DadandZachonRecumbents.com

I only had to take 1 antibiotic for a skin infection today , some sort of hair follicle bacterial infection on my inner thighs. I had at least 2 infections, maybe 3-4 on my legs. I think it appeared because of my walking/running on the treadmill. They appear in my stretch marks on my inner thighs. I need to keep the skin clean and dry and shaven.

Right now, I am listening to lofi music to help calm myself down and drinking water to make sure I am hydrated.

I have been studying the bushido code, and one of them is to not hide like a turtle in a shell. I feel like I just want to hide in my shell and the BJJ helps me get out of it, but it is still hard to do if I miss some classes. I miss the classes, then I feel like sitting inside all day and night.

I don’t “feel” better if I miss the classes. I actually feel worse and I feel better if I go to one. I feel accomplished and I feel like I got a good workout which makes me feel all the good neuro transmitters.

I still had to see a doctor last Monday and I missed class. Over the weekend, the infection pretty much cleared up. I didn’t want the skin to break and bleed on the mats so I didn’t go last week at all.

Today, I have 2 knee braces for BJJ. They are pretty nice and have a gel pad around the kneecap. Then they have wraps that go around, I had to look up how to put them on. I think the strap actually tires the knee joint faster for some reason, maybe the compression is too tight with it on, idk.

So my partner today will probably be Charlie, Juli, or Troy. These are the ones I have had on Mondays.

Charlie can be pretty brutal, but he is cool and will let me take breaks. It’s hard to keep up with him because he is young , really strong, and has a wrestling background.

Juli is good at learning techniques, he will call the coach over on anything he has a question about, I can definitely learn from that. He also beats me when we roll.

Troy is young and 6 ‘4’’ , he is a Judo green belt and a BJJ blue belt, so he is tough. He lets me take breaks (nobody tells me not to take breaks , but it is nice to know a person doesn’t mind)

Most people try to match up with somebody their size and there aren’t a lot of people my size that come to the gym. I am losing weight, but I am just replacing it with muscle and that is keeping my weight up. That is fine, but I think I need to be around 220 lbs for me to feel normal sized, maybe even 200-210.  This means that most people have a partner or two that they choose to work with, or blue belts go with blue belts and so on. Allie likes to match bigger people with bigger people.

Another thing I started doing is running for a minute between walking for a few minutes. It feels like it is helping. I have to wait and see though, on BJJ days I don’t get on the treadmill. I just feel like my legs should rest for BJJ days, until I have been treadmilling for a while. I lift on other days , but not a lot of weight because I don’t like having muscle pain in my chest. I need to do leg days, but it is a lot of strain to do treadmill and BJJ and leg days. This is what the braces are for on the knees. I only use it when I’m at class, when I’m doing strength and walking/running I do not wear them. I understand that you don’t want your body to rely on them all the time so while you are strength training you want to not wear them. During sports and drills it is good to wear them to prevent injury and help recovery.

I accept my age limitations. I actually try to go slow and build up the momentum to see where my limits are. I don’t spaz out if I can help it , but sometimes I just flail around and don’t know the moves in jiu jitsu rolls. I just kind of try to get a hook or an escape , but if somebody has a game plan and you are flailing helplessly, they will always win.

I put on my new knee brace, the left one is tighter because it is not worn in at all. The right one is looser because I wore it to a class already. I don’t think I will use the straps today, I think the compression is enough. I have the straps in my bag in case I need them though.

Teacher: Allie

Partner: Don and Juli

Today we learned how to slide into a position to do armbars. 

From Closed Guard position on bottom:

1. I secure their left arm across my center line to my belly button
2. I collect the head.
3. I shrimp out and get my left foot on their hip.
4. I put my right leg up behind their head and shoulders.
5. I can then lock my feet 
6. I then push their head down and under my left leg (or right if doing other arm) to finish with an armbar

We learned escaping the armbar

1. When they pull my arm down and put the leg over my head I grab my other arm
2. I then sit up and I can from here :

• Rip the armbar arm out and go around for side control
• Step up to the side and go down on the knee then stack them and stand on the foot behind them. Pull my arm out.

Today , I was overheating in the gi. It was 90 degrees outside, but we had the AC on in the gym.

We didn’t roll , but I felt like I needed to keep moving with my partner today. He didn’t mind me needing breaks, but he didn’t seem to need any himself. Juli joined us for a few rounds of armbars but then went to another partner shortly after.

I had fun moving around and getting my energy out.