Mizblog

Between KM49 and this class, I drove my car around the parking lot, ate a banana and some almonds, stopped in at Big 5 to throw away my banana peel and see what they had for sale, and generally pondered the advantages and disadvantages of chickening out of BJJ class. Finally I manned up and drove back, unloaded my gear, and went in to change.

There were only 3 students in the class – me, TJ, and his friend Tom. We started with a bunch of weight plate exercises. Mark wants to prevent more rib injuries from people not having strong connective tissue in their ribcage, but generally strong muscles everywhere else.

The first exercise was the one he taught me before, where you hold the plate on opposite edges just above the center line, and swing it around so that you’re holding it behind your head. It’s important to not move your head, and have your arms do all the moving. It’s also important to spread your legs and bend your knees for good base.

The second exercise was where you set up to throw the weight away at a 40 degree angle to the front, and then you catch it out of the air and pull it back to your bread basket. Alternate sides.

The third exercise was the cat stretch. Then oblique sit ups, then bicycles.

Once we were warmed up, we started top-bottom-out situational drills. First was side control. We practiced resting on bottom and waiting for the top person to move before we made our escape. I improved a lot. Mark was impressed. He said it was a night and day difference between how I moved in my early classes and how I move now. I used to move like a creaky old man, and now I move much more athletically.

Next was mount. Then on the back with a standing person trying to pass, starting with hands on feet. Then starting with hands on knees. Then starting with hands on belt. I tweaked my lower back on the last one, when Tom got my back and his leg under my lower back. We’ll see if it amounts to anything. It felt fine after I got out of the position, and now 2 hours later it’s still fine.

I did a sit up sweep on TJ that caused him to tap because his toe got trapped under his other foot. Almost exactly what happened to me last Saturday when I was rolling with Josh. Josh is another guy who went down with a rib injury.

I came out of the class very glad that I had gone and not chickened out.