For the first time, I tried a no kimono, no gi, class on Friday night. It was a tough group of people, an ex college wrestler, an ex m.m.a. fighter, and visitors, als0 known as, people off the street. Professor Gui taught us a few choke holds. These chokes are done when the opponent shrimps out of the side mount. That night I was lucky to have a brown belt as my partner whom was very patient and took me slowly through the steps. To be honest, I thought it was complicated and didn’t think that I would be using it anytime soon. However, I was wrong. I was able to do a guillotine choke when my opponent tried an elbow escape from the side mount. It was my first submission. Note, I don’t want to give the submission much attention just like when I tap out. For me what was extraordinary was that I was just taught the move, practiced the move on my partner, and then executed the move in sparring that night. That’s cool.
Throwing is a part of Jiu Jitsu just as much as it is to Judo. I attempted the Makikomi. It was pretty bad. I was able to grab both elbows for a short while but I couldn’t swim my other arm over them to execute the throw. As soon as I grabbed both elbows of my opponent, he knew something was going to happen and immediately try to yank his arms free. What I learned is that the execution has to be quick or it won’t work.
I was in some bad positions during sparring. At one point, my opponent had me in a top mount position with his full body weight on my abdomen and the hooks in. I was having trouble breathing. I panicked. I should have stuck it out because I was prepared for this. I have been practicing a five-minute meditation on only five breathes. Here’s how you do it. It is a twenty-second inhale, hold for twenty seconds, and exhale for twenty. Five breathes, five minutes. Note, it takes practice to get a twenty-second inhale. You can start with a 10 second inhale, 10 second breath hold, and 10 second exhale. At another time, I was pinned. I tried a pressure point to get my opponent to let go. It didn’t work but it may have made him uncomfortable. I should have asked my opponent after the match if it was working. Note to self, research pressure points. If I find any article worth mentioning , I will let you all know.
Every Friday Night after the fundamental class, Professor Pedro talks about Jiu Jitsu philosophy and life style. I forgot about this. I usually have prepared questions. If any of you have a question, please on forward it. Anyways, someone asked about the Gracie Diet. I haven’t read the book yet. I haven’t really started the diet. From what I understood, the diet is concerned with blood ph levels. It is bad to have high acidity in the blood. The blood should be alkaline. To keep your blood alkaline, you have to consume the right food and not mix certain foods.
Professor Pedro also discussed taking control of your mind as with his example of salt addiction. He made the decision to never put salt on his food. We all know that long-term over use of salt leads to high blood pressure. Once you stop over consuming salt, it takes around three months before the taste of the food returns. Back in the late 1990s, my ex girlfriend from Liverpool, England, taught me that we put too much salt in our food in America. That night, she made a soup without salt to prove her point. The food wasn’t important. It was a salt addiction and the food could have been anything. I liked Professor Pedro’s message of how he instructed his mind that he isn’t going to consume salt instead of his mind instructing him to eat salt. A part of a Jiu Jitsu practitioner’s goal is to learn mind control so that we can control our emotions.
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