Some time ago i wrote an entry about how I did a day of BJJ at American Kickboxing Academy, and posted about how I had a Muay Thai class coming up. Well, looks like that's gonna happen, six years later. I'm doing a free week at Impact BJJ. Tomorrow or Friday is striking. Tonight was BJJ.
The most important thing I learned was to never wear shorts when grappling. I was told that I'd be doing a kickboxing initiation at 6:00 and I could hang around for BJJ at 7. Nope, it was all BJJ, and it sucked having to constantly pull my shorts down when literally everyone else (even the other newbies not wearing gi's) had pants on.
In addition to the technique of wearing pants, I was taught how to shrimp, execute an Americana, a kimura, and three different positions of armbar. It was way better than my AKA lesson, the likes of which I remembered nothing from. Back then they just kinda threw me in without tutelage. This time the instructor actually spent time with me exclusively while everyone else was rolling.
Something to note: my shoulder was limp in a sling a little over a month ago. Tonight I was getting that same arm cranked, jerked and armbarred, and it felt and feels great. Simply having a lot of contractile meat around the joint undoubtedly helped exponentially in preventing any slippage from the socket. When someone would be going through the moves and I knew what was coming, I'd consciously flex my deltoid and just brace for the force so I could safely hold on long enough for it to sink in and tap. Just have to shake my head at people who are worried about getting too buff.
