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As soon as I say you gotta hit the mats at least once a week then life happens..

My father n law passed away. We almost lost him last year after the heart attack put him in a comma for a week. We spent a year xtra with a great man. Living off just 30% of his heart and three days a week of dyalisis treatment from his diabetise, it was just a matter of time. He left us three weeks ago.

So getting back again to some kind of normalcy, seems like that’s the way of life. Something will always come up to distract you. Something will always pop up to break the rhythm. Getting back to that rhythm is key. The sooner the better. Even if you feel like your not ready. Only making that step will get you ready. Just sitting at home will not.

Absolutely! Go to class if your not feeling it, most of the time it’s all mental. Yeah I know at our age, I’m talking to you 54+ guys… once or twice a week of hard training is enough! And that’s about where I’m at right now. Our testosterone levels are at an all time low and it’s not gonna get any better, lets face it, father time has caught up to us. The key here is, you got to keep it going. No long beaks, not even a week off. Get at least one class a week if recovery is that bad for you. Because that’s our echelles heel right now. RECOVERY. I’ll have an occasional remark from the guys about not coming everyday, but I know inside only the fittest can manage a schedule like that. And then of course they crash and burn and you don’t see them for a week or two because they over trained. Your body needs to recovery to get strong.

I had a very hard roll last Thursday and still feeling the effects of that I went to class this morning. There won’t be any classes till Thursday so you have to take advantage when it presents itself to you. I went with the mindset that I’ll just help beginners figure stuff out and let them work on their game.

Mind you I only had coffee and orange juice before going to class.. (and I highly recommend NOT DOING THAT) Glad I took care of business at home before leaving. And working on drills I was getting light headed and decided an hour into class that I wasn’t gonna roll. And sure enough three guys dropped out not to roll before I said anything. Jujitsu garage training is no joke here in the desert. But I got my 2nd wind and decided to roll anyways. Not sure how it happened but I managed to get in three very good rolls!

So the way I see it, I’m gonna be feeling like crap anyways from Thursdays class, might as well train. And now I have 4 days to recuperate! (If I don’t do any mountain biking that is) 🙂

After any training it’s important to drink as much water as you can for the remainder of the day. You gotta drink not only to replenish fluids but to drain your body of all the dead/bad blood cells you killed off during training. your piss will be dark, thats all them dead cells your body is getting rid off. The quicker the better, you won’t be as sore the next day. Stay hydrated.

Where there’s a sore loser, you’ll find a sore winner. I hate to say it but, I might be that guy. How many times do I come up in here beside myself because a lower belt had my number. Lots. Does that make me a sore loser? Hope not. And here I am in class while working on drills boasting out loud to the Professor how I’m gonna get this new deep half technique on so and so and on this guy.. what a total jerk. I don’t know why I get so cocky sometimes. And right when I said it, from Professors expression I knew I fucked up. Didn’t mean to sound so cocky but it did come out that way. I’ve been studying deep half for days off YouTube. And been super anxious to just tear into it on someone, especially on the guys I mentioned to the professor. Anyway when it came timeto roll Professor said out loud “I’m rolling with Tony”! “I got you…”

so yeah, maybe next time I’m anxious about something I’ll try to reign in some of the excitement a little.. And I did get to work on the deep half.. .. works. 😉 Now to get some reps with it. Stoked!

Been wondering why my games been so off lately…my minds been thinking X Guard but my body’s been doing Deep Half when I roll….lol. so…think I’ll go with Deep Half mentally now to see what happens next few weeks….stay tuned!

I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again.. Jujitsu is a roller coaster of joy and pain, one day your invincible the next the grim reaper is starring you in the face

Last night was that day.. I was just a normal dude fighting to stay alive, summing up every ounce of energy and quickly loosing it.

This new guy is awesome, strong, fast, and highly technical. He had an answer for almost everything I threw at him. We went back and forth hard. It was a great roll

Well, it’s morning. Licking my wounds and hoping for a quick recovery. And my brain is already in overtime for the next one, what strategy will I use for the next roll.

There was a time last year where I honestly feared that Jujitsu would no longer be a thing here in the United States. With the rising death tolls of this unrelenting thing we know as Covid-19 running rampant and seemingly unstoppable. All forms of “normal” was far and few in-between.

When rolling with old partners memories come back and new ones created as the session ensues of that days training. Watching a Stuart Cooper video (featuring Joe Rogan and Jocko Willink) almost got me all choked up as it says everything that is in my heart.

Todays class was another good one, we worked on Rickson Gracie’s version of the full mount escape. What seemed to be just a simple technique turned into a “no..do it a again” kinda of day. And as usual some strong rolling at the end.

Drinking lots of water and then some more..gotta flush out the destroyed blood & muscle cells out!

Vale Tudo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈvali ˈtudu]; English: Everything Goes) is an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few rules. It became popular in Brazil during the 20th century.^[1] It uses techniques from many martial arts.

Our usual sparring sessions take up three ten minute rounds after drills and always towards the end of class. Professor was taught old school Jujitsu with deep roots in Vale Tudo. And he shares it sometimes. Not as much as he did in his early days. Back then it seemed like we were training for a MMA fight, hour of punch and kicking of pads, focus mits, and light sparring standing to the ground.. on a daily bases. Seems like because of Father Time.. It’s now once a month for a week that we touch on Vale Tudo concepts.

Today was that day, and I was surprised. I shouldn’t have been, Last Saturday they did some ground and pound sparring. Not balls out knocking the teeth out kinda of stuff but enough to keep you honest. And today he announced “put you mma gloves on if you got em because we’re doing some light sparring from the ground”.

We did three 5 minute rounds. And the first because no one choose me as a partner..was with the Professor! Awesome. Get to workout some Old School sparring with an Old School friend of way back when.. and I mean way back. I still go t my ass kicked..LOL. But it was a lot of fun. And yes, by the four minute mark it felt like ten! It’s a different environment when punches are involved while sparring Adrenaline goes up the roof!

I did good, this old man still gots it. Always room for improvement but I’m in a good place right now.

Lol… Life’s good when you don’t know what Gi to wear.. love it.. would live to have a Lucky Gi…but those are freakn $300!! That Gi I’d probably wear weekly..

Well my 2nd vaccination did take me out this weekend, so no war stories to share. I missed some light contact sparring (MMA gloves) from the ground.. the funny part is when your in it it’s really intense..but when you watch it on someone’s video it looks like we’re just playing patty cakes or something..😂😂

see how my body responds this week!

I’m 54 and being off jujitsu for three months is a VERY LONG TIME… First two months off I kept my mind fresh with lots of YouTube. Getting different perspective on ideas and theory of Jujitsu is great to have. I probably did half dozen solo drills in those three months.. my mistake. Mountain biking probably saved me from total annihilation.

I returned yesterday and was pumped to get back to the grind. Until a white belt arm bared me. O.O Yes… We were working on escape from being mounted, live sparring drills when the dude went balls out and with every once of his strength managed to arm bar me. I told myself driving to class not to get upset if this happens, that the time away, will probably result in being submitted. And I was submitted, in fact the same guy today got me in a rear naked choke.

What could I do or say? I humbly congratulated him on a job well done is what did. I could still have my way with him on any position, and could easily submit him, (half dozen times yesterday) but was in a different frame of mind these past two days. I don’t have the energies to “fight” anymore, I just want to roll and learn. And if I get tapped trying to figure something out then so what. I want to learn jujitsu that allows me to roll for hours if needed. To be like water.

So once again, back at it. The purple belt rank has been one interesting journey so far, one full of expectations and some let downs. But for the most part, positive.

Well, from reports if you’ve already gotten your first Covid 19 vaccinations..your 90% less likely to get the Covid… Being away for about 2.5 months feels weird and to say I don’t have butterflies about tonight’s would be an outright lie.. I want to throw up .. but I’m going… Before I get really lazy about ever wanting to come back…and that my friends…is my biggest fear.