Uke

The Japanese word is uke. It is pronounced eww-kay. There is no English equivalent.

An uke is the person that acts as a practise dummy for somebody doing Judo or Jiu-Jitsu techniques. They perform the way the bad guy is supposed to for a particular reaction by the person practising. Typically, they end up getting thrown over and over and over.

Normally at open-mat time, I work away alone on my own material in an empty dojo.

Last time it was quite different. We have a young woman named Elizabeth who is on the verge of starting her Blue Belt exam. She wants to do extra practice to help her get ready. I acted as her uke. We went through all four technique sections of the exam.

There were also two beginners present working on the few things they have learned. They called me over for a few pointers, and I was happy to help.

About then, our instructor got changed and called me over to help him as he works through his own level. As with Elizabeth, he needed an uke.

By the time he was done, open mat time was ending. The Hapkido students were spread all about chatting, and waiting for their class to begin.

I'd say that was the busiest open mat time I've ever attended.

Competition Rules

Last year the Gracies put on a different kind of competition down in San Diego.

There were no points awarded, nor decision victories. The only way to win was to submit your opponent, or it was a draw.

They also doubled the usual competitive Jiu-Jitsu limit from ten minutes to twenty.

They also streamed the event on the internet for the extremely low price of $20.

There were six matches in all, featuring an elite crew of competitors. Of the six matches, three were decided by submission and three were drawn.

After each draw, I was quite content for there not to be a winner. Each was darn close. In each, both guys won.

This year they've put the event on again. For some reason they decided to fix something that wasn't broken. The new rule change had each inconclusive match go to a panel of three judges for a decision. I really don't see why.

Did it matter? I think it did. This year the participants were much less aggressive. I attribute this to their need to look impressive for the judges.

This time only one of the six fights ended in a submission. Of the remaining five, the judges called a winner three times, with two being called as drawn.

Let's recap.

Old rules; 3 submission victories and 3 draws.

New rules; 1 submission victory, 2 draws, and 3 decision wins.

I hope they put the old rules back, but I doubt they will. They already have another bright idea to name one of the matches a “Championship”. What the heck?

Seattle

Sometimes things don't work out, but sometimes they do.

I should be finishing my Blue Belt Stripe One Jiu-Jitsu curriculum by the middle of September.

Every so often a member of the Gracie family does a training seminar. There are a lot of Gracies, and a lot of cities in the world.

It sure would be great if there were a seminar right around my testing time, somewhere nearby, and taught by one of the two Gracies who head the program I'm in.

Son of a gun, on September 27^th and 28^th Rener Gracie is heading a seminar in Seattle. A bunch of us are going.

This is perfect for me. Just the thing to help me brush up right before testing.

Helen is going, too, which makes it even more perfect. Maybe we'll add a day and poke around Seattle.

Zombie Walk

Delayed onset muscle soreness is literally a pain.

It's that painful, stiff feeling that happens a day or two after an doing an unaccustomed physical activity. A familiar activity can also cause it, if taken beyond what the body is used to. At the start of softball season, I bet a lot of winter, couch potatoes end up walking funny for a few days.

When it's really bad, I call it rigor mortis. I've had this level of muscle stiffness every time I've run a half marathon.

Karate seminars cause it. When we'd have them up north, we'd train hard Friday night, and then again all day Saturday before our bodies had any chance to recover. Sunday morning we'd go again. Attendence after the seminar at the regular Monday evening class was almost nil. I always had to be there Monday to teach. I'd barely  be able to move, shuffling around like a zombie.

Yesterday was a Karate seminar day in Chilliwack. I was up at 5am to make it by the 9:30 start time. Training ended at 4:30 in the afternoon, and I was home by 9:00pm.

The stiffness hasn't started yet. It usually hits me two days after the activity is over. Tomorrow I might just be hobbling a bit.

All Bended

For the vast majority of my life I had perfect vision. Near or far made no difference at all.

Then I got old. Far is still OK, but near seriously sucks. Reading is impossible at anything like a normal font.

No problem. I just wear glasses now. They make wonderful ones called progressive. By a subtle movement near, far, and everything in between comes into focus.

But I'm just not a glasses wearer by nature, and both Jiu-Jitsu and Karate are not lens-friendly activities. I am forever removing my glasses and putting them down.

99.9% of the time this is no problem. Sometimes it is.

I found them yesterday on the floor near my gym bag. My bag was on the table, and my specs had been on top.

Luckily the lenses are not damaged, but the frames look like play glasses a kid might make by twisting wire.

This means a trip to the eye shop for an unbending.

Can't go through life as blind as this. Funny how my old glasses, which were fine a month ago, just can't take up the slack.

Busy Time

Friday and Saturday, I usually work alone on the mat. Each of those days there is time set aside for whatever the students want. Very few take advantage of it. Often, I'm the only one there for most of the time.

I don't mind. I review my level's curriculum. I probably look pretty silly rolling around by myself, doing the same thing over and over.

Suddenly, things are getting more lively.

This last Friday, Tobias was looking to do the final segment of his exam. The instructor made a point of being there as well. Tobias and I worked for maybe 20 minutes on what he was going to be doing, and then it was video time. I acted as his partner for the fight simulation drill.

For the rest of the time, I worked with David. He's been away for a while, and wants to refresh his technique back to what it used to be. He'd asked me if I'd work with him. I agreed, but let him know that Tobias's test had priority. We still have half the time left after the test video wrapped up.

Either of these two activities would have made this a particularly active open-mat time. Together it was outstanding.

I had even had to turn down a third person when he asked about working together Friday. This week I was going to be too busy.

Our instructor is finding it hard to progress steadily in his own training. What he needs is a regular partner to act as what the Japanese call an 'uke'. This person is sort of a training dummy, but one who knows enough to perform the victim role correctly. I am the logical choice. He was the third guy who wanted to work with me Friday.

I am happy to be able to help him, and so this will become my priority during open-mat time.

It won't screw up my own progress, as my only goal is to finish my level before Helen and I go to LA at the start of 2014. My schedule has tons of leeway built into it. I should have finished all of the curriculum by the end of September. Giving up some review time now just might mean some a little more in the fall.

I like it busy on the mat.

Blue Wave

At Jiu-jitsu, things are going very well.

Lately, I've been complaining that the number of Blue Belts has been dropping. We've dropped to five. Of those, one barely comes at all, another misses sometimes due to work, and two are about to move away.

The good news is we're riding a crest of White Belts about to turn Blue. One gentleman received his promotion about a month ago, and another finished his test yesterday and is awaiting his results.

During the recent advanced White Belt class there were more participants than ever. Five eager students were there preparing for their own upcoming exams. Some might be ready to start in a couple of weeks.

This could mean a total of nine Blue Belts sometime soon.

This means a healthy training energy, with partners of every size, strength, and speed. If one person is away things roll on. As it is now, I'm sometimes the only student at the Blue class.

Maybe in a year the class will be a dozen. Better still.