Seems weird to have a week with only sparring sessions and no rolling. It wouldn’t be unusual if we were preparing for a tournament, but we’re not.

This week marked my two year anniversary of Crossfit. I really can’t believe it’s been that long. I’ve changed a lot in those two years, and all for the positive. I decided that I’d repeat the Baseline #1 workout and compare to where I was in the past.

500m row
40 squats
30 situps
20 pushups
10 pullups

Two years ago, I did the pushups from my knees, and did the pullups by
jumping on a box to get my chin above the bar. 7:42.

Last year, normal pushups, and kipping pullups with a rubber band. 5:19

This year, hands up pushups and kipping pullups (no band!). 5:08 My goal was to break 5 minutes, and I didn’t quite get there. I probably could though on a good day if I pushed a bit harder. As it was, I had to take a few minutes and walk before going into jiu jitsu, or else my breakfast was going to end up on something.

I was obviously already warmed up, so I grabbed Seth right off the bat. Our first roll he surprised me with a weird choke that he locked up as he was passing. We restarted and this time I quickly got an armbar from guard…only to re-realize that this kid has Gumby like shoulders and I can’t tap him with an armlock. Well, maybe I could, but I’d hate to break the poor guys arm in doing so. So I pendulum swept and then cross choked. Our last roll was a pretty good back and forth.

Next up was Eric and his new blue belt. I tried to recall the last time we rolled together and I’m not certain we ever have. We had a great time together. Good back and forth, plenty of sweeps and open guard work on both ends. Neither one of us submitted the other, but I think we both enjoyed the process of trying to. I’ll have to remember to partner up with him again soon.