The road to purple belt and beyond.

I got my first stripe on my blue belt today and felt pretty good about it. The testing phase that they are implementing is very open and more of a teaching environment than a testing one. Still, I was able to find some gaps in my training and also to see how different blue belts are approaching the same task differently.

I'm currently in the process of preparing for a potential military commission into the Air Force, so that has dominated my thinking for the last few months. It hasn't hurt my training or conditioning, as I'm actually spending more time getting ready for the physical aspects of the military. It has, however, put a burden on my ability to plan for competitions, which is something I need to be doing more of, both in judo and BJJ.

Right now, competitions still feel like an event or a big deal. I need to shake that off, making them more like a special Saturday training session.

I've been doing much more no gi rolling and I'm feeling better about it. I have the ability to scramble now, but not the familiarity with what to do in such positions. It's new for me and something I need to continue to explore. It can't help but improve my gi game, which is really my passion.

I've been experimenting with spider guard more lately and I'm find that the more open I am with it, the more powerful it becomes. I just need to understand the appropriate times to transition away from it (when it's compromised), rather than clinging to it. Of course, any time I'm working something new, I tend to become a broken record until it feels natural.