This started as a blog about training together as a family, in part to inspire other women & families to get involved. As female participation in jiu jitsu has increased, as we have grown as athletes and as we learned that families training together aren’t such an anomaly, the blog has evolved. Jen gets personal with posts on ambition, challenges & achievements in BJJ, CrossFit & with nutrition, while Tom's posts are more educational, informative and analytical in regards to training. On occasion you may hear from the kids.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Battle Wounds

by Jen

It was warm yesterday so I chose to wear a sleeveless shirt to work. The problem – as I got ready I noticed my BJJ battle wounds. I have three scratches around my left eye, one handprint bruise (yes, all five fingers) on my right arm, and two more bruises on my left arm. I wore pants that covered the giant bruise just above my right knee. These are only the larger and more noticeable marks. They don’t hurt, but they look pretty vicious.

My boss knows about my training, although she hardly understands it. When she saw the fingerprints on my arm she asked, “Is that from your ….uh?”, and I replied, “Yes, that’s from jiu jitsu. It doesn’t hurt.” We both previously worked in the domestic violence field so she appropriately responded, “Well okay, but if you ever feel that there is something you need to tell me, I’m here.”

Now she has known me and my family for years, and I’m pretty sure she knows that there is really no need for concern, but it made me wonder. How many people wonder what’s up with the marks, but don’t say anything? Maybe I need to start telling more people about my training.

As a side note, after I decided to write this, I accidentally gave Tom his own battle wound. He pretended to try to take me down and I shouldered him in the mouth causing him to bite into his tongue. I felt sooooo bad. I guess that was our reminder to keep the fighting on the mats.

3 comments:

  1. Ha! Love this post. Bruises are fantastic and they are a flag of strength! I was just telling one of my co-workers the other day, BJJ has taught me that the human body is a resilient machine. You can get twisted and torqued and wrenched in every direction, popped in the eye, bent backward, and the machine resets itself 99% of the time.

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  2. This isn't very topical, but I wanted to check out your blog and have to say: (1) Your blog name is delightfully clever. (2) It's so awesome that your whole family trains!

    I look forward to reading more.

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  3. Thanks Ashley, welcome to our blog! I give credit to Tom for the name. -jen

    @ Dagney - the bruises from last week have gone away, but I'm sure I'll get a new batch tonight :)

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