Eu Escapei do Monte

Ola!

I was only able to train on Saturday this week and boy was it a good one.  We started with closing the distance between you and an attacker and then going for a takedown.  I had a little trouble with that because I’m used to keeping my left foot forward (I’m right handed), but our Instructor wanted us to keep our right foot forward.  I kept having to reset myself and I let the change throw me off.

Then, we moved to escaping the mount; one basic version and one slightly advanced.  The basic version was the bump and roll.  As an attacker goes for a choke you grab their wrist, grab the elbow, raise your hips, as their weight ships up above your head you roll them over.  The 2nd version involves the attacker blocking the bump and roll by sticking his leg out.  That allows you to go for an elbow escape.

The techniques are great and mount escapes are something that I enjoy reviewing regardless how many times we do it.  That portion of the class lasted about 40 minutes.  That amount of time repeating the techniques over and over is just great.

Then, we did mount escape drills.  Everyone lines up.  Three guys laid down (I was one of them) and the guys coming off the wall would get into mount and try to submit you.  If you got to half guard or escape either by a bump and roll or an elbow escape it was over and if you escaped the mount you stayed in and kept escaping.

I did really well in this portion of the class.  My first opponent his this new guy named Navid who came from another school as a BB.  He’s very flexible and goes for a lot of unorthodox moves.  He’s very big on trying for a triangle from the mount.  I just defended as best I could and waited.

I’ve been going through some introspection lately about how I have to get out of the habits of forcing an escape or panicking.  I think I’m really listened to myself because that’s exactly what I did.  I waited and was able to roll Navid.  Then, with each subsequent opponent I was able to get out from under their mount.  I even got out from PB Kevin’s mount and I always have trouble with him.  I was in the zone or something.

Then, we did the open mat and the same thing.  I started with Kevin first and just defended as much as possible until the time ran out.  He’s very aggressive and he fights like crazy to keep people in his guard.  Obviously, I have a hard time passing it and at one point he swept me from the mount and I just kept defending.  Then, I went with PB Micky and he tapped me with one of the tightest triangles I’ve ever experience.  Holy moly.  Then, I a WB named Aaron asked about how to roll properly so I was showing him a little bit.

I emphasized a couple of things like not using strength and that at his level he should focus on defense versus attacks.  I also showed him where to properly place his arms and legs when in different positions.  He seemed to get it and hopefully will remember that when he decides to roll.  We’ll see.

Chau e bom dia!

Novo Projecto

Ola,

Wow, it’s been a month since my last post.  Life can run away with you like that some times.  I do have a legitimate reason: I got a new job. Because my position involved a very important project I had to spend the last several weeks on-boarding a new team.  Jiu-Jitsu took a backseat unfortunately.  If I got out to train once a week it was a a lot.

The one positive coming out of the disruption of my training was that I finally got started making my own grappling dummy.  I threw away the one I bought from MMAWarehouse after I moved into a new house.  Looking back on it, I wasted my money on it.  I should have just made my own from the start.  It really wasn’t that hard.

First, I bought the necessary information:

• a pair of sweatpants.
• a hoodie sweatshirt.
• 4 pool noodles.
• sewing needles and heavy duty thread.
• Total price tag: $30.

Although I did use foam to stuff the “body” of the dummy, I didn’t pay for it.  A neighbor of mine was throwing away his sofa so I got the cushions off of it and used the foam in them.  I would highly recommend doing that instead of buying foam.

The first thing I did after I got my materials together was sew the “hands” and “feet” of the sweatsuit closed.  I used a technique I saw in this video (it starts at the 3:56 mark); it’s easy to do and when you’re done feels very strong.

I then stuffed the legs and inserted a pool noodle in each one.  Don’t cut them as you can use them to “insert” into the torso that you’ll make out of the sweatshirt; this adds structure to the entire creation.  Then, I stuffed the arms of the sweatshirt until I felt comfortable that they were filled enough that I could apply a technique without any issues.  I also stuffed the body a bit and the head.

I cinched the hood drawstrings as tightly as I could and then sewed the hole together.  Then, I took the remaining pool noodles and cute then to size such as they fit within the torso.  I used duct tape to bundle the noodles together (they’re flat laying, side by side with tape going around them to hold them together).  The noodle in the center of the bundle protrudes a bit so that it becomes the “neck” of the  head.

After inserting the bundle into the torso, I stuffed it a little more to give it form.  Then, and this is the tedious part, I sewed the torso to the legs.  I made sure to be really thorough with the stitches and doubled a lot of them.  When I was 3/4 of the way done, I stuffed that area of the body a little more and then finished the stitch.  Voila!  The grappling dummy was done.

I’ve used it 2 times so far and it works great.  No issues.  I can do any technique and I don’t have to deal with “dead weight” since it’s so light.  I really enjoyed this project and I’m considering talking to my BJJ friends to see if they would want one and I’d sell them.

Other than that the times I have been training have been very good.  I’ve been doing pretty well overall.  No real issues to speak of other than I’ve noticed that I really need to work on armbar escapes.  I’ve been getting tapped a bunch of times by them so I better start working on it.

That’s all for now.  I hope your training has been good and productive.

Chau e bom dia!

Bom “Rolling”

Ola!

I’ve had one hell of a week.  My entire scheduled was thrown into upheaval after my presence was requested at a regional office in Indiana.  There was a 3-day meeting happening out there and I had to be there from start to finish, which means I flew out there and was in a meeting from 10AM on Tuesday to 4PM on Thursday.  Unfortunately, I was traveling with one of our executives who is very old school in that he doesn’t like cell phones or laptops so I couldn’t be productive when the meetings got to the parts that weren’t relevant to me I couldn’t be productive.  That mean I spent Thursday night and all day Friday catching up on work.  The worst part was not being able to visit a BJJ academy while out there.

So I was only able to train yesterday, which I couldn’t wait for.  We started with the escape from a bear hug.  A guy comes up and grabs you under your arms.  You step back to put yourself on an angle to them, slide your one hand beneath his chin, brace it with the other hand and push.  Where the head goes the body goes.  It’s really effective and requires NO strength at all.

If the guy hides his face, you simply push on his nose away from you.  That frikkin’ hurts.  You’d have to be born with congenital analgesia in order to be able to deal with the force applied to your nose.  Then, we moved to applying a kimora from side mount and if that doesn’t work you transition to an armbar.  If the guy on bottom tries to escape as you’re transitioning to an armbar you can go back to apply the kimora.

I couldn’t necessarily work on the last one because I was working with a brand new WB named Fabian so things were getting a little too complicated so we skipped it.  No big deal.  It’s not like I won’t be able to work on that sometime in the future.

We then started the open mat and the reason for the title on this post.  I was in the zone something fierce.  I first paired up with WB Mark who is good, but uses a lot of strength, which is something I’m not particular good with.  However, I was able to control him without relying on strength and even tapped him twice.

After that I went twice with PB Kevin who usually owns me, but I was able to hold my own.  The first time I stayed in his guard, which is very difficult to pass; however, I defended all of his attacks and sweeps effectively.  The 2nd time was more of the same; however at one point I pulled him into side mount and let him mount me.  I defended really well and eventually he went for an inverted triangle and I flipped him off me and ended up in his guard.  He attempted a triangle and I stacked him up and escaped it into side mount.  He was able to get me back in his guard and I worked on defending other attacks from there.  The buzzer sounded and I was done.  Not bad for me.

Hope ya’ll had more productive time training that I did this week, but next week will be better for my schedule so I’m going to make it as productive as possible.

Chau e bom dia!

 

Triangulo

Ola

Due to work and other commitments I was only able to train this past Saturday and it doesn’t look good for any training this week.  Blarg.

I don’t like missing class when the reason has to do with personal commitments versus work reasons.  I stupidly let my schedule get away from me.  The only good thing is that it’s just one week.  I’ll be back to 2 classes next week.

So after my trip to Oklahoma City I asked my instructor to help me with triangle defense techniques.  I got tapped like crazy by triangles, which told me that I need a LOT of work on them.  I think in part I got too comfortable with them being applied on me and me relying on Hail Mary moves to escape them.  Sure, that might work in the short term, but in the long term that strategy won’t pay off.

So we started right away on working on those techniques.  We went over everything in painstaking detail and this was necessary; especially for me.  I learned that there were a bunch of things I was doing wrong.

1. I wasn’t reacting quick enough.  I was letting guys positioning themselves in such a way that with a little work they could close a triangle on me.
2. I wasn’t maintaining my posture.  Basically, I was down so close to my opponents chest that I gave them the leverage to apply an even tighter triangle.
3. I was using a guard pass technique as an escape from the triangle and that just doesn’t work.
4. I was getting into a stupid tug-the-sleeve cuff game with my opponents, which distracted me.

So we first worked on how to position yourself the minute your opponent is setting himself up for the triangle.  When you break your opponents guard you will feel 1 of 2 things.  Either they will try to stop you from going to side mount or they will try to go for the triangle.  If you feel them trying to re-lock their legs then you need to immediately sit back on your heels.  You trap their one hip against your hip by bringing your elbow back to your thigh.  You also get your head and shoulders back.

It makes that position very tight and uncomfortable for the guy on bottom.  Basically he has to apply pressure to his feet and ankles to maintain the hold and after a while that’s really painful.

Finally, you collect your opponent into you, pulling him even closer.  You gather up your opponent’s opposite collar with the hand not controlling the hip and you stack them up onto their neck.  Here is where it differs from regular guard passing.

Instead of the typical guard pass where you come around to the side and apply pressure that way, you move straight where your looking your opponent in the eyes and your heads are aligned.  Make sure to keep your head up, which forces you to keep your hips down.  The downward pressure of your hips is what will make your opponent extremely uncomfortable and break his guard so that you can now proceed to side mount.  This of course accomplishes your goal of avoiding the triangle.

It sounds complicated and it really is.  There is a lot to remember.  Keep your head up.  Keep your hips down.  Make sure to control your opponent’s hip.  And so on and so forth.  We drilled that for an entire hour and 10 minutes.  Ouch.

An hour after the class I was already sore and it didn’t get better throughout the night.  By the next morning I was broken.  I couldn’t move and had to drop 2 Aleves before I was comfortable.  A lot of pain, but definitely worth it and now I will make triangle defense my priority for the next few months.

Hope you had a great weekend of training.

Chau e bom dia!

Viagem a Oklahoma

Ola!

I work for a national company and manage a national brand.  There comes a time in the year that I like to call “visit our business regions to get a pulse/temperature of the business at the local level.  At first I found the trips a bit boring and daunting because more often than not they can be unproductive.  My company in particular is big on making sure our regional offices get a lot of love so these visitations can be like bending the knee to a king and kissing the ring.

However, I had an epiphany after my trip to Denmark and meeting the BJJ Globetrotter, Christian Graugart.  I realized that I’m visiting some major metropolitan areas and with the proliferation of BJJ in the U.S. I could find an academy and train.  I could be the American trotter!  LOL!  So an opportunity presented itself this week where I had to travel to Oklahoma City.  Guess who is in Oklahoma City?  The world champion phenom Rafael Lovato, Jr!!!!

Yep, the same guy who tapped Kayron Gracie with a Kimora.  The same guy who defeated Romulo Barral and Pablo Popovitch.  I contacted Rafael’s academy via a phone call to see if a visit was possible.  I immediately got a phone call from Tina Lovato, Rafael’s wife.  I got really excited just talking to her because that put me 1 degree away from Rafael in a sense.  Tina gave me the information I needed, but had to call me back to check something.

Rafael’s Wednesday class starts at 7PM and goes to 9PM.  My flight landed at 7Pm and the school was about 15 minutes away from the academy.  As a visitor the last thing I want to be is disruptive, which I explained to Tina so she double checked if it was OK for me to get in half-way through the class or just wait until 8PM when the open mat started.  She got back to me quickly and Rafael was OK with me cutting in and going from there.

I actually walked out of my office with this HUGE smile on my face and started telling all the other brand managers about my trip.  None of them know anything about martial arts let alone Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so they feigned interest and excitement for me.  I didn’t really care, my trip, which involved a set of visits to stores at 5AM just got a thousand times better.

So I arrived on time, got my car and was at the academy.  The academy is located in a strip mall with a Dollar Tree, a laundry mat and a few odds and ends stores.  As I was pulling my gi out of my trip bag and putting my stuff together I got really excited.  I walked into the lobby and met Tina who greeted me most warmly.

More BJJ academies need to have a lobby like Rafael’s.  It was very professional with a couch along one wall on your left as you walk in and to your right a big counter where you can buy equipment like gloves and shirts.  There was also a TV above the counter showing various videos of Rafael and his students training.  There was a room down past the counter, but I don’t know what it was for; however to the left past the couch is Tina’s office.

I paid Tina the mat fee of $30 -which is nothing, I actually charged it to my company as part of my “trip expenses, :), my company will never know.  Hee hee.  Then, she took me through the school, the main mat area where Rafael’s students where sitting against the wall listening intently while Rafael demonstrated a half-guard passing technique.  There he was, 15 feet away from me.  Wow.

The mats were black and ran from the floor to the wall and there was a convenient “walking” area where you can keep your shoes on and get to the changing area.  There were a few kick bags set close to the “walking” area and there was another room to the right that had a bunch of guys training in Muay Thai.  I changed as quickly as I could and went back over to where Tina was standing so she could introduce me to Rafael before I joined the class.

He was done showing the technique and the guys paired up.  Tina called Rafael over and I shook his hand.  Wow.  He asked me where I was from and was genuinely excited that I had come out there to train just for the night before I attended to business the next day.  He paired me up with a BB named Ed and a BrnB named Gabe.  They were really nice and were interested in a guy who comes down to Oklahoma to train just for the night.  They took me through the technique just to make sure I had it.  We went a bunch of times back and forth while Rafael walked around and checked on his students.  He stopped by and checked on me too.

Class was called and we lined up, bowed and shook hands with everyone.  Rafael called for the open mat to start, set the timer for 5 minutes and we paired up and went for it.  I have to apologize for not remembering names.  I rolled with a bunch of guys so I can’t remember all of their names except for a few (and that’s only because their names were unique).

I first rolled with a PB who tapped me a couple of times with triangles and a mount choke.  It was really hard to defend against his triangle, which has me thinking about my own defense, which I want to work on now.  Then, I paired up with a young BB and he didn’t get me, but we went back and forth.  I almost got him with a key lock from side mount, but the timer rang so we shook hands and I moved on.

Then, I paired up with another PB and he destroyed me with triangles.  It turned out he was an instructor under Rafael, which explained why his technique was flawless.  Then, another PB came along and we went back in forth for about 3 minutes before he unleashed on me and tapped me more times than I can count.  Then, I rolled with another BB who tapped me from mount with a few tricky mount chokes.

I sat out to catch my breath and the room began to thin out a bit.  Another BB came up and wanted to roll so I went over and I played in his guard for a while before he swept me and with about 30 seconds left he tapped me with an arm triangle.  It was great.  I sat out and was contemplating calling it a night (I had to get up at 4 the next morning and it was getting close to 9:30PM, I had traveled most of the die and my body was calling for sleep) when I heard my name from across the room and it was Rafael calling me to roll with him.

Oh boy…this was so exciting.  Being invited to roll with a BlkB is so awesome; being asked to roll by Rafael Lovato, Jr. is nothing short of an honor.  We clapped hands, bumped fists and the next thing I was in his guard.  I tried working a pass but Rafael was neutralizing me at every attempt.  I’m not sure what actual techniques he used because I’m not that familiar with the techniques outside of the 2 basic guard passes, but they were definitely effective.

I couldn’t get any sort of advantage or chance to pass.  Eventually he swept me and I ended up on bottom in side mount.  He was playing with me and I found some space and attempted to get him into my guard but he moved around in such a way that he stood up and walked around me.  He did that a bunch of times as we rolled.  Eventually he got to mount and he got me with a collar choke.  We reset and it was more of the same.  Me trying something, failing and him handling me like I was a child.  It. Was. Awesome.

There’s a reason why Rafael Lovato, Jr. is a world champion.  He moved so fluidly it was like he was Hydroman (a Spiderman villain whose body is made up of water and he can shift from solid to liquid at will, he’s basically the opposite of Sandman).  He just walked around any sweep attempts and avoided any attacks like I was a fly.  The most amazing part is how easily he did anything.

I roll with my eyes closed because it relaxes me and it forces me to rely on the person’s movements and weight.  Rolling with Rafael with eyes closed is the equivalent to being blind for the first time.  I couldn’t sense any of his movements to the point that it felt like I was rolling with a shadow.

The timer rang and we shook hands.  I told him it was an honor and thanked him for having me at his school.  I went back, changed and said good-bye to everyone who was still there.  Hopefully, it won’t be the last time I visit and I look forward to the next one.

Hopefully, you will get a chance to do the same thing.

Chau e bom dia!

Tenho Dores

Ola!

What a brutal week of Jiu-Jitsu.  My goodness what a week of rough training.  I guess our Instructor felt the need to beat us up this week.  We were put through the ringer on Tuesday and Saturday.

Tuesday we worked on closing the distance to a takedown to side mount to a key lock.  Not the most brutal of techniques and transitions, but we literally did that for an hour and fifteen minutes straight.  First closing the distance; then, going for the takedown, then getting into side mount and then the key lock.  Each piece got 15 minutes.

Then, we worked on the entire movement for 20 minutes, over and over again.  It was definitely a challenge on the gas tank.  By the end I was out of gas.  The cool part was that I got to work with a new white belt who is Brazilian.  Really nice guy and we got to speak in Portuguese the entire time, which I always love.

Then, on Saturday we worked on nothing but going from being headlocked to taking the guy down, breaking the headlock and going into an armbar.  We did that literally for 50 minutes straight.  By the end my neck was so sore I could hardly turn my head.  Then, we worked on mount chokes and defenses for another 20 minutes.

Then, we were lined up, 4 of us got onto the floor and the rest got into mount.  The guy on bottom has to escape while the guy on top goes for a submission.  If you escape the attacker’s mount you stay in and keep escaping.  We did that for another 30 minutes.  I went for a good 20 minutes and did really well.

PB Todd gave me everything he had and I was able to block his attacks and eventually escaped his mount.  Twice.  It felt really good to be doing things correctly.  It felt really good to escape attacks by WBs who were out to tap you with every fiber of their being.

Class was ended and then we started the open mat.  I rolled with PB Steve and he only got me once in 6 minutes, which is a miracle for me.  Usually he’ll tap me a bunch of times, but I guess I was in the zone.  Then, I went with the new WB Tiago and he tried everything he could (and a lot of athleticism) and I just defended and then reversed him from side mount and he couldn’t get out.  It was great.  I didn’t tap him, but after I got on top I controlled him easily.

Finally, went with PB Micky and we did a lot of back and forth.  A lot.  It’s always good to do that stuff because it requires that you think 2 steps ahead.  That’s what BJJ is all about.

Although I felt good that night when I woke up the next day I could barely move.  The soreness in my neck and upper back was intense.  I had to do some loosening exercises and movements to get some feeling of comfort.  I’m still not 100%.  I can’t train on Tuesday, but will hit the mats on Thursday.

How did your training this week?  How do you cope with brutal training sessions?  Any rituals?

Chau e bom dia!

Promocao

Ola!

So got back to training this week after letting my back rest.  It definitely was helpful.  Beside some soreness I feel good.

Thursday’s class was great.  We worked on closing the distance from a standing opponent.  First, we started with closing the distance when the attacker throws a haymaker.  You bring your outstretched hand to the side of your head and bring your close hand closer to your face  move in and in a sense block the shot with your armpit, which allows you to grab the arm and go for a takedown.

Then, we worked on variations from that, which was excellent.  Eventually, BrnB Vince and our Instructor put on practice MMA gloves and we had to work on those variations.  It was great.  I really enjoy stuff like that because, in my opinion, 90% of BJJ is timing.  Any time you can work on your timing your BJJ technique will grow exponentially.

I actually did really well right off the bat when usually I have to go in and out a few times before I get my timing right.  Class was ended and I rolled with a few guys.  I started off rolling with BB Ernst.  He’s new to our gym and a really nice guy.  We’re the same height, but I think I outweigh him.  He trained in various schools over the last several years because he was in the military.  We went back for a while and I spent a lot of time under his mount.  He had a hold on my gi right at the back of my head and I couldn’t get him off.  I was patient though and eventually I felt his weight shift and I was able to bump and roll him.

Then, I partnered with someone else and I can’t remember who it was.  I think it was PB Micky and he tapped me with a triangle.  I wish I was sure it was him, but the triangle was in rock solid.  I don’t remember what happened next.

Today we worked on something similar in the “stand up” portion of the class where we closed the distance as an attacker moves forward  with some jabs.  You kick as his leg and then move in to grab him at the waste.  Use your weight to bring him down and move to mount. It’s a great move and beautiful to watch when someone masters the technique.  Then, we moved onto mount escapes.  A bit disjointed, but I always enjoy going over that technique.

Now, I have some news.  At the end of class our Instructor asked us to line up.  I thought we were going to work on some drills, but then he started calling people forward and put stripes on their belt.  Including me!!!  Yeah!  It’s been 4 years since I got my BB and it’s been 2 years since I got my 1st stripe (I kept track by writing the dates I get my stripe on the stripe itself.  I got the idea from PB Steve so I started doing it too).  It was great getting it.  I was really happy for the other guys who were promoted too.  They put in a lot of work and deserved it.

Then, we started the open mat and had a really good time.  I went back and forth with PB Micky, but he didn’t get me.  Then, I went with BB Yosef and we just canceled each other out for the most part.  Then, I rolled with PB Steve and he tapped me probably a million times.  He got me in a bunch of armbars, which tells me I need to work on them.

Then, I went with PB Joe and despite his VERY AGGRESSIVE attempts at submissions I was able to fend him off.  I was in mount for a while and side mount for what felt like forever, but I survived.

Then, I rolled again with PB Steve and did a little better, but not by much.  That was it.  That was my Saturday.  It was great to be promoted, but I still have a lot of work to do.

Chau e bom dia!

Descansando

Ola!

I’ve been training pretty regularly for a while and at the same time hitting my head against a wall.  I’ve gotten into this rut where my performance has been really bad.  My defense is all wrong and I have no attacks whatsoever.

The technique parts of my classes have been OK.  We’ve been working on some pretty basic stuff like defending against a guillotine or escaping the mount.  We’ve had a rash of new WBs join the school so we’ve been keeping things pretty simple.  Nothing wrong with that; it’s always good to review.  But there really hasn’t been any training of note lately that I can speak of, sometimes jiu-jitsu is just that: basic.

Sparring on the other hand has been terrible.  I’m getting my butt handed to me 30 ways from Sunday.  Ouch.  One point we were doing round robins and I got tapped 8 times in a row by 2 different PBs.  After the 8th time I stepped off the mat.  I decided that if nothing was working I was only hurting myself by continuing to try.  I come from a music background and when learning to write music you hear about stepping away when it’s not working.  You can’t force art so it’s better to stop and either work on something else or walk away completely.  So that’s what I did.

In my last training session on the 15th I was going really hard with PB Joe and afterwards my back felt really sore.  Since I herniated my disc I am very sensitive to how my back feels while I’m training and when I’m done.  I felt like I tweaked it a bit and that maybe I should take some time off.

So this week I didn’t train at all.  As I’ve said before it’s stupid to train hurt and either injure yourself worse or not heal correctly and pay for it later in life.  The only training I did was do some of the PT exercises I did after I herniated my disc and I think it did the trick.  My back feels really good and I will get back on the mat on Tuesday.

I hope to train more the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which will be great.  I’ll see how that goes.

Hope you all had a great training week.

Ola!

Happy belated Thanksgiving.  Hope you had a good one.  My wife and I hosted for the first time ever and had 20 people at our house.  It was a process.  We’re still in recovery.

I’ve mentioned in previous posts about the up and down waves of BJJ and how they come out of no where and you have to fight through them.  I think I’ve also called those ups and downs peaks and valleys.  I’ve ridden the tops of past peaks with great exhilaration and dealt with the valleys as best I could.

Well, I just dived head first into the deepest valley I’ve faced so far and I still don’t think I’ve hit the bottom.  I basically can’t do BJJ correctly at all during my rolling sessions.  None of my techniques work.  I can’t pass a guard to save my life and forget about being under mount.

I can’t escape nor effectively defend against an attack.  I’m either too late or do it wrong and I’m done.  It’s really frustrating.  I’m not frustrated with being tapped.  It’s about me not doing things correctly that I know how to do.  To me there is just no excuse for that.

I’m in the process of breaking things down in my mind to figure out what I’m doing wrong.  It’s not easy.  Memory can be a difficult thing to depend on as you can suffer from biases and perception issue.  Not to mention that there is only so much detail you can remember.

I hope I can find at least one issue that I can focus on and fix out of the millions of issues I’m currently having.  Hopefully, you have had a better time training than me.

Chau e bom dia!

Alto e Baixo Part 2

Ola!

Oh boy.  What a week.  So last week I had a downswing and then this week I had the same thing happen.  Except that the “baixo” the “low’ if you will, was REALLY bad.

Tuesday’s class was horrible.  I couldn’t do anything correctly; even techniques that I’ve been doing for years.  We worked on an applying an armlock from standing should someone grab the collar of your jacket and I couldn’t do it right.  At all.  Then, we moved to the ground and we worked on applying a kimora from the guard.

My hips just wouldn’t move and I couldn’t get the arm I was attacking tight enough to my body to apply the kimora correctly.  It was a mess.  A total system collapse or in street parlance: an epic fail.  Blarg.  For some reason I was feeling like a glutton for punishment and I attempted to roll and it was even worse.  I might as well have been a grappling dummy.  Maybe I should have grabbed the one in the next room and gave it to my partner.  I think he would have had a more productive roll with the dummy than with me.

Then, as like last week, I did OK on Thursday.  I seemed to have more control of my actions and did OK.  Nothing great or to write home about.

Chau e bom dia!