Friday evening

In martial arts, everything begins with the body. First, one gets acquainted with it, and slowly becomes intimate with it. The body is transformed into the best ally of the spirit. Then spirit and body become one. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Friday evening no-gi at Cindy's.

I tend to be pretty tired if I've gone to Friday lunchtime at Gracie's, and it's hard to drag my carcass in for round two. Today I was self-disciplined. The warmups were a trial, though. Alecia even commented on how spacey I looked.

Cindy was injured, so she had George teach us a takedown. I like this one. You start with a behind-the-neck grip and an elbow grip. Pull opponent down. When opponent reacts by posturing up, snake the neck-grip hand around until the crook of your elbow is behind hir neck. At the same time, yank down on hir other arm. Ideally you want to be driving down toward the floor with that hand that went around the neck- like spiking a football. It was a little tricky for me, since I have to reach *UP* to get my arm around most people's necks. The yank on the opposite arm is critical for me. As is the turning of the opponent to destroy hir balance. You are corkscrewing the opponent down toward the floor and landing on top in scarf. I was drilling with Rodrigo (not Rodrigo from Gracie's, this is a different Rodrigo), and I was relieved that he was gentle with his landings. Takedowns ending in scarf- especially with someone considerably heavier than I- could be very very very bad news for my tender ribs.

We followed this up by having the bottom person do the scarf reversal that we drilled earlier this week, and then escape from the headlock.

Then Cindy left, leaving Alecia in charge. We went straight to rolling. I had been waffling about rolling at all tonight, after my travesty on Wednesday. Maybe a little break is in order, I was thinking. But I couldn't really justify driving all the way into the city on a weeknight to drill one technique and then leave... so, what the hell.

Krystal. I did okay positionally, but couldn't finish a sub. Came close a few times. If we'd been in gi, I could have finished a couple of armbars- but without the aid of being able to grab my own lapel to pin the hand, I wasn't as effective. I tried to grab my own shoulder instead, which sorta worked, but not nearly as well. I was not able to pry her locked hands apart that way.

Somebody had brought in a new guy, medium-sized. Alecia left him on the bench for the first round and put him with George for the second round. She and I were both on the bench for the second round, and she asked me if I thought it would be safe to put the new guy with Rodrigo. Since it was a BRAND new guy, and we didn't know whether he was a Spazzy Asshole (tm), and there was no teacher present, I said that if it were me, I'd just leave him with George- who is experienced enough and skilled enough to not get hurt nor hurt the new guy. I went to the bathroom, and when I got back, Alecia and George were discussing the matter and they put him with *ME*. Uhhhh... we're not sure we should put him with Rodrigo, so we're going to put him with the 133lb retarded old bag with the popped rib???!? Since George had just finished rolling with him, presumably this meant that he was vouching that the guy was okay. At least I hoped so. I was like, "well, uhhh, okay, as long as he goes light." I looked him in the eye and said solemnly, "Go light on me." For whatever that was worth, since the guy seemed to have a dicey grasp on English and I might have just as well told him to pass the horseradish. Oh well.... if he was nuts, I was going to tap (and maybe scream) immediately and extricate myself.

He was gentle with me; in fact, to my surprise, I tapped him four times. Twice with RNC's, once with an armbar, and once with a keylock. I would have quit subbing him after two taps- like I said yesterday, I don't think it's cool to pwn newbies- but I wasn't going 100% either, just setting things up methodically, and I honestly wasn't expecting to get the tap. Afterward, I thanked him for not crushing me (hope he understood me).

So then Alecia went with him, and then I felt bad. I knew Alecia would go rough and have no problem with the pwn'ing, and I don't really think it's polite to take a new guy on his very first night and have him owned by two small girls one right after the other... especially when he's chivalrous enough to not use his superior weight and strength against us. If I'd known Alecia was gonna go with him next, I would have dialed my own game down even more and let him sit on top for a while. I hope his self-esteem is healthy enough that he'll want to come back after that! Sigh.

Then me and Alecia. I reminded her to be careful of my rib, and she was like, "Are you sure you want to roll with me at all?" Sure, as long as you don't crush a ton of weight on my rib cage in side control or scarf. We ended up spending the majority of the roll with her in inverted guard and me squooshing her on top. It was not a fruitful position for me.... I couldn't get any subs from where I was, and wasn't having any luck trying to transition to a better position... but hey, look Ma, not in bottom half guard! I felt like as soon as I did something dramatic, she was going to sub me, so I kind of stalled there. She seemed (again) unhappy and frustrated with me when time ran out. Sorry, I know, I'm not very happy either.... but at this point I am beginning to transition from "Just Trying To Survive Against You" into "Just Trying To Spend a Little Time In a Decent Controlling Position Against You". Once I feel halfway secure on *that* level, maybe I can venture into being a little more of an interesting/useful partner for you. I'm working on it. Chica did not tap me out, and I didn't spend the entire match kissing the mat- and I'm personally just really happy with that much at this stage of the journey.

I didn't get put with Leah tonight. Alecia is scarier than Leah, though. I wonder if part of the reason Leah is tromping me so bad is just that I haven't worked with her in a long time, and I don't know her game, or what parts of my game are effective against her. Maybe I will do better after I get used to working with her again.