Training the Jitz!

I haven't posted on the BJJ training in awhile. It's coming along well. Or at least I think so. It's interesting to see specific gaps it fills in the Taijutsu training. Obviously there's the ground work, but there are other areas.

This week we learned a takedown called the Snatch Double. It's a variation on the doubleleg takedown, but what was interesting was how you place your forehead against the opponent's chest and push. At speed, it's more of a headbutt to the sternum as you snatch both legs out from under the guy. The headbutt is described in the taijutsu material, and passing mention is made of it's potential versatility, but this use was a revelation to me.

I've been doing well with the general conditioning, but I still see plenty of room for improvement. I need to become more flexible.

I had a minor incident near the end of class last night. We were working positional training. I was in turtle with my opponent in North-South. My job was to get away and improve my position. Somewhere in the scrum, I places my toes on the mat and pushed. I managed to tear away about a third of my right big toenail. Ouch! I called a halt to inspect the damage. It was a bloody mess, and I had to cut away the dangling portion of the nail. Fortunately it was at the end of class, so I wasn't faced with the choice of excusing myself or toughing it out.

It's cleaned up now, and I have some HyGens dojo slippers and wrestling shoes I can wear to protect my sensitive right big toe. Hey, if I have to be injured, I'll tak an annoying injury over a serious one any day of the week.