My breathing machine

I've mentioned it a couple of times before, but I have a horrible lung capacity. Years ago, I tested at about 40% of a normal adult's. I want to concentrate on a couple of physical shortcomings I have this year and lung capacity is a BIG one for BJJ, so I bought a volumetric exerciser. It's a handy, inexpensive little gadget that both measures and helps you increase your lung capacity. Here's a video of my first try...

I didn't record this part, but to get started, you look up the ideal capacity of an adult your gender, height and weight, adjust the slide and go from there, exhaling normally inserting the mouth piece and breathing in with control. As you can see, I hit about 1500/3200 to start, so I'm up to about 47%.

You're supposed to do it about 20 times a day. Between recording and writing this, I've done it about five and I've cracked 1500. The "Rx only" label made me a bit wary, but since I've had a doctor tell me I need to increase my lung capacity, I figure that's good enough an Rx for something whose purchase isn't regulated. Stay tuned for updates...

Men DO notice little details.

...when they're related to sports that is...

So I've been wearing Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in Lime Lights. Didn't really like it at first, and I'm still not a huge fan, but apparently, when you paint your nails a color that matches the mats, guys notice. From "nice nails!" to "pretty green nails!", the pastel take on our mat borders have been a hit.

"Did you paint your nails to match the mats?!"
"Yeah!!"
"Really??"
"...no."

I was around push-up number 20 today, stationed next to one of the kids who'd noticed I'd changed my color to a less respectable cafe au lait color.

"Why don't you have the green anymore??"
"Gotta keep things exciting."
"Awww."

I should totally start a line of BJJ themed polishes...Garish Gi White...Black and Blue Bombshell...Mat Burnt Umber...Ringwo...I'll stop now.

And the Matty goes to...

I had so much fun at NAGA!  I went to support and to check it out.I arrived at FAU and started texting and calling, trying to find my way to the ladies' competition area. As I was searching for my team, I looked to my right and saw a face that looked familiar. It was Allie! ...and Jennifer! I've never met anyone from blog-land before and it was really cool. It was great to see both these ladies in action after reading so much about their relationships with BJJ.

I gotta say...I'm thinking about competing now. Even just helping the ladies get ready was a blast. I honestly expected the rounds to be more intense than they were. My only concern now is being able to last the number of fights I might have to without passing out or vomiting.

A few moments really stuck out to me though. Specifically for their softness. A year in and the contrast of the softness of the personalities and interactions and the hardness of the sport STILL get to me.

Happiest moment: One of the first things I noticed was how happy the fathers and husbands were. I mean beaming from ear to ear, toting around kids, helping wives and girlfriends with their gis. I honestly can't say I've seen that anywhere else. I get it though. Where else in life do men get to bring their families AND participate in/watch something so man-tastic?

Most insightful moment: Later I was sitting a few people down from Parrumpha, waiting to start videoing one of my teammate's rounds. A guy came up and sat down and started discussing the reasons he got into BJJ...specifically because he finds the lifestyle so much more peaceful than others he could have chosen. From what I've experienced, I'm guessing he's right.

Most hardcore moment of the day: There was a lady breast-feeding between competition rounds. She almost missed a round because her husband was fighting and she didn't have anyone else to watch her child. That's hardcore.

Cutest moment of the day: A lady was up competing and had gotten caught on the bottom. All of a sudden I heard her seven year old son's pre-pubescent voice burst across the mats "You can do this, Mom! You can do this!"

Most touching moment of the day: I love any situation where cultures and ages and lifestyles are mixed up and people are broken down to their core elements. One of my teammates had a difficult round and was taking it pretty badly. We were sitting and talking to her, and I took a quick look at what was going on. Ages ranging from 10 to 41, bounty hunter, professional, firefighter, student, Black, White, Mexican, male, female...all sitting together trying to boost the spirits of someone else. The quickness with which the kids and teens run to support a discouraged adult touches me the most. I can't name one other place I've ever seen any of this happen...ever.

So yeah...the competition question is still up in the air for me, but after seeing one up close, I'm kinda excited about the prospect. 

"You're kinda...thick."

I don't know if there's any other place on Earth where men can comment on a woman's weight/body without fear of violating cultural taboos...ok...except maybe the American South.

Last night I was drilling with a new white belt. Looks to be late 30s to early 40s...6'2", medium frame, not fluffy, but not super ripped either. The guy is powerful. I don't move easily and he was tossing me pretty well. We were working butterfly sweeps and he looks at me and says "you're...heavier...than...you look. You're kinda...thick." Being Black-American, I'm used to the word "thick" being a commentary on the visual impression of the size of a woman's hips, thighs and behind. So by "thick" I'm guessing he means "dense". That didn't surprise me though. Apparently, even when I was a child, people would come to pick me up, and after feeling how much I actually weighed, would stop and put me back down.

Sitting at lunch today after NAGA and discussing diet plans over the next year, I realized that these types of conversations don't occur often in mixed company...and, seeing as we had one new grappler, and one non-grappler at the table...that they could likely be off-putting to newcomers.

I don't want to leave the impression that men are commenting on women's weight left at right at the gym. I'd already opened the door for weight discussion with the white belt I mentioned. A couple weeks ago, when one of the kids couldn't get his legs around my waist, he immediately said "it's not you, it's my stubby little legs". The rest still tend to stumble and stutter whenever the topic comes up.

I've honestly found the openness about weight and size to be comforting. I think it's a good thing for women, seeing as we frequently have issues tackling not just the issues of body weight, but also having objective conversations about our bodies overall. My vocalizing that I have the "arms of a condor, legs of a spider and the body of a beetle" likely wouldn't have happened pre-BJJ, and I know it's been good for me.

Women hitting men.

I've been seeing the trailer to Nick Cage's Drive Angry a lot lately and it's ruffling some feathers of mine that have been settled for a good while.



It first came up when I saw the trailer for the first Tomb Raider, and saw Angelina Jolie's stringy arms and legs throwing punches and kicks all over the screen. I knew it was a movie and that her thinly muscled punches and kicks were just as fictional as the CGI creatures that were crawling across the walls.

It still bothered me.

And it's bothering me even more now. I know, I know..."girl-power" is a theme that sells to both men and women. I STILL find it disturbing displayed in a way that could potentially go so wrong and I know the frequent smallness of fighting women is displayed to protect their appeal to men in the audience.

One of the white-belt moms at the gym said it best when she saw her daughter hitting one of the boys. "Don't hit someone unless you're ready to get hit back." How many women are REALLY ready to get hit by a man. I was always told the same thing by my parents and I took it seriously.

I've never been hit or attacked by a man, but training BJJ has given me new perspective on just how powerful they CAN be when they want to exert force. Sometimes it's formidable. Others, it's just plain frightening...especially when you know they're holding back...somehow you can feel the potential behind a choke, even if a guy's only going 50%. Even if I trained striking (and I'd love to hear the opinions from the ladies out there that do) I doubt I'd be able to withstand too many blows from a guy my size, or even smaller...and I'm betting that's why, when discussing self defense in my first class at the gym, my instructor told me that they never train women to stand and exchange blows with a man.

I haven't seen the movie yet, so maybe she's got some psycho Muay Thai skills, and I know that there are women out there that do hit incredibly hard, but scenes and movies like the one above give a false impression of what a woman needs to make any real impact on a man in a fight. 

"She's a green belt...she can defeat ANYBODY!!"

I was drilling with FireFighter Lady when her daughter walked by and shouted that from the other side of the cage. My first thought was "You OBVIOUSLY were too busy doing homework to watch me roll." She's a funny kid.

It was a funny night of comments...from "Look at your pretty green nails!" to "I can't roll with you like a lady anymore..." to "You're NOT competing?"

All this talk of NAGA and GrapplersQuest has me considering the competition deal once again. Nothing soon, but just down the road one day. I'm still looking at this BJJ thing from more of an artistic/self defense point of view to be honest and I still don't trust myself to keep reasonable perspective on training for a competition.

The mat was split into sides of those competing and those not. PrettyVoicedInstructor saw me go over to the side of the room that wasn't and with a look of surprise and furrowed brow mouthed "You're not competing?". I looked surprised right back and mouthed "nooo..." Even the idea of me competing seems funny...yes, because I still feel quite incapable, though I know that has little to do with it. I think it's because I feel like the last person in the gym they'd want wearing the school patch at tournament. Maybe that's not entirely true.