I love history, I love old stuff, I love sociology, and I love good journalism. That plus a healthy dose of luck can be found in what I consider a great read-- Slate's 5-part series on the Manhattan Trade School for Girls. The last article in the series came out today and I really enjoyed it.
The New York Times did another cool article about the Gym Jones phenomenon. I'd love to spend a month there. I'd probably hate it while in it, but love the result.
Shoutout to Ryan, another BJJ Newbie :) Let's give him some props for fighting his "cheeseburger and cigarette addiction" as he puts it... nothing like jits to help motivate you on that score.
I am sore... nothing like jumping back into working out and training when you've been a lazy ass all summer to help you realize the error of your ways. I realized it's easily been since spring that I really put time or effort into my training. I had to take time off for my knee, sure, but really it was laziness plus vacation plus work busy time. Blech. One 12 minute roll and I need to take a breather. Some little short sprints in my noontime conditioning class and I'm gasping like a beached fish. It's pretty sad. God I hope it all comes back soon!
Recently a brownbelt told me that they noticed when I go to these women's open mats I tend to "play possum" a bit and not exert myself fully. Although I think it's fine to be mellow and chill, I realized that tendency was partially me protecting myself and my ego-- if I don't try my 100%, then I can't blame my lack of technique or skill when I/if I lose. Which just reveals the flaw in my thinking-- you can't lose in jiu jitsu. Especially when it's not a tournament match. It's just a tap! Who cares! So I told myself I would allow myself to try my best more often and if that wasn't adequate, it would be a better use of my time on the mats-- a more pure diagnostic, in a way.
So what happened? I rolled after class with one of the girls at my academy who just happened to also be thinking she doesn't go hard enough and needs to go harder. She's very cool, recently got her blue belt but probably has been rolling like a blue belt for a while. She's maybe 6" taller than I am and has good technique and instincts. I will admit, in the past I'd never thought she didn't go hard enough-- she's very aggressive and at times I have felt a little afraid. So it was like a perfect storm-- both of us thinking we needed to go harder, and our mutual energies fed upon themselves and each other.
After about 2 minutes, I accidentally scratched her when reaching for a collar grip and she made a comment, which prompted us to spontaneously pause and collect ourselves. We briefly analyzed what was going on and it seemed like we were on a collision course for ever-increasing intensity, not to the benefit of my own technique/execution for sure. That pause and conversation was exactly what we/I needed... because we went on from there much more productively. It was still very energetic grappling, giving no quarter and asking none, and very exciting in moments-- but without the feeling of franticness I'd had. And at the end, I had to confront how difficult it had been for me to pass her guard, which showed me some errors in my movement and directions for future work. All in all, a really good bit of training that left me breathing very hard but smiling.
This weekend is the ADCC! Brackets are up here! DH and I got the pay-per-view so when chores and such allow, I'll be watching. There's also a seminar Saturday morning taught by Royler bb Donald Park, which I am eagerly looking forward to, plus UFC Saturday night.. and then a Girls in Gis here in Austin on Sunday which I plan on attending. And more digging in the garden needs doing... two gis to dye (a friend's, chocolate brown, and my navy Vulkan which got uglified by a bleach accident, which I'm dyeing purple..) And still nutty busy with work.
Hope you have a great weekend and hope you get to watch some Abu Dhabi!
2 comments:
Read that article on Gym Jones, too. Looked neat!
Great rolling story.
Thanks for the shout out! enjoyed the rolling story as well!
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