Grappling With Something New
Finn warding off my attempt at a choke hold with the highly effective “smooch” defense.
A couple weeks back I took a ju jitsu class at a local MMA gym. Izzy was interested in the gym, and needed a little extra encouragement to go so I told her I’d join her first class. I was very impressed with the head trainer, and the atmosphere in general. It seems like a good place to learn that martial art.
I have over 10 years of martial arts experience, but it was mostly kicking and punching. Very little grappling, though I understand the basics and know how hard it is. This class just confirmed that it is exhausting.
We started off with some basic tumbling and warming up, and then were paired up and learning various techniques around the guillotine choke. For those not up on MMA terminology, the guillotine is a choke performed from in front of a person and is nearly impossible to escape from once it is administered. It is painful and quickly cuts off oxygen. Very effective.
However, actually applying the choke in a match is difficult. No one really wants to have their larynx crushed, so the trick is to not expose yourself to the position needed for your opponent to apply the technique.
We were focusing on proper application of it, and ways to counter and still apply it when your opponent attempts to defend against it. I must have had a dozen chokes applied to me, and managed to get one or two good ones on my partner. It was a lot harder to clamp on than it first appeared, and my first few tries didn’t quite get there.
After working on this for quite a while, the last few minutes of class was a “free grapple” session with very strict rules to keep it safe. For us newbies, our job was simply to stay on top of our partner. I lasted maybe ten seconds. And most of that was him humoring me.
My partner for the entire class looked to be in his early 20s. Mostly muscle. I knew he was taking it easy on me, but his technique and control were impressive. Since I have very little technique, and he was stronger than me, it wasn’t much of challenge for him.
That final little grappling session did again confirm how hard the sport is, as my heart rate soared even though I was barely doing anything.
My biggest takeaway is that I’m too old for that. They also have Muy Thai classes and that is a lot closer to what I used to study. But for now I’m going to keep it more gentle and continue with yoga instead.
