Pulling Guard

11/8

I better eat a bagel, quick. I felt slow today too. I didn't get as much sleep as usual, and doing a night class followed by a morning class is probably partly the problem. Today we went over one of my favorite techniques...pulling guard. :p I've definitely improved in this area, as I had godawful technique during my matches and that's one of the reasons why I lost my absolute match at Pans. I didn't extend my leg and establish enough of a push/pull to control my opponent.

We did a basic guard pull to hook and sweep, guard pull to elevate and sweep, and fake pull to single leg ankle pick. If/When I compete again, I'm going to drill the hell out of pulls and takedowns instead of taking that aspect for granted.

Rolls with Antone, Jimmy, James, Manny and Jason. Antone had me tied up in knots and got a bow and arrow. Boo. Jimmy had great position at one point and was going for all kinds of submissions, but I was able to fend them off and eventually get top position. Was proud of myself for that roll. James must have done the back-step from half guard at least five times, and each time I tried to elevate his leg for the sweep but it shut it down every time. I asked him about it later and he said that he was starting off in a better position and that when I tried to elevate his leg I was doing it from under the calf instead of the knee. Manny had me in some bad positions, and while I was able to eventually escape I never got a good position. I tried to keep Jason in guard and did a so-so job. He passed and got a wrist-lock from some top position, probably side-control.

I had very little mojo today, and found myself taking deep breaths in the middle of rolls. I wasn't out of breath, just didn't have energy.