In one week, I've met and chatted with more people than in the past year and a
half, people strong, knowledgeable, and of great character. Eric, a slender
Asian and the head coach, welcomed me and taught me personally an invaluable
lesson on one principle of attack. He didn't hesitate in pointing out that we
had to be smarter as we were most likely to face bigger opponents. Coach Gene,
a stocky white guy, answered my questions with succinct and detailed instructions.
I grappled with more than a dozen partners, including Stephen the nimble ninja,
who caught me in two choke holds, Michael the rangy under whom I used all my
strength to get out, Pablo the world purple-belt champion who taught me a great
defense, Tobey the mushroom hunter with whom sparring turned into a conversation
on edible fungi, which even attracted my teenager!
And of course, I drilled and sparred with Tim. He did not feel the urge to
master skills and sometimes was annoyed by attention to detail but we had fun on
the mat overall and discussed jiu-jitsu a lot more. I felt we were contributing
something valuable to each other's life. I haven't felt this happy for a while.
Jiu-jitsu stresses a different set of muscles than running or weight-lifting,
especially in the upper body for me. The first three days, I had neck pain from
holding my head up to defend chokes. Otherwise, I seemed to be prepared. I
didn't feel much challenge in the core or the legs except for the adductors when
pinching the knees. My endurance was satisfying too.
I still lifted weight four days a week and there came a contrast: I practiced to
be strong in the morning and to use as little strength as possible in the
evening. It felt wierd and good.
Dictionary reading suffered since July. Studying BJJ through videos took much
time as the information was just overwhelming. I cut the goal to half a page a
day and even that was hard to keep up with. I borrowed a few books but never had
the time to read. I wrote more, however, as there were so much to jot down.
Let's see how long the obssession would last.
