No-Gi!

It’s sweaty. It’s gross. It’s a little obscene.

It’s no-gi time! Everybody, get your spandex on!

For people that have issues with other people’s sweat, this may not be the sport for you. It is certainly fun, it’s just…well…

Slippery.

Last night was a good class: we got to some technique, which was a no-gi centered butterfly guard, at first a sweep, and then a set-up into the X guard, which was pretty sweet to practice.  The more I think about it however the more I feel the need to comment (just bear with me for a moment) on the position and the lack of it among jiu jitsu women.

I just don’t see that many women employ the X guard-and there could be a number of reasons for it: we are convinced our legs are too short to effectively use it, we don’t like being flat on their back which is an essential part to the standing up in base bit but whatever the reason may be, I just don’t see that many women jump into the X guard, myself included. I remember one of my instructors indeed commenting that the x guard itself is a very powerful and effective position to be in, almost easy for the person on the bottom to put themselves into a better, more dominant position. It’s getting into the set-up that’s difficult, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Maybe that will be the next thing I work on: spider guard doesn’t work so well in the no-gi arena, so maybe x-guard will be the thing to get into. We shall see.

For now, I’m going to hose off (and maybe bleach) my spandex in preparation for the next no-gi session.