These guys make me feel clumsy...

I feel pretty disoriented in the black belt classes. I used to feel pretty confident in my game, whereas now I feel like I am second guessing all my movements, and it is costing me time which is leading to submissions. LOTS of submissions. The thing is, I don't think I'm the only one since the other newer blue belts seem to be struggling as well. I believe the difference is I'm not going to give up on showing up to the advanced classes. I'm going to keep on showing up, and practicing with these higher level guys. I'll catch up eventually.

I am humbled, but while the road ahead is more difficult the journey will surely be more interesting

So I am in Black Belt classes now, and it's an education for sure. I had a pretty good humbling on Monday night that has threatened my "this is definitely where i belong" theory. Let me put it like this- I'm still going to go, but damn Monday basically felt like the nightmares I was having before attending my first white belt introduction. The beatings come swiftly, they are merciless and basically I was left feeling like I never knew what the fuck I was doing in the first place. LoL. The up side is that after 3 more months of this I will probably be surviving again, and 6 months after that I'll be gaining some advantages. It's a crazy steep learning curve, but I gotta just keep on showing up, and keep on processing the lessons.

I now understand why so many new blue belts cling to the relative safety of the intermediate group. While I empathize I can't see myself doing the same. Fear is a killer, but there is nothing to fear. Pride is a bitch- but you gotta get over that if you want to make progress. My plans moving forward remain the same- to split time between intermediate and black belt. I'll begin this with the 3 class per week rotation ratio of 2/1. To begin I'll go 2 x Intermediate and 1 x Blackbelt, then I'll carry it over to 1 x intermediate and 2 x black belt, and then finally 3 x black belt. My intent is to make the full transition within the next 3 months.

We shall see how it goes.

Taking every possible lesson- Black Belt class, and a Saturday double Rolla-palooza Fundamentals, and Intermediate

Thursday of last week I stepped up to my first "real" Black Belt class. I attended one once before, but we had a substitute coach, and being honest it felt like a modified intermediate course. Thursdays Black Belt class was 1.5 hours long. 90 minutes. It felt different too. We "warmed up" rolling at 10% for about 10 min, just flowing from position to position, submission to escape- no "finishing" and not really even fighting- just trying to move through the repertoire of techniques. I rolled with a purple belt who was a very accommodating training partner with excellent input regarding technique. After the flow drills we worked an up-down-out drills for a while which gave me the chance to roll with pretty much everyone in the class. It was a large class due to all the new Blue Belts. I was glad to get to Roll a little with Professor Larry I think he came away from it feeling secure in the decision to promote me. I know he would have liked to have rolled with me a bit before hand, so I was glad when his response to me sweeping him was "GOOD!!!". I think it put ease to both of our minds.
the lesson of the week was attacking half guard, and we worked on position, and drilling for quite a while. Black Belt seems to be more about rolling though- and we did. I think of the 90 minutes about an hour was spent actually sparring. The sessions at the end were shining moments for me. After the sparring sessions I felt like I was where I belonged. I felt like I was competent enough to be there, and I felt like I could learn more in this environment.

Saturday morning we decided to pack up the whole fam and go to class. Shannon was going to do the Fundamentels class from 10am to 11am, and then I was going to do the Intermediate class from 11am to 12pm. my mother in law came along to watch Lila. all 4 of us piled into the truckster and headed down to the Denver school. When we got there I noticed one of my buddies had showed up for the Fundamentals class, so I decided to dress for that as well and just do a "double" for the day. The Fundamentals class was fun- they were working on escapes from half guard last week and we did a lot of drilling, and finished the hour with up-down-out grappling with the intermediate class I was due to attend next.

Intermediate began as normal- we did a review of the weeks lesson which I knew from last Tuesday was escapes from scarf hold. After a few minutes of drilling Prof. Junior called us in, paired us up and declared the day a "training day" meaning we would spar full speed from the knees for the remainder of class. I had some decent rolls. My first pairing was a 2 stripe white belt who was very lanky and flexible like I am. he got the tap with an americana in our first roll, then we set up again and I submitted him with an arm bar, set up again and I submitted him with a straight arm bar. speed kills, and I haz it.
My next partner was another blue belt- no stripes just like me. I had rolled with this guy on Thursday and knew he was vulnerable to arm bars. I submitted him 3 times in 5 minutes. Next I moved on to one of my favorite training partners. Jason is a good dude, has his head in the right place, is extremely strong and skilled in his BJJ. I determined to stay away from going to guard on this day as I know that this is my "safe place" but rolling with Jason I feel more comfortable trying to break out of that routine. I need to develop a more well rounded game, and this will include attacks from side control, escapes from mount, side control, escapes from the guard- all areas that need work, and this is a training partner who can definitely help me refine in those areas. I "lost" all the way through the 5 minutes, and that was cool because I feel like I got some idea of what needs to be worked on before I go to competition. I rounded out class with the 2 stripe I started with, and then off to the home front to reflect on what I had learned, and where I felt I needed to work to improve.

here is a list
Learned-
refining the fake-out. The art of showing one intent while actually setting up something else. I was doing well with this faking for a fan sweep and grabbing the arm bar.
The rolling choke I learned from John Boyle. I worked it a few times both Thursday and Saturday. I like it, and I think with more practice I'll get to use it as a regular part of my game.

Needs work-
Attacking without pulling guard. The guard game is strong. Time to break away from it and grow. I have an idea.
Chokes from the back. I'm climbing on too high- I need to remember to be low enough that my head is below the shoulder.
Strength- I know this is a finesse art, but putting on some muscle wouldn't hurt.

All told I attended 4 classes last week 2x Intermediate, 1x Black Belt, and 1x Fundamentals- so i traversed the full spectrum of Easton's BJJ offerings for the week. I feel pretty good about that!