A Private Butt-Kicking

Went in early this morning. Adam, Justin, and Will were all planning to be there, but only Justin came. So after he and I warmed up (on the Swiss balls, of course — he can stand; I can barely stay on my knees), we rolled for about 45 minutes. I got my butt thoroughly and completely and entirely whooped. All good stuff, and I see lots of things to work on.

I bungled the sweep from Thursday a few times, so he stopped to show it to me a few more times; never did pull it off, though. He wasn’t letting me get away with anything sloppy, which everything seemed to be, or without good pressure, which I had none. Managed to always set myself up to be swept. Also dropped myself into several triangles; one he finished quickly, another he let me attempt to defend, though it did no good. There was a calf pinch, several ankle locks or heel hooks, a kneebar (that I rolled myself in to while trying to escape something else, doh), the Twister (maybe two? did escape one of them, though I think it was more him giving it up to try something else), an armbar, … probably more, but I don’t remember.

My ribs on the right are bruised from Thursday night. Any knee-on-belly hurt. A lot. Almost to knocking the wind out of me just from the pressure. Both sides. Ow.

Adam, Mark, and new-old Kevin (who used to train with Tim 6-7 years ago) came in for the normal class time. The guys paired up and rolled, then switched. I worked on shrimping a lot; working on getting my hips completely off the ground and posting up on my shoulder. Later, Adam showed a couple of gi chokes, which we drilled a couple of times. Lots of talking theory and showing a few things throughout the day.

After the guys let, I did mini-Cindy again:

• 3 pullups
• 6 pushups
• 9 squats
• 12 minutes
• 14 rounds

Only one round better than last time. The squats were the worst part! My hips were hurting.

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Another Butt Kicking

Virginia Tech was up 34-0 at half; just scored again for 48-7 in the 4th quarter.

Cindy Lou Who

I did a scaled-down version of the CrossFit “Cindy” workout this morning. Scaled-down was plenty!

3 pull ups
6 push ups
9 squats
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12 minutes, for rounds

13 rounds (with 3 pull ups and 3 push ups of the next, too).

The ouchies continue, and BJJ

My right shin, right calf, and left knee hurt! Legs nearly buckled when I got out of bed this morning. Gracious goodness…

BJJ this morning. Small class (6 + Adam & Justin). Jogging was a grit-the-teeth, I-will-make it exercise, but as soon as we turned in for the side-to-side shuffle, nyuh-uh. Had to pull out of line, get at the back, and go slow, especially when leading with the right leg; it did not want to take weight. Bear crawls and the rest of the warmup, I just went slower. The worst was actually backward rolls because I always catch myself on my knee & shin. Ouch.

Then we went to hand fighting, going for double-under. So standing, weight-bearing exercises. Darn it. More teeth-gritting. But we needed it because the drill today was from standing to arm-in guillotine to Peruvian necktie version 1. (This is the version that CB Dolloway got Jesse Taylor with. There’s another version that we’ve worked before.) We drilled it in parts, standing to arm-in guillotine, then arm-in guillotine to Pervuian necktie. Eh, I need more work on it; I’ve got the concept, but the execution is lacking…

On to rolling. Legs were better once I was on the ground.

First roll was with Perry, who promptly kneed me in the cheek. Pfft, as if he didn’t beat me up enough yesterday! Then later, I think he was going for an armbar and dropped one leg hard over my face — ouchies! I’m just laughing at that point. How many ways can I get beat up in one weekend…? He’s also the Krav Maga instructor, and I think sometimes he rolls more Krav than BJJ.

Next with “Yoshi” Brian. He’s a smaller guy (yay!) and moves fast, so I worked on keeping up. He rolled with Perry after that, and somehow Yoshi’s nose collided with Perry’s knee. Is broken. Sadness.

Then a round with Justin. (Found out why he’s been playing so much open guard — his ankle’s bothering him. Still tricky to get around.) He’d grabbed a kimura when I had mount once, and he showed me how that meant that *I* also had an available kimura — and an armbar, since I was on top. I think I was doing better keeping pressure on him; I know I actively remembered it a few times. Also just worked on getting to positions. The rest of the round was just me trying to keep up, as usual.

Finally got a round with Scotty. As with Justin, worked on getting position and keeping pressure. Kept seeing and going for a duck-under one arm to the back; I think I had a dream about that move. =P (I dream of BJJ. My pillows are getting triangled when I wake up.) Afterward, he said that I was moving better since the last time we rolled and that I never seemed “lost” during the roll, i.e., I was always moving and seemed to always be working toward something. (That was something he’d helped me with before he left and something that I’ve been working on. I always used to get to a position, stop, and say, “Now what?” Now I can think that, but I’m moving while I think.) So, yay! Apparently I have learned something. =P

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I did one set of 2 overhand widegrip pullups!

And then two sets of 5 (!) chinups!

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Supposed to have kickboxing this afternoon, but I’m too beat up. However, Tim, my BJJ coach, has been coming in for the Saturday kickboxing class, and Perry said he asked Justin to come next week so I can have someone closer to my own size (all the guys are a lot bigger than me). So I have to go next week.

BJJ

First, didn’t get to bed until after 1 a.m. (TKD goes until 11). Then, tired and cranky all day, so I took today as a refeed day.

Class tonight — again had lots of new guys. Warmup wasn’t too bad. Actually made it all the way through the mountain climber/pushup finisher. Then some light rolling. I think Tim might have said something to a few of the guys who usually knock me around because they were not doing it tonight. Well, at least not nearly as bad as normal.

Drilled a continuation on the takedown to arm choke series; this time if you can’t get the choke, how to take the back to RNC. Worked with a guy about my size, but he hadn’t been around for the earlier stuff and he has a wrestling background, so he was trying to do it another way and was turning it in to a neck crank instead.

Then more rolling. Again got one of the guys who throws me around usually, but he wasn’t doing it for most of the round. Did go for the kimura that I usually get hurt on, and I knew I couldn’t get out of it, so I just tapped before he pulled it out.

Tim said I need to move my hips more. I tend to get busy with my arms and forget about my legs (or the other way: get busy with my legs and forget my arms). So during one roll when I was stuck in guard and couldn’t get anything, I just kept shifting around while trying for an armbar, triangle, or omoplata. My partner looked confused and couldn’t seem to decide what to do. In all the shifting, I eventually got his arm in the right place for the armbar, but as usual, he just pulled out of it. Still, I had him going for a while there.

After class, I did some pullups, and got out 2 sets of 4, a new record! And a set of 2.

MMA & BJJ, this week

MMA, Thursday

Justin has a new (old?) favorite warmup drill: pushup pyramids with mountain climbers in between. As a finisher. Owies.

Worked lots of different stuff and ended with ground-n-pound.

TKD, Friday

First, gym: Bike: 30 min SS
Pullups: 4×3 (nice!)

Then TKD free practice for 1hr 45 min, mostly me sitting. Did work out the remaining wrinkles in my free form, though.

I did somehow manage to split the back of my (brand new and expensive) workout pants(!) sometime that day. Gaping hole right in the butt. I have no idea how long I walked around like that. And no one said anything! (Which means either that no one was brave enough or that no one was looking at my butt. Hmph. My butt looks good in those pants.)

BJJ, today

Another low turnout day. Rolling for about an hour and a half. I felt gassed the entire time (even though the warmup was light) but thought I was holding my own pretty well. Still have to work on not just focusing on defense; need to set up and go for more submissions.

Pullups: 1×3, 1×2. Arms = done.
Little bit of jump kicks on the heavy bag.

Then I worked my TKD free form because the mat was open. I just need to memorize it now, and I should be able to demonstrate it at TKD testing in two weeks. Then I can move forward with learning the 2nd degree curriculum.