Purple Belt

Tonight marks 4 years and 1 month since I started my Jiu Jitsu journey. 

Professor stopped  the class during drills to award stripes. It has been a long time since he has awarded stripes, so it wan't a big surprise to see him hand out two stripes to some of the students.

Part of me wished I would getting at least my second strip at blue, never thinking I would get my third.

When professor put the tape away, it didn't bother me. I wasn't expecting anything.

Then he called up a fairly new purple belt and asked him to take off his belt. Mind you, this guy is a very high level purple, even though he just received his purple within the last month. I think he was sandbagged because he competes a lot.

Anyway, he take off his purple, and I'm thinking he might get his brown. Professor tells him in Spanish something that another student translated to me as, "You will get a new one on Monday." His purple belt was a size A2, he should be wearing an A3. So needless to say it was short for him.

Professor stands up and announces that he has a special belt promotion tonight. I look at the mirror in front to see who in line may be up for a promotion. Then professor calls me out and promotes me to purple. A blue belt at 18 months. Received my first stripe at 24 months. Covid hits and my training is off and on. Never in my wildest thoughts did I think I would be promoted to purple so fast.

Many people will say that they did not deserve the promotion or they feel they are not ready. I'm going to be completely honest with you. I really do not deserve this purple belt, and I am not at all ready. I do not know why professor decided to promote me, I'm thinking it may be a mistake and he will ask for it back on Monday.

This is a step up I am not ready for. I was thinking the other day I would probably be at blue for the rest of my Jiu Jitsu journey. Let's see what purple brings me... OOS!

Blue Belt + 8

Today's drills consisted of sweep form close guard using the sweep side foot to push the opponent's knee away during the sweep. We also worked on a back take from top half-guard. This move was explained as looking good in class but does not work well in competition. 😬

The last drill for the day was armbar from closed guard. It was a variation from our master attack drill that we do as a warmup.

Professor had his son wrestle with some of the other teens in the class. After the teens wrestled, Professor dismissed them. We then paired up and rolled.

Today I paired up with a female blue belt that was close in weight to me. I maintained top position for most of the roll, attacking with armbars, but as soon as she was able to get top position, I would get submitted.

We rolled two more time and each time she got to top position I would get submitted. I was not able to handle her weight on me. She also did something with her legs that I call grape vining, not sure if that is the correct name for it. She would basically tangle her legs with mine and extend her legs as much as possible. This would cause me a lot of discomfort and distract me from whatever else she was tying to do, which would lead to a submission.

I did not roll with anyone else tonight. It was a slow roll day for me. I'm feeling my age with these twenty somethings. OSS

Blue Belt + 7

Forced myself to train today. I was so tired from work, both mentally and physically. I was scared I would get crushed on the mat tonight.

Today we worked wrestling takedowns for most of the warmups and first hour. A couple of the young children that train in the adult class has a wrestling match tomorrow, so Professor was getting them ready. We even stopped class to allow them to spar wrestling takedowns with some of the other young teens.

We paired up and rolled for the second part of class. I started with a crafty blue belt. I was able to pass his guard and was making my way to his back for a choke, but as soon as I got my hooks in and started to roll back, Professor called time and had us circle up so he could dismiss the teens.

Once they left, we paired up again for rolls. This time I paired up with a white belt. I didn't try to submit him because I could tell he wasn't skilled enough to submit me. I ended up just flowing with him and giving up position only to take it back because he was not able to maintain or advance.

This was odd, because I feel he was better before. Maybe he was having a bad day. I had a bad day on Monday. We went back and forth for a while, then he tapped to exhaustion.

That was basically it for the night. Nothing too exciting. I'm not a huge fan of wrestling, but I see the advantages of having it in my tool box. All good, another week of training down without any injuries. OSS.

Blue Belt + 6

It's been over a week since I was on the mats. I felt it. I didn't want to be there tonight. I tapped to everyone tonight. Everyone got me in a Kimura or Americana. I'm so exhausted to type right now. I jest need some sleep.

I started out drilling with a blue belt that was 60+ lbs heavier than me. We drilled the De La Riva to attacking the turtle to bow and arrow. When the drilling was over, we rolled. I was not able to get by his open guard today. He controlled me by holding onto both my sleeves. He must have tapped me four times before they called the switch.

It took me awhile to get back on the mat for round two. This time it was with a female blue belt. I did not go as hard with her as maybe I could have. Time was called about 5 minutes into the roll with no submissions. I had dominate position the whole time.

My next partner was a white belt that out-weighed me by maybe 80 lbs. Usually I would get the better of him, but this time we went back and forth for a long time. I almost got an armbar on him, but we started bumping in to Professor's roll so I backed off and her escaped. Eventually he got me in a Kimura.

My next roll was with the blur belt from earlier. Of course he was able to tap me three times. All Kimuras or Americanas again.

My last partner for the night was a female blue belt that is about my weight or slightly heavier. We traded positions for a while before she was able to grapevine my legs from mount and finish with a Kimura.

I feel lucky I was not injured tonight. OSS.

Blue Belt +5

My right heel was hurting today. I almost didn't train because I was worried it would get worst. I took my girls to their class, then decided to stay for mine.

The class warm-ups was headed by a young brown belt today. Today's class was full. There was probably 24+ in today's class. We didn't get through all the warm-up when Professor came on the mat and started us on our drills.

Today I paired up with a young 15 year old grey belt. We worked on recovering position from a passing opponent. I let him go the whole time. He was suppose to create a frame when I passed to the side by placing the close side hand on my bicep and the far side hand on my head. He was suppose to then bring his far side leg to the bicep his close side hand was holding. He kept contacting my close side shin instead of my bicep and when he brought his far side leg over, she contacted my shoulder most of the time.

The next drill was the closed guard sweep of a standing opponent before they can break guard. This time we went one-for-one. Basic sweep to full mount.

The last drill was attacking an opponent in the turtle position. We drilled this move last week also. We went one-for-one on this one. Nothing special here.

Professor started calling two on the mat at a time for some rolls. I was paired up with a female blue belt that was my weight. She had just finished rolling with a white belt that she submitted easily.

We started on our feet. I tried to trip her a couple times, but was not able to get in close enough. I faked a third time, then went for a double leg but ended with a single. She was able to stuff me temporarily, but I was able to transition to a double and pick her up. I tried to let her down slowly as to not slam her.

I ended up in her full guard and tried to fight my way out of it. I was able to get up and control her pant cuffs. As I pulled them to the side and get into side control, she started to turtle up. I was able to get my hooks in and finish with a collar choke while transitioning to her side.

After everyone had a turn, we paired up for rolls. I selected a new white belt that was on his second week. He was not paired up for the rolls earlier. I did not attack him at all. I allowed him to get side control and full mount to see what he could do. He was probably 30-40 pound heavier than me. A few time I put myself in really bad positions, but he didn't recognize it so he was not able to take advantage of it. We flowed for about 15 minutes. He was very tired and stopped to ask me about types of chokes he would have been able to get from his positions.  I showed him a collar choke from mount and an Ezekiel choke.

My next partner was the military blue belt. We started from our knees. I was able to grab his pant cuff with one hand and his sleeve cuff with the other. I used both to spin him around so I could get to side control. We scrambled for a little bit, but most of the time I had top position. I eventually got him in the scarf hold and attached his near side arm. He tapped to a kimura.

We went for a second round. This time he was a little more aggressive. We went back and forth like before, but this time during the scramble, I ended up in his triangle. I was able to defend the triangle, but he transitioned to an Omoplata. I started to roll out of it, but ran into the mirror so I stopped. Since I was not able to roll because I didn't want to hit the mirror, my opponent had time to adjust his angle. I tapped earlier since I could not see a way out.

That ended the night for me. I'm always glad that I rolled once I get on the mat. OSS

Blue Belt +4

Today another blue belt asked me to roll before class started. I need to not Roll before class starts, because it takes a lot of energy out of me and then when I go to do warm-ups I have no more energy. We started on our knees. He went for my sleeve cuff and I went for his leg cuffs. I was able to spin him around and get to side control. He got to his side and turtles up. We went back and forth trading dominate positions. In the last scramble, I fell into a triangle, with my arm too deep in. I was not able to get my inside arm to a good enough position to create enough space to defend. I tapped to the triangle.

 Today we drilled guard recovery from the mount as well as attacking the opponent  in the turtle  position.   My training partner today was a 41-year-old in the active reserves. He weighs 30 pounds heavier than me and is about a foot taller than me. When warmups where done, professor called us to the center of the mat for a roll. He came in for a takedown, but I sprawled to neutralize then went for a takedown of my own.  I got the takedown, but ended up in his guard.

I was able to pass his guard, get to side control, then get him in a scarf hold. I tried attacking the near side arm from the scarf hold position, but he was able to get out of that position. As he was coming up, I went for an arm bar. He was able to fight out of the arm bar then he tried to stack me. I heard professor yelling out Russian arm bar, but I could not find the angle I needed to finish that move.

I scrambled and got to his side. I went for a second arm bar attempt, but this time I was too low. He was able to get his arm back and move from side control to mount. I was so tired, I barely fought back. I did not realize he had the Ezikeal choke on me. I tapped to both exhaustion and the submission.

I did not get any submissions today, but I felt like it was a good day for me. I was dominant for most of my matches up until I got submitted. It was a great humbling day for me. OSS

Blue Belt +3

Back on the mat today. While waiting for class to start, a purple belt asked me to roll. He had to leave early. We rolled for about 10 minutes. I don't think we was really going for any submissions. He tried a couple times, but I was able to get out of it, or he let me out of it. The roll ended when he go to the mount position and crushed me with his pecs. I tapped to pressure.

He then rolled with another blue belt while I went to drink some water. When I go back , he called me to roll again. Just as we started tangling up, Professor asked one of the students to start the class in warm-ups.

The purple belt to the student running the warm-ups that he and I were going to roll for warm-ups. We went to the back corner and rolled for a while. I ended up tapping again to the same top pressure. Professor came and told me to warm up so he could roll with the purple belt.

After the warmups, we drilled recovering the arm-bar when being stacked. We drilled that until the first hour was over. Then we took a water break before finding partners to flow/roll. I paired up with a female blue belt that was close to my weight.

I tried to flow more than rolled. I didn't want to put too much pressure on her. I actually almost got her in a couple arm-bars and a rear collar choke, but instead of finishing them, I just held them to allow her to fight out of them. I never felt like I was in danger from any of her attacks. We went back and forth taking dominate positions.

When we finally looked up to the clock, 45 minutes had passed. I guess because I was not going all out, I was able to last a long time without gassing out.

It was a quit uneventful night of training. Professor had a visiting couple that he spent a lot of time speaking to. They eventually signed up.