Back in January I blogged about my 2016 Jiu jitsu goals. One of my goals was to check in more often. In February I posted about my Kimura Aha moments of the month. This month I wanted to check in on the other goal and share some exciting news.

My second goal of the year was to become a destroyer of guards. This past month at 10th Planet Van Nuys has been dedicated to the Z guard. We learned both attacks from the top and bottom. During the month I had a lot of time to play with different passes. I expanded my Z guard passing game to now include a modified version of the cradle pass that Robert Drysdale taught on his cradle series dvd. Learning different attacks from the bottom has also made me more aware of what I need to do on top to pass. While my Z guard passing still has room to grow, I feel more confident in it than I did at the beginning of the month.

My exciting news for the month is that as of 3/31/16 I can now call myself a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu! A brown belt to me is a representation of all of the sweat, tears, and sore backs that I have sustained in jiu jitsu over the years. This was an especially big honor because my brown belt was the first one handed out at 10th Planet Van Nuys. Knowing that I am setting the standard for brown belts in my gym is mind blowing because a few years ago I was the uncoordinated white belt that everyone beat up.  If it wasn’t for my higher ranked training partners helping me out over the years I would have not kept with jiu jitsu. Part of my 2016 goals now include  giving back. I want to try and find those guys who have been around forever and get them their next belt. I want to try and impart as much of my jiu jitsu knowledge as possible to help them reach the same milestone that I did….ohh and a black belt in a few years would nice. 🙂