2 Girls, 1 Mat- BJJ Life Lessons

Be careful what you wish for.

A handful of us at our school were looking to shake up our warm-ups with something new, add a little spice to our routine.

We found it.

Chris ordered us a couple sets of FitDeck Cards, including this one:

http://fitdeck.com/performance/combat-sports/

We take two of the decks, shuffle them, and randomly pull out at least 30 minutes worth of cards and and arrange them in an innocent looking line. And then, it’s go time.

I’ve been to two BJJ classes this week where we’ve used them for warm-ups. The back of my thighs feel like I’ve been a particularly naughty/suitably chastised secretary. I LOVE THESE CARDS.

We visited Pedro Sauer's VA school again last week, and we managed to 
pick up an important tip in between us all geeking out over him.

Persistence vs. Efficiency.  

"Persistence vs. Efficiency are two very different things. 
While you want to constantly attack your opponent, the goal is not to 
be persistent. Persistently attacking is admirable, but in the end, 
it will not serve your purpose. You must strive to be efficient. 

To effectively combat people with higher belts, you MUST change your 
way of thinking in jiu-jitsu. The best way to stop a black belt is to  
remove all of his escape plans. You must have this in mind at all  
times.

Every move must serve a point."  

I’d been having a rough week with rolling in BJJ and feeling down about it. I’m one of the shortest girls in class, and actually being offensive in a roll has been a challenge that I’ve been working through.

Now, I could blog about how there could be this alleged inherent psychological stigma about attacking others that female martial artists have to overcome, but it would be long or pretentious; two things I can’t pull off. And anyway, trying to bait people into making mistakes and working from wonky, unexpected angles seems like a promising method that I’m going to play around with this month.

So, I was partially cheered up by the time I got home, showered and hit the ‘net. And what sight was there to greet my eyes?

This:

In July 2011?!

…………My inner bookish fangirl mind will be in its bunk.