Day 91: You've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied

Accept as an axiom that I will not keep current with my training blog. By inspection, it is trivial to derive that I have been training my ass off.

I'm finally getting into a regular groove. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday I train jiu-jitsu, weights or intervals on Sunday, and Tuesday and Friday are rest days. My body has toughened up, and I'm recovering faster and more completely. I added some carbohydrates and protein to the liter of water I consume during my grappling workouts, and that has helped my recovery speed immensely.

The training is paying off. Last time I weighed myself I was around 187, and the mirror agrees. There's still a bit of padding around the middle that I'd like to take care of, but as of now I am very satisfied with my progress.

My jiu-jitsu is improving as well. Omar is back from vacation, so we have been drilling and rolling together frequently, and learning quite a bit. He is bringing out the best in me, it seems, and I am securing solid submissions that I have not been able to get in the past. The other day I transitioned a Kimura from top half guard to a straight armlock when he straightened out to escape. Today I had an iffy back control, but I was able to sink in the bow-and-arrow choke for the tap. Larry and Naps are right-- getting taps is quite addictive. I'm imagining a huge surge of dopamine and serotonin flooding my gourd every time I finish a submission.

Obviously, I still have a lot to work on. I've made some progress dealing with bottom north-south, where I was previously getting victimized by the Kimura. Now I'm staying very tight with my elbows (duh), and scissoring my legs and attempting to get to my knees when my opponent moves from side control to north-south. Far fewer Kimuras-- imagine that. Still, I am very uncomoftable in bottom N-S and will continue focusing on it.