When two Brazilian jiu jitsu players engage in a match, the fact of pressure in their combat is not always immediately evident. With top flight grapplers, progress of one grappler's offense against his opponent's defense is remarkably similar to the constricting pressure offered by certain boa snakes. Especially with the gi on. But pressure is almost always present in well-conditioned players and their skill, conditioning, and mental game inform their physical and emotional response to pressure. And their responses usually manifest in a calm, probing, incremental push and pull seeking to create the right moment to unweight and sweep, to capture a limb or sink a choke, or to merely improve position.
When the player is less than top flight, less than well-conditioned, or just plain new to this type of close-range martial work, their response with pressure is far more telling. And I do not mean the mere pressure to survive repeated submission attempts or resist changes in positional advantage. I am referring to the "Holy sh!t, I can't breath, get this caveman the f@ck off me now" pressure. I am referring to a form of claustrophobia I've been contending with during this, my fourth intermittent immersion in BJJ.
In the mid/late 1990's when I first started training in BJJ as a distinct form of cross training for Rugby, the sport was new in the US. I was taught by a Blue Belt who himself had only studied for a year under the Machados. Our classes were classical "warm-up, two techniques, drill, and roll" format with everyone in the class starting from the ground level (sorry about the pun). Big and small, weak and strong, we rolled our way fit and never experienced too much disparity in the ability to exert or receive pressure. Therefore, nobody ever felt uncomfortable being underneath, being pressed physically, or having a soaked gi flopping over the head while pinned and underhooked in side control (for example).
Fast forward to 2000 or 2001. I'm enrolling in BJJ for the second time, at a new school taught by a Brazilian black belt with Ralph Gracie affiliation. Several of my new teammates have been rolling since I left my first school and the mat is littered with blue and purple belts (and a couple browns). First class back in, I'm under in north/south with a guy my size but half my strength, not the least bit threatened and THWACK! Full panic tap. Couldn't breathe, felt hopelessly, perilously trapped, and quit. I felt awful for my training partner who I robbed of a full training experience. Thankfully it never happened again as I rolled back into shape. Nor did I feel that same internal panic when enrolled in BJJ for the third time as part of that second school spun off into my third school, which I rejoined after yet another year off the mat.
Fast forward to October 2011. I enroll at that same third school, now in a new location with four times the mat area, a full stable of black belts, browns, purples, and blues; all shapes and sizes with plenty of boys who have me in size and strength by leagues! First roll, I go with a big purple who pushes me around, achieves a deep side control and starts doing the "knee-to-belly" points dance on my ass. Knee on, post and shrimp. Knee on, post and shrimp. After a couple of iterations, I gas and the next time he advances back to knee-on-belly, THWACK. Full panic tap. He looks at me sideways, with a mix of pity and regret, and cocks his head sideways in a kind of "oh well" expression. I feel awful; once I again I've deprived a teammate of a full training experience.
Yet now, a couple months in, I'm still going through an occasional panic moment, getting claustrophobic underneath. Of course I am now 49, and although I am putting in time doing the metabolic conditioning work so essential to fitness for good grappling, I am slow to improve my fitness. And although I am doing a fair bit of conscious relaxation when underneath, drawing deep breaths, nose breathing, relaxing my limbs, ungritting the teeth, etc., I still have to tap occasionally, even when not threatened. And it sucks...
To be continued.
No comments:
Post a Comment