Greetings!

I have another BJJ testing (possibly) coming up next Thursday (5/1/08) - this one for my 2nd stripe on my white belt. I posted back in Jan after my first testing, and some of you wanted to know what was involved.

This time around I have to know: three escapes each from side control, crossbody, and knee-on-belly positions; two new sweeps from the guard; three submissions from the guard (guillotine, triangle, and triangle to armbar); four submissions from knee-on-belly and crossbody; a lock-flow from the kimura position; and some self-defense from the grounded position with a standing opponent (kicks, sweeps, and standing safely while keeping your base). Then, of course, sparring

I am a bit nervous, as I only can get in the gym once weekly. My instructor has approached me about maybe testing me in a couple months instead of next week, but I told him that it is really up to him - if he thinks I need to wait, I will, but I am willing to give it a go if he will let me. I have been through all the material, and know most of it pretty well. I am getting together with a training buddy Sunday AM at his house to review for a couple hours. Hopefully I will be ready on Thursday.

Thanks for letting me share. I will keep you all posted.

Peace,
Mike

Good luck Mike. Sounds like a good, involved test. I don't think I know 3 escapes each from all those positions, LOL.

good luck, the worst that could happen is you fail (i doubt this will happen)
and if you fail you just not ready yet
go for it!

Good luck man!!!
As long as your instructor expects you to test, you should be ready...

Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone!

I passed last night. I had gotten together with a training buddy to review a couple of times since last week, and it was very helpful. After our first review session, we had some questions for our instructor. I could not make the class before testing due to needing to be home with my kids while my wife was at work, so my buddy took the questions to class and then showed me what we were missing when we got together at his house to review the next night. All in all, it was very helpful, and I made some beneficial tweaks to my technique.

In testing, we did warm-ups, then demonstrated technique for about 45 minutes. The instructor would just randomly pick techniques from the syllabus, and have us drill them with our partners for a few minutes while he watched. He made a couple minor adjustments on things with each of us, but all in all it went smoothly.

Then we sparred for 30 minutes. He had the four of us who were testing line up on the mats on our knees, and had everyone cycle through us for 3 minute rounds without giving us a break until we had sparred everyone in class. Testing was held during a regular class session, so there were plenty of folks to roll with. My first match I ended up with a newbie, who also happened to be an excellent wrestler. He literally wore me out - I could not land any submissions, but I fought off his attempts the entire round. He was strong, and had great positioning, so it was a challenging match. Next I ended up with another former wrestler, but this guy has been coming to class for the past 6 months or so. After another long, exhausting battle, I succumbed to a gi choke . Luckily, I fared better my next few matches. I choked #3 with a gi choke from my guard and a guillotine from the guard, and then dominated my next few matches positionally (i.e., held mount for nearly the entire time), but did not land any submissions.

All in all I think it went well. I am whipped this AM, and am glad it is Friday. I woke up feeling like a truck ran me over (darn wrestlers! ). Now time to start learning new material for the next test in a few months...

Peace,
Mike

congrats! sounds great cant wait to get started!

Congrats Mike! Great job, sounds like a tough test.

Thanks guys!

Matt, it was a tough test. We had to know a lot of material - and I was tired going into it (the company I work for offers money off your health insurance premiums for maintaining fitness. I had my fitness evaluation for this at work the afternoon of my BJJ test - my pecs were sore from pushups before I even made it into the gym! ).

But, it is cool to be a student again. I had been instructing at the MSU Karate Club since 1990 or so until last fall, and had not had any MA testing for several years. Kind of nice to feel those butterflies in the tummy again and to have new material to be responsible for learning. Keeps me on my toes (or in this case on my back ) to say the least.

Peace,
Mike