journeyjjbluebelt

I improved my choke techniques because I trained with a higher belt that really knows the teachings and better than I am. Training like this will improve my technique and sparring. I have to wear a collared shirt to cover up the scratch marks all over my neck. My family will start to complain if they see it.

Lately, my enthusiasm for Jiu Jitsu is up and down. I guess I could use some encouragement. I will keep pushing through. I want to go, and I don’t want to go.

What is my problem? Injuries and people that want to cause injury. Flashback. What I liked about judo was that it was just friendly competition, and we all tried to make each other better. From the movie, 100 years of Judo, I learned that Judo is really a weak form of Jiu Jitsu where the harmful things were removed by Jigaro Kano, the creator of judo, so as to allow everyone in Japan to practice. Judo is a national pass time in Japan. The ending remarks in the “100 Years of judo”, from Master Jigaro Kano,the ultimate goal of judo is to develop fine people.

Before, I would attend class like I was going to a gym, which was the wrong mind set. Since that incident, the attempted broken ankle, I’m now training with a driven intensity, like a fire that was lit inside of me, or training for an important wrestling match against a rival school. I started weight lifting with purpose. I’m working on power and speed. Instead of losing weight, I want to put weight on. I know I should focus on technique but having size and strength is an advantage, but I realize with a loss of flexibility.

On Thursday, I took the advanced grappling class.  At first, it was not easy to follow, but by the end of class, I was starting to make sense of lesson. I should note that I had a good partner.

Right after the advanced grappling class is the throwing class.  I stayed for the throwing class because I was talked into it. Long story short, the person I was training with had to leave so I paired up with two black belts.  We did a throwing drill, seoi nage.  The drill took three people, the person executing the throw, the person being thrown, and the third guy holding the practice partner.  When it was my turn to hold the throwing person, I lost my grip and they came falling down.  I am not clear on how it happened.  One of them fell on my ankle, all 200 lbs.  When it happened, I thought my ankle was broken but ended up with a bad sprain.   Despite all this, I feel lucky and I am looking forward to intense training.

I started watching a show, Falling Skies, space alien invasion series.  It’s good.  Check it out. In my opinion, on the same level as The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad.