After taking two weeks off because of chest pain, I managed to get back to training three times this week.
On Monday, my first session after the break felt surprisingly easy. I’m not sure if it was because the rest of the class really helped or if the material was just lighter than usual, but I managed to get through it without any problems. We conducted a series of technique drills before concluding with four rounds of rolling, each lasting three minutes.
Wednesday started well, but after the warm-up, while drilling a technique, I somehow twisted my neck awkwardly — tilting my head backward — and felt a sharp pain, like a pinched nerve. I spent most of the session on the side, stretching and doing a few burpees. Toward the end, when the pain eased, I managed to get in two light rounds of rolling, each lasting three minutes.
Yesterday, on Friday, we had our usual joint session with the advanced group. For the warm-up, we did, among other things, 100 burpees — and then went straight into rolling. In total, there were seven rounds. I skipped one, so I ended up doing six solid three-minute rounds with different partners.
The first two rolls were with black belts, which is always a great learning experience. I realized how important it is to establish three points of control over your opponent — a lesson I later applied. I also drilled a sweep with another black belt, the one I had missed on Wednesday because of my neck pain, and it actually went pretty well during the later rounds with white belts.
A few days ago, I read a comment on a BJJ forum where a black belt said that you’ll really know how much you’ve learned when a brand-new person joins your gym. And it’s true. During my last round yesterday, I rolled with a younger guy — bigger, stronger, and taller — but he’s only been training for two weeks (while I’ve been training for a whole month and a half now 😄). I managed to control him without much trouble, and in the end, he even tapped.
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