Your Jiu Jitsu is boring.....

Riddle me this.....all too often lately I've been hearing people say that other peoples jiu jitsu is boring.  What does this mean exactly?  Not enough movement, not enough action?  The person only has a top game, or the person only has a bottom game?  Well then I guess my jiu jitsu is BORING.  I'll admit, I'm a guard player.  I have the height, the legs, and the grips for it.  I have never tried for a takedown in a gi competition.  I am a guard puller (ahem, do ya KNOW who my coach is?!)  I probably always will be.  I drill positions on top, I have no quams about working on top in class.....I mean let's face it, I need it.  Most of the girls in class that I train with start sitting on their butts so I do not mind working to pass at all.  I wish I was as evenly rounded with my top game.  Will I ever get there?  Maybe.  I don't have that male wrestling intuition where they can plant their foreheads into the mat and granby roll with ease.  Although I will admit I have been working those granby rolls.  :)  But there is nothing more frustrating then when I hear someone say "your jiu jitsu is boring"  or "his jiu jitsu is boring."   I am going to use my boyfriend as an example.  Jeff is a wrestler.  Not just a wrestler, but a damn good one.  He is a top level purple belt under Traven and his top game is great.  When he fights, he will pass your guard.  It takes 6 minutes and 30 seconds to do it, (makes me a nervous wreck) but he is a heavy smothering machine and he is a killer.  I feel sorry for anyone who has to be underneath him in a competition.  He can't even do technique on me because he is so heavy, and he distributes pressure like you would not believe.  I heard some people at the gym (people mind you, who barely train and never compete) say his bjj is boring.   It was mind blowing.  Granted he is my man and I always have the "don't you talk about my man like that" rage in me anyways, but the fact that someone who consistently wins..is called boring...does that make sense?  So I guess I am boring.  I play guard.....I sweep to come on top...a lot of my matches start in guard and end in guard.  So I guess I am boring.  Should I be doing front flips and cartwheels?  Maybe that jump suplex greco-roman move I saw on youtube a few days ago.  Who knows.  I do what my coaches tell me to do.  I play to my strengths.  I am trying to take more risks when I train to open up my game more, but that is coming in very small baby steps.  I try and mimic what I am taught, and I look up to those who coach and teach me.  That's that.  I can't wait to wake up tomorrow and be boring......

Sunday is the Funday

I appreciate the off day of the week like no other...I always say im going to sleep in, but sleeping in means 9 o clock wake up time.  Yesterdays training was probably the last SUPER hard training for the next 3 weeks.  In ladies class we did closed guard drill for 20 minutes and then we did takedown drill for about 15 minutes.  Coming from someone who wants to be on the ground asap, being on the feet for 15 straight minutes will take it clear right out of you.  During the combined class the girls all did a final nogi session in prep for Lutador next weekend.  I really feel like my nogi has done a complete 180 in the past few months!  Absolutely cannot wait for nogi Pan Ams!!    The next 3 weeks are going to be Bonkers;  Lutador next weekend, Las Vegas Open the next weekend, and then Chicago Open the weekend after that!   Bonkers but I'll enjoy every minute of it!  

I was contacted a few days ago by BJJHQ about trying out a rashguard and then reviewing it on here.  Very excited to get it.  Let's face it, you can NEVER have too many rashguards!!  So I will keep this updated.

On to enjoy the Sunday.....maybe Harry Potter later?

Daaaaaang

Sorry it's been a hot minute since the last post, this week has been a blur.  Starting last Saturday my training intensity has absolutely hit the roof.  The frequency is about the same, but something inside of me is in beast mode, probably due to all of the competitions coming up.  Its a fun time, my head is in the game!!  My weight is fabulous right now, and my energy level is at an all time max.  I added another client, so I am up at the booty crack of dawn every day so I am having to alter my sleep schedule....that means no more Rescue Me and Franklin and Bash...Dangit!!!!  I am in bed by 10, so I only have an hour after I'm done training to get my shenanigans organized and hit my respective sack.   Im tryin Im tryin.  Song Mood?  Super Bass by Nicki Minaj.

BJJ Shenanigans

So this has been a great training week thus far, except for the ever so present forearm splints.  lol.  They come and go in waves, so I'm not worried about it.  Besides when its showtime I don't feel a thing except the desire to freaking win.   No gi is also coming along great, it helps that I have some wonderful teammates and coaches to roll with and help me learn.  And FYI if I hear anymore Pitbull songs his summer I might beat up a stranger.  During the 2 kb classes I'm teaching this am I have heard at least 5 songs with him in them.  Also an FYI, if I see anyone else walk into the bathoom here at Unit 2 with no shoes on I am in fact going to beat them up.  Oh and ppl shin guards don't count as shoes.

Early Thirty!!

Yeay it is a few weeks before the Lutador, and then the week following that the Las Vegas Open (theres a chance im a lil' bit excited about Vegas).  I do not think there is nogi at the Vegas Open this year, which is kind of a bummer because I've been training for it!  Ah well, I will just have to wait until the nogi Pans to let that flag fly.  Whoomp!

Saturdays are fun.....

So Saturdays and Wednesdays are my favorite training days of the week for two reasons.  The womens classes are on both of these days, and I only have bjj these days, meaning I dont have to worry about a weight or cardio session on these days.   at 10 am the ladies train.  There were only 4 of us today, but we still got a solid 40 30 minutes of rolling in.  Following this class is and 11:30 all skill levels gi class.   Today Traven had a seminar so Jeff taught.  He allowed Anna and myself to roll no gi, seeing as how Lutador is coming up quickly!   I am not incredibly comfortable in this aspect of the game, but the more I get to train no gi the better I start to feel.   After making the mats so sweaty that Anna and I were like the roadrunner trying to take off, we decided that was enough.  Then an afternoon of Sam's club (which is a dang task/adventure in itself) and now relaxing and I refuse to do anything the rest of the evening expect lie here and watch King of Queens.  

Call me Crazy......

I guess I am used to the ridiculously hot BJJ room at Unit 2......Traven will often turn on the furnace to 90 in the middle of the summer!  I don't mind this, I have always liked to sweat buckets.   I suppose I am used to this because I walked into the fitness center at my apartment complex and was uncomfy.  I walk in and there are 3 dudes doing their "Insanity" workout off of a computer they had plugged in.  No worries, they were working pretty hard.  I had a problem with this:  They had turned down the a/c to 68 degrees.  I mean come on ppl, do you really not like to sweat that much?  Call me crazy, but I always semi-equated the amount of sweat pouring off of a person to how hard that person was working.  They were bouncing around and what not, with no sweat.  I grunted onto the elliptical, knowing that it was going to take a miracle for me to sweat like I wanted.  Then I felt the burn in my throat and chest, like I was running in 32 degree weather.  I was getting anggrrrryyy......I pushed to my limit for 40 minutes, trying to get through my last session of the day.   I looked down.....my shirt was barely wet, my face had barely beaded up, and of course there was no sweat to be found anywhere else.  I felt like I had failed.  Call it a complex.  I was not a happy panda.

First time's a charm!

So I'm finally doing it....starting a blog.  Yeah I know I am about 5 years too late, but better now than never!   A little about myself:  I am a 28 year old full time graduate student (I swear it never ends) and a full time BJJ practitioner.  Every day I wake up, train/teach classes at the gym, rest, then go back for more training.  During the school year this is the same except with classes during my rest time.  I recently earned my CSCS, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certificate, so I have taken on a few hard-working clients.   I have a wonderful, supportive family and the most wonderful boyfriend on the planet.  I have the pleasure of living across the street from the gym, Unit 2 Fitness, and I am a member of the best BJJ familia, Roberto Traven Jiu Jitsu.  For those of you who do not know who Roberto Traven is, give 'em a quick googlin' and you will undoubtedly agree that I am one of the lucky ones to be training under such a name!  I also have a lil' black beast named Roxy, a grumpy pitador whom I love dearly.  haha.  You will hear much about her.  Well enough about all this, I will post more soon as well as some pics.  I'm new to this game so bear with me.  Im hungry.