State of My Arts

After the conclusion of last Saturday’s TKD training, there were 3 college-age TKD black belts who were interested in doing a bit of grappling.  I gave them a little taste of grappling during the TKD class showing them a sweep from guard, but of course they wanted more.  There’s the MMA influence for you (hey, it got me into BJJ myself).

Anyway, I showed them kind of a quick overview of a few techniques, some of which they were a bit familiar with: arm bar from guard, failed armbar from guard transitioning into an omoplata, Ezekiel choke, and another funky sweep from guard (crossing the guy’s arms in front, hipping out, putting a foot between the arms, hipping the other way and rolling them over).

After playing around with those for 25 minutes or so, the four of us played around with some free grappling starting from a kneeling position.  We were in TKD doboks, which can’t take the pulling that BJJ/Judo gis can, so I kept things somewhere between no-gi and gi.  The three guys are all very fit, but are all built on the lean side, so my 195 pounds probably gave me at least a 30 pound advantage over them.  One of them used to train at the same place I trained BJJ, so he knew a bit about he was doing, and the other two relied on a bit of high school gym class wrestling and the bits and snatches they’ve picked up over the years.

I kept it light, but did have fun submitting them, with a triangle from mount, an Ezekiel choke, a rear naked choke, an arm bar, and a Kimura from guard.  May have missed one or two in there.  It was nice to roll around on the mats a  bit, especially since I knew they weren’t able to hurt me.  I think they’re all leaving for college in a couple of weeks, so we won’t be able to make it a regular thing.  Too bad, I could use some practice before I go back to BJJ in October.

BJJ

Today is 1 day short of 7 months since surgery.  I saw the doctor 2 weeks back (and failed to blog about it, I know) and he has cleared me for all physical activity.  Yeah!

Of course, that doesn’t really mean that I’m completely healed.  The skin around the incision still doesn’t feel normal; there’s a bit of decreased sensitivity there.  Strength is good, due to the weightlifting I’ve been doing.  Flexibility is pretty good — actually, it might even be too good.  The doctor thought that my ligaments are probably a bit more lax than most people’s, which could explain when I get so many soft tissue injuries.

There still is pain, and the doctor said that it will take until a year after the surgery before that fades nearly as much as it is going to.  I’ve been backing of of Kali practice, since that aggravates my shoulder more than anything.  I’m cleared to return to BJJ, but I’m going to hold off on that for another month and a half, at least, until I have my 3rd dan TKD test.

This past Saturday I was doing flip falls and dive rolls without incident, so I’m good to go with falling (I’ll give front falls a pass for a while longer, though).  Some of the muscles around the shoulder are kind of spasming with all the overwork I’ve been giving it, but all in all it isn’t too bad.  Kind of a tepid endorsement, I know, but major injuries are slow to heal.

Health