Fabio Novaes on Brazilian Jiu-jitsu

One of my teammates's brother used Fabio and the school for a project.  I know Allie blogged the same thing, but I feel like I need to point out something hilarious.  Remember yesterday when I said I got a really nice compliment and it was a huge boost that I totally needed?  Part of that grapple is in this video, but the funny part is that it was my "oh crap" moment of the night.  I tried to escape a triangle, and got swept over, and then promptly tooled.

Triangle escapes are my nemesis.


So, check it out.  I suck bad.  lol - Though, it's an okay sucking.  I'm a white belt, hes a purple belt.  I'm allowing myself to be okay with it.  I just wish it wasn't on youtube for the world to see.... You know, because everyone cares.  lol

Oh yeah, and Fabio wants to hurt you on the inside... So, beware!  lol

As I suspected....

Monday rolled around, and I ran to class as quickly as my chicken legs would carry me... and it was the best thing I could have done.

Mostly because you were all right... I was being a big fat pouty baby, and even going a few times a month to keep my foot in the door is totally worth it.

On top of that, I got a really, really nice compliment from one of our purple belts.  I feel like my biggest failure since I've been back on the mat is that I'm super slow, and stiff.  After our grapple he told me I was moving really well, and that I felt good.  I almost cried.  Seriously.  It felt like he was being genuinely honest, and not giving me a polite pat on the head.

I also grappled someone I had not grappled in a long time, so I had forgotten just how redonkulous he is.  He is a blue belt and very technical.  On top of that he is a beast.  As in, he has super human strength and speed, and is enormous.  He won gold in blue belt absolute last year at Abu Dhabi.  Anyway, I think I annoyed him.  If you has switched him mid grapple with a boulder I wouldn't have noticed.  (He was letting me work, if he was on the offence, I'd have been pretzeled 1200 times over in five minutes.)  It was really frustrating, and to keep from getting angry, I laughed every time I got aggravated.  Just so I am clear, he wasn't being a jerk in any way, his defense was just so impenetrable I couldn't have done anything to him even if I had a crowbar.

Imagine grappling this guy:

Or this:

And even when he let me get a hook in here, or there I still couldn't do a thing to him ....  at all.  I spent the entire grapple laughing at my failures instead of getting upset about them... to the point my constant laughter seemed to annoy him.  He is so strong btw, that I can sprawl my entire body on one of his legs and he can still sweep me with that one leg, easily.  So, my brain knows that I am not only technically way out matched but the size/strength differential is so vast that I don't think I could move him unless I had 15 years of BJJ under my belt... but alas, I do not, and I get frustrated.

So, Jimmy, I'm sorry I laughed our entire grapple, it wasn't that I didn't take our grapple seriously, because I did, it was that I didn't want to get upset.  ... not that you had done anything other than be awesome, or that you would ever read this, but it makes me feel better now that I've apologized... and I will probably do it again to your face on Monday.

Warning. Big fat cry baby post.

I've been back to Fabio's since last year... as in since just prior to New Years, but I've trained three times.

Three.

I can't go to class tonight.  I couldn't grapple last week because of the ring worm.  I was sick the week before that.  By the time my sorry behind is back on the mats it will be an entire month between the the last two times I've grappled.

It is starting to REALLY bother me.

If I am being completely honest, sometimes I feel like it's not even worth it.  I know I'm going to progress at a snails pace as it is, and with my husband hectic schedule I am missing classes left and right. 

I know it isn't that big of a deal, and I am just frustrated so I am making it out to be worse than it is, but I already struggle with feeling behind and slow because of the hiatus I took, training once a week makes the feeling of falling behind and never progressing even worse.... (Even though in my head, I KNOW it isn't a race, and there is no falling behind in Jiu-jitsu.) and not being able to train for a month at a time is just compounding that feeling.  Heck, I don't think I've grappled two consecutive Monday's in the eight weeks that I have been back.  On top of all of that, it doesn't make sense to pay to train, when I can't actually train.

Punch me in the mouth.

I know I am just throwing myself a pity party, and I am sure I will happily run back to class when ever I am actually able to make it there, but as of right now I feel like I need to just put a pin in it until I know I am able to go with any real consistency.

Oss!

A lovely side effect of training BJJ is that I've met a lot of wonderful Brazilian people.  Unfortunately for me though, I don't speak Portuguese. (Yet!)  Fortunately though, Google translator is free.  It's not totally accurate, but it can get me from 0% to about 99% in the understanding what the heck someone just said to me on Facebook department.

I've used Google translator for about a year to talk to someone over Facebook.  It has worked well enough most of the time.  Every now and then it will translate words out of order, and I sometimes worry that what I am responding with will also be out of order, but thus far, I've been able to communicate totally in Portuguese (Over text only... I can say about three words, none of which are usable in any conversation I'd have in front of my mother.)

For the first time last night, Google translator failed me.

"No definitions found"


Noooooo!


The word was 'oss'.


While Google translator may have failed me, Google did not.

I was able to research the meaning, and get what I believe was the intent of the comment.

"The definition of "OSS", also known as "ossu" ( it doesn't matter how you spell it in English), means Oshi Shinobu, which conveys the idea of "persevering when pushed", or in other words, never give up, have determination, grit and withstand the most arduous of training. Carrying on without giving up, under all kinds of pressure."


You can find a wee bit more information about the word here.


Anyway, I thought it was kind of awesome to portray so much with just a single word, and I wanted to share it... even though a lot of your probably already know. 

How to cure Ringworm.

It was story time tonight at Fabio's.  I went to class, I was 99.99% sure I had ringworm, but I wanted Fabio to look at it.  He looked.  It is.  Boo.

Anyway, I didn't grapple, obviously.  Which prompted everyone to ask me why I wasn't grappling.  And of course once I said I had ringworm, they told me the best way to get rid of it.

Everyone had a different way, and I discovered something very disturbing.  Almost everyone does it wrong.

I have been told to scrub it raw, dump peroxide on it, then put on whatever various cream.

I've been told to use dandruff shampoo.

I've been told to use Neosporin.

I've been told to use Lamisil Ultra for two days.

And I've also been told to use tea tree oil.

I think the dandruff shampoo, tea tree oil, and any jock itch, or athlete's foot creams will work, but almost no one uses it for the correct amount of time, or washes their sheets.

I believe the correct way, based on what I've seen on several different websites that also coincides with what the more trusted sources have told me.

• Wash the area twice daily.
• Use paper towels and throw them away instead of a wash cloth.
• Coat the infected area with Lamisil or any other over the counter athlete's foot creme twice daily after washing.
• Keep it covered at night.
• You can also mix tea tree oil with the Lamisil before you put it on your ringworm.
• And you should continue to do this for 4-6 weeks even if it clears up in two days.
• Use a fresh towel every time you shower.
• Change your sheets regularly.

It may also be wise to disinfect your shower after you shower to prevent spreading it.

Look at what you did to the back of my head!!

This is the back of my hair line, right behind my ear.  

You did this.  Yes, you over there... you that didn't wash your gi.  You really should wash it you know... more than like once a month.  It's super disgusting.  It offends my nose as well as the back of my neck.  I know Fabio washes the mats... I get there early.  I see him clean it before every single class.  So, I know it has to be you and your gross gi.  You may have waited to grapple until your ringworm was gone, but since you failed to wash you gi, it was all for nothing. 

Maybe you don't know when you should wash your gi, so I will break it down for you....

Have you or someone you have recently grappled had ringworm?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Have you or someone you have recently grappled had a staph infection?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Does your gi smell like feet?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Does your gi smell like butt?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Does your gi smell like rancid body oder?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Can you see a clear outline of your butt, knees and elbows in filth on your gi?  If yes, you should wash your gi

Does your gi smell like anything other than something clean?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Does your gi get up and move around once you have taken it off and thrown it on the floor or stuffed it in the trunk of your car?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Is your gi a horrid shade of yellow when it should be white?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Have you worn your gi ONE or more times on the mat?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

Has your gi been on the floor or mat ONE or more times?  If yes, you should wash your gi.

You should wash your gi  every single time you grapple in it. 

The End.

And btw, if you answered yes to the first two questions, you should also wash your sheets and all of the towels you've recently used in hot water.