BJJ Zero

Three black belts on the mat at last class. How cool is that? Started with warm up - basic arm bar rapidly from side to side. Just getting position. I worked with a blue belt. Hint of the day was to snake an arm underneath his arms and grab his bicep, using that to manoeuvre myself around. Ten per side, followed by the Kimura - ten per side. Noticed that when he was warming up, as he sits up and turns his body slightly, he bumps me with his hip. Going to try that next time since it seems to be good to take attention and off balance you a bit. Then from side control, lift the body and bring a knee up to the solar plexus. Drills - we worked from half guard. So if it's on my right leg, grab the lapel with my right hand and tuck the head towards his shoulder. Keep the right elbow in and dig a little into his inner thigh. Grab the cuff of his right hand with my left and pull into position flat on the floor. Put the knee on the wrist on the inside. Place a small wrist lock to get

I heard a story once of a martial art teacher who was very accomplished. Every year, he would go somewhere he wouldn't be known, put on a white belt and join some dojos, just to learn something new, pick up a new skill, without prejudice or preconceptions. It's a funny business having belts. I'm two lessons into BJJ. I joined to learn something new, gain some skill in something I'm not at all good at. It's easy to say I don't care about belt colour because I know I'm at the bottom. I wonder if I'll loose sight of that as I train and start chasing belts? I hope not. I hope I'm old enough to train for myself and not care about chasing external signs of validation. That's not to say that skill should be untested, just that owning a skill is not something someone else gives you. I liked what my teacher (can you call them that after only two lessons? I don't know) said at the last class when talking about an upcoming grading : If you don't

Two weeks since my first Brazillian Jiu Jitsu class, my skinned knees finally healed up enough to get back on the mats (not to noobs, don't try a class in tracksuit trousers - get some gi trousers or spats or just wear some knees guards - tracksuit cotton seems to rip up your skin something terrible). Last night was a big class. We began with a warmup - working with a partner and doing some basic movement - get the hips away, climb the legs up into arm bar. No need to actually make the other guy tap, just get into position rapidly. Then a similar thing - from guard, his/her hands on either side of your torso on the floor. Grab the wrist, sit up and snake your opposite hand over his arm and around to grab your wrist. Again, no tapping. Then technique time - we did two techniques: Passing the guard with a leg drag Standing with opponent on his back trying to get you in guard. Grab his left leg with your right hand and drag it to the left. This turns his body to his right sid

My first class in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was probably the hardest I've trained in five years. It went like this: Brief warm up - not too bad - my body still remembers roughly how to roll. I pick up shrimping - pretty sure I'm not elegant, but at least I can do the basic movement. Some hindu pushups (glad I've been doing these anyway) Drill a technique - an armbar of sorts. Basically, from guard with opponent grabbing lapel, you break his grip, get opposite hand under his/her lapel, put one foot on his/her hip to create some space, get the opposite foot high on opponents back then bring the hip pushing foot up over the neck their shoulder. Don't cross the feet, but rather squeeze the knees together. I'm pretty useless, slow, just trying to remember the technique. The guard feels alien. I've done some striking arts and it just isn't something I've ever worked with. We worked some basic takedowns that a couple of the guys wanted to cover for an upcoming tou