I was worried at my first class back that my body wouldn't be up for whatever physical activity I would undergo, and I was right. I selected a Muay Thai class to start with thinking that it wouldn't be as physically demanding as rolling, but man was I wrong. Last week's class had a warm up and workout regime more intense than any I've experienced for Muay Thai at other gyms. The day after I couldn't lift my arms above my head and my elbows and shoulders were extremely tender and a little bit swollen. Unfortunately I wasn't able to train for the rest of the week, but I headed back down to Gemina and signed up this Monday.
I went to the same Muay Thai class this Monday and took my time and paced myself much better and this time I came out of the class with the normal aches rather than severe ones. The next day was my first BJJ class in six months! It was no gi and we drilled some stuff I'd not done before, from the Omoplata position. After about 30 minutes of drilling we grabbed our mouth guards and rolled the remainder of the class.
One of the things I became worried about when leaving The Arena was my skill level. I'd never thought about it before because it seemed normal to me, but I had a hard time beating anybody at that gym, white belt or otherwise. I started that maybe I wasn't very good considering how long I'd been training. Maybe I'd go to Gemina and get consistently beat by every person I rolled with? As it turns out my fears were unfounded as I did arguably better than I ever have when rolling. Since it was no-gi it was hard to tell the rank of anyone, so I didn't know if I was rolling with a white belt or a purple belt until we started grappling. For the first time ever I rolled with someone and was able to submit them multiple times in one round. The guy in question was very strong, and my positional technique wasn't good enough to match his strength, so it became a matter of patience and I was able to catch him in scrambles or lock up something when he made a movement that exposed him. It was a really fun roll and it showed me how much I've improved, even if it's just in my awareness when rolling. I rolled with a number of people and their normal things happened - I got smashed by a blue belt and held my own with other white belts.
My favourite roll of the night had to be with my friend and main training partner, Josh. It was the last roll and we were both exhausted due to being very out of shape. The roll was playful and light and because we know each other so well we could do some crazy stuff. We were jumping every which way and flipping and rolling in and out of positions and laughing the whole time. Those are my favourite rolls; the ones where you can be playful and have a good time while trying things you normally wouldn't. I took yesterday (Wednesday) as a rest day and tonight Josh and I will be training in my garage as I'm not able to make it to the gym tonight. Hopefully I'll make it tomorrow and if not, I’ll run down to the open mat on Sunday a d gets a few more rolls in. I'm very happy to be back in the gym and training across different martial arts once again. I'm looking forward to getting back into shape and continuing to improve and I'm excited to keep these posts coming and to bring you some cool stuff!
Until next time, stay safe!
/Anthoney
I went to the same Muay Thai class this Monday and took my time and paced myself much better and this time I came out of the class with the normal aches rather than severe ones. The next day was my first BJJ class in six months! It was no gi and we drilled some stuff I'd not done before, from the Omoplata position. After about 30 minutes of drilling we grabbed our mouth guards and rolled the remainder of the class.
One of the things I became worried about when leaving The Arena was my skill level. I'd never thought about it before because it seemed normal to me, but I had a hard time beating anybody at that gym, white belt or otherwise. I started that maybe I wasn't very good considering how long I'd been training. Maybe I'd go to Gemina and get consistently beat by every person I rolled with? As it turns out my fears were unfounded as I did arguably better than I ever have when rolling. Since it was no-gi it was hard to tell the rank of anyone, so I didn't know if I was rolling with a white belt or a purple belt until we started grappling. For the first time ever I rolled with someone and was able to submit them multiple times in one round. The guy in question was very strong, and my positional technique wasn't good enough to match his strength, so it became a matter of patience and I was able to catch him in scrambles or lock up something when he made a movement that exposed him. It was a really fun roll and it showed me how much I've improved, even if it's just in my awareness when rolling. I rolled with a number of people and their normal things happened - I got smashed by a blue belt and held my own with other white belts.
My favourite roll of the night had to be with my friend and main training partner, Josh. It was the last roll and we were both exhausted due to being very out of shape. The roll was playful and light and because we know each other so well we could do some crazy stuff. We were jumping every which way and flipping and rolling in and out of positions and laughing the whole time. Those are my favourite rolls; the ones where you can be playful and have a good time while trying things you normally wouldn't. I took yesterday (Wednesday) as a rest day and tonight Josh and I will be training in my garage as I'm not able to make it to the gym tonight. Hopefully I'll make it tomorrow and if not, I’ll run down to the open mat on Sunday a d gets a few more rolls in. I'm very happy to be back in the gym and training across different martial arts once again. I'm looking forward to getting back into shape and continuing to improve and I'm excited to keep these posts coming and to bring you some cool stuff!
Until next time, stay safe!
/Anthoney