Training Log: Entry 3671

GRAPPLING UPDATE

No hardware today, but I got 1 win out of my 3 matches, and my first ever win by choke, bringing up the number of submissions I know to TWO.

First match

Second Match (win)

Final match

The fingers in my left hand are swollen, so I won’t type much, but I weighed in at 194.4lbs for a weight class of 195 wearing a full set of sweats with my phone, wallet and keys in my pocket and a belly full of a typical weekend breakfast, so suffice to say I was undersized. Yet this was the first one of these competitions out of the 4 I’ve done so far where I didn’t feel overpowered by the competition. I moved dudes where I wanted them to move and made them not like tying up with me, and in the second match in particular you can see me really imposing my will while standing. I actually wanted to slam the dude when I got his back, but he fell as a defense.

I tapped early to both armbars: live to fight another day. I have some swollen parts, and Specificity Bravo is going to be interesting tomorrow, but considering I came in still undergoing physical therapy for my dorked up right knee and 2 weeks post pec strain, I walked away without much to worry about.

I grappled the same guy for match 1 and 3, which kinda sucked, because dude definitely had me figured out. But props to him: he was the better dude out there. I’m pleased that I never panicked while on my back, but maybe a little more scrambling would have been good.

I met my goal of winning at least ONE match, and did so going up a weight class and 2 age categories below where I should have been. The guy in the second match came up to me later and went “F**k you’re jacked dude!”, which is also cool.

40 years old, I grapple once a year, and I can still give someone a bad time: that makes me happy.