Like water
Cross-chokes today in class. Good drilling. One roll.
I typed up some notes on class tonight, but they’re veering toward too much self-analysis, which leads to perfectionism, and that way lies madness. Madness, I say! Positive self-talk + sleep = a better idea.
Relax and breathe. Be like water.
“I” is for …
This post is brought to you by the letter i, which mostly stands for insomnia. I’ve had trouble sleeping my whole life but this last week was particularly sucky, to the point where I was walking into walls and couldn’t remember driving to or from work (or work, for that matter). Plus I had a little bout with impetigo, but it’s cleared up now and I shouldn’t be infectious.
I’m still super tired, but I’m definitely going to be at class this week. Another girl recently signed a contract with the school. She has about the same length of experience and sounds like she’ll be a good training partner. I’ll probably get to meet her on Monday. So that’s pretty sweet.
Side control escapes
My first class was yesterday. I decided to come to the 6:30 gi techniques class and see how my energy level felt after that. I showed up early, stretched a bit, introduced myself to a few guys, and then promptly forgot most of their names. There was a young kid also ready to begin his first class, so I went over to say hi. He had enviable dreads and a memorable first name, which I promptly forgot how to pronounce. (Names: my kryptonite.)
The warm-up was pretty basic, though there was some business about jogging and foot-switching at the beginning that I didn’t get until about halfway through. Shrimped down the mat several times, twice between a standing partner’s legs. It seemed to me that being short meant I needed to do more reps and would possibly hold up the line. I was focusing so hard on going quickly that my form was suffering and had to be corrected. (Am I wrong about the reps issue? My partner went next and was the last one on the mat. The correction didn’t take that much time.)
After warm-up we went directly into drilling. In this class we focused on side control escapes. Jason would show an escape a few times, then we’d pair off and drill for a timed round, switching tori/uke duties and switching to new partners every so often. I lost count of how many times we did each technique. It was tiring but so great to be able to do all that work. At the end of class, when we paired off one final time to do a few last reps of every technique, I was surprised to learn we’d only done three side control escapes. It felt more like five or six.
Okay, so here’s the thing. In every school I’ve attended, when the students pair off to drill, inevitably there’s some dead time—someone always wants to get a “quick” drink, adjust the pads for the umpteenth time, or stand around and chat rather than work. It was really great to be in an environment where everyone was working hard and where the only dead time was maybe a ten-second search for a new partner.
I loved the class, in case you couldn’t tell. 
Drilling like that is exactly what I need. Sadly I was pretty done in by that point, so I didn’t stay for the gi class after. I should probably take up running or something to build a good aerobic foundation … plus interval training.
Still haven’t decided how many times I’ll be able to make it to class a week. I’m leaning toward one or two at the moment. Gas money is an issue; not imposing on my roommates to watch my puppy all evening several nights a week is another. Morning classes in April will solve both issues.
Techniques below the cut.
(more…)
Blogging and BJJ
When Jonathan talked to me last Monday, he mentioned that Jason had already found my blog. It doesn’t sound like Jason will a problem with me blogging, but … well …
Jonathan discovered my blog a few months after I’d started at GCKC and apparently read the entire thing. He thought it was cool that I wrote about what I was learning, but I asked him not to tell other students about the blog. Partly because it’s kind of dorky, partly because it’s like my safe space to process. As far as I know, no one else from either school has run across it yet, and that’s definitely my preference.
I’m aware that I am in fact writing publicly on the internet; it’s why I’m careful about how I talk about other students and about things that frustrate me. I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing. But I’ve gotten used to having sort of a double “conversation”—one with the BJJ blogosphere, one with my school—if that makes sense.
I’m hoping that the new school at large won’t run across my blog, but it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world if that does happen…
Those of you who blog, do your instructors and fellow students know that you blog? Do they care/read what you write?
Recap
Random Award Is Random
I hardly ever check my blog’s email, but Guide to Online School recently listed The Clumsy Ninja among its top martial arts blogs—I squeaked in at #45, the very last one. Heh. Odd that they randomly threw me in with all the traditional and philosophical MA blogs, but whatevs.
Tuesday’s class
The first class at KCBJJ’s new location was on Tuesday at 7:30. Jonathan called me beforehand to make sure I was coming and to give me a little pep talk about joining the school. I still felt rotten but wasn’t going to miss the first class, even if I couldn’t work out.
I arrived before class started and got a parking spot in front of the small strip mall. The school’s not in a super-nice area of town … definitely want to be alert when walking to my car after class (and/or want to arrive way early for every class so as to get a spot in front).
Jonathan greeted me and asked me to take his camera for the duration of the class. I accepted it and settled on a bench to look around.
The facility is pretty bare-bones. The huge window is a nice feature; it provides passers-by with a great view of the mats, although the glass quickly steamed up. There’s some seating and good mat space, more than we had at GCKC. Good thing, too; about thirty guys showed up and they used all of that space. A few were former GCKC students—Wes, Steven, Sheldon, and of course Jonathan, plus Jonathan’s friend Braden.
Jason walked by, said hi to me (and remembered my name, which was nice), and then started class. He gave a little speech and started the warm-up, which included jogging, shrimping, mat swimming, etc. Next, everyone paired up and started doing an extended drill sequence. It involved a bunch of position drills—like, the active driller would drop into scarf hold, then sort of breakdance around and hit the position on his uke’s other side—as well as what looked like a cartwheel pass and standards like armbars. Looked like a great way to drill positioning, footwork, and technique.
No techniques tonight, just positional sparring, since the guys are training for tournaments (I know NAGA’s in St. Louis this month, and we’ve got the next KC Submission Challenge in April).
The guys rolled hard and well—the school has two black belts as well as a handful of purples and blues, and a bunch of the whites seemed pretty experienced as well. The black belts floated and occasionally rolled. I watched and looking for good photo ops.
Near the end of class, everyone lined up. Jason singled out five whites, said a few words, and promoted them all to blue belt. Steven and Wes were among them; I made sure to get some shots. Jason threw the new blues and then sent them back out to roll. I’m really happy for Wes and Steven—they definitely deserved their promotion.
Now that I’m feeling better, I hope to actually participate in a class soon, though I’m still more than a little nervous. Had a great plan to start doing some cardio/interval workouts a few weeks ago—I was doing well with that until my roommate generously shared her cold with me. Pretty sure I’m going to gas during the warm-up and die during rolling. Oh well … they say nothing gets you in shape for jiujitsu like jiujitsu.
Anyway, Jason Facebooked me to see if I was coming in soon, so I’m going to class on Monday. I will of course write about it, assuming I’m not dead.
