Great night

I love judo and BJJ sparring nights. I love technique nights too, but there is something about the cardio push that I get on nights that I attend two classes in a row.

Tonight was a great night. We went over some great foot sweep options, which is something I've been looking forward to getting better at. It's very much like ball room dancing, gone wrong.

Sparring tonight too was a blast. I was able to stay in for every match and actually go after it, so my cardio is improving. I was also able to pull some things off, so my technique is improving.

I'm starting to feel like I belong amongst the better people there. I'm still at the bottom of the totem pole, for sure, but I'm not hopelessly out of place. I give them something worth working on, even when they work me pretty good.

Intensity

We're recently increased the intensity with which we train. Ed has really been pushing us during regular technique and sparring class, toughening everyone up.

I think as his black belt inevitably approaches, he's beginning to come into his own on how he wants to operate the school. It's neat to see happen.

What that means for me though is a very tiring Wednesday and Thursday. I do drilling on Wednesday night, then turn around and do judo (with sparring) and BJJ back to back on Thursday night. It's exhausting, but really pushes me harder than any competition ever has. In fact, the toughest competitions I've ever been in have been the in-house competition followed closely by every sparring class I've ever been to here.

When I also add in my Tuesday night practice at home and the occasional Friday/Saturday morning that I can go, I can get up to around 5 training sessions a week.

What I'm needing to do now is to change my life when I'm not training. Too much I've been living the days that I'm not training just like I always have. Poor diet, no exercise beyond grappling. I think it's holding me back and it's certainly stalling me in my physical abilities. Sure, technique can overcome a lack of strength and cardio, but combining them all would be the better course.

I'm also noticing, now that I get into better shape with the increased training, that there is a difference between rolling light (meaning not muscling) and rolling lazy. There are times when I need to roll with conviction, seeing the technique and moving with purpose.

After: Best of the Best

I had a good tournament today, doing well in my match for a gold medal.

I started with an uchi mata taken down, landing in half guard. I kept my pressure low and got my knee out of the half, setting up a knee cutter pass to the opposite side. After settling into side control to get my pass points, I jumped to knee on belly and held that for points, using it to transition to mount afterward by faking a baseball bat choke to get his arms high.

From mount, I kept moving up until I could isolate an arm across center line and took a technical mount. After trying to feed his collar or get the arm, I transitioned to his back and worked on gi chokes.

Ultimately, I won on points which was fine.

I need to work more on finishing from the back and on transitions from knee on belly. I jumped to mount fine, but I'm sure there was some other opening there that I missed.

What was ultimately the best part of the competition was getting to do very well directly in front of Rodrigo Vaghi and my fellow teammates. It led to Ed giving me my fourth stripe, which is a huge deal for me. It means that I'll likely be in the next crop of blue belts, which is a really big deal in Vaghi terms. He's notoriously stingy with belts and is very protective of the integrity of the art, which I can appreciate having come from a belt mill.

Before: Best of the Best

Just figured I'd post a before discussion here, noting that I'll be competing tomorrow at the Best of the Best BJJ tournament tomorrow.

I'm pretty excited about getting to compete again, which will make my third time this year. I've had a fairly decent year, winning more than I've lost, so I'll take it.

My hope is that I can just maintain that trend as I move up in levels of competition, winning more than I lose.

I'd like to be in better shape, but I've just come off a teaching position at Creighton Law (trial team) which was taking much of my time. My team did well, taking second at the Quinnipiac Mock Trial competition, so I'm glad that I was a part of it.

That being said, I'm a bit softer and less well conditioned than I'd like. The up side is that I'm at least more proficient in take downs and take down defense than I've ever been, having taken judo for the last 3 months. I'm very comfortable from a standing position and will be looking for take downs whenever possible. Someone my size should really try to start from a top position.

We'll see what happens when I report back tomorrow night.