Why are white belts so self-conscious about sucking?

In any incident, your first line of defense is your observation skills and instinctual feeling or intuition. Do not discount how important these are to your life, whether in fighting or getting along at work. Campfire Tales From Hell



Friday evening in Bellevue. I skipped Thurs because my tattoo is still stinging. I skipped tonight's sparring for the same reason. I really wanted to get on the mat, but after the techniques and drills, the left half of my back felt like I was being roasted over a slow fire. It didn't help when Chrisanne gave me a comradely slap on the back RIGHT on the most sore spot. I whimpered, and Carlos happened to be standing right there to see it.  :P

Warmup roll with Casey.

While we were doing that, a white belt who was jus finishing up the Monkey Bar Gym session was dithering about staying for the BJJ. We encouraged her, but she was like, "I suck, I really suck BAD..." Why do white belts get so self-conscious about sucking? Of course you suck! You're a white belt! I informed her that we all suck; if we didn't, there would be no reason to be here because we would already know everything.

As we were running warmup laps, I was following Casey and Casey was following Lance, who is quite a bit bigger than both me and Casey put together. Casey commented wryly, "I feel like I'm chasing a bear!" and I simply could not stop laughing for a really long time.

Pummelling (ow)

Butterfly guard sweep (ow)

Carlos wants me to crawl up higher in front mount and pinch my knees together. Chrisanne moaned when I pinched my knees together on her ribs, so I guess that's good advice.

Note that if you do not want to front mount your foe after butterfly sweeping hir, you can keep hold of the near arm, do a low-to-the-mat technical lift type maneuver to get yourself belly-down, and end in side control with that arm trapped straight out down your linea alba. Nice position to get a little Shoulder Of Justice in while you're there.

Opponent defends butterfly sweep by bringing hir arm to the inside and pushing against your chest. Grab that arm by the wrist, yank it down to your belly button, and sweep hir the OTHER way. Note that for me, this does not work at ALL on the stupid side. Way too weak and unbalanced-feeling.

Kimura from guard. Make sure to get leg high up in opponent's armpit (this is a chronic problem for me in this technique as well as a few similar ones) and close the guard. Carlos adjusted Chrisanne's knees in a way that made me groan "Ohgod, that sucks." and they both started cracking up. Carlos: "I love to hear that." Chrisanne says, "Good, then I will keep doing it like that!" Carlos reprimaded me for doing a hip escape. Just stay where you are and be forceful with that leg. If you are assertive, the Bad Guy does a face plant on the mat. Carlos points out that for best results, you want a push-pull action- namely, keep hir arm straight and push it up as you force hir shoulder down.