Cluster of a week.
No class Sunday or Monday b/c it was a holiday weekend.
No class Wednesday b/c my friend got rear-ended on her motorcycle. Wasn't hurt, but the bike is a hot mess and may need some major repairs. Spent some quality time in the ER and got home around 1am. My dept has been under a tight deadline at work, so between no sleep and lots of work I skipped Wed class. Was able to get enough sleep and work done to go this morning.
We worked on one of my favorites, DLR to RDLR transitions and sweeps. The first was the not-quite RDLR transition where you yank them over your head and then dump them on their butt. Then it was the DLR to RDLR tripod. Then RDLR to DLR back-take. Then some time spent just transitioning through all of those.
Rolls with Sarah, Jason (p), Blaine, Dennis and Ben. Sarah was feeling a little out of sorts today. I was able to positionally dominate the roll, moreso than usual.
Jason rolled waaaay different than usual. He didn't smash me in top side-control, but rather let me work from guard (futilely) on submissions. I eventually got to his back at one point. I was in a state of mild shock during the roll, b/c he never, ever does that. I wonder if someone chatted with him, namely a particular someone that I was talking to last weekend about how hard Jason rolls. It was somewhat refreshing, but I hope he doesn't dial it back quite that far all the time. I talked to him after class and he said that he keeps seeing the same openings and taking advantage of them, and he wanted the roll to go a little different.
Blaine and I had a bit of a war, though he was positionally dominant. He has a slightly unorthodox side-control (relative to how most people in school) and I was a bit perplexed as to how to escape. He went for arm locks at several points but I was able to defend.
Dennis and I had a very evenly matched roll, and I was oh-so-close to getting an arm-bar from guard but he slipped out. I tried to get an omoplata instead but it was too late. He had top control for a piece of time and eventually got a kimura from side-control. I think I was able to work awhile from guard after that.
I was able to pass Ben's guard rather easily the first time but after that I ran into problems. Couldn't stay on top and couldn't pass his guard a second time.
I have waaaaaaaay more food than I will have people at the house this weekend to watch World's, but whatever. Looking forward to watching the matches and really hoping the stream is smooth and high quality.
EDIT: I forgot to mention... At the end of class, we lined up and Ben and Dennis received stripes. I tried to use a Russian tie to single leg for my takedown and failed oh so miserably the first time. I didn't even get him on the ground, and had to to do it again. So embarrassing in front of the entire class.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Saturday Open Mat
Holiday weekend, so it was an open mat. My Fundamentals class, the Sunday advanced class and Monday classes were canceled.
We started off with the five min rounds of drilling your choice. I decided to work on DLR to RDLR transitions, and threw kiss of the dragon in for good measure. James helped me with hand-placement, which was terrific b/c I was severely botching it until then. Tried to do a flow of DLR to sickle sweep to RDLR to kiss of the dragon. There were only a few occasions where I felt like I was getting far enough under on KOTD. It seemed like I was ending up too far in front of the person to take their back. Was fun to work though.
In hindsight, I should have worked material for next Saturday's Fundamentals class. Oops.
Can't remember who I rolled with, but I seem to remember that I felt fairly happy with my rolls. Seemed like I was getting to the back frequently. There was one moment with Keith where I very sneakily took his back. I was quite pleased with it. Never got an opportunity to work what I had been drilling as no one was attempting a standing guard pass.
I'm going to stream World's this weekend and invited people that I'm close with on the team to watch. It is honestly the first time in the six years that I've lived in that house that I've invited more than two people over at once (of my own volition). I've never hosted a group of people on my own before, so we'll see how that goes.
We started off with the five min rounds of drilling your choice. I decided to work on DLR to RDLR transitions, and threw kiss of the dragon in for good measure. James helped me with hand-placement, which was terrific b/c I was severely botching it until then. Tried to do a flow of DLR to sickle sweep to RDLR to kiss of the dragon. There were only a few occasions where I felt like I was getting far enough under on KOTD. It seemed like I was ending up too far in front of the person to take their back. Was fun to work though.
In hindsight, I should have worked material for next Saturday's Fundamentals class. Oops.
Can't remember who I rolled with, but I seem to remember that I felt fairly happy with my rolls. Seemed like I was getting to the back frequently. There was one moment with Keith where I very sneakily took his back. I was quite pleased with it. Never got an opportunity to work what I had been drilling as no one was attempting a standing guard pass.
I'm going to stream World's this weekend and invited people that I'm close with on the team to watch. It is honestly the first time in the six years that I've lived in that house that I've invited more than two people over at once (of my own volition). I've never hosted a group of people on my own before, so we'll see how that goes.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Wednesday
Big class today. Apparently the other black-belt owned gym shut down recently, so we're getting quite a few of his students.
Today was a series on transitioning to a monoplata and rolling back attack from the half guard pass. We also did banana-splits and calf slicers for fun.
Rolls with Sarah, Kayla, Jason (p) and Sarah again after class. Enjoyable rolls with Sarah.
A common element to our rolls is that we'll be in the midst of a position and one or both of us will look around to see where all of the legs and arms are to formulate a plan of attack. I think I'm still relying too much on my size to pass her guard instead of technique.
Kayla had me in side-control and I was doing some really wonky stuff to escape. I think it felt wonky b/c she wasn't responding in way that I'm used to, which allowed me to do things that I normally don't. I eventually found myself on her back and came close with an belly down arm-bar but she was able to come over the top. I got a triangle earlier from playing around with spiderguard.
Jason whupped me pretty good. Foot locks, knee bars, etc. He seemed to be experimenting, but I do think I got a semi-legit pass during our roll. I couldn't maintain it for long, but still. I had to bite my tongue from saying something, b/c that probably would have resulted in a swift and unpleasant submission.
Today was a series on transitioning to a monoplata and rolling back attack from the half guard pass. We also did banana-splits and calf slicers for fun.
Rolls with Sarah, Kayla, Jason (p) and Sarah again after class. Enjoyable rolls with Sarah.
A common element to our rolls is that we'll be in the midst of a position and one or both of us will look around to see where all of the legs and arms are to formulate a plan of attack. I think I'm still relying too much on my size to pass her guard instead of technique.
Kayla had me in side-control and I was doing some really wonky stuff to escape. I think it felt wonky b/c she wasn't responding in way that I'm used to, which allowed me to do things that I normally don't. I eventually found myself on her back and came close with an belly down arm-bar but she was able to come over the top. I got a triangle earlier from playing around with spiderguard.
Jason whupped me pretty good. Foot locks, knee bars, etc. He seemed to be experimenting, but I do think I got a semi-legit pass during our roll. I couldn't maintain it for long, but still. I had to bite my tongue from saying something, b/c that probably would have resulted in a swift and unpleasant submission.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday
Start off the week with takedowns. Uchi mata to ankle pick. If they circle so that you can't get the leg in, drop to your hip in front of them (facing away), hook their leg, pull them into you and dump them to the side.
If you lose your grip over the back, feed that hand under their armpit and grip their lapel. Rotate the grip that you have on their near arm and shoulder roll into them, forcing them to roll with the kimura.
Another one that was particularly nasty was if they grip your lapel, and you feed the bottom of your jacket from around the outside of their arm in, and then your elbow and head through into a firemans carry. Dump them to the side, but the entire time their wrist is trapped and in danger of a wrist-lock the entire way through. Even being careful this resulted in some sore wrists.
Rolls with Nate, Sarah and Julio. Nate and I had a roll in which we transitioned through a lot of positions. We both had the back or got close to having the back, we both had side-control, half guard, etc. I was able to foil all of his rolling back attacks and bolos, but I couldn't seem to maintain anything.
Sarah and I had a back and forth roll. Also transitioned through various positions, although we ended up getting stuck in 50/50 and some half-guard shenanigans where we were at a stalemate when one of us would try to pass.
Julio was in smash mode today. He's doing a new thing with a forearm across the chin that is very unpleasant when he's in top side-control. He was really grinding his forearm and elbow into my face today. He got me with a couple of submissions, I can't remember what.
If you lose your grip over the back, feed that hand under their armpit and grip their lapel. Rotate the grip that you have on their near arm and shoulder roll into them, forcing them to roll with the kimura.
Another one that was particularly nasty was if they grip your lapel, and you feed the bottom of your jacket from around the outside of their arm in, and then your elbow and head through into a firemans carry. Dump them to the side, but the entire time their wrist is trapped and in danger of a wrist-lock the entire way through. Even being careful this resulted in some sore wrists.
Rolls with Nate, Sarah and Julio. Nate and I had a roll in which we transitioned through a lot of positions. We both had the back or got close to having the back, we both had side-control, half guard, etc. I was able to foil all of his rolling back attacks and bolos, but I couldn't seem to maintain anything.
Sarah and I had a back and forth roll. Also transitioned through various positions, although we ended up getting stuck in 50/50 and some half-guard shenanigans where we were at a stalemate when one of us would try to pass.
Julio was in smash mode today. He's doing a new thing with a forearm across the chin that is very unpleasant when he's in top side-control. He was really grinding his forearm and elbow into my face today. He got me with a couple of submissions, I can't remember what.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Supercup
Our fighter that James was cornering won her fight last night. Very, very happy for her. They got a couple of hours sleep, and then started driving back at 2am or 3am this morning so James could get back to coach us. He must have felt like a zombie, but he was in good spirits.
There was no one near my weight class (the other two blue belts were under 127lb), so I elected to go with the blue belt men. The lowest weight class they had was my weight. The brackets were a bit of a disaster, and it didn't occur to me that they had a masters blue men division that I could have joined.
My first match with a guy who pulled guard (first time that's happened to me in a match in a long time). Slapped a triangle on pretty quick. I didn't check the time, but the match couldn't have lasted more than 30sec. He ended up getting 1st in the division and 2nd in absolute.
Second guy I was able to pull guard (sort of). He passed, and I'm not sure what happened after that. He tapped me with something, and that match might have lasted two minutes.
That landed me third in the division (only 3 of us).
I then went in women's blue belt absolute. First match was with a girl I haven't seen before, Ashley. She happened to be the girlfriend of the first guy I competed against. I pulled guard, but she got a knee slice pass, then on top, and I tapped to either a shoulder lock or choke.
Second match was with Jenny, who I outweigh by 40lb. I pulled guard, managed to take her back at one or two points, and ended up with her in my guard. I won on points. It was a single elimination format, so that was that. 2nd place.
They forgot or misplaced the women's advanced no gi bracket. I was called up to compete with the purple belt no gi men, which I politely but vehemently declined. When I asked about the women's advanced bracket (Ashley, Jenny and I), there was some hub bub but then they finally got their s together and called us to the mat. However, they forgot to add to Jenny. So back they went to the bracket desk for another 5-10min to figure out how to put a three person bracket together.
Ashley and I in the first match. Again I pulled guard, and I staved off the pass for awhile but eventually she got it. She tapped me with something, I don't remember what. There was more bracket finagling as they tried to decide whether Ashley would face Jenny or if I would face Jenny. They finally decided I'd face Jenny. If I won that was it, if Jenny won she'd face Ashley. I pulled guard and got it in my head to focus on kimuras. I can't remember if any points were scored, but I feel like our no gi match was a lot more scrambly. In any case, I finally got ahold of a good kimura from guard. She was in the midst of rolling out of it and then she said she tapped. I didn't feel it and the ref didn't see it, but she said she had tapped twice. So 2nd place in no gi.
Takeaways:
I assumed it was going to be a relatively small tournament, so didn't plan on being there until 5:30pm. I arrived at 9am for weigh-ins, and assumed we'd be out of there by 2pm. I was also running late this morning, which contributed to me not packing enough food.
I don't think my warm-ups were sufficient, as I felt like I was hitting the mat cold at the beginning of each group of matches. I did go to the extra mat and stretch and do some light exercises, but I had no idea when my brackets were going to be called and didn't want to overdo it.
I haven't rolled with Jenny in awhile and we both commented that we should find a way to roll together more often. She's 40min away though, so the commute is tough.
There was no one near my weight class (the other two blue belts were under 127lb), so I elected to go with the blue belt men. The lowest weight class they had was my weight. The brackets were a bit of a disaster, and it didn't occur to me that they had a masters blue men division that I could have joined.
My first match with a guy who pulled guard (first time that's happened to me in a match in a long time). Slapped a triangle on pretty quick. I didn't check the time, but the match couldn't have lasted more than 30sec. He ended up getting 1st in the division and 2nd in absolute.
Second guy I was able to pull guard (sort of). He passed, and I'm not sure what happened after that. He tapped me with something, and that match might have lasted two minutes.
That landed me third in the division (only 3 of us).
I then went in women's blue belt absolute. First match was with a girl I haven't seen before, Ashley. She happened to be the girlfriend of the first guy I competed against. I pulled guard, but she got a knee slice pass, then on top, and I tapped to either a shoulder lock or choke.
Second match was with Jenny, who I outweigh by 40lb. I pulled guard, managed to take her back at one or two points, and ended up with her in my guard. I won on points. It was a single elimination format, so that was that. 2nd place.
They forgot or misplaced the women's advanced no gi bracket. I was called up to compete with the purple belt no gi men, which I politely but vehemently declined. When I asked about the women's advanced bracket (Ashley, Jenny and I), there was some hub bub but then they finally got their s together and called us to the mat. However, they forgot to add to Jenny. So back they went to the bracket desk for another 5-10min to figure out how to put a three person bracket together.
Ashley and I in the first match. Again I pulled guard, and I staved off the pass for awhile but eventually she got it. She tapped me with something, I don't remember what. There was more bracket finagling as they tried to decide whether Ashley would face Jenny or if I would face Jenny. They finally decided I'd face Jenny. If I won that was it, if Jenny won she'd face Ashley. I pulled guard and got it in my head to focus on kimuras. I can't remember if any points were scored, but I feel like our no gi match was a lot more scrambly. In any case, I finally got ahold of a good kimura from guard. She was in the midst of rolling out of it and then she said she tapped. I didn't feel it and the ref didn't see it, but she said she had tapped twice. So 2nd place in no gi.
Takeaways:
I assumed it was going to be a relatively small tournament, so didn't plan on being there until 5:30pm. I arrived at 9am for weigh-ins, and assumed we'd be out of there by 2pm. I was also running late this morning, which contributed to me not packing enough food.
I don't think my warm-ups were sufficient, as I felt like I was hitting the mat cold at the beginning of each group of matches. I did go to the extra mat and stretch and do some light exercises, but I had no idea when my brackets were going to be called and didn't want to overdo it.
I haven't rolled with Jenny in awhile and we both commented that we should find a way to roll together more often. She's 40min away though, so the commute is tough.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Friday
Another pretty good day. James is out of town to corner a fighter (our first female fighter, I think). I opened class with some flow rolling, then went over my favorite DLR back-take. Dennis and Sol were there, so I had each of them show a technique since they're purples and I didn't feel like running the whole class. :p Dennis showed the DLR sweep where you sit-up, control the far-arm and dump them to that side. Sol showed the basic spiderguard sweep from a standing opponent.
Rolls with Dennis, Tyrone and Quito. Super fun roll with Dennis. We transitioned through a bunch of positions and seemed pretty evenly matched. For once, keeping a higher belt's elbow off the mat stopped them from turning into me. I've been trying to use it for awhile now, but they still seem to get on their side. We were in a scramble and I kept his near side elbow elevated while I came up and it worked. Huzzah.
I worked mostly with Tyrone in my guard. I did my usual threatening of submissions. At one point, I transitioned from a hip-bump sweep to a back-take that was pretty slick. I had his back a couple of times.
Quito (I'm guessing on the spelling, it's a nickname and is pronounced 'Wheat-o') got on top and tried to finish a kimura but I wasn't having it. He didn't have me on my side enough to finish, but it was closer than I would have liked. I got to his back a couple of times too.
I feel pretty good about the local comp tomorrow. I'm not expecting more than one or two competitors in my divisions. I signed up for no gi even though I haven't rolled no gi in...months, at least.
Rolls with Dennis, Tyrone and Quito. Super fun roll with Dennis. We transitioned through a bunch of positions and seemed pretty evenly matched. For once, keeping a higher belt's elbow off the mat stopped them from turning into me. I've been trying to use it for awhile now, but they still seem to get on their side. We were in a scramble and I kept his near side elbow elevated while I came up and it worked. Huzzah.
I worked mostly with Tyrone in my guard. I did my usual threatening of submissions. At one point, I transitioned from a hip-bump sweep to a back-take that was pretty slick. I had his back a couple of times.
Quito (I'm guessing on the spelling, it's a nickname and is pronounced 'Wheat-o') got on top and tried to finish a kimura but I wasn't having it. He didn't have me on my side enough to finish, but it was closer than I would have liked. I got to his back a couple of times too.
I feel pretty good about the local comp tomorrow. I'm not expecting more than one or two competitors in my divisions. I signed up for no gi even though I haven't rolled no gi in...months, at least.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Wednesday
Hopefully I'm over my moody self. I think some things outside of jiu jitsu were slipping into my mat time, which is no bueno. I strongly considered taking the rest of the week off, but I'm competing in a local tournament on Saturday. I wanted the opportunity to get in some rolls that I could feel good about before competing.
Today was transitioning from side-control to mount, KOB and back-mount. I felt pretty comfortable with all of these. The gift-wrap or "teabag" needs a bit of work. There are wrist-locks everywhere...
Rolls with Jason (b), Ian, Tyrone and Aaron. Jason (b) had me in a couple of really bad spots, but I told myself to chill and work my way out. The hardest was a triangle where I was facing away from him and he had my arm stretched behind me. It was sortof a really high back-mount position. My arm seemed in real danger, but b/c my shoulder was through apparently he couldn't get his hips in the necessary position to arm-bar. I eventually wiggled my way out entirely. Was happy with being able to escape.
Ian was doing this thing where he would pause to think about his next move. It was disarming b/c he stopped completely and would relax his body. I didn't want to take advantage of the lull, but I also didn't want to try to be the great Kreskin in trying to figure out whether the lull was due to thinking or not. We transitioned through quite a few positions, and I had good attempts at triangles and omoplatas.
Tyrone seemed a little off today. I was able to control quite a bit from guard. I had lots of collar chokes, arm-bar, omoplata and triangle attempts. I was happy with how I was transitioning from one to the other.
I try very hard not to use excessive strength with Aaron, b/c he's a skinny dude with very little muscle. I was pussyfooting around a little too much though, and he took advantage with an attempted guillotine. I like seeing how much he's progressed. I ended up on his back with a bow and arrow attempt.
I'm on tap for teaching the Friday morning class since James is traveling with Kayla for her first MMA fight on Friday night. I think I'm going to cover DLR back-take, DLR baby-bolo and then isolating the far arm, sitting up and dumping them to the side. I would do positional sparring, but I don't want to work quite that hard before competing the next day.
Today was transitioning from side-control to mount, KOB and back-mount. I felt pretty comfortable with all of these. The gift-wrap or "teabag" needs a bit of work. There are wrist-locks everywhere...
Rolls with Jason (b), Ian, Tyrone and Aaron. Jason (b) had me in a couple of really bad spots, but I told myself to chill and work my way out. The hardest was a triangle where I was facing away from him and he had my arm stretched behind me. It was sortof a really high back-mount position. My arm seemed in real danger, but b/c my shoulder was through apparently he couldn't get his hips in the necessary position to arm-bar. I eventually wiggled my way out entirely. Was happy with being able to escape.
Ian was doing this thing where he would pause to think about his next move. It was disarming b/c he stopped completely and would relax his body. I didn't want to take advantage of the lull, but I also didn't want to try to be the great Kreskin in trying to figure out whether the lull was due to thinking or not. We transitioned through quite a few positions, and I had good attempts at triangles and omoplatas.
Tyrone seemed a little off today. I was able to control quite a bit from guard. I had lots of collar chokes, arm-bar, omoplata and triangle attempts. I was happy with how I was transitioning from one to the other.
I try very hard not to use excessive strength with Aaron, b/c he's a skinny dude with very little muscle. I was pussyfooting around a little too much though, and he took advantage with an attempted guillotine. I like seeing how much he's progressed. I ended up on his back with a bow and arrow attempt.
I'm on tap for teaching the Friday morning class since James is traveling with Kayla for her first MMA fight on Friday night. I think I'm going to cover DLR back-take, DLR baby-bolo and then isolating the far arm, sitting up and dumping them to the side. I would do positional sparring, but I don't want to work quite that hard before competing the next day.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Holding Down the Fort
Taught side-control escapes on Saturday morning. The first one went fairly well, but I think the second was probably too complex. And somehow I ended up with a lot of extra time at the end. Which means I may not have spent enough time in depth on each technique. There was plenty of time for drilling, so not sure how I ended up with so much extra time.
Had 6 people for the Fundamentals class. Some of left before the noon and a few other folks showed up so we had the same both. I should be excited that there were that many since a big portion of the team was out of town for the Five tournament. Since I've been feeling down on my game, I really didn't want to teach during the noon class too. We did Drill Your Favorites instead after a flow roll warm-up. Then some rolls at the end.
Nothing spectacular in the rolls. Had a very back-and-forth scrambly roll with Keith, which was fun.
I showed up for the Sunday class but I was the only one, so I went back home and did yard work instead. Weeds, weeds everywhere.
Had 6 people for the Fundamentals class. Some of left before the noon and a few other folks showed up so we had the same both. I should be excited that there were that many since a big portion of the team was out of town for the Five tournament. Since I've been feeling down on my game, I really didn't want to teach during the noon class too. We did Drill Your Favorites instead after a flow roll warm-up. Then some rolls at the end.
Nothing spectacular in the rolls. Had a very back-and-forth scrambly roll with Keith, which was fun.
I showed up for the Sunday class but I was the only one, so I went back home and did yard work instead. Weeds, weeds everywhere.
Friday, May 9, 2014
No Fun Friday
The day did not start off well, as it was a complete shit show at work. We were supposed to move offices (within the same floor), but there were some last minute shenanigans. In sum, I got absolutely nothing done at work before class.
The team is traveling to compete tomorrow, but it was still a pretty sizable class. Around 15 or so. James decided to do takedowns, which didn't help my mood. I was having a difficult time with all aspects of the footwork. I get a defeatist attitude about takedowns, which seems to just reinforce an unpleasant experience. In any case, the technique portion was ok but not great.
Then on to rolling. Ryan, Blaine, Jason (p) and Wayne. All of them had top position for most of the rolls. Wtf. Jason was trying all kinds of gi chokes from top side control and mauling me like he usually does. I'd had enough at this point and just chilled and let him finish the choke that he was going to get anyway. Then he berated me for not being more defensive so that he could transition to another choke. After we reset, he once again got to top side-control and it was stifling. It wasn't interfering with my breathing, but my will was crushed. I tried the bridge-in/shrimp-out escape to no no avail. He then proceeded to coach me through the escape. I know what to do, but with his bulk and tight control, it doesn't work. I need to either try something else or wait for him to move. Which is what I was going to do before he decided to coach me.
So.....two out of three days this week have been pretty crappy. I wish that I wasn't teaching Fundamentals tomorrow, and I'm really not looking forward to running the regular noon class. I think part of it is that I'm feeling pressure that since I'm teaching, I should, you know, not suck at jiu jitsu.
The team is traveling to compete tomorrow, but it was still a pretty sizable class. Around 15 or so. James decided to do takedowns, which didn't help my mood. I was having a difficult time with all aspects of the footwork. I get a defeatist attitude about takedowns, which seems to just reinforce an unpleasant experience. In any case, the technique portion was ok but not great.
Then on to rolling. Ryan, Blaine, Jason (p) and Wayne. All of them had top position for most of the rolls. Wtf. Jason was trying all kinds of gi chokes from top side control and mauling me like he usually does. I'd had enough at this point and just chilled and let him finish the choke that he was going to get anyway. Then he berated me for not being more defensive so that he could transition to another choke. After we reset, he once again got to top side-control and it was stifling. It wasn't interfering with my breathing, but my will was crushed. I tried the bridge-in/shrimp-out escape to no no avail. He then proceeded to coach me through the escape. I know what to do, but with his bulk and tight control, it doesn't work. I need to either try something else or wait for him to move. Which is what I was going to do before he decided to coach me.
So.....two out of three days this week have been pretty crappy. I wish that I wasn't teaching Fundamentals tomorrow, and I'm really not looking forward to running the regular noon class. I think part of it is that I'm feeling pressure that since I'm teaching, I should, you know, not suck at jiu jitsu.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Double Turtle Guard Pull
I'm over my hissy fit from Monday. :p
Today was a dose of how to deal with turtle guard from the top position. How to get to side-control if they shoulder roll or if they sit to the guard. We also did getting into the crucifix position. A new one that I hadn't seen before involved turning toward their butt, getting a foot between their legs, pulling them on top of you and then either doing a banana split, calf crank, or taking the back. I did ok until the point where it became a big leg party.
Rolls with Sol, James, Wayne and Jason (b).
Sol and I slap hands, and I immediately drop to turtle. He gets me out of it and into side-control. We reset, slap hands and then we both drop to turtle guard, side-by-side. I wish someone had filmed it. I dropped to turtle on each reset, and was able to at least get to a guard most of the time. Once he got to a dominant side-control we'd reset. My guard work was decent.
James and I had the first fun roll that we've had in awhile (at least to me). He was doing some crazy leg stuff that I seemed to do ok at defending but I was ending up in odd positions. Most bad positions, but some of them were just weird. I successfully kept him from getting full back-mount a couple of times. He did get me with a wrist lock and something else that I don't remember. Might have been another wrist lock. We seemed to transition through just about every position there was. He tried the knee slice pass several times and I froze up trying to figure out which counter I wanted to use.
Wayne was a handful and got me with something that I don't remember. I tried like hell to pass his guard and maybe got past once, but he immediately escapes. Seemed like he was muscling a bit, but he was using frames to do it so was probably legit.
Jason (b) told me beforehand that he was going to look for the tornado sweep from half guard. As such, I tried to stay out of his half guard but I couldn't quite get there. He got a sweep (not the tornado) got on top and I think a shoulder-lock of some sort. Reset and he was so focused on what he wanted to do from half guard and wasn't framing that I was able to pass with relative ease. At some point I ended up on top and was looking for the kimura from reverse mount but couldn't finish it.
Overall, I was much happier with my performance than I was on Monday. I think I was a bit run down from four days of classes in row, with a private thrown in on top of it. Also just part of the natural ebb and flow of progress.
The team is competing this weekend so not only will I be teaching the Fundamentals class on Saturday but I'll be doing the noon class too. I think for the noon class I'll do the basic scissor sweep, reverse scissor and then a bunch of positional sparring.
Today was a dose of how to deal with turtle guard from the top position. How to get to side-control if they shoulder roll or if they sit to the guard. We also did getting into the crucifix position. A new one that I hadn't seen before involved turning toward their butt, getting a foot between their legs, pulling them on top of you and then either doing a banana split, calf crank, or taking the back. I did ok until the point where it became a big leg party.
Rolls with Sol, James, Wayne and Jason (b).
Sol and I slap hands, and I immediately drop to turtle. He gets me out of it and into side-control. We reset, slap hands and then we both drop to turtle guard, side-by-side. I wish someone had filmed it. I dropped to turtle on each reset, and was able to at least get to a guard most of the time. Once he got to a dominant side-control we'd reset. My guard work was decent.
James and I had the first fun roll that we've had in awhile (at least to me). He was doing some crazy leg stuff that I seemed to do ok at defending but I was ending up in odd positions. Most bad positions, but some of them were just weird. I successfully kept him from getting full back-mount a couple of times. He did get me with a wrist lock and something else that I don't remember. Might have been another wrist lock. We seemed to transition through just about every position there was. He tried the knee slice pass several times and I froze up trying to figure out which counter I wanted to use.
Wayne was a handful and got me with something that I don't remember. I tried like hell to pass his guard and maybe got past once, but he immediately escapes. Seemed like he was muscling a bit, but he was using frames to do it so was probably legit.
Jason (b) told me beforehand that he was going to look for the tornado sweep from half guard. As such, I tried to stay out of his half guard but I couldn't quite get there. He got a sweep (not the tornado) got on top and I think a shoulder-lock of some sort. Reset and he was so focused on what he wanted to do from half guard and wasn't framing that I was able to pass with relative ease. At some point I ended up on top and was looking for the kimura from reverse mount but couldn't finish it.
Overall, I was much happier with my performance than I was on Monday. I think I was a bit run down from four days of classes in row, with a private thrown in on top of it. Also just part of the natural ebb and flow of progress.
The team is competing this weekend so not only will I be teaching the Fundamentals class on Saturday but I'll be doing the noon class too. I think for the noon class I'll do the basic scissor sweep, reverse scissor and then a bunch of positional sparring.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Monday Meh
An utterly meh day on the mat. The instruction was good (lapel guard), but rolling was just blah. I was a little tired this morning, but otherwise my body felt good.
Rolls with Sol, Savannah, Jason (b), Dennis, Ryan and Chuck. I tried to work my side-control escapes with Sol, but he was doing a good job of transitioning from cross-face to kesa gatame and back again. There were numerous points where I'd get close to an escape, and he'd just back off and let me regain guard. I should have said something right away to let him know that I wanted to see if I could legitimately escape, but that thought didn't occur to me. Instead, I was unhappy with myself for NOT legitimately escaping.
Every time Savannah rolls with me, she tries to pass my guard like it's a finals match in the Mundials. I wasn't in the mood for it today, so I didn't fight it off until the very last second like I usually do. That's not to say that she wasn't getting the passes on her own, b/c she was. She'd get to side-control, I'd reguard, and we'd do it all over again. I'm tired of having the exact same roll with her every time, but I can't seem to stop her from initiating the knee slice. So...there you have it. She's told me several time that she's made her mission to pass my guard, which is fine, except I don't want every damn roll to end up the same way. I'm apparently not good enough to dictate it how I want it to go, so it's just frustration central.
My roll with Dennis was the best, as he didn't give me quarter and it was somewhat evenly matched. I don't quite remember the movements, but I was especially pleased at one point when I controlled his far arm during a scramble to get back position.
Jason (b) demolished me. At one point, he was working three or four submissions on me at the same time. It was a bizarre position, I think a leg-in triangle type thing? The worst part is that I could inexorably see him reeling me in for an arm-bar, which I tried to defend but ended up in an omoplata, but then my leg got involved and he had a choke, shoulder lock and arm-bar all kindof going at the same time. I couldn't help but smile at the end of that one, it was just too much. After we reset we ended up in a scramble, and he let me have his back. Again, I wasn't in the mood for people to give me shit like I was a charity case just so that I could work some offense.
Chuck is new to our gym and a two or three stripe white belt. He's a relatively young kid and has done some MMA. I went into the roll cautious, b/c he seemed like he might be spazzy, and indeed he had that tendency, although he wasn't too over the top. He gets me into a DLR, but doesn't really do anything with it except for keep me at bay. I wanted to work the dive-under pass, but was having a hard time breaking his sleeve grips. I finally back-stepped, worked to top side-control, transitioned through some things and finished with an arm-bar from s-mount. We reset and again he's chilling with DLR. I back-step again, take his back and was in the midst of a bow and arrow when time ran out. He then proceeded to instruct me on how to go about breaking the DLR hook. Thanks dude.
Last roll was with Ryan. He passed my guard and then proceeded to try to get to mount and/or submit me with arm-bars, kimuras and the like. I was able to defend everything, but it was disheartening to have this kid who's been doing jiu jitsu for 5 months in top position for most of the roll. What. The. Fuck. Not happy with my game today.
Rolls with Sol, Savannah, Jason (b), Dennis, Ryan and Chuck. I tried to work my side-control escapes with Sol, but he was doing a good job of transitioning from cross-face to kesa gatame and back again. There were numerous points where I'd get close to an escape, and he'd just back off and let me regain guard. I should have said something right away to let him know that I wanted to see if I could legitimately escape, but that thought didn't occur to me. Instead, I was unhappy with myself for NOT legitimately escaping.
Every time Savannah rolls with me, she tries to pass my guard like it's a finals match in the Mundials. I wasn't in the mood for it today, so I didn't fight it off until the very last second like I usually do. That's not to say that she wasn't getting the passes on her own, b/c she was. She'd get to side-control, I'd reguard, and we'd do it all over again. I'm tired of having the exact same roll with her every time, but I can't seem to stop her from initiating the knee slice. So...there you have it. She's told me several time that she's made her mission to pass my guard, which is fine, except I don't want every damn roll to end up the same way. I'm apparently not good enough to dictate it how I want it to go, so it's just frustration central.
My roll with Dennis was the best, as he didn't give me quarter and it was somewhat evenly matched. I don't quite remember the movements, but I was especially pleased at one point when I controlled his far arm during a scramble to get back position.
Jason (b) demolished me. At one point, he was working three or four submissions on me at the same time. It was a bizarre position, I think a leg-in triangle type thing? The worst part is that I could inexorably see him reeling me in for an arm-bar, which I tried to defend but ended up in an omoplata, but then my leg got involved and he had a choke, shoulder lock and arm-bar all kindof going at the same time. I couldn't help but smile at the end of that one, it was just too much. After we reset we ended up in a scramble, and he let me have his back. Again, I wasn't in the mood for people to give me shit like I was a charity case just so that I could work some offense.
Chuck is new to our gym and a two or three stripe white belt. He's a relatively young kid and has done some MMA. I went into the roll cautious, b/c he seemed like he might be spazzy, and indeed he had that tendency, although he wasn't too over the top. He gets me into a DLR, but doesn't really do anything with it except for keep me at bay. I wanted to work the dive-under pass, but was having a hard time breaking his sleeve grips. I finally back-stepped, worked to top side-control, transitioned through some things and finished with an arm-bar from s-mount. We reset and again he's chilling with DLR. I back-step again, take his back and was in the midst of a bow and arrow when time ran out. He then proceeded to instruct me on how to go about breaking the DLR hook. Thanks dude.
Last roll was with Ryan. He passed my guard and then proceeded to try to get to mount and/or submit me with arm-bars, kimuras and the like. I was able to defend everything, but it was disheartening to have this kid who's been doing jiu jitsu for 5 months in top position for most of the roll. What. The. Fuck. Not happy with my game today.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Sunday Afternoon
The private with James was pretty good. Only drawback is that I think we covered too much material, instead of focusing on a four or five things. That was definitely my fault, b/c I got off track at one point and asked him some variations of the side-control escapes that we were working. What if someone does this, what if they do that...etc. I definitely got some help with the crux of what I needed though. There's a couple of ingrained habits that I'm going to need to overcome. One of which is considering bellying down as an option to create space instead of always hipping back. I don't even need to always go completely belly down, just enough to create space to get a knee in.
I tried some of what I got out of the lesson on Russ and they worked well. Not so much on Jason (p). Bridging into him worked ok, but not so much with hooking his foot, b/c he doesn't leave his foot out. The two arms under sort of worked with Jason, but I don't think my underhook is deep enough.
After the side-control we did a couple of the basic entries into X guard, b/c I was struggling with those on Friday. I didn't do much better today, even though he showed me an even easier way to get into it. Way too many moving pieces for my already addled brain.
Only Jason and Russ showed up for class, so we did 35min of drilling and 30min of rolling. I had a fun roll with James, one of the more entertaining ones that I've had in awhile. I'm not sure exactly what was going on, other than he was trying to get under my body for escapes and sweeps and I was riding it out and probably extending myself too far away from his body. I don't feel like I did all that well in the rolls today, but it is what it is.
I tried some of what I got out of the lesson on Russ and they worked well. Not so much on Jason (p). Bridging into him worked ok, but not so much with hooking his foot, b/c he doesn't leave his foot out. The two arms under sort of worked with Jason, but I don't think my underhook is deep enough.
After the side-control we did a couple of the basic entries into X guard, b/c I was struggling with those on Friday. I didn't do much better today, even though he showed me an even easier way to get into it. Way too many moving pieces for my already addled brain.
Only Jason and Russ showed up for class, so we did 35min of drilling and 30min of rolling. I had a fun roll with James, one of the more entertaining ones that I've had in awhile. I'm not sure exactly what was going on, other than he was trying to get under my body for escapes and sweeps and I was riding it out and probably extending myself too far away from his body. I don't feel like I did all that well in the rolls today, but it is what it is.
Saturday
No Fundamentals class to teach b/c there was a self-defense seminar instead. This worked out well for me, b/c side-control escapes are next on the docket. Skipping a week will give me a chance to work on escapes with James before teaching it next week.
Light turnout for class, and I was the highest belt (aside from James). That rarely happens these days. We went over one of my favorite submission series, arm-bars from KOB. Far-side arm-bar, near-side arm-bar and an s-mount type arm-bar. I'd like to think that I'm smooth on the far-side arm-bar, but I'm still not. Smoother than someone that is new to it, but still not as slick as I'd like.
Rolls with Sean, Nick, Nando and Mike. Maybe someone else that I'm forgetting. This is the first time that I've rolled with Sean when he was fresh, and it made a difference. He passed my guard and had top side-control, though he wasn't working hard from there. I had his back for awhile but don't think I was able to finish anything.
Nick has really improved over the past month or so, and is doing a good job of not letting someone transition easily to side-control. I was able to complete passes after some work. Getting to mount was much easier, and I worked arm-bars from there. I probably shouldn't have been submitting him, as he's still pretty new.
Nando unsurprisingly got to top position and proceeded to work me over with an attempting gi choke. I was able to fend it off, but was on the defensive the entire time.
I made the mistake of not keeping Mike at bay and he got on top. Dude has about 100lb on me and at one point was just laying on top of me, sprawled out on top side control. I was on my side so wasn't haven't trouble breathing, but I couldn't create space for an escape to save my life. He wasn't doing anything either, as he was pretty gassed and was just holding the position. The other limiting factor is that he is pretty new, so doesn't know much of what to do from top side-control.
Light turnout for class, and I was the highest belt (aside from James). That rarely happens these days. We went over one of my favorite submission series, arm-bars from KOB. Far-side arm-bar, near-side arm-bar and an s-mount type arm-bar. I'd like to think that I'm smooth on the far-side arm-bar, but I'm still not. Smoother than someone that is new to it, but still not as slick as I'd like.
Rolls with Sean, Nick, Nando and Mike. Maybe someone else that I'm forgetting. This is the first time that I've rolled with Sean when he was fresh, and it made a difference. He passed my guard and had top side-control, though he wasn't working hard from there. I had his back for awhile but don't think I was able to finish anything.
Nick has really improved over the past month or so, and is doing a good job of not letting someone transition easily to side-control. I was able to complete passes after some work. Getting to mount was much easier, and I worked arm-bars from there. I probably shouldn't have been submitting him, as he's still pretty new.
Nando unsurprisingly got to top position and proceeded to work me over with an attempting gi choke. I was able to fend it off, but was on the defensive the entire time.
I made the mistake of not keeping Mike at bay and he got on top. Dude has about 100lb on me and at one point was just laying on top of me, sprawled out on top side control. I was on my side so wasn't haven't trouble breathing, but I couldn't create space for an escape to save my life. He wasn't doing anything either, as he was pretty gassed and was just holding the position. The other limiting factor is that he is pretty new, so doesn't know much of what to do from top side-control.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Friday
I was a bit scattered this morning, but managed to NOT forget anything important. I like the Kindle, but I don't know if a newspaper subscription is going to be worth it b/c I don't have time to read more than one or two articles on the weekdays that I have class.
Today's warm-up consisted of circuit training: ball slams, battling ropes, KOB transitions, box jumps, sit-up things and pummeling. I was hesitant about the box jumps b/c the "box" in the case was a chair that seemed not quite as sturdy as I would have liked. I did some step-ups for the first couple and then moved on to grown-up box jumps.
Technique was transitioning from seated guard to X guard and then various sweeps based on their positioning. It's been a long while since we've done X guard technique and I was excited to give it another try. I've found myself in X guard type positions, but have forgotten what to do from there.
The initial transition starts off well for me, but getting the second leg in and obtaining control of their shoulder remains dicey. Not b/c of long legs, but I don't think I'm pushing enough with the other leg to reposition them.
Rolls with Sarah, Kayla, Tyrone, Blaine and Jason (p). My roll with Sarah was a stimulating chess match, as she was working the X guard so I had plenty of opportunities to try to shut it down. We spent almost the entire five minutes on that exercise.
Kayla seemed a bit tired, and I took full advantage by getting back control and finishing with a bow and arrow. I threatened numerous arm-bars from guard but I couldn't think of what to do when she defended by getting her other arm behind my leg. I know there's something, but couldn't noodle it during the roll.
Tyrone was also worn down, and I again took advantage by getting back control. I was relatively close on a RNC, but I didn't think my forearm was under the chin and was worried that I was grinding his chin. I was pretty close and should have stuck with it, as he said that I was on my way to getting under the chin. I worked from mount for a bit until he hit a great mount escape. After that it was a dose of guard.
I had Blaine in guard and somehow got to mount. I was sloppy with an ezekiel and he reversed. At one point he was going for an arm-bar. I anticipated and fought off the leg coming over my face for awhile. I was able to get some control of my arm while he was trying to get the leg over my face. He went belly down, and I was able to scoot up to his butt and eventually get side-control.
Jason let me work a bit from guard, including numerous triangle attempts that he annoyingly blocked by not letting me set my foot on his hip. I need to play around with that, b/c it doesn't seem quite necessary that I get my foot on the hip. However, it completely stumped my triangle attempts. He also let me attempt omoplatas, and then when he had enough of that he reversed and started going for some wacky leg-locks. He got one, we reset, and he soon had me in a similar position. I did the opposite of what I did before and was able to defend the attack until the buzzer.
Going to have a private with James on Sunday morning before the advanced class to go over side-control escapes and something else that I haven't decided on yet. I still have one lesson left as part of my Christmas present.
Today's warm-up consisted of circuit training: ball slams, battling ropes, KOB transitions, box jumps, sit-up things and pummeling. I was hesitant about the box jumps b/c the "box" in the case was a chair that seemed not quite as sturdy as I would have liked. I did some step-ups for the first couple and then moved on to grown-up box jumps.
Technique was transitioning from seated guard to X guard and then various sweeps based on their positioning. It's been a long while since we've done X guard technique and I was excited to give it another try. I've found myself in X guard type positions, but have forgotten what to do from there.
The initial transition starts off well for me, but getting the second leg in and obtaining control of their shoulder remains dicey. Not b/c of long legs, but I don't think I'm pushing enough with the other leg to reposition them.
Rolls with Sarah, Kayla, Tyrone, Blaine and Jason (p). My roll with Sarah was a stimulating chess match, as she was working the X guard so I had plenty of opportunities to try to shut it down. We spent almost the entire five minutes on that exercise.
Kayla seemed a bit tired, and I took full advantage by getting back control and finishing with a bow and arrow. I threatened numerous arm-bars from guard but I couldn't think of what to do when she defended by getting her other arm behind my leg. I know there's something, but couldn't noodle it during the roll.
Tyrone was also worn down, and I again took advantage by getting back control. I was relatively close on a RNC, but I didn't think my forearm was under the chin and was worried that I was grinding his chin. I was pretty close and should have stuck with it, as he said that I was on my way to getting under the chin. I worked from mount for a bit until he hit a great mount escape. After that it was a dose of guard.
I had Blaine in guard and somehow got to mount. I was sloppy with an ezekiel and he reversed. At one point he was going for an arm-bar. I anticipated and fought off the leg coming over my face for awhile. I was able to get some control of my arm while he was trying to get the leg over my face. He went belly down, and I was able to scoot up to his butt and eventually get side-control.
Jason let me work a bit from guard, including numerous triangle attempts that he annoyingly blocked by not letting me set my foot on his hip. I need to play around with that, b/c it doesn't seem quite necessary that I get my foot on the hip. However, it completely stumped my triangle attempts. He also let me attempt omoplatas, and then when he had enough of that he reversed and started going for some wacky leg-locks. He got one, we reset, and he soon had me in a similar position. I did the opposite of what I did before and was able to defend the attack until the buzzer.
Going to have a private with James on Sunday morning before the advanced class to go over side-control escapes and something else that I haven't decided on yet. I still have one lesson left as part of my Christmas present.
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