Monday Morning Open Mat

Didn't go much better today than yesterday. A little bit, not a lot. I had people warm-up by doing a half hour of drilling their choice of techniques, then 45min of rolling. 

Rolled with Manny, Ian, Kelly, Ben, Shaun and Julio. The one thing that really stuck out in my mind is that both Ben and Kelly used a kimura grip when I had top positions (side-control and half-guard) and were able to effectively escape/sweep. I tried the counter that we learned last week by grabbing my own arm and stepping over the head but I think I was mixing up the steps for half guard and top side. I did my best rolling with Ian, but I still got my guard passed at least once.

Sunday Night Open Mat

Open mat at 7pm. A little late to roll on Sunday, but it's not going to be much of a week next week anyway. Rolls with Julio, Jamie, Opal, Kevin, Jason W., Kelly and Christopher. Not very impressed with my technique or timing, but a week off will do that I suppose.

Monday Morn

Huge class for a weekday morning, around 20 ppl.

Body still tired, but good enough for class. Got through this morning ok and now there's just night class. After that, I'll have at least three days without any rolling.........unless I cave and go to no gi tomorrow night.

Today's format was similar to Sunday advanced. I worked shin guard -> single leg X -> 50/50 -> leg drag, DLR -> RDLR -> DLR and then the rest of my time was spent on the over/under pass. It finally struck me today that the over/under is a pressure pass, and I found it ironic b/c I'm not a big pressure person. I've been kindof diving into it from loosely established half guards, which may not be a wise course of action. I need to have both of my knees above their knee, which means I need to pinch them together. Sol was doing a good job of pushing my elbow away on the "under" side, so I need to focus on keeping my elbow in tighter. I gained a lot of insight on the pass working with him.

Rolls with Savannah, Sol and then drilled again with Sarah. Nothing remarkable from the rolls. Just when I think I'm sortof out of the woods in an omoplata escape with Sol I get wrist-locked. Trying to pass his half guard was awful. He's really, really good at exposing elbows.

Signed up for Pans today...

Sunday Advanced

Body feeling ok except kinda tired.

Today's drill session went much better for me than last week. I tried transitioning from a knee slice to knee over pass and back again, but a) I was doing poorly and b) it was very uncomfortable for Russ. Since I wasn't sure if I was doing it right, I decided to work the lasso sweep to hammer sweep transition, the over-under pass (which I'm really enjoying) and can't remember what else.

Rolls with Russ, Kasey, Jason W., James and Antone. 

I was able to get into the over-under pass position with Russ but couldn't complete the pass. He had strong frames with his hands and I wasn't able to kick my leg out. I think it's b/c I didn't walk him flat, so he still a lot of play in his leg. I felt like I was stalling out in the position, so eventually moved back into a more traditional top half guard. 

Kasey went for a leg lock rather quickly. Aside from that, he let me work top side a bit. I stayed out of closed guard but couldn't really get grips to do anything worthwhile in open guard.

Jason also went for several leg locks. I was able to roll out of a toe hold. Can't remember much else about that roll. 

I was looking forward to rolling with James but don't think I did all that well. I did feel like I tried some new things instead of old things that have the same (bad) predictable result. 

Antone pretty much kicked my ass and I was starting to feel a little bit sorry for myself but managed to keep it in check. 

Sat Fundies and Nooner

Rachael was back, so I had my preferred demo dummy for the Fundamentals class. Surprised with a good-sized turnout (8) before the holiday week. I'm pretty sure that I talk too fast and too much. I need to chill out a bit. Did the hip bump sweep, flower sweep and double-ankle sweep. It was gratifying to have a couple of guys say that the details I showed made the technique seem more effortless then when they've tried it before.

Had a nice mix of people for the noon class. About a third purple, a third blue and a third white.Technique was passing the seated guard, either by stepping in and back-stepping, or stepping to the side and spinning them down. These work fantastic in theory, but almost never during rolling (at least for me). We also did the very debasing pull-their-sleeves-up-and-shove-your-hips-in-their-face-and-slide-to-mount pass. 

Rolls with Rachael, Clayton, Tucker and Nick. I was able to get to Rachael's back with one hook in and spent the majority of the roll working to get the second hook in and harass for chokes. Came close on a bow and arrow variation, but couldn't finish and she defended well and was eventually able to get me off her back (though I quickly got back on). 

I was more competitive with Clayton than usual, though he still pretty much dominated the round. He had top position, but I was able to stay out of bad trouble and tried to work (unsuccessfully) from bottom half guard.

This was Tucker's third class (Fundies was his second) and he did well for it being his third class. I worked (predictably) from guard and did several catch-n-release submissions. Swept to mount, moved off to side-control, then let him finish from top side. He said at one point that he felt like he was mouse being toyed with by a cat. Made me chuckle. I told him that we all start out that way, and that's how I feel when I roll with James.

Nick has been working his spiderguard, which is good b/c not too many people play pure spiderguard at the gym. I totally forgot the defense that I was going to practice though, so I was stuck in it for awhile until I was able to get through his guard, pass to side control and tap with a kimura. Reset and he started his spiderguard again. I really need to figure what defense I'm going to use against that.

Feeling better about jiu jitsu, but body is dead tired. Hopefully I'll feel refreshed for drilling tomorrow. Looking forward to having a couple of days off next week.

Fri Morn No Gi

Ehhhhhhhh...... rolling is sliding into that not very fun realm this week. Drilling is going well and I'm enjoying that aspect, but I feel like the upper belts are just toying with me and it's making it decidedly un-fun. Today, Kelly decided to calf slicer me several times before moving on to something else. Granted, I wasn't adapting enough to stop him from doing it, but come on.

I feel like the worst grappler in the room, which is a really unpleasant place to be. Especially when I really start boo hooing it...five years in, and still the worst.

I'm tempted to just teach Fundies tomorrow and skip noon class, depending on who's there and how I'm feeling. 

On a more positive note, my lifting has been going well. I've been doing it consistently three times a week and have been adding in metcons. Following CFFB for the Mon/Tue/Thu workouts.

Wed Night

Body was tired but mind was willing for another class.

Submission escapes, which made me quite happy. I've been looking forward to doing some for quite awhile. 

We really only worked two, b/c we had quite a few white belts in class. Arm-in and arm-out versions of the guillotine from guard escape, escaping a kimura from top-half guard and escaping a kimura from top side-control. Drilled with Russ and everything felt pretty good. We should have split up and drilled with the white belts though. 

Rolls with Russ, Joyce, Opal and Missy and then a couple of rounds with Nando after class. Russ was letting me work a bit, but not too much. It seemed like a pretty competitive roll. I gave some feedback after each roll with the women, which they seem to appreciate.

Nando had a more difficult time passing my guard than usual. He's also hasn't been consistent with attendance...in fact, I can't remember the last time he was in regularly. I was definitely doing a better job of leg weaving though. He got me in N/S and was about to sink a choke when my calf started cramping badly. I had a bunch of bananas and water yesterday but probably not enough sodium. We rolled for awhile longer and then he showed me an escape from N/S.

Wed Morn Defeatism

So-so day of training. I can't decide if it's a blessing or curse that I'm planning on doing night class as well.

Technique was straight-forward enough. Spiderguard to a lasso from opposite arm sweep and transitioning to a hammer sweep if the lasso doesn't work. Picked up quite a few details on both of those that will hopefully help me be more successful.

During rolls, I tried to focus on the passing fundamentals from Ryan Hall that I watched last night. I was interested mainly in trying to make the knee over (split) pass work. I had some success with Sarah, and noticed that I was naturally keeping my head low and using it to help pin her down. I had to really work for it, as she wasn't going to just let me lock her hips down. I was patient, stuck with it and eventually got the pass. I was really, really happy that I was methodical and (hopefully) technical. Keeping my hips towards the mat was *not* intuitive.

Then a roll with Antone, where I tried to do the same thing. Much less success, as I couldn't or wouldn't get my hips down. He ended up sweeping and immediately getting to some awesome top position. He might tapped me with something, don't remember. I think we restarted and I tried to fall to the side (just like Ryan Hall) when he sat up with a DLR hook but that didn't work out well for me either. He went completely inverted, and I tried to pin one side down but he wasn't having it.

Rolled with Kelly, who was just toying with me while he was trying to get a lapel guard sweep to work. 

This is probably what started the deterioration in my mood, which was not helped by a roll with Ben (not teacher Ben). He passed by quickly stuffing my knee, smashed to side-control and then smashed to mount. Once in mount, he worked and worked for a submission, which he eventually got with some sortof choke. I could tell he was getting somewhat frustrated by the fact that I was in pure defense mode and not trying to escape. Fair enough, but I decided I'd rather wait for him to (hopefully) make a mistake during a submission instead of spend a lot of energy trying to escape. I had tucked my chin deep, so the submission was mostly a matter of him smashing my chin into my throat, which was totally on me, not him. He has technique for sure, but he also muscles the shit out of everything and has a significant size/strength advantage. It's frustrating, b/c I got into that zone where I was like screw it, just get your sub already so that we can reset. I really dislike when I have that defeatist attitude, but it is what it is. When we reset I let my frustration out a bit by going harder than usual, but the round was almost over so not much happened.

He complemented me after the roll that my elbows were hard to isolate, which was nice and all, but it sounded a lot like a I-just-kicked-your-ass-but-I'm-going-to-complement-you-because-you're-clearly-pretty-frustrated.

Monday - Jiu Jitsu in My Sleep

Soooooo....it turns out I do jiu jitsu in my sleep. It's possible that I was framing someone in the face that was next to me in the middle of the night. Oops.

My body felt fine, but apparently my brain was not all there for morning class. We were doing half guard sweeps from 93, and they were mostly ones that I haven't seen before (or have forgotten if I have). I was making a bunch of small mistakes, like gripping the fabric instead of using a monkey grip, not gripping the leg, etc.

Finally seemed to get it together, but none of the sweeps felt like I was doing them well.

Rolled with Sarah, Tyrone, Julio, James and big Mike. 

I think I was using my weight too much with Sarah. It's hard for me to tell if it's my technique, weight or both. It's probably both.

Tyrone said he wanted to do something a little different, so I tried to get in a passing position instead of a guard position immediately after the fist bump. I came close and had top turtle in a head-to-head position, but I lost it and he passed....right into my inverted triangle from bottom side. I had his far arm (which I usually never get) and he tapped. We restarted and I harassed him from guard (our normal roll) the rest of the round.

Julio accidentally smashed my jaw early on, but no real harm done. He passed my guard like butter and I was having a tough time in his side-control.

I tried again to get a sweep on James after he did a back-step, but I did quite a few things wrong and didn't get as close as I did yesterday. He gave me some advice after class and I'll give those a whirl next time.

Big Mike didn't have a lot of energy left, and I really, really did not want him to lay on top of me in side-control. I managed to stay in guard and work for chokes and taking the back. Never quite got to the back, but did ok otherwise.

Wrasslin & Advanced Class

Sat Fundies:

Had 6 people, all of them fairly inexperienced. That is a good number for me to give individual attention. Went over arm-bar, omoplata and triangle from guard in no gi. 

Sat Noon:

Wrestling seminar which I had been dreading. Turned out to be a good learning experience and I daresay fun. I'm not going to double-leg an opponent anytime soon, but I enjoyed the exposure to something a little different. Worked with Joyce, and we both had an explicit agreement that we were not going to let each other get injured.

After class I rolled no gi with Jerry, who was back after a multi-month lay-off. I kept trying to weave my arm between his legs while he had half guard so I could smash his legs down for the pass. I was arm-barred repeatedly.

Sunday:

I was wiped Saturday night but woke up with a surprising amount of energy on Sunday morn. Was too rushed doing tasking stuff before class though, and got a bit worn down. Also didn't have time to plan my drilling, so it was hit and miss. Tried to work the RDLR passes and met with a lot of fail. Tried several different techniques and really nothing felt very good.

Rolled with Russ, Jerry, Kelly, Shaun, Jason S., Jason W. and James. I was pretty happy with my rolls overall. James can't work from his back b/c of a tattoo, so if you could get a sweep you would win. I came very, very close to getting him on his back after he back-stepped but alas I couldn't quite finish.

Friday

I might have committed to doing both 2015 Pans and Master Worlds last night.  -.-

Technique was a bit on the complex side today, consisting of passing someone who is in the midst of inverting while in RDLR. Also a response to the lockdown and then a somewhat related pass off of a backstep.

KOTH with the goal being a pass or sweep only. Person down starts in seated guard.

I was very quickly swept by everyone with whom I was matched. Swept, on the wall. Swept, on the wall. Humbling, but good. In hindsight, I gave up on a lot of the attempted sweeps instead of fighting and clawing to keep my ass off the mat. If I'm going to be spending a truckload on competitions next year, I need to get out of them mindset. 

Come to think of it, I need to get out of this mindset, regardless of how much competing (or not competing.

I finally got a pass on Shaun and was able to stay down and play guard the rest of the time.

Tomorrow's noon class is going to be strictly wrestling. FML.

EDIT: Wanted to mention a couple of things that I did well during the KOTH rolls. I've drilled getting rid of butterfly hooks (standing) a la Ryan Hall, and I was able to use that once during an attempted pass. I did a pretty decent job of breaking grips, especially in my first roll with Jason S. I also got a knee slice on two different people by taking my knee across their shin instead of across their thigh. 

Mumbling Wednesday

I mumble waaaaay more than I would like, especially in class. I have the impression that people can hear me when they can't, and that's WITHOUT the mouthguard. Note to self to speak up and clearly.

Got through a nice lift and cardio session last night, so figured my body was in good enough shape for morning class. Slept godawful, but still felt decent.

Technique consisted of the DLR dump sweep, rolling underneath if they break the far side grip, and using their elbow to forward roll them if you can't get a sleeve grip on either side. Techniques all felt pretty good. Ideally for all of these you have a shin guard instead of the DLR hook dropped on the floor, but getting my shin in front isn't intuitive. That will take a lot of drilling to change.

Rolls with Sarah, Richard, Antone, Russ, Jason S. and Ben.

Did well against Sarah, though in her defense she apparently had a crappy night of sleep as well. I had good top pressure and was patient about getting to mount.

Richard looked beat, but really came after me trying to pass my guard. I maintained guard but it was a struggle. I can't remember if I got a sub or not.

Fun roll with Antone. He went for a back attack and I worked hard to try to get the shallower hook, but he was better at it and eventually was able to get my back off the mat. We had quite a few transitions and quite a bit of variety.

I came out of the gate with Russ with the intent of pressure passing and stayed focused on that. I think I eventually did get the pass. Most of the round was me trying to get the pass and flattening him out.

I didn't have much left for Jason or Ben. Jason got that lapel/spiderguard and was a step ahead of me the entire way. I was barely able to avoid getting in really bad spots, but barely. Ben toyed with my closed guard for a bit, passed using the super annoying trap-your-arm-behind-your-back method then finished a head/arm choke from mount. 

Sat Fundies and Nooner

My Fundamentals class is dwindling. Only four people this week. There are plenty of newish white belts that attend the noon class. Maybe some of them can't make 10:30am, but I suspect it's more a matter of them not wanting to attend as opposed to not being able to attend, for whatever reason.

I covered top side-control, which I'm becoming more comfortable teaching. The Ryan Hall Passing series has really helped me think and teach some aspects of the top game more conceptually. Hard to say if I'm applying during rolling, which is where the rubber really meets the road.

The noon class focused on back-mount escapes. Escape to the good side, escape bad side. I think the last was escape using deep half if you can't free the top hook.

Rolled with Naomi, Nick and Zack. May have had one more, don't remember. No submissions, mount or back-mount only. I needed a light day b/c I could feel that I was coming down with a cold bug. I let Naomi work a bit, but she was legitimately doing well pushing the action and staying on top when she got there. I got mount at some point. Zack worked a fair amount from top half. I tried in vain numerous times to use the 93 guard and extend the leg for a sweep. I think I got him on his butt once.

Nick's spiderguard game is really coming along. I don't know if he got a sweep, but he was making it very tough for me to make any forward progress. I hate being in someone's spiderguard, but I'm really glad we have some people at the gym that are using it. I eventually got to mount or back-mount near the end of the round after finally passing his guard.

I spent a good portion of Sunday morning and Sunday night watching Worlds 2011. I thought it was odd that they interviewed the winners, b/c I don't recall them doing that the past several years. As I was watching the interviews for the women's finals, I figured out why they probably stopped doing that. During Leticia's interview, she made a statement that the Federation needed to start steroid testing b/c it was clear that some people were using. Later on, Gabi responded in a torrent of Portuguese, which made me wish I would really buckle down and make it a priority to learn it. Her translator probably gave a sterilized version of her response.

Anyway, watching jiu jitsu makes me want to do jiu jitsu, but alas, not feeling good. No Monday class for me. :(

Fri No Gi

The first rashguard that I've purchased in over 5yrs arrived last night, just in time for today's no gi class. I love the fit and feel, except that I'm not used to a tight collar and felt like I was being choked. Aside from that though, I love it.

Back is feeling better. A little tight, but didn't limit me too much until I was in bottom side-control. 

Technique of the day was sweeps from the 93 guard, one of my favorite. Elongate the leg to a knee-bar or take them over for a sweep, knee-bar, or move to side-control. If they try to knee cut, trap their cutting leg (R) with your L, step to the R with your R foot and use your R hand under their L knee to punch up while you pull their hips into you (assumption is that you have the underhook. If they hover, pull your bottom leg out and dump them into full guard and a potential back-take.

Last ditch effort if they get the underhook on the knee cut is to do the Telles roll into them and grab their inside knee with your inside hand, transitioning to their far hip to prevent a crucifix as you plow them over.

Rolls with Sarah (twice), Chris, Jordan and Jason S. I got a nice sweep on Jason, but otherwise I was in quite a bit of trouble. I had to hold out at the end for in arm-bar triangle combo that he was working. Chris had good top control and guard, and was giving me sweeps. Not sure how I feel about that. I worked Jordan over pretty good with multiple submissions. I admonished him at one point as he reached his arm back and under my leg to try to break open my guard. He did use a kimura grip from a bottom position to start an escape, but let go of it too soon.

First roll with Sarah was pretty back and forth. I was showing my back A LOT, way more than I should have. Sometimes she was able to capitalize, and got at least one sweep and pass out of it. In the second roll I didn't show my back as much, and had a good grip on the arm for an arm-bar but my legs were trapped.

Really enjoyed no gi for a change of pace, and am in love with the rashguard. Wish I would have got two while they were on sale. :(

Wed - At Least the Dog was Cozy

Monday night, the dog gives me the sad eyes and wants to sleep in the bed. Well...fine. The problem is that this 50lb pooch crowds me to the edge of the bed as night wears on, so I wake up preztelfied and my back is seriously unhappy.

Tuesday it was bad and very stiff after sitting in the office for 10hrs. I did a light lift workout Tuesday night to try to stretch it out. It felt sortof better and sortof worse.

Felt better this morning, but still areas of unhappiness. Probably shouldn't have gone to class, but I told myself that I was going to take it really, really easy.

Had a bit of a rough go of it during warm-ups, as pummeling was fine but fighting for the underhooks was dicey. Stretching felt good but some of it was somewhat uncomfortable.

Started off with a half guard sweep that I was fine as the top person but not so much on the bottom. It involved on halfway inverting on the shoulder, which was kindof fine, but kicking the leg out not so much. I wasn't a great training partner for Sarah. :( 

Everything I tried felt at least somewhat uncomfortable. I was able to show a DLR back-take fairly well though, so there's that. 

Wasn't going to roll, but felt ok so flowed with Sarah, Chris, Shaun and Jason S. If someone got to side-control I punted b/c bridging was out of the question. Working from the top was ok, until I got into top side-control and tried to attack the far arm for an americana. Nope. Guard was ok to maintain, sweeps were tricky.

I probably could have stayed away to let my back chill, but I think stretching and movement was good for it.

 

Monday Morn

I promised Sarah that I had some epic deep half sweeps that I was going to try out on her today. That turned out to be a lot of hot air on my part.

Omoplata set-ups and alternative finishes today. Felt pretty good with them, overall. The switch to arm-bar when if they try to snaggle your far leg didn't feel quite right, probably b/c I wasn't getting my hips all the way around. 

The response to when they throw their leg over felt a little dicey too, but it was mostly b/c I wasn't using their momentum to bring me up. It also has to be a realistic jump over on their part. I liked the back-rolling option too. It feels like you get stuck midway through, but once you get your hips turned toward the mat you're well on the way home.

Rolls with Sarah, Jason S., Sol and then Sarah again. Sarah let me pull deep half. I got partly through a sweep, didn't hip heist like Kelly told me yesterday and blew it. I wasn't all there mentally that first match and made a lot of mistakes. 

Jason started that lapel guard nonsense. I might have tried to pick a poor time to bolo. I was in a bad spot for a piece of time, as he came close to get full back-control. He was setting up for a bow and arrow, but I was able to get the choking arm off. I then ended up in a kimura or americana grip that seemed tight but he didn't or couldn't finish. Transitioned to arm-bar that I was able to fully escape. 

Sol had top side-control for most of the time, though I did a fairly decent job of defending submissions and ending up in really crappy side-control.

Second roll with Sarah I tried to bolo from a weird spot and she was able to completely reverse it. Awesome for her. It was fun to try to work my way out of it get the shallow hook.

Sat & Sun

Fundamentals on Saturday consisted of side-control escapes. Small class of 5, including Rachael and a visiting blue. Not a lot of questions, and I felt like I prattled on rather excessively.

We had several drop-ins for the noon class, including pretty much the entire stable of the Inland NW's UFC fighters. One of them sat out the first round of rolling, and then proceeded to try to rip my arm off from various positions. An arm-bar submission was obtained near the end of the round, as I found that my stacking pressure wasn't sufficient to fend it off. 

A couple of other rolls, including one with Tyrone where I gently chastised him about leaving his arms dangling in my guard. I got an interesting Mir type submission from there but sadly can't remember exactly how it worked. 

Sunday advanced class had an odd number of people, so one person had to sit out each drilling and rolling round. I was looking forward to class, but was rushing to finish some tasking beforehand. I don't think my head was quite in it, as my drills didn't seem as productive as I would have liked. Started with the butterfly hook removal, then deep half sweeps where I got a good tip from Kelly on using the hip heist. Top side control transitions from cross-face, kesa gatame, N/S, kesa gatame, reverse kesa gatame. Jason W gave me a pointer but I couldn't understand what he wanted from me, even though he went over it a couple of times. 

Rolled with Kelly, Jason S., Jason W. and Shaun. 

During my roll with Kelly, he attempted a bolo. I stopped his far hip and focused on keeping my back on the mat. We fought for the shallow hook and I was able to hang with him for a bit until he got the angle and flipped me over. I was happy with being able to at least slow down the sweep and really make him work for it.

Jason S. worked lapel guard with success. Our roll was different than usual b/c we transitioned through more positions and I think I tried the inverted triangle from side-control with little success.

Jason W. mainly smashed me from top side-control. 

Shaun got to mount, worked an ezekiel which I escaped but I left an arm hanging out and was arm-barred for my trouble.

Fri Morn

Preventing the double-under guard pass was on tap for this morning. Break the grip and go for a baked chicken if you catch it early enough. If not, push against their tricep and try to come up and out with elbow escapes. If you can catch the arm for a crucifix then all the better.

Rolled with Rachael, Chris, Seline and Nate.

I didn't end up in bottom side-control with Rachael. I dominated this round, with a sweep that started from an attempted foot lock on her part. Passed, got to top side-control and finished with a kimura. Reset and got to her back and harassed her from there.

I transitioned through a lot of different positions with Seline, letting her work the move of the day several times. 

Chris and Nate were tough rolls. I felt like I should have been able to execute movements better, but it wasn't quite working out. My goal for today was to let me body move to whatever position felt natural and to not force techniques that weren't there. I was mostly successful, except for when people would pause in a dominant position.

Rolled with Rachael after class for another 10min or so. Did fairly well the first half, getting to the back again. The latter half she had top side.

Wed Night

Technique was shin guard to waiter sweep or X guard. I was surprisingly not very adept at getting into a good guard position.

What really sticks out in my mind for this class was the 20min that I spent smushed under Rachael's side-control. It was KOTH, win by submission or mount. She passed my guard in about half a second, and I spent the rest of the time contemplating my bad side-control escapes. She had several opportunities for submissions, including an americana, multiple kimuras, a far-side straight arm-bar and even a crucifix. I weaseled my way out of those subs but several of them were close. I had a true 'oh shit' moment when she had the crucifix, but somehow I got out of that too.

Two or three times I was able to get to a quarter guard, but in every instance she already had a knee through and simply finished the pass and was right back in side-control. Or north-south. 

I got whupped.

Wed Morn

It turns out that if your opponent is doing a lapel drag while you're standing, you probably shouldn't hit the deck knee first. Sarah wasn't quite putting all of her weight behind the first couple of tries, so I encouraged her to really get her butt off the ground and use her body to yank me down.

Well, she did and it worked beautifully. Except that I fell with my right knee diving into the mat instead of more balanced on my shins. Hurt like hell initially, but it mellowed out after awhile and will probably just be bruised. Ow.

Arm-drag from seated guard, lapel drag from seated guard, Telles sweep from seated guard (either tackle and grapple or scoot into side control).

Rolled with Sarah, Shaun, Chris and Jesse. I had Sarah in quite a few bad spots, but she was able to use the threat of a knee-bar to get out of a choke that I was trying to apply from a weird top half guard position.

Shaun and I had more movement and transition in our roll than normal, which was nice. He caught a very sweet straight arm-bar while I was screwing around in top half guard trying to free my leg. 

Chris had a strong base when he was in my guard and good side-control pressure. It seemed like he would let up on positions at times b/c he doesn't want to muscle through things, but it throws me off a bit b/c he goes from heavy side-control to letting me escape. 

I was kindof hoping to not roll with Jesse b/c he's a big boy and hasn't been in class for awhile. I thought he might want to hulk smash, and when he came close to getting one of my arms free that's exactly what he did. I don't know how, but I managed to get out of both a triangle and at least one arm-bar. I know that I need to maintain distance and try to cut angles instead of playing closed guard but I still don't do very well against big guys.

Half-hearted roll with Savannah after class. She also had an arm-bar, which started off belly down. I did a good job of stacking her up and keeping a lot of pressure on her hamstrings while I circled around a bit and got to a stable base before yanking my arm out.

Double Shot Monday

Morning class consisted of shin guard on a standing or one-knee-down opponent. Sit up sweep and dump them to opposite side, or same side if they use their hands to hover above you. If they kneel down, you can move to single leg X and either dump them immediately to opposite side if there's space or get their leg across your stomach and then dump them.

I really liked the first sweep, but I didn't like how low on their body I landed. Your knees end up just below their knees, so then it's either a scramble to keep them down or trying to wriggle all the way up.

Can't remember much about the rolls, but I do remember to tapping to a bow and arrow from Jason S. I thought I was relatively safe until I wasn't. :(  Rolled with Sarah twice, tried a lot of hovering nonsense above her guard while she was trying to establish and sweep me with an X guard or some variation thereof. It's kindof fun to hover, but I'm not sure that it's going to do me much good. My chest ends up being about the level of their head, and unless I'm able to cut my leg through somehow, I often end up with my back taken or dumped to one side or another.

Night class consisted of various rolling back attacks. Started with one that I know fairly well from top half guard. Also did one from mount and top reverse side-control. That one foozled me a bit, and it wasn't until I got some time after class with James that I was able to figure out that I was diving for it too close to their hips instead of their knees. It's not quite the same as the half-guard or mount variations. 

I was working with Naomi, who is a couple of weeks in but she did surprisingly well with the complicated technique.

Rolls were KOTH, win via mount or back-mount. I started down and Opal was my first opponent. It took me over 15min to finally get her back. I worked primarily from guard and tried a wide variety of sweeps but couldn't budge her. I'm a little concerned that I couldn't sweep her. She was locked down and not trying to pass, and she also didn't have to worry about submissions. But still. 

After that it was little Rachael. I flowed with her a bit and then let her get to mount. That was it for rolling.

I worked with Opal after class on mount escapes and then took some time for myself to go over the back attack I had problems with in class.

I really enjoyed the vibe and learning process. Didn't want to leave the mat today. 



 

Sunday Advanced

Largest crew that we've had for the advanced class in quite some time.

I drilled KOB escapes a couple of times. These didn't feel anywhere near as good as they did when we working the technique in class. To be fair though, my drill partners were giving me more realistic pressure. Gave me a good look at what is going to work and what should be abandoned based on their knee positioning.
 
Did one round of reversing the whizzer from bottom half guard. My mistake there is that I didn't have enough elevation or momentum when diving under to take them to that side. I just realized that I'm also probably not pinching their arm into my body.

Tried to do some passing from headquarters ala Lovato but it was a bit of a trainwreck. Did the little drill of diving my knee in and circling out if they have an inside out hook.

Rolled with James, Shaun, Dennis and can't remember who else. Don't recall anything about the rolls other than Dennis and I got out of our routine of me trying to sweep and him trying to pass for 5min. We had a lot of transitions, and I very nearly finished the inverted triangle. I heard gurgling so I knew it was close, but I couldn't quite keep it. I had a so-so roll with James, nothing near as awesome as last week.

 

Sat Fundies & Rolling

Was a little rushed and didn't prep quite the way I wanted, but still had a good class. Taught mount control, collar choke, americana and arm-bar. I feel like I should be covering even more basic material, but am at a loss as to what that might be.

An hour of rolling for the noon class, b/c most people were going to bug out and watch Metamoris. Started off with flow rolling, and apparently a poor flow roll is a harbinger for not great rolling thereafter. I was defensive against pretty much everyone. Ended up in less than ideal spots on numerous occasions when I had no business being there. Felt awkward over all. 

Rolled with Nick, Dess, Clayton, Ryan M., Savannah and can't remember who else. Nothing of special note during any of the rolls, other than I didn't roll very well. It wasn't terrible, but my passing especially left a lot to be desired. 

Not too worried about it, I was due for an off day. I had a lot going on before classes today, so that likely contributed.

Fri Morn No Gi

It's been a month or so since I've done no gi. I shouldn't let that much time pass...

Taking the back from guard or transitioning to an arm-bar if they post out. Taking the free knee over into technical mount if they death grip the knee that's across their stomach. If you can't get the back, arm-bar with their hand trapped in your pit and/or pendulum sweep and attack the arm again (trapped the entire time).

No submissions allowed during rolling today. To "win" you had to get to mount or back-mount. Ten jumping jacks at the end of the round for each instance in which you gave up mount or back. Rolled with Sarah, Dennis, Antone, Blaine and Shaun. 

Sarah came very close to getting my back AND getting mount but I was able to fend the attempts off. I did get mount near the end of the round using a pendulum/flower type sweep (don't remember which one).

Dennis came very close to getting mount too, but I got to quarter guard before the 3sec count was up. I never really came close to getting into a dominant position with him. I may have swept him one or twice, but didn't stay on top long enough to capitalize on it.

I was doing fairly well against Antone, and came close to getting his back a couple of times. I thought I was free and clear during one of his bolo attempts and was content to give up side control when he went right to mount. Somehow in all of the times he's done that to me, I still didn't see it coming. Felt kindof n00b at that point, but felt like I acquitted myself pretty well the rest of the roll. Seems like it's been at least a month since I've rolled with him.

Blaine had top position for the most part, but didn't come very close to getting to a 4pt position. Again, I got a couple of brief sweeps but didn't stay on top long enough to do anything. He was the only that I was able to invert successfully to maintain guard. I tried it on Dennis but he did a good job of controlling my arm and preventing the inversion.

Shaun was more interested in setting up subs and positions from guard than getting to mount or the back. The stuff he was working on was very interesting. He's turned into quite the technician in the time that I've known him.
 

Tournament Video

Video from my match at the Seattle Open.

Wed Morn

Today was a dose of passing, including a side-step pass that works great in theory but almost never in practice, DLR to leg drag, and headquarters to some half guard thing that never worked for me when drilling.

Was able to work with Sarah, and we rolled for the first two rounds, then I went with Jeremy and Dess. After class rolled with Sarah again for another 5-10min. 

Jeremy came at me like I stole his lunch money. He very nearly got a pass, but I had the underhook and was able to weasel my way into back control, where I happily stayed for the remainder of the round while actively hunting for chokes.

Dess continues to break the both arms in/out rule in my guard and I continue to throw up triangles. I talked him briefly after the roll. He cognitively knows not to do it, but his movement gets too far ahead as he's scrambling to open the guard or pass. 

Sarah and I had some fun. One of the main reasons I enjoy rolling with her is that we're both competitive but willing to experiment. We'll end up in some funky positions, and the rolls are more like play than work. She was working on reversing one of my bolos, and we spent some time trying to figure out how we could get the back attack to go in our favor. James was laughing across the way b/c from a distance it just looked like a lot of legs waving in the air.

 

Monday Morning Hot Ear

A hot ear is a bad sign. I'm really, really hoping it's not going to fill with too much fluid. I've had surgery before when draining didn't work and it was one of the most un-fun days ever. I can't quite tell what's going on with it. Going to ice it and hope for the best.

James sounded like death, blamed allergies. 

KOB escapes today. I was able to write them down this time, so that's something that I'll be able to drill during the Sunday class.

Rolls with Sarah, Joyce, Julio and Jason S. Ended up sitting out two rounds due to odd numbers and an apparently inability to pair up with someone before the next round started.

Good rolls all around. Really fun one with Sarah, where we got into some weird positions as we were fighting for the shallow hook in the midst of a sortof bolo. It's been a long time since we've been able to roll at our normal pace.

Joyce did a great job, and really seems inspired from last week's tournament. Her instincts are definitely coming along, and she's being deliberate and patient when setting up grips and such for passing. 

Julio wanted to play a game where he bum-rushed past my legs over and over again while I was in seated guard. Not a fun game, but it's something that I need to work on anyway.

Jason tried to work some of the stuff he drilled yesterday. At one point I dropped down for a bolo just to try something different. It didn't quite work, but it wasn't a flaming fail either.

Please ear, don't do the cauli thing.

Sunday Advanced

Four of us for the advanced class. Even number, so that was good.

I drilled hook breaks that I had seen in a Ryan Hall video. From standing, if opponent gets a foot hooked behind your knee from the inside out (i.e. the hooking foot in a tripod sweep), drive your knee down to their butt, circle your shin out and then step your foot outside their leg to prevent them from replacing it with a DLR hook. A little hard to explain, and it took me several repetitions before I was able to get any sort of rhythm with it.

Also drilled knee slice entries and my DLR to RDLR series. 

Rolled with Kelly, Shaun and Jason S. Had a really fun roll with Kelly, as he was being deliberate between transitions and it gave me a chance to try to move him one way or the other and just experiment a bit mid-roll. Trying to get a feel for momentum and weight distribution. 

Shaun and I were going to go light, but once an opportunity presented itself for either of us that kindof went out the window. He got a great sweep early on, and I was able to use a kimura grip from top half guard to get into a position to take his back. I'm not even sure how that happened, but it was pretty awesome. 

Light roll with Jason S., can't remember anything of significance.

Saturday Fundies

I was on the hook for Fundamentals and the noon class since part of the team was out of town for a tournament. Low turnout, with 4 people for the Fundies and 6 for the regular class. It's amazing how the attendance drops off when James isn't there.

Went over mount escapes for Fundamentals and then I did the same side-control escapes as yesterday for the noon class. Rolled with Dess, Russ and Aric in the noon class. Everyone gave me all that I could handle. I couldn't finish a triangle or omoplata on Dess, or a bow and arrow on Russ. A little sluggish, but to be expected after a long week. Calf is sore but doesn't hinder rolling at all.

Side-Control Escapes

Fairly basic, but a great refresher and always there are details that I've either forgotten or forgotten to implement.

The ol' bridge in and get a knee in for guard was first.

Then bridge in, fish your outer arm for an underhook on their far side and either shoot out the side if they're high on your chest or keep the arm up and come up to your knees if they try to move their arm to your near hip. 

The last one was a tricksy move where you get the underhook on the far side, but then you use your inner arm to control their far ankle while you bring your outer leg over the top of their far leg. Shoot down a bit, then grip their near leg and punch it up while holding their hips to you (taking them over the top of you). Somewhat similar to the 93 guard where you bury your head in their hip, get under their shin to overwrap their thigh, straighten their leg out to the side and dump them over.

Rolls with Manny, Shaun, Jason S. and Blaine. Had a great roll with Manny that had a lot of back and forth. He usually kicks my ass, so this was a nice change of pace. We both came within shouting distance of triangles.

Shaun was very technical and on point today. I've been trying to pressure in more during passes but it's ending up in me getting swept. He seemed to have an answer for everything I did.

Jason has a bad elbow, so I tried to steer clear of that. I got around to his back and tried unsuccessfully to work chokes. 

Blaine tried a double-under guard pass, to which I responded with a botched peruvian neck-tie and loop choke. I though the loop choke was solid but he had his chin tucked tight. I harassed him quite a bit with my guard and from the back. 

Was a little concerned about my energy level today, but it seemed to work out ok. I was also concerned about the number of times that I seemed to be inadvertently whacking people in sensitive areas. Sorry guys.

Someone must have kneed me or kicked me in the calf b/c as the day has worn on, I'm developing quite the limp. Feels like there's a nice bruise forming. :(

 

Quitters Never Prosper

Sorry for the small text on a couple of posts. Fonts are hard. :)

Sometimes they do, but I'm glad that I went to the 2nd class on Wednesday.

We drilled taking the back from closed-guard, including an arm-bar if they post while you're in the midst of the transition and rolling them over for mount if you can't establish both hooks b/c they're clutching your leg for dear life.

It was KOTH, win via submission or mount. It didn't really matter though, b/c Rachael came over first and we ended up rolling the entire time (~30min) with neither of us getting a submission or mount. She came close to getting mount during a guard pass, and I had her back for a piece of time. She had top side control, so I suffered in that for awhile. Quite awhile, actually. It was a evenly matched roll, and I'd be curious to what the scores would have been.

I've been taking in a few more carbs than usual, which might be contributing to my increased levels of energy. Not being sick certainly helps.

EDIT: I wanted to add that these past two days are exactly the type of days that I need to bookmark when I start feeling like I'm shitty at jiu jitsu.

Quit While You're Ahead

Class started off with a hybrid warm-up/instructional on the same guard pulls and takedowns from Mon night. After that it was an hour straight of rolling.

Rolled with Savannah, Ben (new guy transferred from somewhere else), Dennis, Shaun, Jason S., Chris and James. All rolls started on the feet. I did crappy guard pulls most of the time.

Started off well against Savannah and was able to prevent her passing. Got a hip bump sweep, worked mount for awhile. Eventually let it go and she was able to complete the pass a second time around. I was using my hips more in conjunction with framing to prevent passes and it seemed to work fairly well.

Ben was crushing the ever loving crap out of me from various angles. His cross-face is absolutely ridiculous. At one point, he was in top half and applying a strong cross-face. I had a butterfly hook with my right leg as most of his weight was to my left. I thought if I could just get some leverage up on that hook that I could get to a better position and regain guard. I damn near choked myself out in the attempt, b/c his cross-face was that strong and I HAD to turn my face into it to leverage up the hook. I completed the movement and got to guard, but I had to take a second to recover b/c I wasn't all there.

Dennis and I had a good roll. He tried to pass under my DLR with the duck-under pass that I like, but he didn't keep my hips down so I was able to ride up top and harass him a bit from there. I eventually came close to getting his back, but wasn't positioned quite right and kept a kimura grip too long. He got my back, which I was happy to work out of, except I let him get a good choking grip. He wasn't successful the first couple of times he tried bow and arrow variations, but he eventually got it good.

Shaun said he was tired, but Shaun always says he tired. He must have been today though, b/c I fared very well against him. I had back control from his turtle position and was able to harass him quite a bit from my closed guard.

Jason S. worked guard for the most part. Some lapel/worm/spiderguard variations and I had no answer for him. The one-sided spiderguard is really strong and I wasn't able to break it once. He got quite a few sweeps.

Chris was working primarily in my guard. Through a scramble I got a sweep and was caught in his half guard. I really focused on killing his top leg AND controlling the hips. Instead of trying to sprawl back, which often fails for me, I tried to move him instead. He tried to pop his legs free at one point and I was able to slide into mount. It felt very good, b/c it was a moment where I took the path of least resistance. Also, it wasn't something that I'd ever drilled or seen, it just made sense to change my direction of attack at that time.

The roll with James occurred about midway through, and it was phenomenal. I unfortunately don't remember many details, but I felt like I was legitimately giving him a run for his money during the entirety of the roll, which has never happened. I was never close to a submission, but my transitions through positions was the best it's ever been. I controlled hips at the right times, and mostly got out of positions before they turned into bad juju for me. He did get me with a kneebah at the end b/c I was hanging on to a collar grip from guard too long. He commented several times on how it was a really fun roll. I got a number of sweeps and escapes, and it was awesome to put him on his back more than once. He may have been trying out new stuff, or giving me some rope, but it felt pretty even to me.

So now I feel like I should skip class tonight, b/c it's only going to be downhill from there.

Monday Night Standup

Standup (as it were) on Monday night. Guard pull into tripod sweep, guard pull into DLR dump-to-side sweep, fake guard pull to ankle pick. Most everything was ok, except my ankle pick was pretty dreadful. I watched the video of my match from last month and my regular guard pull was pretty bad. It's pretty simple but it's a struggle for me to pull off correctly.

Rolled with Rachael, Savannah, Manny and Naomi. I had the upper hand on Rachael, but gave up top position for an arm-bar, lost it and got my guard passed for good measure. I was able to escape side-control after a bit. Nothing remarkable about the rolls with Savannah or Naomi (who is very new to jiu jitsu but has good instincts.

Manny had good positioning and maintained top position for most of the roll. He had my arm in a nasty spot, starting with a monoplata and keeping the arm in that position while I tried to escape. He eventually went for an arm-bar on his back and I was able to slip out the back as the timer sounded. I was in a bunch of bad spots, but managed to survive.

I sat around like a zombie after class, but overall my body and energy levels feel pretty good. 

Didn't sign up for the tournament. I need to be kindof frugal with my expenditures and traveling for another tournament doesn't make the cut.

Rolling Back Attack Monday Morn

Took some time off due to a cold I couldn't quite shake and to give myself a mental break.

Body felt good today, and after a couple of rolls it seemed to get right back into it. Rolling back attacks from top half guard was the move of the day. Felt very good with this, even though I haven't done it quite a long while. We went over some details on how to ensure a successful back-attack, as well as options for banana-split or calf-slicer. Monoplata is available if they try to use their arm to block you from rolling in the first place.

Rolled with Sarah, Rachael, Tyrone and Chris. Sarah and I had a fun roll, lots of back and forth and me just trying to get into the groove again. I kept trying to bolo while she was in a tight combat stance but she had a good grip on my free leg and I wasn't going much of anywhere. Really enjoyable roll.

My goal with Rachael was to avoid her top side-control, and I managed that pretty well. Kept a good frame in half guard and swept her once or twice. She went back for a foot-lock and I was able to stand up on it, but I lucked out b/c I started clearing her leg to the wrong side. Another fun roll, very, very competitive.

Tyrone was working to pass my guard and came pretty close at one point. He might have passed, I just can't remember. I was trying to work the 93 guard bury-the-head-underhook-leg type of passes on both Ty and Chris with very little luck today. I don't think I was fully committing to getting their leg stretched all the way out. In any case, I did manage to sweep/pass Ty. Good roll. 

Chris was sitting back a bit, not to guard but not coming forward to pass. I worked the 93 guard again and kept trying to get him off balance but didn't have much luck. I had an arm-in guillotine but couldn't finish. I don't have much exposure to those so no idea what I was doing wrong there.

Happy to be back on the mats. Rachael is trying to convince me to do Revolution next weekend, but I'm not crazy about wiping out an entire weekend at a tournament again.

One Handed Wed Night

I was invited out to a brew house for dinner, and I probably should have accepted that invitation instead of going to class. Didn't get injured, but the two-a-days really are brutal on my body.

James and Erick went over the spider to X technique from the Megaton seminar, then did a couple of other moves based off of that.I felt pretty good with those, except for one where you roll over your shoulder and then over the top of them. Not once did that one feel like I was doing it correctly.

Rolls consisted of KOTH, with upper belts starting down and their non-dominant hand in the belts. Other person had to pass, person on the bottom had to sweep or take the back. I got through one youngster fairly easy, then someone else, then Erick came over and passed my guard in two seconds. On the wall, then I get James and Erick back to back. On the wall, on the wall.... After a piece of time, we were able to use both hands, and I fared better, though I didn't face James or Erick again.

It was a good exercise, one that really makes you focus on hips and feet. It'd be a good thing for me to do to help with my leg weave.

I was exhausted after class, and woke the up the next feeling fatigued. My intention is to do a two-a-day only once a week (Saturday Fundamentals + noon class doesn't count :p), but even that might be pushing it.

Deep Half Wednesday

I'm more or less caught up on sleep.

Deep half on the itinerary for today. Entry points from mount, KOB (basically the same) and back-mount if they try to sit up during a particular escape. Sweep by coming outside, sweep by coming out the back and sweep by lifting up their leg and turning into them.

Was happy to work this, as I want to incorporate basics of half guard (at least proper positioning) into the Fundamentals class. Drilled with Shaun, and was impressed by how he was focused on drilling out the most reps we could between instructional periods. 

Rolled with Shaun, Ben (new guy), Tyrone and Jason W. Shaun and I had a pretty even roll if I'm remembering correctly. Ben is a big blue belt dude that has apparently fallen into deep, deep love with cross-facing. I'm fairly certain that he was trying to submit me with his cross-face at least once during the roll. It was butt uncomfortable, but I wasn't about to submit to that. I scooted around and got the roll to a more even position. I think it ended with him in top half-guard or side-control again.

Tyrone wanted to work passes but he kept letting me break his posture and get grips on his arms. I almost had his back, but didn't free my far arm soon enough. I had an omoplata attempt that he used to get to a top position, but I held on and eventually worked it to another side. Got a triangle and was able to finish. Restarted, I had open guard, worked for a tripod sweep then tried for RDLR when I whacked him in the face with my elbow. We hung out a minute while he recovered, then he started in more of a smashy half guard. That was fine, b/c I eventually got out and worked to a top position.

Jason W. wanted to kimura from top side-control. That was the entire five minute round. Him in top side-control and harassing me with chokes and straight arm-bars and kimuras on the far arm until he got it. Reset, rinse, repeat. He complained about my t-rex defense, but I really couldn't see any other options. I was bumping my hips around, but he wasn't going anywhere.

Monday Morn

Felt crazy tired and did NOT want to get up Monday morning. Haven't slept well the past couple of nights and the weekend was catching up with me. I didn't even party hard with the team and I still felt like death.

Wasn't expecting much out of my mat time Monday morning, but once I was warmed up I did ok. Erick went over leg lasso to triangle, leg lasso to DLR dump sweep and then transitioning from side-control to a mounted arm-bar by wrapping their far-side framing arm with the gi jacket. 

Felt comfortable with all of the techniques, and got to drill with Sarah for the first time in 3 weeks or so.

Rolling consisted of KOTH positional sparring. Boooooo.... Except that today, we started from bottom side-control and had to escape to guard while the top person tried to keep some sortof top position and/or submit. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa... Finally, something that I'm pretty good at. I kept my spot on the mat through Rachael (twice, which is no small feat considering her top side control is so good), Ryan, Sarah and I can't remember who else. Nate came over and was able to finish a kimura from top. After that, it was start in open guard and sweep while the other person has to work for a pass. I got through Tyrone and was working through Blaine (who was stalling in a low position) when time was called. 

I was really pleased with rolling, especially since my body seemed so unhappy at the start of the day. Dare I say, I'm finally starting to feel like I deserved my rank.

After class, I snagged Jason S. to go over the takedowns from the Megaton seminar b/c I had some questions about the footwork. It was a bit helpful, but I'm going to need some dedicated time to drill it (i.e. Sundays).

Megaton Seminar and Digging Holes

Drove over to Seattle on Friday. Left early enough to hit one of my favorite bookstores, then meet up with some teammates for the Megaton seminar.

Half of it was takedowns and half was guard work. Some of it was fairly simplistic, but I'm awful at takedowns so the simpler the better as far as those are concerned. He was a great instructor, and it was a lot of value for the relatively inexpensive price.

I'm pretty excited that I had the opportunity to attend both Megaton AND Mackenzie's seminars this year. 

Seattle Open was a blast. I knew that I wouldn't be competing until 5pm, so I spent the day running around cheering on teammates and doing some coaching when James and Walter were busy coaching at other mats. It was really quite rewarding to be able to watch everyone compete. I don't know that I'm a very good coach, but figure at least yelling encouragement was better than nothing. We had HUGE contingent relative to our school size.

By the time my match rolled around I was ready for a nap, but tried to work myself up to get on the mat. I was mostly warm and excited to go, so that was good enough.

I don't remember the match well, other than my opponent (Anica) kept her distance at the beginning. I didn't want to rush in for a takedown (or let's be honest...guard pull), but eventually committed and I think more or less pulled guard. I wasn't able to establish a good open guard and she passed pretty quickly. I think she must have got mount too (or another pass). 

I was in all sorts of trouble, but somehow got to her back, then mount, then back again. I held the back-mount and really tried for chokes but she defended her neck well and I couldn't get a good grip. My coach called out that there were two minutes left while I was on her back, and I thought my god, two more minutes?? I maintained control, kept attacking chokes, and eked out a win.

I had dug myself quite hole, but managed to get myself out. It was awesome having so many of my teammates cheering me on. Anica was a tough draw, and I know I got out of that by the skin of my teeth.

Also very cool to chat with people that I don't often get to see. ;)

Drill Before Comp

Rachael had the day off, so I met her at the gym during my lunch hour and we drilled and rolled. Some positional work (passing, sweeps, escapes) coupled with scenarios (i.e. You have someone in guard and you're down by 3pts). I felt good during our rolling segments. Hopefully it will carry over into Saturday. 

I don't compete until ~5pm. I need to put some thought into how I'm going to feed myself at the tournament so that I don't feel run down by the time I step on the mat. I know that I'm going to be pretty amped up cheering on my teammates all day and don't want to crash before I compete.

I'm debating over which gi to wear, now that I suddenly have a bunch of them. Neither of the two new gis are patched, and there's no time to get that done. Also, I'd like to have one or two unpatched gis for travel anyway (not that I travel that frequently). Soooo....I think it's either going to be my old competition SYR or the new one that Rachael gave me. 

I'm also considering going to the Megaton seminar on Friday night, but good grief that's not giving me any room to chill out and relax.

Wed Night

I was a little leery about how my body would perform, but it went surprisingly well. I warmed up the class, then James did shin guard to X and several sweeps from X. I'm finally becoming familiar enough with X that my head isn't spinning after class.

I thought I'd just do one roll with Rachael and call it good since I was worried about my body being trashed from moving. That roll went very well for me (pulled guard, flower sweep, mount, back to guard, guillotine ftw) so I sat out a round and then rolled with Ryan and Rachael again. Both of those went amazing as well. 

I felt like I was in the zone and that I was rolling on a very conceptual level. I inverted somewhat naturally to prevent my guard from being passed, sweeps were on point and I got to mount or back-mount in each roll. I watched a bit of Ryan Hall's passing fundamentals, and his description of the body as a plane and the manner in which it can be controlled from the side seemed to help. Probably the first day that I've really felt like a purple belt.  

EDIT: Forgot to mention that Rachael hooked me with a SYR! We are almost exactly the same build, except that my shoulders must be much broader b/c the sleeves were ridiculously long on her but perfect on me. Score! To rub salt in the wound of those not in attendance, she put on FB that I earned the gi by doing an informal single-leg takedown competition, which was sure to infuriate the young wrestlers who covet SYRs. ;-)

Advanced Class

I've been helping with a house move for the past two days, so I don't remember much about the Sunday class. I worked guard pulling with Antone, which was valuable b/c he gave me a lot of different looks and as a result some things to think about that I hadn't previously encountered. 

Jason W wanted to work takedowns...with resistance....kindof horrified me, but I got out of it injury-free. 

I did the usual DLR -> tripod -> sickle -> RDLR -> kiss of the dragon combination. I'm finding that in this particular chain I'm ending up too far away from my opponent to complete the back-take from RDLR. Also did some passing and guard breaks for good measure.

Rolled with Antone and several other guys. No detail on the rolls, other than they felt more or less ok. My body was pretty beat so I gave myself a bit of a pass on performance.

Class on Wed night, might do some flow rolling with Rachael on Thursday and maybe flow on Friday morning before heading to Seattle. After the hectic weekend and start to the week I probably ought to be sitting on my ass and not stressing my body before the tournament, but I just can't go five days w/o at least flowing before a tournament. 

I'm only going to have one match and it's going to be at the end of the day.

Fundamentals and Nooner

Fundamentals consisted of guard opening and passing. Relatively small class, only six (including Rachael). 

Nooner was five minutes of drill your choice of techniques. I started feeling fatigued about halfway through. I did standup with Rachael for 20min, then another 5min of standup with Jason W., which contributed largely to feeling like I got hit by a truck.

Had a bit of a break between drilling and rolling, so had some time to recuperate. Rolled with Manny, Ben and Rachael. The roll with Manny was at least somewhat competitive (he usually dominates handily). I had Ben in a spot where I was trying to take his back but couldn't get any hooks in. As he was getting me off his back, his knee dropped onto the top of my foot. Hurt like the dickens, and I had to sit out for a minute. It's just a bruise though, so shouldn't be problematic.

Rachael got me back for last night and kicked my ass. I scored nary a point. She had an arm-bar but I was able to get on my other side. Got my guard passed and suffered in side-control for awhile. All in all, it was complete domination. Kudos to her, and I'm glad that she's doing well before the tournament.

Fri Night Comp Class

Body felt good, so decided to do the comp class. Started off with flow rolls then regular rolling for half an hour. One minute positional sparring for ~20min total, then that takedown stuff that I don't care for (touch the ankles/knees). I managed to not sprawl on my knees (often).

Rolled with Rachael and several others. I did very well against her and at least decent against everyone else. Several of them were white belts, so I took the back and got to mount on a number of occasions. Jason W rolled through me like a freight train.

Felt good but very, very tired after this class.

Free Morn TMI

James went into excessive detail about how he wasn't feeling well last night. I agreed to cover the morning class if he'd stop giving me details.

I decided to go with flow rolling as a warm-up, then position drilling with a specific goal: sweep-to-mount, pass-to-mount and escape side-control and get to a top position. I think the directions confused folks, but they seemed to get it by the second round. Afterwards was rolling.

I sat out a couple of rounds of flow and drill b/c we were at odd numbers. Worked to my benefit b/c I want to do the competition class tonight.

Rolled with Kyle, Antone and Jason S. Kyle got the better of me for the first part of the round, but I had a reverse triangle for the latter half. Shocker, couldn't finish.

Antone had me tied up in knots. I came very close to having his back at one point, not sure if he was working on something new or what. I didn't actually get to the back, but I was close.

Jason cinched a triangle relatively early on and then transitioned in and out of a mounted triangle. I held off as long as I could, completely forgetting escapes (posturing and stacking weren't working). I felt like I was starting to escape out the back a bit, but then he snaggled my arm for an arm-bar. Reset, and I passed, got to side-control and eventually mount. 

I feel like I'm blanking on techniques big-time, but the rolling seemed to go better than Wednesday.

Wed Night

Feeling better, so decided to roll the dice. I shouldn't push it, but whatever.

Technique was lapel (bottom of the skirt) chokes from guard on opponents who hunker down and don't give you any space. Foot in lapel for triangle, cross choke and gi d'arce. Felt pretty good with the techniques.

Rolling...not so much. 

Started standing with Rachael, pulled a terrible guard and she immediately passed into side control. Spent at least 4min with her sitting on my face and one of my arms while she tried to attack the other one. I was barely able to keep my arm from danger. I finally, finally worked my out of that utterly crappy position and somehow got to her back. I tried to work a choke at the end, but I would have lost on points.

Next was Julio, and I did relatively well. I was still in bad positions, but I seemed to be legitimately defending subs. 

Sol had me in bottom side control for the entirety of the round. I was barely surviving, but it sucked. A lot.

With Akina I tried to transition to a variety of different positions. I let her work top for the latter half of the round. 

I knew ahead of time that it was going to be a bit rough, and I told myself to go in with a positive attitude. Meh.

Out

Digestive issues have returned with a vengeance. Will be out for at least the beginning part of this week. Crummy timing, but it is what it is. Hopefully I'll still be able to compete. :(

Saturday Fundies and Nooner

Woke up surprisingly refreshed after last night's wrecking.

Fundamental class consisted of subs from guard (arm-bar, cross-choke and omoplata). Had two guys that were brand new, as in their first class ever. A third guy had some experience but not much. Had eight people total. I did ok with the arm-bar instruction, but I think I completely lost them with the omoplata. They seemed to kindof sort of get it, but as I was showing it I realized it might have been too complex. 

I was feeling ok when the noon class started, but shortly after warm-ups I started to feel the accumulated fatigue. It was 5min rounds of drilling techniques of your choice. I wasn't really prepared for this, so ended up in my comfort zone of open guard sweep transitions. I did some guard breaks and passing at one point at the request of my partner. 

Rolls with a slew of people. Rachael did well against me both of our rolls. Had a good roll against a couple of white belts, and somehow got the baratoplata. Kelly got a sweep and had back-control for awhile. He switched to a body triangle at one point that was miserable but not enough for me tap. I completely blanked on how to defend it, and finally remembered to fall to the side of lock. I got out of it w/o being submitted, so I had that going for me. Roll with Shaun who wanted to go light, but I knew as soon as we started going that light was an extremely relative term. He got me in a bicep cutter, which I'm ok with tapping to in class, but told him that wouldn't be an option for him at the tournament.

Overall, pretty tired but mostly happy with my effort.