I love it even though some boys are absolutely cluefree about when they're muscling stuff. (Hint: if what you just pulled off on me would probably not have worked against a guy that weighs 20 lbs or more than you do-- you muscled it.)
I love it even though it tears my hair out by the roots.
I love it even when it's really hot and humid and I sweat through a gi in the first twenty minutes.
I love it for the feeling of accomplishment when I train with someone who feels the move work, and they get that "Ooooh!" excited look in their eyes.
I love it for the satisfaction of physical fitness reached without drudgery.. so that a warmup which makes noobs pant and groan barely makes me breathe hard.
I love it for the intellectual challenge, and the humility that always comes with it.
I love it for showing me humor in the weirdest situations. Like tonight, when I was trying to get some empathy for my short arms from my training partner, who'd been hounding me for not reaching around his leg-- so I grabbed his hand and put it right on my derriere, saying "Look, this is as far as my hand could reach on you!" And the whole time he's staring up at me with his hand on my ass with this devilish smile, 'til I realized what I'd done and absolutely cracked up.
I love it for encouraging me to be open minded and to reexamine conclusions and opinions.
I love it for connecting with so many people all over the world who share this love. Ahem, this obsession. Whether they're 6 years old with a killer double leg, or 78 years young and enthusiastic.. from pretty much every continent except Antarctica.. students, professionals, professional students, moms and dads, full-timers and part-timers.. you're all amazing!
I just love jiu jitsu.
* * * * * * * * *
This is what I was thinking about when I left class tonight. Even though I tweaked my knee doing (I think) a deep half guard sweep, even though my hair is all jacked up and my ear hurts anew, I had fun. Foot sweeps and double legs and an arm-in guillotine... loving it.
12 comments:
I love how you can roll in a gi like that haha. And that was a great comment about muscling your way through a move(if it wouldnt work on someone 20lbs heavier...so true!) Best of luck.
Nice. Good stuff. I haven't been doing this long enough to know exactly why I've become so stinkin' addicted to this sport, but I liked reading your thoughts.
BTW, I rolled with a much smaller gal yesterday (blue belt). She had me in deep half guard and I couldn't extract my thigh to bring my knee outside of her thighs. I COULDN'T muscle it. So I applied a cross face and started to lay into her chin/neck a bit. I tried not to lean too hard or use too much weight. The goal was to apply just enough pressure to get her to let go of the deep half clinch so I could pass. She blurted..."TAP!" with a bit of an annoyed tone in her voice. I didn't attempt it as a submission and REALLY didn't realize I was muscling or using too much weight. In fact, I had backed off knowing that I could probably hurt her if not careful. I felt sooo bad. Unfortunately, a 220lb white belt doesn't have the slightest clue what it's like to have someone quite literally twice his weight bearing down.
Question for you: Is it offensive when a guy doesn't use size/weight advantage? Do you consider that "going easy"? Or is using weight distribution and strength to advance position or apply technique different than "muscling"? Is it all part of the game? It's not a sex thing. I try to be conscious of my height/weight advantage when I'm rolling with all classmates who are much smaller than me. Guy or gal.
It's very scary that my right knee is a bit tender and we worked deep half guard yesterday!!
I'm planning on pioneering BJJ in Antarctice within a couple years. You with me G?
Beautiful post.
First thing I read this morning, great start to my day :)
I love it too for many of the same reasons!
I particularly like the fitness without drudgery.
I also like the cameraderie, hanging out with a bunch of other guys who just get it. Not everyone understands why we like BJJ, but you just know when someone gets it.
I like the strategy, trying to figure out why the techniques I catch everyone else with doesn't work on *this* guy. What's he doing different?
I like the fact that performance and fun are valued over etiquette and formality.
I can't say I'm in love with that gi but this is a seriously cool blog post :)
Awesome!
Caleb what are you talking about?
I know some people who'd pay some good money to get triangle-choked in that gi :)
Imagine that being the last thing you see befor eyou snooze!
Hmmm... I don't know about Antarctica.. How about pioneering BJJ in Fiji? the Maldives? Koh Tao, Thailand would also be quite high on my list... ;)
Not sure why, but seeing that gi and the patch puts me in a good mood and makes me smile like an idiot.
I should refer to this post on those gloomy days to remind me of the awesome inside.
-T
T-- that's awesome :) :) I am SO happy to bring a smile to your face, whoever you are!
ROCK ON JITS PEEPS!
It's Thien from Australia
-T
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