Yeah, that's me, I'm sore. I love rolling with big enormous people, it guarantees that anything I can make happen is a technique move, not a strength move. However, trying to keep my hooks in on a 6'2" 220lb man is tough; ditto the RNC; ditto closing my guard... ditto everything. And forget sweeps from the mount-- even my neck strap muscles are sore.
Sorry I didn't finish editing the last post on San Fran-- life just accelerated beyond all predictions the last few days and only now do I have a minute to take a breath.
For one thing, Mitch and I had a "talk" about how I'd been spending an awful lot of time on BJJ and martial arts, and how he was missing me. *Smile* Isn't he sweet! Of course he's right, and it was compounded by two weekends in a row out of town. If I could figure out how to get the pictures I took with my cell phone *out* of Sprint PictureMail and *into* my blog, you'd see how adorable my best friend Heather is with her daughter, the exceptional 3 yr old Hannah. And you'd see a little bit of San Fran, though I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of my training mentor Michael or any of my instructors or rolling mates. So anyway, I have been making sure Mitch knows he does come first in my life, even ahead of BJJ, which you know means a lot.
For another thing, I've been swamped suddenly at work. I had some big deadlines before, don't get me wrong-- but they were manageable and doable even with the constraints imposed by my ramping-up addiction to training. But now I have even more! Fortunately some of my deadlines have been foisted on other people, but I'm still swimming upstream as hard as I can paddle. (I do think the judge will have to grant a continuance, as defense counsel wants one too.) More on that in another post or two I'm sure.
Right now I'm forced to attend to work more assiduously than usual, so it's cutting into training time. I head to Dallas this weekend for a friend's wedding on Friday night, but I may get in a class or a private or both while up there. There's a Carlos Machado school in the metroplex, but I don't think he teaches group classes... and of course there's the 10th Planet school in Waxahachie. We'll see.
6 comments:
Interesting blog. It's good that you're enthusiastic about BJJ. Many people who start the sport go through the exact same euphoria that you are currently going through. However, the reports of your injuries are troubling, at least to me. There's no reason to be a hero, or to think that you have to roll with every single person in class, regardless of size or spaz level. Some people are just not good training partners. There's no sense in getting hurt because some guys are too proud to look bad while sparring with a girl and start using all of their strength. Also, you probably have already considered this, but how much of your injuries are stemming from overtraining?
Take care.
Hi Anonymous! Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Here's my thoughts: one reason I'm happy to be switching from my (current) kajukenbo school (which includes jiu jitsu as a component) to the Gracie school in my area is that I will have a much greater variety of training partners. Yesterday, there were 3 people I could roll with at the kaju school, all at least 5'11" and all at least 185 lbs. In that circumstance, I do have to roll with everyone in class :) but I'm happy to do it, and they're usually extremely good about not landing on me hard etc. In other words, my class yesterday was spaz-free. (Unless you count me, not sure.)
Now in the past, I did suffer some injuries due to the generic whitebelt spaz factor. I am learning to be careful about who I roll with, and learning to tap faster and louder and harder.
As for the overtraining question: I don't consider sore muscles or slightly tweaked joints to be "injuries" per se, just the normal results of what is (for me) normal training. For me, that's 1hr 6x week of weights and cardio; 2-3 hrs 4-5x a week of martial arts, either judo, jiu jitsu or kajukenbo. On some rare occasions, I get as many as 5 hours rolling in one day... those are my happy days and probably the only overtrained ones :) But normally, I wouldn't consider myself to be overtrained.
Next time, give me some contact info :)
Mitch should come down to class: then it becomes a family activity you could enjoy together! :D
Though I'm guessing you've already tried that, and he wasn't keen? There are four couples where I train, some with kids who they also bring to train. Really cool when it becomes something mum, dad and the children can all share. :D
I'm always picky with my training partners, though it can be a process of trial and error. Sometimes that small, unobtrusive looking guy turns out to be a psychopath who loves to crank every submission and treats sparring as life or death. Then there are the huge, imposing behemoths who don't use any of their considerable strength, staying completely technical throughout the roll (like this one massive purple belt I rolled with in Belfast).
Of course, I train at a very large school, so I have the luxury of choosing from lots of different training partners.
Slidey- yeah, bummer, jits just isn't Mitch's thing. When he's not bringing home bacon as an engineer, he's a water-and-dance man... windsurfing instructor, crew for sailboats in races, and we teach salsa together.
He has watched a kaju class or two, and was a less-than-willing grappling dummy for me through all of 3 positions in rubber guard (mission control, New York, kung fu move) before grumbling and being released. So I try not to push too hard.
Doesn't mean I don't push at all though ;)
G
Heh - yeah, I've been trying to get my girlfriend interested in BJJ for a long while now.
Maybe some kind of exchange, like you try out something he likes but you've never had an interest in, while he heads down to your BJJ class? I had wanted to do that with ballroom dancing (could always try making the comparison with judo and footwork to salsa, or something?), but annoyingly its not on a day I can make. :(
My current strategy is emphasising the fitness element, with the aim of getting her along to judo (which unlike the BJJ class is cheap). Can but try. ;)
Yeah-- well, Mitch and I met through salsa dancing, and we both teach it now. You probably wouldn't be surprised by how many similarities there are between dancing and jiu jitsu-- just in jits there are two leaders. But I have volunteered to do that with him, and he wisely counters that I simply don't have enough time in my week to add yet another activity :)
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