Tapping Out and Chillin'

It felt great to train after taking a week off to pack up to move. I did karate and bjj on Monday night. After karate, I was talking to a couple of friends, and they asked if I was doing bjj that night. I said, "Yes, but I haven't been here for a week! I don't know if I will remember how to roll!"

They said, "Yes, you will!"

My first opponent told me, "Man, you're being aggressive tonight, Miss Amy!"

I said, "Well, they told me I needed to be a little bit more aggressive."

I tapped out my second opponent with a choke. It was legit. I could not believe it and kept asking her if it really was legit.

Then I rolled with Mr. Jordan, my black belt instructor. Yikes! The guy keeping time felt like adding two minutes to the roll. The other instructor, Mr. Robert (brown belt with some new stripes!), was sitting right there watching the entire roll and pushing me a little bit. He said, "You're trying to do to many fancy moves; you've been to too many Charles Oliveira seminars!" Ha ha, Mr. Robert!

I kept asking, "Can I punch Mr. Jordan in the face?"

Mr. Robert kept saying, "No, you cannot punch him in the face!"

But I did do a couple of kidney punches on Mr. Jordan. They let me get away with it.

After class, I rolled a little nogi with Mrs. Vicki. I like my grips. My grips are my security. Nogi is hard but exhilarating. She tapped me out with a choke.

Lots of tapping going on Monday night.

As for karate, what is up with my roundhouse kick? I can get it in kickboxing, but not in karate! I don't know what it is. In karate, I feel like a circus sideshow. In kickboxing, I feel badass!

My punches are good, though. But Mr. Robert had us doing high jab, middle punch, front drop kick, roundhouse kick combos. Talk about a circus sideshow! Yikes. But I did land a couple of good kicks when Mr. Robert came around. It just took me awhile to get to the roundhouse kick; there are so many steps in order to get there, and I am an old lady! I never can get that foot-twist, hip-turn-over thing for the roundhouse kick in karate. I prefer the kata. It's peaceful and it focuses me.

Anyway, after class, Vicki, Belinda, and I just sat for a little bit and watched the advance class. We talked to Mr. Robert while we watched the guys roll. It's fun to watch and dissect their moves, and say, "Woah!" when someone does a flip or something like that. It was a really relaxed time, chatting with Mr. Robert and the ladies and talking about technique and life in general. I said that I was going to create a Donut Diet, and that I was going to market it and it would become a huge company and sponsor me when I am a cagefighter. Yes, Elite has truly become my family and my home-away-from home.

A couple of weeks ago, I was having a really bad time mentally and emotionally. I just could not get my head straight, thinking about the divorce and all the changes that were going to come with it. I was feeling like a failure. I did karate class, but then I just needed to go home. I didn't want to take my stuff onto the mat like that, you know? I knew my head would be somewhere else and I'd have a bad class. Mr. Robert saw me leaving and said that doing class would help me get rid of a lot of my stuff for that day.

I said, "Mr. Robert, I just can't."

He said, "Well, do you need to talk?"

So we talked. I cried. I cleared my space. Later I texted him to say thank you. He texted this back:

"You're welcome, Miss Amy . . . remember you have extended family at the gym always."