8/29 - Evening Downtown
Decided to do a second class since a visiting black belt was in town. Good choice, as he taught and went over some RDLR that he expanded upon the next day. Don't remember much except for the technique details.
8/30 - Downtown
More RDLR and got a five minute roll with Chris (the black belt). He showed me a couple of easy, clear techniques to try. One was to use a lapel drag when someone is in my guard, the other was a defense for the deep half. Other rolls with the regular guys, nothing especially memorable. It's been a blur of BJJ.
8/31 - Downtown - Seminar
Two and half hour seminar with Chris. Started with a couple of take-downs (just shoot me already), then passing from the take-down position. Then it was all side-control. Taking the back, submissions....I MUST write up notes tonight or else the majority of it is going to be lost. I love the knowledge that is dropped during seminars, but it is such a high volume that I have to write the details within hours or else it's lost. I take notes during, but the amount that I'm able to write during the class is minimal.
At the end, he did the gauntlet of everyone that was left (some people had to leave mid-way through). I'd say at least ten guys, including James. He started with the white belts, and moved up the line. Two minutes with everyone, no breaks in between. I have mad respect for him doing that. Some guys are so freaked out about their belts that they would never put themselves in a position to possibly get tapped by a lower belt. Chris didn't care and put himself on the line. Impressed.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Deep Half on Noobs
8/28 - Valley
Half guard sweeps. Drive the bus, trap the foot and trap the leg. Relatively easy techniques and we repped them over and over again. I like having days where were just rep the hell out of something. Get it deeply ingrained in your muscle memory. Or so goes the theory.
It was a relatively big class, as all of the karate instructors were there. I rolled with Holly and two other women. Rolls were probably 3-4min each. All them were wearing karate gis, so I was mindful of not gripping the lapels and sleeves like I would a BJJ gi. No need to wreck their gis. The roll with Holly was fun, as I was able to work mainly on positioning. The other two women (girls, really...probably not quite college age) had very little BJJ experience, so again I worked positioning and helped them with some basics. I decided that I wanted to practice deep half guard on one of them, and she was clearly startled when I went from a shin guard to under her leg and then up and over into side-control. The shin guard entry is really, really easy for me to remember, so I should keep going for it.
I was a little bummed that I didn't get to roll with someone more experienced, but the upshot is that I got to execute something to completion that I probably won't against more experienced grapplers.
I might go to the evening class downtown if I can swing it with my schedule.
The pie has been calling to me all day...
Half guard sweeps. Drive the bus, trap the foot and trap the leg. Relatively easy techniques and we repped them over and over again. I like having days where were just rep the hell out of something. Get it deeply ingrained in your muscle memory. Or so goes the theory.
It was a relatively big class, as all of the karate instructors were there. I rolled with Holly and two other women. Rolls were probably 3-4min each. All them were wearing karate gis, so I was mindful of not gripping the lapels and sleeves like I would a BJJ gi. No need to wreck their gis. The roll with Holly was fun, as I was able to work mainly on positioning. The other two women (girls, really...probably not quite college age) had very little BJJ experience, so again I worked positioning and helped them with some basics. I decided that I wanted to practice deep half guard on one of them, and she was clearly startled when I went from a shin guard to under her leg and then up and over into side-control. The shin guard entry is really, really easy for me to remember, so I should keep going for it.
I was a little bummed that I didn't get to roll with someone more experienced, but the upshot is that I got to execute something to completion that I probably won't against more experienced grapplers.
I might go to the evening class downtown if I can swing it with my schedule.
The pie has been calling to me all day...
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
.JPG)
Deep Half
8/28 - Downtown
Had a very mild 24hr cold yesterday, so didn't go to class. Today I felt better, so I went. Good choice, as it was a small class and pretty mellow.
My focus today was to not allow (to the best of my ability) my opponent to get DLR. It's a good enough goal in and of itself, but it was born of trying to prevent being bolo'd. As a result, my flow rolling was utter shite b/c all I could think about was defending DLR. Also I was a little rusty from taking a day off. :p I was thinking waaaaaay too much instead of just flowing. I hate, hate, hate being a poor flow rolling partner.
Deep half for the technique portion. Was happy to go over this, as I've been making a couple of bad mistakes on both sides of it. Not one of the more intuitive positions for me, but it's something that I should try to incorporate into my game as an escape option from mount and back mount.
Rolls with Sarah, Dennis and Jason (b). Focus on being aggressive (i.e. don't fall to guard) and don't allow DLR hook. I was patient but determined in my roll with Sarah. I thinking tournament, with position, points, etc. I ended up using a little bit of muscle at one point, but was mainly technical. Got a bow-and-arrow and an arm-bar.
Roll with Dennis was mostly him in superior position. I tried to pass his guard and was so focused on preventing DLR that he was able to dump me with something else pretty easily. 30sec timer went off with him in mount, and my goal was to get out and get a sweep. I did manage to escape, but not even close on the sweep.
Jason started off with a dominant top position and had an arm-bar that started from technical mount that I was able to fight off for awhile. I eventually get my elbow out, but had got my other arm in the process and he promptly slapped on a triangle. I was almost able to pop my head out (I was kindof sprawled out at that point and poorly postured) but he took my arm the other way and got an arm-bar anyway. We restarted and I went for a pass. Fought off a DLR and was in the midst of a pass with him in a kindof half guard. I think I might have been on my hip facing him at this point. I had a burst of inspiration and wrapped my near-side arm around his head and then grabbed my lapel. I kept feeding my hand as high as I could on my lapel and then arched my back and got a tap. Don't think it was a crank, b/c I didn't have to arch very far and I was off to the side. I have no idea what it was that I did, but it felt freaking awesome to make something up on the fly that worked and on a tough opponent to boot. I don't have any illusions that I invented something, but it's been a long while since I got a sub by simply using the principles of submissions instead of focusing on the submission itself (if that makes sense).
So that was pretty cool. :)
I feel like the 6-7 classes a week is starting to make a difference. I'm noticing that my instincts--at least on defense--are keeping me in a roll longer and am staving off more submission attempts. Not necessarily true against all partners, but by and large I'm seeing improvement in survivability and getting back to a neutral position.
Had a very mild 24hr cold yesterday, so didn't go to class. Today I felt better, so I went. Good choice, as it was a small class and pretty mellow.
My focus today was to not allow (to the best of my ability) my opponent to get DLR. It's a good enough goal in and of itself, but it was born of trying to prevent being bolo'd. As a result, my flow rolling was utter shite b/c all I could think about was defending DLR. Also I was a little rusty from taking a day off. :p I was thinking waaaaaay too much instead of just flowing. I hate, hate, hate being a poor flow rolling partner.
Deep half for the technique portion. Was happy to go over this, as I've been making a couple of bad mistakes on both sides of it. Not one of the more intuitive positions for me, but it's something that I should try to incorporate into my game as an escape option from mount and back mount.
Rolls with Sarah, Dennis and Jason (b). Focus on being aggressive (i.e. don't fall to guard) and don't allow DLR hook. I was patient but determined in my roll with Sarah. I thinking tournament, with position, points, etc. I ended up using a little bit of muscle at one point, but was mainly technical. Got a bow-and-arrow and an arm-bar.
Roll with Dennis was mostly him in superior position. I tried to pass his guard and was so focused on preventing DLR that he was able to dump me with something else pretty easily. 30sec timer went off with him in mount, and my goal was to get out and get a sweep. I did manage to escape, but not even close on the sweep.
Jason started off with a dominant top position and had an arm-bar that started from technical mount that I was able to fight off for awhile. I eventually get my elbow out, but had got my other arm in the process and he promptly slapped on a triangle. I was almost able to pop my head out (I was kindof sprawled out at that point and poorly postured) but he took my arm the other way and got an arm-bar anyway. We restarted and I went for a pass. Fought off a DLR and was in the midst of a pass with him in a kindof half guard. I think I might have been on my hip facing him at this point. I had a burst of inspiration and wrapped my near-side arm around his head and then grabbed my lapel. I kept feeding my hand as high as I could on my lapel and then arched my back and got a tap. Don't think it was a crank, b/c I didn't have to arch very far and I was off to the side. I have no idea what it was that I did, but it felt freaking awesome to make something up on the fly that worked and on a tough opponent to boot. I don't have any illusions that I invented something, but it's been a long while since I got a sub by simply using the principles of submissions instead of focusing on the submission itself (if that makes sense).
So that was pretty cool. :)
I feel like the 6-7 classes a week is starting to make a difference. I'm noticing that my instincts--at least on defense--are keeping me in a roll longer and am staving off more submission attempts. Not necessarily true against all partners, but by and large I'm seeing improvement in survivability and getting back to a neutral position.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Yank
8/26 - Downtown
Today we attempted to work a series of passes to mount and then submissions, but only got through one scenario due to numerous white belts who needed a lot of individual attention. This was exacerbated by the fact that none of the blues/purples paired up with the white belts. When newish white belts pair up with each other, that's generally not a good recipe when we're covering advanced topics. Since many of the non-white belts are competing soon, I suspect that had something to do with the pairing. Ah well.
Rolls with Kelly, Ben, Drew and Julio. Kelly professed to be tired today, and it did seem like I was having a bit more success than usual. His 'bolo attempts ended up in scrambles. I wasn't on top much, but I also wasn't getting choked out as much as usual.
The usual tough roll with Julio, but he didn't get any subs on me. I don't know if it's b/c he's trying new things or that my defense was that good today. I was very conscious on not allowing point positions if possible, which is what I think he was focusing on.
Ben doesn't yet know how to roll relaxed. He uses a lot of strength, and today, even more than usual, it seemed like he was trying to yank limbs to his desired position. I was getting a little PO'd by mid-roll. He was in front mount or quarter guard and was trying to rip my arm in one direction or the other. I was in quarter or half guard quite a bit and he was just yank, rip, yank, rip. Nothing wrong with it, and I expect it out of even seasoned white belts, but the repeated nature of it was rubbing me the wrong way. I was half mad at myself for not being able to fully execute an escape, but I was so focused on trying to protect my arms that I didn't. At one point I had to calm myself down when I was in mount, b/c I was starting to extend my arms in some dumb vain attempt to push him back.
Drew is relatively new. He did BJJ for a year, took a year off and is starting back up with us. I went through the same scenario, so had a lot of empathy for him. He was a bigger ball of energy than I was expecting, and on the heels of Ben I was thinking oh s, here we go again. However, he's not as big as Ben and more spazzy. He left a lot of space and I was able to sneak to his back when he had a headlock thing from reverse kesa gatame (despite him trying to push my head into the mat to prevent it...ugh). I finished with a bow and arrow. He took my back briefly, then I escaped and somehow finished with an omoplata.
Overall I'm happy with the rolls and how I handled my emotion with the overt use of strength. I'm not happy with the fact that I was baited into a triangle that was subsequently smashed. I could see it coming all the way and I still went for it.
Today we attempted to work a series of passes to mount and then submissions, but only got through one scenario due to numerous white belts who needed a lot of individual attention. This was exacerbated by the fact that none of the blues/purples paired up with the white belts. When newish white belts pair up with each other, that's generally not a good recipe when we're covering advanced topics. Since many of the non-white belts are competing soon, I suspect that had something to do with the pairing. Ah well.
Rolls with Kelly, Ben, Drew and Julio. Kelly professed to be tired today, and it did seem like I was having a bit more success than usual. His 'bolo attempts ended up in scrambles. I wasn't on top much, but I also wasn't getting choked out as much as usual.
The usual tough roll with Julio, but he didn't get any subs on me. I don't know if it's b/c he's trying new things or that my defense was that good today. I was very conscious on not allowing point positions if possible, which is what I think he was focusing on.
Ben doesn't yet know how to roll relaxed. He uses a lot of strength, and today, even more than usual, it seemed like he was trying to yank limbs to his desired position. I was getting a little PO'd by mid-roll. He was in front mount or quarter guard and was trying to rip my arm in one direction or the other. I was in quarter or half guard quite a bit and he was just yank, rip, yank, rip. Nothing wrong with it, and I expect it out of even seasoned white belts, but the repeated nature of it was rubbing me the wrong way. I was half mad at myself for not being able to fully execute an escape, but I was so focused on trying to protect my arms that I didn't. At one point I had to calm myself down when I was in mount, b/c I was starting to extend my arms in some dumb vain attempt to push him back.
Drew is relatively new. He did BJJ for a year, took a year off and is starting back up with us. I went through the same scenario, so had a lot of empathy for him. He was a bigger ball of energy than I was expecting, and on the heels of Ben I was thinking oh s, here we go again. However, he's not as big as Ben and more spazzy. He left a lot of space and I was able to sneak to his back when he had a headlock thing from reverse kesa gatame (despite him trying to push my head into the mat to prevent it...ugh). I finished with a bow and arrow. He took my back briefly, then I escaped and somehow finished with an omoplata.
Overall I'm happy with the rolls and how I handled my emotion with the overt use of strength. I'm not happy with the fact that I was baited into a triangle that was subsequently smashed. I could see it coming all the way and I still went for it.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Running Out of Pants
8/24 - Downtown
On Thursday, my Atama pants ripped across the mid-thigh when Scott was trying to pass my guard. The gi has been getting more and more on the ragged side, but I haven't replaced it b/c it's the "uniform" of the valley school. I only train there twice a week and I don't want to drop over $100 on a new gi that I don't particularly like. I had also noticed earlier that my Koral pants had another small hole, so I took both of them into the tailor for repairs. All that's left is the SYR, which is in pretty good shape. It should be, since it's only 6mos old. If I have the money to compete frequently next spring I'm probably going to need another gi. *sigh*
Anyway, KOB submissions today. They were all techniques I've seen before, so it was mainly a refresher. James makes the far-side arm-bar look so smooth. I kept trying for that smoothness but missed the mark. Other than that the drilling went well.
Rolls with Antone, Clayton, Zack and Ian. Antone got a gi choke that I staved off for awhile but eventually had to tap. He said that it was interesting watching my face go from pink, to red, to purple. I was able to control Zack fairly well, and got him with an arm-bar from mount. Felt like he was chilling or stalling a bit, which is very unlike his 14y/o self. Controlled and subbed Ian as well, although I think he did pass my guard or get to side-control at some point. Clayton was in the mood to crush, and nailed a couple of quick and hard chokes. One of them I couldn't verbally tap and barely had the ROM in my hand to tap on his back. He puts subs on quick.
I've been slacking on the Portuguese, but don't have anything going on today so will get back on track with that.
On Thursday, my Atama pants ripped across the mid-thigh when Scott was trying to pass my guard. The gi has been getting more and more on the ragged side, but I haven't replaced it b/c it's the "uniform" of the valley school. I only train there twice a week and I don't want to drop over $100 on a new gi that I don't particularly like. I had also noticed earlier that my Koral pants had another small hole, so I took both of them into the tailor for repairs. All that's left is the SYR, which is in pretty good shape. It should be, since it's only 6mos old. If I have the money to compete frequently next spring I'm probably going to need another gi. *sigh*
Anyway, KOB submissions today. They were all techniques I've seen before, so it was mainly a refresher. James makes the far-side arm-bar look so smooth. I kept trying for that smoothness but missed the mark. Other than that the drilling went well.
Rolls with Antone, Clayton, Zack and Ian. Antone got a gi choke that I staved off for awhile but eventually had to tap. He said that it was interesting watching my face go from pink, to red, to purple. I was able to control Zack fairly well, and got him with an arm-bar from mount. Felt like he was chilling or stalling a bit, which is very unlike his 14y/o self. Controlled and subbed Ian as well, although I think he did pass my guard or get to side-control at some point. Clayton was in the mood to crush, and nailed a couple of quick and hard chokes. One of them I couldn't verbally tap and barely had the ROM in my hand to tap on his back. He puts subs on quick.
I've been slacking on the Portuguese, but don't have anything going on today so will get back on track with that.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Put Their Knee in their Mouth
8/23 - Downtown
Stacking double-under guard passes. My legs weren't quite as bendy as they usually are, which was sad for me. I felt a little out of juice today, which is probably a combo of last night's lift and a cumulative effect from the week. I felt like I was doing fairly well on the drills. I like the posture methods that James showed us but I have to think through them as it's different from how I've been doing posture in guard the past ~4yrs.
Four rolls. Energy was pretty good during rolls, although there were a couple of times when I'd pause and catch my breath in bottom side or in my own guard.
First was Jason (b). We had one of our most competitive rolls, although I don't think he was going 100%. He seemed to focusing on control and not muscling, which could account for the difference in pressure. He immediately passed my guard, exactly like Damon did yesterday. I was consciously thinking of not fully extending my legs but either that wasn't the problem or they extended without my permission. He did that a couple of times, but I also had opportunities to work passes, side-control escapes, etc.
Roll with Antone, who was having stomach issues and made at least four visits to the bathroom during class. That might account for why I had such a good roll against him today. I didn't dominate by any stretch, but I was more competitive than usual. I did a better job than usual of stuffing his bolo attempts. He did get a kimura b/c my arm was trapped behind my back during one of his transitions to mount and he kept a hold of it during the resultant scramble to finish it off.
Keith and I had a good back and forth, although I was getting the better of it today. Took his back at least once, if not twice. I didn't get any subs but I was positionally dominant.
Last roll was with Kelly, who used a little less of wrestling voodoo today and played from guard. As soon as he gets a sleeve and leg grip I'm cooked. Bah. He passed my guard all day and got a couple of subs.
Overall, pretty pleased.
Going to an Italian place for dinner tonight and am going to savor every bite. :p
Stacking double-under guard passes. My legs weren't quite as bendy as they usually are, which was sad for me. I felt a little out of juice today, which is probably a combo of last night's lift and a cumulative effect from the week. I felt like I was doing fairly well on the drills. I like the posture methods that James showed us but I have to think through them as it's different from how I've been doing posture in guard the past ~4yrs.
Four rolls. Energy was pretty good during rolls, although there were a couple of times when I'd pause and catch my breath in bottom side or in my own guard.
First was Jason (b). We had one of our most competitive rolls, although I don't think he was going 100%. He seemed to focusing on control and not muscling, which could account for the difference in pressure. He immediately passed my guard, exactly like Damon did yesterday. I was consciously thinking of not fully extending my legs but either that wasn't the problem or they extended without my permission. He did that a couple of times, but I also had opportunities to work passes, side-control escapes, etc.
Roll with Antone, who was having stomach issues and made at least four visits to the bathroom during class. That might account for why I had such a good roll against him today. I didn't dominate by any stretch, but I was more competitive than usual. I did a better job than usual of stuffing his bolo attempts. He did get a kimura b/c my arm was trapped behind my back during one of his transitions to mount and he kept a hold of it during the resultant scramble to finish it off.
Keith and I had a good back and forth, although I was getting the better of it today. Took his back at least once, if not twice. I didn't get any subs but I was positionally dominant.
Last roll was with Kelly, who used a little less of wrestling voodoo today and played from guard. As soon as he gets a sleeve and leg grip I'm cooked. Bah. He passed my guard all day and got a couple of subs.
Overall, pretty pleased.
Going to an Italian place for dinner tonight and am going to savor every bite. :p
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Squirrely
8/22 - Valley
Thank goodness the valley school doesn't have a scale. My body is adamantly refusing to eat less, but I have almost two weeks to decide if I need to jump weight classes. I've reduced my breakfast by 1/3 and cut out chocolate and cookies. I'm more or less ok with that, but when I'm doing multiple BJJ sessions a day or BJJ and lifting, I must feed. I think I'm willing to pay that price to ensure I have a high level of performance leading up to the comp. If I go against someone that outweighs me by 50lb, then so be it.
Anyway... We did more side-control submissions today, as well as a guard pass to foot lock. Was feeling ok with most of these. While Scott was drilling the guard pass on me, my pants ripped wide open about mid-thigh. Awesome. My Koral pants developed another tear too, so I'm going to take them both in tomorrow to see if they can be repaired. Both gis have been in heavy use for 3yrs, but I'd like to get more mileage out of them if I can.
Rolled twice with Damon and once with Scott. I legitimately got back mount on Mr. Tong. I think. Pretty sure he didn't intend for me to take his back while he was passing my guard. I held on for awhile, trying for a bow and arrow to no avail. He tried to foot lock me several times with his legs but the position wasn't quite right. He eventually escaped and I think it was a fair amount of scrambling after that. He said that I was very squirrely, which is a big compliment from him. Rolled with Scott, who has an additional 30+lb of muscle. I got the DLR sweep we were working on at the downtown school yesterday, but didn't keep his elbow off the ground so wasn't quite able to complete the sweep. Tried the a spiderguard sweep (to no avail), and ended up in bottom side at some point. Another roll with Damon. Tried the DLR sweep on him a couple of times but he was doing knee slide passes through my guard like butter. Had me in a couple of bad spots but I was able to work my way out. By far the most competitive rolls I've had with him in quite some time. Very gratifying. He and Scott mentioned that my rolling is looking good.
Damon said the reason why he was able to pass my guard so easy is that I had my legs fully (or almost fully) extended when they were on his hips. That was excellent feedback, as I realized I was doing the same thing wrong but couldn't identify what it was. Will have to focus on either having better push/pull tension when in spiderguard or not leaving my leg so extended in other open guards.
Thank goodness the valley school doesn't have a scale. My body is adamantly refusing to eat less, but I have almost two weeks to decide if I need to jump weight classes. I've reduced my breakfast by 1/3 and cut out chocolate and cookies. I'm more or less ok with that, but when I'm doing multiple BJJ sessions a day or BJJ and lifting, I must feed. I think I'm willing to pay that price to ensure I have a high level of performance leading up to the comp. If I go against someone that outweighs me by 50lb, then so be it.
Anyway... We did more side-control submissions today, as well as a guard pass to foot lock. Was feeling ok with most of these. While Scott was drilling the guard pass on me, my pants ripped wide open about mid-thigh. Awesome. My Koral pants developed another tear too, so I'm going to take them both in tomorrow to see if they can be repaired. Both gis have been in heavy use for 3yrs, but I'd like to get more mileage out of them if I can.
Rolled twice with Damon and once with Scott. I legitimately got back mount on Mr. Tong. I think. Pretty sure he didn't intend for me to take his back while he was passing my guard. I held on for awhile, trying for a bow and arrow to no avail. He tried to foot lock me several times with his legs but the position wasn't quite right. He eventually escaped and I think it was a fair amount of scrambling after that. He said that I was very squirrely, which is a big compliment from him. Rolled with Scott, who has an additional 30+lb of muscle. I got the DLR sweep we were working on at the downtown school yesterday, but didn't keep his elbow off the ground so wasn't quite able to complete the sweep. Tried the a spiderguard sweep (to no avail), and ended up in bottom side at some point. Another roll with Damon. Tried the DLR sweep on him a couple of times but he was doing knee slide passes through my guard like butter. Had me in a couple of bad spots but I was able to work my way out. By far the most competitive rolls I've had with him in quite some time. Very gratifying. He and Scott mentioned that my rolling is looking good.
Damon said the reason why he was able to pass my guard so easy is that I had my legs fully (or almost fully) extended when they were on his hips. That was excellent feedback, as I realized I was doing the same thing wrong but couldn't identify what it was. Will have to focus on either having better push/pull tension when in spiderguard or not leaving my leg so extended in other open guards.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Hairball
8/21 - Downtown
Up to 165lb on the scale. Need to be at 163lb for the tournament. Thought I would have sweat off the necessary poundage last night but apparently not. Going to play it by ear...still have a couple of weeks to see where I'm at. If I need to go up a weight bracket, I (grudgingly) will.
DLR sweeps today. I've seen them before, and the first two I did relatively well, but the third involved working your way to taking the back. I struggled with this one, and I'm guessing it's because I wasn't going at the right angle. I'd get there, but it seemed much more difficult than it should have been.
Rolls with Dennis, Kelly, Jimmy and Camille. Another good back and forth roll with Dennis. Really love rolling with that guy. Kelly did pretty much the same thing as last night, which means he used his wrestling voodoo to get on top in about 5sec, apply pressure so that I couldn't even think about moving, control my head and then go for some choke or another. I was getting discouraged about it last night, but fared a bit better today, probably b/c it was in the gi. Jimmy was moving quickly today, but seemed a little impatient so I was able to escape bad positions. I don't think I ever had him in any kindof danger, but I wasn't in too many precarious spots myself. I had mount on Camille a couple of times and in hindsight I should have let her work her top game more. In the midst of our roll she got a displeased look on her face and went into the back. I was worried that I had hurt her, but it turns out she had a hair that had gotten to the back of her throat and was irritating it. Haven't had a partner cough up a hairball before, so that was a new wrinkle.
Up to 165lb on the scale. Need to be at 163lb for the tournament. Thought I would have sweat off the necessary poundage last night but apparently not. Going to play it by ear...still have a couple of weeks to see where I'm at. If I need to go up a weight bracket, I (grudgingly) will.
DLR sweeps today. I've seen them before, and the first two I did relatively well, but the third involved working your way to taking the back. I struggled with this one, and I'm guessing it's because I wasn't going at the right angle. I'd get there, but it seemed much more difficult than it should have been.
Rolls with Dennis, Kelly, Jimmy and Camille. Another good back and forth roll with Dennis. Really love rolling with that guy. Kelly did pretty much the same thing as last night, which means he used his wrestling voodoo to get on top in about 5sec, apply pressure so that I couldn't even think about moving, control my head and then go for some choke or another. I was getting discouraged about it last night, but fared a bit better today, probably b/c it was in the gi. Jimmy was moving quickly today, but seemed a little impatient so I was able to escape bad positions. I don't think I ever had him in any kindof danger, but I wasn't in too many precarious spots myself. I had mount on Camille a couple of times and in hindsight I should have let her work her top game more. In the midst of our roll she got a displeased look on her face and went into the back. I was worried that I had hurt her, but it turns out she had a hair that had gotten to the back of her throat and was irritating it. Haven't had a partner cough up a hairball before, so that was a new wrinkle.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Subs from Side AND No gi!
8/20 - Morning - Valley
Back at the Valley after a week or so off. Today was a diet of side-control submissions and transitions to mount. Knee-bar, kimura, kimura to arm-bar, neck crank and toe hold. We went over a bicep slicer as part of the kimura-to-armbar transition....which I'm pretty sure isn't legal at most tournaments, at least at blue.
Had a good roll with Holly going when her kneecap become firmly planted in my right quad. Initially I kept going (we were in the midst of a scramble) but after a couple of seconds I tapped and took a moment to collect my thoughts. I feel a bit bad about stopping the roll for that, b/c it wasn't an injury per se, but the depth to which her knee seemed to penetrate my muscles/tendons/etc did take me by surprise. I sat out for a couple of minutes, then rolled with Gary, then back with Holly. I kept trying to do a basic spiderguard sweep with both Gary and Holly and was wildly unsuccessful. I was able to maintain spiderguard at will with Holly. I felt like I was able to scramble well with Gary.
On a side note, my legs are killing me since I did squats yesterday. I took ~10 days off from lifting and apparently that was enough to ensure that I had to go through the whole squat DOMS cycle again. Grrrr...
The Brazilian Portuguese learning is sputtering a bit. I've been going back and forth between an online resource (Duolingo) and textbook material. The Duolingo part is starting to get tricky b/c there is no explanation, only exercises. For example, it would be helpful to see a chart of a verb conjugated before the exercise so that I have some idea of what the verb is in all of it's forms. Or, if they stuck with one verb throughout it's various conjugations instead of skipping around. It's still a great tool though! Need to spend more time with the book too.
Evening - Downtown
On a whim I decided to go to a no gi class. It's my second no gi class in a year, so my expectations were reasonably pretty low. Was hoping to get knowledge bombs, and instead got an hour and a half of straight rolling to help me figure out my weak points. Ok, well point taken. I can't sweep in no gi. If I couldn't hip bump them or arm-drag, I had absolutely no idea what to do. Nothing was as glaring as a weakness as the sweeps. We started with a shark tank for competitors (mount or back-mount was the only way to "win"), so there was very little rest for the first hour. After that it was rounds (5min I think) of the usual rolling drill. I probably sweat out at least 3lb if not 5lb. The mats were a slip and slide. Yeeeeeeeeeeeech. I'm going to go pass out now.
Back at the Valley after a week or so off. Today was a diet of side-control submissions and transitions to mount. Knee-bar, kimura, kimura to arm-bar, neck crank and toe hold. We went over a bicep slicer as part of the kimura-to-armbar transition....which I'm pretty sure isn't legal at most tournaments, at least at blue.
Had a good roll with Holly going when her kneecap become firmly planted in my right quad. Initially I kept going (we were in the midst of a scramble) but after a couple of seconds I tapped and took a moment to collect my thoughts. I feel a bit bad about stopping the roll for that, b/c it wasn't an injury per se, but the depth to which her knee seemed to penetrate my muscles/tendons/etc did take me by surprise. I sat out for a couple of minutes, then rolled with Gary, then back with Holly. I kept trying to do a basic spiderguard sweep with both Gary and Holly and was wildly unsuccessful. I was able to maintain spiderguard at will with Holly. I felt like I was able to scramble well with Gary.
On a side note, my legs are killing me since I did squats yesterday. I took ~10 days off from lifting and apparently that was enough to ensure that I had to go through the whole squat DOMS cycle again. Grrrr...
The Brazilian Portuguese learning is sputtering a bit. I've been going back and forth between an online resource (Duolingo) and textbook material. The Duolingo part is starting to get tricky b/c there is no explanation, only exercises. For example, it would be helpful to see a chart of a verb conjugated before the exercise so that I have some idea of what the verb is in all of it's forms. Or, if they stuck with one verb throughout it's various conjugations instead of skipping around. It's still a great tool though! Need to spend more time with the book too.
Evening - Downtown
On a whim I decided to go to a no gi class. It's my second no gi class in a year, so my expectations were reasonably pretty low. Was hoping to get knowledge bombs, and instead got an hour and a half of straight rolling to help me figure out my weak points. Ok, well point taken. I can't sweep in no gi. If I couldn't hip bump them or arm-drag, I had absolutely no idea what to do. Nothing was as glaring as a weakness as the sweeps. We started with a shark tank for competitors (mount or back-mount was the only way to "win"), so there was very little rest for the first hour. After that it was rounds (5min I think) of the usual rolling drill. I probably sweat out at least 3lb if not 5lb. The mats were a slip and slide. Yeeeeeeeeeeeech. I'm going to go pass out now.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Non-Stop Rolling
8/19
Little wound is all healed, thanks to some time off and antibiotics. Tests for nasty bacterias and viruses came back negative.
We had seven ppl in class today. Two rounds of flow rolling with everyone, then stretching, then for realz rolling another two rounds with everyone. No technique. Great day to come back. Cardio was awesome, no problem whatsoever. Also helped that it wasn't 90F outside.
I didn't expect too much after a week off. Unhooking my expectations and brain is a glorious thing in jiu jitsu. I wasn't focusing on anything in particular, other than a bit on where I was points-wise during the non-flow rolls. Dennis commented that I seemed very technical today. I told James at one point that Dennis was my favorite guy to roll with b/c he's stronger, a little heavier and more skilled...but enough to make it challenging and instead of demolishing me (usually). If I'm on my A game, we have really competitive and fun rolls.
I need to learn how to defend deep half. People were deep-halfing on me all day and I thought by holding up their elbow I could keep them from coming up. No.
I'm less than 2lb over with the gi, so I'm not too worried about weight for the tournament in 3wks.
Little wound is all healed, thanks to some time off and antibiotics. Tests for nasty bacterias and viruses came back negative.
We had seven ppl in class today. Two rounds of flow rolling with everyone, then stretching, then for realz rolling another two rounds with everyone. No technique. Great day to come back. Cardio was awesome, no problem whatsoever. Also helped that it wasn't 90F outside.
I didn't expect too much after a week off. Unhooking my expectations and brain is a glorious thing in jiu jitsu. I wasn't focusing on anything in particular, other than a bit on where I was points-wise during the non-flow rolls. Dennis commented that I seemed very technical today. I told James at one point that Dennis was my favorite guy to roll with b/c he's stronger, a little heavier and more skilled...but enough to make it challenging and instead of demolishing me (usually). If I'm on my A game, we have really competitive and fun rolls.
I need to learn how to defend deep half. People were deep-halfing on me all day and I thought by holding up their elbow I could keep them from coming up. No.
I'm less than 2lb over with the gi, so I'm not too worried about weight for the tournament in 3wks.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Day 13
8/10 - Downtown
Went to class for the 13th consecutive day, and in hindsight, should not have gone. My ankle had a mat burn or something on it that got really pissed off from people laying their shins across it, manhandling it, etc. It was pretty swollen and unhappy by the time I got home. I put on hydrogen peroxide which helped some but it was too late because some sort of infection had already set in. Went to see the doc this morning and he took sample for testing and put me on antibiotics. Said I'd probably be ok if I had it bandaged, taped and an ace sleeve over the top of it.
Ugh. I should have known better. I didn't go to class yesterday or today, and will talk with my coach about doing classes this week with my foot bandaged up. I have the week off from work, so I could punt on BJJ and lifting too and take it as a full rest week. That leaves me three full weeks before the tournament. Will play it by ear and see what the test results say.
Went to class for the 13th consecutive day, and in hindsight, should not have gone. My ankle had a mat burn or something on it that got really pissed off from people laying their shins across it, manhandling it, etc. It was pretty swollen and unhappy by the time I got home. I put on hydrogen peroxide which helped some but it was too late because some sort of infection had already set in. Went to see the doc this morning and he took sample for testing and put me on antibiotics. Said I'd probably be ok if I had it bandaged, taped and an ace sleeve over the top of it.
Ugh. I should have known better. I didn't go to class yesterday or today, and will talk with my coach about doing classes this week with my foot bandaged up. I have the week off from work, so I could punt on BJJ and lifting too and take it as a full rest week. That leaves me three full weeks before the tournament. Will play it by ear and see what the test results say.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Day 12
8/9 - Downtown
I was, surprisingly, exhausted after 3.5hrs of BJJ yesterday. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the hour of flow rolling in 90F heat. Even though we were going easy, that's still a fair amount of rolling.
Today was DLR sweeps. My mind and body were ok, but I could tell that I was a little worn down. We flow rolled for a half hour, and I went with Antone, a new girl, Manny and Jimmy. I didn't feel like I was doing anything particularly well, but it's hard to tell with the flow rolling. I focused on shrimping out when a guard pass was inevitable, but I couldn't discern if I was successful b/c my opponent was letting me escape or if it was actually the right thing to do.
I'm happy that I've gotten through the past couple of weeks w/o injuries or any significant pains.
Very happy to be officially on vacation. A rest day or two is going to be amazing.
I was, surprisingly, exhausted after 3.5hrs of BJJ yesterday. It wouldn't have been so bad, except the hour of flow rolling in 90F heat. Even though we were going easy, that's still a fair amount of rolling.
Today was DLR sweeps. My mind and body were ok, but I could tell that I was a little worn down. We flow rolled for a half hour, and I went with Antone, a new girl, Manny and Jimmy. I didn't feel like I was doing anything particularly well, but it's hard to tell with the flow rolling. I focused on shrimping out when a guard pass was inevitable, but I couldn't discern if I was successful b/c my opponent was letting me escape or if it was actually the right thing to do.
I'm happy that I've gotten through the past couple of weeks w/o injuries or any significant pains.
Very happy to be officially on vacation. A rest day or two is going to be amazing.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Day 11, Part II
8/8 - Downtown (Evening)
Decided on a whim to go to the night class to get some good rolls in. I was in luck, as we were treated to an hour of flow rolling. It was well over 80F on the mats, so after lifting this morning and 2hrs of drilling this afternoon, I was pretty well cooked by the time the hour was up. James said we were going to roll full speed after, and I think we all gave him the crazy eye. Fortunately, that was his idea of a joke and we went over a closed guard pass and arm-bar escapes instead.
Hard to judge how I rolled, but I think it was ok, considering. I tried to focus on moving to escapes sooner once I realize that the guard is lost. Also made some half-hearted attempts at the Moura guard but was finding especially difficult to get inverted tonight.
Time to go pass out.
Decided on a whim to go to the night class to get some good rolls in. I was in luck, as we were treated to an hour of flow rolling. It was well over 80F on the mats, so after lifting this morning and 2hrs of drilling this afternoon, I was pretty well cooked by the time the hour was up. James said we were going to roll full speed after, and I think we all gave him the crazy eye. Fortunately, that was his idea of a joke and we went over a closed guard pass and arm-bar escapes instead.
Hard to judge how I rolled, but I think it was ok, considering. I tried to focus on moving to escapes sooner once I realize that the guard is lost. Also made some half-hearted attempts at the Moura guard but was finding especially difficult to get inverted tonight.
Time to go pass out.
Day 11
8/8 - Valley
Apparently I can't count. In my previous post I should have said day ten. Today is day eleven. Numbers are hard!
Today was a two hour seminar in which we were shown a few techniques every 10-15min or so, and then largely left to our own devices. Most of the focus was on the guys who were testing for their purple later this month. I did learn a good a finish for the omoplata, so there was something gained. No rolling, which bummed me out.
I'm taking a week of vacation next week and trying to decide how much I want BJJ to play a part in my time off. I'm not going anywhere, although I'll probably go on some motorcycle day trips and a hike or two. Will probably play it by ear and see how it timing shakes out.
Apparently I can't count. In my previous post I should have said day ten. Today is day eleven. Numbers are hard!
Today was a two hour seminar in which we were shown a few techniques every 10-15min or so, and then largely left to our own devices. Most of the focus was on the guys who were testing for their purple later this month. I did learn a good a finish for the omoplata, so there was something gained. No rolling, which bummed me out.
I'm taking a week of vacation next week and trying to decide how much I want BJJ to play a part in my time off. I'm not going anywhere, although I'll probably go on some motorcycle day trips and a hike or two. Will probably play it by ear and see how it timing shakes out.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Clocked
8/7 - Downtown
On day nine...
I got clocked on the head pretty good in class today. During rolls another pair got close to us and one of them planted his knee into my right temple. Had to roll over and take a minute to collect my thoughts, but no harm done. He was very apologetic, but it's inevitable that such things will happen if you spend enough time on the mat.
We did foot lock escapes, knee bar escapes and crucifix escapes today. The leg lock escapes were especially timely for me, as I find myself getting caught in those on the regular since I've been experimenting with an open guard game. It was a little difficult to drill b/c I was working with a newish white belt, so just getting set up in the techniques was a challenge. Reinforced how much I don't know about leg locks.
Aside from getting plunked on the head, I had good rolls today. I was hitting some sweet sweeps on Camille. Dennis and I spent some time in my guard, then I spent some time in his inverted triangle. I didn't see it coming and next thing I knew he slapped it on. He had it pretty close, then rolled over, lost a bit of leverage, played with the position a bit, then I finally got escaped. I couldn't see what he was doing with his torso, but I'm guessing he was arching his back instead crunching himself in. The submission was pretty close.
I had Keith in my guard for the majority of the roll, and tried like hell to get a sweep in the last couple of minutes but couldn't pull it out. I'm easing back into a competition mindset and am starting to care about points during rolls. I think it's going to make me better but it also takes a bit of the fun out of it.
Jason squashed past my guard on numerous occasions. I don't know why I'm prone to going basically limp when someone is trying to pass, they walk around to the side and drive my top leg to the mat. As soon as my top leg is killed, I pretty much give up the pass. It's weird. I need to stop doing that.
I weighed myself with gi and I'm currently 4lb over my intended weight class. Have a month to lose the weight so I'm not worried. If it's going to be close I'll probably switch weight classes. Really don't want to have to worry about weight.
On day nine...
I got clocked on the head pretty good in class today. During rolls another pair got close to us and one of them planted his knee into my right temple. Had to roll over and take a minute to collect my thoughts, but no harm done. He was very apologetic, but it's inevitable that such things will happen if you spend enough time on the mat.
We did foot lock escapes, knee bar escapes and crucifix escapes today. The leg lock escapes were especially timely for me, as I find myself getting caught in those on the regular since I've been experimenting with an open guard game. It was a little difficult to drill b/c I was working with a newish white belt, so just getting set up in the techniques was a challenge. Reinforced how much I don't know about leg locks.
Aside from getting plunked on the head, I had good rolls today. I was hitting some sweet sweeps on Camille. Dennis and I spent some time in my guard, then I spent some time in his inverted triangle. I didn't see it coming and next thing I knew he slapped it on. He had it pretty close, then rolled over, lost a bit of leverage, played with the position a bit, then I finally got escaped. I couldn't see what he was doing with his torso, but I'm guessing he was arching his back instead crunching himself in. The submission was pretty close.
I had Keith in my guard for the majority of the roll, and tried like hell to get a sweep in the last couple of minutes but couldn't pull it out. I'm easing back into a competition mindset and am starting to care about points during rolls. I think it's going to make me better but it also takes a bit of the fun out of it.
Jason squashed past my guard on numerous occasions. I don't know why I'm prone to going basically limp when someone is trying to pass, they walk around to the side and drive my top leg to the mat. As soon as my top leg is killed, I pretty much give up the pass. It's weird. I need to stop doing that.
I weighed myself with gi and I'm currently 4lb over my intended weight class. Have a month to lose the weight so I'm not worried. If it's going to be close I'll probably switch weight classes. Really don't want to have to worry about weight.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Timing is Everything
8/6 - Valley
On 8/4 and 8/5 I did a lot of activity and but didn't drink much water. This turned out poorly for me yesterday after class. I wasn't in terrible shape, but I wasn't good for anything other than shuffling around the house and trying to replace all of the water that I had apparently excreted in the form of sweat. I'm usually very good about hydration, but with the unexpected rolling session on Sunday it really threw me out of whack. I've started lifting in the morning as well, so that probably didn't help.
Anyway, it was just Gary and I today. We focused on N/S escapes and sweeps. Both of which were very helpful. We also went over escapes from kesa gatame, which I seem to forget on a regular basis. The sweeps were very simple, and for some reason the importance of timing finally sunk in today. I don't recall the name of the sweep (variation of flower?), but it is so ridiculously easy when you chop the outside of their leg as their momentum is coming forward. I think it's an example of where I'm being robotic with my movements. Thinking through the technique as I'm doing it... Step #1, break their posture. Ok that's done. Step #2, drop the leg and establish a grip... By the time I think through step two, they've re-established their base.
None of this is rocket science, but I'm hoping I can keep it in mind so that I'll at least be a little more effective with this particular sweep.
I'm a month out from the Oregon Open, which seems a bit surreal since I was firmly decided on not competing for the rest of this year. I'm feeling some pressure b/c in a small way I'm being sponsored for this tournament. That's a new thing, will see how that messes with the nerves.
On 8/4 and 8/5 I did a lot of activity and but didn't drink much water. This turned out poorly for me yesterday after class. I wasn't in terrible shape, but I wasn't good for anything other than shuffling around the house and trying to replace all of the water that I had apparently excreted in the form of sweat. I'm usually very good about hydration, but with the unexpected rolling session on Sunday it really threw me out of whack. I've started lifting in the morning as well, so that probably didn't help.
Anyway, it was just Gary and I today. We focused on N/S escapes and sweeps. Both of which were very helpful. We also went over escapes from kesa gatame, which I seem to forget on a regular basis. The sweeps were very simple, and for some reason the importance of timing finally sunk in today. I don't recall the name of the sweep (variation of flower?), but it is so ridiculously easy when you chop the outside of their leg as their momentum is coming forward. I think it's an example of where I'm being robotic with my movements. Thinking through the technique as I'm doing it... Step #1, break their posture. Ok that's done. Step #2, drop the leg and establish a grip... By the time I think through step two, they've re-established their base.
None of this is rocket science, but I'm hoping I can keep it in mind so that I'll at least be a little more effective with this particular sweep.
I'm a month out from the Oregon Open, which seems a bit surreal since I was firmly decided on not competing for the rest of this year. I'm feeling some pressure b/c in a small way I'm being sponsored for this tournament. That's a new thing, will see how that messes with the nerves.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Eight Consecutive
Currently on 8 consecutive days of class. If I don't miss any classes this week I'll hit 14.
Also, James strongly recommended that I sign up for the Oregon Open next month. So there's that.
8/4 - Downtown
This was an unexpected Sunday open mat. James was able to round up a few people for some rolling on a Sunday evening. Started off with just three of us, so two rolls on, one off. A couple of other guys showed up after a half hour, so it was four on, one off. I went for an hour and a half and had a blast. Got a lot of rolls with James, and was cursing a blue streak when he'd catch me in that damned no handed knee bar, or wrist lock, or whatever other shenanigans he had going on. It was really fun though, my swearing was a compliment to him and he took it as such.
8/5 - Downtown
Gi drags on a kneeling or standing opponent and the loop choke. The gi drags felt very awkward to me. I've done them before, but I don't think they ever felt quite right. Once I started to time it better I was getting some power into it, but it still felt weird. Was happy to go over the loop choke b/c that's something that I've been trying to set up during rolls but forgot how to finish it.
Rolls with Blaine, Julio, Joe, Dennis, Jason and a second roll with Julio after class. Julio crushed my guard as he is wont to do. I can control him to some extent in my closed guard but he demolishes my open guard. I tried the Moura guard on almost everyone, included him and as soon as I tried to set it up he was getting a grip on my leg and preventing me from inverted. I got Joe a couple of times, but the rest of the guys were really controlling my movements. I was tired from the rolls last night, lifting this morning and then class. Haven't been drinking enough water to support all of that activity, and was feeling completely wiped out by the last roll. Fortunately, Jason asked if we could go light and I happily agreed.
Also, James strongly recommended that I sign up for the Oregon Open next month. So there's that.
8/4 - Downtown
This was an unexpected Sunday open mat. James was able to round up a few people for some rolling on a Sunday evening. Started off with just three of us, so two rolls on, one off. A couple of other guys showed up after a half hour, so it was four on, one off. I went for an hour and a half and had a blast. Got a lot of rolls with James, and was cursing a blue streak when he'd catch me in that damned no handed knee bar, or wrist lock, or whatever other shenanigans he had going on. It was really fun though, my swearing was a compliment to him and he took it as such.
8/5 - Downtown
Gi drags on a kneeling or standing opponent and the loop choke. The gi drags felt very awkward to me. I've done them before, but I don't think they ever felt quite right. Once I started to time it better I was getting some power into it, but it still felt weird. Was happy to go over the loop choke b/c that's something that I've been trying to set up during rolls but forgot how to finish it.
Rolls with Blaine, Julio, Joe, Dennis, Jason and a second roll with Julio after class. Julio crushed my guard as he is wont to do. I can control him to some extent in my closed guard but he demolishes my open guard. I tried the Moura guard on almost everyone, included him and as soon as I tried to set it up he was getting a grip on my leg and preventing me from inverted. I got Joe a couple of times, but the rest of the guys were really controlling my movements. I was tired from the rolls last night, lifting this morning and then class. Haven't been drinking enough water to support all of that activity, and was feeling completely wiped out by the last roll. Fortunately, Jason asked if we could go light and I happily agreed.
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Smaller is Better
8/3 - Downtown
Tiny class today as there was a local tournament. If James is gone on a Saturday, you can count on the class being minuscule. It was great though, as it was myself, an upper blue belt and two purple belts. Bazinga!
We worked some spider guard sweeps and subs, and then had three rounds of 9min rolls. I don't mind the longer rounds at all, especially if I'm not being crushed the entire time. If it was 9min of being kimura'd while someone is sitting on my face I'd take a different view. I worked the Moura guard a couple of times, mainly transitioning into it and holding it briefly before they started trying to pass. My goal is to get into it and then control as long as I can so that I can get a feel for how I need to react.
I had one shining moment when I got to mount on Sam b/c I knew when he had my in an awkward top side control that he was going to do an acrobatic launching of self across my bad. I turned into and somehow kept my momentum going enough to get into mount. I had a beautiful arm-wrap from guard on Keith but he had a grip on my leg that I couldn't break so it was for naught. Also went for a baseball bat choke on him that was fairly close but he defended well.
Overall it was a great day of training...sad for everyone else that decided not to come to class. :)
Tiny class today as there was a local tournament. If James is gone on a Saturday, you can count on the class being minuscule. It was great though, as it was myself, an upper blue belt and two purple belts. Bazinga!
We worked some spider guard sweeps and subs, and then had three rounds of 9min rolls. I don't mind the longer rounds at all, especially if I'm not being crushed the entire time. If it was 9min of being kimura'd while someone is sitting on my face I'd take a different view. I worked the Moura guard a couple of times, mainly transitioning into it and holding it briefly before they started trying to pass. My goal is to get into it and then control as long as I can so that I can get a feel for how I need to react.
I had one shining moment when I got to mount on Sam b/c I knew when he had my in an awkward top side control that he was going to do an acrobatic launching of self across my bad. I turned into and somehow kept my momentum going enough to get into mount. I had a beautiful arm-wrap from guard on Keith but he had a grip on my leg that I couldn't break so it was for naught. Also went for a baseball bat choke on him that was fairly close but he defended well.
Overall it was a great day of training...sad for everyone else that decided not to come to class. :)
Friday, August 2, 2013
No More Pussyfooting Around
8/2 - Downtown
I got to class and immediately tried the Moura inverted guard and could not get inverted. Kept repositioning and still couldn't get it. I could not get upside to save my life. I tried with a couple of different people and it was an immense struggle to get upside down. One of the guys said he thought the other foot was supposed to go in the pit...and yes. I had been putting my wrong foot in the pit, which was squashing my ability to invert. Beautiful. I double-checked with James after class. It's funny that even though I take notes right after class that I had already screwed it up in my brain by the time I had put pen to paper. Anyway, mystery solved.
We worked arm-drags today, which is something that I've been trying to incorporate more into my game. I felt pretty good with the technique, although I have a difficult time wrapping my arm around the hip instead of the torso as I come up to take the back or pull them into me. There's a sweet arm-bar from there if you can't get them out of the turtle position.
Rolls with Blaine, Dennis, Antone, James and Ben. Blaine and I were more or less even, and then he got my back and went for some choke/crank that resulted in my arms being tied up and me being unable to tap. I didn't realize I was in trouble until he yanked back and sputtered out a garbled verbal tap that had the rest of the room's attention. He apologized though, as he didn't quite mean to slap it on that fast.
I decided to stop messing around with Dennis and get in his grill and try to pass. Our roll went much better than Wednesday. He kept trying for rolling back takes but wasn't quite in the right position. Pretty even roll, though he was doing a lot of experimenting.
I did relatively well against Antone's berimbolo. We haven't gone over defenses much, so I'm trying different things. Sometimes they result in him getting mount or back control, and sometimes he just gets side-control. Every once in awhile I can get it into a neutral position, which is a huge accomplishment for me. He did get to mount once or twice and top side a bunch. Good roll though.
Really, really fun roll with James. I decided not to pussyfoot around with him either, and went for passes, sweeps, and initiate without flailing. I tried in vain to get the Keenan sweep he showed us last week, so he stopped mid-roll to show me how to finish it. I don't remember much about the roll, except for one instance I was on top but had most of my back to him and I could tell he was setting up something dastardly. I went against my usual instincts and back-stepped to the other side. He wasn't expecting that and it devolved into a scramble. In general I was moving a lot, trying not to let him lock me down in a particular position. I think it's one of the best rolls I've had with him, purely on the basis of constant movement, positioning, etc.
Ben passed my guard and pretty much hung out in top side for most of the roll. I started off by passing his guard into mount but couldn't maintain long enough to get the paper cutter I was going for, ended up in guard which he passed. I chilled for the most part as he had me pretty well pinned. I should work harder to escape, but if a guy has over 40lb on me and has heavy top pressure I'd rather wait and capitalize on their next movement. I might be doing myself a disservice here, not sure.
I got to class and immediately tried the Moura inverted guard and could not get inverted. Kept repositioning and still couldn't get it. I could not get upside to save my life. I tried with a couple of different people and it was an immense struggle to get upside down. One of the guys said he thought the other foot was supposed to go in the pit...and yes. I had been putting my wrong foot in the pit, which was squashing my ability to invert. Beautiful. I double-checked with James after class. It's funny that even though I take notes right after class that I had already screwed it up in my brain by the time I had put pen to paper. Anyway, mystery solved.
We worked arm-drags today, which is something that I've been trying to incorporate more into my game. I felt pretty good with the technique, although I have a difficult time wrapping my arm around the hip instead of the torso as I come up to take the back or pull them into me. There's a sweet arm-bar from there if you can't get them out of the turtle position.
Rolls with Blaine, Dennis, Antone, James and Ben. Blaine and I were more or less even, and then he got my back and went for some choke/crank that resulted in my arms being tied up and me being unable to tap. I didn't realize I was in trouble until he yanked back and sputtered out a garbled verbal tap that had the rest of the room's attention. He apologized though, as he didn't quite mean to slap it on that fast.
I decided to stop messing around with Dennis and get in his grill and try to pass. Our roll went much better than Wednesday. He kept trying for rolling back takes but wasn't quite in the right position. Pretty even roll, though he was doing a lot of experimenting.
I did relatively well against Antone's berimbolo. We haven't gone over defenses much, so I'm trying different things. Sometimes they result in him getting mount or back control, and sometimes he just gets side-control. Every once in awhile I can get it into a neutral position, which is a huge accomplishment for me. He did get to mount once or twice and top side a bunch. Good roll though.
Really, really fun roll with James. I decided not to pussyfoot around with him either, and went for passes, sweeps, and initiate without flailing. I tried in vain to get the Keenan sweep he showed us last week, so he stopped mid-roll to show me how to finish it. I don't remember much about the roll, except for one instance I was on top but had most of my back to him and I could tell he was setting up something dastardly. I went against my usual instincts and back-stepped to the other side. He wasn't expecting that and it devolved into a scramble. In general I was moving a lot, trying not to let him lock me down in a particular position. I think it's one of the best rolls I've had with him, purely on the basis of constant movement, positioning, etc.
Ben passed my guard and pretty much hung out in top side for most of the roll. I started off by passing his guard into mount but couldn't maintain long enough to get the paper cutter I was going for, ended up in guard which he passed. I chilled for the most part as he had me pretty well pinned. I should work harder to escape, but if a guy has over 40lb on me and has heavy top pressure I'd rather wait and capitalize on their next movement. I might be doing myself a disservice here, not sure.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thursday
8/1 - Valley
Relatively big class as all of the instructors were in to do BJJ first and admin stuff after.
Started off by chaining basic techniques together. Moved on to legs locks when in opponent's guard, as a defense to scissor sweep and double-ankle sweep. We were moving through them pretty quick as class was only 45min and Damon wanted time to roll at the end. Rolled with Holly, Stephanie and Emily. I tried to work the Robson guard on all of them but was only nominally successful with Emily. Forgot to grab the leg when I went inverted. Oops. Fairly competitive roll with Holly. Let the other two (newish white belts) work escapes. First time in a long, long time that I've rolled with Holly. I forgot that she has tree trunks for legs. I think she might have done gymnastics for a piece of time....her legs are no joke.
Relatively big class as all of the instructors were in to do BJJ first and admin stuff after.
Started off by chaining basic techniques together. Moved on to legs locks when in opponent's guard, as a defense to scissor sweep and double-ankle sweep. We were moving through them pretty quick as class was only 45min and Damon wanted time to roll at the end. Rolled with Holly, Stephanie and Emily. I tried to work the Robson guard on all of them but was only nominally successful with Emily. Forgot to grab the leg when I went inverted. Oops. Fairly competitive roll with Holly. Let the other two (newish white belts) work escapes. First time in a long, long time that I've rolled with Holly. I forgot that she has tree trunks for legs. I think she might have done gymnastics for a piece of time....her legs are no joke.
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