I did the predictable things during my spring break “staycation”: painting, writing, dancing (salsa and tango), dropping off press kits, organizing my files (electronic and tangible), and training capoeira. Yet, one of the most memorable parts of my time off was trying something I’d never done before: jiu jitsu.
I’d heard of the “other” Brazilian martial art before since I have practiced capoeira, off and on, for 5 years. Yet, when my capoeira teacher, Alex, invited me to join him in the fundamental jiu jitsu class that he attends, I envisioned practicing punch and kick drills. Other than capoeira, I’d practiced hapkido for a year when I lived in Seoul, Korea. So, I figured, every martial arts must have kicks and punches, right?
We missed most of the warm up exercises since we came late. Plus, I had to change out of my capoeira uniform into a gi that the instructor, Marcelo, had given me, then fill out a form. Once I joined the line up of seven other students, Marcelo was practicing the first technique with Alex. Then, we 8 students paired up to practice what appeared to be a wrestling technique. Since there was one other woman in the class, we paired up.
She was very patient with me and although she had only been practicing jiu jitsu for 2 months, she was quite knowledgeable about the sport. From my brief technique practice of two different moves, I understood that jiu jitsu players want to restrain their opponent’s movement by pinning him/her. If you find yourself pinned, then you must maneuver to break free and pin your opponent. Technique is perhaps the greatest skill that a jiu jitsu player must train for. Like most things in life, things go much more smoothly with a logical strategy. Then again, when all else fails, use brute strength!
During the latter part of the class, we sparred with one another for 5 minute-intervals. Those were the longest 5 minutes of my life. Marcelo had me spar with Alex first so he could explain the “rules” to me. I guess Marcelo figured that since Alex was my capoeira teacher, he should be used to explaining things to me. First thing Alex explained to me was that we start in a kneeling position rather than a standing position since this was a fundamentals class. In the advanced class, they start in a standing position and have to take each other down first before pinning. All that spared me was being thrown to the ground, for which I was grateful to be spared that extra pain.
Next, he told me how I had to grab at various parts of the gi in order to manipulate my opponent to trap them. Throughout our entire round, I just kept thinking how this whole endeavor reminded me of a date gone wrong. Afterall, the way we were trapping each other was to wrap our legs around the other tightly and trying to prevent the opponent from getting free. If you were trapped, then you had to maneuver an escape…the most popular seemed to be the choke.
As my third sparring partner enthusiastically and repeatedly advised me, in order to effectively choke someone, you have to cross your arms, grab the opponent’s lapels very close to his/her neck and pull like hell until they gave some signal. Despite my naturally aggressive personality, I found the aggressiveness of jiu jitsu alarming. Yet, the three guys I sparred with were very gracious toward me and gave me pointers as I attempted to trap them. They told me how to improve my technique, showing me, for example, how my extended arm or leg could be squeezed painfully between their legs; so I had to move quickly and not stretch a limb out for too long.
I truly got my workout, however, when I sparred with the other woman twice. Unlike the guys, she went full-throttle jiu jitsu on me. I guess she figured since we were both women with me being the younger of us, she’d give me my first day’s worth. Youthfulness or not, the only thing that saved me was my capoeira strong arms. Even the guys I’d sparred with had commented how strong I was. Yet, if my female opponent had been training for three months rather than two, she would have made quick work of me since I could barely pin her with all my youthful strength and first day knowledge of technique.
Never have I been so happy to do post exercise stretches! I quickly changed out of that gi and was more than ready for lunch. I hadn’t been that hungry the whole spring break vacation. Although I apparently did well for my first day, I don’t think jiu jitsu holds quite the same appeal for me as capoeira, especially since there’s no accompanying music. Even though capoeiristas make good jiu jitsu players, this capoeirista is going to stick to rodas rather than jiu jitsu matches.