tumbling tumbleweeds..

Not wanting this to turn into one of those blogs that never updates, and really has nothing to say, but work sucks. I'm looking for another job, but these things take time.. more on that as it develops.

BJJ update:

Saturday, I went to my first class. The professor, talked to me about some stuff, showed me where the school Gi's were. I tried a few of them on, the pants fit fine, but I couldn't find a top to fit. That’s the problem with being 5’10” and 100kgs. So I went through class in my t-shirt. Not ideal, but it worked out. We started with some basic calisthenics, push ups, sit-ups, bw squats, nothing too difficult. Then the rest of the class went and did some drills, and I learned to stand up properly from a sitting position, which is harder than it sounds. After some individual instruction, have the movement, now I just need to make it smoother.

The other thing I learned Saturday is what's called a scissor-sweep. Which is complicated. The idea is that I'm on my back, my opponent is on top of me, in my guard (his hips behind mine), I knock him over and end up in full mount, my hips over his belly. A good ju-jitsu player can defend himself quite comfortably from guard, when mounted however, your best option is to get the hell out of there.
I also learned a "cross choke" which is when in full mount using your opponent's collar as a fulcrum to scissor your forearms across his neck and choke him out. Hard to execute... actually it's all hard to execute, but that’s why it’s fun.

After all of the drill and demonstration the "not new" folks did 4-5x 6 minute rounds of sparring. I watched. After class, I paid for a month of classes, and bought a gi (since none of the club gi's fit, I didn't really have a choice) It was a blast. It's very technical, and physical, but it's still fun because everyone's more than happy to teach you what they did to you and what you did wrong to get there. It's a really cool environment.

Monday, I had off for Columbus day. Random, but a day off none the less. So, I got up late, had some breakfast, and went to BJJ class. This time in a gi. The daytime class is much smaller and there were two other beginners there. So we got loads of the basics. We learned a arm-bar from guard, 2 ways to go from mount back to full guard. And how to jump to guard (basically concede a take-down and just start things out on the floor).

I was sweating like crazy. It's pretty chilly outside, and the school isn't warm, but the BJJ gi's are about 1/4 inch thick. Very heavy cotton.. thicker than canvas, and only slightly softer. I was sweating my butt off.

I've washed and dried the thing about 15 times just trying to soften it up, no dice. Apparently as you roll, some of the fibers stretch and break, and that softens it up. Right now the jacket could stand up on its own.

Needless to say I am having a blast, but I am tired and sore in weird spots as my body gets used to the new stimulus.

Last night’s workout was brutal.
Tuesday:

Heavy legs:

Warm-up.

Squats:

Build up to 4x2@275

Dl:

4x1@ 405.

The deads felt super heavy. My hips were tired from all of the work on Monday in guard, and the two weeks away from heavy weights from the rib injury. This will get better as I get used to the addnl work.

Hope you had a good weekend!