Different

There has been a Blue Belt drought at Jiu-Jitsu lately. There are only five at the best of times, but with summer weather and other commitments we've been running with pretty much none.

This is hard on the instructor, as the Blues act as assistants. It has also rendered the Blue Belt classes moot.

Two of us just made the jump up from White to Blue, and both of us were there last night. Not only that, but three of the others turned up as well.

Tons of helpers, and the advanced class went on as scheduled. It was my first as a Blue and it would have been depressing if it had been cancelled.

The topic was a Guard technique, called Pass Prevention. It is a progression from the White Belt stuff, which you'd expect, but the teaching style is totally different.

It comes fast and furious, and you're expected to understand it immediately, and to apply it.

I managed to muddle through, but I don't think much of it got deeply rooted in my brain. Likely none did.

Need to figure out some way of taking notes, either during or immediately after.

Much more physically demanding, and on top of the exertions of the White Belt class.

Thursday will be different again. The White class is the same, but at Blue we do not wear uniforms. It is called no-gi training, and we wear shorts and t-shirts or rashguards. Not much to grab onto other than the opponent's body.

I won't be getting comfortable with any of this before I take my summer break. Going to cut off training in about a week, and it will be September before I'm back at it again.