Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting...

So I started my jiu jitsu classes tonight (I am announcing this on my blog in an effort to let a lot of people know so I won't quit). Let me start off by telling you a little something about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) - it is not easy! Not that I expected it to be easy, I just didn't expect it to kick my @ss!!! (I don't know if you're allowed to curse on blogs...)

Let me go through the whole thing with you (if my shoulder will hold out long enough to let me continue to type this - when did that injury happen?).

So a long time ago (like around my birthday) I talked about starting BJJ classes, but apparently I wasn't serious enough so I kept finding reasons not to start. For some reason - while I was in Reno last week, I was waiting for a phone call in my hotel room and I looked up classes again. I found a gym semi-close to my house and they had an internet special. So I signed up - 2 classes and a uniform for $19.95. I figured you couldn't beat it and if I hated it - I'm only out 20 bucks and I can be a martial artist for Halloween next year... (Seriously, my hand is going numb from my shoulder pain - is this a problem?)

Flash forward to tonight - class starts at 7:30 and I need to get there 15 minutes early to be fitted for my uniform. Done and done. (I didn't know what to wear to the gym, but it turns out I made a good choice.) There are large men standing around waiting for class to start, but I think nothing of it because there is another girl there so I figure I'll work with her. I can't begin to tell you how wrong I was. We started the class with a little running warm up and then right into working on some positions. (Let me remind you all that I've never done BJJ before - everything I am going to learn tonight will be brand new to me and the only things I know...) We work for about 10 minutes on X-Guards and I seem to catch on to those alright. Then the instructor says, "Ok, get a partner, let's wrestle." WHAT??? Let's wrestle? I don't know anything outside of X-Guards. I don't even know how this wrestling business starts. So he tells me to sit out the first 10 minutes and watch. That goes by and I get to wrestle with the other girl (we wrestle in sets of 10 minutes - just straight wrestling). After that time is up, he tells me to wrestle with another guy. This guy tries to teach me a couple of moves, which is helpful, but what is the likelihood that my opponent is going to fall into the traps that I need him to fall into in order for me to make these moves work? Turns out, the likelihood is slim to none. Needless to say that I wrestle a total of 4 people before class is over (if you're not a math wizard that is 40 minutes of wrestling) and the last guy turns out to be a yellow belt (which I assume is more advanced than my white one...).

I seriously got my @ss kicked tonight! I have a fat lip, my knees are all red, the tops of my toes have mat burns on them, clearly I've done something to my shoulder, and I may get cauliflower ear. But I am going back on Thursday and I think I'm in it for the long haul. I figure it's only got to get easier - and I'm hoping at some point, someone will show me some technique (since the instructor kept telling the other fighters to rely on their technique and not their strength...).

I do have a new found respect for CageFighter* now though - this sh*t is hard!