And I'm back.

The test is over.  With any luck, I need never talk about it again.  I have to say, though, studying for the bar probably benefitted my training.  I needed an outlet more than ever, so getting on the mat and working through some of that frustration and tension was pretty high on my priority list the last few weeks.  I even went to class the night before, the night between (the test is two days), and the night after the test.  It was great.

I realize I haven't posted in a while, and a few things have changed.  As I said before, we got a few more blue belts at my academy.  This is good for them, without a doubt, but good for the school as well.  We have probably 8-10 consistent students, and most of us train somewhere between 2 and 4 days a week.  We don't have a lot of young, hungry guys who want to go out and win tournaments--in fact, I would say that we don't have any.  Sure, a few of us have competed, but competition is not our goal.  We just want to get better.  And the biggest drawback to our academy being so small is that we don't have a huge pool of training partners.  But we put in the time, and we try to give each other challenges so that we don't stagnate.  And John, JD, and Vance getting their promotions was a nice affirmation of our training.

My knee is doing pretty OK.  I have two braces that I wear when training, and I stop myself from doing any movements that put strange stress on it.  No de la riva hook with my right leg, no knee-through passes, nothing like that.  Hell, I can barely defend my guard if they pass to my right, which isn't so great because that's the side most guys take to pass.  But, it forces me to work my defense and sweeps and reversals while staying technical.  Scrambling on a bad knee is not good (especially on wresting mats--those things get slick), so I have been trying to work sweeps that keep me close to my opponent and put me on top.

I'm having successes where I used t have serious challenges, and I can feel my game improving over time.  I've grown to love taking the back and collar chokes, we've spent a lot of time focused on digging out the far-side armbar and kimura, I've spent a decent amount of time and concentration on improving my transitions.....it's been a busy month.  Klint got us all to start flow-rolling as a class, which came at probably the best possible time for my brain.  And tonight, I'll be at it again.

So if you're still reading this, I shall return to my fairly-regular posting schedule.  Hope to see you on the mats sometime.