Workout #13

So my 1st month of BJJ has come to an end. I was hoping to go at least 20 times, but given that I have to take an international trip in a few days this isn't too bad. I'd like to do 20/month, but realistically I'll probably go 15/month since that's all the time I have. I always feel great afterwards, it's like hanging out friends even though some of them I just met.

Today's workout was interesting. Since I had a wrestling background, I had side control during one of the controlled sparring events and my purple belt 50+ lbs heavier than me couldn't break it. He said, my head control was really strong, I guess from my wrestling background. The problem is that in BJJ if you hold a position too long, you'll get deducted points so I wasn't sure what to do. He's obviously way better than me, but once I got in the side mount controlling his head I guess I still remembered how to put all my weight on his head. He couldn't move, but then I didn't really do anything either. I still panic on the bottom and end up pushing up or not keeping my arms in.

It's not really like fighting in one sense, I mean there are so many times I wondered if two people were going at it one could just punch the other guy. At GB, we always start with a self defense drill. Today's was doing two fake punches (1-2) and then taking the guy to the ground, when my partner saw my punches he said "I could totally tell you were a boxer", I guess that's a compliment.

The more I do this sport, the more I realize I have so much to learn and with my 41 year old body I have to really rely on technique instead of strength. I'm bruised everywhere, and am hurting in places that are really different from boxing. It's amazing, the other day I was controlled sparring a 50 year old brown belt who had been doing this for only 6-7 years and I could not get him off of me. He was probably 40 pounds lighter than me and obviously weaker, but the moment I thought I could shrimp away and push him off, he got his hands back on me in full mount.

He kept on saying that at some point, I'll get too tired and he'll submit me. He encouraged me to try to roll him rather than just pushing him off, or trying to choke him. He said once you roll, there are a lot more possibilities depending on where your leg is, etc. So he taught me to pull his elbows in with my hand, and then use my knees to roll him to one side, and if he fights it, then go to the other side, etc. I was really amazed.

I can't say I like BJJ as much as boxing just yet, but for sure compared to boxing I feel a lot better after a workout. A boxing workout is brutal, especially after sparring. Now, I haven't sparred very hard yet so I may change my mind but I still don't think it'll be brutal, I'll be tired and of course feeling weak, but I really enjoy BJJ as a sport. That doesn't mean I'll compete, but just the sparring itself may satisfy me since I'm just looking for focused exercise. I may change my mind. From a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, and 1 being the worst, I thought boxing was a 10 and BJJ was a 5, but it's probably an 8 now and might be a 10 soon. I'm really starting to enjoy it now that I have some skills to spar a bit, and know what techniques to use. For sure, as a wrestler/bigger torso guy/shorter limbed, I prefer to be on top, esp. side mount, but the learning has been much more fun that I had thought. 

Workout #12

I've had more time in the evenings lately so I went to class 5 days straight. I'm still pretty sore. I was hoping to average 20 classes per month which is roughly 4x/week, but this month I'll have gone only 14 times or so with the holidays. Oh well.

Today's was an interesting session. I don't get to spar, so the highlight of the class is the positional sparring. I was assigned to a shorter thick young blue belt, and an older (maybe 50 years old) brown belt who had been doing BJJ for about 6 years. He said he usually can only make it 2x/week just on weekends. Anyways, when I was paired up with the young blue belt, I was so much bigger and stronger that I was actually able to grab his collar and nearly get a choke. Of course, I ended up doing something stupid like leaning over and then he'd roll me or trap and roll b/c I'm so top heavy. Still, he was more skilled than I was. It's just that as a blue belt he's still in the beginning stages of BJJ and my size/strength was a lot for him to get over, I had at least 6 inches 50 lbs on him at least.

When I did positional sparring with the older brown belt it was a totally different story. He was definitely weaker than me, but he held onto my collar and told me to pass guard. I couldn't do it. No matter what I did. I struggled, I tried to rip his arm off with two hands, I tried to push on his elbows, and the like. Really excellent technique. He said later on, I was using way too much strength, so he knew when to tighten up and when to relax and that he could have stayed on top of me for a long time while I was tired out trying to roll him or get his arms to do something. He taught me a few moves, mostly trying to chop the elbows in, and then using my other arm to grab the same arm and roll, or do something with it. I'm excited to try this next time.

BJJ is growing on me. In particular, I'm enjoying the positional sparring so that has been good. It's still not a great workout just yet without the full sparring, I see the guys after sparring classes and they are completely drenched in sweat. I'm sweaty, but it always depends on who I do the positional sparring with. If it's a lower level blue belt, like today, then it works out well b/c I can actually hang with him a bit and we can go for long periods of time. If it's a purple belt, unless he's way way smaller than me, I know I'm not going to get much of a workout since he'll either just submit me quickly or will spend the time teaching me which is great - but still not a workout.

I'm still 3 months from doing real sparring, but I think the GB system is good. I'm getting used to it and by the time I spar, I think I'll probably know what to do. Not sure yet. As a former wrestler, I can't help but try to get top mount or side mount, or even back. The whole putting someone in guard while on your back is something I'm not used to yet, and there are people who are really excellent at that. I'll keep going and see where this goes.

I'm most encouraged by the fact that there are people who are over 50, who are brown belts and one black belt who are quite skilled. Some of them started, like me, in their early 40's and can still spar with some of the younger guys. Of course the younger black belts would end up killing them simply b/c of superior speed, but the younger purple belts still don't have the technique to hang with an experienced older brown or black belt unless he has a huge size differential - at least in my opinion.

My biggest weakness (amongst many many weaknesses) in BJJ is that I can't multi task. The moment I try to go for a move, I totally am not thinking about defense and the other guy rolling me, passing my guard, or going for a leg tap or something like that. And, my 2nd weakness is that I use way too much strength. It's a better workout, but not good for BJJ. If one uses good technique, but spars regularly than it can be a good workout. However, one of the black belts who spars everyone, he's early 30's, he looks like he almost never breaks a sweat. He's so smooth and flexible, like a snake. It's cool watching him. 

Workout #7

One thing I like about the Gracie Barra Fundamentals program is that you can review the class immediately afterwards by looking at the app. Of course it's not like being in the class, but it is helpful.

There is this large purple belt, who has been really helpful to me. I'm 6ft 210lbs, fairly strong in fairly good shape for a 41 year old, he's 5'10, 265 lbs and looks not to be in good shape, but he's incredibly flexible. Since I'm only allowed to spar positionally (top mount, try to hold while the other guy tries to pass guard, etc.), today we went at it again. Since he and I are the largest guys in the class we're always paired up, and since he's a purple belt he's always teaching me new things. I have so much appreciation and respect for this 30 year old guy. He often asks me about wrestling or boxing, since he knows I have experience in those sports.

Today, he grabbed my collar and I knew I was stronger so I tried breaking his grip, which I did but then, he just grabbed it again. Then I used two hands and tried to stick my leg over for an arm bar of sorts, and he just turned and kind of sat on me. His whole weight was on my stomach/back area and I couldn't move. He was laughing and said big guys have different techniques so we need to watch out for it. He does a kimura quite well, he can sit up really quick and is very flexible for a big guy.

Anyways, I still don't have my first strip but I only want to get to 3 stripes on my belt so I can finally spar and attend the advanced class. A few days ago a 4 stripe white belt got his blue belt. He told me it took him about 1.5 years and he comes about 2-3x/week. That sounds normal. I know another person, another 40 year old, who went 6 days/week for 4 months and got a blue belt but she also won a tournament. So I guess it's different for different people/how dedicated they are. 

Workout #3

One thing I like about the GB formula is the consistency in their fundamentals program. They have a 16 week program, and they go through each one per week. So after 16 weeks, you roughly are a 3 stripe white belt and are ready to spar. 

During today's class, it wasn't an official spar but I was able to get into a controlled sparring environment with a blue belt and purple belt. I was the biggest (210lbs), the blue belt was about 180lbs, and the purple belt was in his late 40's but only about 150 lbs. So the drill was to have someone mount the back, and the person in front try to sweep or escape and the person in back of course try to submit via any choke but especially the collar choke we've been going over. 

The 150lb purple belt got me in this arm bar and tried to submit me, but I remembered to shrimp and roll my body up, and hold my arms together. I was stronger than him, so he couldn't get it. He kept on saying how strong I was, rather I think I was much heavier than him and also he didn't fully get my arm locked. Still, strength and size do matter all else being equal or even not so equal. Of course, he would have submitted me anyways and my shoulder kind of hurts from fighting arm bar. I would like to go every day just to drill more, but since my shoulders are hurting (and many 40+ year olds get lots of shoulder injuries from BJJ), I think the 3x/week or 4x/week schedule is just fine. 

Even when I start live sparring in about 4 months, I will probably only spar 1x or 2x/week. I don't want to damage my shoulders. It was a productive class today. 

Workout #2

Today is the day I go to two classes. There's a fundamentals class at 6pm, then sparring at 7pm (which I'm not allowed to do until I get to 3 stripes), then another fundamentals class at 8pm, and then sparring after that.

We reviewed most of the same moves from Monday, which was great. The only variance was in the type of collar chokes. During the sparring session I just sat and watched. There were some excellent guys in there. It was a treat to have two judo college aged black belts in the course. They were probably at the level of purple belt, b/c they went with purple and brown and weren't submitted. They knew what they were doing with locks, but of course the sparring isn't done standing up. I'm sure if it was, they would have thrown their guys easily.

I have a long torso with short limbs, so some of the chokes, including the triangle choke and certain collar chokes are harder for me. I know how to use my weight, so I'm going to have to have a pressure game. Basically, I need about 4 months before they'll let me spar, so not until April 2014. Also, I noticed the beginner 3 stripers they always put with the purple or brown belts so that they can learn how to spar correctly. I guess that's good to learn, but I rather enjoyed sparring the beginner blue and the advanced white belts at the other gym. I felt they were more my level, what you would get at a tournament.

There is some controlled sparring, but it's not the same. For example, someone has your back and you try to sweep him or something like that. Right now, I'm just thinking defense and trying to be as heavy as possible when I come down. My weakness has been the grips. There seems to be an endless amount of grips: underhand, overhand, side grip, and the like.

Today was a decent workout since I went through two classes, but on regular days it's not much of a workout since it's just the fundamental technique. If I don't supplement I'm not going to get much of a workout. I almost wish there was another gym I could go to, where I can spar just to spar and have to tap constantly. I want to tap out constantly. I'm not even given that chance really as a beginner in this system. Oh well. I'm not sure if I'm having fun just yet, mostly b/c I keep on comparing it to boxing but I have to be patient until we get to sparring. It feels like I'm back in wrestling again, which feels good. I always enjoyed rolling around on the mats, I'm just older and not as flexible.

I've decided on a Monday class, two Wed classes, and a Friday class. If I have time I'll go to the Saturday class. This way I get plenty of rest in between. Actually, if I had the time I could go everyday, even going through two fundamental classes a day if I'm not sparring. That would be great if I had the opportunity. There's at least one fundamental class everyday, and if I went 5-6x/week then I could get the fundamentals down much more quickly to prepare to spar. Many of the advanced guys come just to spar even though they don't participate in the fundamentals class.

Overall, I feel I've had more conversations in just two days in this BJJ gym than I did in 4 months at the boxing gym. People there want to work out and leave or focus, here we need partners. For that reason alone I like BJJ better than boxing, the social aspects even though I'm such a beginner I have no clue what I'm doing. 

First real class

So I went to my first real class. Actually, it was probably my 10th class or so, but my first since I've decided I wanted to try out BJJ.

There were about 14 people in this class, and the instructor was a 3 stripe black belt, but there were white belts, blue belts, majority purple, and one brown belt. There was one female who was there just trying her first class, she looked young.

I was paired up with the bigger guys, a blue belt and a purple belt. All of us were around 6 ft, the blue belt was around 180 lbs and fairly muscular in his 30's, the purple belt was in his 20's maybe weighed 260 with a big gut and was really skilled. He was the leader for our group. Going through all the motions he was patient and showed me much. I enjoyed the class since he was very nice and showed me the techniques slowly and let me do it on him. Most of our work was taking the back and working on chokes from the back. I had to tap out several times just during the practice sessions. We worked on a side collar choke, a triangle choke, and on the spider position to get in position for a choke. One thing I like about GB is they have a really structured curriculum so you get the same training everywhere, of course it turns out different since you have different teachers/students, etc.

I was thankful we had some controlled sparring. So my blue belt opponent was on my back, and I had to prevent him from getting the choke on me. He tapped me quickly the first time, but I was able to protect my neck and prevent him from tapping the 2nd time. It was a decent workout. The whole class only goes one hour, and then there's an hour or so of sparring which I'm not allowed to do as a beginner.

The instructor said it takes at least 4 months to get 3 stripes on the white belt, then you can attend the advanced classes and also spar. I was hoping it would be a better workout, but it was just enough for me to get sweaty. I remember sparring and thinking it was like being in a boxing match in terms of intensity, but without the free sparring it's really not too intense of a workout and people of any age can participate. I think I will have to find some other form of cardio, which isn't a problem since I'm still going to the boxing gym at least once or twice/week. I wish I was able to go to BJJ at least 5x/week to learn more, but it's just not feasible given my schedule/distance, blah blah, etc.

I was surprised at the types of bodies in that gym. Some purple belts looked out of shape, some of them were really skinny, and others had big guts. I noticed that simply doing BJJ or being skilled in BJJ doesn't mean that one will get in shape, though it is a good workout, so this is a huge difference from boxing. (Ex. The large purple belt is excellent, and I've seen him roll. He doesn't seem to have great cardio but really efficient movements.) I can't imagine someone investing 4-6 yrs (purple belt level) in boxing going 3x/week and not being in incredible shape. I guess one learns how to conserve energy and in this way, BJJ really is for everyone - every type of shape and age vs. boxing which is really a young man's game. One does need to be flexible, so I'll work on that. I like that about BJJ, there are lots of different people with different body types.

I'm not sure how often I'll post or what I'll post about. Right now, it's just a way to keep a record of what I've been doing. 

Sparring with women

I thought this deserved its own entry. BJJ has made me a bit nervous in one sense b/c I'd have to spar with women. I'm just maybe too old fashioned, but just thought that this would be too weird. Not only sparring, but training.

First, I went to this seminar just to see what it was like and this couple was there. He was a 50 year old blue belt, and she was a much younger 30 year old white belt. They were both in No-Gi wear and asked me to join them. I said OK. They were really gracious and kind. The husband wanted to show his wife how to do it, and so asked me to demonstrate on her. She saw me kind of act apprehensively while her husband was away, and I said this was my first time doing any form of grappling with a female. She said come on, it's no big deal I'll be your first. She was basically in tights, and since they had no issue with it I was OK with it. We were just going through moves, so perhaps that was why I felt so comfortable and they were both really kind as a couple so that made things easier. So that was my first time. 

The second time I was with a woman, during one of my week trial sessions at the same gym I was paired up with a blue belt. She was about 5'9 to my 6ft, and maybe weighed 140-150lbs to my 210lbs. She was definitely a skilled blue belt. I told her I wasn't sure what I was doing really, so please submit me and then tell me what I did wrong. She said sure. Well, we started on our knees just grabbing our gi's sleeve and it turns out size/strength does matter. I was able to pull her to the ground easily and establish side mount, and basically was able to put most of my weight on her chest. Of course, this is NOT what your'e supposed to do as a heavier man. I just kind of reacted and now I feel bad, but I just kind of reacted this way. I could feel her working her way into positioning, but as a former wrestler I was able kind of pin her down and try and go for some kind of choke hold (we learned a collar choke in class so I tried that), but she tapped before I could even try. She said she didn't like the feeling of it, not in a bad way but more that she thought I was in an awkward position b/c of my weight/size. I might have been close to an illegal neck crank, I'm not sure since I'm totally clueless. 

We went at it again, but this time I decided I was much bigger and stronger so I held back. Once I did that, she swept me so easily even though I had top mount, and was trying to pull my arm to submit me and maybe would have submitted me if there was more time. I was still strong enough to resist, but eventually I'm sure her technique would have won if she was on top. She was skilled. I asked her how long she's been doing BJJ, and she said almost 3 years. I thanked her profusely and learned so much just from that session. 

I thought it would be weird to grapple with a woman, but I guess once you get into it you're worried about getting choked and not whether your body parts are touching. (Even though your body parts are touching, especially in the position I was in.) Plus there's a lot of sweat and you do have a gi. I feel like sometimes the women are more technical vs. the alpha males who rely on strength so they probably make better training partners, but in terms of sparring maybe I'm too heavy. I'm sure if she was a purple belt or brown belt she would have submitted me, but again it seems like size and strength do matter all else being equal. If I ever do roll with a woman again in the future, I will be sure to go just hard enough and not put all my weight on her since I'll be much heavier. Unless she asks me to of course. If you have any thoughts on this please feel free to reply in the comments. I want to be respectful and as a former wrestler, I'm just not really sure how to do that. We'll see once I start my first official class soon.

**Edit: Question for any of the ladies. Do you find the men take it easy on you when you spar? Does this help you? I notice, at least in my gym, that the few women that are there never go that hard with men. So they don't get the full sparring that most men do, a lot of men go really hard. So the only way the women seem to get really full sparring is if they are with another woman who is their level, or if they enter a tournament. I can see why tournaments are more important for women in one sense vs men, mostly b/c there are not a lot of women to get good sparring practice. For the men in my gym, it's very common to spar someone from 150 to 250 lbs all varying in terms of belts. (Generally the blue/purples have good sparring matches, then the purple/browns, and I've never seen the black belts actually spar. There are some really good 4 stripe white belts who can keep up with the blues and even some purples.) Any thoughts on this if you are a woman? Do you feel you are getting full sparring reps with the men in your gym or are they going more relaxed? Is it better for you to practice with women vs. men? Just curious. Thank you!

Much respect to ALL men and women of any age/size who does BJJ, it's tough for sure. 

Trying it out

I've gone to about 10 trial sessions of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). This was mostly free trials at 4 different gyms, so I can't say that I really learned a whole lot since each gym was different. It would have been much better to have gone 10 days at one gym, but I did get to spend 4 sessions at one gym. I did get a sense of what it would be like, and it definitely is not boxing. The biggest difference between a sport like boxing and a sport like BJJ, even though both are combative sports, is that one can train alone in boxing but in BJJ you must have a partner. There are other obvious differences, but this is the one that sticks out the most in my mind.

Just a few general thoughts since I don't remember too many of the technical details:

• There is a lot to learn! The learning curve is so much higher than boxing. Even the athletic people who are naturals, still have a lot to learn since grappling and the thousands of moves in BJJ are out of the ordinary. Perhaps this is why it often takes 12-14 years of dedicated work to get a black belt. 
• It's hard to drill the same move over and over unless you have a partner who is willing to work with you for long periods of time. For the new person, each drill is new and I had maybe time to try it 3-4 times when I probably needed to try it at least 10-20 times to get a feel for it. 
• Sparring is fun! It's fun to spar when you can't/don't get hit in the face. Of course this makes you do odd things, like in BJJ you want to keep your elbows in and your arms in even when you're in the bottom position. This is so your opponent wouldn't be able to put an arm bar on you or something, but of course in a self defense situation someone may just punch you in the face if they're on top of you. So I'm not thinking of this as self defense, just as a sport for me to learn and get exercise. 

Sparring (at multiple gyms)

• The first guy I sparred in one of the gyms was about 5'9, maybe 280lbs of fat and muscle. He was a white belt but was pretty skilled. He got me in this arm bar and his entire weight pulled on my arm easily, I should have tapped earlier. We were practicing avoiding punches, and the moment I threw a punch the instructor (a champion BJJ black belt who still competes) asked me if I was a boxer? I said yes. He said he could tell right away. I guess that's good. Anyways, this big fella was definitely not easy to move around. Size definitely matters in sparring in most any combat sport, and BJJ is no exception. 
• The next guy I sparred was about 6'1 180, he was a pretty skilled blue belt. He worked with me on a few things, but I did have some size on him so some of the things he tried he had a harder time doing. I was able to get top position somehow, I guess back from my wrestling days more than 25 years ago, and after our sparring match he asked if I was a wrestler? I said yes, how could you tell. He said he could tell by my movements and b/c I tried to get top position. 
• I sparred another guy, about 6 ft 210 lbs almost my exact size. We went at it pretty hard, and he threw me down and got me in some good positions. I had to tap out several times, but on the very last time he tried to get me on a takedown, and I sprawled and pulled him down and was able to spin and get back control. I had my arm in for a rear naked choke but time was up. He also asked me if I was a wrestler, and said he could tell by my sprawling and body positioning. Both this fella and the other fella said wrestling actually is a big help, but I have to unlearn some habits. I didn't realize I had habits since I hadn't wrestled in 25 years but I guess there's still some muscle memory. 

In the next week or so I'm going to visit a BJJ gym and see if I can sign up for their course. This particular gym does not allow sparring until you're a 3 stripe white belt (Gracie Barra), which means I won't be able to spar for at least 3-4 months. That's too bad since I enjoy sparring.