Wednesday, March 15, 2017

I’m pretty sure one of the guys I rolled with is a chiropractor.

Day 3 of My BJJ Journey
I’m pretty sure one of the guys I rolled with is a chiropractor. My spine has never made such noises. I’m not entirely sure what happened but I found myself on my elbows and knees and this gentleman had climbed onto my back and suddenly my hips were going one way while my shoulders went the other. My back made a sound like a thousand bubble wrap sheets being twisted at the same time. It didn’t hurt, but it was still distressing in its own way.

Last night’s session was good, I am beginning to recognize people and learn some names. Everyone is very polite and once they realize how little I actually know they usually will take an extra moment or two to show me a specific technique or point out an area that needs correction. I am beginning to see the benefit to the Professor’s organic style of training that allows us to address very specific issues with each other during a practical application of techniques. Obviously this works best when teamed up with a more experienced person, but the ability to teach someone else gives an excellent opportunity to hone one’s own skill. If you can’t teach a concept, then chances are you really haven’t understood it yourself.

One drawback is that asking to roll with another student is difficult for introverts like me. Generally, I don’t like to touch other people and rolling is… intimate. I am not the most introvert person in the class however. There are a couple of other students that I can see have a hard time asking others to roll, one student in particular seems to only roll when specifically asked. We will call him Bob. Last night Bob wasn’t getting much action and I noticed the Professor call over another student that was close to Bob’s age and discretely instruct them to ask Bob to train. It's easy to get lost in the room, it is nice to know that the professor is looking out for that.

One minor pet peeve: Obi knots. I get it, during rolling it comes undone. And there are a variety of ways to tie it, both traditional and more progressive, but for the love of toast - it isn’t like tying a shoe.

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