Fiending for jiu jitsu!!!!

Now I haven't updated this blog for quite some time - nigh on four whole months - and there's numerous reasons for this - all of which relate to the epic perpetual battle between BJJ and real life.
(Broken computers, relocating, busiest time of year at work, blah, blah…excuses)

However, I’m glad to report that one of the roadblocks to my blogging has been training itself.
Having passed my driving test, after countless attempts (I drive like I grapple – eratically) I have actually been able to commit to training a little more, which has meant less time thinking about jiu jitsu and marginally more time trying to actually improve at it.

Over the last sixteen weeks or so, I feel like I have made definite and noticeable improvements in my game – so much so, that I feel I’ve entered a new stage in my Jiu Jitsu – actually recognising what I want to work for, understanding how to go about it and then achieving it

This conceptual progress, although relatively small, has helped me to improve my guard passing no-end, added a few new submissions to my arsenal and seen me able to escape from and consolidate positions with far more success than ever before.

But along with this has come an unwelcome monster – a facet of my personality that can make me irrational, selfish and a complete nuisance - the untameable and unrelenting desire to be in a gi, on a mat, all the time.

I feel as if I have begun BJJ all over again, so to speak - and to a certain extent I have.
Each new sparring session at Factory brings with it a new set of tips from coaches and team-mates, and where I would have traditionally nodded and then immediately failed to implement said hints, I now feel that I’m being given an extra piece of the ever-growing (and never-ending) puzzle – and more importantly – I can see where it fits.

That’s not to say I’m moving on in leaps and bounds – its baby steps all the way – but this gradually evolving understanding of what I’m trying to achieve has renewed the buzz that initially made me stick at Jiu Jitsu in the first place – and there’s no chance of it waning any time soon.