Back to business!

It was back to business tonight after two week lay off due to injuries and the a serious war with the flu.

Although I felt sluggish, fatigued, and lost, I enjoyed every single minute of tonight's session.

We covered a load of techniques from takedowns, to positional control while the opponent is in turtle positions, how to better your positions if you are caught in turtle position, full mount escapes and control, sweeps, and guard breaks.

It sounds like a lot, and it was, but all of this was focused on preparing us for competition on January 8th.

This will be my first BJJ tournament in almost a year which is nerve wrecking yet exciting.

I am looking forward to applying some of the techniques I have been working on at the competition level. My goal is not to win any medal, but to gauge my process. Winning is cool and I know a lot people pride their themselves on winning, but I have realized that at this stage of my training, it is more of a gauge for me. If I come out on top then al-hamdulillah, its all good, but its not my main focus at this point.

One might say, its a poor attitude and you should focus on winning. I agreed, but I also disagree. I think the winning will eventually come. At this point, its all about developing my game and working it in a live setting.

One thing I have learned over the past 18 months is that BJJ is such a methodical, detailed, and lengthy process. There will be time, insha'Allah, for medals and podium pictures, but at this point in my training I see myself is just like the picture above - A baby who is learning how to crawl.

So right now, my goal for 2011 is to drill the basics and make specific techniques part of my every day game. Once I perfect them, then I will move on. Right now my brain is full of techniques I have learned, some basics other advanced and I can't focus on one technique at a time. I feel overwhelmed in the amount of techniques I have learned and feel that I can't focus on moved that work for me.

So right now, the first order of business is to identify which techniques I feel comfortable with, write them down, set a sequence of moves by visualizing the game, and drilling them over and over again.

I believe once I accomplish this stage, my game will be much more solid and I'll begin to take those baby steps to earning my Black Belt.