The Journey Has Resumed

Well, yesterday morning I crossed the Rubicon and resumed my journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have signed up with Phoenix Martial Arts in Flowery Branch, Georgia. I had my first class yesterday morning, and, let me tell you, I am SORE today. I am sore in weird places, too. My triceps hurt, my shoulders hurt, and I am sore at the bottom of my jaw.

We went over some mount escapes yesterday, including the knee/elbow escape (see video below):



and the UPA/Bridge-Roll escape (see video below):



After spending time drilling the techniques, we went into the open mat time. I rolled with a guy named Nick, who is the biggest (tallest, anyway) guy in the class. He played an open guard game with me (he said the open guard is something he is working on), which was a bit frustrating as he is almost nothing but legs. I tried to dive past his legs and ended up giving up my back. In the past, I have always felt very defeated when giving up my back. However, for Christmas, Julia had gotten me Saulo Ribeiro's JIU-JITSU UNIVERSITY (which is a great book on the art) who lays out a great hand-fighting technique. The key is to keep your chin tucked and keep your hands up in a particular position. The important thing is not to get baited into chasing your opponent's arm. Wait for it to come to you. If they are going to choke you, they will have to come to where you are. If you follow those techniques, you can fight off the choke. I was able to avoid getting choked and finally turn in on him and get back into guard. I ended up getting armbarred, but I felt good about it.

I also rolled with another guy in the class who is going to be testing for his blue belt soon. He caught me in a triangle choke, and I stacked him and drove into him, flipping him over. I slipped out the back, but he caught my arm and armbarred me. Again, I felt good about doing as well as I did, having not trained in months. A good start to the new journey.