I have an addiction and I am happy about it.

I have been doing BJJ for 28 months and I can say that it is a total addiction for me.

Look at the facts.

I am writing this blog right now instead of working on a Project.

I blew off a dinner meeting and extended my stay in Denver by 6 hours so I could train for two days.

I trained in Vegas early, and had my daughter drop off my other daughter at a swim  meet for Warm Ups.  ( I did make it to the swim meet in time to see my daughter swim)

I schedule most of my meetings, conference calls etc around my BJJ Schedule.  I know where I am going to be M, W, F from 11:00-1:00 and T, TH evening from 7:00 - 8;30 and Saturday AM from 11:00-1:00.

I even have worked my Vacation around being near a BJJ Academy and a training schedule.  I must be crazy.

Now for some meat with these Potatoes.

Training as often as a I do has some upside.  As I was driving back to So Cal from Vegas in lots of traffic on Memorial Day I counted how many Black Belts I have rolled with since I started 28 months ago.  I counted 26 different Black Belts I have rolled with at the different academies, my home academy, grapplethons, and Open Mats.  I can remember each one of the 26 and the different lessons they taught me.  (If there is more then 26 then the others must not have been very memorable).

I remember rolling with Young Guys like Gianni Grippo and just how smooth he was.  I rolled with some beasts like Xande who even though they could have just picked me up and thrown me across the gym were very technical with me.  I rolled with a lot of guys in their 30's and 40's some let me work on stuff and just defended, some opposed their will on me.  I have to say I was impressed with all of them and would not question the skills of any of them.  I knew in most cases when I was able to complete a sweep, pass or even submission it is because they let me get to far on a move before they started to counter.

The reason I bring this up is because I rolled with Don Charley last weekend,  Usually I am able to rationalize a roll by thinking that I am older, or lighter, then the guy I rolled with who just kicked my butt.  The problem with Don is that he was older then me (one year) and lighter then me (15 lbs) and was still light years better then me.  This was the first time that I actually felt that  I could become something more then just an old guy that was past his prime and was on the downhill side of life in realtion to my BJJ.  If I can develop a game like Don then I will be able to defend myself against those agressive Blue and Purple Belts in the Future and just wait until they wear down and then work my game on them.

I am so happy that I found BJJ.  It has really given me a new outlook on life and I have met so many friends while visiting and also at my local places.  Guys I would never have even thought about associating with before our now texting me coming over to the house and are truly valued friends.

Here is a picture of 3 of the places I trained last week.  That makes 14 work outs in 14 days.

2 years ago today I almost quit BJJ

Today is my Birthday.  I started BJJ  just over 2 years ago, in February of 2013.  Two years ago today I showed up for a Wednesday morning afternoon class and told them it was my Birthday.  I had told some of the guys before hand that my Birthday was coming up and they joked around that I should come to class that Birthdays were special.

I showed up for Class and everything was good.  People were telling me Happy Birthday and then it came time to roll.  The instructor asked me to get in the Middle of the Mat and said I would be rolling with everyone because it was my Birthday.  I had no idea what was going on.  I thought they were all going to let me submit them as a present to me or at worse it would be like regular sparring and I would just get a chance to spar with everyone.  As I had only been doing BJJ for a few months my stamina and cardio and general BJJ skills were not great and I was not relaxed at all during sparring. I was  very tense and using way to much energy.  The first guy to come at me was a Brown Belt who weighed 60 lbs more then me.  When they said go  he came at me Super hard I tried to match his intensity but he was throwing me around like a rag doll and even though I fought it I tapped maybe 4 times in a minute.  Then the next big upper belt came at me and just beat me up something terrible.  7-8 rolls later the White Belts were having there way with me.  Then I thought it was done and the Black Belts just smiled.  I laid their and could not move.  My heart was pounding out of my chest and I seriously thought I was close to having a heart attack.  I was totally exhausted and I was spent.  I could not believe what had just happened.  I was totally ambushed.  I had never seen this done to anyone else before so did not know what to expect.  All the guys were just laughing at me.  I was embarrassed and ashamed that I was put up for public humiliation in front of my peers to get beat up while everyone just sat and laughed at me, it was very difficult for me.

The real problem here was not  understanding what was going to happen or what to expect.  I was upset and maybe it was just me being too sensitive but as a new guy who had never seen this happen to anyone else before (or since) it caught me off guard.  When I left class that day I am pretty sure no one thought I would ever come back.

I missed going last year on my Birthday so did not get the beat down but I plan to head on on over to class in about an hour let them know it is my birthday and if they want to give me the beat down again I am okay with it because
1.  I know what to expect.
2.  I understand they are not trying to humiliate me in public and
3 I will not try to match their intensity but just play  defensive for the minute each of them has their shot at me.  I am sure I will take the beating much better this time but I also am sure I will still take a beating.

Wish me luck.  I must be a glutton for punishment.