Tippity tap tap taparoo...

This Brazilian Jiujitsu is very humbling. On Tuesday night i rolled with a higher level white belt.  He has been doing it for about a year and is a 4th degree white belt, his next step is blue.  He has a bit of a size advantage on me, maybe 10 lbs.  Within 15 minutes i had tapped out 4 times, 4 different submissions put on me.  Each time the tap was harder to do, I am guessing that is a pride thing.  Frustration sets in because you either tap out, or in 2 of those submissions i pass out, and the other two I am in the ER with some surgery coming my way.

The things he kept telling me to do is slow down, be methodical, abandon a move it is not working and breathe.  Sounds simple enough.

So Thursday morning's class is fine, we really do not roll in the morning class.  We have less time since we all have to go to work.  But I got a chance to roll with a few blue belts and i am like a sponge at this point.  I have no bad habits, I don't watch this on tv, I have no formal training.  So after about 20 minutes and a few more tap outs I picked up a thing or two.

Last night was amazing.  I got to roll with a big fella, about 350 lbs.  He has been doing it since August.  He was heavy.  He new his stuff but i kept seeing where he was going with things and I was breathing and slowing it down.  I tried a few things and it didn't work and I did not continue to exhaust myself on that. He almost had me in an arm bar but I was able to slip out of it.  And then I had him.  I had a knee on his right bicep, isolating his arm.  Elbow pinned up under his chin pushing down on his throat.  And my left arm holding down his left hand.  And then it happened.  My right arm slipped up under his left bicep and gripped my left wrist.  and I pulled towards his ribcage with my right arm and lifted with my left arm.  And then I felt it.  His right hand on my calf slapping me.  I just made him tap out.  I survived 10 minutes. 

That was an amazing rush.  I am sore all over this morning from it.  even more sore because I just finished a leg, core and cardio workout.  But it is the best sore I have had in quite sometime.

Ian