Spoiler alert: I was for work stuff in Jyväskylä at exactly the same time as the Finnish Championships in BJJ. The weekend of Week 3 of the basic course. Of course I did not have time to see anything of the competition myself. Sigh. At class, The Learning of New Things Continued.
Lesson 7: Rolling, a bit.
- I don’t have worries about rolling, as in doing BJJ with a partner, but my rolls, as in rotating my body, are far from ideal. I have learned to do backwards and forwards rolls over the shoulder, but my legs are rarely ending up in the preferred position.
- I finally got the general idea of the sideways roll. I had to bend my upper body against my legs! I’m advancing!
- I did not have the muscles to stand up from guard. I just didn’t. But standing up with one leg was enough to break my smaller training partner’s guard with the opposite hand.
- Sparring did not make me die from exhaustion this time. It might have been more light than usual, or I’m getting used to this exercise thing.
Lesson 8: Attacks and Triangles.
- Second biggest person attending class let me practice takedowns with him. I’m the largest, so it was awfully brave of him.
- A single-leg takedown is also very satisfying. As in, the move where you basically trip your opponent from behind. If they grab you, you can just use the opponent’s motion to mount them.
- As I was still dealing with Emotional Work Stuff from the weekend before, I have gleefully forgotten most things we did in class this time.
- Triangle chokes appear like something you should employ with great responsibility. I had to tap out almost instantly.
- My knee was injured, so couldn’t spar. Instead I used to opportunity to practice those pesky rolls. The instructor has promised to show me how to do a common-or-garden forward roll. As in the thing that little children do. I was always terrifies of breaking my neck when I was little, so I just never really learned to do any.
- Do to being a #fathlete, I wasn’t able to do as many sprawls in a row as my more limber classmates. I’m still glad I managed to do any at all.
- Met another friendly person in the changing room. Why are so many martial artists so happy to chat? Are they just confident in the fact that if the other person turns out to be a twonk, they could really eff them up? Not that they necessarily would, of course. But it makes you wonder.
- TW: this point is about nutrition. I am able to eat mostly sensibly on training days, which is good news. It’s just not smart to stuff myself full of junk and then to hit the mats.
Week 4 was the week I knew BJJ is going to be my thing. I don’t mind doing something difficult and tiring it takes ages to get good at.
