Would you like to see my bones?

I have no broken bones!  

This will not be me! 

Huzzah! 

To be honest though, that was what I was expecting.  It did not hurt like broken bones.  Putting weight and using it for regular walking isn't much of an issue, and I assume if something in there was broken bearing weight on it would be painful.  Motion is what causes pain.. pointing my toes mostly, and pressure on the top outside of my foot is also painful.  So.  You know sitting in my base is a no no.

However, like I suspected I tore one of the five ligaments somewhere down there, and I have an epic butt ton of inflammation. 

There will be no huzzh-ing over this.  I am super bummed.

I am to lay off of it for 4-6 weeks.  But... I've already been off of it for two... Soooo... Two more and I will attempt to drill.

I will not be stupid about this though.  I've learned my lesson and I will treat my foot like the important limb that it is.  

Again, this is not me.  My feet are way bigger than this, and significantly less cute.  I do however, love my feet.  They are the things that invoke "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" my open guard. 

These ARE my feet though.  

What a boat.

Look at my giant size 10 hooks!  Bwhahaha.  Yes, I will find the silver lining in having clown feet.

I guess the white blobby area is inflammation.  Or at least this is what I am told. 

You have now seen my bones...

Carry on.

....Hi, Jimmy.  =)

Women's Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in Lakeland, Florida.

We now have a website!

Women's Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Self Defense

Where fitness and awesome collide!! 


"And we will never change,
The way we are here.
I like that we are kind of strange.
So won't you stay near?"
The Ones With the Light - Joshua Radin

Santa - You better be watching.

I have not set foot in a gi for a week.  In fact I've only been to one class in two weeks... and I know, I know, that one class was the class I further aggravated my ankle, but I have learned my lesson.

I even have to wait an extra few days to get my foot xrayed because of the Holidays...  but I'm not complaining....   I am just mentioning it to make sure you know that even though, I really really really just wanna grapple I'm not.  I am being patient and taking proper care of my foot.  Surely that is worth pointing out to the fat man in a red suit who only exists in the minds of children.

Anyway - I should know what the deal with my foot is by Wednesday.

Ps. I would like to ask that only fictitious fat men watch me.  I generally dislike being watched by creepers.  Thanks!

Who would like to hear how stupid I am?

So.... I went to class tonight.

My ankle was feeling good from having laid off it.... but my plan was just to drill.  I even got a nice fancy ankle brace that kept my ankle firmly in place.... metal rods and everything.  Wooo!

.... So grappling time. 

I grappled.  

This is what comes up when you image search 'stupid'.

The amzingness of the wrap that kept my ankle firmly in place resulted in my toes getting caught in gi pants because I couldn't turn my foot down, and as the person was breaking their hips to come around into side control.  My foot somehow got trapped awkwardly and bam... hip bone connected squarely with my heel while toes still stuck.

If there was any question to whether or not my ankle was severely injured or not.... it is now without question seriously injured.  

Even Fabio told me to take time off... and Fabio has never suggested that before.

Even when I came in with my ribs so injured I could not move my arm, he asked me if I was going to try and grapple.

I am really bummed, but I have no one to blame but my stupid self.

...Well, me and my awesome ankle brace.  

High Ankle Sprain

I talked to Fabio about my ankle.  He thinks it is a high sprain.  I know Fabio isn't a doctor, but honestly, I'm positive he knows more about Jiu-jitsu related injuries than my doctor.

If like me, you had no idea what a high ankle sprain is, your can horrify yourself by reading about it here:  Core Performance - High Ankle Sprain  It is basically where you stretch or tear the ligament that holds your tibia and fibula together.  They are more sever than your basic ankle sprain, and about 50% of people who get this type of sprain often have recurring sprains, and 40% have long term ankle instability and pain.

Needless to say I am pretty bummed.

However, I am going to do the thing I was dreading.  

No, not die. 

Rest.  

I am for sure going to take time off until Monday night.  It will end up being about 4 days, and that feels like a lot.  Monday I will go, and only drill ankle safe things... but in reality there aren't a lot of things I can work.  Sitting down into my base is far and away the most painful, and almost everything requires you to get into your base at some point.

I guess the silver lining is if I am not grappling, I will not annoyingly and constantly be swept to the left due to my leaning tower of Pisa base.  lol

If I am in no better shape after a week of rest then I will go to the doctor.

-insert hissy fit here-

The coolest 12 year old ever!

Flash back to being 12.

It is your birthday... You get to have a sleep over with all your best friends.

I imagine my 12 year old self would plan a pretty amazing party full of cake, chocolate, caffeinated beverages, NKOTB, Lisa Frank party favors and SeaQuest DVS.

Wow... Really 12 year old self.. This is who you swooned over?!

Yeah, I realize this is titled 'The coolest 12 year old ever', but I wasn't referring to myself.... clearly.

The coolest 12 year old ever, happens to be one of the young girls who attends the Women's BJJ class.

She had a birthday party sleep over and I am sure it was filled with things equally as awesome as my party in the 90s would have been filled with, except current... and since I am not hip to the 12 year old girl scene, I have no idea with those things would be.. Justin Bieber?  Who knows.

One thing her party had that mine sadly would never even have considered was Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.  Her sleep over ended with 2 hours of Saturday morning grappling.  How freaking cool is that?!  She also requested a gi for her birthday.  So proud!  lol  Very soon both of the 12 year olds in the class will be rocking Fenoms.  Wooo!

http://www.fenomkimonos.com/

To be totally honest, I'm not an enormous fan of 12 year old girls. (Except the two in the BJJ class.  They are kind of exceptional, and I love them both.)  I was kind of dreading it.  I thought it would be a morning caulk full of giggling, refusal to do 'gross' things and/or pay attention, and lots of life threatening injuries.

I drank extra coffee, and braced for impact.  

But as it turned out.. It was really fun!

There was lots of giggling as I suspected, but surprisingly they all paid attention, executed drills, and grappled without complaint.

It really makes me happy that I get to help introduce these girls to BJJ at such a young age.  I truly they hope they stick with it... BJJ has a sneaky way of changing your life for the better, and I would love to see it work its magic on these girls.

I snapped a few pictures from the class, but then my battery died.  Boo.

Stretching, or worship?! 

Me and the birthday girl!

I feel like some sort of swooning redemption is necessary as I admitted I once swooned over the likes of KNOTB.  I was introduced to some new eye candy last night in the form of Henry Cavill as Theseus... and my mom always told me to share... 

And btw, Immortals... Good, not great.  Some nice visuals though.. special effects.. and uh.. otherwise.  lol

My Cankle!

It is getting much better!  Yay!

Congratulations, Fabio!!

Fabio competed in the World No-gi this weekend and took home gold!!  One of my fellow teammates, Mark also competed and won gold as well!!

Congratulations Fabio and Mark!

And as always, I am proud to be part of the team!  Not just because of the medals and team titles, but because Team Fabio Novaes BJJ is chock full of outstanding human beings who feel honored to train along side.

Where champions are made!

It's pouting time...

In the past two weeks I've gotten a few too many injuries to not complain.  lol

At the Miami Open I broke my nose... and have continued to get kneed, elbowed and just generally smashed in the nose.  Granted a lot of the nose smashing is my own doing, and even when it isn't I am the moron choosing to grapple with a busted face, so it is no one's fault but my own.

Pardon my post grapple hair.

Then last week, I re-tweaked my left ankle.  I got uppa'd (spelling? Ooh-pah-ed) from mount to guard and it got rolled funny.

Ice, Ice Baby!

The very next day I did God knows what to my right hand.  I smashed the meaty part of my hand so bad the swelling and bruising bled down into my wrist.. to the point compartment syndrome was looking like a possibility.

The bruising is mostly in my wrist... the swelling was in my hand where the crushing happened.

A few days after that, we drilled half guard sweeps that cause you to roll over your own hand.  If you don't have your hand flat against the other person's body, it gets crushed.  ...So I crushed my other hand.

Then today I jacked my other ankle up.  I had a triangle set up, and the person tried to stack me to escape, so I just took him over, planning to finish the triangle from mount... not realizing how close to the wall we were.... We went over. his back hit the wall causing an abrupt stop to our roll... in exactly the right place to smash my ankle into my own knee where I had the triangle locked.  Horrible noises.  It sounded WAY worse than it was, but it hurts.

None of these issues would bother me, nor would I mention them except for the fact that I have all of them at once!  Gimpy grips... gimpy hooks, and I can't use my face for much of anything, nor can I escape triangles/some armbars without pain.

Not to mention the general day to day annoyances of being injured.

Frustrating!!