Met and received some top-notch instruction from Keith, the head instructor. I felt like Keith read my mind and taught the things I was thinking about. He first covered posture when in the guard, something I struggle with. I tend to lean forward too much and come off my feet which leaves me off balance and able to be swept (or get my head pulled off, ask me how I know that). He taught to arch (curl might be a better term) your back, tighten your core and keep your hips low. He also taught where to grab on the Gi (by the arm pit) and how to place your elbows into the hip flexors. All of those tips were to setup the “unstoppable pass”. Pretty sure that’s what he called it.

Keith is a soft spoken type. The kind of guy where everything that comes out of his mouth is gold. He spent a lot of time on the small and very important details. Not only that, he explained the reasoning behind why you put your hands where you do, and why you keep your hips low. Again, all in great detail.

The second thing he taught was breaking grips. Something I struggled with in rolling with Ben because he has gorilla strength, and once he gets my sleeve or collar it was over. Keith taught a few different grips and how to break each. Overall the things I learned tonight were very valuable.

Then we had a time to do some rolling. I felt more in control because I was able to keep my posture and more control. I still need to learn to slow down and think, something I’m sure is indicative of a white belt. Charlie kept getting mount and would just surf me until I tapped. That’s a sign that I need to strengthen my core, learn to frame with my arms better and relax and breathe.

I put some cash down on a new Gi, pretty excited about that. Can’t wait to get it!

I really liked the all rolling Friday class. It was a lot of fun. I would have to take off my shoes to count the number of times I was submitted. That’s good though, because each time I get to see what I did wrong, what I left open, etc. Right now I’m too green to see three steps ahead like the other guys, but I can see one step behind (meaning, what position I was in directly before being submitted).

It would be foolish to talk about positioning and going for submissions and outlining what I can do better. But I can say I’m starting to recognize a bit more where those danger areas are and I’m starting to know how to back out of them. With me not gassing out so bad I think I’m up to the level of where a beginner should be on their first day ;-)

I’m sore from head to toe. And I mean everything: Fingers, feet, legs, sides, back, everything. One soreness I’m a bit worried about is the muscle where your pecs meet, right around the sternum. I went to pic up one of the kids and felt a pretty sharp pain. I’m hoping it’s just wicked soreness and not something more serious. I’ve got the weekend to recover so I should be good. How anyone can do BJJ and lift weights is beyond me.

I really liked the drills today. We did drills that focused on keeping/passing the guard. The objective of the guy on bottom was to prevent the man on top from passing the guard. Once the guard was passed (or it was agreed the guard could not be passed), it was time for the next opponent. I think they called it “shark tank” and I really like the style of that. For a couple of reasons:

You have one mission. For a beginner like me that is key. There is no confusion and no places where I’m thinking “crap, what do I do now” because I have a pretty clear objective: Pass the guard or don’t let the guy pass mine.
It allows some time between drills, this allowed me to cool down and sip my potion
The “feel” was different. I can tell during rolling they are taking it easy on me, which is nice, and needed; otherwise I’d get hurt. But the drill is more goal oriented meaning “can I get here” and you work pretty hard to achieve that goal. There were times when I made mistakes like diving in with my head and I got triangled or arm barred, that’s great because I learned a quick lesson.

I think I was a little better at passing the guard (even though it is sloppy on my part) than preventing mine from being passed. There’s a lot of core work needed to keep your balance and posture when you’re on the bottom trying to prevent the other guy from advancing. I’m very weak in that area so I know where to improve. We also did drills on escaping side control.

Overall today’s class put me in a great mood. I feel great physically, I feel great emotionally, feeling very positive and am looking forward to Gi practice on Friday. It took me about 30 minutes or so to get back to 100%. I feel the shift moving from being afraid of what may happen during training (specifically, me gassing out) to being excited about training (specifically, what can I learn).

I loved training with the Gi though, I see how it’s used as a tool for leverage and positioning. I can also see how it would help you develop some serious grip strength.

Today I trained with Charlie and Ben. It was my first time meeting Charlie (I hope I’m spelling that right), he is also a very skilled and humble dude. You would never know that he could pop your head right off your shoulders if need be.

It was nice having an odd number of people because I had time to recover and also time to observe. We trained areas specific to where a white belt would end up most of the time: side control and mount. Then we rolled. One time during rolling I noticed Charlie threw me a bone and put his arms in the exact spot when we were drilling, that was cool because I identified that and was able to sweep (he totally gave the sweep to me, but it still felt good). I’m starting to see more now how the more experienced guys take care of the lower belts. As Ben described the first time we met for my intro (back on the 14th), the belts are not a way to show who is the macho man, it’s more so you know how to roll with that person, how to help them.

Even with the odd number of men, I still crashed hard. Not initially, but on the drive home I totally hit rock bottom. I get this thing where it feels like my eyes are trying to cross and I get a little dizzy. Sarah made a fresh iced smoothie and I took a cold shower, but nothing really helped but sleep. So I slept for about an hour, worked for a couple hours, and then fell asleep again at 5:00pm and slept until 8:00.

It’s definitely time to do some research because I should not be tanking so badly. I would like to get an off the shelf pre/post workout drink but hate all of the mystery behind them, and the dyes and odd chemicals. I think I will make my own.

So I sat and took pictures, but I learned quite a bit even from watching. I was asking questions and they were also demonstrating some skills (taking the time to stop their roll session and explain things to me).

Ben brought a Gi for me to borrow until I buy my own. I’m pretty excited to try it out next week, although I don’t like the fact that not only am I going to be gassing because I’m so out of shape, but I’ll be wearing essentially a bath robe at the same time. Not gonna lie, I’m a little scared!

I really liked the vibe of the gym and from Ben (it was just us two this time around). I gather that it is a laid back atmosphere where each person is looking out for the other. It’s not a macho man who can submit who thing. It’s more of a how can we make each other better thing. I like that, as I’ve never really been a macho man and don’t see myself as macho or superior to others in any way. Especially not physically, as was quickly evident. Even though I could not see straight we stayed past the class time and talked about BJJ in general.

After going home and taking a cold shower, I passed out for a good 2 hours. When I woke up I felt much better, aside from the lingering headache.

All in all a great experience. Next week will be some time off because Ben is out of town. Which is good because I’m getting the rest of my arm tattooed Tuesday.

Got this patch from Ben. I think he planted a bug in it, because I already feel like rolling again.