2017 (39)
2018 (68)
2019 (88)
2020 (79)
2021 (86)
2022 (83)
2023 (72)
2024 (45)
2025 (34)
The morning coffee (first after two weeks of holding back)
worked its magic and I felt endless energy on the mat.
I started to truly enjoy grappling. It's not easy to get
hurt and, while technically fighting each other, it's very
rare that one bears ill intent while sparring. If I tried to
defend and to learn techniques instead of using a lot of
force to dominate, it's not even tiring.
I still got swept, mounted, caught in guard, etc., but I
knew a bit about defending now, thanks to the choke-focus
class I had with blackbelt D.
I successfully defended several armbar and cross-choke
attacks. Blue belt O knew to give up choking when I put my
hand in between his two forearms. I didn't even need to
defend white belt J's cross-choke when I was in his guard as
his hand positions were not even threatening. He could waste
his energy all he wanted but couldn't submit me with sloppy
techniques. In the middle, I asked him jokingly:"You think you
can pull that off?"
Bluebelt B and a few others gave me trouble when I tried to
pass their guards by breaking my posture and pulling my
upper body toward their chests. They had very strong abs and
the hinge was powerful. Coach J taught me specifically what
I should do to defend that--arm(s) in between chests,
sitting with curled lower back and butt on the heels. The
details were amazing. A tiny mistake could tip the balance.
Coach J also instructed that I should always tuck my feet
under my butt to avoid
- injury when being swept while in someone's guard, and
- being caught half-guard when trying to pass guards.
I went fishing again with Tim in the evening and we caught
and released a turtle. I didn't feel tired after 16 hours up.
OK. I'll drink coffee, but only on Sat morning.
Thank you for reminding me. Over-training is indeed a problem. An old guy like me cannot be too careful ;-)