I weighed in at 160.4 post-training this afternoon. That's exactly five and a half pounds above the maximum weight for the February Revolution tournament.
If I were a pro, that 5.5 would be a walk in the park. As a recreational jiu jitsu guy, I'm not so sure. The lightest I've competed at was about 158 or so in my last tournament several months ago. That was when the lightweight cut-off was 158.9. Now, I'm shooting for 154.9.
I'm not going to kill myself if I don't make it. This is a work-through tournament with some specific goals (takedown, guard pass, mount, double attack/keylock). If I do that against max 169.9 guys or max 154.9 guys isn't the point. I also wouldn't be surprised if there aren't enough blue belts to fill out the three divisions below the 169.9 max.
Then again, if BJ Penn can do it, then why can't I, right?
Rebecca bought me BJ Penn's unbelievable book, Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge the other day. An incredible gift and a cosmic connection with jiu jitsu. Though the book is about mixed martial arts, Penn's specialty is jiu jitsu and there are tons of great ideas to be found. What's more, Penn does a lot of things from the guard that I've been trying to do: arm wraps, crossover sweeps. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many of the techniques he thought transferred well from jiu jitsu to mixed martial arts are many of the same techniques that I prefer to use myself.
Back to the pounds on the scale. The trick will be the weekend. If I can keep from gaining in my typical fashion, then there's a good chance that I'll be able to make the sprint to 154.9.
