Just another Friday.

After a brief break last week with the Lunar New Year falling on Thursday, it was nice to have a day off to eat, drink and relax. Unfortunately, trying to get back into training afterwards was rough as my body hasn’t been cooperating lately.

I’m going to be training at another BJJ gym in the city next week to accompany a friend. I’ve heard some of the crazy workouts they do…this should be interesting.

I’ve acquired a fat lip and a bruised forehead to add to my list of battle scars – yes! My partner for friday’s noon class was a 6’2″ 200lb gorilla.. Or at least he felt like one with his giant arms and muscling me around. He’s a regular with our lunch time crew, and after the first hip bump I reminded myself that I need to protect my head and neck. I almost gave myself whiplash from the impact.. Ugh.

I know it’s good practice to roll with people of different sizes, but this wasn’t the best opportunity. It came time for positional sparring, trying to defend while he was in mount was a bit of a joke. He kept attacking my arms for an Americana, and I was fairly useless for that half of the class. When someone’s constantly trying to muscle you into submissions, you really can’t do anything. The more frustrating part was that when it was my turn, he would bear hug me.  I asked ‘R’ to teach me how to defend against against him. Next time , he’s got an armbar with his name on it.

Training with ‘R’ on Friday night was easier than usual in terms of cardio, but my hips flexors were so tight they were giving up on me by the second set of burpees. I felt like I was hitting the technical drills well, but got a failing grade in muscle endurance. I’m not sure why I felt so drained. The rest of the workout seemed to fly by and I worked up a good sweat. I even joked that he didn’t work me as hard as before, though I think I might be regretting that comment the next time we get together…

I finally had a chance to sleep in and roll around in bed this morning! I can’t remember the last time I slept in. The pup didn’t even bother me and drag me out of bed for her morning walk.. double win. It’s almost like she knew I needed the extra sleep. Now I’m feeling charged and ready to go again.