A good night

We had a small class tonight.

I was the only white belt, and the only person without a gi. My gi got delayed and won't be here until next week at the earliest. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be here for the next two weeks.

Anyways, the blue belts just wanted to roll, because most of them are fighting in NAGA on the 6th of APR. I won't be here. But they wanted to just sweat. Anyways, they were all kind enough to impart pearls of wisdom onto me as we rolled. I honestly think I learned more than I would of had we just been drilling the whole time.

Anyways, this blog will most likely be silent for the next two weeks. I might pop in and talk about the mundaneness of my annual training, but we'll see.

I'm pretty bad at Jiu Jitsu.

Well, another monday class is down.

I hope that I start showing improvement soon. So far, when rolling, I get curbstomped. There is one guy there who claims to have started the same week as me, but he's really good. I think he's done BJJ in the past, because he was going really hard and putting people into shit we've never seen before. Nobody can do the stuff he's doing without actually having been instructed in it at some point.

So I call bullshit.

And I don't really like that when I ask him go easy (so I can work on position and technique), he decides to bum rush me, kick me in the nuts repeatedly, and generally act like a dick. I could actually tell by looking at the dude that he was going to act that way.

Anyways, we had our black belt in class today. He only comes in a couple times a week, so its always good when he comes in. He taught us a new guard pass and how to transition from being in guard, to side control, to rear mount. Drilling was beneficial.

I have realized that I'm not going to get better by just trying to fight my way out. That'll work on small people, but I need technique. I get tired too easily (due to CFS) to try to get in a prolonged struggle. Thats why I wasn't really interested in rolling at full speed.

I get the need for live resistance and rolling to get better, but development needs to be done incrementally.

Oh yeah! I checked on my gi today. The people at MMAOutlet.com said that it should be in the mail tomorrow. I'm not going to get to use it before I go to my annual training, but it'll be good to have when I get back.

Another good class

So Tuesdays and Thursdays are the intermediate class. There are a lot of senior blue belts in there that wiped the floor with me.  As such, I've decided to stick with Mondays and Wednesdays for awhile. At least until I get a few stripes.There was no drills tonight, just rolling for an hour. Stamina is something of an issue with me, since i have low testosterone and chronic fatigue syndrome.

I rolled with a girl who weighs probably 100 lbs soaking wet. She was a damned hellcat. Seriously, the only reason she didn't wipe the mat with me was her size. I could muscle out of everything she put me in...but i couldn't get her with anything. She was lighting fast too.

Then I rolled with some of the blue belts who kindly instructed me whilst inflicting pain upon me. It was a good experience, but really need to focus on the basics first and foremost.

Still waiting on my gi, MMAoutlet said it would be 2-7 days before it shipped, so I'm expecting it right in time for me to leave for my two weeks of annual military training.

Too Aggressive

Another good class tonight.

I finally met the main instructor, a brown belt named Joe. He was really good, and decided to roll with me after I'd taken on an intermediate blue belt and a white belt with only a month or so on me. I did well against the blue belt, so I'm happy. He couldn't submit me, but i couldn't get him either. The female white belt was laughably easy, so I spent our time rolling to instruct her on how to pass guard. I'm no expert on it, but she was completely lost.

When I rolled with Joe, he pointed out what he called my "white belt mistakes". Namely, I was being too aggressive...which is odd because last week Paul told me to be more aggressive. Another lesson I learned was DO NOT LOCK YOUR HEELS IN THE REAR MOUNT! Ouch.

I had a lot of fun.

I'm looking forward to getting my gi, it should ship out sometime this week. I feel bad trying to get collar chokes on my sparring partners when I don't have a collar for them to choke back with. I'm going to get a patch made for it (see my avatar, the stylized jolly roger).

Oh! I also started a spreadsheet to track my training! I think it'll be a good tool.

Anyways, another good class.

Why I'm sticking with BJJ

So, after going to a few sessions, I am liking BJJ. I think I'll stick with it.

Things I like:
1) The "Aliveness"

I come from Karate. I really did enjoy Karate, but it isn't "alive". Karate boils down to a few techniques of medicore effectiveness and a set of folk dances that you have to memorize to get promoted. Rob Redmons of 24FC once said "Karate is dead, its your job to bring it to life", or something to that effect. BJJ is the other way around, it breathes life into you.

2) Personality

BJJ allows me to be me. I don't have to conform my moves because the kata is done THIS way. I can come in, wear my black/pink/blue gi covered in my own patches, totally do things my own way, and still get a good result.

3) I get to choke people
Whats not to like about that?

4) It gets me off my ass
For a long time, I've been struggling with weight, depression, and fitness in general. I'm not unfit, but I also have chronic fatigue syndrome...makes it hard for me to a lot of things. The other night, I was rolling with the senior blue belt and I realized that I was covered in sweat and that I haven't worked out that hard, literally, since basic training 10 years ago.

5) I'm having fun
No explanation needed. I'm having a blast, and I'll stick with it as long as I do.

Anyways, I forgot to mention my Les Mills Combat results. I ended up losing 12 lbs in 60 days, which I think is pretty good. I feel a lot better, and I doubt I would have picked myself off the couch and went to BJJ without it.  My only problem is that after about 6 weeks, I got SO BORED.

I did order my gi, finally. Paul, one of the senior blue belts and instructors, recommended me getting blue or black. I ordered a Fuji black gi in A2. I hope it fits. I'm very excited, because I'm going to get a patch made of my logo to put on it :D

He also invited me to take place in a round robin tournament in June. I might not be able to, because its the saturday my wife was considering doing our daughter's first birthday party. I'm going to see if she can do it on sunday instead.

We'll see.

Keep Calm and Pirate On

Ok, so I finished my Les Mills Combat workout.
I lost a total of 11-12 lbs, and a few inches all around. I'm very happy with the results, because I didn't even follow the diet. Imagine what I could have done if I had the will power to tell pizza to fuck off.


Anyways, I've also, quite recently, stopped drinking all sodas completely. I'm drinking water and green tea exclusively. I also switched medications for low testosterone. I'm trying axiron now, and if that doesn't work, I'll start having to take shots.


I forgot to introduce myself in my last post. My name is Greg. I'm 27 and I'm from Kentucky. I work for the federal government as a contractor. I'm married to Amy, and we have an 8-month old daughter, Livvie. I also have a badass golden retriever, named Leonidas....or just Leo.

I went to class last night, even though I decided I'd probably only go twice a week. I wanted to check out different nights and see if there is a different format or anything. We went over two guard passes: The double under and the knee slide. I found them really easy, but again, I have previous experience.

Sometime during the drills, I pulled my groin a bit.

Despite being in a bit of pain, I participated in the live drills and sparring. My first sparring partner was Big Guy again. He came in late, changed, and hopped right in the the sparring, or rolling as its called in BJJ. I really need to learn some strategies for dealing with big mother fuckers, because he wiped the floor with me.

Then I rolled with the instructor, who is a senior blue belt and had 15 years of wrestling experience.
He's really good, and was instructing me the whole time we were rolling. I got a lot out of that, and he seemed impressed with some of the stuff I could do. He told me that for my third class, I'm doing better than he expected.

Again, I have a bit of experience, so I'm not brand new like most people just starting the class.

That said, I'm trying not to go into things with the mindset of "I know all this". The main advantage I've had, is I've had people try to choke me in live sparring before. Most of the new people have not, so they panic slightly when you get them in a bad situation.

Anyways, advil is awesome for a pulled muscle. Today I feel much better, so I'm hoping to be able to be at full tilt by tuesday.


Keep Calm and Pirate On!

Pirate Martial Arts - The Saga Begins

Hello, everybody.

This is my first post. I've decided to start training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu recently, and I want some form of documentation. This will hopefully be a twice weekly blog, so it'll keep me honest.

I'm new to BJJ (tonight was my second class), but I'm not new to martial arts. I've studied Chito-ryu for years, independently. My instructor is, unfortunately, not able to train anymore. I really miss Chito-Ryu, but there aren't any good karate schools in my town. So I decided on BJJ.

I have some experience grappling, because I'm an army reservist. When I was on active duty, we trained Army Combatives, which is based loosely on BJJ, at least once a week. In fact, somebody once told me that the basic two levels of combatives will take you well into the blue belt arena of BJJ.

I don't know if thats the case, but it certain has helped pick up on what the instructors of the BJJ class are trying to tell me.

Anyways, the place I'm going is taught out of the back of a church. Its cheap though, which is its main appeal. The first lesson I went to did not impress me. The guys seemed kinda unkempt, and the mats seemed somewhat dirty. The lesson was taught by a blue belt who just got back from a seminar. He was talented, but not really the best teacher.

Anyways, less than impressed, I left and contemplated finding another school, but I don't want to spend a lot of money on it. So, I figured that maybe they were just having a rough night, and I'd give it another shot. The money is right, and maybe the class would be better with a more senior instructor.

I'm glad I did, because tonight I actually had a really good time. We had a black belt teaching the class (apparently the normal instructor is a brown belt, who only teaches Tuesdays and Thursdays.) Anyways, he was very good. His methods were easy to follow, concise, and precise. He also offered really good advice when we were drilling the moves he showed. He set them up as a progression. So he's show you the set up for the move, you'd drill that, then stop and add the second part.

Very effective.

Anyways, the last 15 minutes, we rolled. The first person I rolled with was a 40-something female white belt. She's been there about 8 months.

I demolished her.

Not bragging, I'm a 27 year old, reasonably muscled man with past experience. Better technique can only make up for muscle to an extent at lower levels. This is painfully evident in my next match.

The next guy is probably 35, and he's fucking huge. He's literally like 100 lbs heavier than me. He submitted me three times in five minutes simply by lying on my chest. One of the senior blue belts told me that he's hard for most people to roll with because of his size and that he really doesn't have good technique. He doesn't really need it...but I expect that he will as time progresses.

My final bout was with the big's son. He's probably 14, and I'll hand it to the kid; he's tough as shit. He's skinny as a rail and could wiggle out of almost anything I put him in. Honestly, he reminded me of myself at that age. Anyways, he couldn't hold me for anything, but I couldn't get him to tap out, despite getting him in bad positions.

Flexibility is a good thing.

Anyways, I'm totally going to be sore as shit.

I haven't gotten a gi, so if anybody has any recommendations, please let me know. I need something fairly cheap...I'm a working father who goes to school full time. My wife doesn't work (daycare is expensive, yo), so we're a single income family. It appears that all of the white belts wear blue gis, which is weird for my traditional karate sensibilities. In Karate, anything other than white is showboating and self-aggrandizing.

Tomorrow, I'll be continuing my last week of Les Mill's Combat workout DVDs. I'm excited to finish. When I do, I'll post the results, but its been very effective for me.

Anyways, feel free to comment and stuff.