Advanced Class

Before the advanced class yesterday, I had a private with James. Private lessons are one of the best Christmas presents ever. Following it up with the advanced class where I could drill the hell out of the techniques was perfect.

For the lesson, I asked him for help with open guard passes. We started with DLR, since I have a terrible time doing anything once they establish a hook. He showed me a relatively simple way to pop the hook and pass to side-control or take the back. He also showed me a pass where you dive under their non-hooking leg and are laying perpendicular to them while keeping their legs elevated. It was an odd position, but effective.

After that I we did a couple where they don't have the DLR hook. You grab behind their back, put your head to their shoulder and spin them down. Foot outside, foot inside and then windshield wipering it outside, if it gets stuck inside, and what to do if they have the bottom of your jacket trapped.

At the very end I asked about avoiding foot locks, as I seem to fall for those fairly often. He gave me some pointers when lassoing a leg, which is where I commonly get trapped.

We rolled for a bit at the end, and near the end I found myself in bottom half and was able to execute my current favorite bottom half sweep. We rolled for over 5min, but once I got that sweep I had to take a break. I think I'm conditioned to 5min rounds, and anything longer than that and my body starts to notice. I might ask James if we can do some longer rounds during class every now and again just to mix things up.

Had about a half hour break between the lesson and class. During class I drilled all of the above, and then rolled with Jason (b), Keith, Russ, Kelly, and Jason (p). My defense felt really on point with everyone. I was in bad situations, but I think Jason (p) was the only one that got a submission. I was all over Keith, and wasn't sure if he was specifically trying to work back-mount defense or if I just had his number. I had a bow and arrow but didn't finish it correctly and he was able to escape.

At one point during drilling, Jason (p) wanted to work on breaking grips. So no problem, we start from the knees and I start gripping his lapel and sleeves. At one point I had his lapel, and he broke the grip so violently that even my short nails were bent back. At least three of them, all at once. I had to take a moment and compose myself by doing a bunch of forward and backwards rolls while holding my fingers to my chest. I keep pretty short nails, but apparently not short enough.