2005-12-12
Where did my fitness go?
Not counting the recent seminar, tonight was my first time back grappling in the non-fundamentals class for a while. You know you've been away too long when people look at you and seem amazed that you're actually there! It's interesting what you notice when you come back from a break.
The first, sitting at a desk programming has done nothing for my fitness! What a surprise. I used to be able to last the hour class fine but now I'm gasping for breath after just a couple of rounds.
Next is that everyone has gotten better. Much better. And I haven't. I did alright the first couple of opponents. I was concentrating on using the cuff choke from inside my opponents closed guard. This is a technique I picked up from the Masters of Grappling DVD and at least one GSW member is very good at it so I was keen to learn it. Amazingly I was able to pull it off a few times, and I got some help from said GSW member on how to work around some defences to it.
After that things went downhill and it was pretty much me tapping all night long. I felt very rusty. As they say, there's no such thing as failure, just another learning opportunity. I had much opportunity to learn tonight.
The class was taken by three of the blue belts and they did a great job. One of the drills was to pair up with someone and one person had to do as many submissions as possible in rapid fire, with light resistance from the opponent. That was interesting because it forced me to think about submissions I don't normally do and how to get into position to do them.
