Friday, September 24, 2010

jiu jitsu hairdo

(originally posted on my mtn bike blog)

I've always thought the "fighting" sports and martial arts were very interesting. The fitness required, the aglility, the reading of the other person, the mental focus/toughness required under pressure all seemed facinating to me.

It seemed like something i'd like to try except (and this is a BIG except and a total deal-breaker) the 'getting hit in the head' part. I don't mind getting bruises and beat up - I just don't want my brain sloshed around continuously. But I guess that's the whole point of fighting - is to take the other person down, eh? So I thought it would be something I would admire from afar.

Then last weekend, Dave and I watched a show about Royce Gracie and how he used jiu-jitsu to defeat much larger opponents with finesse, intellence, patience, technique and skill and NOT brute force and NOT by hitting them in the head. Damn - don't you know that sucked me in bigtime...so you know where this going.

I started reading about jiu-jitsu and in training and competitions of straight jiu-jitsu you don't focus on hitting people in the head. You focus on getting their bodies in position in order for them to 'submit'.

Yes - I signed up. My first class was last night and i LOVED it. It is *very* technical. It was described as a 'isometric chess match' and after experiencing some of the moves that is an apt description.

so...move over speedskating...this off-season i'll be doing jiu-jitsu as cross training.

A big annoyance to me was my hair. I did the typical one long braid down my back but that didn't work out so well - with all the tumbling, grappling and tussling - my hair was constantly getting matted up and coming loose.

After a little experimenting - I think I have a good jiu-jitsu hair do. I know it looks goofy but hopefully it's functional. We'll see - my next class is Tuesday. :)

step 1 - regular hair do
(not that it's that much of a "do" ;)
)


step 2 - 2 pony tails high up on my head
(so when I'm rolling around on my back i won't roll on these)


step 3 - braid into pig tails

step 4 - wrap braids into a bun and secure w/bobby pins
(modified "princess leia" do)




2 comments:

  1. Heh - cool! Excellent hair style gallery, especially coupled with the no-nonsense expression. ;)

    The braids thing on its own could be a good option too, as that's what this black belt does.

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  2. Hi! Do the bobby pins stab you or others when sparring? Wonderful to learn you've taken up BJJ, welcome! :)

    P.S. You may or may not know that they call bobby pins 'kirby grips' in the UK. It amused me when I discovered it :D

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