My First Class

So I went to my first class tonight. What an experience. We did a workout for about 45 min. leading up to technique instruction and it about killed me. I am extremely out of shape. It was lot of cardio training mixed in with drills that help with techniques. One of the drills had several guys put in the middle of the mat and then everyone else takes turns trying to pass their guard. (This basically means that you have to get past their legs. They lay on their back and then your job is to get past their legs to their side.) It looked easy but when I tried to do it I got put in an armbar after about 3 seconds. This same thing played out about 20 times just interchange armbar with triangle, choke, and sweep and you get the idea. It was a good time but I had no idea how challenging it would be. It is a much more technical sport than it looks from the outside. I knew it was technical but I had no idea how many small parts have to work out perfectly for a move to work.
After my repeated tapping out it was time for some instruction. Since I knew nothing one of the blue belts helped teach me some of the basics and tried to get me up to speed. I pretty much just nodded my head alot and said yeah. It was so much to take in but I was very appreciative for his assistance. He taught me a lot about protecting myself while in someones guard which really helped. Now I last at least 10 seconds in the drills before getting tapped. I also learned that new-skin and bengay are going to be my two new best friends. I tore the tops of my feet up pretty bad that night so the new-skin works really well to protect the cuts and keep them from getting tore open while contining to train. Every muscle in my body was sore after that first night. I started to question my choice of unlimited classes as I wasn't sure if my body could handle more than twice a week of this. I also learned that it could take as long as 4 or 5 years to get my blue belt also. It is very tough to get promoted under a good BJJ instructor, which I think is good thing. I will definately know I earned it when I get it.
Overall the first class was great but much different than I expected.

The Jits Journey Begins

Hello all,
This blog is about my journey from white belt to blue belt in BJJ. I decided to keep this blog to help document my journey and allow others possibly interested in starting BJJ to see what its like.
I started training 4/12/2006 and I have no past experience in any martial art. I started training as a way to get in shape. So why not just go to a gym and workout you ask, well I tried that and it lasted a week. I was bored out of my mind so I decided if I was going to get some exercise I needed something challenging and mentally stimulating. I picked BJJ because it seemed like most other martial arts had everyone just dancing around by themselves. BJJ had a lot of sparring that I knew would get me fit. So the decision was made I would start training in BJJ.