A Blue Belt is Just a White Belt Who Never Stopped Training

My very first post in over a year!

There have been ups and downs and injuries and improvements, and I'll get to those in time.   The biggest thing that happened in my last year of training occurred on June 15, 2013 at Robot Fight & Fitness:

That's right! This panicky white belt got her blue belt from Tim Peterson and Giva Santana! I was honestly shocked, and had stopped worrying about it ages ago.  I don't roll for recognition or accolades.  I roll for fun.  If I'm not having fun, I'm not doing it right.  Having fun doesn't mean winning.  It means learning and figuring out the puzzle and feeling the pieces in my brain click together with my body -- even if the moment that happens is right when I realize I've made a mistake and I'm about to get tapped.

I'm still processing the promotion.  Nothing has really changed for me, though I do notice that my training partners feel more comfortable going hard with me and that white belts seem to directly ask me for advice.  I did, however, finally come to some understanding of that old saying "a black belt is a white belt who never stopped training."  I'm not the biggest or the best, and I don't get many submissions, but I've put in my time and I have learned things.  I'll keep learning, I'll keep training, and I'll keep having fun.  And someday, the blue will be black.

OSSS!!!

Arigatou gozaimasu!!

This last weekend was the IBJJF World Championships in Long Beach, California, just an hour away from my home.  I was able to go for the entire day on Saturday to watch.  It was amazing.  This is the third year in a row that I was able to attend, but the first year I actually understood what I was seeing.

This was definitely the year of the fancy guards.  Everyone was inverting and De La Riva-ing and 50/50-ing; spider guard was also getting pulled by lots of players.  While the details of those guards make NO sense to me, I did take something away from the players getting past those guards: they never quit.  Never.  They have confidence in their position and they continue to push.  They never quit pushing.  BJJ's constant metaphors for life never cease to amaze me.

My academy had some tough losses that were hard to see, but I hope everyone learns from them.  Oddly, the hardest loss came at the biggest moment -- my beloved Light-Feather black belt professor, Laercio Fernandez, made it to the gold medal match against Gui Mendes and then lost by decision.  Laercio is one of the most generous, loving, caring, friendly, and amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting in my life.  He competes with such heart...to lose the gold like that was difficult, but I refuse to see it as a loss.  My professor won SILVER at WORLDS!!! It is an amazing accomplishment and I am honored to be his student.

On Monday, our academy got a big surprise.  Three black belts from Japan who had come to compete at Worlds ran a seminar in place of our regular class, at no cost.  The BJJ they do is so different and so unique...it is indescribable.  We learned spider guard sweeps, cross grip guard sweeps, and some amazing underhook butterfly guard submissions.

I've written a lot about how much my academy means to me.  Lately, for what I have been going through and dealing with in my life, there just are not words for how much I love them all.  They are my family.

Learning New Things

I actually made it to BJJ several times this week, and learned a ton.  

(1) Spider Guard:  I learned some great sweeps that I had never seen before.  

• The Airplane:  Get your grips.  Get your feet on your opponent's hips.  Use your grips to pull them in and toward your head while using your feet to hoist them in the air.  If you do it right, they should not be able to touch the ground no matter how big they are.  Pull in one of their arms, push on the other, and let your leg on the sided you are pushing to slip off the hip.  They fall into your guard and you use the momentum of them falling to come up to mount.  Not only awesome, but tons of fun to try out.

• Knee Across Sit Up Sweep:  I actually don't know the name for this one, but that is the action.  So...Anyway, you have spider guard grips.  Get your leg lasso.  Drop your foot from the tricep.  If your opponent moves to get side control (i.e., starts to try and smash the hell out of you) move your shin across their hips and pull them toward you as you lift that shin up.  Keep that leg lasso tight, and with the shin across they should be loaded up well enough (stuck) that you can simply sit up and come to knee on belly or side control.  **Caution** Make sure you get out of that leg lasso as soon as you come up, as it is an illegal bicep cutter if you hang out too long.  

(2) Side Control Escape:  Due to my complete and utter lack of any open guard defense, I end up in side control.  A lot.  I have a really hard time getting out of it, and it is very frustrating.  On Saturday, the hubs and I went to open mat and we discovered that I didn't know one of the most effective methods to get out of side control:  the reversal.  Also, we discovered that my basic side control hip bump escape is terrible because I am not explosive enough.  I know that seems pretty obvious, but it wasn't.  

• Side Control Reversal Escape:  My husband is not small.  He's got a foot and about 50 pounds on me, and he is a blue belt.  He is the perfect person to practice side control escapes with.  If I can get him off of me, I can get a 130 pound woman off of me in a tournament.  When your opponent has you in side control, rather than framing up into their neck and hips, wrap your arms tightly around them.  Grip your own hands between their shoulder blades (gable or s-grip is best), and walk your hips as close to theirs as possible. Once your hands are tightly secured, bridge your hips.  Pay attention to your opponent's pressure, as this bridge will cause them to push into you.  When you feel the push, bridge with their momentum to get them to roll completely over.  You want as much of their weight off the ground and onto you as possible.  **Caution** As you come to the top, make sure your weight is not too far over their chest, or else the roll will just keep going.  I was practicing coming directly up to knee-on-belly to stop the roll, and that seemed pretty effective.  

(3) Turtle Bump Escape:  Due to my small size and general tendency to freak out and play defense, I also end up in turtle a lot.  For a very long time.  I've gotten so good at protecting myself in turtle, that I don't remember how to get out of it.  Friday morning, my coach decided it was time for me to start getting out of turtle, and matched me up with a 230 pound wrestler.  I still hurt.  

• Turtle Bump Escape:  If your opponent gets their far arm in between your arm and leg, grab it and pin it as close to your body as possible.  You've just removed a base that they can use.  I know that seems obvious when I say it, but I had never thought about it like that.  When I am in turtle, every fiber of my being is focused on keeping them from getting any arms or legs in anywhere.  Once that arm is pinned, all at once, as forcefully as possible, use your legs to push off the mat and explode toward the side you have pinned.  Be ready to scramble and turn to kesagatame or side control.  **Caution** Be very aware of where your arms are.  This can turn into a crucifix submission for your opponent very quickly.  

All in all, I think I had a great week at the gym.  I really focused on being present and pushing myself the entire time.  One night, I was tapped less times than I got submissions, and that is a first.  I was also transitioning from one submission to another without thinking, which has also never happened for me.  

I think this sums it up:  

Fingertips of Fire

I had a minor setback last week, and wasn't able to get through a full BJJ class until today.  The wrist was NOT ready and was very angry with me for going back too soon.

However, today I did it.  I made it through a whole class.  We worked spider guard, which I like to call puppet guard, since what you are doing is making your partner look like a marionette.

I'm still figuring out how to get out of the illegal bicep cutter when I do a spider guard sweep, but overall I'm happy with it.  My fingertips, however, are on FIRE.  Fire.  Lava.

You know why the fingertips of fire are worth it?  I got subs tonight more times than I was tapped.  And all my subs were armbars.  This was the first time, on both fronts.  Even better, I felt alive on the mat.  Driven, focused, and lethal.  I pushed myself to not quit, to try new things, and left everything out there.

Can't wait to get back at it tomorrow.

Back At It

I'm pleased to report that the wrist is as good as it is going to get.  Tomorrow, I get back on the mat.

Wrist Wrecked

Last Monday I decided to get tough and stay for the advanced class.  It was great.  Even during the warm-ups I was really feeling like I was going to get a workout like I used to get when I first started training.  And we were going over one of my favorite positions -- kesagatame. 

I LOVE this position.  You are on your opponent's chest, on your side, facing them, with an underhook under their arm and your legs scissored out to the side, driving in to them.  It is a really great way to control an opponent using little energy if you get the positioning right, which allows you to calm yourself and think about strategy.  My favorite thing is an armbar from kesagatame, where you get the hook under the head and grab your own leg.  Their arm is now trapped between your body and your leg, and you simply push down on the arm with your foot.  BOOM!! Armbarred. 

We drilled and drilled the position and getting the weight correctly, and then we moved to positional sparring.  I was trying to use a technique Tim and talked about to secure my position over Jane, where my arm was directly under her, on her spine.  Well, I did it wrong and right as I realized it was dangerous, she bumped and squirmed to escape and the wrist that was under her felt as if it twisted all the way around and it made horrible snapping sounds.  I couldn't move it.  I was terrified. 

I went to Urgent Care the next morning to get x-rays, and was relieved that it wasn't broken.  I was given a compression splint to wear through Friday, and instructed to ice it as much as possible.  And so, I was out and sitting on the sidelines for a week.  My wrist feels stiff and a little tender, but nothing that some tape can't take care of, so I'm going to try and make it to class tonight. 

I could really do without an injury every other week. 

Fancy Guard

Public information announcement:  It turns out if you do like 500 squats/lunges with proper form, your ass REALLY hurts. 

Despite my throbbing glutes and hammies, and an extremely drizzly and yucky Monday morning, I made it to Robot before 7 and was able to get almost 1.5 hours of training in.  Once I warmed up, the glutes and hammies were actually feeling better.  I'm really proud of myself for making it out. 

In the morning class, we are working the X-Guard.  One of the entries in to X-guard requires some swiveling and almost spinning, which usually means death for me.  Once I go upside down or a swivel, I lose all sense of direction and who I am and forget what I am supposed to be doing and where I am.  It's unnerving. 

Today, however, I was picking up on everything really quickly and feeling good about it.  I can see how the X-Guard would be great for someone my size, and I am sticking to my desire to work on open guard offense and defense since I seem to have closed guard and half guard down (as much as a whitebelt can actually "know" something, that is). 

My favorite thing we learned today was the scissor sweep from X-Guard; if you are trying to do the traditional push sweep to standup from x-guard and your partner's base is too heavy, you simply drop your bottom hook to the ankle and scissor your legs in opposite directions against your opponents legs, and BOOM!!! Big guys fall to the mat!! WOOT!! NOTE:  Be CAREFUL getting up from this sweep.  You will likely end up in their closed guard, but you could end up triangled.  As they start to fall, scramble to come up with them and try to keep your hooks active to block that leg. 

I had such a great time today, I'm super stoked to get back for evening classes.  I'm staying for advanced after the intermediate class for the first time.  Exciting!!!