Another Neck Injury

But this time a bit different. No numbness. All pain and extremely limited range of motion. Almost like whiplash. Couldn't turn or move my head without pain for several days. It's gradually easing. I've been off the mats since last Saturday. Missed American Nationals this past weekend. Hoping to train again for the first time next Tuesday. How'd it happen? In a nutshell...a Purple spazzed on me. I had him locked in a triangle. He stacked. Instead of twisting or posturing he decided to front roll. Huh? It was so quick I couldn't get my head out of the way for a proper back roll. Instead by neck/head cranked down into my body. I ended up on top with mounted triangle. No clue why he thought a front roll was a good idea. Makes no sense.

Training had gone very well between my last post and the injury. I felt ready for Nationals. Cardio was good (enough). Strength, check. Aches and pains, minimal. I even trained a couple days at Paragon Santa Barbara while traveling for work. (The Paragon experience was great BTW. If ever in Santa Barbara, be sure to visit.)

When I do make it back on the mats, I'll take it slowly at first and begin prep for the Louisiana Open on November 4th. Just have to figure out how to stay healthy.

2.5hrs

...is a lot of mat time for a day. Saturday started with an hour of self defense (dbl/single leg stuffs and guard pull to punch survival and space creation) and ended with 1.5 hrs of almost continuous open mat training. I lost track of all the 6min rounds. Had a couple solid rounds with two different Browns. Both a couple years older and a little lighter. Survived and escaped several back attcks. Got a few sweeps and even a couple guard passes. Finished a couple Blues. But...got worked over pretty good by a White. I didn't tap, but I was on defense the whole time. Couldn't finish another White who had only been training a month or so. All around a very good session though.

At a work conference in Santa Barbara this week. Hope to make 2 classes at Paragon before heading to NOLA this weekend. Nationals the next weekend. I hear the Master Blue brackets should be quite full. Should be interesting.

Almost a month?

Wowzers. It's been almost a month since my last post. Where did the time go? I've been training. Missed a week due to a cold, but on the mats ~4x per week the rest of the time. Progress is slow, but I do feel like I'm improving. Especially with butterfly sweeps, x-guard, and combos. Had several smooth transitions from sweep to pass to submission lately. Even a nice x-pass to knee on belly to arm bar on a Purple last week. Working a lot from side control lately. Got tapped by a White last week too...(kimura)...so hey...I guess it all balances out. My endurance is getting better. I'm able to train longer without break than I was a month ago. But I'm still lazy on top. Very lazy. I can't count how many times I swept to top and gave up the position to rest on my back and sweep again because I was too tired to work the top game. I'm also working on sweeps that get me past guard. Sweep to side or mount in particular. IWhy gas trying to pass guard if I can sweep to side or mount? Lame...but I rationalize it like this: If I am in guard...I gas...If I gas...I have to sit out...If I sit out...I train less. So? If I give up top position and allow the sweep or reversal...I get to work bottom...the more chances I have to sweep to side or mount...sweep to side or mount and I don't gas...don't gas and I can train more. Make sense? Maybe not, but it's my game lately.

Sites set on American Nationals in a couple weeks. I'm training at Paragon Santa Barbara next week while at a conference and at NOLA BJJ next weekend while on a mini-vacation. Get to see a live UFC fight too. And...there's a chance Wanderlei Silva will hold a seminar at NOLA BJJ while I'm there. That should be fun.