So far: 6 Instagram posts, 2 on here (where I can expand a little more). And I never post on Instagram! It had actually a year since my last post before this contest. I plan to keep posting every day for the rest of the month, but I wanted to make sure I get the past week's workouts in before I forget them all.
This challenge came at both the best and the worst time. It's motivating me to get back in shape, but at the same time I'm still a bit banged up, so I can't push quite as hard as I'd like to. Before this month, I had taken about two months off from jiu jitsu. I was getting some pretty bad back pain, and some tingling and numbness in my arm. I'm used to back pain, but the loss of sensation in my arm had me pretty worried, so I didn't roll, spar, clinch, squat, or deadlift for nearly two months, trying to give my back/neck a break. Several X-rays, MRIs, blood tests, and electromyograms (the thing they use to test for pinched nerves) I found out I have some bulging disks in my neck. Not severe enough to keep me from staying active, and certainly most of the guys on the mats have worse, but something to keep an eye on.
So after a (relatively) clean bill of health, I'm just now getting back into sparring, clinch, and jiu jitsu. Hardly the first time I've sparred, but just getting used to staying relaxed under attack isn't quite as easy as I was hoping. I'm still getting tapped by white belts, but I'm just glad to be getting back into it.
Friday: No-gi and clinch. 2 hours. Neck so sore (but it hurts so good).
Saturday: Conditioning and pads. Two hours. So sweaty.
Sunday: Planned a 4 mile run, decided what the hell, let's go for 6.
Monday: No-gi and pads. Really need to get better at not getting put on my back.
Tuesday: No-gi and clinch. Got subbed, got some subs. Not that anyone's counting or anything.
Wednesday (today): No-gi, pads, speed drills (for the first time). 3 hours for the first time in a while. Not even sparring yet, but it was a nice baby step. Just getting used to checking, parrying, keeping my eyes open when a glove is headed towards my face.