On the Mat Day 346: February Sucked

February was a month filled with cold mornings, dark evenings and sickness for me. I had to miss class for an entire week because my son got Influenza, while my daughter, wife and I caught a stomach bug. Basically I could not eat anything for 3 days and lost around 2.5 kg by Friday. I feel fine now though and actually well enough to train last night.

I walked into the dojo to see an old face. A blue belt judo-based guy who was a blue belt when I first started way back then. He always went in hard and I remember getting a bloody lip from him as a white belt. Sure enough when we sparred later I tried to stand with him and he dropped me with o-sotogari. I think I panic too much for gripping when standing. He held me in kesa-gatame and I tried hard to escape but his judo background and 10 kg advantage made it super hard. I didn't panic and tried to create gaps. I think I did escape twice, the successful time was when catching a spider hook on his arm to create leverage. The thing I noticed the most was his breathing, he had completely gassed out trying to hunt for a kimura while on top while I on bottom was breathing as though from a brisk walk. I did catch him with some simple sweeps, the one I call the "Baka sweep".

Some things were again apparent from sparring.

1. I must get better at grip fighting and stand up.
2. I must get better at escapes.
3. I must prevent myself from getting reversed by stronger opponents because I do not have good stable pressure.

These are the biggest things right now that are preventing me from moving forward and getting better.

There is no class today because the instructors are going to see the UFC in Japan. F-sensei told me it only costs about 6800 yen or so for a seat. I should have shown interest to go. The event only happens once a year here. Yoshida who is also going with them jets out the next day for 8 weeks living in Brazil. I bet he will have a lot of fun and pain over there both on and off the mats.

Sparring time: 10 x 6 mins = 60 mins

I've also put my name down for the competition on the 17th. So not much time to get by my strength after my illness but it will be interesting to see the sensei of my sensei.