Colorado Springs BJJ and Tournament Prep

What better way to prepare for a tournament than to train at 6000ft. I am currently in Colorado Springs for work. I have been here for a week and a half already and the altitude is still kicking my ass. The gym I am training at is called Colorado Springs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The owner, Bill Hosken is a black belt under Rigan Machado. The first thing I noticed about the gym was the cleanliness, Bill stressed right off the bat that he makes sure he cleans the mats real well in order to avoid spreading any infections. I gotta say, this is the first time that my gi didnt smell at all after practice.

Bill is probably one of the nicest guys you will meet. From the second I walked in he was very open and made me feel as if I had been training there the whole time. Bill is a very technical instructor and shows mulitple techniques during each class. He will demonstrate the techniques mostly with no gi, but every technique translates into the gi. After the warmup and drills we go into rolling. Bill is very laid back when it comes to rolling. We basically choose our own partners and spar for about 5 minutes at a time. This has been beneficial for me because I could choose my partners and work on my weaknesses. Every class I have been getting in about one hour of rolling.

Even after a week and a half I still feel out of breath after every roll. I am starting to think that maybe its not the altitude, maybe I am out of shape. I'll stick to the altitude excuse for now though. On a serious note though, I do feel better and better each day that I train here. I am going to have to step it up this week so I will be ready for the tournament on the 28th. Wish me luck