Post seminar ramblings

What an amazing seminar Friday night...

Two + hours with Relson Gracie learning half guard escapes, sweeps and advances (SO many notes taken) ---which reminds me, if you have a Windows Phone, there's something in the marketplace called Jiu Jitsu Journal. I HIGHLY recommend this as sometimes it's almost impossible to remember everything in class---, got my gi and my belt signed, so that was pretty nerdalicious...

let's see, what else happened...

My girlfriend's brother received his PURPLE belt (the first one my professor has given out), what an amazing accomplishment. I would LOVE to someday just have some color around my waist, let alone a purple belt. My professor gave out a statistic that around 75% of people who practice jiu jitsu never receive their purple belt. That's crazy....especially coming from TMAs where it appeared you were in the minority if you DIDN'T have your black belt.

Overall it was a fantastic seminar and gave me 4 different ways (on top of another I got this week) to escape half guard. A position I ALWAYS find myself stuck in just waiting to get side controlled/mounted, etc. There are SO many little pieces to jiu jitsu, it all still feels so intimidating. I feel like I'll never remember all of it. I am just going to keep working toward that day when I don't have to constantly think about it...that day when it comes naturally, that's an exciting and motivating thought.

I wish I could put my finger on what about this sport is so darn addicting...I think about it constantly, am doing little things all day in my head to improve my game, I've started running when I don't train, I have towels hung over braces in the house so I can hang and work on grip strength...daily I'm stretching and shooting for triangles on the floor, what the heck is going on?

Hi, I'm Terry and I'm a full-fledged addict.

See you after class...

First steps

Go Gators and go me.

This is awesome timing for my third blog post, huh? I am honored to say that last night after no-gi I received my first stripe on my white belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. It's crazy timing because just earlier this week (see here) I was saying I had a night where I felt like I was just getting crushed constantly. I guess my instructor sees some progress and I gotta tell ya, it feels good. 

What felt even better was when I was walking forward to get my stripe my professor says, "Is this guy a natural or what?;;;" It was almost difficult to hear and I wanted to sarcastically play it off...I'm not used to being good at much of anything. For me, it reminded me of how humbling Jiu Jitsu is. When you're in a sport like Jiu Jistu where it's not only OK but essentially required that you "lose" a lot it removes your ego...completely. With the ego removed a comment like that simply makes you feel honored and proud of the work you've put in, not prideful of what you've done. 

It was a healthy night of free-rolling too...constantly ending up on my back followed by constant running away followed by eventual taps, you know, the usual. What is amazing about this sport is that I found myself replaying the rolls over in my head later that night while driving, etc and seeing opportunities and mistakes I made. I usually do. Nothing before has caused me to be this passionate where I am constantly looking to improve and better my technique. 

So things I learned last night:

• When you're doing a take down, COMMIT ALL THE WAY.
• Keep things tight at all times, elbows, wrists, knees, etc.
• It is nearly impossible at this point to perform an Ezekiel no-gi for me...should have gone for the north-south choke.
• Work with your partners on staying on their backs. (This is WAY harder than it looks)

See you after class...