Saturday, July 25, 2009

I'm Improving!!!!

I'm totally stoked about my training with BJJ. Ugg, I wish that I wrote last night our practice. I pretty much remember it all, but it's not as clear though. So, I just want to write why I'm so happy. Last night when we were done doing drills, we got into a circle and sparred like always. I chose Pinky he's more at my level and size unlike Chuck and Cory. I did really well against him. I know that I swept him from mount, got past his guard, went into side mount, and then went into a full mount. This is when I accidentally elbowed him in the face while dropping my weight down in mount. So, he had to take a break from that.

When my turn came around again, I was thinking about going against Chuck. However, just before my turn he sparred a good round with Cory. I didn't want to choose Roberto either. So, I picked Pinky and we sparred again. This match went exceptionally long. I kept on fighting and got out of lots of things like a triangle. I even got out of an armbar. I was on my back and Pinky was on his side. I knew he was setting up that armbar. I didn't resist that much because I knew I could escape it. I had one of his legs already trapped underneath me. He even straighten it out. He said that he had it. I said that he didn't and came into his guard. At one point, I tried to choke him from mount, but I think he swept me. When fighting we ended up on the feet again, we tried to take each other down; however, we were too tired. Roberto stopped us because we were boring him. I was glad that he made us quit because my nose started to bleed.

I was so proud of myself because I defended very well and tried to attack a little. I have never submitted Pinky before even though he's a orange belt. He's a very strong 14 year old and as big as a grown man. So, I was very happy because that proved to me that I'm improving. After our match, I had to clean up because Pinky got blood on my gi top and shirt. He got a cut somewhere on his face from sparring another person. When I was cleaning, I had to deal with my bloody nose. I wanted to clean my gi as fast as I can without it staining. Then, I got some blood on my shirt. I hate blood because it's a pain to wash out.

Today, I went to the BJJ club here at BYU because Roberto wanted to train Chuck Gold's Gym with whoever wanted to join them. We had to wait for a half an hour because Colin was late. Colman was actually there. I really wanted to spar with him to see how I would fair up, but he left before we could. We worked on different types of take downs, mostly from double under hooks. I took the instruction as a grain of salt because I trust Roberto more than them. We worked on the double leg take down. I started to feel really uncomfortable about it again. They were saying that it takes less energy to have both knees on the floor then twist to make them fall. However, I couldn't do it with Colman. I found it easier to post with a foot and drive my ear towards the side like I was taught. They said that the other person would grab the posted leg for defense.

I was always uncomfortable with takedowns because I couldn't make them work. I was uncomfortable with throwing because of my balance too. Now, I'm OK with them. I'm much better at shooting. Today, I shot against this cocky guy and did alright with it, even though he got into my guard. I'll write more about him later. Colin and Ethan were teaching that one could take down a guy by grabbing their ankle, putting your shoulder above the knee, and drive forwards. I was thinking that might not work because one could yank their foot out and get on the back. It may work if one is already scrambling backwards from a double leg takedown and if their foot isn't slippery. Like I said, I trust Roberto a lot more than I trust them.

Then, I sparred against a lot of people. That's where I had fun because I tried my skills against some new people. The first girl I sparred didn't really know any thing. So, I taught her some basics. Then, I sparred with another girl who did really well. However, I overpowered her because she's 60 to 70 pounds lighter than me. I sparred against one girl who use a lot of energy and force while I on mount. She won because of that energy. I wanted to spar again, but she was exhausted because of that spent energy. No wonder Roberto says to relax. It's no use to get excited like that because if one can let her spaz and use a lot of force, it would be really easy to beat her when she's tired.

I was very happy when I sparred against Colin. I could tell that I've improved because I lasted a lot longer with him. I sparred with a guy named Brent has a year of experience and trains at another school at Orem. I was surprised to hear of another BJJ school because that makes it three BJJ schools in Orem. That's a lot of schools for one style for one city. I did pretty well against him too. However, he did moves which I haven't seen before. When sparring, I got into the side defense. When I did that, Colman told me not to expose my back. I told him that I wasn't. I tired to unbalance him, but that didn't work. He just ended up on top of me again. Another time, I think it was him, he went for my foot and got me in ankle lock from side defense. I need to ask Roberto how to defend from that because Chuck did the same thing to me one time.

After him, I sparred with this cocky fella. At first, he looked really nice and happy. He's the guy that I tried the double leg takedown on. The first match he won. At first, he tried to put on this choke with his leg from mount. It didn't really work out that well. He almost choked me, but I kept still and calm. So, he armbarred me instead. It's hard to defend from armbars without a gi because I can't hold on to it. That's why he did it. When Ethan tried to armbar me, I explode over his leg so I can get into his guard. It worked because the other times it didn't with other people. i was really proud of myself.

I had another match against this cocky fella. When we sparred, he would hum to himself and wouldn't be that aggressive with me. This time, I choked him from half mount because I wanted him to let go of my leg. I told him this. I think I said side mount instead of half mount. He said that he could do a lot more things from side or half. I said oh, but in my head I knew I didn't believe him. I told him I'd let go of the choke if he'd let of my leg. He asked my why I would let go.

Actually now I think about it, I don't know since I'd be in mount. Colin said a person could defend it pretty easily. I defended a lot of chokes by sweeping the other person including the spazzy girl. She was pretty impressed with it. I thought sweeping all of these people was really cool because it hardly works on others in my dojo. I'm going to tell Roberto that it actually works. During class, he says that he usually taunts others by giving them his collar when they are in mount.

I sparred with the cocky guy a third time. After his reaction from what I told him, I made a mental note to tap out early if he decides to spaz out on me. i didn't want to get hurt because I called him out. However, I beat him with another choke. During this match, I accidentally elbowed him in the face or something like that. He said that in BJJ, one can't elbow. I said that I was sorry. I told him that I just flop when I get into mount or side. He said not to that. Ya right. After I beat him, I could tell he was upset and left.

My last and final guy that I sparred with was Ethan. He's really good. He kept on doing moves which I didn't know how to defend. I was keeping getting into his X guard. When he was on me, he put his knee on my chest. I had no I idea how to defend from that. Then, he kept on doing ankle and leg locks. I didn't know how to defend from those either. He kept on submitting me pretty quickly. I got out of a choke by rolling on to one side, but he got on top of me.

I was pretty happy after sparring because I knew that I was improving. I actually beat people today which was really cool. I was getting into dominant positions and working submissions way more than normal. Usually, I'm always on the defense. Today, I worked more on my offense. My offense sucks and was glad that I had the opportunity to improve on it. I told Colin that I felt that I don't suck anymore when sparring today with the club because I always felt that I suck at my dojo. Then, he said that he didn't really know how to take that. I could see his point because it means that the club is worse than the dojo. However, of course it is because they are white belts and Roberto is a black belt. He should have been thinking more from my perspective.

I was thinking more about what Roberto told me yesterday. He said that blue belts in BJJ are equivalent to black belts in other martial arts. Maybe, he means if a blue belt goes up against a black belts and wins. However, compared with the knowledge and skill level in one's own art, I say that blue belts are NOT black belts. I know that the black belts in my old dojo has so much more knowledge than our blue belts. Our blue belts have only been training for about a year or more in BJJ. Of course, Chuck and Dan are different stories. Cory is a little different story too. I'm pretty sure that Pablo hasn't trained for more than a year. In my old dojo, it took at least five years or more to get a black belt. A year compared to five is pretty significant.

1 comment:

Brittney said...

The color of a belt doesn't really have much meaning, it is the spirit of the individual that it is tied around that matters. The ki of the martial artist, at least in my book, out weighs rank. The number of years training means more than rank in any style, because it is the time on the mat and life experience that makes a true black belt.