Saturday 10 October 2009

Day 6 on the mat

I've discovered the reality of jiu jitsu. If you start going to a club, you've got to be prepared to eat humble pie. The worst sparring I had tonight was with a blue belt, Mr. Fuji. No matter what I did, I could not escape from side control or get a good position on him. Eventually, I tapped to a rear choke. Later while changing, I peeled off my rash guard (a skin-tight t-shirt that soaks sweat and prevents nasty skin infections) and caught him looking over at me then he looked at his own arms. Obviously comparing us. He was a typical businessman body-type. Short legs, round middle and arms that are bigger than average but not toned. I got an feeling for what he was thinking at that moment. "God, look at that Gaijin over there. He looks strong and fit compared to me but I still overpowered him." That's the beauty of jiu jitsu. Technique is king. You can be crazy strong but if the other guy has the moves you are screwed.

My left arm is giving me trouble. After a few rounds of sparring, the muscle feels like it's pulsing. If I breath in deep then on the exhalation I feel my muscle sort of spasm as though I have deep muscle ache. The guys said I use strength too much (typical for a white belt) and that's because I don't yet know when it is ok to be relaxed. That will come in time.

Anyway, I tried to break guard with semi-success and also attempted an arm-bar from guard but it failed. There was a brown belt guy, never seen him before, really good. Relaxed, fast and strong. I'll try sparring with him next time and get some pointers.

Peace.

1 comment:

  1. cheers Joe Logan I first like to thank you for such great Blogs, The are great help for us the begginers in such beautiful art of Jiu Jitsu, please keep it up. I too been having the same issue as you said here, I'm in relative good shape but when rolling get tired too soon and after wards my body hurts too much, I quess I'm using too much strength too. any expecific advice you can give me please. thank you once again for your wanderful work.

    ReplyDelete