The Lapel Chronicles

Lapels are still a mystery to me anywhere outside the world of drills, but I've found them useful in baiting limbs out of bad or into good positions.

We've worked a couple half-guard escapes over the past couple weeks and all of a sudden I'm hyper aware of how shaky my balance is there.

I felt pretty...slow-learnin' tonight. Not because I got submitted by a white belt that was laying on my face, but I think because I just felt slow...mentally...that's when I feel the worst...and it's hit me that that happens when my mind is tired...and after a 2 day trip to Nashville during which I slept no more than 3 hrs at a time, then ended up working late on the most evil reports known to man, my mind was shot. During my last roll, one of the higher belts, Cuban Blue, said I was getting a lot better. Beyond timely. It's amazing how one class can wipe away the stress of a week.

Back to that white belt. I didn't actually do anything better with him, but the places my mind went were much improved. He had my arm pinned behind my body with pure strength and held tight there. That's happened before, but this was the first time that I stopped, and started thinking of what options I had with only one free arm, especially considering that he too, had only one free arm.