Finally back on the mat after about three weeks elsewhere ... It wasn't quite as bad as I'd feared. I did a small workout before class, finished the Fundamentals session, then sparred twice - once with Professor Sean and once with Chris. I was pretty worn out after that, but went ahead and trained once more during the Open Mat with a guy that was pretty eager to train and didn't have a partner. I'm trying to understand how you turn down a guy like that. You can't train jiu-jitsu by yourself.
What I may start doing, though, is limiting those mercy rolls to guard/pass guard specific or something. If I'm too fatigued, then the chances of me getting anything other than altruism points for continuing to train are pretty slim. Besides I'm always nervous about getting hurt, and that's all the moreso when training with new partners whose game I don't know and whose style I have yet to trust. So if I'm going to wade back into the water when I'm already well-worn, I need to put some controls on just how far from shore I'm willing to let the game go.
The gem of today's training was the detail on how to apply the initial choking grip from mount, and how to loosen that grip and use it as a push lever if the guy tries to bump or roll out of the position. Mount transition to S-mount, in other words. Good stuff.
Nice to meet the new professor, Professor Alex. He's good-sized, which will help with the increasing number of big boys coming to train. I'm looking forward to learning more about his specialties.
A very sweet, 156.5 on the scale, post-train, gi and everything. Much to love about being within five pounds of the featherweight/pena limit - the details of how I got here notwithstanding.
