The Twelfth Month in Jiu-Jitsu

What a year! It felt like yesterday when I joined my kid on the mat. First of

all, I have survived, which alone makes me happy. According to Rickson Gracie,

"Eight out of ten walk out of an average academy in six months." Ours is a great

school, but attrition has indeed been brutal. I could count with one hand guys

who started around the same time as I and remained.

 

Technically, I have stopped believing in strength, especially my own. It is

futile against big muscular guys and most of my partners were at least 20 lbs

heavier. On the other hand, I have indeed seen what leverage and technique can

do. Folks my size such as Stephan, Will, and Tim C. have devastating games and

they give me a hard time any day. My own progess, especially in escaping from

underneath and getting on the knees, has given me great confidence.

 

Jun 15, after watching Rickson's recent turtle series, I suddenly realized

transitioning to guard as the third option in addition to takedowns and

reversals. This option meant I would never be stuck at turtle any more! (My

memory was full of such awkward moments when a big guy sprawled on me and I

couldn't do anything.) After switching to open guard, a good position in

real fights, I could try hook sweeps and set up attacks. If my opponent passed

my guard, I could get into turtle again. It felt like stringing words into a

sentence.

 

Life however was made of surprises. Just as I was elated at finally discovering

a path, I had to stay away for a week. Small injuries in the feet, the left hip,

the back, the shoulders, and mostly the hands (from gripping and accidents),

seemed to have accumulated to the point where I had to stop. Thankfully, the

recovery went well and felt like the liquid metal guy self-healing in The

Terminator.

 

Overall, it was a great month. In addition to the turtle revelation, I learnt

some slick armlocks from cross-side and was able to apply and even submitted a

bluebelt. Eric rolled with me and was happy about my defense. I finally was able

to relax on the mat.

 

As I kept saying, one good reason to train is for the kids. Dads and even moms

stay, I have observed, almost 100%. Sometimes, the whole family join in. In our

case, I am happy that Tim, my son, still attends three times a week and seems to

enjoy. I look forward to training beside him before he leaves for college.

 

PS. Sat Jul 2, I received from Brenda the third stripe on my white belt. (I felt

unsettled by Prof Gene's leave early June. He was a great guy. Wish him the best.)

 

[7grizzly]

Thank you, 暖冬, for reading and your kind comments.
Happy 4th of July!

You are quite right and the sentence in jiu-jitsu looks like computer code.
(Sorry I have to use the "==="'s to represent white spaces.)

Start with my opponent's cross-side on top.
If his far arm's not blocking my hip,
=== I'll try to put him back to close guard;
=== ...
otherwise,
=== I will roll to get on all fours and into turtle.
=== If he's in front and not sprawling
======= I will take him down,
=== otherwise,
======= I will sit back and use my body weight to pull him over me and
======= he would either be rolled over or end up in my open guard.
======= If ...
======= ...

Any tech nerd would love this.

[暖冬cool夏]

"My memory was full of such awkward moments when a big guy sprawled on me and I couldn't do anything."--- I can picture that, haha. It is awkward.
"Thankfully, the recovery went well and felt like the liquid metal guy self-healing in The Terminator."--- Very vivid!
"It felt like stringing words into a sentence."--- Do you liken it to your positioning from this to that, here and there, lock and unlock, or something like that?
Happy 4th of July!