Leave your ego at the door

I felt a little off on Mon. I think the combination of stress at work, not a lot of sleep and not making it to a lot of classes lately may have added up. The TOD was the old school double lapel choke from the mount. I had a little trouble with it because the fingers on my left hand are jacked up. But the trouble I had with the TOD was just the beginning of my troubles for the night.

BJJ - I had 3 training sets. The first was with one of the other Purple belts. I started well getting my sweep when he tried a standing pass and controlling the position by smashing his legs together. I was trying to implement what Xande talked about during his private with us. In my head I was thinking control the position with my hips not my arms and it was working. Then for some reason I started lifting my hips and using all arms. I was THINKING, all hips and USING all arms. I think there was a short circuit somewhere between my brain and my body. It was pretty freaking annoying b/c I was actually thinking, "stop using your arms you idiot, drop your ass and use your hips". O well, it was a good set. He was eventually able to get back to guard and regain hip control. Later in the set I lost elbow discipline and gave my back eventually tapping to a collar choke. I was ticked with myself for making dumb mistakes but I don’t want to take anything away from my partner either. He capitalized and came back form being behind in the set.

Second set was with one of the White belts. The set went fine, he goes for leg locks too often. He would be better off working on positioning then leg locks but that is just my humble opinion.

Third set was with one of the bigger blue belts. His size makes him a real handful, but his technique is improving as well. I tried to get a little fancy at the start and paid for it. He ended up making me give my back and when I tried to regain half guard he got to side control on me. I re-turtled but I did not respect his back attack enough and he sunk his hands into my collar fairly deeply. The set ended just after he got my collar but if he had more time it may have been a problem.

Mon was really not my night but I am glad I want because John reminded the c lass of something I needed to hear. The comment was not directed at me, but I would be wise to heed his advice. He told the class not to fight with emotion, it hurts your training and stifles your progress. Tapping to lower ranks is something people often say is ok to do, but no one likes to do it. I will have a pretty big target on my back at the new club, I need to take my own advice and remind myself I am not invincible. It is ok to have an off day.