10/31
James wasn't expecting much of a turnout b/c of Halloween, so he made tonight into an open mat. We had ~10 people, which was a pretty good showing, considering. It was great, as I had close to an hour of half of just rolling. People were pooping out right and left, but I had energy to burn. We were doing rounds over 8min long, which probably contributed to the drop-out rate. I've added a bagel as a mid-day snack and the carb shot has really helped my energy levels.
Rolled with Kelly (twice I think), Michael, Savannah, Ian, C (twice), James, Clayton, Nando. I tried rolling with Kelly's berimbolo attacks and it more or less worked, except that he was able to cinch it up a little bit tighter each time until I couldn't roll out of it anymore. The first roll he pretty much demolished me top side control, but in the second roll he seemed to ease up and let me work.
Michael was doing well in the first part of our roll and then petered out and left with a couple of minutes to go. He just gave me a couple of submissions which is unlike him. He said something about being sick yesterday.
Savannah has been doing better with guard passing, but hasn't been staying diligent with her posture and I was able to use that to my advantage tonight. I went for an arm-bar for the finish again, which I told myself I wasn't going to do with her. Catch and release.
Ian's been doing well and is getting ready for the tournament next weekend. He's going to be wearing my SYR, so I'll be there in spirit. :) I told him about leaving his far-side elbow flopping around when he's in reverse kesa gatame. I've been able to use that to my advantage with a lot of the guys recently. I'm excited for him to compete and wish I was going to be there to watch.
C and I did our best Miyao v. Cornelious impression in our first roll. It was 8min of messing around in 50/50 guard while he was going for a foot lock. It felt like an interesting chess match but probably would have been terribly uninteresting if anyone had been forced to watch it. He had my foot wrapped up but never went for the lock. Either I was doing a good job of protecting it or he wasn't quite sure how to finish. We didn't have those shenanigans the second time around. He kept trying to pass my guard from combat stance or standing and I kept trying to sweep him.
I felt like James and I had a pretty fun roll. One thing that I really enjoy about rolling with him is that he lets me work all different positions. At one point I inverted at exactly the right time to maintain guard, which felt good. I think he got me with one or two subs early on, but let me work for the latter half. He had me in a bad but not awful position with 10sec left, so I started counting down the time and of course he found a way to wrist lock me before the buzzer went off. Damn it.
Clayton worked top game to start and then seemed to let me work top game a bit. We were sortof-not-really-flow rolling.
I coerced Nando into rolling even though he was tired. Told him I'd take it easy, and we started off kindof flow rolling and then he jumped into full speed. And he got tuckered out pretty fast b/c he doesn't have his cardio back. I was trying to make sure I wasn't putting pressure on his knee even though he says that it's good to go. He was doing well, but just didn't have the juice. I told him to bebe more agua throughout the day.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wrist Locks All Day
10/30
There were only three of us plus James. We started off going over the same technique as the no gi class from the night before. At some point it morphed into maintaining top position in deep half guard. Anytime you're holding their elbow to you, you've got keep your own elbow to your hip. When trying to maintain top deep half, I've just been pulling their elbow up instead of pinning it to my hip. Hopefully this mod will help me be more successful in that situation.
Rolls with Dennis, Todd and James. Dennis had great top position. I tried getting his arm over my shin in bottom side-control but the guys are getting wise to that move. I was able to use it once to help me shrimp away, so it wasn't for naught. Todd and I had a good back forth. I had his back at one point and was able to maintain long enough to finish a bow and arrow. James got me with at least one wrist lock b/c I grabbed his lapel like an idiot. How many times must I make this mistake? I can't help but curse and laugh each time he gets it. I spent most of the roll trying to pass, with little success.
Walter is coming in three weeks. I've been a bit more consistent with my Portuguese studying, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to exchange pleasantries and maybe have a discussion about colors and numbers. :p
There were only three of us plus James. We started off going over the same technique as the no gi class from the night before. At some point it morphed into maintaining top position in deep half guard. Anytime you're holding their elbow to you, you've got keep your own elbow to your hip. When trying to maintain top deep half, I've just been pulling their elbow up instead of pinning it to my hip. Hopefully this mod will help me be more successful in that situation.
Rolls with Dennis, Todd and James. Dennis had great top position. I tried getting his arm over my shin in bottom side-control but the guys are getting wise to that move. I was able to use it once to help me shrimp away, so it wasn't for naught. Todd and I had a good back forth. I had his back at one point and was able to maintain long enough to finish a bow and arrow. James got me with at least one wrist lock b/c I grabbed his lapel like an idiot. How many times must I make this mistake? I can't help but curse and laugh each time he gets it. I spent most of the roll trying to pass, with little success.
Walter is coming in three weeks. I've been a bit more consistent with my Portuguese studying, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to exchange pleasantries and maybe have a discussion about colors and numbers. :p
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
No Gi, No Grips
10/29
It's been awhile (couple of months?) since I've done a no gi class, so I decided I'd give it a whirl tonight. I forgot that James likes to use the no gi class for conditioning. We had a fairly rigorous warm-up (by our standards), and then worked open guard. Specifically, flaring out their elbow and latching on for straight arm-bars or transitioning to omoplatas. I had an uber flexible drilling partner, so it was difficult to tell if I was doing it right. The arm looked completely jacked up, so I must have been doing something right.
At the start of the roll I was once again flummoxed b/c there were no sleeve grips, no collar grips...nothing. I started with Savannah, which gave me a chance to ease into it a bit. I worked position and got a couple of arm-bars. I should have just stuck with transitioning through positions, but I wanted to see how my submission game was in no gi. Then Sol, who pretty much dominated in top side control for most of the match. I had one semi-legitimate escape, if that. Then a women who I haven't seen before but who is somewhat seasoned. I fared well and truly went for just positions instead of submissions. After that was Grant, who had top side for 90% of the match. I finally escaped when he went for something. He gave me props for continuing to fight for the escape, but he gets all the credit for keeping me down the entirety of the match. If it was point scoring he would have kicked my ass.
Last two rolls were with Julio and Jason. Just shoot me. Both of them were going for calf slicers. At one point Jason had my leg trapped and was falling backwards to further sink in whatever awfulness he was doing to my leg. I squawked out a rather loud verbal tap, b/c I was fearful for the health of my leg. Turned some heads, and I explained that everything was fine, just skerred. Some guys can kick my ass and I have little to no worry of injury. Other guys can kick my ass and I'm fearful everytime I roll that I'm not going to come out whole.
It's been awhile (couple of months?) since I've done a no gi class, so I decided I'd give it a whirl tonight. I forgot that James likes to use the no gi class for conditioning. We had a fairly rigorous warm-up (by our standards), and then worked open guard. Specifically, flaring out their elbow and latching on for straight arm-bars or transitioning to omoplatas. I had an uber flexible drilling partner, so it was difficult to tell if I was doing it right. The arm looked completely jacked up, so I must have been doing something right.
At the start of the roll I was once again flummoxed b/c there were no sleeve grips, no collar grips...nothing. I started with Savannah, which gave me a chance to ease into it a bit. I worked position and got a couple of arm-bars. I should have just stuck with transitioning through positions, but I wanted to see how my submission game was in no gi. Then Sol, who pretty much dominated in top side control for most of the match. I had one semi-legitimate escape, if that. Then a women who I haven't seen before but who is somewhat seasoned. I fared well and truly went for just positions instead of submissions. After that was Grant, who had top side for 90% of the match. I finally escaped when he went for something. He gave me props for continuing to fight for the escape, but he gets all the credit for keeping me down the entirety of the match. If it was point scoring he would have kicked my ass.
Last two rolls were with Julio and Jason. Just shoot me. Both of them were going for calf slicers. At one point Jason had my leg trapped and was falling backwards to further sink in whatever awfulness he was doing to my leg. I squawked out a rather loud verbal tap, b/c I was fearful for the health of my leg. Turned some heads, and I explained that everything was fine, just skerred. Some guys can kick my ass and I have little to no worry of injury. Other guys can kick my ass and I'm fearful everytime I roll that I'm not going to come out whole.
Monday, October 28, 2013
DLR Sweeps
10/28
Felt much better by today. Good thing, b/c we did DLR sweeps that involved a fair amount of concentration. Another small class.
Rolls with everyone (Jason, Dennis x 2, Todd, James) except Sol. I wasn't at 100% but close enough. Ended up in bottom side quite a bit. James gave me a good tip. When he was in reverse kesa gatame, he told me to get my back on the mat. My tendency is to try to raise up, turn into them and snag the far-side arm. Apparently that's leaving me open to potential back-takes (or something worse) that no one has exploited yet. So file that under good to know. I was using my legs ALOT today to try to elevate him in the midst of escapes, probably b/c I didn't know the right thing to do. I had marginal success, but it felt pretty goofy.
My latest trick of trapping their far-side arm across my shin when I'm in bottom side-control isn't as successful lately. People are wising up to it and not letting me get the position. I'm still able to force it every now and again and use it as an accessory for my hip escapes.
Hoping to get at least five classes this week. So happy to not be stressing about the CF comp anymore.
Felt much better by today. Good thing, b/c we did DLR sweeps that involved a fair amount of concentration. Another small class.
Rolls with everyone (Jason, Dennis x 2, Todd, James) except Sol. I wasn't at 100% but close enough. Ended up in bottom side quite a bit. James gave me a good tip. When he was in reverse kesa gatame, he told me to get my back on the mat. My tendency is to try to raise up, turn into them and snag the far-side arm. Apparently that's leaving me open to potential back-takes (or something worse) that no one has exploited yet. So file that under good to know. I was using my legs ALOT today to try to elevate him in the midst of escapes, probably b/c I didn't know the right thing to do. I had marginal success, but it felt pretty goofy.
My latest trick of trapping their far-side arm across my shin when I'm in bottom side-control isn't as successful lately. People are wising up to it and not letting me get the position. I'm still able to force it every now and again and use it as an accessory for my hip escapes.
Hoping to get at least five classes this week. So happy to not be stressing about the CF comp anymore.
Out of Gas
10/26
The morning after the CF comp was tough to get to BJJ. Really wanted to just lounge around. Drilled spiderguard sweeps, several of which I hadn't done before. Wish I hadn't been so out of it. Small class though and pretty much everyone was only half there.
Don't remember much about the rolls. I did ok considered I was completely gassed out.
The morning after the CF comp was tough to get to BJJ. Really wanted to just lounge around. Drilled spiderguard sweeps, several of which I hadn't done before. Wish I hadn't been so out of it. Small class though and pretty much everyone was only half there.
Don't remember much about the rolls. I did ok considered I was completely gassed out.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
It's Nice Being the Windshield Instead of the Bug
10/23
We started off with 2min drills of as many moves as you could think of from a specific position. I started off fine with KOB submissions, but KOB escapes...not so much. Short of shrimping out, the only ones I could think of were the Sauer hook-the-foot and dump them one way or the other. However, I was missing some key details so was failing pretty badly there.
Technique portion was attacking the turtle. Most of the attacks occurred while they were still in turtle instead of breaking them down. With the exception of the Peruvian, I can't imagine I'd trying to finish a sub while someone is still turtled. We did the Peruvian with and without the gi. Nasty choke.
For whatever reason, the stars aligned and I was on FIRE during the rolls today. Started off with Nate, who got to a top position but I somehow slapped on an inverted triangle without consciously thinking of it. I couldn't finish it though b/c I couldn't figure out the angle that I needed. He got into top position again, and then I again somehow miraculously ended up on his back and was threatening that for the rest of the round.
Then a roll with Jason, who usually has superior open guard control, sweeps me and then works from on top. Today I was able to pass his guard (with a little help from James coaching), get to N/S and then I don't remember what happened. That is far and away the best I've ever done with him.
Last roll was with Todd, who also usually gets on top. Today I got his back too, threatened chokes and arm-bars for awhile, ended up in closed guard, threatened triangles and arm-bars, and was working an omoplata as time ran out. I was in good positions, but his defense was better.
Overall, I'm really, really happy with my rolls today. Mostly I'm happy b/c I was competitive with guys that normally have top position and crush me for the duration of the roll. I'm also happy to see that I'm doing things like getting control of my opponents legs when I'm transitions through various positions.
I wish I could put the previous 24hrs into a bottle so I could have this kindof feeling for every class. I know it's a lot of factors that come together, and many of them aren't under my control. Going to relish it while I can.
We started off with 2min drills of as many moves as you could think of from a specific position. I started off fine with KOB submissions, but KOB escapes...not so much. Short of shrimping out, the only ones I could think of were the Sauer hook-the-foot and dump them one way or the other. However, I was missing some key details so was failing pretty badly there.
Technique portion was attacking the turtle. Most of the attacks occurred while they were still in turtle instead of breaking them down. With the exception of the Peruvian, I can't imagine I'd trying to finish a sub while someone is still turtled. We did the Peruvian with and without the gi. Nasty choke.
For whatever reason, the stars aligned and I was on FIRE during the rolls today. Started off with Nate, who got to a top position but I somehow slapped on an inverted triangle without consciously thinking of it. I couldn't finish it though b/c I couldn't figure out the angle that I needed. He got into top position again, and then I again somehow miraculously ended up on his back and was threatening that for the rest of the round.
Then a roll with Jason, who usually has superior open guard control, sweeps me and then works from on top. Today I was able to pass his guard (with a little help from James coaching), get to N/S and then I don't remember what happened. That is far and away the best I've ever done with him.
Last roll was with Todd, who also usually gets on top. Today I got his back too, threatened chokes and arm-bars for awhile, ended up in closed guard, threatened triangles and arm-bars, and was working an omoplata as time ran out. I was in good positions, but his defense was better.
Overall, I'm really, really happy with my rolls today. Mostly I'm happy b/c I was competitive with guys that normally have top position and crush me for the duration of the roll. I'm also happy to see that I'm doing things like getting control of my opponents legs when I'm transitions through various positions.
I wish I could put the previous 24hrs into a bottle so I could have this kindof feeling for every class. I know it's a lot of factors that come together, and many of them aren't under my control. Going to relish it while I can.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Olympic Hopeful
10/21
One of our guys, Jimmy, was at the Olympic training center in Colo Springs last week to try out for the judo team. They liked his skills and so he's moving down there to train and try to make the Olympic team! Very excited for him and I hope he makes it.
Today was 50/50 day. I think my coach has a great philosophy. If you're in 50/50, GTFO. He uses it sparingly, mainly b/c it's disentangling yourself can be such a chore. We did it as part of a sweep from X guard, same sweep but taking the back, getting out of 50/50 using foot on bicep and a similar movement that pulls them into an arm-bar instead.
Lots of rolls today. Jason, Jimmy, Julio, Dennis and James. I came close to passing Jason's guard by being very mindful of his DLR hook from guard. I wasn't able to stay on top though and ended up getting arm-barred and working from the bottom the rest of the time. Jimmy got me with something too, I don't remember what.
Julio tried to guillotine me several times. When he wasn't guillotining me, he was sitting back in my guard and letting me work whatever I wanted. To no avail. I tried arm-drags, scissor sweeps, spiderguard sweeps...he shot it all down with ease. I was getting a little frustrated at myself for not opening my game and trying something different. I tried to loop choke on him a couple of times but he defended against it well.
Dennis and I had a good back-and-forth roll. When I was in bottom side I got his far-side arm across my shin and was trying to work some subs from there. Couldn't get anything that I knew, so I started winging it and apparently came close to getting an arm-bar of some sort. I don't think I recognized the arm-bar opportunity b/c I was focused on trying to make an inverted triangle happen. In any case it was good fun.
Had an ok roll with James. Kept trying to DLR to take the back and finally came close on the last attempt. He just sank down into it so I couldn't get his back, but I was happy that I seemed to have the initial concept right. He was in top half guard a lot. I found that I was controlling legs when I should have been controlling arms, or controlling the wrong leg.
One of our guys, Jimmy, was at the Olympic training center in Colo Springs last week to try out for the judo team. They liked his skills and so he's moving down there to train and try to make the Olympic team! Very excited for him and I hope he makes it.
Today was 50/50 day. I think my coach has a great philosophy. If you're in 50/50, GTFO. He uses it sparingly, mainly b/c it's disentangling yourself can be such a chore. We did it as part of a sweep from X guard, same sweep but taking the back, getting out of 50/50 using foot on bicep and a similar movement that pulls them into an arm-bar instead.
Lots of rolls today. Jason, Jimmy, Julio, Dennis and James. I came close to passing Jason's guard by being very mindful of his DLR hook from guard. I wasn't able to stay on top though and ended up getting arm-barred and working from the bottom the rest of the time. Jimmy got me with something too, I don't remember what.
Julio tried to guillotine me several times. When he wasn't guillotining me, he was sitting back in my guard and letting me work whatever I wanted. To no avail. I tried arm-drags, scissor sweeps, spiderguard sweeps...he shot it all down with ease. I was getting a little frustrated at myself for not opening my game and trying something different. I tried to loop choke on him a couple of times but he defended against it well.
Dennis and I had a good back-and-forth roll. When I was in bottom side I got his far-side arm across my shin and was trying to work some subs from there. Couldn't get anything that I knew, so I started winging it and apparently came close to getting an arm-bar of some sort. I don't think I recognized the arm-bar opportunity b/c I was focused on trying to make an inverted triangle happen. In any case it was good fun.
Had an ok roll with James. Kept trying to DLR to take the back and finally came close on the last attempt. He just sank down into it so I couldn't get his back, but I was happy that I seemed to have the initial concept right. He was in top half guard a lot. I found that I was controlling legs when I should have been controlling arms, or controlling the wrong leg.
Plethora of Color
10/19
We had two visiting brown belts, two visiting purple belts, and a bunch of blue belts. I overheard the two white belts comment on how there was an awful lot of color on the mat. I didn't end up rolling with any of the visiting belts, which was a bit of a bummer.
Went over butterfly sweeps. Most were pretty straight-forward, but one of the visiting browns showed us one that was tough for me to get, especially since I was working with Sol. The idea is to elevate your opponent, spin them around in mid-air, then either chuck them to the side and get a hook or try to take their back.
Rolled with Sol, Savannah, Ian and Hustle. After class I had a longish roll with Clayton. I did really well, probably the best I've done in a roll with him. Either he was spent from rolling with the high belts, or he wanted to work bottom techniques, or I was remarkably on. I damned near got a loop choke on him but couldn't finish. I did get a loop choke on Ian and finished it. He said he had no idea where it came from. I'd been trying to hit for the past couple of weeks but really didn't have a good grasp of how to finish it. James went over it for me a bit on Friday's class, and it was very gratifying to put it into practice on Saturday.
We had two visiting brown belts, two visiting purple belts, and a bunch of blue belts. I overheard the two white belts comment on how there was an awful lot of color on the mat. I didn't end up rolling with any of the visiting belts, which was a bit of a bummer.
Went over butterfly sweeps. Most were pretty straight-forward, but one of the visiting browns showed us one that was tough for me to get, especially since I was working with Sol. The idea is to elevate your opponent, spin them around in mid-air, then either chuck them to the side and get a hook or try to take their back.
Rolled with Sol, Savannah, Ian and Hustle. After class I had a longish roll with Clayton. I did really well, probably the best I've done in a roll with him. Either he was spent from rolling with the high belts, or he wanted to work bottom techniques, or I was remarkably on. I damned near got a loop choke on him but couldn't finish. I did get a loop choke on Ian and finished it. He said he had no idea where it came from. I'd been trying to hit for the past couple of weeks but really didn't have a good grasp of how to finish it. James went over it for me a bit on Friday's class, and it was very gratifying to put it into practice on Saturday.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Just Rolls
10/18
There were only four of us to start (James, Dennis, Jason (b) and myself). James asked us if we wanted to work on anything in particular, and since we all demurred, we ended up rolling. Antone arrived about 45min into class. We managed to completely screw up the rotation as to who was sitting out, so some people sat our more than others. It's a simple formula, but apparently too difficult for us.
Overall I was happy with the rolls. During one of my rolls with Dennis I got to back-mount using a bastardized version of the DLR back-take. I had his back for quite awhile, couldn't get a choke so moved to a mounted arm-bar. He had a good grip with his other arm and I was working and working to break it. He kept trying to come up to escape but I kept a good base. I wasn't getting the arm-bar, so I just bailed on it and reset. In hindsight, I should have tried to bail into mount instead of giving up on the roll entirely, but I felt like if I wasn't making progress that I wasn't going to take up our entire roll with an arm-bar attempt.
Dennis returned the favor later with a bow and arrow variation. I forgot to reach behind my head to loosen the grip, which I kicked myself for later. I fought it off for awhile by keeping my legs pointed in the same direction as my face, but he was able to eventually get to a better position and cranked it pretty good. I have a nice little gi burn on my neck from it.
The rest of the rolls went as usual, with me defending from inferior positions. A lot. Antone has a habit of getting me to leave an arm out for americanas when he has top side-control. He attacks so many different areas simultaneously that it's hard to work escapes and not leave something free.
There were only four of us to start (James, Dennis, Jason (b) and myself). James asked us if we wanted to work on anything in particular, and since we all demurred, we ended up rolling. Antone arrived about 45min into class. We managed to completely screw up the rotation as to who was sitting out, so some people sat our more than others. It's a simple formula, but apparently too difficult for us.
Overall I was happy with the rolls. During one of my rolls with Dennis I got to back-mount using a bastardized version of the DLR back-take. I had his back for quite awhile, couldn't get a choke so moved to a mounted arm-bar. He had a good grip with his other arm and I was working and working to break it. He kept trying to come up to escape but I kept a good base. I wasn't getting the arm-bar, so I just bailed on it and reset. In hindsight, I should have tried to bail into mount instead of giving up on the roll entirely, but I felt like if I wasn't making progress that I wasn't going to take up our entire roll with an arm-bar attempt.
Dennis returned the favor later with a bow and arrow variation. I forgot to reach behind my head to loosen the grip, which I kicked myself for later. I fought it off for awhile by keeping my legs pointed in the same direction as my face, but he was able to eventually get to a better position and cranked it pretty good. I have a nice little gi burn on my neck from it.
The rest of the rolls went as usual, with me defending from inferior positions. A lot. Antone has a habit of getting me to leave an arm out for americanas when he has top side-control. He attacks so many different areas simultaneously that it's hard to work escapes and not leave something free.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Third Stripe
10/17
Decided to a run through of one of the CF workouts for next Friday and then go to class. I could barely run during warm-ups. It was almost appallingly bad. I considered asking James if I could skip warm-ups, but once we finished running and moved to forward/backward rolls, shrimping, etc I felt much better.
We went over how to attack the turtle position. Options were getting both of their hands trapped and doing a belly down arm-bar, or getting both of their arms trapped and doing a RNC variant, or rolling them into a banana split and onto calf slicers and the ilk. Not a fan of splits or slicers.
King of the Hill, you win and stay down if you get a submission or obtain mount. I started on the wall and went against Fernando (w). We had a longish roll, but I was finally able to get him in mount. Then Savannah, who has made huge improvements in her guard passing. I eventually got her in a triangle from guard. Then a brand new guy, who was 6'4" and about as lanky as they come. I was able to keep in him in some form of guard and eventually got an arm-bar that I sortof made up on the fly. Another roll with Fernando where I got him with a choke from bottom side-control...bazinga! Might have been another roll with Savannah in there, and then James came over and decided to knock me off my perch. He let me work for a bit, and then finally took mount. I didn't feel that I did especially well, but I seemed to be doing a good job of defending chokes.
After class, Jesse, a newish white belt, received his second stripe. He's a big dude, so I didn't feel comfortable doing my normal hip toss. Instead I went for what was probably a really ugly ankle pick. After Jesse, James announced that I was getting my 3rd stripe. I was surprised, especially since he said some very nice things about my game to accompany it. Kelly was the only other higher ranking belt and did a hip toss where he kept me on his hip while he rotated around for awhile. Funny and cool. It feels good to be acknowledged in the form of promotions, even minor stripe promotions. I can't help but feel that I'm not at that level but I trust my coach, and if he says I'm there I'm not going to argue with him.
But now I have a very white stripe amid my two worn stripes. :( New dude needs to start blending in, and fast.
Decided to a run through of one of the CF workouts for next Friday and then go to class. I could barely run during warm-ups. It was almost appallingly bad. I considered asking James if I could skip warm-ups, but once we finished running and moved to forward/backward rolls, shrimping, etc I felt much better.
We went over how to attack the turtle position. Options were getting both of their hands trapped and doing a belly down arm-bar, or getting both of their arms trapped and doing a RNC variant, or rolling them into a banana split and onto calf slicers and the ilk. Not a fan of splits or slicers.
King of the Hill, you win and stay down if you get a submission or obtain mount. I started on the wall and went against Fernando (w). We had a longish roll, but I was finally able to get him in mount. Then Savannah, who has made huge improvements in her guard passing. I eventually got her in a triangle from guard. Then a brand new guy, who was 6'4" and about as lanky as they come. I was able to keep in him in some form of guard and eventually got an arm-bar that I sortof made up on the fly. Another roll with Fernando where I got him with a choke from bottom side-control...bazinga! Might have been another roll with Savannah in there, and then James came over and decided to knock me off my perch. He let me work for a bit, and then finally took mount. I didn't feel that I did especially well, but I seemed to be doing a good job of defending chokes.
After class, Jesse, a newish white belt, received his second stripe. He's a big dude, so I didn't feel comfortable doing my normal hip toss. Instead I went for what was probably a really ugly ankle pick. After Jesse, James announced that I was getting my 3rd stripe. I was surprised, especially since he said some very nice things about my game to accompany it. Kelly was the only other higher ranking belt and did a hip toss where he kept me on his hip while he rotated around for awhile. Funny and cool. It feels good to be acknowledged in the form of promotions, even minor stripe promotions. I can't help but feel that I'm not at that level but I trust my coach, and if he says I'm there I'm not going to argue with him.
But now I have a very white stripe amid my two worn stripes. :( New dude needs to start blending in, and fast.
Competitive Fitness
So I decided on a whim to enter a CrossFit competition, the proceeds of which are going to charity. I figured I could make an ass of myself for a good cause. I haven't lifted in a month, so am not expecting to do much more than finish the workouts under the time cap. The comp is next Friday, so I have a week to prepare my body so that I don't completely wet the bed. That's left me with a dilemma of whether I should go to class or stay home and do a bunch of squats, thrusters and burpees. Trying to do it all in one day just isn't feasible.
10/16
Went to the morning class, but I was the only one there. James was sick, so I took pity on him and came back for the night class so that he could go home and get some sleep. I was hoping I could do the same, b/c I was completely wiped out (see above). I was utterly useless for class. We did KOB attacks, and luckily they were techniques that I've done before so I could still participate in my not fully alert state.
Rolled with Ian, Hustle, Christine and Oscar. Felt pretty useless during the rolls too. This is one of the few times when not going to class probably would have been the better option. I did ok, but stalled a fair amount and was not especially active.
10/16
Went to the morning class, but I was the only one there. James was sick, so I took pity on him and came back for the night class so that he could go home and get some sleep. I was hoping I could do the same, b/c I was completely wiped out (see above). I was utterly useless for class. We did KOB attacks, and luckily they were techniques that I've done before so I could still participate in my not fully alert state.
Rolled with Ian, Hustle, Christine and Oscar. Felt pretty useless during the rolls too. This is one of the few times when not going to class probably would have been the better option. I did ok, but stalled a fair amount and was not especially active.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Sparse
10/14
Taking the back from spiderguard and DLR. The one from DLR is finally starting to make sense and I've tried it a couple of times while rolling in the past couple of weeks. Not successful, but I know enough of the working parts to keep whacking away at it.
Relatively small class. Sarah was there, and it was nice to be able to drill with her.
Rolled with Sarah, Dennis and Sol. Probably someone else, but I've since forgotten. Nothing especially notable about any of the rolls. Worst note-taking ever. :p
Taking the back from spiderguard and DLR. The one from DLR is finally starting to make sense and I've tried it a couple of times while rolling in the past couple of weeks. Not successful, but I know enough of the working parts to keep whacking away at it.
Relatively small class. Sarah was there, and it was nice to be able to drill with her.
Rolled with Sarah, Dennis and Sol. Probably someone else, but I've since forgotten. Nothing especially notable about any of the rolls. Worst note-taking ever. :p
Saturday, October 12, 2013
7th Class
10/12
Felt like utter garbage this morning and wasn't quite with it at the beginning of class. Seemed to get better as time went on. Jenny was there, along with Cody and Dyton. Big class, around 15 people. The theme was back takes, but we ended up doing mostly smash passing with double under control.
Rolled with Sol, Ian, and Savannah (twice). During my rolls I kept trying to use the defense that James showed me the other day on the knee slice pass but forgot an important detail and couldn't get it. I did get a shoulder lock on Sol from bottom side control. I've been fussing with that technique for most of the week and it was gratifying to get it to work. I noticed that I've been trying to do the flower sweep when my opponent has a knee up and it wasn't working b/c I was trying to move them laterally instead of loading their weight onto me and then taking them over.
After class rolled with Jenny, though I was super tired by this point. We went without a clock, and we went for at least five minutes. Wish I could have kept going, but I was drained.
Felt like utter garbage this morning and wasn't quite with it at the beginning of class. Seemed to get better as time went on. Jenny was there, along with Cody and Dyton. Big class, around 15 people. The theme was back takes, but we ended up doing mostly smash passing with double under control.
Rolled with Sol, Ian, and Savannah (twice). During my rolls I kept trying to use the defense that James showed me the other day on the knee slice pass but forgot an important detail and couldn't get it. I did get a shoulder lock on Sol from bottom side control. I've been fussing with that technique for most of the week and it was gratifying to get it to work. I noticed that I've been trying to do the flower sweep when my opponent has a knee up and it wasn't working b/c I was trying to move them laterally instead of loading their weight onto me and then taking them over.
After class rolled with Jenny, though I was super tired by this point. We went without a clock, and we went for at least five minutes. Wish I could have kept going, but I was drained.
Friday, October 11, 2013
6th Class This Week
10/11
I wasn't tired exactly, but I was more than happy to warm-up by flow-rolling instead of running around. This is the first time all week that I saw Antone, and he decided to make up for lost time by using me as a highlight reel instead of, you know, flow rolling. I didn't mind too much though. It was chilly when we started, but after three rounds of "flow" rolling I was about as hot as I was last night.
We did a couple of techniques on what to do if going to X Guard failed. One was moving their leg across your body and sweeping them to the side and the other was going right into deep half. We also did a DLR to waiter sweep that I really struggled with. My mind and body were hating me a bit today, so I wasn't concentrating too well.
Rolled with Antone, Dennis, James and Jason (b). Antone pretty much decimated me, although I think I successfully staved off all of the berimbolo-to-back attempts. He got a couple of subs on me and just had his way.
I got Dennis in a sub I think for the first time ever. Not sure on the sequence of events, but I think I was trying to regain guard and was able to catch him in a triangle. I was able to maintain my guard pretty well against him today.
Don't remember much of my roll with Jason except that I fared a little bit better in guard passing and had a triangle almost locked up when the timer went off.
I figured I was going to do crappy in my roll with James, but I was happy with my effort. At one point though, he had my back with no underhooks and I scooted down to work an escape. I completely forgot about protecting my neck and he got a bow and arrow. I wasn't too happy about that lapse. Other than that though, I liked how I reacted to movements and positioning.
Epsom salt bath tonight.
I wasn't tired exactly, but I was more than happy to warm-up by flow-rolling instead of running around. This is the first time all week that I saw Antone, and he decided to make up for lost time by using me as a highlight reel instead of, you know, flow rolling. I didn't mind too much though. It was chilly when we started, but after three rounds of "flow" rolling I was about as hot as I was last night.
We did a couple of techniques on what to do if going to X Guard failed. One was moving their leg across your body and sweeping them to the side and the other was going right into deep half. We also did a DLR to waiter sweep that I really struggled with. My mind and body were hating me a bit today, so I wasn't concentrating too well.
Rolled with Antone, Dennis, James and Jason (b). Antone pretty much decimated me, although I think I successfully staved off all of the berimbolo-to-back attempts. He got a couple of subs on me and just had his way.
I got Dennis in a sub I think for the first time ever. Not sure on the sequence of events, but I think I was trying to regain guard and was able to catch him in a triangle. I was able to maintain my guard pretty well against him today.
Don't remember much of my roll with Jason except that I fared a little bit better in guard passing and had a triangle almost locked up when the timer went off.
I figured I was going to do crappy in my roll with James, but I was happy with my effort. At one point though, he had my back with no underhooks and I scooted down to work an escape. I completely forgot about protecting my neck and he got a bow and arrow. I wasn't too happy about that lapse. Other than that though, I liked how I reacted to movements and positioning.
Epsom salt bath tonight.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Takedowns....NOOOO...
10/10
I should amend that to "Guard Pulling...YESSSSS....". We worked a basic guard pull, basic ankle pick, guard pull to DLR and what to do if they pull their foot back on the ankle pick. The only time someone's butt hit the mat was during the sweeps that we chained into the guard pulls, so I shouldn't really complain. The problem is that anytime I do something that involves standing on my feet, my brain turns to mush. Dancing and takedowns are simply not my strong suits.
Worked with Jenny, who trains primarily at another school but drops by every so often. She's a blue belt and pretty small, probably near the 125lb category. Rolled with her first, and it was a pretty good back and forth. She passed my guard, I escaped and eventually got some variant of a loop choke or cross choke. It was a weird set-up, and I'm not even that clear as to what it was.
Also had rolls with Ian, Clayton and Michael. Had a turn with Grant, but he wanted to work techniques for his upcoming blue belt test, which was fine with me. The roll with Ian was fun...I ended up inverting at least once if not several times for escapes and guard retention. Was getting in some odd positions, but seemed to be mostly advantageous. Clayton pretty much crushed me, as usual. Michael was on top for most of the roll, but I did get top side-control a couple of times. I think he's still working on getting his cardio back.
After class, rolled with Jimmy and C. I don't even know what C's real name is, but I don't think it has the letter "c" anywhere in it. The origins of his nickname are completely unknown to me. Anyway, Jimmy had mostly top control, though I was able to get him in my guard. Don't remember much about my roll with C.
It's remarkable the difference in energy level between this week and a week or two ago. I've done five classes already this week and plan on doing two more. I'm tired but not fatigued when I get home. I hope that mono crap goes away for a good long while.
I should amend that to "Guard Pulling...YESSSSS....". We worked a basic guard pull, basic ankle pick, guard pull to DLR and what to do if they pull their foot back on the ankle pick. The only time someone's butt hit the mat was during the sweeps that we chained into the guard pulls, so I shouldn't really complain. The problem is that anytime I do something that involves standing on my feet, my brain turns to mush. Dancing and takedowns are simply not my strong suits.
Worked with Jenny, who trains primarily at another school but drops by every so often. She's a blue belt and pretty small, probably near the 125lb category. Rolled with her first, and it was a pretty good back and forth. She passed my guard, I escaped and eventually got some variant of a loop choke or cross choke. It was a weird set-up, and I'm not even that clear as to what it was.
Also had rolls with Ian, Clayton and Michael. Had a turn with Grant, but he wanted to work techniques for his upcoming blue belt test, which was fine with me. The roll with Ian was fun...I ended up inverting at least once if not several times for escapes and guard retention. Was getting in some odd positions, but seemed to be mostly advantageous. Clayton pretty much crushed me, as usual. Michael was on top for most of the roll, but I did get top side-control a couple of times. I think he's still working on getting his cardio back.
After class, rolled with Jimmy and C. I don't even know what C's real name is, but I don't think it has the letter "c" anywhere in it. The origins of his nickname are completely unknown to me. Anyway, Jimmy had mostly top control, though I was able to get him in my guard. Don't remember much about my roll with C.
It's remarkable the difference in energy level between this week and a week or two ago. I've done five classes already this week and plan on doing two more. I'm tired but not fatigued when I get home. I hope that mono crap goes away for a good long while.
Spinal Realignment, Redux
10/9 - Evening
Second double-header of classes this week. The dog is the loser in this scenario, b/c she only got a 20min walk out on the ridge before I left for class. She can go out to the backyard whenever she wants though, so that mitigates my absence somewhat.
We went over similar techniques that we did in the morning, specifically passing half-guard. I paired with Sol again and we worked on putting our spines into terrible misalignment. One of the passes includes you putting your head next to their head and pushing it to the side as you free your leg from their half guard. I heard his neck crack on multiple occasions. I rarely have problems with my neck or back, for which I'm quite grateful.
No KOTH. Hooray. Rolled with Sol, Joey, Julio and James during class and Hustle and Savannah after class. Sol wanted to do a hold-a-move-no-more-than-20sec thing, which kept him pretty active on top. It's good practice for him, at least to mix up his game a little bit and explore. I think he's going to be testing for purple next month along with Hustle, Clayton and Dennis. Maybe Manny too. Julio showed up just in time for the rolls to start and was a complete wrecking ball. Started from standing and jumped all over my guard. How I haven't been injured by him yet is beyond me. Poor Joey was after Julio, and I was not in the mood to let a white belt work after Julio manhandled me. I didn't like how I did in my roll with James as I was tentative b/c I was trying techniques that I didn't have much experience using. That's the only way to get better, but it slows me down and makes my rolls with him less fun.
Hustle and I went after class, and he came after it at a pretty good clip. I was defending for the most part. I think I defended an omoplata/arm-bar combo when time stopped. Was pretty happy to get out of that one. Savannah had just picked up some pointers on passing guard, so she was working those for the vast majority of our roll. She was definitely improved, and I probably should have let her have a pass when she was doing the technique correctly AND being coached by James, but I didn't.
Second double-header of classes this week. The dog is the loser in this scenario, b/c she only got a 20min walk out on the ridge before I left for class. She can go out to the backyard whenever she wants though, so that mitigates my absence somewhat.
We went over similar techniques that we did in the morning, specifically passing half-guard. I paired with Sol again and we worked on putting our spines into terrible misalignment. One of the passes includes you putting your head next to their head and pushing it to the side as you free your leg from their half guard. I heard his neck crack on multiple occasions. I rarely have problems with my neck or back, for which I'm quite grateful.
No KOTH. Hooray. Rolled with Sol, Joey, Julio and James during class and Hustle and Savannah after class. Sol wanted to do a hold-a-move-no-more-than-20sec thing, which kept him pretty active on top. It's good practice for him, at least to mix up his game a little bit and explore. I think he's going to be testing for purple next month along with Hustle, Clayton and Dennis. Maybe Manny too. Julio showed up just in time for the rolls to start and was a complete wrecking ball. Started from standing and jumped all over my guard. How I haven't been injured by him yet is beyond me. Poor Joey was after Julio, and I was not in the mood to let a white belt work after Julio manhandled me. I didn't like how I did in my roll with James as I was tentative b/c I was trying techniques that I didn't have much experience using. That's the only way to get better, but it slows me down and makes my rolls with him less fun.
Hustle and I went after class, and he came after it at a pretty good clip. I was defending for the most part. I think I defended an omoplata/arm-bar combo when time stopped. Was pretty happy to get out of that one. Savannah had just picked up some pointers on passing guard, so she was working those for the vast majority of our roll. She was definitely improved, and I probably should have let her have a pass when she was doing the technique correctly AND being coached by James, but I didn't.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Imperfect RNC is Still Effective
10/9
Half guard pass to kesa gatame to tea-bag to back-take or s-mount straight arm-bar. In a nutshell.
Energy levels are still good, although when 8pm hits I'm ready to call it night. Didn't do any physical activity yesterday except for taking the dog out to the ridge for 40min. Felt good today and was eager for class.
Did ok on the drills, except I'm pretty sure my weight distribution on some of the passes wasn't good. We were doing pretty long chains of techniques, but there were only a few variations that I hadn't seen before so I was able to keep up. I'm going to have to try the tea-bagging thing if I ever get to kesa gatame on someone.
Rolled with Sol, Dennis, Todd and Jason (b). I was doing well against Sol, and he let me have a triangle about midway through. There was good back and forth in the rolls with Dennis and Jason. I worked (briefly) to pass their guard on several occasions. Really trying to push myself out of my comfort zone of guard and trying to get to top more. I had an omoplata on Dennis for the longest time, but when I tried to kick backwards while he was sitting up he sprawled back so that I couldn't get on top. Was a great defense and took me by surprise. Todd had me in an RNC and I thought that his arm was much too high to finish the choke (it was just above my chin). Turns out that when someone arches backward and cranks it tight, it's still effective. Wasn't happy about tapping to that, but it was a helluva lot of pressure. Pretty sure that I didn't try to pull his choking arm down AT ALL the entire time. *sigh*
Half guard pass to kesa gatame to tea-bag to back-take or s-mount straight arm-bar. In a nutshell.
Energy levels are still good, although when 8pm hits I'm ready to call it night. Didn't do any physical activity yesterday except for taking the dog out to the ridge for 40min. Felt good today and was eager for class.
Did ok on the drills, except I'm pretty sure my weight distribution on some of the passes wasn't good. We were doing pretty long chains of techniques, but there were only a few variations that I hadn't seen before so I was able to keep up. I'm going to have to try the tea-bagging thing if I ever get to kesa gatame on someone.
Rolled with Sol, Dennis, Todd and Jason (b). I was doing well against Sol, and he let me have a triangle about midway through. There was good back and forth in the rolls with Dennis and Jason. I worked (briefly) to pass their guard on several occasions. Really trying to push myself out of my comfort zone of guard and trying to get to top more. I had an omoplata on Dennis for the longest time, but when I tried to kick backwards while he was sitting up he sprawled back so that I couldn't get on top. Was a great defense and took me by surprise. Todd had me in an RNC and I thought that his arm was much too high to finish the choke (it was just above my chin). Turns out that when someone arches backward and cranks it tight, it's still effective. Wasn't happy about tapping to that, but it was a helluva lot of pressure. Pretty sure that I didn't try to pull his choking arm down AT ALL the entire time. *sigh*
Monday, October 7, 2013
King of the Hill, Redux
10/7 - Evening
Decided to hit the evening class as a birthday present to myself. Paaaaaaaaaacked class tonight, close to 20 people. Energy was good, so I'm hoping the fatigue has gone underground for awhile.
Went over DLR sweeps. One of them was the nut killer from last week, and the other was taking the back. I did ok with them, and tried the one where you take the back several times during rolls but wasn't able to get it.
More KOTH tonight. Similar rules as this morning. Sweep or pass. The difference is that the person off the wall started standing. I did fairly awful at this, primarily b/c I didn't have a gameplan for passing. I finally decided that I'd try toreando passes, but met with quite a lot of failure. Over the course of a half hour, I probably got two passes and was able to retain guard or improve it a couple of times.
Near the end we played "choke ball", which consists of dividing the class into two teams on opposite sides of the mat. Everyone starts and must remain on their knees. A ball is put in the middle between the teams, and they have to get it to the opposite end of the mat using any means necessary. Have to admit, was pretty fun.
Rolled with Russ for about 10min afterward. He worked his way into back mount and then into a kimura and then arm-bar, but I was eventually able to wiggle my way out of it. Happy with my defense, and really happy with my energy level. Hope it continues.
Decided to hit the evening class as a birthday present to myself. Paaaaaaaaaacked class tonight, close to 20 people. Energy was good, so I'm hoping the fatigue has gone underground for awhile.
Went over DLR sweeps. One of them was the nut killer from last week, and the other was taking the back. I did ok with them, and tried the one where you take the back several times during rolls but wasn't able to get it.
More KOTH tonight. Similar rules as this morning. Sweep or pass. The difference is that the person off the wall started standing. I did fairly awful at this, primarily b/c I didn't have a gameplan for passing. I finally decided that I'd try toreando passes, but met with quite a lot of failure. Over the course of a half hour, I probably got two passes and was able to retain guard or improve it a couple of times.
Near the end we played "choke ball", which consists of dividing the class into two teams on opposite sides of the mat. Everyone starts and must remain on their knees. A ball is put in the middle between the teams, and they have to get it to the opposite end of the mat using any means necessary. Have to admit, was pretty fun.
Rolled with Russ for about 10min afterward. He worked his way into back mount and then into a kimura and then arm-bar, but I was eventually able to wiggle my way out of it. Happy with my defense, and really happy with my energy level. Hope it continues.
King of the Hill Success
10/7
Sweeps from closed guard: scissor, reverse scissor, reverse scissor to knee bar and reverse scissor to americana. I was working with Jason (b) who has about 50lb on me. I have to more or less knock him off to the side instead trying to load him up over my body b/c my legs just get crushed. I had better luck when my knee was closer to his chin than his sternum, but it was still a trial to get him over. I had no chance practicing the knee bar b/c the premise is that you snag his leg out of the air as it passes by. Good luck with that if you're just dumping him to the side.
Finally got a pass on a day of pass/sweep king of the hill!!! On Julio no less! I had the immense benefit of watching his previous roll with someone and noticed how he baited them into in a kindof quarter guard and then swept him over his body. He started off doing the same set-up on me, so I got an arm under his head and just hugged in for dear life. When I was able to establish a good position, I sat on my hip and used my outside foot to free my trapped foot. My instinct of staying in tight instead of sprawling and trying to attack from there worked very, very well. He was razzed by the other people in line who saw it, which I thought was kindof lame. I also benefited from doing poorly in the KOTH up until that point and him doing well, which meant he was more spent than I was.
I didn't acquit myself as well in the remainder of the KOTH. I tried a mix of standing and kneeling passes, although it was mostly kneeling passes. We did normal KOTH rolls for the last ten minutes or so.
Sweeps from closed guard: scissor, reverse scissor, reverse scissor to knee bar and reverse scissor to americana. I was working with Jason (b) who has about 50lb on me. I have to more or less knock him off to the side instead trying to load him up over my body b/c my legs just get crushed. I had better luck when my knee was closer to his chin than his sternum, but it was still a trial to get him over. I had no chance practicing the knee bar b/c the premise is that you snag his leg out of the air as it passes by. Good luck with that if you're just dumping him to the side.
Finally got a pass on a day of pass/sweep king of the hill!!! On Julio no less! I had the immense benefit of watching his previous roll with someone and noticed how he baited them into in a kindof quarter guard and then swept him over his body. He started off doing the same set-up on me, so I got an arm under his head and just hugged in for dear life. When I was able to establish a good position, I sat on my hip and used my outside foot to free my trapped foot. My instinct of staying in tight instead of sprawling and trying to attack from there worked very, very well. He was razzed by the other people in line who saw it, which I thought was kindof lame. I also benefited from doing poorly in the KOTH up until that point and him doing well, which meant he was more spent than I was.
I didn't acquit myself as well in the remainder of the KOTH. I tried a mix of standing and kneeling passes, although it was mostly kneeling passes. We did normal KOTH rolls for the last ten minutes or so.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Study Hall
10/5
With a combination of several guys testing for purple next month, low attendance and a collective low ebb of energy, we had a very low key session today. The class was catered around the guys who are testing to help them fill gaps in knowledge. No warm-ups, just straight into technique. There was a lot more talking than drilling, which was fine with me b/c fatigue was really kicking my ass today.
Nando was back from his knee surgery, and wanted to roll with me after the technique part. We rolled for about 10min, and I was very good about leaving his knee alone. He had top control for the most part. I probably would fared better if I didn't avoid his knee, but even so, he came back pretty good considered he's been out three full months.
Rolled with Clayton for 5-10min too. He was in control for most of the roll as well, although, I fared a bit better than usual. A 5min roll with Sol where I was pretty satisfied with my defense. All in all I was happy with the rolls considering my energy was so crap.
With a combination of several guys testing for purple next month, low attendance and a collective low ebb of energy, we had a very low key session today. The class was catered around the guys who are testing to help them fill gaps in knowledge. No warm-ups, just straight into technique. There was a lot more talking than drilling, which was fine with me b/c fatigue was really kicking my ass today.
Nando was back from his knee surgery, and wanted to roll with me after the technique part. We rolled for about 10min, and I was very good about leaving his knee alone. He had top control for the most part. I probably would fared better if I didn't avoid his knee, but even so, he came back pretty good considered he's been out three full months.
Rolled with Clayton for 5-10min too. He was in control for most of the roll as well, although, I fared a bit better than usual. A 5min roll with Sol where I was pretty satisfied with my defense. All in all I was happy with the rolls considering my energy was so crap.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Nut Sweep
10/4
Today was spiderguard and variations thereof. The first couple were basic sweeps on a kneeling opponent. One of them, with the foot on the bicep and trying to look behind you as you lengthen your back was hard for me. I've tried this during rolls b/c I thought it was relatively straightfoward but I haven't been successful with it. I could probably spend an entire class learning about the set-up and execution of this one particular sweep.
One of the sweeps on a standing opponent I've never seen before, and it was especially dicey for the guys. You have spiderguard with feet on the hips on standing opponent. Switch one foot from hip to DLR hook. The other foot hooks behind the knee of their other leg, and catches it as they try to backstep or step forward. Once they take their weight off of that foot, bring them toward you and get grips on the backs of their ankles with both hands (similar to double ankle sweep). Place the non DLR hook foot just below their groin on the same side as the DLR hook. Ensure the DLR hook is high on their thigh. Straighten legs and lift them so that they are above your torso. They will base out with their hands, so dump them to the opposite side of the DLR. Pull a leg out and back, then come up into top-half or side-control.
Rolls with Manny, Dennis, Tyler and Antone. I don't remember much about the rolls except that Antone got a wrist-lock on me that I fought off for awhile but finally had to succumb. I was able to use some of the back-mount techniques from last night, though he was pretty much in control the entire time. Dennis remarked that I seemed to have used a technique several times to escape from the bottom wherein I end up behind or on top of them with their legs collapsed. I don't quite know how I'm getting there, but it seems to come when opponents are in a position to kimura from top side or maybe technical mount. I dive both arms under the facing leg and try to pop out the back. Thinking back on it I only have a vague sense of the set-up. Hopefully I'll be more conscious of it the next time it happens so that I can identify the entry point.
I stalled out on the Portuguese when I wasn't feeling too well the past couple of weeks, but am picking it back up. A little less than two months before Walter comes (James' coach) and hopefully I'll be able to speak a little bit. James is going to get his black belt...I'm so damned excited for him.
Today was spiderguard and variations thereof. The first couple were basic sweeps on a kneeling opponent. One of them, with the foot on the bicep and trying to look behind you as you lengthen your back was hard for me. I've tried this during rolls b/c I thought it was relatively straightfoward but I haven't been successful with it. I could probably spend an entire class learning about the set-up and execution of this one particular sweep.
One of the sweeps on a standing opponent I've never seen before, and it was especially dicey for the guys. You have spiderguard with feet on the hips on standing opponent. Switch one foot from hip to DLR hook. The other foot hooks behind the knee of their other leg, and catches it as they try to backstep or step forward. Once they take their weight off of that foot, bring them toward you and get grips on the backs of their ankles with both hands (similar to double ankle sweep). Place the non DLR hook foot just below their groin on the same side as the DLR hook. Ensure the DLR hook is high on their thigh. Straighten legs and lift them so that they are above your torso. They will base out with their hands, so dump them to the opposite side of the DLR. Pull a leg out and back, then come up into top-half or side-control.
Rolls with Manny, Dennis, Tyler and Antone. I don't remember much about the rolls except that Antone got a wrist-lock on me that I fought off for awhile but finally had to succumb. I was able to use some of the back-mount techniques from last night, though he was pretty much in control the entire time. Dennis remarked that I seemed to have used a technique several times to escape from the bottom wherein I end up behind or on top of them with their legs collapsed. I don't quite know how I'm getting there, but it seems to come when opponents are in a position to kimura from top side or maybe technical mount. I dive both arms under the facing leg and try to pop out the back. Thinking back on it I only have a vague sense of the set-up. Hopefully I'll be more conscious of it the next time it happens so that I can identify the entry point.
I stalled out on the Portuguese when I wasn't feeling too well the past couple of weeks, but am picking it back up. A little less than two months before Walter comes (James' coach) and hopefully I'll be able to speak a little bit. James is going to get his black belt...I'm so damned excited for him.
Mount Escapes
10/3
Went to the Thu night class since I'm not doing Tue/Thu daytime classes in the Valley anymore. Relatively small class tonight, about 10 peeps. Did several variations of back escapes, and a bow-and-arrow escape just for fun.
Our king of the hill at the end was ridiculous. James had to explain the rules three times, and even then we still weren't doing it right. It wasn't that complicated, but it was completely over our collective heads. Four people down on the mat. The person off the wall starts in back mount. If they get a submission from any position, they win. If the other person escapes to any variation of guard or top control, they win. If mount is achieved, it's treated as back mount and you keep going. The kicker is that the loser stays on the mat. Confusing, right?
Overall, the escapes were much easier for everyone than the submissions. I think this speaks both to our defensive prowess and our inability to maintain back control. I had back-control of James for about .3 seconds before he escaped, and I have pretty decent control. *sigh*
Jumped Jimmy after class and had a good roll with him that lasted at least five minutes. He was in dominant position for most of it but I was able to defend and regain guard fairly consistently.
Went to the Thu night class since I'm not doing Tue/Thu daytime classes in the Valley anymore. Relatively small class tonight, about 10 peeps. Did several variations of back escapes, and a bow-and-arrow escape just for fun.
Our king of the hill at the end was ridiculous. James had to explain the rules three times, and even then we still weren't doing it right. It wasn't that complicated, but it was completely over our collective heads. Four people down on the mat. The person off the wall starts in back mount. If they get a submission from any position, they win. If the other person escapes to any variation of guard or top control, they win. If mount is achieved, it's treated as back mount and you keep going. The kicker is that the loser stays on the mat. Confusing, right?
Overall, the escapes were much easier for everyone than the submissions. I think this speaks both to our defensive prowess and our inability to maintain back control. I had back-control of James for about .3 seconds before he escaped, and I have pretty decent control. *sigh*
Jumped Jimmy after class and had a good roll with him that lasted at least five minutes. He was in dominant position for most of it but I was able to defend and regain guard fairly consistently.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Adductor Blues
10/2
I'm not sure how, but I managed to pull an adductor doing...I have no idea what. At some point during the pre-class warm-up, my R adductor starting feeling tight and unhappy. I got through the warm-ups ok and tried to give it a little extra time during the butterfly stretch. Felt a little better, and had no problem during the technique portion of class. I was conscious of it while rolling, though it didn't seem to hamper me much. I'm glad it wasn't a groin pull, as those seem to take much longer to heal once they've been tweaked.
We had a couple of newbies in today, Joe and Rachel. I think Joe had background in a different martial art, and Rachel has done at least a year or so of no gi. We've had quite a few new people lately, so it'll be interesting to see who will stick around.
We worked on butterfly positioning, specifically when your opponent is in tight with low posture. Did a sweep to mount, the Frank Mir (an americana variation), a triangle, and a guillotine. I had the most trouble with the Mir b/c it turns out that Dennis is particularly flexible in those joints. And I was probably doing it a little bit wrong.
Rolled with Dennis, kid-who's-name-I-don't-remember (blue belt), Jason and Rachel. Dennis and I had an ok roll, but not quite the epic experience of Monday. I did well with the kid, mainly b/c he had a very loose game. By "loose" I mean he often only had two contact points when he was playing open guard, didn't stay tight when he was on top, etc. I thought I'd try something different with Jason today, but I didn't really accomplish that. I focused a bit more on grips, but again, when he gets his contact points in open guard it's crazy hard to break. I tried to backstep at one point without controlling his knee almost ended up with him in back-mount. Had a good roll with Rachel. I was able to dictate the pace and positioning, and after getting to mount a couple of times I let her reverse into top half so I could see what her top game was like. Her shoulder pressure was good, and she was able to maintain top position fairly well. She's about my size too, so it'll be nice if she sticks around and really gets into the gi side of BJJ.
I'm not sure how, but I managed to pull an adductor doing...I have no idea what. At some point during the pre-class warm-up, my R adductor starting feeling tight and unhappy. I got through the warm-ups ok and tried to give it a little extra time during the butterfly stretch. Felt a little better, and had no problem during the technique portion of class. I was conscious of it while rolling, though it didn't seem to hamper me much. I'm glad it wasn't a groin pull, as those seem to take much longer to heal once they've been tweaked.
We had a couple of newbies in today, Joe and Rachel. I think Joe had background in a different martial art, and Rachel has done at least a year or so of no gi. We've had quite a few new people lately, so it'll be interesting to see who will stick around.
We worked on butterfly positioning, specifically when your opponent is in tight with low posture. Did a sweep to mount, the Frank Mir (an americana variation), a triangle, and a guillotine. I had the most trouble with the Mir b/c it turns out that Dennis is particularly flexible in those joints. And I was probably doing it a little bit wrong.
Rolled with Dennis, kid-who's-name-I-don't-remember (blue belt), Jason and Rachel. Dennis and I had an ok roll, but not quite the epic experience of Monday. I did well with the kid, mainly b/c he had a very loose game. By "loose" I mean he often only had two contact points when he was playing open guard, didn't stay tight when he was on top, etc. I thought I'd try something different with Jason today, but I didn't really accomplish that. I focused a bit more on grips, but again, when he gets his contact points in open guard it's crazy hard to break. I tried to backstep at one point without controlling his knee almost ended up with him in back-mount. Had a good roll with Rachel. I was able to dictate the pace and positioning, and after getting to mount a couple of times I let her reverse into top half so I could see what her top game was like. Her shoulder pressure was good, and she was able to maintain top position fairly well. She's about my size too, so it'll be nice if she sticks around and really gets into the gi side of BJJ.
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