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Monday, September 28, 2009

Intimidation Factor

I think I'm working through the whole intimidation thing. My last few classes have gone pretty well and I rolled better than I have been rolling in a while. I just focused on letting go of worrying about how good or bad other people think I am and just focusing on trying to learn.

So far, it's working out well.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Psych

I've been thinking too much when I grapple lately. Especially when I am intimidated by my opponent. Especially when the opponent I am intimidated by is bigger and better than me at BJJ.

Instead of going with the flow and concentrating on looking for sweeps and submissions and things, I am thinking about how I am going to get pummeled. It's retrded.

So no more.

Tonight, me, Steph and Phil are all going to Fabios and my goal while I am there is to not let myself get intimidated. The people who are bigger and better than me are going to roll me. I should just get over it and try to learn through it.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Guard Pass and Sweeps

The doctor never got back to me about my rib. But earl`ier this week, I woke up and it wasn't hurting anymore. God is good! :) So I've been training like normal. Every now and then it gets a little sore, but nothing like it was. I think what happened is that I popped it out and then, when Phil cracked my back, he popped it back into place.

Anyway, last night at class Mario and Ben taught us a few more take downs. We've been working on different ones the last several weeks and I have to say, my take downs are really weak. So are my guard passes and sweeps. I really need to up my practice in those areas.

I don't really like training for take downs outside of class just because I know take downs are where a lot of injuries occur. And if we're doing them wrong, we're a lot more likely to hurt each other. Save those for class. But guard passes and sweeps are fine to practice outside of class, I think.

The beginning of the fight, when I'm looking at someone who is basically sitting there waiting for me to attack, is one of the most intimidating things for me. Especially if they have their legs out in front. Last night, I learned two ways to pass guard when people have their legs in front and I found another one this morning that looks manageable. I'd like to know how to do two or three really well so that I can pick one depending on the situation in each fight.

That's the other thing I've been trying to work on in grappling: Going with the flow and adapting to what my opponent is doing. They're not always going to be in the text-book position for me to get an arm-bar or to perform a perfect guard pass the exact way we practiced it in class. I have to be able to adapt, to see a weakness and move on it. I can rely on the same technique, just in a slight variation. So far, my brain moves really slow in this area. Hopefully one day I'll be able to think quicker in my grappling.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Yeah, I'll hold.

I hurt my rib on the second day of jiu-jitsu class about a month ago. It wasn't that big a deal. Just sore and tender when pressure was put on it. I thought I maybe bruised it. Then, a few days ago, I was a moron and I asked Phil to crack my back. He did. And my rib popped.

I don't know if it just popped out of place or actually broke. I went in three days ago and got an x-ray, but I have yet to hear anything definitive back from the doctor's office. I did receive a call from a nurse informing me that I have scoliosis. But, as I've known that since the 5th grade, that really wasn't helpful. I asked the nurse if my rib was broken--you know, since that is why I had the x-ray done and all--and her response was, "Uhhh....I'm going to have the doctor call you back."

I'm still waiting on that call.

What is frustrating is that I don't know if I can still train. If my rib is just dislodged, then I can keep training and not have to really worry about it. I'll take it light, but I don't have to quit all together for six weeks like I'll have to if my rib is actually broken.

I went to class on Tuesday and, though I sat out of some of the take-down exercises, I participated in the rest of class and even grappled at the end. My rib was sore, but the pain was easily manageable. I just wish I knew whether it was broken or not.If it is, I'll have to hold off from grappling for at least 6 weeks. That lands me with no grappling until only a few weeks before NAGA.

Sigh.

There's really nothing I can do about it except pray in faith and let go of my desire to control the situation. It is out of my hands. What will be will be. I just hate waiting to find out what will be.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Defense

I think--note the "think" and not the "know"--that I'm slowly getting better at defense. Lately Steph and I have been grappling with two guys from our class, Phil and Josh. It's really been helping me improve in all areas, but especially in defense.

Phil and Josh easily outweigh me by 70-80 pounds, plus they've been taking Jiu-jitsu longer than me, so trying to move when they have their whole body weight crushing me is really difficult. I'm nowhere near close to getting submissions on either of them, but I am at least moving better and looking less like a rag doll getting pretzeled on the floor.

Baby steps, people.

Also, I almost jogged a whole mile without walking today. I did walk once, but only for about ten seconds and then I started jogging again. That's already an improvement from the last time I tried to jog a mile. It's crazy for me to think about people who run twenty or thirty miles. I think it would take me a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong time to be able to do that. Ok, let's be honest. I'll prolly never do it. lol

Anyway, my stats as far as weight goes are the same. I found out the actual weight classes for the NAGA tournament in November and I would have to get down to about 130(without my gi) to drop into the next weight class. That isn't going to happen. My body likes 140. It doesn't want to leave 140. And I've decided not to try to make it leave 140 because, from what I hear, they will probably combine weight classes and if I drop all that weight I'll just weigh that much less than everyone in the weight class I'm slotted for now. Garbage.So I'm going to stop worrying about weight and just focus on training.

Lastly, tonight Steph, Phil and I are going to see Fabio Novaes' school. Our instructors, Mario and Ben, train there and we want to go see them in action and get a feel for our "parent school". We fall under the blanket of Fabio Novaes Jiu-jitsu since we train under Fabio's students, so it'll be cool to see the school and meet the people there. I'm excited!

http://www.fabionovaesbjj.com/index.php

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Rolling

When I first started Jiu-jitsu, the white belts who had been there longer than me kept telling me, "Just roll," every time we grappled. I got frustrated because I didn't understand what they meant. Everything was about strength for me. I was trying to muscle my opponents into my submissions.

I'm still doing that a little bit now, but I'm figuring out how to rely on balance and technique more. I am beginning to understand what my higher ranking friends were trying to tell me when they said to "just roll".

Also, I'm relaxing a lot more; letting go of my ego and just trying to learn. I'm not killing myself trying to get submissions. I'm looking for them, but I'm not straining and fighting. I'm trying to go with the flow, defend, get into a dominant position and then find a joint I can isolate. I'm definitely still a sucky white-belt. But I think I am a little less sucky than I was when I first started. That's not much, but at least it's something. ;)

Friday, September 4, 2009

Raiders

Some of the kids from the youth group invited me to come to Raiders, an after school fitness program at Summerlin Academy. They wanted to see if I could run a mile.

Oh gosh.

So, I went. The target was to run an 8 minute mile. I did not make the target. In fact, I didn't even come close to the target. I ran a 10:30 mile. Geeze, I'm out of shape. But the kids are challenging me to keep coming. They do it in the afternoons 3 days a week. I might do it. Aside from running, they also do pull-ups, push-ups. sit-ups and other non-fun things. It would be really good for me to come. Undoubtedly it would help with my Jiu-jitsu training. I guess the questions I have to ask myself are: How badly do I want to embarrass myself? And, how badly do I want to get in shape?

We'll see what wins out: Shame or Drive.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Flow and Tell

Height: 5'4''
Weight: 140 (yay!)
Exercise so far: walking 45 min.
Planned exercise: some bjj drills during the day and bjj class tonight
Food and beverege intake so far today: cereal and milk. water.
Planned lunch: chicken and water and maybe a salad
Planned dinner: chicken and rice.

I'm finding that I don't move enough while grappling. I also don't go for things with enough confidence. Last night, Steph and Phil came over and we grappled. Suffice to say I wasn't feeling it. I kept getting out-muscled, which tells me I was relying to much on strength and not enough on technique. But even beyond that, I was letting myself get frustrated and I kept giving up.

Basically, I was having a pity party for myself.

I'm over it now. One thing that Phil said made sense to me. Basically, he said that I'm a white-belt and I'm going to suck. Just get over it and learn. He's right. I've only been taking classes for a month. I can't expect to be winning when I grapple against people who have taken class longer than I have. I need to relax, let go of my pride and just try to learn from the time when I get submitted.

So that's what I'm going to try to do.

Also, I'm going to try to move more and try for more things when I'm grappling. It's all about isolating a joint or an appendage and then applying pressure. I'm just going to work on moving and on being more bold. I'll get tapped, but oh well. Hopefully I'll learn from it.