Well, That Was Difficult

Went to Jitsu last night.

First it was a lesson on escapes form inverted heel hooks, which are rather nasty things to be subject to in grappling. In short a properly set heel hook is going to tear your knee up, and fast. So learning about preventing it and knowing how to escape it is pretty important.

Next it was a fight sim session - meaning protecting yourself from punches (with gloves worn) with sparring simulating being attacked and then defending yourself from an attack.

Good practice, but when you're up against a late-20s aged opponent at the same skill level, while you're in the low 50s, it gets ugly pretty fast.

On the upside, once on the ground I was able to protect myself and have a position that made punches ineffective, and I was basically able to hold him off and prevent him from doing any damage whether by punching or other techniques.  Took a lot of work, but I managed it. But, what I could not do was escape from him and get to a dominant position. Physical strength has a quality all its own in a fight, even a simulated one, and I sure ain't as strong as I once was, even as my technique is likely better than ever. But I "survived" the encounter and that counts for something.

After that workout, it was then time for freestyle rolling.  I did decently at it.  I actually got some decent submissions on some opponents and got nailed myself as well, so I was both the fly and the windshield during the rolls.

Lots of fun with a great group of people and it was one heckuva workout, and some new techniques were learned.

A challenging class, and I'm a tad sore now, but it was still a great time.