Just a quick report on tonight’s workout at Ye Olde American Grappling Academy. I worked hard, and it made me tired. I did mostly cardio tonight, shadowboxing and hitting mitts with a partner and a bit of heavy bag. My heart was pounding and my breath was weezing. LOL Also got to do a little work with an advanced student, where we rolled a bit. Then I analyzed what I did wrong in a few spots. It’s a long, long learning process. I am going to up it to 4 nights a week on-going if I can hack it. (I think I can, sore though I will be.)
It occurs to me that some of you non-readers of this blog might not realize what it is we do at grappling class. Well, here’s a clip for our teacher’s youtube channel (You go, Me — I am the one who got him to set one up, and he now has 24 clips on it!). Anyway, we usually will work cardio and/or technique for about an hour. Then we will do “Live rounds”, which basically means competing against each other to practice what we’ve been learning. Here’s an example of some guys from class doing some rounds:
This aspect you’re seeing is the jujitsu part, also called “submission wrestling” because the objective is not to pin your opponent (like in greco-roman wrestling); instead, you want to make him submit. Usually, you’ll do it by choking him or by locking one of his joints (especially the elbow). If we were working “stand-up” or Mixed Martial Arts, we’d be including kicks and punches in with the grappling. We do that sometimes, too, but the main focus is on groundwork.
I am easily the least-skilled in the class (and the oldest student, which doesn’t help in my physical abilities – I will very often practice technique with 17-20 year olds), unless it’s someone’s first week (and then I often get to work with them on fundamentals, which is cool). I know a lot more in my head, but the muscle-memory, flexibility, etc is very slow going even after all these months. But I have come a long way, and it’s great fun. One day I might even go to a grappling tournament and compete.
This was meant to be a quick update, but there you have it. Nearly 400 words later, I am through. . .
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