Sunday

It is time for an athletic philosophy; a philosophy forged through muscles and heart, a philosophy born out of the union of body and mind, of pragmatism and utopia, of sweet sensitivity and a warrior's determination. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



An hour of competition training at Gracie Seattle. The TROPHIES were there- the overall team trophy and the team gi trophy. They're huge, green and gold and glittery. Pretty cool.

Sprawls during warmups again. They are more challenging if you curve your back so that your belly button is on the floor, and look up at the ceiling. Oof. I seemed to do a little better with them today even so. Wonder if I'm getting used to them.

Breaking the turtle, getting hooks in. Lots of this before we even progressed to rolling the person over. Then a bow-and-arrow choke. The quickest way to do this is to grasp the turtle "sash style" with one of your arms OVER theirs and one of your arms UNDER theirs- then you don't have to take time to switch your hands before getting the collar grip for the choke. I was working with Angela. I fought her a little harder than usual because I know she's getting ready for Pan Ams. She seems a little nervous about it, so I gave her lots of verbal encouragement. There aren't a lot of women in her bracket, but there's a (comparative) vast host in the absolute, which she is also doing.

She's lost so much weight, which is great- but I hope she can adjust her game for it. I know that when I lost just 10lb, I noticed. Certain things didn't work the same as before, and adjustments had to be made. She's lost a *LOT* of weight, and a lot quicker, and I don't know how long it's been since she's done jiu jitsu with THIS very different body.

She kept ending every drill rep with an extra little armbar or something... and calling out her points.

On to Kung Fu. When I got there, I found that we had no teacher. SK stayed home with a migraine, CN was unavailable, and DD was nursing LD (who apparently is not feeling any better than she was feeling last time I saw her- ie, roadkill). So JM taught. To my surprise, I handled this okay. It did not send me into a tailspin of bitter, defensive insecurity. I'm not sure if that's because I'm maturing and evolving (which would be good!) or sliding into apathy (which would be bad!). She did a good job, of course. I thanked her nicely at the end.

We did three or four reps each of Five Points Of the Star, Tiger Versus Crane, and Black Crane One. Twice as many reps of the fragment of White Crane Walking the Path (which I was gratified to see that I remembered better than anyone). Then we repped all of the Black Crane drills.

Lastly, apps of the final two Black Crane drills (the long, complicated ones) with partners. I worked number 4 with JM and then with JoE. With JM, I came up with a variation that involved hanging onto the opponent's arm instead of letting it go once you've got hir on the ground and you're kicking hir. It not only kept hir from trying to roll away, it also opened up that whole side rib area for the kicking. JM improved on my variation by suggesting that we grip at the bicep instead of the wrist as I had been doing- it allowed better control as well as making both the transitions (before and after) quicker.

JM complained (again) that my kicks- while not too hard- were always landing in the exact same spot!

When I worked the same drill with JoE, he noted that I was falling in a very different manner as well as a very different position than Nemesis (his previous partner) had. He had to adjust his last set of techniques to account for the position changes. Then he commented that unlike Nemesis, I always fell curled up with my knees between us. I got a good laugh out of that. I wonder why! When he stepped too close, I grabbed an X guard. I still haven't worked with this much, so I'm clumsy. I was also stymied for a moment when I reached for his gi sleeve and he wasn't wearing one. But I moved to Plan B and overhooked his bicep instead, and managed to pull him down and roll him underneath me to bottom side control. He groaned, "I need to work grappling some more!" I heard JM and Nemesis on the other side of the mat, commenting that things had taken a little longer this week to degenerate into jiu jitsu.

Drill 5 had us putting one person in the middle at a time, as there are at least three attackers.

There was a lot of getting back up off the ground after being knocked down for all of these reps- I made sure to always get up with the tactical stand (practicing both sides).

We did a 25 min sitting meditation instead of the usual 15 min. My legs feel asleep and it was hard to get up again. I was also feeling drowsier afterward.



JB has sent me the footage of my two gi fights from the tournament. I haven't decided if I'm going to post them or not. The first one is even shorter than I remember. Not my best work, for sure. I did see how the little weasel finally got me down, though- she did a sacrifice throw! No wonder.

I was surprised to see that I actually got takedown points in the second match. I think there were 3 total takedowns in that one- we kept getting back up. At one point I did the disengage-and-stand-up thing, and I see now by the tape that I had been an idiot to not jump back on her right away before *SHE* could get up as well (or jump back on her WHILE she was getting up).

Another problem I can see already is that I played Rihanna's takedown game with her. I am a little exasperated with myself to see that I am still looking at opponents, seeing them do X, and roaring defiantly, "I am going to meet you X for X!!!" Even if I know I don't do X well. I do that with strong guys- trying to go muscle to muscle with them. In this case, Rihanna was attempting wrestling takedowns- and obviously skilled at them- so instead of playing wrestling takedowns with her, I should have instead tried some takedowns that I'm better at.

I think that at the very beginning of a fight (especially with someone you've never fought before), there's an attempt to scare/intimidate the opponent- to make a powerful first impression. I think my drive to do that reinforces my impulse to prove that my X is stronger than hir X.

I spent a surprising amount of time on top in the second match. She was in bottom half guard (how's that for irony). If I hadn't lost sight of that "watch out for the triangle setup" scrolling ticker at the bottom of my mental screen, I might have been able to beat that girl. Now that I know I actually have the ability to get the H out of bottom half guard, I can hopefully free up enough brain cells to stay focussed on keeping out of the triangle next time.

Need to look at these some more. Leilani claims to have my no-gi match on her phone- but she is having technical difficulties, and as of yet, she has not succeeded in transferring it to computer. So I don't know when I'm going to see that one, or if I ever will. I'd like to see that one.



I spent most of yesterday repotting houseplants. I stole/rescued a neglected and dying aloe from a back room at work about 15 years ago. Someone's obviously put Viagra in my watering can. I now have dozens and dozens and dozens of pots of healthy, beautiful, FECUND aloe (and if I was less lazy and repotted more often, there'd be ten times that much). It's not even funny any more. I have to give some of these plants away. I'm going to be like that obnoxious neighbor who keeps giving everybody zuchini from her garden whether they want it or not... only with me it's aloe.

(pic- Carlos (he's the big one- heh heh) and some of the kids at the tournament)