Choose Strong
For Tim.
1. The Sunnyvale Gym
With the train tracks to the right, I only have three or four stops on Central
Express and it takes me about 25min to ebike to the Sunnyvale gym. In total it
shaves more than 30min from my commute to Redwood City. In this weather, I
don't need Caltrain at all. These economies appeal to my defensive nature and
make me very happy.
Most guys left from the Ralph Gracie Mountain View days are now black belts.
Justin the "Machine" has earned the third stripe and still teaches daily. Darren
was a blue belt back then and is now one owner and instructor. We rolled and
their skills were amazing. I was very much inspired by Ronaldo, a 53-year-old
badass Filipino, with abs, and the 52-year-old Ron who started 20 months ago. By
the end of the first week, I came back down to 157 lbs.
Noon classes went FAFAFAO through the week where F stands for fundamental, A for
advanced, and O for open mat. In a regular session, some form of warmup was
followed by about 15 mins of instructions. Next, we spent 30 mins on positional
training. Sparring at the end was light (often only one or two rounds).
I loved the teaching and started writing down afterwards the drills of the day.
2. A Kickass Warmup
After adding five pounds over the last six months, I went up Mission Peak on Jun
8 and felt nothing the next morning. I was again bullet-proof. I never thought
I'd need three days to recover from a physical exercise.
Tue June 11, Maria led a warmup of four laps up and down the length of the mat
and in one we cossack-squated on each side every stride of the way. I did about
two-dozen reps per leg, finished in good shape and thought nothing of it at
the time.
My ass was seriously kicked by Wed morning and I had to skip training twice. Friday,
when finally feeling good enough to do sun salutations, I quit in two reps in a
hamstring cramp. Part of me felt this was great as I was ready to improve on it. After
recovery, I started doing at least two dozen cossack squats every day.
3. Junteenth Open Mat
The format of the classes (and shorter commute) allowed me to recover and for
the first time in a long time, I came to the dojo on a Wed which happened to be
Junteenth. Over two dozens peeps were already rolling and Darren told me today
was open mat: "Go choose your victims." Well, about that, I was not sure: few
white belts showed up for open mats and the rest were colored belts.
So I went with Henry (a three-stripe blue), Whitney (blue), and Eversly (black)
and was lucky: no submissions. But Von, a 44-year-old strongly-built Asian
wearing a Renzo Gracie rashguard, was something else. I passed his butterfly
guard only to get my head and arm caught between his legs which curled up to
catch me at cross-side. I realized I must be dealing with a puple belt or above.
Over the next five minutes, he caught me in four or five holds but was not able
to finish. At the end of the round, I tapped to his north-south choke after a
few attempts to get out.
He was amazed: "You are really hard to kill. Very impressive!"
"I was betting on you were not going to kill me," I smiled back.
I could've grappled more but was distracted by the missing of my eyeglasses.
Once I found them, I decided to leave. At the door, Eversly was getting ready to
go, too.
"I have to go to work," he said.
"I have no work to go to," I replied.
"Why are you leaving so early then?"
"I would very much like to be able to come back to train tomorrow."
I didn't feel the need to prove myself, not to anyone including me. I was no
longer the kind of fighter I was two years ago.
4. Mid-year Resolution: the Six-pack
The goal is not exactly new but just got renewed by the end of the Junteenth
week. First, the M-sized rashguard Jon, my friend and the owner of Military BJJ,
threw in with the T-shirt I bought turned out to be a small M and raised
awareness by showing a slightly bulged mid-section. Jon himself is an example of
discipline. 5'10" and 160 lbs, he eats fish and fruits and lifts weight. Him and
Ronaldo are the two black belts that I know with defined abs. So far I have done
a good job: adding 10+ lbs for BJJ and holding the waistline. Let me pay more
attention, do some ab exercises, give it six months, and see what happens.
In two weeks after that decision, I dropped five lbs (thanks to steaks made out of Costco
boneless lamb leg) by just controlling diet and more abs showed. It was amazing.
5. The Imanari and Turtle Attacks
This was taught in my first class with Darren: from a seated position with
opponent's (right) foot in between, fall to my right side with my right hand
holding behind his knee and as a pivot, and inverse all the way to his left side
and catch his left leg in my legs, push to make him fall and have his leg in
position for a heelhook. (This was the Imanari, and I later found it in BJJ
Fanatics site where Masakazu Imanari used it as an entry from standing. Simply
amazing!)
I was fascinated by this move ever since and somehow made the connection with a
video I saw where Raould Audhoe submitted seven opponents in a tournament from
the turtle position. It was exciting because I'm very good at getting to my
knees but not so good when they run around to my back. (Sometimes I was just
lazy.) They would take my back and choke me or flip me over and take side
control. I need an attack game from that position and I think this is it.
[To be fair, I do know what to do: I'd try to step forward and turn to face my
opponent using elbow and knee as a shield. Rickson taught this. I only need to
practice it more.]
I am also good at inverting in drills but so far haven't done much with that
skill. And this discovery holds a lot of promises.
