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Some days ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no enthusiasm for my current fitness goals, and nothing particular to interest me in the weightroom, I thought I would take up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
A gym recently opened near my home and my office. It's something I've kind of always thought I should try, and no time like the present, so I signed up. They offer classes four nights a week for nogi, three nights a week for gi. I'm more interested in the nogi, in that I feel like I'm a little old to buy a karate uniform, but I'm considering getting one so that I can attend more often/conveniently. My schedule is always weird, so I'll go more if I can go any night. Idk.
I've been to three classes so far. I suck, obviously. But I'm rapidly learning new things.
Mostly, in rolling, I find that I run out of ideas. I don't actually know enough to launch any offensive. I vaguely understand the concept of guard, passing guard, mount, etc. But I quickly run out of strategies to actually attack. So I'm basically just trying to survive whatever my partner is trying to do. Which works some of the time. For a while.
The weird part is realizing that I'm big and strong. I work out a lot, but I'm a bit of a hermit about it, really. Home gym master race. And my goals are generally rather obscure things that no one else cares about. The only social sports things I really do are climbing, where my upper body strength is apparent but also limited by my comparatively large body weight for a climber. But now I'm rolling with someone, and I'm much stronger than he is, and he obviously knows a lot more than me and is much better than me, and he is constantly on the offensive, but I can just rip out of the submission. I rolled with a 17 year old who is training for a comp, and he was constantly on the verge of submitting me, and would have easily if I didn't have thirty pounds on him.
It's weird realizing it. Because normally, in my life, I have few opportunities to really test strength outside my basement.
But eventually, every round has been a process of getting choked out in ways I didn't know were possible. Guess I'll see if I get any better.
Anyone have any tips on getting started?
I know that BJJ stands for "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu". I know this. I get it.
But whenever I see a gym with a sign saying "BJJ", my brain immediately goes to "blowjob-job".
If it pays the bills...
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