Boyd Belts

The Gracies have just released a new video that makes official a bunch of things I've known about Jiu-jitsu for a long time. Mostly it's about motivation and getting old but other things are included as well. Size for one thing.

It seems they have a system of comparing people of different sizes and ages that they call Boyd belts. They are named after a student of theirs who eventually earned a Black Belt. He started his training later in life than most people.

It goes like this. Every 20 pounds of size or 10 years of age is roughly the same as a belt colour in free rolling.

Let's say a 40 year old Purple Belt is rolling with a guy who is ten years younger, wears a Blue Belt, and is 20 pounds bigger. He shouldn't freak out if he can't beat that Blue Belt. In Boyd belts he is a Purple Belt due to youth, and a Brown due to his size. Of course, this varies greatly, but it is something to consider.

They clearly only care about age differences between adults. It is my own thought that the age modification should ignore ages below 30. What I mean is that any adult under 30 be thought of as that age for Boyd purposes, but that's just me.

Let's look at some real-world examples; perhaps a dramatic one.

Ryan and Elizabeth roll. They are both Blue Belts. He's a bit more than ten years older, so she should count as one Boyd Belt higher, and win most of the time. He, however, is maybe a hundred pounds bigger, which is five Boyd Belts. This gives him an advantage of four levels, so it's about the same as if she were fighting some level of Black Belt. Should she expect to score 50% of the time. Not likely.

Or have her fight me. I only gain three Boyd Belts on her for size, while she gets three or four back for age. Hmmmm. Doesn't quite match how it works out if we go full on.

What these concepts do is to try and level the expectation playing field. Maybe the two mixed together doesn't work perfectly, but it does show something.

When I roll with Ryan, I give up a couple of Boyd size belts, and about three Boyd age belts. By either measure should I expect to score all that much? Nope, and this has been exactly my experience. Against him, I defend, and only strike when an opening arises, which rarely works. If we roll for five minutes and nobody scores, I'm very happy with. The Gracies say I should be.

I like the Boyd Belt idea.

Bjj Grrl

My house is currently full of Helen's ukulele group. I have retired to this coffee shop for a while.

My favourite Jiu-Jitsu blog is Bbj Grll (bjjgrrl.wordpress.com). She offers lots of insights into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in general, and into women's experiences in particular.

She seems to be involved with a sport-style group, which is a little different than mine, but close enough.

One thing that strikes me in her musings is how unbalanced it is for her rolling with guys. Some, she says are great. Others are jerks or are what she designates a spazz. A very big lot aren't deliberately unpleasant, but just can't prevent themselves from muscling through a technique. They probably don't even think they are.

Let's say you're rolling with somebody stronger. They go for a submission with both hands, and you defend with both hands. You have a slight leverage advantage. They keep yanking until they break your grip, and tap you out. If you'd been equal in power, or greater, they'd never have gotten it.

What they should have done is to notice the situation, and let the attack go. They would need to figure out something else that would work on anybody, not just somebody weaker. Bjj Grrl lives her life surrounded by people who don't do this.

She has an entire blog entry dedicated to publicly crying out of frustration. She says that small guys who experience the same thing tend to get wall-hitting mad. She is referring to the constantly out-muscled person's eventual reaction.

She also talks about the constant threat of injury from bigger, heavier training "partners". She says that faced with somebody who muscles things, she switches to a mode of defence, defence, defence to lessen the danger. This is also frustrating.

But you might say that is what the real world is about. Small people, including most women, are just unable to beat bigger ones. A real attacker would not "go easy".

A good thought, but incorrect. A street attacker is most likely not well versed in Jiu-Jitsu technique. The trained individual has a distinct advantage regardless of size.

I am about as skilled as any student around here. We have a guy who is a relatively new Blue Belt. He went through the White Belt program, and earned his new belt about 4 months ago. Since then he's trained regularly in the advanced class. He isn't exactly unskilled, which is what a street attacker would be. He is also about a hundred pounds heavier than me, and twice as strong. His name is Than.

When we roll, he uses these attributes to try and bull his way to submit me. I'm sure he does the same to our even smaller students. If he grabs my wrist, he can put my arm pretty much wherever he wants. Nothing I can do about that. He usually tries to gain the top position. It would be too much effort to try and prevent this.

So I end up on the bottom, barely able to move as he tries to get something going. I defend. I wait. Every so often I explode. About half the time I pull something off and he's in trouble. The other half of the time he catches me and crushes what I was doing with weight and power. I go back to my waiting game.

I can do this because, although smaller than Than, I'm durable enough to take what comes. Our best female Blue Belt, Elizabeth can't risk what I can. Than might be bigger than me, but he's over twice Elizabeth's mass. If she explodes on Than, and he reacts, she might get seriously injured. All she can do is to wait and defend, wait and defend, until time is up.

In a real combat situation, she would go for it anyhow. Against somebody with no clue what she's up to her move would likely succeed, and end in either a submission, or a broken or unconcious attacker.

The point that Bbj Grll makes is that it can get very frustrating. Rolling is often an exercise in discomfort and wasted training time.

I don't mind rolling with Than. We have about a dozen people in the class, so I get mass-crushed less than 10% of my rolling time. Imagine being the tiniest person in the group. You would always face being mass-crushed. I think you'd appreciate rolling with guys of any size who didn't do this, and instead relied on actual skill and real technique.

The good news is that guys like Than don't stay in crusher mode all that long. I've already noticed that he's already starting to get more skill oriented. This is good for him, making him readier to face anybody and not just people littler than him. It's good for small people he rolls with, as it lessens the risk of injury when they spar with him.

Is it any wonder that BJJ Grll becomes ecstatically happy whenever she gets to train with a bunch of women?

Rank, yet again

It's so funny how tied up in rank the martial arts are. On the one hand, they are meaningless, on the other they mean everything.

So what does receiving rank do?

Surprisingly, a lot.

The biggest is the validation it gives the recipient. This is true both in the eyes of others, and to oneself. Blue Belts without stripes know that if they approach any stripers, they will be working with somebody of a higher skill and knowledge level. To the rank holder, it says you have been judged to have progressed, and are not just fooling yourself.

A good example of this would be Elizabeth. She is good at Jiu-Jitsu, and learns fast, but never used to roll assertively or with confidence. When she received her first stripe promotion, that greatly changed. She took things up a notch, or maybe two. Rolling with me she became the first person EVER to catch me with a hip toss. I also saw her spar with a newish Blue Belt gentleman who outweighs her substantially, and it looked like she was break dancing on him.

In most styles, rank progress is pretty predictable. Train regularly, and you will be allowed to take a regularly scheduled examination. Do OK, and you get a new level. Fail, and you know exactly when you can try again.

In our variant of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is is more up-in-the-air.

There are two hard-line and predictable requirements, and one harder to figure out.

The first is the easiest to achieve. You MUST have trained for 8 months since your last promotion. For example, I got my last stripe at the beginning of March, so my next one cannot come before the beginning of November. Simple dimple.

The second is that you must have completed a total of 100 classes of specific types before you can be promoted. This is less easy to predict, but it can be done, assuming perfect attendance. I keep track with a spreadsheet, and remove any expected absences. I travel a fair bit. Again, with me as and example I should be completing my attendance requirement on January 15^th.

So by time, I'll be eligible for promotion in November, but won't have competed my attendance requirement until two months later.

So 10 months instead of 8.

The funny thing is that when we talk about future ranks, everybody acts as if our stripes come every 8 months. That would require absolutely perfect attendance to achieve.

The final requirement is the one that is unpredictable. After getting your time and attendance ducks in a row, you receive promotion at the discretion of the instructor.

Kinda hard to see exactly what this means. We've only had four people complete requirements under this current system. The first were three people that received rank last June, and the fourth is a gentleman who is awaiting his.

The June people were all well over their time and attendance minimums. One had been in-rank for 11 months, one for 12, and one for 13.

My friend who has just completed his attendance of 100 is a shift worker, and it has taken him a year in-rank to do it.

He finished a week ago, which means there have been 3 classes since during which he could have been promoted, but wasn't. He is awaiting our instructor's nod. I wonder how long it will take. I am watching this with interest.

He is definitely a level of skill above the other no-stripe Blue Belts.

In my own case, I would be happy getting my third stripe in January, or February or even March. That would represent a range of 10 to 12 months in-rank. That would seem to be about the pattern so far in our school.

Problem is, I'll be away from mid February until mid April. Can't be promoted while away, which would be fair if I were off sitting on a beach somewhere. In reality, I'll be training with the Gracies in HQ for part of it, and at a school in Arizona for the rest.

Missing my departure date would mean an in-rank period of a bit over 13 months.

I'm not really concerned, as my instructor has told me not to worry about it. I assume this means I'll be receiving that illusive stripe sometime in either late January, or early February.

Getting rank “late” means that all future promotion will be moved farther away by a matching amount, and no quantity of effort can regain the lost ground.

Needs

Don't get me wrong, I'm just as selfish and everybody else, but tonight just wasn't the time for it.

One of our members had been having some frustration issues with the way some people spar. They just crush her, and force movements that would never work on a larger partner. As a result, she hasn't been rolling at all.

I asked her to spar a round with me. She agreed, and away we went. I didn't muscle or squish, and we both moved about like greased lightning. I had fun, and got to do a lot of stuff. I hope she found it more to her liking. After our round, she headed off to change.

My partner for the next round is an old friend. He used to train with us and was a hair's breadth from earning a Blue Belt. Unfortunately, he got his shoulder destroyed in an MMA match. He's been off for about forever and a day. Tonight, he was back on the mat. I worked with him a bit during class. He must have been feeling OK, as he stayed to spar.

I rolled at a pace he could handle, and stuck to defence. He got to try whatever he wanted. For having been gone so long he did just fine. With me, he got to try whatever he wanted with no risk of re-injury.

I stayed for one more partner. On Saturday Scott will be competing in a Jiu-Jitsu tournament in the city. He's been desperate to get the toughest sparring he can. Tonight my third partner was Scott.

It used to be I could tap him out pretty much at will. He's been training hard for the last six months or so, and been improving by leaps and bounds. Since my knee injury back in April we haven't rolled together hard, so I have had no way of measuring how much his rolling has changed under pressure.

Tonight, we rolled pretty intensely. He didn't get any submissions on me, but I didn't score on him either. He didn't have to tap, and I was trying hard.

Three partners tonight, and all had different needs.

The first needed a partner who would fight as if he matched her in size and strength. The second needed somebody to act as a gentle reintroduction to rolling who would protect his injury. The third needed somebody who would fight hard to help him prepare for tournament competition.

We all have needs, but tonight it wasn't about mine.

Mo' money

So how would I change my Jiu-Jitsu life if I had infinite funds?

Hmmm.....

Best to start at the simple end of the stick. I guess I'd get some new gis.

My gis are fine, but not perfect. They are sized in a funny fashion. I am just too big for size 5, and too small for size 6. Fancy gi manufacturers make size 5.5 which would be better for me. There are also places that make custom uniforms if you send them a series of measurements. Might even be worth a short trip to Japan to get some hand tailored.

Don't know which of these ways I'd go, but I think I'd get some new gis.

Sometimes there is just nobody to train with, and grappling dummies can fill the void. They cost about $650. I think I'd get one for home, and one to keep at our school.

I think I'd add a private lesson each week to my regular schedule. This would be a good way to keep things fresh, as I could get the instructor to cover things we haven't done recently in the normal classes.

So far, that's all pretty low-cost stuff. Time to think bigger.

Last winter Helen and I drove down to LA so that I could train for two months. We lived out of a hotel, and I paid for about half of the bill with saved-up credit-card points. The rest of the rent came to maybe $3000, and all on top of that we ate out constantly.

With unlimited cash, I'd go south more often. The hotel stay was pleasant, so maybe we'd stay there, or maybe we'd get a “place”. A condo near to the academy would be convenient, or maybe down by the beach. A condo would give us more space than a hotel does.

Down in LA they have 13 classes a week appropriate to my level, and when I was there I attended them all.

With bags of cash, I might change that up a bit. I'd still attend one group class each evening, but would add a private lesson every morning, and just maybe another private session around noon.

I'd also bring LA back home with me. Instructors from down there travel about and do seminars. These are very expensive for whoever is hosting the event. I'd regularly bring up instructors. This would not only benefit me, but also everybody at the local academy.

So, new uniforms, grappling dummies, trips to LA with private lessons, private lessons at home, and visits from HQ instructors.

That should cover it.

Late Year

The calendar claims that the year starts on January 1^st. The reality is that the beginning is in September.

That's when the school year starts, and so that is the reality for everybody who has kids, is a kid, or who works in a school.

When I used to be a salesman, things were slow most of the year in comparison to the fall and early winter seasons. The kick off for all the activity came in September. People just seemed to have made the shift from the laziness of summer, to focusing on everything they'd been letting slide. It was a fresh start.

I've been in Martial Arts for over 30 years, and September has always been the time when the vast majority of people would start their training adventure. Well over half of everybody start in September compared to a similar number spread over the other eleven months.

This year, in Jiu-Jitsu, I was getting scared. September had ended, and we had absolutely no new students. This is a big deal, as our school is situated in a fantastic facility. The rent isn't cheap. There were still a good number of non-new students, but failing to get more in September was daunting.

It is now October, and the situation has changed. In the last week or so we have had four new White Belts on the mat. Why are they arriving now, and not a month ago?

I think it has to do with the school year, more so than the month. The kids going back to hitting the books is a huge societal signal that summer is over. This year, the school year started late.

There has been a nasty labour dispute between the government and the teachers that delayed the start of the school year significantly. Hot, beautiful weather reinforced further the perception that summer wasn't over.

Now the kids are back in school, and the weather has shifted to cold and rain. Fall has started by every definition, and people of every age have started selecting their year's activities.

Things seem OK after all.

Test or No Test

We are presented with a lot of material to learn at Jiu-Jitsu.

It takes about 15 months to cycle all the way through the curriculum. Currently, we are working through the first two levels of Blue Belt material. That means that we average about two new technique variants per class.

Let's say you learn something cool. Four weeks later somebody asks you about it. Since then you've “learned” dozens more. Just how well will you be able to remember that one? How well did you really learn it? How well will you recall it six months later?

The idea is that you pick up just a few techniques that become your own, and experience the vast majority without internalizing them the first time through.

Jiu-Jitsu is the long game. Over the years repetition will occur, and more will become internalized.

There is an alternate track where mastery is expected. You learn the same material in the same classes, but with the goal of taking extensive examination at each level. To make this possible requires a great deal of additional, self-directed practice.

Once you feel ready, you video record the examination drills for the 60 techniques (about 180 variants) of your current level. To make this do-able, the test is broken into 3 chunks for recording, each of which is about 15 minutes long. There are also 3 sparring sections that also have to be submitted. Do well enough and you pass the exam.

Passing doesn't really change your rank. All that happens is that one of your current rank stripes gets replaced with a slightly snazzier one from Gracie University.

What does change with all that preparation is that you really know that level's material.

This is good in itself, but there is a hidden benefit.

Take me, for example. I have completed the first-level Gracie University exam. We are working on level one and two in class. When a technique is level one, it is review for me. I do it, and enjoy it, and become better at it, but I already know it. As we receive both level-one and level-two techniques intermingled, I can focus more on the stuff that's new to me. As a result, I seem to be learning the level-two stuff better than those folks who have to try and absorb it at the same time as they are learning level one.

This is even true when it is somebody who has “done” the level-one material before. They have absorbed it at a superficial level, and pretty much have to re-learn it. They are only a little ahead of the total newbies. Putting myself through the exam prep and process is very different. I don't have to re-learn the old stuff at all.

This effect is all that is tempting me to do the level-two exam. In about six months, our school will be done the entire cycle, and starting again. The difference will be that instead of being just levels one and two, we will be adding level three.

It would be nice to go through without having to re-learn level one and two. I'd be able to focus on learning just level three.

Let's take a pair of hypothetical twins, both earning their Blue Belts on the exact same day. They join a class that is working through the first two levels, and that will be adding another each time the class goes all the way through the cycle.

Twin one, Mary, puts in the effort to follow the exam route, while twin two does not. She puts in extra study on top of what the class does. After each time through the 15-month cycle, Mary does the appropriate additional preparation for examination.

At cycles end, her brother Larry has retained about 25% of all the material he was presented with. At that time his sister is sitting at 100% of level one and 25% of level two.

Going through the cycle again, Larry becomes 50% at level one, 50% of level two, and 25% level three. Mary is able to focus more on the higher levels and already knows level one. She would end the period at 100% level one, maybe 60% level two, and 35% level three, but again she trains for mastery and the exam. Mary actually ends at 100% for both level one and level two, and 35% of level three. As she already knew part of level two from her last time through, she finds this exam easier than it was last time. This is good, as the exams are a bitch.

Again into the cycle. This time Larry ends up 75% level one, 75% level two, 50% level three, and 25% level four. Mary, again testing, ends up 100% for levels one, two and three, and is 35% level four.

Larry's total is 225, while Mary is at 335. Her Jiu-Jitsu is about half again as knowledgeable as her twin brother's is.

These figures are, of course, subject to subjective interpretation, but the implications are clear. The superior progress would be just as possible without the exams, but I can't imagine anybody doing so year after year without some kind of framework. The level exams provide a yardstick and a from of motivation.

Nothing magical about if, as she will have put in a lot more drill and study over the years.

Baggage

The newest trend in air travel is paying to have luggage. There is no longer even a one checked-bag allowance. There are fees on all of it.

As a result, almost everybody maxes out what they are allowed to take as carry on.

Helen and I used to travel this way, even when checked bags were free. It means zipping past the baggage area and getting through customs before the crowd hits. It is a huge time saver.

So we are back to carry on. Airlines used to be pretty lax as to what was allowed with you, but that has changed as well. There are getting to be regular checks, and fees for oversized or overweight carry on stuff that make the regular, checked-bag fees look like a bargain.

We are making sure we are within all the parameters.

Item one that you're allowed is your actual carry-on bag. The maximum dimensions are 9 inches by 15.5 by 21.5. These are the Air Canada figures, but other airlines are pretty close. The thing also cannot weigh over 22 pounds.

You are also allowed an additional “personal item”. This can be something like a laptop, purse or camera bag. It must be able to be squeezed to fit 17 inches by 13 by 6 and must be under 10 pounds.

I cheat this a bit by wearing my travel vest, made by SCOTTeVEST. It has 24 pockets, including a big momma that can take both of our iPads.

Even maxed out, it makes for limited carrying capacity. When cruising, formal night is out of the question.

My latest great find is vacuum packing bags. You stuff things in, and then suck all the air out via the bag's built-in valve. The results can be amazing. The biggest single item we took on our last trip was Helen's special pillow. I turned it from a pillow into a pancake. It doesn't even take much suction. For the return trip we had no vacuum, so I just sucked the air out manually, so to speak. It was easy and worked just as well.

The only drawback is that they make a pile of clothes into something that looks like a truck ran over it, and that is as stiff as lumber. The best method is to put the bag inside the suitcase, and pack normally inside the bag. That way when the air is removed everything will conform to the shape of the bag. Using these things I can pack twice as much; remembering to be careful about the weight restrictions.

Getting searched at security or customs could be interesting. The bags would all have to be breached for the search, and then carefully repacked and mouth-sucked back down to size. Quite a show, but it hasn't happened yet.

When we travel next, I'm going to go very minimalist. I like to pick stuff up on vacation, and will need some bag real estate to accept the acquisitions. When we step onto the plane, my only shoes will be the ones on my feet. I'll have a single pair of long pants and one collar shirt. Both of these will also be worn in the air. No electric razor for me, just a disposable. Underwear? Several pairs of old ones, that won't be coming home, if you get my drift.

My goal is that my pair of tiny carry-on cases will be half empty on the initial flight, and will come back filled to capacity with stuff from abroad. Helen's bags will be going maxed out (with a little slop over into mine), so I'll need room for her purchases as well.

Last time, my bigger bag came back with a wee hernia from over stuffing.

Must be careful.

Why?

I have another reason why somebody might want to take up Jiu-Jitsu.

Let's say, like many of us, you find weight control to be a bit of an issue. Maybe your weight has snuck up and you want to get rid of it. Picking a number out of a hat, let's say you have 30 pounds you want gone.

You should get yourself any of a number of apps to calculate what your food intake should be to maintain your weight at it's current level. Use the app to record what you consume. Don't diet to lose pounds, just to stay your current, tubby self.

Start training at a school like ours that is very friendly and safe for newcomers. You'll be attending 2 one-hour classes per week. You'll be burning about 900 calories by doing so. Your weight should start a gentle decline of about a pound a month.

Five months later you'll qualify for a third, more advanced class per week. You will also have lost 5 pounds by that time. At this point your weight loss will increase by 50%.

Another four or five months in and you'll have earned a Blue Belt. Your weight loss total should be over 10 pounds at this point.

As a Blue Belt, you'll start attending the advanced classes which happen immediately after the White Belt classes. Like about half of the Blue Belts, keep coming to the White Belt classes on top of your own. Start attending open-mat times, too.

This sounds like a lot, and it is, but Jiu-Jitsu is a little like a drug addiction. You'll probably want to do it.

Instead of dropping a pound or pound-and-a-half each month, now you're losing a pound a week. Another 5 months and you've reached your 30 pound weight loss goal without cutting back on food at all.

Now comes the unpleasant part. To maintain your dream weight while doing all that training you'll have to start eating more. About 30-40 slices of bacon a week more. Or perhaps you fancy Breyers Cookie Dough ice cream. You could scarf down 10 to 15 cups of that stuff. Or 45 cups of frozen peas and carrots if that's your thing.

The point being, you can live life at your chosen, ideal weight while eating considerably more than you do now. You will be fit, strong, and nicely able to defend yourself should you ever have to. You'll have new friends, and get to roll around on the padded floor with them like a herd of puppies.

It's fun.

Tech

I've got a lot of tech projects going these days at Jiu-Jitsu.

The first is that I've started wearing a heart monitor during training. I'm learning all sorts of interesting things about energy expenditure and such. I need more data, but it looks promising.

It seems that I burn about 300-350 calories per hour during general training, and 900-1000 per hour during sparring. It also seems that I'm relatively relaxed during sparring.

So far I've only worn the thing for part of two training nights. This week I'll have that baby strapped on for every bit of training.

My other tech project is movie making. I can't do it during regular class, but will have it ready to go during the two open-mat sessions. Normal practice will take precedence if anybody wants to work on anything else. If not, it's movie time.

It involves a remote-control GoPro camera that will be strapped onto somebody during sparring. I am guessing that it will probably have to be choreographed combat, but maybe not. We'll see. If it doesn't start this week, perhaps it shall next.

Heart 2

We've got great visitors from out of town with us right now, so I'm taking a wee break from training. I've been to the classes for my level, but have skipped three White Belt and two open-mat sessions.

Besides all the beach walks and restaurant eating, I've been thinking about the results recorded by my heart rate monitor from Thursday's sparring.

The device divides heart activity into a number of zones. These are determined by a person's age, weight, height, and resting heart rate.

On Thursday, I rolled for 2 five-minute rounds. As I wanted to do it under maximum stress, I chose the two biggest guys as partners.

How would my body react? Subjectively, I think I handle it well. I judge myself as very able to relax even when being crushed under an opponent and under imminent threat of submission. Would the monitor agree? Have I been fooling myself?

Well, the numbers are in. As expected, during sparring my heart rate went up. Surprisingly, it was only in my top zone for 83 seconds. This fits in very well with my subjective self-evaluation.

I look forward to playing with my monitor during bike rides. How much effort goes into those, and is it really a great form of exercise? With my bum knee running is still out of the question. I'd love to get some figures to compare biking and running.

The investigating continues....

Hearts and Minds

Did something a little different at training last night.

I wore a heart monitor, and had an app on my iPad recording how things went. It is strictly for fun and interest.

I've been investigating fitness monitors for a while. Seems there are two general categories.

The first are devices like the Fitbit. You wear it on your wrist, and it acts like a space-age pedometer. It has an accelerometer that keeps track of how much your arm is moving about. These seem to work really well for walking and running, but not much else. They interpret bike riding as no exercise at all, as the wrist barely moves. They would also be useless for Jiu-Jitsu.

I was hoping that some of them would allow you to switch them to some similar activity and that they would compensate for this lack of movement, but none do.

The other type of monitors are heart rate based, or use accelerometers and heart rate combined.

The expensive ones look like wrist watches, but apparently can only measure pulse when the wearer isn't moving. They don't typically do a record of a session, but are used rather to gain an immediate snapshot. Workout, stop, check heart rate, go back to workout.

The device I chose is a chest-strap heart rate monitor. All it does is measure heart rate, and sends the data via low-energy Bluetooth to a phone or tablet. Entire sessions get recorded. This is what I was doing last night.

The class was 1 hour, 9 minutes and 43 seconds long. My average heart rate was 99 beats per minute (my resting heart rate is under 50), and I burned 326 calories.

I didn't stay for sparring, so these figures are about what one would expect.

Cool.

Tonight I'll be packing a monitor again. There will be less sitting time, as it is a review night. Things won't be getting demonstrated. I predict more calories burned, and a higher average heart rate.

This time I'll stay for the rolling, and here there should be some really significant changes. I expect that my heart rate will spike when we're sparring. My heart rate just might max out in spurts. It should be interesting.

At least to me.