Big Dawg Nights

Tuesday was a class to remember.

Not for learning some new crazy half guard sweep, or having a moment of clarity on a position or idea. It was about proving to yourself, that you can keep going and fight when you have nothing left. Clint ran cardio which turned into live takedown sparring, which turned into passing the guard drills, which led to more takedown sparring, which led to live rolling.

It was about an hour and 40 minutes of nonstop movement. No breaks. No water. Nothing. Clint decided to put me with Jeff W, Jeff O, and Bronson for all of the takdown practice and rolling. This was well into the cardio journey and every minute was a mental challenge. I took people down. I got taken down a couple times. I played bottom mostly and got a few sweeps and a sub or two. I looked like shit, but had to keep going.

Afterwords we finished with sprints, and sprints, and more sprints. My legs and abs were cramping badly. I've never had an abdominal cramp...and hopefully don't have one again any time soon.

I made it. I survived. Maybe this sounds mello-dramatic, but at the time it was pretty damn glorious. The foursome I was in all got promoted at the end. We all got stripes, except for Jeff O who was awarded a blue belt and then ceremonously walked through the gauntlet. The coolest part of that was he didn't know he had to turn around and come back the other way and flashed a look of terror.

I would be afraid if you see a GRBJJ warrior in your bracket at your next local grappling tournament. We don't mess around.