Can you donate $10 for Orphans?

A friend of mine is riding all the way around one of our local lakes (Lake Okeechobee) to raise money for International Orphan Support. Any donation you can make is appreciated...but all we're asking is $10. So check it out, donate, pass it on!

Here's the Crowdrise site: http://www.crowdrise.com/120forOrphansRide





Thanks!!

Eating tips don't work for foodies.

Know what that is? It's a picture I took on vacation. I photograph a lot of food...memorable meals, recipes gone right and wrong. I plan trips around restaurant offerings. Right now, I'm thinking of hitting up Vancouver for days of seafood and evenings of training. Food is a big deal to me. I am genuinely, at my core, what you call a foodie (gourmand if you want to sound fancier.) Starting BJJ has me thinking more deeply about eating right. Now, healthful eating is real. Almost a necessity. And I feel conflicted.

Somebody pinch me, I think I'm enjoying group activities.

And not just on an individual level. As an introvert, I'm almost hesitant to admit this, but between BJJ and church, I'm beginning to genuinely appreciate community*. One big qualifier though...there has to be a point. That point has to be easily identifiable and that "point" has to be shared. Any members that don't get the point, need to be corrected or gotten rid of ASAP.

Great organizational book. Great.

I've been a member of a lot of communities in my time...family, race, church, dance, college, Chinese learners, and probably a few I didn't even realize. The ones that were true communities, truly supportive, truly focused and truly mindful of people are and have been amazing.

I can honestly say that after having experienced organizations that can work and function productively, I have more of a belief in what they can accomplish than ever. I've developed a genuine enjoyment of the existence of positive organizations.


*Not to say that we introverts don't need or can't thrive in communities, we just form  and join them differently (read: smaller/slower)

Thought patterns tripping me up

So that basic butterfly sweep I was having issues with. I was just cleaning out my email and found a GrappleArts Newsletter devoted to that very topic. Yays:) Turns out I was getting stalled (and frustrated) during the hip switch because it just felt insanely difficult. I drilled it a few times in class and decided I wasn't strong enough and needed to go home and work on some shoulder bridging to get stronger.

It just hit me though, that considering how long I've been doing this, my build and the principles behind the art, "not strong enough" is seldom going to be the issue. (The actual issue was, as it turns out, that I was trying to brace all my weight on my head/shoulder and not putting any on my inside leg).

There are still all these weird little bits of insecurities I have left over from when I first started. These are the big ones I've noticed (and why I logically know they're not true).

• I'm not strong enough-I've always been strong enough for pretty much anything. I used to have big issues handling my bodyweight, but FlowFit has helped with that a lot. 
• I'm not coordinated enough-straight up not true. I've always had above-average coordination. If I'm doign something wrong, it's because I don't understand the theory behind the move.
• I'm not smart enough-again...just not true. I used to theorize that the kind of "smart" I am wasn't the kind of "smart" I needed to be for BJJ and that I was just doomed to suffer or quit. I'm not exactly a kinetic genius, but I've got enough body awareness to learn and execute what I need to. 
• I'm not flexible enough-Even with my tight groin and hamstrings, I'm still more flexible than most guys that train. 

What I've noticed is usually going on is that...

• I don't understand the theory-big deal for me. Huge deal for me. 
• I'm not being aggressive enough-I underestimate how much momentum plays a part is certain technical elements. 
• I'm trying not to hurt a smaller partner. I'm much less concerned and more open to learning with a larger partner. 

I can't really hold them against myself. I'm working against a couple of decades of ignorance of physical activity. What I can do though, is be aware of them when they crop up and learn how to work past them. 

First night back...charlie horse.

Sad spider is sad again, sadly.

Last night was one of the hardest I've had in a while. Point blank I left feeling incompetent, questioning whether or not I can do this with any reasonable expectation of success. That was almost certainly fueled by my expectation that my time off would have amounted to some amazing cementing process, allowing my body and mind to become one, awesome jiu jitsu machine.

Yeah...that totally didn't happen. What DID happen, was that I got stomped by a white belt. I know, I know...the three months I spent trying to not get worse, he was spending getting better. I know he weighs 220+. I know he's a he. I know my full guard is all messy because I'm just coming off an injury. Funny how little emotions listen to reason.

So we started from the knees and I took KickboxerInstructor's advice of someone taking the top and someone taking the bottom (as to not waste time with unrealistic grip fighting). I went for the bottom since this guy was stripping my grips like crazy and pretty aggressively. He pinned a thigh to the ground, passed my guard and ended up in half. I'm honestly floored by how bad I am about making decisions on how to get out of side control/bottom half. Well, he started passing with some nasty shoulder pressure and I tapped to that alone. I don't think I've ever done that with ANYONE, but I felt pressure on my neck/jaw that felt like, had he decided to apply a bit more, would have cracked my face open or injured my neck.

We reset.

I was feeling a lot of strength and quick, hard movements from him, so I fell to guard again. He started to pass and normally, I take the few extra moments my long legs give me to set up grips for spider...well...my foot tweakiness has almost completely eliminated that time, so as soon as he started to pass, he was able to get a knee up and smash my left thigh down again. Pass again. Lapel grip. Mount. Choke. Futile defense. Tap.

We reset.

I decided it was time for me to try to start from the top. After grip fighting he fell back with me in his full guard. I started passing and he set up a sweep which failed. I fell to the side and got him in my guard. CHARLIE HORSE. I winced as he smashed my left leg once again. Some other stuff happened and choke. This time though, it wasn't set up properly and I decided not to tap. Then he started doing something that completely caught me off guard. He started pulling my upper body up off the mat and pushing it back down while holding the choke. Did it about 3 times. I can't say it did anything to make the choke tighter or correct, but I tapped just to avoid being someone's choking experiment.

Next roll was with BlondeBlueBelt who I absolutely adore. After a musclee roll like the previous one though, I read his usual helpfulness as patronization, which I think was totally in my head. He defended my beloved triangle from mount properly, which no one has ever done before, so I learned of a new hole. He then submitted me in two triangles because of arm placement mistakes I was making when passing open guard, which he later pointed out and explained.

I felt light-headed and dizzy, so after we lined up, I spent a few more seconds with Blue, going over what got me caught in those triangles. I left immediately...the earliest I've ever left on a Friday. Said goodnight to no one. No waves through the glass while walking to my car. I noticed that the sun was still up, which I knew meant I was leaving crazy early.

This though, is what I love about blogging. Up until I sat down to write, I'd totally forgotten about drilling with NewBlondeWhitebelt and his gas issues and me telling him about my...incident in a very quiet gym when I first started. I'd forgotten about BlondeBlueBelt mistaking my commentary on his beard for me offering him a beer (gotta love mouthguard-ese). Writing it out also got me thinking that I may need to talk to dude about wrenching chokes. On top of that, I'd forgotten that I need to work on staying tight in butterfly sweeps and the spider guard sweep I'd learned from a purple just before the boot. I covered a lot of specific things that will be good for me, but I forgot them all last night because of a very uncomfortable round.

So I guess things will even out as I, out of necessity, learn to branch out beyond full guard and deal with stronger, heavier, musclier opponents.

Do you shower too hard?

I was going to ask if you shower too much, but considering I shower both too frequently and too aggressively, I decided to change the title.

Two weeks of not training is enough time to feel like your life has reset to pre-training status. Long story short, I feel fat and clean. Amazing, since I've only been showering twice a day recently. So no gym contact along with a case of some very uncool mat-nasty has me reexamining my showering practices.

A Dornbracht shower. Ain't it purdy?

So I'm going to roll with The Part Time Grappler's theme of skin care. I ran across this article on showering frequency and, not surprisingly, those of us on the North American continent spend WAY too much time getting clean. What DID surprise me though, is the recommendation that medical personnel not shower immediately before a procedure since washing with non-antibacterial soap just disturbs colonies of skin-critters as opposed to getting rid of them. It also recommended against the "Japanese" exfoliating rag I've been using for...years now. I love the thing. I even got my brother one because where he lives in Japan (strangely, where nobody had heard of said rag), towels and washcloths go funky overnight and this thing holds almost no water. Apparently, I'm doing my skin more harm than good by shredding off the upper layer twice a day. Dah well. Back to the washing board.