Trying to anyways.

I didn’t sleep well on Friday night, so I knew that Saturday was not going to be a great day of training. Went anyways. Warmed up.

My group was Nick, V, Trevor, Joe and Mike, which I thought was a pretty good mix. I could go as hard as I wanted with Nick and Trevor, easy with V, and then whatever was required for Joe and Mike.

My habit of updating has fallen off. Boo,

I still did some classes. Yay!

I did a Tuesday class with Tom about the tripod sweep and another open guard sweep, alternating between the two. A friday class about stand up hand fighting, which was exhausting, and a couple of open mats.

Notable rounds included: Aria, Brian, Tom, Gene, Nick, Mick, and many others.

I’ll do better.

Well, I’ve gone to class a few times, but neglected to write about it. Sue me.

Did go on this past Fri/Sat/Tuesday. All low key, low attendance days due to the holidays. Good rounds. Trying to go more often in this New Year.

late updates. Nothing going on… Just… Unmotivated? Lazy? Pick your word.

i did the last two Saturdays. Same format. 1 minute rounds vs a rotating cast. Both open guard variations. I had Nick, Vee and Mark, the. Nick Mark and Dom.

mark kicked my butt the first week. But the next, I was motivated to give him a bit more zip and did better. Not awesome, and I’m cardio limited, but better.

All levels class tonight, led by Tom.

He did a nice sweep to mount using a “pocket” grip, similar to a flower sweep. And then a tight armbar using a gift wrap grip.

Rounds with Max, Dom, Tom, Jordan and Monique.

The grey-ness continues. There may be a light at the end of the tunnel though.

I trained two Saturdays, but was off this most recent one due to feeling crappy from vaccine boosters.

The last three weeks have been a real trial. Lots going on in my life other than jiu jitsu, and it’s been weighing on me heavily. I haven’t gone to any classes other than Saturdays. Just no motivation. And not just jiu jitsu, everything. I feel…grey? Bleh.

This past Saturday we warmed up and I felt pretty good during it. Tim told us to group up into foursomes. I grabbed Nick, Mick, and then Vee joined us. We played first to score, but flipping the script, the looser stays in. Made for an interesting dynamic where the winners were well rested every round….so no one wanted to lose.

And…I did great. I can’t say why, but I was in the zone all day. Nick and Mick both commented on it afterwards too.

And for that hour and a half, nothing else mattered. Jiu jitsu really is therapy.

First class as a black belt. Never really thought about that before.

Lesson of the day was a mount escape to deep half. Tim showed one neat detail, where he leaves one leg flat to prevent the top guy from crossing his feet. That also allows for an easy entry into half guard or into deep half.

For rounds I had Brian, a new female blue belt, and…Tim got his piece of me that he missed on Saturday.

The Black Belt.

Tim told me that Aria and I were getting ours this year back in April. And Saturday was my day. Weird scheduling and secret plans behind my back forced it to happen on different days, but it happend.

I knew that Saturday was The Day about a week and a half ago when Popsicle made an off handed comment about it. I found out that my parents were coming up. One of my sons was skipping his first fall soccer game. And many friends were coming to be part of the celebration.

Skyler led the warm up. Which now, will probably be more and more common, as I’ve “aged out” of that responsiblity.

Tim told us to get into groups of four. Nick grabbed me right away, and I was looking for Mick, Kevin, or someone else similar to fill out our group. Not to be. Tom and Popsicle joined us. It was to be a long day.

1 minute rounds, one guy is in for 6 on his back starting with collar and sleeve. I did alright with Nick, on both sides. Tom and Chris held me to the fire. We took a little break, then self paired for the rest of the day.

I had James next, nice and light. Then JR and Wade, both of which were visiting from Alliance. Nice to see both of those guys again.

Tim said some nice things about me, this blog, how I hated him for a period of time, then belted me. Lots of hugs, pictures, and celebration afterwards.

My dad asked me later that day about how it felt to hit this goal. And I explained to him that getting to black belt has never been a goal of mine. I figured it would happen sooner or later, but it never was a target. I just kept showing up, doing my best, learning what I could and trying to move forward every time.

That’s the goal. Keep on trying. And it hasn’t changed because I’ve been promoted.

Still light on people. Oh well, more space for the rest of us.

Humid today, so extra sweaty too. Same format as previous, so very informal.

I warmed up with Nick, then had Blaine of all people which was an adventure and a half. I did better than I would have expected, but he was also holding back. Worked for a couple of rounds with a fresh white belt. Then went with a newer wrestler kid. Quick, but I was able to keep a hold of him and mount and choke.

I watched Popsicle and Cheng do a round and Chris set up this beautiful omaplata from a shoulder crush. I played with it some with Nick and talked to Chris about it. I’ll have to try it out. It was a combo of the shoulder crush grip and the clamp foot positions. Very slick.