Twelve!!

At work, our intern graduated in December and moved away. So yesterday and today, I moved my desk over to his old spot by the window. I’d been offered that spot when I first started, but I thought I might get too distracted looking outside. Now, though, I’m hoping having sunlight will help with the not sleeping.

Off to see Dr. Tom again tonight and had him check out my right shoulder, which should be the good one, because it’s still hurting. He poked around and decided that there may be some bursitis going on in there. Meh. Well, I have to take next week off; maybe that will fix it. Urgh.

Kids’ Class

Twelve! Oh sweet goodness, how did I end up with twelve?! And three are new (and older boys — I think so far they’ve been “too cool” to do BJJ with the little kids. But they came tonight.). So that’s a total of 16 that could be showing up on any given night.

*Meep!*

When you plan for only 4-6, and 10 show up instead, sometimes things don’t work out so well. But when you plan for 10, and 12 show up, it works somewhat alright. Although, we were going to work the standard guard break and pass and only got through the guard break.

They were more contained than I’d hoped, though Tim commented later that he guessed I had more kids tonight because it was louder. Oops, need to keep it down. He also said, though, that having more kids in there was a good problem to have and that he thinks putting me in charge was one of the best things he could have done for the class, that if he’d done it himself or put one of the bigger boys in charge that the kids and parents may not be so eager about it. Still, I did tell him that I need help over there, though he had to run back to teaching the MMA class before we could talk more.

MMA class

I just watched. My right shoulder was still bugging me. The class was packed, though, and they were doing the same takedowns from last week, so there were some close calls as heads crashed down on the mats.

During the class, I did do a short set of kettlebells swings, 30lbs, 10 down to 1. Shoulder did not like. (Tom was in class tonight and asked me how my shoulder felt after the swings. When I said it had hurt, he shook his head and said I should have stopped. But…! Well, I had to do something tonight.)

The class finished up a little early tonight because a couple of guys have fights coming up shortly, so they wanted to get a few rounds in the cage. Mostly jiu-jitsu guys stayed out, so they started some rolling. Perry had asked me to take pictures of the class at one point, so I kept shooting some of the cage and some of the jiu-jitsu. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any more, handed the camera off, and went in to roll with Guillaume since he was the only one free. Short, because he had to leave soon. But I got to get out a little bit of energy.

Tonight was the last night I’ll see Scott before he moves. He’s taking tomorrow to spend with friends in town, and then I’ll be leaving on Friday for Richmond and so won’t get to see him off this weekend with everyone else. Sad. I finally make friends, and then they move away. 😦

That’s gonna hurt tomorrow…

Or maybe the day after. Stupid DOMS. But oh yeah, that’s gonna hurt…

Kids’ Class

I started out with the plan of having them do the same takedown class that we did last month, so printed that out and got it ready. But the more I thought about it, I decided that the same kids that were there then would be back tonight and so would tell me they were “bored” by the repeat, so I redesigned most of the lesson. And then when I got to class, none of the regulars were there, but two who have been out because of football were. They hadn’t seen the previous class on takedowns, so I went back to working on that. Theresa came in a little late, but she’s always very cooperative about working whatever I ask her to.

Nogi

Started rolling. 4-minute rounds. With Theresa first. Then with a visiting guy who comes occasionally and is never very nice with me; he rolls rude. He’s a smaller guy, so I’d think he would be glad of the chance to work on technique against someone who can’t muscle out, but he doesn’t take the opportunity. He goes fast and slams things on and knocks me around. (And he’s long past white belt.) But, at least I know this now, so I worked slowly and was ready to tap early. Usually, that makes no difference to him, but tonight he seemed to get the hint and was working a bit more controlled. Still cranked on my sore elbow a bit abruptly and in just the right angle to hurt a whole lot.

Ended up with a White Belt Hunter the next round. Funny — I had decided to go slow and defend (and to work on Scott’s idea of “defending” from the top) and wasn’t too concerned about how much he was going to muscle me around. And then he actually tried to not muscle me around too much. (Failed mostly, but I could tell he was trying.) And I got to mount somehow — pendulum sweep, even — and then held it for quite a while. Remembered not to rush, that if I’m on top of a bigger & stronger guy that the burden is on him (no pun intended) to move and not on me to submit him immediately. He finally muscled me in to his half guard, but I stayed there the rest of the round and nearly passed a few times. So, hey, that actually worked.

Then a round with Tim. Ha. Just, ha. It was quite amusing to be pwned that badly. He always lets me work on things, though I don’t remember what.

Drilling was far-side kimura, with stepping over the head, and then far-side one-armed kimura, also stepping over. Drilled with Theresa. I was trying to keep my weight off of her like I always do, but she said it was still too much. Yeah…

Rolling again. Theresa, then Will. Underneath early and couldn’t get out much; he stuffed everything. Not sure that I did much right there. Then Tim waved me over to Scott. Swept early and underneath mostly, though I did have a few moments of getting somewhat out. Somehow ended up in top half and couldn’t pass because I couldn’t get enough pressure on him.

As soon as the round was over, Tim told me to run around the corner and get a kettlebell. Grabbed a 20-lber. Then he put me through a circuit. Probably not gonna remember it all:

• Kettlebell swings (he counted; no idea)
• Kettlebell presses (one arm: squat, lift & flip, squat + press; no idea, he counted)
• 10 burpees
• single legs down & back, alternating legs (my toe is still sprained, though [gah!], so right side was slooow)
• single/sprawl down & back, strong side only
• rolling with Tim. He came out hard and fast and pressure! Tried to flatten me like a tube of toothpaste! I knew what he was trying to do, though — disrupt my breathing, which was already labored because I’d been doing everything with a mouthpiece (on top of being in rather crap cardio shape), and try to make me panic. My legs were burning, too. I wanted to cave in so badly, but I kept going. Nothing useful from me. Every time I tapped, he’d let go and then attack again.
• kettlebell swings (10?), presses (5/side), single leg sprawl down & back
• rolling with Tim. Again. Some better, but still mostly useless. This. Is. Hard. I think he let me finish an armbar, though.
• kettlebell swings, presses, single leg sprawls. Moving slow. Body doesn’t want to listen.
• rolling. A little better still. (I’m sure that means he was going easier, cuz I still really had nothing.) He also let me finish a RNC, though I had to fight for it, and an armbar.
• Swings. Single leg sprawls. Presses.
• We have these things that hang off the pull-up bars that you can slide your arms through to do ab stuff. Slide one arm through, gable grip with the other, curl your knees to your arm. Hold for 30s. 30s rest, then other arm. Abs are weak.
• Get both arms in armpit-deep on those handles. Start from legs straight, then curl knees to chest. I got 9 reps before I thought I was going to cry. On the last one, just had to hold it, which was not easy, either.

Might have missed or added a set of kettlebells/etc., but I know there were at least 3 rolls. Maybe 4. Everything’s kind of fuzzy. I just did what I was told. It all started to blend together at some point…

Did have a good half-guard sweep in there somewhere that involved switching my hips when he posted the top leg. I remember him saying, “Nice!” but not exactly what happened. Oh well. Maybe I’ll be able to repeat that on purpose one day.

My left forearm cramped up nice and tight afterwards, so I sat around trying to massage it out. Then before I left, I sat down to write notes on the kids’ class like I always do, and I could barely hold the pen! My writing looked like chicken scratching.

Now that was a circuit. Anything I’ve tried to come up with has been nothing compared to that. And I know I really do need someone there pushing me through it. I needed it back in high school cross country; I need it now.

Also afterwards, Scott showed me how to get the pressure I was missing on him. Is nice. Will try.

I… am tired…

I can’t feel my legs…

Tim finally admitted tonight that he is trying to kill us. Or, rather, get us in shape whether we like it or not. The last few weeks and the next few weeks are going to be killer conditioning. Gee, thanks. And just when the air conditioning in the academy seems to have stopped working. Ugh.

Hot and sauna-like again. Air not moving. That’s all I want, really, is a little air movement… Temperature’s fine with me; the air just feels so thick. Bleh.

Oh… I’d meant to have goals… and I forgetted. Doh.

Warmup involved lots of knees-to-chest. And forward rolls, which immediately made me dizzy. I’m starting to think it’s more the level change that gets me, because I got dizzy again during the takedown drills that followed. And the air — gah. Couldn’t breathe.

Partnered up to drill double-leg takedown. Got with a guy who was a little bigger than I could handle; just made me have to work harder. Couldn’t turn the corner with him, so mostly did a straight-on takedown. 20 per partner. Then my brain goes fuzzy for a few moments… I think we rolled next.

In with a quick white belt. Remaining energy went quick. Under everything, though preventing him from getting to mount. Even, at some point, noticed his base was off and managed something vaguely resembling a sweep. (Okay, so it was more of a shove… Still.) Got to top for a few moments and tried working to establish side control for half a second so I could work toward something else, but he got out. Somehow had a few times where I managed to scramble to his back. Where’d that come from?! He’d scramble right out, though. In top half-guard following one of those, had a look at a no-arm D’Arce but couldn’t lock it up, then got swept back over. At one point, from my guard, tried the choke Lo caught me with at the tournament. Didn’t quite have it, though I think it was maybe close — when I got home, I think I figured out maybe what I needed to do differently to finish it.

Then we worked the new takedown from last night. Worked with Yoshi. 20 per partner. Getting dizzy again, I think from all the level changing. Tim said he’s going to try to work just one or two things for each week so that we all get lots of reps on them. Me likey.

Rolling next? Apparently I can’t feel my brain either. With a blue belt. I kept trying to set up the Big Poppa choke, but couldn’t quite get there. I got to north/south, and then totally and completely blanked on what to do. Was funny. Tried transitioning to kimura from north/south, but he’d defend; tried to transition to a gi choke, but I couldn’t work out whose gi was whose (even though they were different colors). At some point, transitioned back to the Big Poppa choke and did get it. We reset, and he turtled for some reason. I got the control, then looked for the clock choke; got the far lapel sunk good, but couldn’t find the near one so went for the elbow-over variation to finish. Then Mark pulled me into his guard and tried to work the choke from last night, but I wouldn’t let him get the overhook in; we just kept circling our arms around each other’s.

On the wall for more drills. Shoot-n-sprawl, then alligators, and then partner gi drags. Justin grabbed me, which is always good because he makes me keep moving even when I really want to quit. Finished those and fell down. I can’t feel my legs. Tried to stand up and fell back down again. Pooh. Finally got back up and let the wall hold me. Also, fingers shot for grips. Thankfully, that was the end of it.

Sat for a few minutes. Realized it was quads and not my hamstrings that were hurting, so I decided to continue with my planned kettlebell swings. Actually, I was going to start after-practice conditioning because I’d thought I’d lost a step or two in class since it’s been brutal for the last few weeks, but then Tim said as we were hanging around that he’s been doing that on purpose to improve our conditioning.

Got out the kettlebell (it’s 24 kg [that’s, what, around 52 lbs?]) and started on my swings. Tim made me stop, though, and said the kettlebell was too heavy for me. (Wha–?? I’ve done 50 swings with Scott before, and probably that many with Justin and Adam, too.) He made me set it down and get the heaviest dumbbell, which is only 25 lbs. So light. Meh. Was only planning to do a half pyramid of 1-10, so 55 swings total, anyway; did that with the dumbbell, but it’s just way too light. Maybe if I promise him on Thursday that I’ll only do 25 (pyramid 1-5), he’ll let me use the real thing.

Still gonna do APC, but will probably switch to Mondays and Thursdays so I’ll have more recovery between times.

You’ll be proud of me: I am taking tomorrow night off. I have a book, and I might have to bring some work home, but I’ve set aside Wednesdays as an entirely “off” night. (And I’m even going to take Fridays — Open Mat — off.) And that’s all before I knew the brutalness was on purpose. Now that I know, I think it’s probably even more important that I take some rest in there — I can go hard, but not all the time.

Also, something insanely spiked my page views today, and I don’t know what it is… unless it’s all the guys from class coming to find me 😛 If so, “Hi!”