DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
Not a whole lot going on in the gym as summer winds down! We’ve seen relatively low attendance during the peak of summer, with a lot of people taking last minute vacations and enjoying outdoor activities while the temperature is still warm. I want to remind everyone that taking a break is good – necessary, even – but you may find that can be hard to come back to Jiu-Jitsu after taking a week or two off. It’s great for the body, but can hit your motivation hard. Sometimes it’s just easier to sit on the couch! Just remember, Jiu-Jitsu is hard … but lack of activity is much harder in the long run. We do Jiu-Jitsu because it improves our overall quality of life – even if it makes our individual hours or days harder! This martial art gives us physical activity, community, problem-solving skills, and builds us into confident and resilient people. But rarely is something worth having easy to achieve and maintain. So keep in mind your prime reasons and motivations for training Jiu-Jitsu … and come to class!
Fundamentals: the previous week in Fundamentals we focused on sweeping from a variety of guards. This last week we studied passing from those same positions. On Monday we drilled the Step Out Pass from X Guard. Wednesday we worked passing the Spider Lasso Guard, and on Friday we studied passing the Single Leg X Guard. The last three weeks we have been cycling through positions and studying sweeps, and now passes. This upcoming week – and the following two – we will move on to submissions.
Advanced: in Advanced class this week we studied the Half Butterfly position, starting with learning the basic Hook Sweep that is very similar to our Fundamental Hook Sweep from the Seated Guard. We then moved on to connecting to our partner with the Head & Arm and Shoulder Crunch controls, using them to sweep or submit our partner.
No Gi: in No Gi we also studied the Half Butterfly, but instead of isolating and using the upper body to sweep this time we emphasized getting underneath our partner, isolating their legs, and ultimately attacking Heel Hooks.
Practicing complex movement isn’t just good for your Jiu-Jitsu, it is good for your brain. Making new connections in the brain and the body is a valuable aspect of the game. The kids did an amazing job with spider lasso guard and the bus driver sweep!
To shake things up, we also played a lively game of Duck-Duck-Take Down. One thing that we have been emphasizing is showing up to learn and have fun. When we focus too much on winning and losing, it is easy to lose sight of why we are on the mats. Welcome to Anna who signed up this week!
Congratulations to River, Gabe, Cleo, Netta, Hazel, Felix, Kitts, and Leo for earning their next stripe! We have enjoyed watching all of you grow your skills.
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
