Day 28: Sliding Takedowns

It's been a few days since I did the training on Monday night. I've been busy and not been able to update much. I have to admit that as the days get shorter and colder, it's harder to find the motivation to do any kind of training. I feel aches more in Winter, particularly my knees which hit me with a sharp pain when I kneel on the floor. I also have to keep my finger's straight in the morning until my circulation has warmed up so each digit can move freely. Still, I'm smart enough to realize that exercising and working out, although perhaps painful in the short-term, is beneficial in the long term. It can prolong my life, keep me feeling young and relieve stress.

I still went to class on Monday and actually looked forward to it because I got lazy on Sunday, the day I usually train, couldn't get out of bed and felt really dreary. I think it was my body telling me to rest and the crappy weather outside didn't help. Monday's training was good. Lots of people because of the imminent competition approaching. It's still hard during sparring, no doubt, but I am slowly getting better. Fought 5 people but I'm always hesitant to approach people to spar the next round because there is always the ego in the back of my head knowing that the guy is gonna give me a hard time on the mat or just maybe he doesn't want to spar with me because he won't get anything out of rolling with a white belt.

The techniques we learnt were all from standing. Pulling the opponents arm the sliding just like a baseball player and wrapping his legs in various ways for a takedown. I liked one of the moves which was to grab the arm with both hands and use the outside leg on the opponents hips to swing down and gain x-guard then unbalance him. I used it during sparring with some success. I also got caught in an omoplata at the end and asked how to get out of it. Fukuzumi-sensei showed us 2 moves which looked effective for escaping. I will try to drill them.

Sadly, I'm not doing any other training besides Jiu-jitsu and my eating habits are not great. Despite this I am still hovering between 71 and 72 kg. No doubt because of the training I do 3 times a week which in total adds to 6 hours. After the new year I hope to get things kicked into action and add in some workouts to improve my cardio in preparation of the competitions. Plus the weather can only get better after that.