LevelUp

There are things that cannot be caged within the limits of geographic or racial boundaries. They are paths open to anyone whose heart beats for something more than simple inertia. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path




Tuesday evening BJJ at Gracie Bellevue. I was too lazy to get out of the house in time for the basics class at 6, but there was an "advanced" class scheduled at 7, so I decided to go for it.

Carlos and Pat are doing horrible conditioning drills this week while prepping for the Pan Ams. Since we are all a team here, the rest of us got to share the misery tonight.

One person in turtle, partner sits on hir back with feet hooked under armpits and does 20 situps. Each partner does two sets. Carlos partnered me with the smallest guy in there tonight (Hudge), but he was still heavier than me, and that made it even more miserable on the bottom than it was to be doing the situps.

One person in plank position, Partner stands perpendicular and does 5 pushups off hir back. Then move to the shoulder and repeat. Then north-south, then other shoulder, then opposite side of back. Each partner does two sets. Again, the bottom was even worse than the top. We weren't supposed to spread our feet apart, but I had to, or I wouldn't have had a prayer of remaining in position.

Way Cool choke. I'm happy that I came in for this choke. Opponent in turtle, you sprawled on top N/S. Reach under hir neck with your right hand and get a grip on hir OPPOSITE collar. Fingers must be *in*. Then reach under hir arm with your left hand and stretch it to try to touch the back of hir head. Once again my dwarfish arms are unequal to the task, but I did my best. Then you place your head on the floor on the side that you're going UNDERarm with, and roll. Take that hand that was (theoretically, for people with normal arms) on the back of hir head and place it palm on the mat under hir head. Almost no additional tightening is needed for the collar choke- you can almost do it without that second hand at all. Just in case my inadequate second arm was allowing escape opportunity, after the roll I pulled my body in so that it curled around Hudge's head.

Short timed spars with Hudge and then with Sasha. I did okay. Almost got the bow-and-arrow on Hudge, but he squirted out before I could secure a good grip on the pants. I noticed that Sasha was puffing like a locomotive- I opened my mouth to advise him to watch his breathing, then I shut it again. I do try to be careful about throwing unsolicited advice around... and white belt men are sometimes particularly unappreciative of a woman classmate's advice while they are lying helplessly underneath her side control. I didn't actually get a tap on him even though I tried a lot of chokes. What I did do is stay on top most of the time, and- even better- I managed to get BACK on top more than once after getting goonswept. He was using some strength on me- I don't think he was deliberately being a dick, just feeling desperate- but I stayed calm and worked methodically. Eventually he gasped, "Omigod, you're dominating me! I'm gassing so bad!" At which point I told him that he needed to try to breathe slower and more deeply.

I think it's safe now to say that I've had a LevelUp in my BJJ (and maybe in my Kung Fu as well- at least the sparring aspect- although I need a little more time and experimentation to be sure of that). I'm always anxious about acknowledging these, because I'm afraid it's asking for a karmic beatdown. But since a week or two BEFORE the tournament, I've just felt like I have been more effective in my rolling. Less fruitless thrashing, more calm. Being able to practice some sweeps on Leilani has helped a lot. Having some success at escaping bottom half guard in live rolls is HUGE for me. It seems like I've been doing a little better lately holding my own against some people who normally tool me, and maybe inching a bit ahead of some people whom I've been neck-in-neck with, and even appearing competant against white belts. I'm starting to feel that I can deal with white belts up to medium size- not necessarily tap them, but at least usually avoid GETTING tapped, and avoid getting injured by the spazziness, and stay calm and keep trying to work stuff.



(pic- Relax_On_The_Mat, silver medalist)