I am becoming...?

I've grappled twice this week, fairly light stuff but I'm yet to be wracked with pain. I'm debating whether or not I should do it tonight. I may just do some kickboxing and call it a night. It would appear though, that I should be able to grapple in a limited capacity at least.

Victory is mine

Last night I earned my green belt in Judo. It's the first belt above white. I'm very happy with the results. Although, I had this weird head ache at the end. I passed the test by doing the following:

1. Demonstrating basic competency of breakfalls and forward rolls.

2. Demonstrated competency in four throwing techniques:

a. O-soto-gari>>>>> major outer reaping throw (a sweep)
b.O-goshi>>>>>>>>major hip throw
c. Koshi Goruma>>>>hip wheel
d. Sote Tsiri Komi Goshi>>>> sleeve driven hip throw

Believe it or not the spelling should be correct for all 'dose things (I'm reading from a sheet).
I also had to demonstrate a basic competency in two pinning combinations and escape from those pins.

a. Kesa-gatame>>cross chest hold
b. Kata-gatame>>shoulder hold

For the throws I had to breakdown the technique then perform a line take-down (keep throwing people with the same throw). One of my ukis (sp?) is easily 300 lbs. He worker for WCW as a jobber. I was surprised I was able to throw him at all (even if he was offering minimal resistance)

This makes me a Gokyu in the Judo world. What comes next? As far as the throws are concerned I want to further develop my technique, perform them left sided, and learn what ever variations I can absorb. But what about new techniques? I know I want to develop a sacrifice throw, an inside reap (basically a Judo style strip), a throw whose name I don't remember but requires me to balance on one leg, and another hip throw or trip--haven't decided yet.

As far as the pins are concerned, they work within a jujitsu environment, and I'll have to continue to work on them. When I can lock down a blue belt, I'll know I've made genuine progress on Kesa-gatame (most pins are really a variation of this).

I want to keep these techniques with MMA in mind as well as grappling, so any changes I make will largely be driven by those factors. As far as self defense is concerned, competency with a large variety of throws (to fit the context) strikes me as best so this won't be a major determinate for now.

PS
Sote Tsiri Komi Goshi is not a beginners technique. I chose it for the test because I demonstrated apptitude for it, and I believe I can use it in an Attack By Draw strategy for jittery BJJers in a takedown phase.

Feeling Fine

I feel good. I feel good about jujitsu. I've done it three nights in a row, and will go again tonight.
As I move back to a heavy schedule I've resolved to do jujitsu 4 nights a week as best I can and two hours of JKD a week, and 1 one hour of Judo throws.


In unrelated news, I'm reading Dracula, prepping for my brit lit class that starting monday. Funny, how the department head thought my 4 classes in brit lit qualified me to teach it, when in truth, I know little, my real knowledge base is horror, but I think everything will be fine as I'm dividing the class thusly: half a session devoted to student presentations on poets, the other half devoted to teaching Dracula. Only problem now is figuring out what do we read when Dracula is finished? I've had a few ideas ranging from Alan Moore's Watchmen to Fowles' The Collector. (The closer I got to modern times, the wider my knowledge base).

And where am I gonna find the time to write and blog? Ugh. It's back to good ole will power and elbow grease.

The Brainfart contiunes

I had a topic, but thought it'd be better to start a new post and pffffffff gone. I don't remember what I was gonna say.

Ahhh, now I remember. Despite the ever frustrating white belt stuff I complain about, yesterday my judo instructor noticed a marked improvement in--ah shit I forgot the Japanese term--well, anyway he said my basic throw form has improved. I like judo, it seems to go well with a lot of styles. I need to start campaigning for a full time judo class--it only meets officially for an hour on Monday, then a BJJ blue belt reviews what we did on wed (or not we might do BJJ groundwork). I like the pedagogical tendency for high rep activity in judo. It helps me tremendously, and fosters my PATHETIC grip strength. I think, especially if we can get a full2.5 hr judo class, that gi throws will become a major strength for me (will not transfer to no-gi throws?), and the additional roll time couldn't hurt either. I'd like to do a judo competition, I think I could wreak some havoc.

The Soreness

I am quite sore today. Mostly in my legs, but in the upper core region too. I did a crossfit style circuit yesterday morning at the dojo--yes, I spend even more time there now, but I've cut back on my gym workouts. I've been trying to reorganize and reprioritize how I do condtioning. The periodic weight training stuff + cardio just wasn't doing it. I'd feel tired and wornout during classes. I've traded that in for soreness, but I'm trying to develop fitness over a wider spectrum, so I've managed to work yoga style gymnastics back into my routine, primarily as active rest. What I need to do now is worm in one running session a week and rotational work for my shoulders and I should be fine--I think.

But this was a digression. I intended to say something totally different after mentioning my soreness, and I forgot what it was. Was I going to bitch about doing air squats in JKD? Try to convince myself to only take one hour of JKD tonight? Eesh, I can't friggin remember.

Long Time No See

I'm happy to report to my army of none, that I'm not dead, allow me to bring you up to speed.

1. I'm studying for the GRE
2. I'm applying to grad programs in Creative Writing
3. My dog has had several haircuts
4. I'm afraid I'm going to lose my girlfriend.
5. I'm trying to drastically overhaul the way I do conditioning work
6. Food Poisoning whupped my ass
7. The Writer's Strike is over (hooray!)

The following have not changed:
1. I'm STILL a white belt in all disciplines
2. I still attend martial arts classes with near obsessive devotion
3. I'm still haunted by the trauma
4. George W. Bush is still a petulant mongoloid fuck
5. No one reads this blog but me


Will try to get back in the once a day habit, and maybe even expand on some of the changes in the former list...but don't count on it.

Don't neglect the blog

Having your ears drained can be a very painful experience. I was surprised, in fact, by how much my left ear hurt. It was raw, sensitive, before the needle touched the skin, and boy howdy did it seem to last forever. It seemed to last so long in fact, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could remain still. I had to focus and force myself from pulling away.

If you’ve seen the Lynch version of Dune—a fun albeit flawed film—then think of the pain box. Kyle McLaughlin puts his hand in the box, the box cranks the pain level by exponential leaps and bounds but if he moves his hand the priestess will stab him in the neck with a poisoned needle thingy (there are a lot of “thingies” in this version of dune. The bladeless helicopter thingie, the internal monologue thingie, and of course the weird solid light armor box thingie).

So yeah, it was like that. A few days later I had to return and have the right one taken care of. It was unpleasant, but certainly not in the realm of excruciating.

Odd then, that the left ear was a horrible experience, yet I didn’t curse. I like to curse, and people in pain tend to curse; in fact, for the first 12 hours I believe my descriptive lexicon consisted of “golly” “man alive!” and “highly unpleasant”

My memory isn’t perfect but in 29 years I have NEVER even thought the phrase “man alive!” Is that even a real phrase?! Where the fuck did I get that from?? I know not, seems a bit redundant though. Men do tend to be alive.

Bodies

Haven’t been around lately have I? I was prepping for my first tournament. It was yesterday. I had two matches one no-gui and one gui. I lost both matches too the same opponent, who seemed like a stand-up guy and didn’t appear to outweigh me by much. Surprisingly, I did better in the no-gui than the gui. I went the distance: single 4 minute round plus one round OT. In the gui he caught me in a triangle. I held out as long as I could but when he rolled me I knew I was fucked. I reluctantly brought my hand up to tap, was then surprised by how weakly I tapped, then went into convulsions. I was conscious of this. Normally, if this happens to someone they pass out FIRST. I remember being calm and realizing what was happening to me I took a deep yoga breath and regained bodily control

If there are any white belts reading this or MMA guys let me tell you what I learned from the experience:

1. If one cannot pass guard in the span of a yoga breath, then you don’t know how to pass guard.
2. Do not think of passing guard as merely a transition, it is an offense maneuver that allows you to establish dominance.
3. My instructor taught me to fight for superior position, don’t just say fuck it and go to guard. However, there are plenty of white belts who do this and even from the stand up phase, call it the “flying guard” if you will. Do not let them get away with this. Find a way to pass guard before you hit the ground, submitthem if you know how.

4. My triangle defense sucks, my takedowns need work too.
5. No-gui can move at break neck pace, proper conditioning requires sprint work as well as running a hard mile.

6. Even though my logic behind entering this tournament was sound, try to space out your competitive events more than a few weeks, 2-3 in a four month span, with about a month between each, and even that is pushing it.

Also, I think the massive number of strawberry burns may be indicative of poor form on my part (no one else seems to get them), but I don’t know what exactly I’m doing wrong.

I’ll try to be better about posting this week.

The State of Things

You’d think I’d have a lot to say considering I started teaching today. Nope. English is English. ENC 1101 or ENG 101 or Introduction to Writing blah blah it’s the same thing. The schools change only in a vague architectural sense. Some are prisons. Others are disorienting Rorschach blotches, while others are just messes dumped in different parts of the city. The students don’t change and neither does the bureaucracy. As they say in Hollywood, Nobody knows anything. And that’s really that. My schedule is the only things that really changes.

Heck, there isn’t much to report on the martial art front either. I think I’m starting to develop a better sense of body awareness and defense in BJJ, and my punches and kicks are marginally better in JKD.

Home front: Shared the details of my fight (sister) with a friend of mine. He believes that my reaction was understandable. “Had I been there I would have tried to hold you back…until that last comment. I would have helped you chase her down.” He was amazed I didn’t kill her the next time I saw her. Some of my friends think I have amazing emotional control, but if so it is sorely taxed in any familial argument. Although I gotta tell ya, if it wasn’t for the whole anonymity thing, I wouldn’t be using the word “sister.” I might not even be willing to acknowledge a familial relationship, but I’ve got continuity issues to manage so as not to confuse my readership of two.

Getting my asked kicked: its raining very bad men

I will be elated when the BJJ class becomes a true Gui BJJ class, and not merely an opportunity for high school wrestlers to throw me around, content to pummel me with their superior stamina and knowledge of strength based grappling. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is good to mix things up. Its good for BJJ practitioners to get a taste of Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling, but we’re not being instructed in classical wrestling so its really frustrating when we start to spar and those wrestling fucks chuck the stuff we learned out the window and wale on me. Wrestling sparring is like a sprint or trying to run a fast mile. Your conditioning has to be tip top. Although mine is certainly above average, I got a painful lesson last night in how wanting it is. How wanting? About 15 oz of vomit wanting. And the worst part about that was I couldn’t do it in the dojo where there was a bathroom, nooooooooo. My body waited until I was on the road, in what felt like the longest ten minute drive in the history of ever. I was light headed. I was exhausted. When I got home I lay prone in the bathtub while the shower blasted a stream of water that beat my chest like some kind of machine gun percussion instrument.

Twelve minutes. That’s the time total I did sparring drills. I had breaks for christ’s sake! I am wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get my body into proper shape for the Martial Arts and now I’ve got to work on conditioning on top of everything else. I have patella femoral syndrome (knee problems) I don’t even know if I can run a hard mile safely! Fuck fuck fuck!!!

I need short burst, intense cardiovascular training. I need power. I need skill, flexibility, and the knowledge to facilitate these things, and kids I am scrounging for it.

Don’t mean to whine. It’s just frustrating. I have an easier time being out skilled than I do being beaten by poor cardio. The first is external, the latter is internal.

The bad man is gassing

My groin is feeling better, not 100% but I’ve been playing things conservatively. Even though I didn’t want to, I skipped BBJ tonight to give it more time to heal. I did some weight training though (back), and 45 minutes on an elliptical rider.

My tummy is feeling a bit queasy.

Trauma and Body Blows

I just experienced a moment of absolute frustration. My girlfriend was raped and I couldn’t do anything. I lay on the floor wondering if my last meal would be a Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza (supreme). I’d be lying if I said my dive into Martial Arts had nothing to do with the event. Clearly it does, in fact, I’m almost certain I want to work towards a black belt, but that would mean staying here.

I was accepted into the film MFA production program at University of Miami, but I deferred for various reasons: not sure if our relationship could stand the stress, cost, and they waited to the last second to tell me. I hadn’t even looked at the campus. If I stay here I’m going to have pursue another degree of some kind. I am, unfortunately, one of those poor unfortunate souls addicted to student life. I have an MA in lit, but theory isn’t my passion, although some aspects of it fascinate me. The world of nine to five bores me, I tire of it easily. Academics are paid in free time moreso than cash, which does allow them opportunities to pursue other interests, but like I said I’m addicted; I never said I loved it passionately. There are times when I’m disgusted by the beaurocracy, the absurd tendency to overspecialization. You can’t just get a degree in creative writing, you have to focus on fiction OR poetry OR nonfiction etc. This discourages experimentation and gives the Ivory tower a little bit too much say in what qualifies as good writing—genre writing, no matter what anyone says, is seriously downplayed.

Make the bad man stop 2

I’ve tried to tread lightly with the groin injury today, and boy howdy I hate treading lightly. I kept an ice pack between my inner thigh and my scrotum on and off for about eight hours today. I think I succeeded in sterilizing myself; my girlfriend will never have to worry about a leaky condom again.

I’m lucky to have parents who run their own medical practice. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as ibuprofen cream.

Normally I do my leg workout on Tuesdays but thought better of it, opting to do my shoulders instead. I didn’t do any cardio work at the gym, rather I just did a beginner JKD workout at the dojo. I think it was 85 degrees in there. Add that to the one hour workout and I think, considering my injury it’s a sensible cardio workout. Once this heels I’m going to start attending both the level 1 workout and the level 2 workout proceeding it, but learning the choreography of these combinations is driving me batty. Plus, I feel a little guilty. I’m not exactly a wiz when its my turn to hold the..er..target thingies. I don’t like thinking I jipped someone out of their workout (even the beginners seem light years ahead of me).

I’m starting to rethink my whole approach to weightlifting, cardio, etc. I need to develop a workout that will promote better flexibility, focus on increasing strength even at the cost of muscle mass.

I need power, I need speed, I need better endurance, and I need better flexibility.

I hope I’m not going to have to make a lot of changes to my diet.

BTW While I’m thinking MMA, my partner tonight was pushing me to keep my guard up, but is it me or do a lot of the UFC/Pride/WEC guys employ a low guard? Mere sloppiness or is there a tactical reason for doing so?

Make the bad man stop

BBJ was nasty tonight. We spent most of practice doing drills where the man in the guard position couldn't use his hands, AND he had to keep an open guard. This drill is a great way to build endurance and make you stronger in the guard position...Too bad my left inner thigh told me to go fuck myself. On the very first drill I felt something...pop?...give?..I'm worried. If I'm lucky I merely pulled my groin, if I'm unlucky I tore it. SO naturally I had to tough it out and cycle through the drill as many times as Sifu ran it. I'm icing it now, and it ain't easy trying to ice your inner thigh without freezing your testicles.

When I came home there was glass all over the kitchen floor all the dogs were loose, and somebody peed on the side of my bed. Suffice to say I was nonplussed.

BTW A Sifu is like a Sensai. I think the difference is a sufi is a title for Kung Fu practitioners...at least I think that's what it correlates to.

JKD

I've mentioned before I've started taking a class in BBJ/Submission Wrestling. I'm also taking a beginner's course in Jeet Kune Do. The more I learn about JKD the more I like it. (I think Bruce Lee's impact on history has been severly underestimated).

I went outside to practice some boxing combinations, but I could only remember two! So I did my best to flow from one to the other and alternate lead hands.

If anyone could recommend some training texts for beginners I'd be much obliged, as I need something to compensate for my absent mindedness.

Oy

You know that feeling when you're at a loss for words? Imagine experiencing that every time your girlfriend needs your support. I need a speech writer. I'd like to expound on this, but I just got my ass kicked in a Brazilian Ju-Jitsu class. Ah, the healing power of violence.