***

Tonight I really did not want to go to class. I was tired and have trained in one form or another for the last 4 days straight after a fairly inactive period while I was battling a cold. I just wanted to crawl into bed and fall into early and blissful sleep - but - I figured there will be plenty of time for that this coming 4 day weekend. And it is usually the time you need a class the most when you feel least like it. I've often been soooo glad I went when I forced a reluctant self to get my butt to class. I am glad I went tonight but it was not a euphoric experience - merely enjoyable and provided a sense of dedication and accomplishment - not too shabby.

Ollie warmed us up - I suffered an embarrassing inability to keep up the pace for the 12th set of 10 press-ups - but you know what? I don't really give a damn - I'm a girl AND yes I did girl press-ups but I did them with very good form which is a lot more than I can say for most of my fellow classmates! And I will be able at some point to do regular press-ups - and 12 sets of them! 

Then we did some drills - throws - just the pickup and then one person attacking and the other defending for 3 minutes each, then guard passage.

We learned a new technique! Yay! I guess you would call it a sweep from guard - but a sweep from guard to full back mount - I wonder, do you get 6 points for that? 

So: 

1) you have your opponent in guard and you feed both your hands under his armpits and then, with guard closed, hoist him onto your chest pulling with both your arms and both your legs

2) then you open your guard while holding him tight to your chest with both arms

3) pull your opponent up further on your chest and then triangle his legs at knees or below

4) then snake to one side (Gustavo swears it doesn't matter which side) pull out the arm that is under your opponent, come up on the elbow and then take his back!

We finished with open sparring for the last half hour. I think I only sparred 3 rounds, but it was fun. I wanted to take it easy as my shoulder is bothering me and I didn't want to go to class in the first place!

As the title suggests - 3 *'s - a decent technique, a decent workout, fun with my peeps and a good attitude - room for improvement all around but as I said before I am glad I went.

Tchau!