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Since the gym is closed on Monday for Memorial Day, I went in yesterday for a roll. I don’t usually go in on Saturday, but figured may as well!

Got to roll around with a jet lagged purple belt who just got in from Israel. Jet lagged or not, he still kicked my butt royally.

I’ve been having a bunch of mini breakthroughs in the last few weeks. Been doing a lot less scrambling and a lot more thinking. I’m starting be able to anticipate what someone is going to do – just a little bit, but I’m starting! I wasn’t so sure about spider guard, but (of course) coach was right – it works well for me.

I have my first NAGA tournament on June 9th. Not gonna lie, I’m a bit nervous. I know that no matter how I do, the only thing that could disappoint my team or coach would be for me to quit. Since that’s not gonna happen, that leaves me with just my own self.

It’s stupid really. Yet another thing to just “get over.”

Anyhow, my boss is awesome and gave me every day off I requested in order to do tournaments! Here’s what I got:

June 9 – NAGA Memphis
July 21 – EGO Nashville
August 18 – IBJJFO Chicago
September 15 – TN State Championship
October 13 – NAGA St. Louis
November 17 – NAGA Nashville
December 1 – NAGA Atlanta

I figure that should get me primed for Pan Ams next year. Thankfully, I’ve been assured that once I do Pan Ams, I’ll never get the jitters in competition again (unless I do Worlds). On the other hand, I’ve also been assured that no amount of small tournament “warm ups” will help me not be nervous as Pan Ams.

As long as I have my team mates, I’ll be all right!

Got to drill a full on bravo choke this morning at 6:30. I’ve almost gotten that one a few times live – but it just didn’t flow as easily as it should have. So it was nice to get some correction!

At 10 I got to do some no gi training with our mma girl. Normally I trade off rolling with one of our smaller guys, but he wasn’t there today. So it was just me and her. Good news is that my arms didn’t get so tired this time – I think this no gi stuff is really building some muscle endurance. I should try taking a no gi class or two so maybe I’ll get some ideas of what in the world to do when I can’t wrap someone up with their gi!

After an hour of that, I had no energy left for the 11:30 class – so I went to eat Thai food and take a nap before my 5:00 massage client arrived.

I’m thinking of training a bit tomorrow. Normally I take Saturdays off but the gym is closed on Monday. Think I’ll just wait and see what time I wake up!

So was pretty surprised, but coach gave me my 3rd belt stripe after today’s 11:30 class! I was told it’s usually 4-6 months between stripes – so I must be doing something right!

Anyhow, back to business.

Just watched again at 10. At 11:30 we drilled a gi choke from side control top. It felt pretty rusty until one of our purple belts smoothed it out for me – then it was slick!

Rolled a couple of rounds. My last roll was with my purple belt spider guard friend. I did all right, he let me play around and move. One thing I’ve had happening is people just lying on their sides to keep me from playing spider guard. I asked him about this and he said to just come up and take mount since they’re asking for it and saving me the trouble of sweeping them.

Line up, third stripe for Nicholle, yay/pats on back, moving on.

Went back at 5 for some more rolling. I got beat up pretty thoroughly. One of our very energetic blue belts kept me moving for a couple rounds. Then I got snagged by a brown belt instructor and was shredded finely. Man I was tired after that!

I managed to tweak my left knee a bit, so I took the time between classes to (once again) kinesiotape my knee. Also downed some partially frozen gatorade – yummy!

At 7:15 we drilled a fun counter from side control top – if they manage to get all the way on their side, it’s a slick spin to flatten them out from the other side.

Had a couple fun rolls! Went with the same energetic blue belt again – managed to keep him at bay for a little while before he managed to smash pass me. Finished off with one of our purple belts who is off to IBJJF Worlds next week. He’s a Judo fiend and is REALLY good at playing with body weight. I think that’s the hardest he has rolled with me so far! Twas fun! Afterwards, he admonished me “use your weight more!” Normally I’d retort “what weight” – but he weighs the same as me, so I could only nod. If he can do it, so can I!

We had a blue belt test at the end of class. Two new blue belts in the ranks. Aaaaaayyyyy!

Our girl mma fighter made it to team training at 10, so I got to take turns with her. Gotta say, our last round was probably our best ever! Wish we had taken video of it! When they called time, we both popped up and in unison hollered “that was awesome!”

At 11:30 I teamed up with a purple belt instructor from Murfreesboro. It was great fun drilling and then rolling a bit. He got me with a pretty mean wrist lock which I, of course, gave him a hard time about – after my eyes had stopped watering.

I had some good rolls at 5. Got beat up by a brown belt, purple, and a couple of our more controlled blues.

Got to play against a spider guard for a change – it was the purple belt who taught me some tricks last week. I kept my base low and managed to avoid his sweeps for several minutes, then he got me with a really simple one that made my brain say “Du-oh!”

Let’s see, one of the blue belts got me with a kimura several times. He told me that’s what I get for putting my hand on the mat. Got spun upside-down a few times – getting fairly comfortable with that!

I came prepared with muscle milk for refueling – but ended up not joining the 7:15 class. It was mainly large white belts whom I didn’t know – so I figured I’d just go home and rest some instead. 6:30 comes early!

Someone else showed up to the 6:30 am class today! It was a big, new white belt – but with coach watching I wasn’t too worried. We practiced a heel pick takedown, side control hand positioning, and then taking mount from side control, and then a really sneaky wrist lock from side control. Coach won his 3rd match at the Pan Ams with that wrist lock – snapped it real good!

I’m pretty sure I “at least” bruised another rib or two last week. It’s a bit painful with deep inhalation, and being crushed flat is much more unpleasant than usual. So annoying – I guess I’ll just have to work around it.

No one to play with again at 10 I’m afraid. A group of gi students showed up early for the next class and were rolling around a bit, but there was nobody I could roll with.

The 11:30 class on mon and tue is our intro gi class (no rolling) – so I only take it when I find someone, before class begins, who I can pair off with safely.

We drilled a snap to back takedown, then reguard from side control bottom, then belly out (if hip is blocked). My drilling partner was one of our more experienced white belts with a severe adhd streak. Every other rep he got excited over discovering a new way to kill me, each time quoting “but I would never hurt you, you’re too sweet!”. I caught coach eyeballing him a couple times, it was pretty entertaining!

That was it for today! Tomorrow is my long training day. 10, 11:30, 5, and 7:15. Yay!

I ended up being the only person who showed up for training at 6:30 this morning, so I ended up doing a massage on coach instead.

I came back at 10 and did some light no gi rolling with one of the purple belts in between his turns beating on our training camp guys. He just wanted to keep his heart rate up.

At 11:30, we drilled a fun side control escape – it was very ninja’esc. Then I and one of the other girls rolled several rounds. Coach told us to stay together while the guys switched partners – that way we he wouldn’t have to worry about us getting hurt.

That’s it for training until monday morning! Knees are already feeling better after stim treatment and a day of icing at night, so hopefully I’ll be feeling fresh on Monday!

Got to do a little no gi sparring with one of the blue belt guys at 10. It was a good roll because he doesn’t try to smash me and uses good technique to pass my guard. He made the mistake of telling me he was fat (he’s a bean pole), so whenever he’d get me pinned in side control, I’d reach up and grab a handful of belly skin. Not enough to really hurt, but it distracted him enough that I’d wiggle out. Okay, so we were just goofing off really – gotta have a little fun!

At 11:30 we drilled a slick bravo choke from side control bottom. The added benefit was that if even if they posture out of the choke, you’re still escaping from the bottom.

Had a couple fun rolls, then became the odd one out and coach took the opportunity to beat on me a bit. I always feel like I’m just being toyed with – he could finish me anytime he wanted, but tosses me around a bit first. Played a lot of inverted guard!

Went to see the sports doc/chiro today about my knee. Just wanted to get it checked out. Good news! Ligaments and meniscus all good! Just a little bursitis from hanging by my knees from the chin up bar. He said probably a “little” tendinitis but nothing major. He cleared me for training and told me to do gentle hamstring stretches, ice after class, and no more hanging sit ups.

Decided to wait on getting a bike – let the knee heal up before putting more workload on it.

Speaking of workload… I went in a bit early for 5 pm because I wanted to talk with coach about training. He said I’m on the right track and just keep going – he’ll redirect me when I need it. My dad was worried that I might be over training, but coach said that I’m good – and he would bench me if I needed it. I don’t roll every day, and I don’t roll hard every single time. Coach said if I start loosing recovery time, or feel beat up all day, that’s when I need a break.

Played a bit with my thursday brown belt buddy before 5 pm class. He’s just my size and rolls nice. He has learned most of my tricks by now so I have to come up with new ones to keep things moving. Plus the smack talk we get going is awesome!

Got my butt kicked first match in class, had some give and take in my second, then had my ass handed to me on a plate by one of our black belts. (But in the best, non injurious way possible!) Twas great fun!

The no gi class was next so I worked on my BBB’s (brown belt buddy) shoulder a bit. It’s a nice trade off, he teaches and tests me once a week – and I help his arm move. I told him I gotta keep my good training partners in good working order!

For our 7:15 class, I managed to snag one of my favorite purple belts to drill with (okay, so they’re all my favorites!) He always shows me little extra things I can do to solidify position, or just to be a little meaner with a technique. He is also a Judo guy and was explaining how if someone is coming toward me, their strength may be a 6 vs my 4. I won’t win by resisting them. But if I instead grab onto them and pull while they’re moving, the numbers go in my favor and I take their base away.

After drilling, we got to do several rounds of sparring. I need to work more to stay on top, I’m just too comfortable with holding my guard and need to work on sweeps and submissions. Okay, so I really need to work on everything, but I think this next week I’m gonna really focus on sweeps, and maintaining top control once I have it.

Hmmm what can I say about today? Coach wasn’t there this morning to give me my promised beating but I did get to drill some side control bottom escapes (always useful!)

Did some rolling at 10 – started out no gi with one of the guys, then did some gi with a visiting blue belt. He said I’m a “very good white belt”.

Got my ankle slightly hyper extended during drilling at 11:30 – I really just need to stay out of that class on mon and wed. On those days it’s the intro bjj class – all drilling with primarily white and blue belts. I usually end up tweaked in some non-constructive way. Anyhow, I sat and watched the rest of class.

I think I need a concrete training plan. I’m gonna sit down tomorrow with coach and ask him how he wants to see me training. Be it classes, circuits, weights, cardio, or whatever other fiendish ideas he has up his sleeves. I want to know that I’m getting the most out of the time I put in. I kind of feel like I’m just thrashing around and using a ton of energy without a focus.

Got paid today – so I’m going down to the bicycle shop tomorrow afternoon to see about getting a bike. I need some way to get cardio in since I can’t run without dislocating something. I figure it’ll also help strengthen my joints, as well as get me warmed up for class. It’s almost an 8 mile ride to the gym from my house – pretty doable!

Had some play time today at 10! Another girl who is training for an mma fight showed so I got to get in on the action. Here was the drill she had:

2 minutes no gi sparring with one of the guys.

2 minutes in coach’s guard – every 15 seconds switching between punching mits and then trying to pass.

1 minute sparring with me.

1 minute rest

We did 5 cycles of this. Fun times! Coach says that the way we train makes it very difficult for anyone to wear our guys down in a fight.
Anyhow, the gal’s brother is a tattoo artist and sketched out a rough draft of an angry poodle for a girls team logo. I’m including it at the bottom of this post. All the girls like it – except for one who said “hell no!” I asked her to sketch her an idea and send it to me.

After this was the 11:30 gi class. Only one other person showed up – one of the blue belts on my “do not drill with” list. So I sat out and watched. Coach promised to beat me up really good later.

At the 5pm sparring class, I just watched again. It was a large class with lots of big guys that looked like the crushing types. Afterwards was the 6 pm no gi class. During this time, one of the purple belts (who was at the tournament on saturday) pulled me aside to show me some sweeps from spider guard.

He plays a lot of spider guard – and I really appreciated him taking the time to show me some of his game! He also gave me tips for maintaining distance and using inversions to maintain guard and sweep.

At the 7:15 class we drilled a judo throw and it was discovered that I have a mental block against break falling and making noise – need to get over that. As pathetic as it sounds, it’s gonna take some work to get over.

We sparred a few rounds toward the end of class and a fore mentioned purple belt tested my retention of what he showed me. I did fairly well! Think I’ve got some new tools in my arsenal!

Did a couple rounds with our lone blue belt girl (I’ll get there soon!) – she got me with an ankle lock, and I got in a few gi chokes. I think I’m getting better at guard passing! At least when it’s someone my size…

My back is the sore spot this week. It’s enough that I’m having trouble with good bridging motions. Guess that just means I should avoid getting smashed under someone for the next little bit.

After class, I got to play with another of our purple belts for a few mins. He was working on my omoplata from spider (seeing a pattern here maybe?) Both of them told me if I ever have any questions – they’re happy to help.

Coach promised to beat me up real good tomorrow morning. I should be frightened, but I actually look forward to it – I did after all ask for it.

Tomorrow is payday for me! So that means thursday I should be buying a bicycle. The gym is only 7 miles from my house, so I figure I can ride to and fro on tuesday and thursdays – maybe the early morning classes too if I can haul my butt out of bed early enough. It’ll be good for my cardio, and get me nice and warmed up. My main goal however is to strengthen my legs so that my joints can stabilize.

So this morning coach told me “good job for your first tournament!” We’re gonna spend the next 4 weeks before NAGA Memphis getting me working offensively. I’ve proven my guard game, so it’s time to build off that. He wants me to do the IBJJF Chicago Open on August 18th – so that’s the next big goal. After that, it’s Pan Ams.

At 6:30 we were drilling side control top, blocking the hip, and jumping on the head for a kimura when they try to roll. We also practiced some grip breaking for the kimura – including a really mean elbow grind in the ribs.

The guys were doing no gi drilling at 10 and I was the timekeeper. Really glamorous I know, but I can learn a lot by watching.

At 11:30 we drilled a takedown, and a couple of escapes from side control bottom. I also took the opportunity to practice some no hands open guard – did fairly well!

That’s probably gonna be it for today as I work this evening. If I don’t get booked a 7:45 massage, I could go to the 7:15 class as I’ll be done at 7 – but I doubt that will happen.

So probably no rolling today, but that’s all right. My back is a bit sore from being stacked by that big ol’ blue belt on Saturday. Time to Kinesiotape up!