have a fairly well stocked vet box which includes a good supply of syringes and needles. Needless to say (haha), they are of thicker gauge than what would have been perfect. Animals have tougher and thicker skin. The thinnest I could find was 21 gauge. But at least they are sterile, and so are the syringes. The hardest thing was to see what I was doing and find a good spot. The NJEEK! wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, and I managed to collect some dark blood. Due to the size of the hole, it bled a little longer 8-) . Then I held a wad of tissues on it for a while to compress it.

Operation successful. Patient alive!

I repeated the same the next day and there was less fluid. The following day, there was no discernable bubble so I gave it a miss. Feels fine now. Phew.

I think I'll need to go back to wearing my fancy headgear again. It pisses me off, but not as much as sticking needles into my ear.

last class before D-day

Sheesh, I still felt tired from Saturday!!

As several of us are going to the Vics, we just did rounds from standing, swapping partners every three minutes and getting right back into it.

Didn't go balls to the wall because I didn't want to get hurt (and sure enough, one of the guys bent his thumb back painfully, but he should be good to compete).

Had mixed success but feel quite postive about it all. One of the blue belts commented that I have improved a lot. Certainly none of the subs he tried (he loves armbars!) succeeded, and I didn't spend all of my time on the bottom. With another guy, I was within a whisker of making a D'Arce choke work, and I had much more top time with him than I usually do. Good rolls!

I decided to make that the last session before the comp on the weekend. I want to be well rested, sharp and eager :-))

Melbourne - week 5

Last of the training sessions at DMMA in Melbourne.

Not quite so tough as the last few, even the fitness session was shorter (however, just because it was shorter, that didn't mean it was less work!). I felt the effects of Friday night's session, but it wasn't too bad. Knowing it was the last session, I think we all put in a pretty good effort.

It was a very similar session to prior weeks, so no point going through all the details again. I felt a bit disappointed in how I did against one of the bigger girls, but I was happy how I went against some of the others. As usual, my defence was top shelf, while the attacks and sweeps departments are still in need of much work. As an aside, I felt I had better balance and footing during the standup part. I experimented with trips and takedowns and while I didn't pull many off, it frustrated my opponents and they resorted to pulling guard. And some of my guard passing is getting much better.

The fitness session was short but intense. Four minute rounds consisting of alternating 30 second intervals (burpees / sprinting). That was tough. After every four minute round, we could wak or whatever for four minutes. We did three four minute rounds with breaks between them. I managed to get up to 9 burpees in, but mostly 8, sometimes only 7. I know that's not a lot for 30 seconds, but the sprints inbetween made it sort of hard :-)

I visited my brother and his family in Melbourne before heading home this time.

Well, next weekend we have the comp. The moment of truth!

goodbye cold, hallo mat

It was a good thing that Monday was a public holiday. If there had been a BJJ class, I would have had to stay at home and grizzle, as I was still not ok to resume normal activities. Still too much coughing. After all, I really didn't want to give it to anyone else.

But by Wednesday night, there was no way I could stay home. Between lectures, I finally sampled the uni pool. Time to start making use of my pool/gym membership! Pool is nice and I did some laps for about half an hour. Discovered that I was somewhat short of breath after a few laps, had a break and did some more. Only spent half an hour there. And was disgusted with how tired I felt after. I was nearly in tears, to be honest. All those weeks of hard work to get my conditioning right for the comp, and then one week of a stupid cold and it all seeemed to be gone.

Evening BJJ class came and I really was in two minds about joining in. But then I thought oh well, at worst I'll fade and end up being mat pizza in which case I'll excuse myself and watch.

And what did we end up doing? Some quiet drilling? A few easy rounds? Nope. Course not. With a comp around the corner, it was five minute rounds from standing. Not a big class but everone keen (except yours truly who was wheezing just thinking about it). And wheeze I did!

Actually, what transpired was interesting. I sometimes had trouble breathing, but all in all, my energy levels were quite good. I did remarkably well, even pulling off some subs and having good positions as well as good defence. It was great. I lasted the whole hour and was able to walk and talk afterwards :-). Sure, I was tired when I got home. But not trashed.

Friday was similar with lots of rolling (no gi this time), and I had a pretty good time. The worst part of that was one occasion when we started from the knees, and him and I simultaneously leapt forward, leading with one hand (to grap collar). So we managed to smack each other in the face at the same time. Doh. Stupid. Fat lip.... Anyway, the rest was more intelligent and I'm proud to say that I gave all the guys a lot of grief ;-) It is so good to not always be on the receiving end of subs.

Aside from rolling, we did a new drill I'll try to describe.

I have my partner's back with one hook in and the opposite hand across his neck. He gets his back to floor and turns into me. As he does, I transition to mount, but he gets half guard. He gets his double underhooks and does a whip up. I whizzer him immediatedly. He tries for the sweep with both hands around floating ribs, but I brace. He tries to tap my far knee but if that fails, too, he limp arms his way out, takes my back and gets a seatbelt grip.

I roll either way and he transitions to side control (Eddie Bravo version). He sits on my near arm, his ribcage pushes on my head and the bottom leg's knee is against my near hip. He has one arm in my far armpit, the other grabs my far leg and pulls it towards him. I turn to escape. Either way, he goes for back control and ends up with one hook in and the opp. Arm around my throat. Now that we have reversed positions, we repeat and on it goes.

The fun part of it is that you have options at various points. For example, from whip up you try different sweeps, and which works determines the next position. Also, how the partner takes side control depends on how I roll into him. So there are many variation within the drill and it becomes a flow where either partner reacts to the other one, but both still stay within the scope of the moves of the drill. I quite liked it. I would also work well as a warm up or as a high energy drill to get a good workout.
Other version: instead of limp arm, do a sweep. Say if I’m on his right, if first two techniques fail, I move my left knee against his right leg hard, grab his left pant leg near his ankle and then sit down and roll back to my left sweeping him. Goto SC, etc.

rainy long weekend

I'm sitting at home watching the rain coming down. We're having a long weekend but it's way too wet to do anything outdoors.

My cold is better. Or should I say, I'm better. In any case, I'm winning, the cold is losing. I'm going to start working out again (lucky me has a mini gym in the shed, haha), and I should be good to go to BJJ on Wednesday. YES!

Meanwhile, I've been reading this and reading that (as you do), to get a bit of a fix for my grappling cravings.

Here are two blog posts on very different subjects, good reading (I happen to really relate):
SteveBJJ.com - Pressure in Jiu Jitsu
BJJ Grrl - The girl card

sniffles and coughs

Yes, a cold. Bugger!

So no training Friday night. Sob. And no training in Melbourne today. WAAAAHH!

Monday is a public holiday = no training. ..... I will have to wait until Wednesday!

Not. Happy. Not at all.

But at least not a full blown flu, so I hope that a few days off won't knock my cardio back too much. And by the time I go back to training, I'll feel fine plus I won't give this stupid cold to everyone else.

two more classes

This week is different. I've started uni, so my head was full of other stuff, and I am not yet used to the new routine. Luckily, uni and the dojo are not far from one another. Unfortunately, I can no longer go to the Wednesday afternoon BJJ classes, as I have lecture on at that time. Still, at least I can get to the Wednesday evening class.

Monday night, we worked on closed guard, how to break grips and break posture to set stuff up. For example, if we can break their posture, get over and underhooks. Then some free guard passing to put it in practice.

Then we did a bit more on rubber guard and how to get there from closed guard. Then how to progress to New York (having done the zombie), and then to Jiu Claw (I hope I have the names right, hehe). At some point, i totally lost the plot with regard to where I should start with under or overhook, which leg goes where etc. Just lost it. It was like a puzzle in 3D gone bad due to lost instructions. I felt like such a klutz. My partner seemed to get it right. I got it right once and then couldn't repeat it for love or money, even with his help. So doh! |-)

Wednesday night, we quickly went through a sneaky way to a submission just as your opponent passes your guard. Say he comes around on your right, having opened your guard. Works best if he does a knee through pass, but it would probably work if he went under the leg, too. I need to graby his right sleeve with my left hand and rotate my left foot over his arm and hook the foot behind his armpit. To trap his arm, I triangle my legs above his elbow. Then I need to reach around with both arms and clasp over the back of his upper arm and pull down. Imagine his forearm against your belly, elbow bent around your left shin and your hands pulling down on his tricep. Lastly, a hip raise at the same time as pulling down will bring on a nasty little bicep crusher. This might be useful for me, as it's happened to me a lot lately that while being passed I managed to hold on to that far arm and I'd been wondering if there are methods to do something nasty to that arm. Now I have one, hehe.

We briefly looked at a sweep from a similar setup, but I'm pretty careful rolling people over their heads so it's not one I'd like to use.

Then we did guard passing fist and a fair amound of free wrestling. I had a good time, several long rolls with loads of position changes, I pulled off some subs and fell victim to several. I had the chance to encourage tries made by less experienced guys, and explain things. It was a really good class.

Melbourne - week 4

The Saturday session at DMMA was very similar to the last one.

The big difference for me was that I wasn't completely exhausted by the time we started the rounds from stand up. That made a nice change :-)

Part of it was a lucky choice of partners in the first hour, I had a heavy-ish but but very inexperienced guy and then a lightweight young guy with limited experience at the beginning. So all the grip fighting, closed guard posture breaking rounds as well as the 'escape from' or 'hold onto' positional sparring was easier than usual. In the past I always seemed to end up with big and fairly experienced partners. (... like during the continuous guardpassing exercises a couple of weeks back, when I scored to competitive blue belts, and there was none of me left when that was over....) But I didn't just have light and easy partners. I was flattened every time by a 52 year old bluebelt. Good on him!! :-))

Anyway, but there is no question that the training is improving my fitness levels, and I guess that's the point of doing it. Well, aside from getting better at BJJ :-)

I didn't write down all the specific details of my rounds from standing. My overall feeling is that I'm starting to be more aggressive. And as my cardio and strength are picking up, I get out of bad spots better. Interestingly, it was during this session, that our instructor made the comment that at white belt level, the outcome of a fight is primarily determined by how aggressive and determined someone is, ie: the more aggressive fighter usually wins.

The fitness/strength session was tough but ok. Again, similar to last time. This time we did a sprints-starjumps rotatation with jogs for recovery. Then a pummeling-burpees rotation.

And after...? I felt pretty good, even after my two hour drive home. And no soreness the next day.

in the pit

Friday evening.

While a couple of the no-stripe white belts practiced their drills for the Saturday grading, the rest of us played a new game.

We went no-gi. Basically, two uf us were "in the pit" and the rest took turns going in against them. We always started with the pits people having to pass guard, and the incoming fresh person on their backs trying to sweep. Once someone was passed or swept, a fresh person would come in. After so many minutes (more than 5, less than 10.. not sure), the pit people were relieved by a new pair.

It was a fun variation to the standard guard passing routine. And because the people in the pit couldn't rest on their back but had to pass, they were constantly working hard.

I liked it. I'm still one of the easiest persons on the planet to sweep, but I'm starting to pull off sweeps myself on people other than rank beginners :-)

Wednesday grading

I did it :-) . Got my fourth stripe.

Did my technique demos. Had a bit of an issue with a rollover sweep which is part of a headlock escape sequence. But after initial failed attempts which made me want to hide in the cracks between the mats from sheer embarrassment, I succeeded. Not on someone my size, someone twice my size (though, admittedly without much resistance from him...).

Then wrestling, with four different partners. I cannot remember all the details! But I showed 20 different techniques. I suppose a lot of them were escapes |-). However, there was a triangle, there were chokes, there was an armbar. And I could always think of what to do at any given time. The two big fellows gave me a wee bit of space occasionally, so I could work for escapes and then try to do horrible things to them. It was all over in no time, it seemed. At the end of it, I dripped all over the mat though... :-)

Sensei said some nice things about how I did, he made me blush ;-). The guys who were there and helped me were great. As always, this grading was hard work but fun and I'm all fired up to go on and get better.

I had commitments at uni in the afternoon, as I'm starting studies next week, and I went and signed up for unisports membership (gym and pool access!!!). Between one thing and another, and knowing I had to feed horses after coming home, I piked out on the evening BJJ class. I was tired and keyed up all at the same time, and a bit stuffy, as though there may be a cold in the offing. A cold wouldn't be good, least of all now. But we'll see how we go.

closed guard attacks

Monday night we worked on how to break down someone in your closed guard.

We were shown and then practices flaring out the elbows and then grabbing the head or getting over and underhook. Then we had a look at options when their wrists are planted below our floating ribs. Aside from that, there were hints on how to use the legs at the same time to facilitate posture breaking.

We had a brief look at rubber guard and how to set it up, then how to get the arm to the mat and lock it in there. From that we ran through the steps of going for omoplata, or jiu-claw, if our legs are stretched out. I'd only seen that in Eddie Bravo's book, and was surprised how effective that straigtening of the legs is in getting the opponent flattened out and taking away the most effective omoplata escape, the forward roll. Nasty, nasty.. I like it :-)

Then some free wrestling from closed guard, with an emphasis on breaking down the opponent in guard to set up submission, or alternatively, try to posture up and pass. I did't set the world on fire with this. Break down and control - yes. Set something up - fail... I have much work to do!

Lastly, one round of free wrestling. I scored one of the blue belts. He toyed with me. Gave me a wee opening to get out of a shitty spot (which, at least - I used!), just to catch me in another bad or worse spot as soon as I got out. Yikes! Once I could have gone for a very low single as he stood up, but I saw the edge of the mat behind him and refrained. Good things to report: I escaped an armbar with a technique I recently learned and again, my closed guard

Melbourne - week 3

This session was very similar to the one a couple of weeks ago.

Firstly, two hours of BJJ training. Rather than a warmup, we did joint mobility exercises. Then, one minute rounds of either holding a dominant position or getting out of it, two minute rounds of guard passing. Then 5 or so minute rounds (depending on ranking) from standing, competition intensity.

Again, I hit a really flat spot after the first hour, just before we started the proper rounds from standing. Promptly, I slipped into my DEFEND mindset. My first opponent was a woman, considerably younger and bigger than myself. I was reefed down as she pulled guard and while I was thinking of how hard guard passing is, she choked me. Duh. Embarrassing. Stupid! Went again, this time I shot. But I was too half arsed so she sprawled in time and I was flattened out, and the rest of the time she fought for as sub and I fought to get out, variously from back control, side control, mount, turtle. She wasn't just heavy, she used her weight wisely. The bad news is all I managed to work was my defence. The good news is that it worked well :-)

I went pretty similar when I rolled with the blue belt lady. Although I find that if I roll with people more my weight, I do a lot better with my escapes. Anyway, from memory another less than stellar attempt at a double, but this time didn't quite get flattened. But as usual, I did end up on the bottom and from then on it was a repeat of the last round. Good defence, but nothing that would score points, let alone win a fight.

I had another round with a young guy and must admit to my shame that I can remember nearly nothing. I think we reset after he subbed me (how??), but the rest is gone from my brain. All I recall is that he thanked me and said good work. I think I actually pulled guard on him once, and I know I'm fairly successful at breaking people's postures. Only I wish I were better at translating that into submissions... I guess one problem is that the second I open my closed guard, I usually get passed. Presumably because I'm too slow and/or too telegraphing in setting up a sub. Anyway, I didn't come away feeling too much of a moron from that round...

Afterwards, we had a couple of minute long rounds of grip fighting, where one person was squatting, and one with hooks in.

Finally, the fitness session. Same as last time, it was 5 x 3 minute intervals, the first, third and last of which were fast stuff, the other two jogging. This time, our fast intervals consisted of alternating 15 seconds of burpees (he asked for 7, but this person managed 5) and 15 seconds of slow and technical pummelling. A very short break after that. Then another set of 5 x 3 minute intervals, this time the fast sessions being shuttle runs (15 seconds sprints, 15 seconds jogging on the spot). As is was pretty hot, that's all we did.

But that was enough... :-) I survived. Again. And unlike after the first session, no sore legs during the days after. Only my lower back was stiff - oh how I HATE burpees!

Friday evening

We were shown a way to secure the near arm from short base side control by using our gi lapel. It's not that easy to describe and I'm a bit hazy on the details as I didn't pull my finger out and write it down straight away. But basically, we pull out our gi lapel on the side where his head is, pass it across and make him think we are threatening his neck or far arm. But then we pass it back to the same side hand and we've wrapped it over his arm near the elbow. As we push him up on his side facing away from us, we then hold that gi tight, and step over for the armbar

I can't even remember what the other two attacks were which we covered :-(. When I think of them, I'll edit this post...

Stayed behind for open mat which was short because everyone had to leave relatively early. My recollection is that I pretty much got trashed by everyone I rolled with. Did some good escapes, only to land "in the shit" again. Ah well.

midweek - cruising

As I won't be in town for the next grading at the end of the month, I'm being put through my paces, so to speak.

Wednesday midday class saw me going though syllabus drills and other stuff, all the first to third stripe stuff. I was, for some reason beyond me, nervous. Why? Maybe because I'm the only one, and I hate being made a fuss over. Don't know. It couldn't have been the ... hey guys, today you'll take turns to flatten Chris, she's grading! type of peptalk ;-) Anyway, I settled down, got through it all and even did the two sweeps I don't like much quite well. So with that out of the way, next Wednesday will be the more fun stuff, the fourth stripe moves and the wrestling part of the grading.

Once I'd done my stuff, I went through the syllabus stuff again with one of the guys, because he'll be grading at the end of the month. And while it was just drilling and practicing, it was a really good class.

Wednesday evening, we learned some escapes.

Escape from figure four from mount: turn towards the locked arm so I'm nearly on my side, which pins my elbow to the floor. Then buck up and as he braces, I suck my elbow in. And I'm in a good position for a knee-elbow escape.

Escape from armbar from mount: I grab the opposite collar with my trapped arm to buy time. With the other hand which is now free, I pull his high leg back over my head. Once my head is free, I push it back over the leg and keep pushing until I'm through with my shoulders, then start turning into him. If I keep my hand on the collar until I'm in guard, I avoid being armbarred from guard straight away and I'm in a good defensive postion.

Escape from guillotine choke from short base side control (he is on my right side): my left hand grabs his wrist to buy time and stop the choke from coming on straight away. I buck slightly and to my left, so I can get my right hand past his left elbow and up over my head, in an arc towards my left shoulder. I want my right hand near my left shoulder because he can no longer complete the choke as his left elbow is blocked by my armpit and can no longer go to the floor. Then I start escaping his side control.

The rest of the class was free wrestling, first with gi, then without. Firstly had a newish guy, so I helped him in how to get good back control and then try for the RNC. Then I escaped it :-). We did a little bit more until I caught him in something. He was good, not spazzy or using all his strength. With the next guy, started no-gi. We had three rounds in all. He's not done a lot of wrestling, and some at another school, so he had a couple of attackes I hadn't come across, and he was pretty fast. We did a lot of sweeps and rolls and it was quite funny because it was a bit like a rollercoaster. I triangled him once. I told him how to avoid and how to watch out for it, also gave him some pointers on posture breaking when he has someone in his guard.

Our other rolls finished with a choke each. I got him in a front choke from guard or half guard (can't recall). I learned something from his choke: when he had me in headlock (switch base side control) and I got my arm around his middle to escape by working for a sweep, he applyied an ezekiel choke. I couldn't let go of my grips fast enough to escape the choke and had to tap. If I had been fast enough to get his forearm off my throat, I would have abandoned the escape and left my right arm in a vulnerable position. Good attack, I'm sure I'll use that one!

I managed another roll with one of the senior guys. I pulled off turning him over when he turtled, which is something I've never managed before (thank you to the guys who showed me this one a few weeks back!). After that, I worked on position change to attack to the next position change, until I ended in high mount. Except he worked and worked and got out the back door. And I couldn't stop him. From then on it's a bit of a blank but he ended up in my guard. I'm not bad at breaking people's posture down, but don't manage a lot of attacks yet. In any case, he reached back for my feet so I snaffled his arm behind his back and he was doomed :-) But truly the best part of it was the flow of it and the fact that at no point was I clueless what to do next. THAT, for me, was great.

So coming home, I felt I'm cruising. Finally, I'm getting somewhere. At least part of the time, I'm the squasher, not the squashee :-) And this is just the type of motivation I need going into the competition!

Monday fun

After missing Friday night and Saturday training, I felt like I'd been away too long ;-)

We practiced going straight from a standard sweep (leg across belly) to an ezekiel choke. All we need to do is let go of the sleep and hold that bottom arm out as he lands, so our forearm is right behind his neck. As we complete the sweep and land in mount, it's so easy to bring the other arm across the front of his neck and finish.

Then we drilled what I think is the flower sweep. I don't know if he called it that, but I've seen it in books and that's what it was called. Useful for when someone tries to pass guard and puts that leg where we can get our hand on it! The important bit is to put our hand near his foot and then bring that hand around along the mat with an outstretched arm to above our head. That way it's easy. If I just push upwards with that hand, it's much harder.

As an alternative, we can reach for the other leg, where the knee is still on the ground. Grab either the pant leg, but better, the foot. The mechanics are slightly different for this version. Where the first version wants me to lift my leg and then swing it across to sweep him, the second version is more of a kick downwards. So it feels quite different. I found the first version a lot easier.

The last sweep we did was a rehearsal of the heart attack sweep from open guard and an alternative if he braces out at the last second, which is similar to the flower sweep, because we use that braced out leg as a lever.

Very brief free wrestle where I caught my partner with a an ankle lock because he crossed his legs while he had my back. I don't think he meant to cross them, we were rolling around with me trying to escape, so it just worked out that way. But being sneaky and mean, I capitalised on it. Well, I've fallen for the same silly thing in the past which I told him and we had a laugh.

Melbourne - week 2 - no gi competition

I'm back from Melbourne. Even through I had an early start to be in good time for signing up and weighing in, the drive today didn't feel so long. Made it in about 1 hour, 45 minutes today (a bit longer going home, as there was more traffic at the Melbourne end - Victoria Street, Richmond is a busy place!).

The tournament was no-gi, round robin. Everyone had four fights in their weight classes. As there were only two girls, we both ended up competing in the lowest (under 68kg) division. It was a fairly small affair, like a club thing, but there were people there from other schools. Most who competed are taking part in the 7 week thingy.

I had an attack of the nerves this time. Couldn't really say why. I mean, it's ridiculous, I like grappling, I've gone from standup before, I've done no-gi before, I've tapped out a million times before etc. I've competed at a BJJ tournament once before, and competed heaps in horseriding events in another life. So what's there to be nervous about?? Yet, briefly I felt dry-mouthed and light-headed. The way I do if I have to speak publicly (hate it!).

I got a grip though. I warmed up, I gave myself the don't-be-an-idiot-of-course-you-can-do-it speech and then it was on. No waiting. And once I'm on the mat and have shaken hands, I'm good. Unlike in my first competition, I knew what I was in for :-)

I'll say right here right now that I can't give a blow by blow description. I have an awful memory for details which is a pity. One day I hope someone will take a video of me fighting, so I can see where exactly I stuff up. That might help in getting better.

Ok, first fight was a young muscled up guy (I think that's called ripped these days??). Sheesh, I can't even remember if I attempted a takedown and messed up or if he took me down. All I remember was me in side control, then mount and him attacking my arms full on, inbetween some forearms across my neck and an attempted ezekiel choke. Come to think of it, he might have nearly had my back, but I avoided his hooks and then came the other stuff. I balled up like I tend to, defending neck and arms, getting half guard. Even had a lockdown. But couldn't get in deep enough for a sweep because he flattened me out. In all that, he eventually peeled out my arm and I had to tap to a figure 4.

Second fight we clinched while standing and then he took me down pretty hard. It knocked the wind out of me for a second, by which time he had a good position. Whatever happened didn't take long, and I am trying to think what I tapped for??? Damn!

Third fight started better. He was a bit tentative and I scored a double leg takedown. He got his arm around my neck for a front choke but it wasn't very tight and I had my hand in it. I got to side control with my head still trapped. And then foolishly went to mount (head still trapped). Then he bridged and rolled and when he arrived in my guard, I finally got my head free. Now, was that stupid or what?? In any case, I kept breaking him down in my guard and looked for something. I was a bit irritated by his constant hands or forearms on my throat, but I wasn't aggressive enought in using his extended arms for a sub. When an armbar finally stuck out like dog's balls and I had his arm, he started stacking me and I couldn't get my hips in position. Sometimes I hate my creaky old body.. But the truth is: my subs are sadly lacking. No excuses. I need to get better. Anyway, time was called and lo and behold, I'd won on points. Whooohoo!

Last fight was against the only other girl in the comp, and I outweighed her by 10kg. She had been a bit roughed up by a couple of the other guys. After winning against one guy in her first fight, the next two guys manhandled her and she was a little upset about it. We both weren't in the placings anyway, so I didn't go full bore. I didn't drive hard into the takedown so she got full guard, and from there it went to open, and from there it went pear-shaped for me and she finished me in a nasty tight triangle. Don't trust pretty looking blond girls :-). Naw, but seriously, she deserved it, and she is a lovely person.

So that was my day out at my first no-gi tournament. What I took away from it was:
I need to be more proactive/aggressive (what's new??)
I need to work attacks (what's new??)
I need to have more confidence/worry less
I am not hopeless, some of the stuff I did was fine
I need to get better
I want to do this more often :-)

On that note, I'll sign off, make myself dinner and have an early night :-)

midweek

On Wednesday, in the small lunchtime class, we went trough attacks from side control.

We assumed the common scenario, where the far arm is around the back of our neck. We are in short base. Firstly, having established the postion, I could sit there for a second or two, with my left hand on my left ear, in case my opponent brings his right hand around the front of my face to push me off. In that case, I can just slam down my left to the floor, trapping his wrist and I'm set up perfectly for a figure four.

Alternatively, I can slide my right forearm under his left arm, making sure I'm high up in his armpit. I sit up and pull, so that he is on his right side. Immediately, I move my left knee over his head and push my shoulder down on his left arm. That pressure pushes his arm against the side of his ribcage, made worse by the fact that my forearm is in his armpit. It's not comfortable!

From there I have two options: armbar or figure four/kimura.

This makes a neat three option attack combination. I like it as I'm not a speed wiz, and it enables me to set up a nice tight armbar or figure four whilst staying in good base the whole time. I like it :-)

Did a brief free wrestle and was partnered with Sensei for the first time in a long time. Didn't take long before he had my back. I went for some time avoiding a RNC, but none of my usual escapes from back control worked. Just as I thought I finally could get out, I realised the little opening was just so he could get the other arm in. After I tapped and we talked about it, I realised that our time would have been better spent tapping earlier and spending time on other stuff. Like as in: as soon as I realised I couldn't get out of back control. Duh. So the only good thing that came out of it was that my defence is improving.

The second session was a brief rehearsal of the butterfly sweep we worked on a couple of classes ago. Then we were shown a cutting armbar from butterfly guard.

That though was only the lead-in or fake to get the opponent to turn his arm and leave it exposed for a sweep. I don't know what it was called, but it involved hipping out the the side opposite the trapped arm, cupping his chin and then hipping back in under him before rolling him over for the sweep. Don't know if I'll be pulling this one of in free wrestling for a while yet... But I'm only beginning to realise how many ways a person can get swept!

For the rest of the class, we did some free guard passing first. Had one of the bigger guys for a partner. Couldn't pass his guard for the life of me, and he swept me every which way. :-((

Then we did some free wrestling. Had a young guy with some grappling experience. I suppose it was unfair that some of us had taken the gi off (including mysef), and he still wore his gi top. We tumbled and rolled some with several interesting postions
here and there. My closed guard gave him a lot of grief :-). But in the end I did some fancy move from bottom turtle and got to switch back side control where an armbar did the trick. Don't ask me how that happened. I only remembered that I looked up at one of the guys who was watching and said: now was that an inspired move or what?? I'm such an idiot at times ;-)

Last guy was a very new guy, it was only his fourth class or so. So I ended ups showing him stuff and pointing out the danger of triangles during guard passes etc.

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was where he was :-)

Monday and slowly recovering

As an after-effect of Saturday's training, I had sore calves and forearms starting Sunday evening and all Monday. Funny how different muscle groups take different times to go through the delayed soreness stages. Wasn't really bad, but I was glad that I did a thorough stretching session on Sunday. Shoulders and right arm are still not happy, but since after the Monday night class, they are improving.

Aside from still feeling a bit tight and stiff, it was pretty hot yesterday. For some reason my appetite hadn't been good all day so I had not eaten much, either. A little inner voice whined "... you can just stay home". But having spent all day in front of the computer, I figured the exercise would do me good, so I packed my bag and went.

But I was very happy we had a quiet sort of a class :-). We basically went through syllabus stuff, getting in reps and ensuring that we're technically correct come grading time at the end of the month. And of course I was glad that I went!

Melbourne - week 1

I'm taking part in a 7 week competition preparation course at Dominance MMA in Melbourne.

Every Saturday, starting yesterday, there is a three hour training session. The last weekend of it is the Victorian Championships in Melbourne on March 19+20. Next weekend, there is a no gi mini competition so they can see us competing. All other Saturdays we have two hours of BJJ including competition style rounds, followed by a one hour long conditioning/strength session.

For me, it's a 2 hour trip to Melbourne, which is a pain in the behind, but the drive home is worse |-). I'm lucky, most of it is either freeway or quiet country road, but the problem is sitting cooped up in the car after the exercise. I was pretty knackered when I got home yesterday. Had a rest and then dragged myself out to feed the horses. After a good sleep, I had enough energy this morning and not enough soreness, to go for a two hour horseride. Or maybe I'm just an idiot ;-)

My shoulder hurts because I tweaked it Friday night. I didn't have time to worry about it yesterday, and found with things like that they hurt only when I'm cold, not when I'm warm and working. But they make up for it when I'm cooled off! Having worked it hard, it hurt like a bitch on the way home in the car but is better today. I did also manage to do something to my right ring finger. It's swollen on the knuckle near the hand and it's stiff. I taped it up when I went riding. My friend thought that was so funny, she took a photo. Yeah, haha?! My shoulders are generally stiff, but the rest of me is in pretty good shape, aside from a missing piece of skin on a big toe due to matburn.

Was it hard? Yes. Did I last? Yes. I even moaned and groaned less than quite a few others, and I wasn't so washed out after the conditioning session that I needed to lie down and die. I could have even kept going. But it was tough and between now and the March comp, it will get tougher. Several times, I did ask myself the obvious question: why am I doing this? Still looking for an answer...

The BJJ part of it was a quick introduction, then a warmup (joint mobility), then 2 minute rounds holding positions and the partner trying to get out, taking turns (back, mount, side control, guard). Then guard passing from open guard in groups of threes with one person resting. After that, competition style rounds from knees, then comp style rounds from standing. From recollection, that pretty much filled the two hours. We were urged to go hard, with constant reminders to keep up the pressure if on top and to look for a sub. If on the bottom, get out and do something!

I reverted to my usual game of protect, survice and try to get out. I had girls as partners for the rounds. That's kind of novel to me :-) But it was good and certainly painfully showed the obvious holes in my game. I have a lot of work on before the comp in March. But at least the blue belt girl commented that my defence is really, really good, she could get nothing forever and had to work hard for it. In the course of a few rounds, I managed to pass guard a couple of times and get some positions, but nothing came of it. Work to do!!

I wasn't the only one struggling against fatigue. Really, very far removed from the casual rolls in class ;-). Totally different intensity, and only brief rests.

Aside from that, we did some drills working on grips, taking turns getting and defending grips. I was told I have good grips :-). I did show my partner a way to peel hands off her collar which she then promptly used against me. She showed me a way to get her hands off my pant legs, so we both benefited. She was an excellent partner anyway.

The conditioning hour was basically three lots of 15 minutes (about 5 minutes break between). Each 15 minute session was divided into 5 three minute intervals, the first, third and last interval being intensive, the other intervals were jogging. The work intervals were in bursts. First session was sprints/jogging. Second session was burpees/jogging and the third interval was pummeling hard/slow. I have never thought it would be possible that I should look forward to jogging |-), or that I can recover so well by jogging for three minutes. And I managed to maintain a jog. A no time did I walk or shamble, and it didn't take the ungentle motivation and jibes of the fitness coach to keep me going (there was a lot of walking going on!). I found that astonishing as I never run or jog, as I hate it. And I don't even have sore legs. Maybe a bit tight in the hamstrings, but that's about it.

It is amazing what I discover about myself. I'd never been pushed hard physically until I started martial arts. And since then, I've been pushed hard a few times, but yesterday was a notch up again. It will be interesting to see how well I'll survive the next few weeks :-)

Anyway, I think I'll take the rest of today nice and easy, maybe ice my hand again. I'm going out for dinner tonight. That will be lovely. And then I'll be fit and well enough for regular training tomorrow night!

Friday - sweeps and side contol

We went over a couple of the open guard sweeps from Wednesday night. I helped the guy I was paired with as he hadn't been here that night. For me, it was good to get some more reps in, especially that reverse hooking sweep.

We were shown a hold down from side control, which is a very safe position where you can hang out and recover while the bottom guy expends energy getting out. Then, when the moment is right, a couple of grip changes lead right to a tight collar choke.

It goes like this: I'm in side control on my partner's right side. My left elbow blocks the left side of his head, my right hand by his right hip. I lift his head a bit with my elbow and rotate my forearm backwards toward me, under his head. I push my right hand up behind his back until I can clasp hands behind his back/shoulders. I'm sprawled out in long base. This way, his head is pushed to his right. My head his flat on his chest so he can't attack it. His right arm position doesn't matter so much, but best if I managed to catch it sticking up. When the moment is right, I work my right hand into the back of his collar. This stops him from turning. Then I bring my left hand around the front of his face, grab the left lapel as deep as I can and bring my elbow to the ground on the right side of his neck.

Free wrestling, no gi: not much good to report, got someone's back but couldn't secure the position. Then it was all downhill from there, ending in an armbar which tweaked my right rotator cuff. Not really bad, more that it probably irritated an old injury. A couple more rolls which were a bit lacklustre, but at least I managed good positions a few times. Didn't hang around for open mat as I didn't want to aggrevate the shoulder and being mindful of tomorrow's plans...

back attacks and sweeps

Wednesday lunchtime class: more on back control and attacks from there

Only four of us were there, two big guys, one guy my size and my little self.

Firstly, we had another go staying on each other's backs. Taking turns, we started from back control with hooks in and then saw how we could maintain position, especially if losing and regaining hooks. Then we had a go spinning around on top. Bottom person was turtled. Also, we looked at the scenario where we might have lost back control, our partner is on his side with his back to us and about to roll over his belly to face us. Keeping weight on him, we spin around his head, so that by the time he arrives on his other shoulder, we are already there behind him again. This means shoulder pressure, as little weight as possible on our legs and spinning fast, like being airborne with the feet. Looks easy. Didn't feel too easy, but a few reps and I got the hang. Sort of..

Then a little bit of rolling, attempting to get the back. However, I ended up with my partner in my guard. Tried to break him down and get his arm across to get to his back but that wasn't working, so went to open guard, feet on his hips while holding his sleeves. He tried to stack me and I shoulder walked. So he couldn't stack me but it didn't improve my position, either. Sensei popped over and suggested I should have gone for the omoplata. He showed me and it was plain obvious. How can I not see these things??

Then anther roll, this time us lighter people got one of the big boys each :-). I have to say that ended up being one of the most enjoyable rolls I've ever had. More like a flow roll. He didn't shut me down with his weight, but he mercilessly swept me when I wasn't watching. So it was an ongoing series of position changes, and what made me most happy was that every time I was somewhere decent, I kept the attacks coming, even going from one to another. And then he'd get out :-). I even managed to roll him out of a turtle into a crucifix. Wooohoo. And then stuffed up attacking his arm. I guess I was too busy gloating about the fact that he said "what the..??" when he landed in crucifix |-). Also, I succeeded in a couple of the spinning thingies when I had top positions. It was really, really great.

And at class end, we all got a pat on the back for looking technical and having wrestled well. What more could one want??

Evening class was bigger and we had a couple of newbies.

We drilled the basic sweep from closed guard with shin across the belly. Then we learned a different one from the same setup. This is a great goto if our opponent resists the basic sweep. We pass the arm across, grab his belt and sweep him the opposite way (same foot position, so he needs to be loaded on our leg). Works a treat and I found that often we landed with his forearm exposed, yelling out for an armwrap or other attack.

We went over an open guard hook sweep. Not the standard hook sweep where you roll over backwards and load him up before going to the side. We're in combat base with the right leg flat on the ground and the other knee up and the foot ready to hook under his right leg. We sit up close and have a left underhook. Right arm blocks his left elbow. Now all we need is to pin him to us and fall a bit to the right, rolling along the axis of our right thigh. This immediately unbalances him, and as he comes over, a little push with the left hook flings him off nicely. I love this sweep, it's so easy.

Then we did a variation which I need to spend more time thinking of, as it was a bit more complicated. Essentially, we aim for going to the other side. So we need to trap his right arm across our body. The crucial part is to reposition our left foot so the foot hooks his left leg, and our knee is more to the left side of his body. Lean back, load him up and do like a crescent kick with the left leg. As we land, we are both on our backs, so I need to follow him and go for side control. This sweep I will need to look at a few more times...

At the end, free wrestling, after taking off gi tops. Scored a big boy. Couldn't do too much, but defended well so he got nothing, either. Had trouble passing his guard but eventually did, spent some time in half guard, ended up in mount, got reversed and after ages ended up in his closed guard again. By that time, our arms were that slippery it was near impossible to get grips on wrists :-) And I couldn't help saying that after all that work, how come I still ended up in his guard?? We went a little longer, I managed my usual smash pass of his guard, even getting switch base side control. And then it was time out....

can't wait for this dvd!!

I love Roy Dean's instructional dvds. And his music, too :-)

So how good it is it that he's about to release another dvd called No Gi Essentials?? Hurry up, I want it!

Here's the preview:

drills, drills, drills.... a grading looms

Monday night class. The holidays must be over for good, class sizes are returning to normal at last.

Sensei has announced a grading for some time in February. More stripes for us white belts. I'll be going for my fourth.

So, we went over syllabus stuff, making sure our drills are correct and that all the sweeps, chokes, armbars, armlocks and escapes are up to scratch.

gimme your back!

Saturday class. As usual, a small but intensive class. We worked on getting and retaining back control.

The crucial part is the seat belt grip, the hooks help. Sometimes we have to relinquish a hook so we can use a foot for pushing off to help our goal of keeping our chest glued to our opponent's back. Having a good grip is important, with correct hand placement. But the trick is to go with him to maintain the chest/back connection, rather than stiffly trying to use our grip to pin him to us.

With that in mind, we took turns one one another's back. Goal was for the partner in back control to escape and for the other one to keep it. I'm sure that was quite amusing to watch, particularly when my partner stood up at one stage, with his hands on the floor, trying to shake me off over his head. But we really did some pretty creative rolling.

The trick is to stay loose and maintain that chest/back connection with as little energy as possible. It was soon obvious that the person in back control trying to escape was expending a lot more energy than the one maintaining back control.

Then we worked on maintaining and regaining position if we have someone's back and he is on top of us. To escape, he would try to get his back to the floor. To keep him square on us or a bit off to the other side, we can take out a hook, put the foot on the floor and push off with it while scooting our hips back under him. That was very effective.

Finally, we worked on changing grips from seat belt to RNC.

And at the end, some free rolling. But this time, any sub was good, but first person to get an RNC was promised a Mars bar :-). I was partnered with someone my size, less experienced but faster and more flexible (who usually subs me). I don't know, but with a clear goal in his mind, I went him, got his back and had an arm around his throat. Mars bar in reach! And then... He defended by tucking his chin and I couldn't get under it. Waah! So close. Sensei said I should've had that three times over. I just couldn't think of a way to get him choked, even thought he couldn't get out of my back control. How stupid was that?? So Sensei showed me a couple of little tricks to make that neck more accessible, which I'm sure I won't forget |-).

Had another start. Wiser to my arm drag to neck snapdown attack, I couldn't get the back right away. But in some scramble, I got him in my guard and was busy breaking him down. I was actually making inroads into an armdrag to getting his back, when it was time out. So no Mars bar, but I was happy to find myself being aggressive, and being so close to my goal. I even rated a "well done" at the end. I went home a happy girl :-)

Friday night

In our Friday night class we added onto stuff we learned at the seminar last week.

Starting from mount, we have our partner's left arm in an upward figure 4. Instead of going for that submission (of if we can't get it), we bring our arms across his neck, block his elbow with our chest and then reach around the back of his neck with our right hand for an armwrap. We dismount into a low kneeride. Then we reposition our left hand to also grab his trapped forearm. Then we do the boat ramp: as we sit on our but, we pull him up towards our chest and across our right leg and end up in back control with both hooks in.

From there, we look for the RNC. However, if he tries to pull our right arm down (for the drill that's what our partner did), we use our right leg to clamp over the arm to trap it. If possible, we cross the left leg over the right at the ankles. Now it's possible to use both of our arms against his left arm. Bringing our right arm to the left side of his neck, we grab his left wrist and figure four it with our left arm. Once that's in place, we can push on his head with our right hand while pushing down with our legs. This will push him down and across. Lastly, we bring our right leg across the front of his face, and as his left arm is already trapped in the crook of our left elbow, an armbar is easy.

A new guy turned up, and we took turns in pairs to show him basic drills. Watching him struggle and sweat reminded me of how hard I found it when I started :-).

We mostly drilled this set, first in stages, then the whole thing. After that, we did a bit of free rolling. I wasn't very successful, getting caught in an armbar, a triangle, a figure four from headlock etc. Nothing seemed to work for me. The best thing that happened was when I managed one escape from a bad position under a heavy blue belt guy, who commented "good!" for my effort. Only to regain his position and squash the breath out of me while he casually put on a figure four...

I was not impressed with myself, feeling like I was walking into the same submissions and not doing as well as I should. Near the end of open mat, one of the senior guys asked me for a roll. He asked if there was something specific I wanted to work on. Feeling down, I said I was getting stuck in stuff over and over but not to worry. We had a bit of a chat where I'm at. Most others had left by then and another guy came over. Then they spent the next 20 minutes giving me advice and examples on starting from knees and turtle escapes and attacks. That was terrific. I felt terribly guilty taking their time and I would have been happy to watch them roll and learn from watching. But I really appreciate their help. It is fantastic to see how much interest people take in helping others in our school. I guess as we all get better together, we enhance each other's learning. And I get my turns helping others with less experience.

half guard, half guard...

Three more BJJ classes, all concentrating on the half guard.

On Monday, we mostly went over seminar stuff, which was the lockdown, whip up and the old school sweep from half guard. Drilled all that a fair bit.

Then we learned another technique which will allow you to take the back from half guard bottom. Assuming I'm on the bottom and I have my partner's right leg in lockdown. If, for some reason he lifts his right arm (in MMA, he might be trying to punch), I stiffarm him on the elbow with my left arm. I bring my left knee up and in front on his bicep then slide my hand to his wrist. This locks his arm against my knee/shin. If I push up and out with my knee while controlling the wrist, it lifts his upper body away from me. I can now push my right arm under him and through his right armpit and cup around the back of his right shoulder. With that setup in place, I quickly straighten my left leg, drag his shoulder forward/down while pushing his wrist against his body. That gets me out from under him and a clear path to his back. It has to be a sudden jerk on his arm to make it work. My right hook is already in, so getting good back control is relatively easy.

In our Wednesday classes, we did again go over lockdown. I still had some problems with the whip up. Wrong technique, so it worked on a partner my size, but not on someone bigger. Adjusted technique, and now it works. Let's hope I can store that in a part of my brain that allows easy retrieval, as that was the third times I've been shown how to do it.... Sigh.

We did the drill against a partially resistant partner. To avoid someone pushing up on my head to creat space for double underhooks, I buried my head on their neck or put it to the floor. This was partially successful, but still they would lever it up. However, if someone did it to me, I couldn't move their head. So Sensei showed me a sneaky way to lever their head off the mat to get me into the starting position. It's pretty hard to explain, so I won't even try but the crux is not to try to muscle it, but use leverage and positioning = good jiu jitsu.

We learned yet another sweep and submission from half guard. Again, hard to explain, but basically it's useful where the whip up worked, but we couldn't get turned and get our right side to the mat. So we are still under him, but deep. So instead of coming out on his right hand side, we aim for his left side. I push my left arm out under his right armpit and straighten it. Then I try to bring my the arm to my left side while I reach for his left leg with my right hand. This rotates him to my left. I keep the lockdown on his right leg, lift his left leg over my head and then pin his knee to my chest. This puts him in the splits position. I can add more pressure by straightening my legs on his locked leg.

Aside from that, we did several rolls from half guard. I got a lot out of that. Had a good laugh when I was busy trying to get someone's back, fiddling around with my left foot. He had the audacity to tickle it!! My answer, of course, was to choke him, but I think we were laughing too much, and I don't recall what happened from there (couldn't sink the choke on his short, thick neck). But the roll went for a long time. I'm pleased about my escapes and avoid a lot of subs. But my attacks still need a lot of works. Still, at least I'm now getting positions where attacks can be contemplated :-)

quiet Saturday

My neck wasn't too sore after all the abuse received during the seminar. I'm still not sure if the chokes themselves were worse, or the "jaws of life". But in any case, the neck was only a bit stiff, not really sore. But I have some lovely bruises on shins and ankles from practicing the lockdown.

In class today, we went over the lockdown, jaws of life, get underhooks, push the partner up and then do the old school sweep again. We just went over all that several times, as there are a lot of steps. I still don't bring my forearm across far enough which means I then have trouble sucking in the other elbow. But I managed to improve on it. The sweep itself worked sweetly.

At the end of the class we had a few minutes of rolling. Went through some truly weird positions and found myself attacking a fair bit without quite succeeding. I was swept a few times, but returned the favour. I had success escaping from mount and back control so he couldn't get anything, either. I was going well, had just managed to sprawl on him ready to attack his back, when I suddenly gassed. It was just gone. So he mowed over me and it was a sudden end in an armbar. Grrr. It doesn't happen to me often, and it annoys the hell out of me when it does. I had a quick drink and was ready for another roll, but unfortunately, time was up.

choked by a sadist

On Friday night, instead of our regular BJJ class, we had a two hour seminar with John Campbell, nicknamed "The Sadist". It was no gi/mma. John recently returned from the States where he trained with Eddie Bravo. We knew we were in for an interesting evening :-)

We learned the lockdown from halfguard bottom which seems pretty much like a grapevine. Then we worked on getting double underhooks through a technique called jaws of life. Basically, you push your partner's head up and away by placing your hands on his temple. You rotate your free arm in, with your elbow/forearm in line with your sternum, to fill the space created. That allows you to suck down your other forearm (which was underhooked). From there you can have double underhooks and lock him down with a gable grip around his back. In mma, burying your head in his neck or chest will pretty much prevent him from hitting you.

Then we learned the old school sweep, which included transitioning the lockdown foot position to where his lower leg is trapped in the crook of my knee. As I push him over by grabbing his foot, the crucial part is to step backwards with my free leg while having my shoulder on him, and holding his foot. Then, depending on positioning, I pull out or slide out my other leg and establish side control. Very neat.

If we can't grab his foot, we can get up on our right arm while maintaining the left hand across his back and hooked on his far hip. Then drive into him to sweep. If he has whizzered our left arm, we can rotate the hand and limp arm out of it, swing it clean over his left shoulder and go straight to a seat belt grip, insert our right foot for a hook and have the back. Lovely.

After that we went through head arm chokes from side control. Learned a nice and easy way to peel out the right elbow and trap his upper arm with our head while going to mount. After that, we have a number of options for making the choke work, each cinching it tighter. So if he doesn't tap to version 1, we transition to 2 etc. Essentially, if a plain head/arm choke doesn't work, we can go from the standard left hand on right bicep, right hand on head position to a double hands on elbows postiion. Either way, we make it tight by driving our head towards the mat, tightening the elbows, and pushing our chest out. If that doesn't do the trick, we slide our left foot across his belly, with the foot hooking his right hip. Then we stick our right foot on our left or on his hip. And push down with our feet. That adds considerable force to the choke. The final version was to transition to knee ride, with the knee high on the sternum. That was not nice, to put it mildly.

The whole sequence is nasty because you just go from one evil thing to another, cinching it tighter and tighter and making it more and more unpleasant. John was walking around checking how we all went and offered to let us have a feel. I accepted :-). OUCH. It's choke with a bit of a neck crank, more of a crank with the feet on your hip. Ouch. (Note: don't accept a sadist's offer to choke you while sticking his knee in!)

Finally we did a bit on back control and how to bring up your legs to trap one arm. From there we might have a clear run at a RNC. Or we figure four the other arm. Alternatively, we transition to an armbar. I think he called that the black widow.

It really was a very interesting evening. Most of us had a bit of a roll after, and a couple of opportunities came up to try those new things. Luckily, my legs are long and flexible enough for that sort of stuff. And it was good that we did all that work with the head/arm choke, as we had beeen drilling the same choke several times during the week. So for me personally, it really opened my eyes for a whole new attack game. Good stuff indeed :-)

I hear that John will be back and I'm looking forward to it.

another week ticks by

I'll never ever be organised enough to write about every class :-)

So a whole week has passed, which meant another 5 BJJ classes. We did some new stuff but what always strikes me is how much new stuff I can discover about a technique or position I learned ages ago. It really pays to revisit, retry, re-evaluate everything.

I have a terrible habit of trying something new a couple of times and then I get discouraged and file it under "I can't do that". Being still pretty wet behind the ears in terms of BJJ, there are a lot of new things which won't work when I first try them in rolling. I'm still lacking the awareness, balance, sensitivity and general knowledge to see what makes stuff work, so I need to practice, practice, practice before anything works. So what happens is I try a move when I roll, a fail a couple of times and convince myself that it won't work for me.

When I teach horseriding, I always come down hard on people who say things like "I can't" or "I'm not good enough" or "I'm hopeless". Yet, I do the bloody same. How stupid is that??? Because it's defeatist and self-fulfilling. If I tell myself often enough that I can't do XYZ, then in due course I really will fail which will of course reinforce that message.

So on the one hand I must get good enough at a given technique to be able to pull it off, on the other hand, I must believe that I can do it. Now we all know that a body has limitations, and that some techniques are hard to do for some people due to size, strength (ours and our partner) - experience aside. But it's not like there is a cut off point. It's more that it gets harder and harder.

What made me think of this is what happened in class the other day. I was partnered with the biggest guy in our school. Can't remember exactly what we were doing, think it was halfguard position and I was working on either a sweep or getting on my side for deep half guard. I needed to get his weight off me and up, using my legs and arms. For him to do that to me is a piece of cake ;-) (I'm half his weight). For me to do that to him takes effort. When it was my turn, I did my usual "oh, I think I can't do this", and made a half-arsed effort. It failed. Surprise, surprise. So he showed me how to do it again, making sure I used my legs mainly, rather than relying on my arms. Basically, he didn't accept that I couldn't do it. That was just the figurative toe that was needed up my arse. I tried and meant it. It worked. Which was an excellent experience. Because if I can manage to move a guy that size, I can move anyone. It was only down to proper technique and a proper effort. So I should quit the size excuse and have more faith in my teachers and myself.

Anyway, what else did we do during the week?

We worked exactly on those things which I'd been having trouble with and wish I could revisit and drill :-)

Such as... hook sweep, double hooks sweep (transition to hip bump sweep if they sit up). And head/arm chokes. YES! Frome side control, from half guard top and from half guard bottom. How to trap arms to get into a nice choking position etc.

I did learn one new thing: the d'arce choke. Hmm. Interesting ;-)

And the last session with our departing purple belt was devoted to attacks from his favourite position - switch back side control. And more head/arm chokes :-)

So it's been an intensive week which has hopefully hammered a bit more understanding into my brain. Not so much new stuff as discovering new stuff about known techniques, which mean that they will now work for me. I know I often manage to get arms across during rolling, and I was frustrated that I couldn't get head/arm chokes to work. This last week has expanded my arsenal in that area.

Also, I had a range of good rolls with different people, and took something away with me from each of those. Aside from that, they were fun. Good fun :-)))

Wednesday double

Thankfully, it wasn't hot on Wednesday. Just right, really, only a little muggy in the evening.

Only three of us turned up for the lunchtime class. Our instuctor is back on deck after a shoulder injury kept him off the mat at the end of last year. So we took turns partnered with him and he had a chance for a couple of rolls.

We worked on a double hooking sweep. Once I realised just how close you need to get when you sit up into your partner with over and underhooks, and that you need to fall back a little on the side you are sweeping to, this worked wonderfully. We swept right into switchback side control.

From there we had a quick look at possible attacks, because the right arm is already isolated.

Then we looked at the scenario where our partner manages to free his top arm (maybe he pulled it through while we swept) and tries to roll away from us. We drilled trapping his arm to prevent him from getting away and set up a submission. If for example, we swept him to our left, he rolls to his left, we stick our right hand under his right elbow (from behind). Then we make a fist, drop our elbow down behind his back and consolidate our position while squatting behind him. Can't lean forward, need to keep the weight low behind him, with knees blocking his back. Then we have time to set up a submission.

From here we can go for an armbar by stepping over the head, or we can set up a kimura from north/south. We played around with this for a short time, trying out differnt options.

We finished off with a couple of rolls each. Same as on Monday, I managed to get good positions several times. I pulled off a wrist lock and tried a variety of chokes and armlocks. Of course I also had tons of opportunity to practice survival and escapes :-) Both rolls were productive, and the stray heel to the base of my nose didn't cause any damage.

I came back for the evening class. One of our instructors is moving away and this was one of his last two classes. Also, while our PFS classes are still in recess, I'm only doing BJJ, so I figured the extra class was the go, even if it meant to travel all the way into town a second time in one day.

Aside from one newbie who leaned some basic drills, the rest of us went from light free guard passing to guard passing with subs and then to free wrestling. It was a medium sized class, so I had lots of rolls with various partners. I wasn't quite as fresh as I was for the lunchtime class, and with higher humidity, I felt like being in a sauna.

I rolled with two bluebelts, both of whom had suggestions to make. One comment was that I need to be careful when I commit my weight, be it guard passing or position changes when on top. He said I commit too much of my weight which makes it easy for people to sweep me. I laughed and said that with my (lack of) weight, I need to use all of it. But he's right of course. I need to give more thought about keeping base and maybe concentrating a percentage of my weight on that part of my opponents anatomy which gives me the best control, ie: control ONE shoulder instead of just lying across his top half.

The other suggestion came when I was guard passing. Generally, I manage to pass open guard reasonably well, but yesterday I had troubles. So I was busy trying to pin one leg down. And because I wasn't thinking, I was also trying to push the other knee down. He showee me a better way to pin the first leg and pointed out that if I pull up on his other knee, that would rotate his hips toward me and help flatten the first leg to the floor. Of course, it's obvious when I think about it. Duh!

That aside, I had plenty of fun. I was mauled as usual by the really big four stripe guy. I was pleased to get past his open guard once and actually get to side control. I lasted there for less than 2 seconds and it went all bad for me after that. However, I rolled out of one omoplata attempt and I know I'm making it harder and harder for him to get a hold of my arms. We tend to make jokes about it, after all he is twice my weight. One roll we started with him lying down, sort of roman emperor pose, propped up on his elbows. Then he waved me in, with the sort of grin like his favourite dessert had been served. Needless to say, the outcome for me was tapping :-).

One of the bluebelts caught me in a wristlock. Sneaky, and just as I had escaped something else. Can't remember too much else aside from the issues about the open guard passing. Aside from that, he caught me in a gi choke. Some rolls later I finally retaliated - with an wristlock :-).

I had one roll with our purple belt instructor. It's been ages since I've wrestled with him. His favourite is switch base side control and he knows a lot of horrible submissions from there. Anyway, we started from knees and I surprised him by snapping his head down, he went turtle, I fumbled around and he rolled me but somehow there was a scramble, I passed his legs and ended up - in switchbase side control. While I was busy gloating, he swept me - into switchbase side control :-) He is much bigger than me, and it's not a nice place to be. Soon after (details escape me), he got me in some kind of crank. Head facing one way, legs the other. Not nice. Humans weren't designed to be corkscrews.. Tapping time!

I did have a couple more rolls, I remember one where my opponent (my fellow three -striper) had top half guard. He uses his shoulder wickedly. Being under his side control is no fun, either. I think I escaped once, just to get into the same position, and eventually he got me in a figure four.

A whole hour of one good roll after another, even though I felt like pizza dough some of the time. I was so hot and tired at the end, there was sweat pooling in my ears. Yuk. Gi was twice it's normal weight. I came home with new matburn, grazes on my elbows and left knee, a bruised chin, a pinch/bruise to my left side and assorted other bruises of course. But as happy as can be.

Due to being super careful about drinking plenty and eating a little before class, and then something straight after class on the way home, I felt excellent the next day and after that. It makes so much difference to the amount of soreness, if I feed myself well. I'm absolutely fit and rearing to go for my next class tonight :-)

mad dogs and englishmen..

How does the saying go? Only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun, or something to that effect.

It wasn't only the midday sun today that was hot. It was really, really hot all day. It was 38 deg.C (100F) before 11am, it peaked at 44C (111F) and fell to about 35C (95F) by the time we started class at 8pm. By the time I came home just before 10pm, it was still about 30C. It was brutal outside and I don't have a/c in the house.

Was class tough? Is the pope catholic? Needless to say it was a small class for a monday night. But it was good to see the die hard BJJ addicts back again after our 3 week xmas layoff.

It seemed like a good opportunity to do a no-gi class :-)

We drilled armbar from knee ride and far armbar from knee ride. I mainly worked on getting the right grip for good penetration, and gripping knees so that the whole deal was tight, for both armbars. I've drilled this technique before and going over it again, I'm finding lots of ways to improve it. As with a lot of the other techniques, I know the basic movements so I can concentrate on the small stuff that really make them work. With that, I find that in rolling, techniques I knew but couldn't pull off, are now starting to work. Good stuff!

When we were drilling, one of the bluebelts pointed out the importance of having the trapped arm over to the correct side of my body, ie: the side where his feet are. Often, it works if the arm is along my centreline, but with flexible elbows, I can get more extension and a better angle being off to my side. Having the arm over the other side gives my opponent a better chance to pull out of the sub.

One of the guys showed us an omoplata to armbar transition. He 'borrowed' me to demonstrate. As I rolled out of the omoplata, I kneed myself in the left eyebrow.

Most of the class was spent rolling. Everybody took it reasonably steady because of the heat. But all the same, it was pretty non-stop. I had two long rolls with a blue belt who is at least 30kg heavier than I. He almost toyed with sweeping me, giving me a chance to feel for getting better base. When he got top positions, he'd not squish down with all his weight, giving me loads of opportunity for escapes, even a sweep and consequently I had several opportunities to work my top game. All along I remembered to attack and found myself going from one attack to another several times. Really, really good rolling. I told him how much I appreciate that bit of space and he said it was good for him, too because it made him work more out of bad spots and not rely only on strength and weight. Win/win.

My other roll was with one of the young, quick, flexible guys. One of those lucky types who looks very natural and who's been giving the higher belts a challenge. Still, he is only about my weight, so he can't shut me down the way the big guys can, and I'm a few month's training ahead of him which does make itself felt here and there ;-). We had a lot of positional changes. I couldn't submit him because I could never establish solid enough control and when he'd reverse me, he couldn't get a sub because my defense is pretty good. Again, it was good to have opportunities to work my top game. Because my top game sure needs work!!

We were all soaked and pretty exhausted after class, but it was GREAT to be back on the mat. I drank heaps and ate something soon after, so I felt pretty good.

photos for the people :-)

I had dinner with my friends Yvonne and Greg last night. Greg took the opportunity to take some photos - silly photos of cats and yours truly are always part of the after-dinner entertainment :-).


So here is me sporting my new super-cool hair do.

Good timing indeed, as the weather was horribly hot yesterday. So absolutely no regrets. As the forecast for tomorrow hints at an even hotter day, I imagine that I will appreciate the improved cooling effect when I finally resume training tomorrow night.



Just for comparison, here is a recent photo of my long hair. At times it has been much longer than that.

things we do...

I've spent well over 20 years with long hair. It's a pain in the summer and it's a pain under a riding hat. Always kept it braided to keep it out of the road, but long hair it had to be ;-).

Then I started grappling. I braided it tighter, used more elastics, tried different braids. Same result, it's hot and it looks insanely horrible after a good wrestle and the earguards slip around on it. Worst of all, lots of it gets left on the mat.

Sometimes the braid gets stuck under my back, once I even had to tap out to a backward neck crank! But it's the hunks that get torn out which is the worst. I remember the horrified look of one of the guys at the end of a roll during a no-gi session one night, when he literally handed me a goodly hunk of my hair - "I think this is yours?!". All in all not optimal.

So today I did the deed. Off it came!

As it is a very hot day, I can feel the benefits already :-). But the true benefits will be apparent when I'll go have have my next BJJ class on Monday. But how good is that for true dedication to the sport ??? Eh? Eh? ;-) (And I shall ignore those in my wider family who quietly think I'm nuts.)

Yay! Three more days and we're back on the mat. Beauty!

funny forum stuff...

As I'm still not back on the mat (four more long days to go..), I've been reading the forums. I didn't find many profound posts, but here is some funny stuff:

On MMA Underground:
Official 2010 BJJ Vocabulary Disambiguation thread

On Grapplersguide:
You know your BJJ is improving when...

On Lockflow:
You know your a grappler when..

two bodies

We are experiencing weird weather. For example, we had a big heat wave in November, then more cool and rainy weather, nearly like winter again. Since then, it's been a roller coaster. For example, two days ago, we had temperatures up to 38 deg.C, then a late thunderstorm on New Year's Eve brought cooler and moist weather. Today it's only about 15 deg.C out there and a stiff breeze. Consequently, it's very difficult to adjust to the weather. Singlets one day, parkas the next...

I used to hate hot weather and didn't mind the cold so much. Ok, it's not too cold here in winter, it's pretty much a mediterranean climate, so snow is unusual, but we do get frosts in winter, and weeks of cold, windy and rainy weather. And the summers are (usually) hot and dry.

With distinct seasons, and a gradual change between them, it's not too hard to adjust to the weather, dress accordingly and heat the house when necessary. I also adjust my training, taking longer to warm up when it's cool for example.

As I'm getting older, I find that I prefer the hot extreme to the cold extreme. I think that's the result of two things. One the one hand, being fitter through constant training, my body has learned to sweat and cope with being hot and it's no longer exhausting just to feel hot. On the other hand, I'm getting less flexible and take longer to recover than I used to. I find that cold/wet weather means stiffer joints and more aches. So nowadays I'd rather be too hot than too cold.

I've found that I have two operating modes. One is normal, at rest or low to medium level activity (from sitting in front of the computer to say... going horseriding). Mode two is "running temperature". Like a well warmed engine. How much work is required to get into M2 depends a lot on outside temperature, which is why I prefer the warmer weather these days. Of course other things come into it as well, such as whether I have muscle soreness from previous days, carry an injury and how long since I last had a good workout and stretch.

Why is all this relevant?

Because it never ceases to amaze me what a different body I inhabit when I reach proper running temperature, as opposed to normal operating mode. There are days when I pack my bag and head off to training and I feel like a wooden doll. I actually doubt that I can train properly some days and I'm literally afraid of going. I've had the odd day when things really were a bit tough. But that was nearly always when I'd have a class in the morning, an hour off and another class straight after (Too long a break to stay warm but not long enough to recover). But that aside, my body always managed to do the business after proper warming and stretching. I ought to have learned by now that I can rely on it!!!

I'm on the grey side of fourty, so just getting out of bed in the morning, I feel like need to order spare parts and a grease and oil change for my body. That is every morning. Some clever person on some forum remarked that over fourty, you hurt in the mornings no matter what. If you hurt after abusing your body during grappling the day before, at least you have a reason to hurt. That sounds sensible :-).

What I notice as I work around the farm, ride horses and do my daily chores etc are other issues. Lack of flexibility, mainly in the lower back, but also in the shoulders and neck and knees. Also I notice that some joints click and crunch. One of my knees, hurt many moons ago in a horseriding accident and then re-injured later, has what feels like lax ligaments. If I just blunder around, stuff moves around in there, and I've had it lock on me to the point where it won't straighten. Less so lately, but it's been an ongoing problem. My neck sometimes "crinks", for no reason at all, but often it's at times of stress. So in other words, in normal mode, I feel like the average 40+ year old. I can fully relate to what my parents used to bitch about when they were this old! Winter mornings are worst.

Then I go to classes. Whether BJJ or PFS, there's the warmup, some stretching and then we're into it. Joints gain more range of motion. No crunching or clicking anywhere, knees feel tight, general flexibility increases. And hardly any aches (well, shall we say there can be some "discomfort" during warmup) once I start rolling. What I'm so stunned about is just how different my body performs when it's in that state. It really is like a different body to the one I usually inhabit :-)

I suppose I could say there is another mode, that being sparring mode. Simply, when the rolling or standup sparring gets a bit more intensive, then it goes to the point where more and more pain can be tolerated. For example, that's when I come home with bruises and matburn which I don't recall incurring. Or when I came up against the limit of what I have in my "gas tank" and still manage to push on a bit more.

I just wish I could run at that enhanced level of ease and flexibility ALL the time, but I doubt that's possible. I basically think I'm a lucky old bastard, being able to go pretty much as hard as I like in training - as long as I warm up adequately. I see plenty of people younger than myself who evidently live a much more sedentiary lifestyle, and who certainly couldn't do what I can do. And I don't do so badly during training, compared to the guys in their twenties - if I may say so myself ;-). Yes, I am lucky, even if I need to always get to running temperature before I can play!

I had to laugh when I friend of mine came along to watch a BJJ class one day recently. He said he could never do it and that he felt tired just watching us warm up :-)