My first jiu jitsu class (sort of)

Well, P90X has hit a snag. Heather's arm is officially kaput, at least for the moment. I'm not sure if she slept on it wrong or if she tweaked it during Core on Monday, but it's been bandaged up most of the week and she has multiple appointments with her doctor to feel better. It sounds like she'll be good next week, but the rest of this week she cannot work out.

Since I'm trying to get us to do P90X together, I think we're putting this week on hold and starting up with Week 2 again on Monday. It's cheating, but I don't want her to have to start all the way over again.

So last night should have been arms, but my roommate Mark was home and he wanted to work out too. Mark's been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for almost a year (which is one of three martial arts I'd someday like to study if/when I ever get the time) but this week he can't train because he's on call at work. So since there was nothing tying me to a specific workout and he still wanted to work out, I got to have my first jiu jitsu lesson!

This was a very dumbed down version of what is seen in an actual bjj class. We started with some basic warmup stuff, jumping, running, stretching, etc. Then we did burpees, which are never fun. A few ground/rolling around exercises after that, and then we got started on the actual fighting stuff. Mark taught me some very basic stuff on how to defend against single leg and double leg takedowns, then he taught me how to do single leg and double leg takedowns. We then worked on some basic standing grappling, and then did a series of 1 minute rounds.

I've gotta say, I was completely unprepared for this. Aside from thinking I'd be much better at jiu jitsu than I actually am (that was a wakeup call), physically this was one of the most intense sports I'd ever played. The entire body is working, and lots of muscles I never even thought about using were used. There's a lot of pressure on the top of the head, so my neck was feeling it. Defending leg takedowns requires a TON of leg strength, and my legs felt like jelly at the end. And as far as pushing a human body off of you, that required WAY more triceps and chest than I thought it would.

After an hour of working out I felt like my soul had been drained, but I was glad I did it. I really want to get back into martial arts, especially this style. It's just so different from any other martial art. Plus, if this is how I felt after a home jiu jitsu class I know that a real one will kick my ass! My ass needs to be kicked so I can lose some more weight, so yes, someday I need to do this!

Speaking of losing weight, my diet's been great the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, it could always be better, but I'm doing about 6 tiny meals a day (lunch and dinner are the two biggest) and somehow I've finally seen the light and am eating carbs and protein at every meal. I was originally trying to cut carbs out completely, but somehow enough people made me realize they have energy benefits and in moderation they won't make me fat. This whole nutrition thing is beyond me, but I'm slowly learning.

So that's my story. Tonight is scheduled for yoga, but I might work on some martial arts. And of course lifting tonight. We'll see if we do squats again or just start doing some different things tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

Bring it!