The first week of my new ambitious plan went great. I made it to the gym twice, and at least a dozen classes, two of which were grappling hours. I was sore as hell for the majority of the week, but pushed on and made it to every class I could. The next week however, my performance severely declined, and I had to skip several classes, and a couple of gym sessions. Several factors leading to this may have been the late nights I had on the weekend, or maybe I had burned myself out. I believe the largest unforseen factor is that I've been scheduled for a 1-in-5 duty watch on my ship ever since it got back into harbour in mid August.
Being on a 1-in-5 duty rotation means that I have to be on duty every fifth day, and stay onboard for 24 hours; including weekends, and holidays. The work hasn't been difficult, but it's thrown a wrench into the gears of my training schedule, and has left me feeling exhausted sometimes when I get home the next day. There have been a few nights where I didn't get out of my uniform until almost nine o'clock at night. I don't mind working a long day, but it takes a lot of me, and sleeping onboard isn't something I've gotten used to yet.
Tonight was my first class in a week, since the club was closed down for minor renovations, and a large clean up needed to be done. It felt great to get back at it. I felt like I was on fire tonight during grappling hour. The guys who usually make me tap out , were the ones being tapped out by me. My energy was high, and everything just seemed to flow for me. I even surprised myself at one point while rolling with Darren. I don't even know what I did but I tried an escape I had never learned which involved me rolling upside down in a very weird, awkward way, and lead to me gaining a dominant position. Darren was surprised too, and looked just as puzzled as I did. Those are the moments I love. That's when I feel like I've truly learned the essence of Jiu-Jitsu, and it's an amazing feeling I want to experience again, and again.
I've had moments like that in Judo as well, where it seemed like all the stars aligned, even if only for a brief moment. Thinking back on my training at Mike's club in Newfoundland, it seems that was where the largest amount of those moments happened for me. While training back home in Cape Breton, it seemed like I could never quite get the hang of Randori, and would always lose, without ever throwing anyone. Randori is stand up sparring in Judo, where we practice trying to throw each other. Maybe it was my lack of experience, always competiting against those who had much more than me, or maybe it was a lack of confidence at the time. I know it definitely wasn't the instructors. Shane and Brian were both great instructors that taught me a lot, not only about Judo, but about life, and being a better person; the true essence of Judo in my opinion.
I'm not sure what was different about training in Newfoundland, but something about the instruction there really clicked for me. Lightbults started coming on in my head, and my Randori improved. I started catching people with throws, which grew my level of confidence in my stand up game. Maybe it was something as simple as the amount of time and effort I was putting into it, but I'd like to believe it was something more than that. Something about the way Mike and Blair instructed their classes really began to connect the dots for me. I remember him telling me one time to slow down and think about where I'm at, and where I can go. It was an awesome piece of advice that I adopted from that day forward. Whenever I'd get caught in a position, instead of just reacting instinctually as I'd always done before, I'd literally stop, look around, and think about what I could do to get out of that position. Sometimes I could figure out the answer, other times I couldn't. I would never give up however, and would always at least make an attempt to do something. This lesson was also reinforced by Ari this evening. He said to think about where your opponent can base, and where their balance is weak. Knowing where your opponent's balance is weak is key to gaining a better position, whether by escaping, or sweeping, etc.
In terms of nutrition, things have been up and down. There have been days where I've eaten completely clean, and others where I've gone completely overboard on junk food. I've always found that if I'm tired it's ten times more likely I'll cave in and eat junk. That being said, getting my sleep back on track and in line with nutrition is absolutely paramount right now. I have the next three days off to rest, and plan on reinforcing some old eating and cooking habits I've had throughout the years that should make a large difference.
Stay tuned friends.
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