I had a bit of a learning curve adjusting to my new normal.
Jun3
Tag Archives: arm bar
May2
My last Jiu-Jitsu class
… before my old schedule was up.
Did I freak any of you out? Talk about click bait.
But it WAS the last class for Blue Belt before he left for four years of optometry school out of state. There were lots of hugs, group or otherwise. Instructor, trying not to get teary-eyed, reminisced about Blue Belt’s first day, showing up in pajamas saying, “You teach Jiu-Jitsu?! Cool. I want to try it!”
Instructor said, “I knew he’d become a stud.”
Pirate bought him a farewell gift of one of the new green Jiu-Jitsu shirts, specific to our gym, so he won’t forget where he came from, I suppose.
It was sad losing a “family” member who was one of the earliest students since the gym’s founding in 2020. Surfer Dude, then Balloon Man, then Blue Belt have been there the longest.
But back to ME. I was sad too, okay?! It was my last class with the old 3-per-week schedule.
It was also a great class.
Sep24
Meh.
Warning: I chronicle my Jiu-Jitsu Journey here. This is a low moment post. If you’re not in the mood to be brought down, just skip to the end.
I wasn’t in the best frame of mind when I arrived for Jiu-Jitsu. Because of other life stressors, my normal place of refuge has lost its euphoria. But I’m trying to push through.
I showed up for a mini-Reflex Development class, where Master Cycle students are encouraged to help the Combatives students. Instructor seemed glad I was there and eager for me to assist him in demonstrating the moves.
Jul7
The birth of Taekwon-Jitsu!
One of my daughters wanted to continue Taekwondo. Sensei said it would take a lot to pull him back into teaching. I suggested maybe we do a blend of Taekwondo and Jiu-Jitsu on a quid pro quo basis. I’ve acquired some grappling mats. Might as well use them. He agreed. And thus, Taekwon-Jitsu was born!
Sensei practiced three forms with us then eagerly pointed at the mats. “Remind me how to do triangle chokes.”
But first I wanted to be sure everyone had break falls and standing up in base down. Youngest Daughter, who was my assistant when I did self defense classes with fellow moms at school, went over trap and rolls and wrist releases with her sisters. (I was so proud.)
Meanwhile, I helped Sensei with triangle chokes. At some point I elbow escaped to get back into guard and so subsequently had to refresh his memory on elbow escaping. (I should mention, he only did Jiu-Jitsu with me for a month.)
May19
Developing Reflexes
It was a large Reflex Development class Friday night, including four Master Cycle students. Often the MCers are paired with lowly white belts like me so as to help us. One of those MC women loves to be helpful, which is great, but also… not helpful. Should I be paired with her, I was formulating how I might kindly ask her to let me think through the moves rather than her telling me them.
When it was time to partner up, I hung back, letting the chips fall where they may, and taking whomever Instructor assigned me. Everyone who stepped from the wall looked around at each other and quickly paired up. By staying against the wall, I became invisible. Thus, a new strategy was born. When there’s an odd number of people (and I’m the oddest one), the straggler goes to…
Surfer Dude.
Score!
He’s second in command and sometimes teaches, giving Instructor a day off. In fact, recently, I was demo partner with SD instead of being the SD (demo partner) for Instructor. That was kind of trippy and fun.
Apr28
Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me
I finally finally FINALLY made it to a legit Class 20, the one I conned cajoled kindly asked Surfer Dude to give me an X on my card for after I demonstrated mastery and played 5,000 rounds of rock, paper, scissors.
I returned the next day for class 21, and what did I see on my card????
I approached SD at the desk and pointed out the problem. “Of all the classes for me to miss getting a second X. The one for which I worked so hard to get the first X.”
“Let’s do rock, paper, scissors,” he suggested.
“No!” I fake-yelled and walked away as he marked my card.
“Not even for fun?” he asked.
“Well, okay.” I returned to the desk. I shot rock. He threw down
Feb22
Receiving my second first stripe
I recently hit my 20th class of Betsy’s Jiu-Jitsu Journey: Round Two. During that class, Instructor said to me, “I’ve never given a fifth stripe before. Do you want me to add it to your belt?”
I pointed out that my first, first stripe was falling off anyway, so he might as well replace it.
“Do you want me to just do it after class, or should I call you up in front of everyone and do it then?” The latter is how stripes are normally awarded. I’m not usually one to want attention and fanfare, but this would mean I had just completed my 100th Jiu-Jitsu class.
And, darn it, I wanted some fanfare.
Jun7
He said it.
One part of last night’s Jiu-Jitsu lesson involved utilizing the triangle choke if your arm bar fails. Instructor emphasized trapping your opponent’s head while doing so. “It’s like a balloon. If you let go, it floats away. You don’t want it to float away because then you have to spend another $50 to get another one for your kid at Disneyland.”
The funny visual aside, I was reminded of the triangle choke class where I kept forgetting to trap my opponent’s head. He’d pop it up and say, “Your balloon is getting away.” Then I realized my partner from that class was standing next to me. I looked at him to find him looking at me, clearly thinking the same thing. We quietly chuckled.
Another nice thing: the guys greeting me by name and with a smile. One such gentleman I hadn’t met, but he still said, “Hello, Betsy,” with a friendly smile. Yes, I know his name now. It’s an uncommon one, so that makes it easier to remember. There are three pairs of people with the same name, and one name being utilized by three people. One of those is Li’l Trejo. Maybe I should just call him that instead to vary things up. Do you think he’d mind?
And now for a bit of throwback from January:
Writing and Martial Arts 