Yael's Journal

[Yael Grauer]

I guess I didn't work out on Fri/Sat/Su/Mo, but today I did my ring test.


top position holds: 40 seconds (I was at 31.5 when I first started. modest gain after 6 weeks, but it's something)

front scale: 16 second per leg (13 on one leg and 14.5 on the other when I started)

handstand: maybe like fifteen seconds or so against the wall (when I started, I couldn't even do hollow body holds)

long jump: I skipped this because it wasn't in the pretest and I didn't feel like going outside

ring pullups: still just 1

hollow body hold: Managed to do 35 seconds; couldn't even do it without my knees bent when I started (which I did with knees bent for 72 seconds) so this is decent

pancake stretch

So these are pretty modest but somewhat significant gains, I suppose. The rest of the program involves going through this test again twice, which I want to do this week, and then week 7 has 4 days of ladders and 2 days of handstand work, but I'm going to hold off on that one until after I get back from my trip.

Hoping to make it to fundamentals tonight, but we'll see. This month has been crazy but September looks like it will be less busy (which is both good and bad.)

[Yael Grauer]

I guess I haven't worked out since the 21st because I was in Huatulco on a press trip on the 27-29, and had to do extra work on the 22-26 so I'd have time to just chill during the trip.

Anyway, went back to the last week of the intro to rings program.

Workout was reverse ladders (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-10) of

-Squat Jumps in Place
-Reps of Hollow Body Push Ups
-Top Position Hold on Rings

[Yael Grauer]

Went to the gym for open mat; I think I got 6 or 7 good rolls in. I feel like I'm moving well; working for armbars from S-mount, good top position still, transitions from guard to side to mount, bottom game is still meh but at least I can reguard a bit better and I'm attacking from the bottom. Promotion ceremony tomorrow and no idea if I'll get my fourth stripe with my inconsistent training, but here's hoping.

Other than that, I did another ring workout; 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-10 ladders of

front scale leg lift reps (last rep for 5 second hold)
reverse row sit back reps
hollow body hold seconds
superman seconds

[Yael Grauer]

Went to the stripe ceremony this AM and didn't get my next stripe, which is fair enough because I haven't been training since I got slammed with work. My coach said that people who have been out due to injury or whatnot would get stripes/belts after training consistently if we were up for it, and the next promotion ceremony is around Thanksgiving or Christmas anyway, so I'm not too worried. It would've felt weird to get a stripe after only going to 3 classes for the past month, anyway. It is a little frustrating, but whatever. It's not like I need a next belt to compete, so...

I finished the Intro to Rings program, and so now I get to decide what I want to do next for my training; obviously working on climbing for MovNat but I've pretty much given up on being able to do that on my own without in-person training. We actually have MovNat-certified trainers in Minneapolis now, but they're all super weird about actually setting up a time for coaching so I think I'll have to wait for a one-day class to roll around unless I want to drive to Chicago or something.

So I guess I have to pick a new program. Thinking of doing some Oly or something; it's the only thing i can think of that might be fun and also supplement my BJJ.

[Yael Grauer]

So the Oly gym here in town only charges $25/month and they do all your programming for you. Thought it might be a good supplement to BJJ.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get motivated in jits again b/c I'm just not.

I'm not motivated to compete because I don't want to compete as a white belt since I either suck if I lose or am sandbagging if I win. I also don't have many women in my division.

I'm not motivated for rank because my reason for not getting striped is attendance,
and feeling like I'm going to class to get my name checked off isn't the same as that burning drive I used to have to get better.

Getting in shape isn't really a motivator, because we don't roll in every class, and I have very little control over how long I do roll (except in open mat) or at what intensity etc.

Learning things isn't really a motivator, even though we do learn a lot, because I feel like I have such little say over what we do since it's so codified. I really do feel that my gym has the winning formula and that being this stringent about the curriculum is beneficial for the gym overall, but it's just so regimented that I have trouble getting into it.

I don't know if I just need to change my attitude and decide I'm going to be motivated. I really miss that burning drive I had to train which I've had for soooo long, but it seems like it just disappeared. I can't even imagine life without jiu-jitsu, so I know this is just a temporary thing, but I'm not sure how to get my mojo back.

Trying other programs to get motivated helped me get into the other programs but not into jits, so...

[Yael Grauer]

open mat at 10; got about 6 or 7 good rolls in. i started telling people who dole out tons and tons of advice that they can only tell me to do one thing each roll. which turns into 2 or 3 but it's better than 17 tips I can't keep track of in addition to BJJ life advice, which is just their own personal philosophies. So my things for today are tighter underhook, hip escape when someone stands or sweeps or whatnot, and chaining attacks.

[Yael Grauer]

Started my Olylifting today, which was awesome. Lots of work on my really bad snatch technique; apparently my right arm doesn't extend all the way out anymore either so I need to work on that. Then lots of work on cleans; same as the sn we'd do three in a row; one from the ground, one from mid-thigh and one from right below the knee. We worked a ton on jerks, too. Anyway, I think the highest c+j weight I did was 65; just getting started and working on technique.

[Yael Grauer]

So I decided to get some tuina on my arm, but the guy said it was beyond his scope of practice and recommended I go to a chiropractor, so I'll do that tomorrow.

A bit sore today, so I just did fundamentals class, which was class #2.
class 1 I believe is learning how to get in mount, then a basic self-defense catching a punch and then a hip toss, class 2 is if they block the hip toss, you do a back trip and get into mount, then we worked on mount escapes, blocking the elbow which I always forget to do, and we did a kimura from mount, and some positional training from mount.

[Yael Grauer]

Went to a chiro today. I love this guy; he said he wasn't gonna do soft tissue work until I stop armoring as much, and he was just really good. Also he use the activator, which I like, and he does Graston, though I don't need any yet. Anyway, he is gonna fix my arm and knee and finger, and he pinpointed some things and it's already feeling much better, though it may take 3-4 sessions. He did tell me to take today off of Oly, so extra rest day for me.

[Yael Grauer]

Open mat. Got about 7 or 8 rolls in, I'm guessing. I went against some newer guys who just got striped so are the same rank as me, and I felt like I did okay, got a couple sweeps and got good position a couple times (mount, side, etc.)

My arm feels better, but there's a meet tomorrow, so no Olylifting for me, probably another open mat.