7grizzly

After the first couple of days, my injury (Feb 22) turned into a nagging pain, a

thorn in my side. I couldn't do sit-ups, let alone leg-raises. It took two weeks

for my daily routines to be fully restored as the intercostal muscles carried on

their healing.

 

I would've gone mad if I hadn't re-discovered rucking from reading Michael

Easter's book. In fact, just before the accident I had rucked a couple of times

already. It gave me a new path to explore during my convalescence from BJJ. I

enjoyed the exercise so much that by the fourth week, I was hiking with a load

of one third of my body weight and thinking resting another week before going

back to BJJ.

 

From an efficency POV, marching under load beats all sports that I know. The

meditative treks build both strength and endurance and exposes me to the sun.

Moreover, wonderful thoughts often sprang up out of nowhere while I trod on.

All that were needed were a will and a sturdy rucksack. As most days were sunny,

if a bit hot, I did not need to take vatamin D3. Everything is wrapped up within

1.5 hours.

 

But with BJJ, I get community and I meet people and have fun. One guy I know

returned to train after getting a heart attack on the same mat and being rushed

to the hopital where he had a heart operation. That speaks volumes about the

people and the strength of the group. With me, a surprising number of people

commiserate once they knew my injury and shared their recovery stories. Tuesday,

Hinden, a bulky half-Asian youngster who usually trained in evening classes,

made my day by again telling how he liked my gimbap at last year's picnic.

 

By the end if March 2026, it still hurts a bit when doing the shrimp move on the

mat or from cross-side forcing my left side onto them for control. But it seems

to force me to look from a different perspective--in sparring I no longer go

100%. Ironically, that helps me grow my skills.

 

Mar 1. Making progress.

 

The rib has healed 80%, I think, and I'd give it another week before showing up

on the mat. Evening stretching has been no problem. I could do cossack squats

and the sun salutation in the morning but cannot do the leg raises.

 

My rucking has build up to 45lbs/60min over the past week. I loved it. I was

"born to carry," as Liberman said in Michael Easter's book.

 

Mar 6. Leg raises are back.

 

Last night I found I could do one ab crunch and this morning, I did 12 leg

raises on the doorway pull-up bar as before the injury. The grip felt weaker

toward the end and the intercostal muscles hurt only slightly. The morning

routine is fully back.

 

Four more weeks of recovery, mainly rucking, are recorded in another post.

 

Mar 23. Back on the mat!

 

I actually thought about giving it another week but also wanted to find out how

well I had recovered.

 

Machine showed a few moves for triangle defense from early to late stages.

Suppose the right arm is trapped.

 

1. Keep posture. Do not let him pull my head down or get the arm across. Find

space between his legs and use both hands to peel off his legs.

 

2. Right hand blocks his head on his right side (grab the collar if I can).

Right leg up to block his hips and drop the right knee on his torso. Left leg up

(it's okay to help with left hand on the mat). Left hand grab his left hip from

underneath. Turn toward left. Find space and turn head out. He has the chance

with the omoplata. If he does that, my right knee would slide and my body fall

to his right side to defend.

 

3. He's got my head pulled down. My right hand pivots on his left side. My left

hand reaches from underneath to grab his left hip. My right arm circles back to

swallow his left knee. I turn right to put his left thigh on the mat. I have a

few ways to get out from there: my left hand inserts between his legs; my

right/left (???) knee to help push his triangle open; my body circles to my

right to pull my head out.

 

4. Last ditch effort. Now he has my arm across and my head down. I wedge my

right elbow against his right hip, both my hands cup his right knee, my hips go

up and I use my legs to drive forward to pop his legs open. This time, I pin his

right thigh the mat.

 

I drilled everything with Chris, a burly blue belt about my height from the UFC

gym. Position-sparred with Andy and Ronaldo. Rolled with Chris and Howard.

Submitted Andy and Chris by armbar in kesa gatame.

 

Eversly said a popped rib typically took 6-8 weeks. In the locker room, he tried

to enlighten me on StarTrek, Ninja Turtles, and went on to give me a list of

taboos in NYC after learning that I might go in the summer: "phone and wallet in

the front and never the back pockets; do not push the cross-street button as

that'll mark you out; no white after Labor Day." I was still not very clear on

the last point. Alex came in and suggested I wear my blue belt.

 

Getting hurt definitely changed my perspective, as I told Raam, and I rolled

less intensely. Excitingly, slowing down makes me think of options at a given

position. I needed to mind the rib, of course, and I hope it would help me get

into the problem-solving habit.

 

It felt good to be back. Afterwards, the area hurt a bit. We'll see how it goes

tomorrow.

 

Mar 24. Darren showed omoplata escapes from different stages.

1. When the guy's on his back. At this early stage, I should try to straighten

up by upper body in my kneeling position and limp the arm out. Second option is

to cart-wheel over the guy to land on his side to take side-control.

 

2. When the guy's up but his hand's not controlling my hip. I could roll, not on

the shoulder of the trapped arm but the opposite and use the momentum to land on

his other side.

 

3. The last ditch effort, when he controlls my hip with his arm reaching across

my back, is to step the near leg all the way across behind his back, my other arm

reaches underneath to grab the other hip, my other leg drops underneath, and

shifts him over my body to the other side.

 

Everyone welcomed me back and we had a great time. Alissa delivered, took four

weeks off, and came back with her one-month-old boy in tow. Both she and Peter

popped their ribs before. I tricked Peter to pass his guard and had a tough roll

with Howard. Alex took my back, Hinden still remembered my gimbap at the picnic,

and Kevin kept joking that we (or I) should go back to China as the country's

getting stronger.

 

Talked briefly with Darren about my injury and got confirmed that in some cases

the rib does not grow exactly back to its original location. Looks like I have to

live with it the rest of my life.

 

Mar 27. Machine showed two armbar escapes. Suppose my partner traps my right

arm:

 

1. When his left arm hooks my right arm, I cross my arms so that my left hand

covers my right arm cups his left elbow and I do a bridge. When he falls on his

left side, I need to follow up by raising my right leg behind his hips to stack

him.

 

2. I can lock my hands with an S-grip, turn to my left side and try to connect

my left elbow and knee. They should work together to trap his right leg between

my legs and I should work my hips up past his knee. Next, I should try to bend

my trapped elbow and pull the arm out.

 

Mar 30. Machine showed two seated guard sweeps.

1. I have both sleeves same-side and I push his left leg back with my right foot

on his thigh and I sit up with a shin-to-shin. My left arm hooks the back of his

right knee and I transition his left sleeve to my left grip. Now he doesn't

have base on his upper-left. I can just grab his collar or back and pull down

and sweep him to my upper-right corner.

2. My right hand cross-grip his right sleeve. I get to the same shin-to-shin and

pass the grip to my left hand. I dive toward between his legs and my right hand

reaches and grip his pant leg at the knee. I left my left leg and sweep him to

my left side.

 

Machine showed an effective sit-down hook sweep from standing with collar and

sleeve grips. (My right hand on the collar, my left on his right sleeve to take

away base.) Just step in between his legs, sit, and drag him down. I extend my

right lower leg which hooks the inside of his left leg and sweep him toward my

11-o'clock on the left side.

 

I drilled all these with Nicola the wrestler and showed her the tripod sweep

which she liked very much.

 

While rolling with the guys, I felt I had a better understanding of being

slppery. The principal is well-known by the way and Henry showed in a lot of

videos. For example, when a girl asked how not to be thrown around like a rag

doll, he said "There is not so much a way for you to get better control. There

is a way for you to prevent people from beging able to control you" and went on

to demonstrate the concept.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk1oULbfdSc)

 

I started to apply the idea. Whenever someone tries to put their foot on my body

(e.g., the hips, the biceps, etc.) or their hand on my body (e.g., the chest,

the torso, the head, etc.) so that they can push off to initiate a move, I just

deflect without really knowing what's their goal. I change the angle and become

slippery and they lose the anchor and cannot complete their move. As Henry said,

they are still attached to me but their energy does not go through me. It works

very well.

 

Mar 31. Darren showed a few floating butterfly guard passes.

 

1. Walk up and put my opponent's back on the mat. My right hand gets the

underhook and my right shoulder pins his chest. My forehead posts above his head

to his right. I push down his right knee with my left hand and at the same time

my right leg donkey-kick to clear his right hook.

 

2. If his left hook is active, I try to turn my hips so that my right knee

crosses his shin. Or as I walk up, he's not flexible enough to follow and I'd

swallow his left knee with my right leg and then my right knee drives across his

belly to the side.

 

3. I walk up with the underhook and head post and pin his legs at the knees. I

retract my left lower leg to trap both his shins. I drive with my left knee to

his left pinning his legs and meanwhile do a big backstep with my right leg to

end up on his right with the underhook.

 

Saw Brian but forgot his name and we chatted a bit about injuries. Andreas liked

kimchi but his wife doesn't. Alisa brought her baby, so tiny on the mat, so

curious, and quiet. What with the war and gas prices, Kevin bought the Lectric

bike XP4. I was lucky, it didn't rain on my ride home.