Deborah's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu & Arnis-Eskrima Training

The Holy Grail has been found. Several weeks ago I wrote about passing (um, or, rather not passing) Louis' guard.  He is an annoyingly talented black belt who recently put on 25 pounds of lean muscle weight, so now he has excellent movement skills, AND functional strength, AND speed. We did no-gi today, which always requires a certain amount of quick translation in my head.  I asked Louis if I could roll with him.  He agreed.  And we were off.  I jumped, sprinted into action.  I curled my right hand around the back of his neck, head into his right shoulder, and moved forward.  Louis has an excellent base, so I struggled for a bit trying to find that one open space where I could drive ahead.  Found it.  Got Louis on his back. And then the all too familiar sight of Louis' knees and right arm trying to mess with my position.  I kept my weight down on his legs.  I grabbed his right arm, pinned it with my left knee.  And I di...

Hey all, be sure to check out Valerie Worthington's blog (Prancing and Sucking) for info about women's grappling camp.

I am HUGE in Japan.  And Saudi Arabia.  And Russia.  Prom Queen huge.   In a fit of high school level vanity and curiosity, I looked at my "stats" page the other day, and I was surprised to see I had several page views from Saudi Arabia, Russia and a few from Japan.   So I am wondering, who are these people?  Military?  Spooks?  Embassy employees?  Do they like my blog?  Or do they think I am a dolt?  Curiouser and curiouser. Well, my focus on speed and offense this past rocky year is FINALLY starting to manifest itself in my limbs.  I rolled with Andres and Chris on Tuesday morning.  I locked a triangle on Andres, which is significant because he is also a purple belt, and outweighs me by 80 pounds.  I  almost  locked in a another triangle on Chris, who is my size and also a purple belt, and has maddening movement skills.  I felt strong and threatening and balletic and most important,  offensive...

I took a couple, well three, weeks off for house remodeling.  New skylights (yeah! no rain in the house!), new windows, and a front yard that is a beautiful rock garden fire break (dry weather+dry brush=bad). Each day of digging dirt and rock was followed by well deserved beers at the new pub that has opened down the street from our house.  Yes. Down. The. Street.  The beer is good.  The food is good.  Dagney is happy. But the brass tacks of the mat call! I had a good roll Wednesday morning.  We worked on base.  Base while standing.  In your opponent's guard.  The focus of the work was the hips; harnessing the immense power and stability that lives in the core.  I love concentrating on these details because they are such miniscule unseen diamonds that, once discovered, utterly transform your game from a crazed maniacal mess to an elegant waltz.  The brilliance of jiu jitsu lies in the invisible.  I received a fun compliment...