Getting back into the swing of things
My workouts are feeling good again. I still have clogged ears, but everything else has seemingly returned to normal.
Last Friday was a gup test, and I was one of five on the testing panel. 9 students tested, and they all did a great job. It was a good 2-hour test, and even the young ones maintained focus throughout.
I finally taught the beginner adult TKD class tonight after 3 weeks away (2 weeks sick and 1 week with a family commitment). We pulled out the mats and worked on rolling and falling. Four students had never rolled before, so it was good to get them some experience. We went through front rolls, back rolls, side falls, back fall, front fall. So we ran the gamut there. At the end, myself and two other instructors did a couple simple takedowns, and I gave each a hip throw. Just a litle application of techniques there.
BJJ has been going pretty well. I still stink at it, but some things are coming along. Yesterday’s drilling focused on collar chokes, and it is kind of crazy how many variations there are. Today’s drilling was half-guard sweeps and half-mount passes. I’m pretty pathetic in half-guard, so it is good to drill that. Sparring has been a bit of a struggle. Blue and Purple belts at my size (and some of those smaller than I am) pretty much have their way with me. Some of the stronger and more experienced white belts battle me to a standstill. But I managed to get a gi choke on a newly-minted purple belt today (okay, I outweigh him by 45 pounds). Then he came back with a nice armbar that opened up for him when I was defending a choke attempt. Last night was about my toughest night: one of the bigger blue belts ran a clinic on me, probably half a dozen different submissions in 10 minutes. But it is all fun and a good learning experience.