Pain and concentration...

November 21, 2009

The warmups are finally getting easier, but I'm finding myself even more tired at the end of class. This past class I came the closest I ever have to passing out. We learned defense against an armbar. I drilled that and armbars 20 or so times and we started rolling. My first roll was with the ginastica natural intructor. Very informative roll but I felt a little off. I was too tired to apply anything I'd learned. The defense requires you to roll your opponent up on his shoulders and my hips and shoulders were exhausted.

My second round was with a guy I'd never rolled with before. When you first start, instructors place you with very careful higher level students. As you progress, you end up with more...intense...partners. He was still a blue belt (I was terrified I'd end up with another white belt and we'd injure each other terribly.) but he was less restrained than my previous partners. I took a couple of hard grazes to the face and really felt like I genuinely had to fight to maintain any defense. It wasn't bad though. I'm beginning to wonder if my weight class and gender has me exposed to a wider range of rolling partners than most people. I have a solid 50+lbs and over 6" on the women I'm paired with.

We finished rolling and lined up to close class. I was horribly dizzy. It took everything I had to stand up straight and bow properly. I made my way down the line shaking hands and was thankful there wasn't much food on my stomach since it would have been all over the mat at that point. Somehow I made it to the end but about half way off the mat, I realized I wasn't going to make it back to my water, so I sat down next to the heavy bags to rest. Then everyone started whispering. Then an alarm started sounding. Oddly no one was reacting. Turns out I just thought they were whispering. I only thought an alarm was going off. My hearing was almost gone. I sat for a bit longer but still saw nothing but mouths moving behind a loud buzzing. I crossed my legs in front of me and lowered my head to the mat. My hearing gradually returned. I made it to the sidelines and ended up driving home in my gi since I didn't have it in me to change.

In my exploration of the world of bodyweight exercises, I ran across an interesting theory. The idea is that different things slow men and women down in their training progress. Women feel discomfort and back off before real gain is realized. Men think pain is progress and are slowed down by injury. This explains the differences in my friends' reactions when I told them about my hearing issue. The men: "Great! You made it through!". The women: "That's terrible!" As usual, I'm guessing the best route is somewhere in between going deaf and turning around at the door.
...I still don't recognize a triangle when I get one started.