Tag Archives: BJJ

Jul25

Where the devil is

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Here’s another old, unpublished post, originally written in June.

Instructor is trying to get me test-ready. It’s both flattering and a little maddening. Flattering because I’ve noticed he gives me line edits, as we say in my industry, rather than high-level suggestions. I’m past the basics, and he wants perfection.

That’s cool, but the maddening part is it means yet MORE details to learn and memorize. And they seem to keep being updated. Now I can’t use my hands or feet to get to modified sidemount. I’m to sliiiiide. Also, I felt my foot being lifted and placed back on the mat, toes flat, not propped up. The extra sad part is, Instructor had to do that twice. :/

Would that really be a point deduction? Quite possibly. Instructor is getting better and becoming more demanding. No actual complaint on that, but it’s making all of this harder. Will I ever finish? Will I ever have it all down and be ready for testing?

Hey look there’s me! Sitting apart from the guys. I don’t know why. They smell? I smell?

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Jul20

The reflex development that was

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The reflex development that was

I wrote this at least two months ago, but, for whatever reason, never posted it. Better late than never?

After regular Friday Jiu-Jitsu is an hour-long Reflex Development (RD) class. One Friday, after the first class ended, I sat on the bench, holding my socks. Should I put them on and leave? I surveyed the assembled students: a couple Master Cycle people, one who intimidated me a little, and two Combatives (my class) students whom I wasn’t fond of working with for one reason or another through no real fault of their own.

Surfer Dude began instructions, paused, looked at me, and said, “Are you staying for RD, Betsy?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I said.

Instructor spoke up. “Yes, you are,” he said firmly. “I’m not letting you leave here without doing RD.”

Well, okay, then. I was glad to have the decision made for me. Then one of my chicas showed up, so I was happy and comfortable working with her.

(It wasn’t this chica, but…) Mrs. Instructor, who posts pics on socials, commented that I’m smiling in nearly all of them. How can I not be?

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Jul16

Bonding over T-shirts

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Bonding over T-shirts
I had a fun little chat with a man wearing this shirt at Costco. I agree, but I like more than three people.

He appreciated the shirt I was wearing too.

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Jul7

The birth of Taekwon-Jitsu!

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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.)

Visual reminder: triangle choke

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Jun23

Showing those boys what’s up.

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Showing those boys what’s up.

For the first time ever, I arrived at Jiu-Jitsu and was disappointed to see Surfer Dude. I admit it: I like being demo partner. It’s actually fun, and I’ve gained a lot of confidence.

SD waited on the center of the mat while Instructor looked down the line with a finger out pointing. “Let’s go wiiiiiiiith…” his finger stopped on me. Hope surged. Would he use both of us somehow?

Then he turned, as if seeing SD standing there for the first time. “Oh, hi. How are you?”

So no demo day for me. Later I thought it would have been funny if I had said to SD, “I’ll flip you for it,” because that’s something I learned to do years ago. And if I had flipped that big dude over my back in front of everyone, it would have been epic. Alas.

Here are some way back play back images of me being flipped by SD, back in his blonde days when the nickname fit.

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Jun16

Big ol’ slippery mat? Of course I’m going to slide on it.

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Big ol’ slippery mat? Of course I’m going to slide on it.

Before I get to the main event, let’s pretend that last post didn’t happen, shall we? For the time being, I’m going to keep on keeping on. But, to be certain about my next plan of attack being legit, I needed to ask Hubby, “Do you think I can pull off this book thing?” He said, “Yeah, of course.”

So that’s that. I already have the title for chapter 1: “It was Covid, and I have a lemon tree.” How did those two facts lead me to martial arts? You’ll just have to wait and see. I’m taking pre-orders now. Kidding. 😉

Now on with the post!

The first time Instructor asked if people could help clean the mats after class, I jumped at it. Why not? The fancy vacuums, however, are not intuitive. Instructor had to say to me, “These are kind of tricky” three times as he repeatedly showed me how to put them together, turn them on, take them back apart, empty them…

When trying to put the “tank” back on the pole part, Surfer Dude said, “You make the labels match up.” He pointed at the labels. I stared at them. “It goes label to label,” he said again. Finally this computed in my brain, and I successfully put the pieces together, both literally and figuratively.

Visual interlude: This pic of SD was posted on Instagram. I commented, “That’s how I like to stand against the wall too. Feet are for chumps.”

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May3

A story about oranges … but also somewhat Jiu-Jitsu, of course

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A story about oranges … but also somewhat Jiu-Jitsu, of course

First, let me take you back to a fine afternoon in early April. As it is wont to do, my mind was on Jiu-Jitsu, what class we’d be doing in Jiu-Jitsu, how many more hours until Jiu-Jitsu. Finally, overflowing with eager anticipation, I messaged Mrs. Instructor.

I had not. I needed to check this out. Here it was:

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May2

Surfer Dude has abandoned me

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Surfer Dude has abandoned me

I’ve watched SD reprise his role enough times to *mostly* know how the game is played.

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I’ve watched SD reprise his role enough times to *mostly* know how the game is played.

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When Surfer Dude (SD) isn’t present and Instructor needs a demonstration partner, he usually scans the faces along the wall before saying, “So-in-so, can I use you, please?” often with a cupped hand beckoning the person onto the mat.

This time we had barely lined up, Instructor was still walking onto the mat, and didn’t even look when he called me out, as though it was a given.

That’s cool, and it’s still an honor, but when I reached the center of the mat, I saw SD standing on the far end.

Normally, I play the part of dutiful partner, staying on script, making myself as unmemorable as possible, but I couldn’t help but look at SD and throw my arms up in a “What the heck?!” fashion. He just smiled broadly then trained his eyes on Instructor.

I did the same because focusing on Instructor made it easier not to think about SD watching me. While I did his job. And he sized me up for competency.

Apparently he was just waiting to get across the mat without interrupting, because he left shortly after that. I breathed a little easier.

I’ve watched SD reprise his role enough times to *mostly* know how the game is played.

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