Wrist Lock City

7/24 - Downtown

Life and circumstances have gotten in the way of a slew of classes this week. Not too worried about since I hit quite a few earlier in the month.

We had an obscene number of people at the morning class today. Sixteen, including James. Kelly requested that we work on wrist locks, and predictably there was a shared groan from the entire class. Wrist locks from standing, guillotine defense, kesa gatame, top side-control and omoplatas. They are indeed everywhere if you know where to look. I don't quite know where to look yet, but I am learning when my own wrists are in danger and can generally identify it before someone (except James) can complete the lock. During the technique portion I was tapping early b/c I absolutely do not want to have an injured wrist.

A lot of good rolls. I did well against Sarah, but was pretty much manhandled by everyone else. Granted two of those were purple belts, but still. Rolls with Michael and Jason (P), neither of which I've rolled with in many moons.

Early on, I tried to free my mind of techniques that I expected or wanted to perform and really just go with the flow. That lasted for a piece of time, and is something I want to experiment with further. In class I generally don't have a set plan other than focusing on a particular fundamental...grips, controlling distance, etc. However, I think mid-roll I try to fit a technique into a situation even though it may not be the right tool for the job. I want to get a sense of momentum, space, pressure, etc. For example, if someone is in my open guard in a combat stance, the first (and only thing I think of) is to get a DLR hook and do the one DLR sweep that I know, regardless of their posture. Instead, I'd rather get the DLR hook and play with getting inverted, or change their posture/balance. So being more in a flow to control position instead of trying to hit specific techniques, if that makes sense.