Day 41: Hiza Gatame

It was absolutely bloody freezing cold tonight. There is a thermometer in the dojo and it was reading 4 degrees Celsius. Just stepping on the mat was like skating on ice, that's why everyone was wearing socks. One guy, kondo-san who is a great guy was barefoot. I asked him why he didn't wear socks but he grinned while rubbing his frozen feet and just mumbled something about the Japanese spirit. Funny. They call it Yamatodamashi in Japanese.

I wore a groin protector for the first time tonight because I'm sick and tired of getting my jewels squashed by legs, knees and feet. I always seem to have bad luck with getting a knee or 2 in the nads. It's a muay thai metal protector and it surprisingly fit very well and I never noticed it once.

I'm still worried about my fingers not being able to move in the mornings so I have been taking Glucosamine and Condrotin supplements. I think I took too much because I was pissing every 5 minutes the other night, a sure sign my kidney is trying to flush something bad out. I'll use a lower dose. Another recovery method I used tonight was contrast baths for my hands. Dipping my hands in hot then cold water for 5 cycles of 1 minute. I hope this helps them get better but i did notice the colour of the joints looked better afterwards.

I sparred with 7 people tonight at 7 mins each. That was probably around 40 minutes give or take a little for breaks. Most I've ever done so far and I felt it but in a good way. I still feel shit at jiu-jitsu and sometimes get depressed at how long it will take before I get competent.