@biker I’m sure their motivations vary wildly. Rubbing up on the bouncer is a great way to make your boyfriend or husband jealous. Some gals like a big old meatsack of muscle and fluff. More than a few of those ladies know that I have a pretty good job, unlike the majority of men in the bar on any given night. Some of the gals just rub up on everything they can.
I don’t ask questions or complain. Hospitality is part of the job.
Unfortunately, the majority of my life is spent doing things that are entirely uninteresting. Today I was able to uncover a very significant disconnect between our sales file and the general ledger. The accounting rules were all messed up and now I get to spend the afternoon with the bean counters. It is about as interesting as a pile of dirt.
As an ex-bean counter who has now (thankfully) evolved/ moved into other operational areas, I fully appreciate the humor of your “significant” discovery. Good luck with that…
Sticking with the concept of continuing to evolve and improve oneself, congrats on the new chapter of BJJ - new challenges can only improve you. Who knows what great improvement you will see in your lifting if/ when you choose to return to it - also your overall meatsackness…
BJJ - at age 54 that’s definitely food for thought.
@dhoke231 I’m sure you can imagine my shock when I discovered a SIGNIFICANT volume of transactions failing to flow into the AR Trade account. I managed to keep my cool though. I just had to understand what I was looking at, drop a RIGHT(F2,5) bomb, VLOOKUP against the new key I created and then BAM!!! The outlying records are under the spotlight.
I AM shocked - the damn AR Trade account!? - I am a little disappointed the resolution didn’t involve mixing in a good PIVOT table though. There are some who that would make their heart race as much as a good deadlift session. Glad you came out of that alive.
Oh I used a pivot table alright. Best one you’ve ever seen. That’s how I was able to get the outlying records to tie out TO THE PENNY. It was touch-and-go there for a little bit, but I managed to pull through. Now there’s nothing, NOTHING stopping us from closing not only the month, but the motherfucking first quarter as well.
Today we worked on another series of overhooks and figure 4 arm locks from the guard position. I also learned how to get a figure 4 armlock from side control. I still suck at rolling but I got another tap last night!
One of my fellow white belts is also a Judo instructor, so he showed me a few neat tricks to use on drunk people at work.
Today we worked on mount escapes and a few basic chokes. I’m beginning to apply the techniques we’re drilling during rolling sessions. I didn’t tap anyone today, but I think I gave a blue belt some problems. 285 problems, to be precise.
Next week I NEED to remember my notebook and make sure I start learning the terminology of what we’re doing.
Notes: I’m getting used to what BJJ is doing to my body so I wanted to do some lifting today. The squats felt good but I was definitely a bit beat up from the last two days of rolling, especially my left calf. So I took it easy and didn’t push too hard.
My left shoulder is still problematic. No real pain, just stiffness, a bit of dull ache and not much power. Or at least I’m not really feeling like figuring out how strong I am with my shoulder feeling off. I tried some benching and it just didn’t feel right at all so I called it.
I think I should be able to sustain 2 days of lifting each week along with 2-3 days of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I need to spend some time reading the new 5/3/1 Forever to see if I can find a good template to try. My lifting goals will not be particularly ambitious for the next few months as I shift my priority over to learning BJJ. I just want to maintain my barbell strength, keep things feeling good and get my shoulder feeling better.
Today we worked on a few chokes and an armlock from the Russian Mount position. Again I failed to bring a note pad to note all of the specific terminology.
Rolling is HARD, but I’m getting better at applying techniques and making it harder for the other person. I have at least 20 new bruises just on my arms. One of the blue belts described training with me as “riding a boulder”. I’m also naturally resistant to triangle chokes by virtue of my torso girth.
Unfortunately, none of these structural advantages can make up for sucking at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and being in poor shape for this sport. I have a LOT to learn.
It was definitely meant in good spirits. I think everyone likes having a willing brute to practice on, and there aren’t many people walking into BJJ gyms who are built like me.
On that note, the environment I’m in is really awesome. Everyone is super-positive and the underlying intent with everything that happens is mutual improvement.
If anyone reading this has thought about trying BJJ, let this be one more reason to take the plunge.
@caesium32 If it is something you want to do, you should. Just like lifting. In fact, I’m beginning to see that the two activities actually have a fair bit in common.
Both are very uncomfortable. I’d put 5 minutes of rolling to the best of my ability against a black belt to be just as uncomfortable as some of my more grueling squat sets (315x17, 405x9, drop-sets pushed for reps). The soreness from rolling is similar, but not quite as debilitating as lifting. This is off-set by things like bruises all over, mat abrasions and sore toes.
You will probably know a lot of guys who will tell you how good they are (or were) at BJJ or lifting. But when it comes time to actually participate in these things over a long duration, you’ll see that most of these people are nothing but talk. Lifting and BJJ both cut through the bullshit pretty fast, but BJJ does this much faster than lifting.
You can go to the gym and hit the cable machine and do some Richard Simmons routine, take a few selfies and post on social media that you’re a serious lifter. You can squat a mile high in wraps and tell everyone that you’re a 585 lb squatter. In BJJ you cannot really tell yourself those kind of lies. You will either tap or be tapped. There’s really no way you can fake it. You can spend a lot of time in a weight room without ever eating a single slice of humble pie. In BJJ you will eat it on the first day.
So yeah, if it interests you, be one of few who does it, not one of the many who bullshits about it. I’m sure you’ll do great!
Thanks for another detailed reply. It was something I wanted to do when I started university but there was no club near by so I started kickboxing and didn’t enjoy it too much. I’d very much like to try BJJ.
I got injured. I was on one knee getting ready to roll with an opponent and the inside of my left thigh went POP. I think it is a strain. It was quite painful and it still is the next morning.
Nothing to do now but walk the recovery path and figure out how to stop it from happening again.
I am still injured. Its healing though. I’m not expecting to do anything besides rest the leg this week and do some upper body band work at home. I might hit the gym later and do some seated upper body work, but even that I want to be careful on. With my luck I’d injure my leg walking the dumbbells over to the bench.
I need to work on strengthening and stretching my abductors once I heal up. I don’t want another setback like this.
BJJ 60 minutes. The abductor is more-or-less healed. I had mild soreness during the drills so I made sure to take it easy. I wanted to roll (BJJ term for spar) but decided against it. I’ll resume that next week as long as this week goes well.
BJJ 90 minutes. Today we worked on side control escapes. Again I’m failing to log the terms, but I’m definitely absorbing the techniques. It is really cool to start putting stuff like this together. My abductor is still a bit off, so I didn’t do any full-force rolling. I was introduced to “light rolling” or “flow rolling” and, while not quite as visceral as going all-out, it was a great way to help me stay calm, breathe better, and break down the movements. I was also able to land a pretty good Americana on a blue belt. He gave me the escape, but I was able to establish good side control and quickly pin his arm for the joint lock. Fun stuff.
I’m beginning to understand the importance of good training partners, and I’m feeling like I landed in a good gym. I want to be a good training partner, but I’m still little more than a child.
I’m addicted to this already. It feels a LOT like when I first picked up a barbell and realized I could become quite strong. There’s definitely noob gains to be had in BJJ.
Today we worked on takedowns, which I mostly sat out due to my still-healing abductor. But boy, I cannot wait to start throwing my weight around with these.
We also reviewed our attacks from top mount. Let’s see what BJJ terminology I can recall…
Collar choke
Chainsaw choke
Choke where you work your left arm under their head, grab the right sleeve of your gi, work your right hand over their throat and then pull DOWN on your right sleeve to sink the choke.
Some crazy shit where you choke them with their own arm.
I did a few more sessions of flow rolling, but took things easy and let the abductor have the night off.
