Just Roll, Baby

12/5 - Downtown

No technique, just rolling.

Started off with positional drills. Two minutes of side-control transitions to mount, north-south, KOB or a submission, depending upon what James called out. My transition from north-south back to side-control was pretty awful. Meh.

After that, it was two minute rounds of trying to submit or improve your position from side-control, then mount, then back-mount. I was wish James for this portion, and I could not escape mount. Not even a little bit. After, I realized that I probably let him get too high up on my hips. Need to watch that next time. For the back-mount portion, he said I had good, tight hooks.

Then 4-5 rounds, 2min each of trying to push each other off the mat. Take-down training is something I need desperately, but I abhor it. I tried to convince myself that all of the barbell squats I've been doing would lead to improvement in this area. Interesting theory. :p I didn't get any of the guys off the mat, but once I figured out someone's game it wasn't as easy for them to get me off the mat.

After that, we went right into rolling. I started with Antone, and shocker, I was pretzelfied pretty quick. He got me in a couple of subs, probably b/c I left my arm hanging out somewhere I shouldn't. I cursed myself both times, because as soon as he snagged it I knew it was trouble.

Rolled with Dennis twice, and we had good back and forth rolling. I almost (!) got to side-control on him. I kept trying to set up collar chokes, triangles and arm-bars from guard but he wasn't having it. He showed me a nice sub if someone has double-underhooks on your legs as they try to pass your guard. Get a grip on both of their sleeves, walk your shoulders back to create space, slide one leg across their chest/hip and hook your toes against the other side. Keep ahold of the sleeve, and lengthen/straighten your leg (your hamstring should be pushing against their bicep). Sweet shoulder lock.

Had a roll with Manny, nothing too memorable.

Overall, I think I did a so-so job at not falling into bad positions. Antone is so damn good at eliminating space and maintaining that tight control from start to finish in a transition that it was almost impossible to find any openings. The few "openings" I did find usually ended up in a trapped arm and submission.

The guys seem to think that I'll have success at Pan Ams, which is very nice of them. It feels great to have that support and belief from other people.