On the Mat Day 438: Brown Belt Visitor

I did a lot of DIY work yesterday in the house that mostly had me crawling around in the space under my roof but I still felt good going to class. Sho-kun, who is a purple belt with us, was there and I hadn't seen him for a long time. I think his background is in Judo and he works as a fireman so seldom gets time off to come train. A few guys turned up later and there was a younger guy who came from Paraestra since he was in town and knew F-sensei he came to visit.

F-sensei showed us a few ways to pass the knee shield which I will practice more but it is never easy to get past it.

During sparring, I think I sparred with everyone and had a fairly OK time of it but could not pull off the Berimbolo but managed to get a lapeloplata that I have been working on. The visitor asked me to spar and that's when I just felt my energy drain out of me. I just hit a wall. He looked young and not so strong but with his experience and technique, he just manhandled me but he did it very efficiently and smoothly. I saw him do the same thing with Kawai-san. I hope to someday achieve a level where I can roll and be extremely technical and always be one step ahead of my training partner. I feel that to take it to the next level I am doing enough BJJ but I also need to get better sleep (go to bed early and wake up earlier) and also have a cleaner diet, which is something that is so hard to do this time of year.