Exam on Tuesday
on the endocrine/GI systems which is weird and throwing me off because our
exams are usually on Fridays. But I’m excited because after the exam I have
dinner plans with a classmate then plan on training! That’s the best way I know
to make a day slightly better where you wake up at 5am to start studying for your 3 hour exam
at 1pm.
|
Runsafer Seminar |
This past Thursday I got to be a part of this program called
Runsafer. Todd Williams started it (a 2
time Olympic distance runner holding 21 US titles AND a BJJ black belt… gosh the people in BJJ sure are awesome). He
teaches runners about being safe and we demonstrated some basic
grip breaking if they grab your arm, using your feet on their hips to break a
choke from closed guard and stand up in base, then a hip bump sweep. I loved
when everyone thought sweep was just about the coolest thing ever (non-BJJ
readers: you start on the ground with them on their knees and your legs around
their back and end up completely on top of them). Chris reminded me that when
you first see it, it looks like magic. To this day, I still think it’s magical
when I can sweep a guy that has a lot of weight on me with ease and using no
muscle. BJJ will always seem magical to
me!
It was also a great reminder that BJJ is applicable in real life. I genuinely love the aspect of
competition jiu jitsu where I can pull guard and try (usually unsuccessfully)
to berimbolo or pull off fun sweeps and just worry about jiu jitsu and not
being punched or kicked. But it’s also a bonus that I do have a really good
self-defense base to fall back on. I’d like to think that if an (unarmed) guy
took me to the ground I would be able to successfully defend myself and get
away (based on the presumption that he has never trained in jiu jitsu before). [Side note: My brothers have been kind
enough to let me prove to myself that if a guy much larger than me knows no jiu
jitsu and doesn’t throw a punch I am more than capable of locking in an
omoplata or RNC at will.] It was a really cool experience to get to share
some of those techniques with others this week! There's also been this video floating around about called Jiu Jitsu for Women that sort of shows that women can in fact use jiu jitsu as self-defense and stop an attack (so you should take 2.5 minutes to watch it).
So a big week is ahead! Like I said, I have my exam on
Tuesday. I get to go to a Saulo AND
Xande seminar on Thursday (which, the excitement I am feeling cannot be put
into words. I’m sure that will get its own dedicated post on Friday), and on
Saturday there will be the promotion of
5 new black belts in the RJJA
Midwest! So there’s going to be a giant party – it’s going to be epic.
(There are going to be FIFTEEN black belts training together here in Toledo this
weekend. Is that amazing or what?!)
Incredibly excited! Check back on Friday to see how the
seminar went and Sunday to hear about the new black belts!
Labels: BJJ, BJJ for women, Runsafer, self-defense