هذا المقال متاح أيضاً باللغة العربية.
Broken body. Full session. No excuses.
This is a journey about growth, rebuilding, and chasing dreams. Every session, every setback, and every breakthrough gets documented here. Welcome to the ride.
Day 159 Summary Highlights
✅ Body extremely sore from day 158, pushed through anyway
✅ Six hours of blog work, day one uploaded in two languages
✅ Evening Jiu Jitsu Riyadh session, 1 hour 25 minutes
✅ Shadow wrestling, butterfly sweep into armbar drilled
✅ Rolled with Amr and Khaled, lost but fought hard
✅ Tournament spot chances increasing, weight at 70.9 kg
Jiu Jitsu Riyadh on a Broken Body: A Day Built on Soreness and Blog Work
Wednesday started with the body already broken. The high volume sit-ups and push-ups from the double session on day 158 had left everything stiff overnight. Woke at 4:20, took two and a half hours to get back to sleep, fully up at 10:30. Cold shower and into the day. The entire afternoon went into blog work. Six hours of it, back stiffening from the screen, working in two languages, uploading content from day one, configuring new SEO plugins, testing how everything connects. Slow and overwhelming but necessary.
The system is now in place and tomorrow the same work should take no more than an hour and a half. The afternoon BJJ session was skipped intentionally. Without technique work scheduled it would have been a conditioning session without even a gi and the body needed what little it had left for the evening. The Jiu Jitsu Riyadh session at the Manar branch was the priority.
Evening Session: Shadow Wrestling, Sweeps, and Survival
The warm-up hit immediately. Three full rounds of running, push-ups, squats, spider walk, lunges, and sit-ups. Legs already sore going in, the warm-up during this Jiu Jitsu Riyadh Session made sure nothing was forgotten from the day before. Shadow wrestling came first, solo then with a partner. The drill was simple: grab the partner’s leg and control from behind, working both sides. Foundational for takedown entries and defensive positioning on the feet.
The second drill of this Jiu Jitsu Riyadh Session added deception. Fake the leg grab, flip the hand over, go directly to back control instead. The fake creates the opening. Once behind the opponent a slow controlled tackle finishes the position safely. That hand flip detail is what makes the whole movement work. From there the session moved to butterfly guard. The combination was sweep into armbar. Create the sweep from butterfly, use the momentum to flip the opponent, and transition directly into the armbar. Two movements that flow into one when the timing connects.
Live Rolling: Three Rounds, Three Losses, One Lesson
First roll was with Amr, a familiar face from boxing. He caught me twice but neither came without a fight. The coach stepped in after and showed one counter worth keeping permanently: if someone grabs your wrist, twist first then pull. That small adjustment breaks the grip before the opponent can react. The last roll was with Khaled from Lebanon, big guy who also plays basketball. The size difference was obvious. He got the better of it but the fight did not stop because the position was bad. Total mat time was one hour and twenty-five minutes.
The Tournament Is Getting Real
After the session the boxing coach was already in the gym preparing his 11 PM class, rope skipping before the group arrived. We talked. Chances of being selected for the upcoming tournament have increased. The weight category sits either under 69 or 71 kilograms and current weight is around 70.9 kg. Depending on how that settles the spot could be confirmed. First boxing tournament. The excitement is real. Headed home in the rain. Cold shower, nutrition, a little more blog work, then sleep.
Day 159 Lesson
Showing up to a Jiu Jitsu Riyadh session on a broken body after six hours of screen work is not heroic. It is just what the journey requires on certain days. The sessions where everything hurts before you even start are the ones that build the most. Not because suffering is the point, but because choosing to go anyway when every reasonable excuse is available is what separates consistent progress from occasional effort. The mat does not care how sore you are. It only rewards presence.
Day 159 complete. The grind continues, sore legs, potential tournament spot, and one post closer to a working blog.
👉 When your body is already broken from the previous session and you still have a Jiu Jitsu Riyadh class ahead of you, what is the mental process that gets you through the warm-up and onto the mat, and how do you balance recovery with the refusal to miss training?