Mountains to Mats

Thank fuck the week is over! I had lots of ups and downs. The downs mainly consisted of being at a shit fuck job that I hate. It’s hard to stay in a good mood when the first thing through my head in the morning is the fear of doing something I hate, for the rest of my life, and the last thing I think about before bed is the loathing I have for the job…

I made it to Jiu Jitsu 3 times this week. It’s always great being there, but there was also a lot of frustration. Monday’s class was all about defending the back. We learned/reviewed several escapes. After drilling we did rounds where we started with someone on our back and had to get out. If we got out or were submitted, we started over. I was horrible at this. And it seemed that when I was on someone’s back, they didn’t need to fight very hard before they were free. Maybe this is why I have never RNCed anyone before. I guess it’s another thing to work on. Rolling was ok. I didn’t get to work on any of the goals I had set out, but over all it was good.

Wednesday’s class was small. Myself, Sean, and Matt. We warmed up with a couple lockflows. #2 and #5 if I’m not mistaken. #2 was fine. I shit the bed at #5. I need a lot more para rice at it. We did a few rounds of guard passing/retention drills. That went ok. Against Matt I was able to over power him and reach my goals. Exactly the opposite of what I wanted to do. He is so good though. It’s hard not to revert to power when all I can think about trying not to be embarrassed by him. Of course, when I went with Sean I tried to use my power. Unfortunately, Sean is every bit as strong as me, not to mention 10+ years younger. Let’s just say that I wasn’t successful with him. After a quick rest we rolled. I did surprisingly well against Matt. But I was defense the whole time. I got a take down and then spent the rest of the time avoiding his submissions. We ended with him trying to knee bar me and me trying to toehold him. Good roll. Sean completely raped me. He landed submission after submission. He hit a flying armbar, the Gordian knot, and even a chicken wing. I was hella sore after that.

Thursday I was in a really shitty mood. I did not want to be at class. I forced myself to go. We worked in lockflow #4 for a bit. While being the guinea pig for Sean, he accidentally kicked me In the face. It was a hard kick. I saw stars. Especially seeing as how I didn’t expect it. I have a big shiner today. Next we went into mount escape drill. Basically timed rounds where someone starts mounted. The goal is to sweep or regain guard. The top player has the goal of retaining mount or submitting. He can switch to side or north/south as well. I was submitted a bunch or just plain stuck. Yuck. Next we did a north/south escape. It involved going inverted. My fat ass is not meant to go inverted. It’s going to take a lot of practice to get that. We started to learn and new lockflow as well. Rolling were 5 min rounds from the ground. I managed to keep Sean from submitting me (I have no idea how) and actually threatened with a fist choke. That was it… I did a round with Mike after that. I can not move that mountain of a man. At 285+ lbs, he puts his weight on me and I can’t move. I managed to escape once or twice, but couldn’t get him in to any position to threaten. Lastly I rolled with Tyler. He’s very slick and very fast. I passed a couple of times and swept him only to be swept back. He almost guillotined me and almost Kimuraed me.

Somewhere in one of our scrambles, my arm got trapped underneath us. It torched at a weird angle. At first I thought my ulna broke. My arm went numb. It hurt like a son of a bitch. Then when I got home, I thought maybe I tore a muscle in my forearm, but there was no pooling of blood under the skin. I’m not sure what happened. Last night I couldn’t open and close my hand. If I forced it, the muscles that you use for grip would burn (not like fatigue) and pain would radiate down my whole lower arm. Today it still pains a lot. I have pins and needles down it. I no longer think its broken, but I injured it for sure. I’m too stubborn to go to a doctor. There’s not a whole hell of a lot they could do for it anyways. Just rest and time I guess. I hope it’s better by next weekend. I have a tourney in Ottawa.

I have a couple days off work now to recharge my batteries. Tomorrow I am staying home with the kids while my lovely wife goes to Montreal to have a Muay Thai fight. We couldn’t find anyone to watch the kids… I’m sure she will do fine. She’s pretty good.