On the Mat Day 282: Who Turned Up the Heat?

The true Japanese summer is here now. It's a little later than usual but it has arrived in full glory. I sweated my bollocks off during afternoon training today and even while driving home in my air conditioned car, I still couldn't get rid of the building sweat stain on my wifebeater shirt. Summer here feels like living on the sun. Or perhaps less dramatic training today was like wearing your kimono in a sauna for 30 minutes.

F-sensei showed us how to break down the opponent to finish the armbar. I've seen them a lot before and could probably recite them but there would always be something I missed. I partnered with Christiano who is a Brazilian living in Japan and apparently started training when my teacher was a blue belt. I decided to take on the hardest sparring partners today to see how my cardio would hold up. Tsuzuki was first and got me in a choke with a minute to go on the clock. He seems to be low on stamina lately but most of us are. I basically tried to always reset guard to get my hips parallel to his. I planned to then spar with Miura-san but never got to today because of the timing and moving off with other partners. He is very strong in the upper body and feels like fighting against a baby rhino. I enjoy sparring with these tougher guys because it is a good test of my defence.

Yesterday I did Cardio TX for the first time. I had about 20 minutes on the clock when my ipad just refused to continue playback. After 10 minutes of trying to sort it out I gave up and jumped in the shower. It was a very good workout though, kept my heart rate high for the 25 mins I was doing it.

Sparring time: 4 x 6 mins = 24 mins
Notable moments: Shaolin sweep on F-sensei, lots of getting my arse kicked by everyone and their dog.