Due to a variety of factors, I’ve changed up my schedule a bit. I’ve started doing Crossfit in the afternoons, which required me to shift my jiu jitsu days from Monday and Wednesday to Tuesday and Thursday.

Apparently, many people are on the Monday & Wednesday plan…because class last night was tiny in comparison to the turnouts I’m used to recently.

I started off with the Wendler deadlifts. Working steadily towards hitting my new goal.

Tim led the class, and Luke and I paired up. We started with 5 minutes of 50% flow training. I really enjoyed it. It’s been a long while since I’ve rolled with Luke while he wasn’t crushing me, so we had a nice flow going and back and forth.

We did a few open guard drills, windmills and a spider guard sweep. Tim did show us one new and interesting technique. If your opponent has double underhooks on your legs, but isn’t attempting to pass (perhaps he’s stalling in a tournament), you can reach behind him, push his collar back some, insert your heal there and push him off to create space to do any number of things.

We rounded class out with a few 7 minute rounds of training. I started with Dan. I was on the defensive most of the time, but did survive him having my back for a couple of minutes, eventually escaping. I recall that Heilo had the philosophy that some one may “win” against him (in a sport BJJ/points scenario), but they wouldn’t “beat” (submit) him. And that’s how I felt with Dan. Sure I was loosing…but I wasn’t beaten. Until there was 15 seconds left in the round and he armlocked me. Still, I was pretty happy with the roll. Dan mentioned that I remained calm, patient, and constantly worked to escape when he had my back…which is exactly what I was attempting to do.

Next up was Tim. And this was a 7 minute long disaster. Suffice to say, he tapped me 10 or 12 times, and I did exactly the right things and the right times to help him do so. After the 3rd or 4th triangle, I was mentally beat, and really in no mood to continue. But I’m strong enough not to give into that, so I plugged on. Badly, but I didn’t quit. And with a minute left on the clock, we restarted yet again. I took a deep breath and resolved to make it through that minute tap-free….if for no other reason than to prove to myself that I could. We started, and I’m not sure how it happened, but at the buzzer we were still going, and I had partially taken his back. I was too high, and would have been shaken off in all likelihood, but I made it through that minute.

There was another round, but I sat it out. Got a drink and walked a bit to calm down. It’s not an ego thing. Tim’s younger, stronger, faster, heavier, and more experienced than I am. There’s no reason he SHOULDN’T crush me. It’s just not pleasant to experience going through it.