Passing the seated guard. Excellent. I can't pass for crap, so any work on passing is great for me.
All of the techniques I've done before in a private with James, and I've drilled them all on my own to some degree. I try to incorporate them but I don't commit to passing, which is one of the reasons why my passes don't work.
Rolled with Sol and Jay, then drilled with Russ a couple of times. Rolled with Dennis after class. Dennis had top position quite a bit. He passed my guard a couple of times, but I was eventually able to re-guard. Russ wanted to work that double-under stack pass with me. Not a super huge fan of that pass, but I'm a good teammate.
Taking the dog and a friend to one of my favorite trails tomorrow. Weather should be perfect for a hike. There should be enough shade (at least for half of it) so that the dog doesn't get too hot.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday Morning KOB Escapes
I think this has been a record month of classes for me. Going to squeeze one more in tonight. I can't say that I've noticed any improvement in game, with possible exception of moving my hips better in a variety of situations.
KOB escapes this morning, which was awesome b/c that's something that I've been wanting to do for awhile. However, at least one of them was predicated on your opponent positioning their hands in a way that I have never done and have never seen anyone else do either. But I'm not going to quibble.
Worked with Sarah, and felt pretty good about all of them. Sometimes I came up with more distance that I would have liked between myself and opponent, but whatever.
Rolled with Sarah, Tyrone, Sol and Kelly. Sarah and I had a great roll. I was going for a standing pass at one point and she used my momentum perfectly and dumped me right on my ass. I had a triangle position at one point but bailed b/c I didn't feel like trying to finish it. Good back and forth roll. I tried the baby bolo from combat stance several times but she kept my free leg at bay.
Tyrone started up in a passing position. The entire roll consisted of me harassing him from closed guard. I threatened numerous triangles and arm-bars. He was trying to open my guard by leaving his arms extended, which I'm going to take home with me 10/10. I made a concerted effort when playing open guard to try to keep him guessing and off balance.
Sol crushed my spirit with heavy side-control. I tried like hell not to concede the guard pass but he eventually got it. At one point one of my legs was trapped across his hips and the other one was out. I considered threatening a choke, but figured it wouldn't work. He then told me to try a choke to at least give myself the possibility of creating space for an escape. I had zero luck trying to escape his scarfhold.
Kelly and I got into a few odd positions. He's a flexible wrestler, and his hip movement is scary good. He bolo'd me at least twice. I tried to pull us into 50/50 and was bolo'd for my troubles.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Advanced Class
I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to drill, but that worked out ok. Drilled one of my favorites (taking the back from 93 guard) and Jason (b) showed me a great and simple counter if they get the whizzer. Simply pull their whizzer into your chest, dive your shoulder between their legs and take them across your body. I was really, really happy about picking that up as an option.
Drilled knee slice defense with James, and it helped me to figure out where I'm going wrong. I kept doing the wrong things when we rolled later, but I can put some energy into the drilling the right way and hope that it kicks in sooner or later.
With Russ I worked the DLR to RDLR and threw in the beginnings of the RDLR kiss of the dragon and baby bolo. I've come close to pulling off the dragon in rolls lately.
With Manny I tried to do the not-quite-bolo if they're in a combat stance to a single leg but it wasn't working out for me. I think I was doing it too slow and the lack of momentum was hosing me.
Rolled with James, Jason and Russ. Russ wanted to go light, so we'd let the other work a position and then reset. He's been doing a lot of work on a double-under pass where he buries his head pretty close to the butt. No one is excited to drill that with him.
Jason crushed me a couple of times, once almost took the wind out of me as he traveled some distance before landing on my ribs. I had a pause for a couple of seconds but no damage taken. After the roll was over he said that I'm getting better at defending knee-bars...even though I really have no idea how. So...I guess that's good.
Had a pretty good roll with James. I snagged his far arm at one point when he was facing away from me and tried to use that to take the back. I didn't have a lot of success with it, and probably stayed with it longer than I should have.
Drilled knee slice defense with James, and it helped me to figure out where I'm going wrong. I kept doing the wrong things when we rolled later, but I can put some energy into the drilling the right way and hope that it kicks in sooner or later.
With Russ I worked the DLR to RDLR and threw in the beginnings of the RDLR kiss of the dragon and baby bolo. I've come close to pulling off the dragon in rolls lately.
With Manny I tried to do the not-quite-bolo if they're in a combat stance to a single leg but it wasn't working out for me. I think I was doing it too slow and the lack of momentum was hosing me.
Rolled with James, Jason and Russ. Russ wanted to go light, so we'd let the other work a position and then reset. He's been doing a lot of work on a double-under pass where he buries his head pretty close to the butt. No one is excited to drill that with him.
Jason crushed me a couple of times, once almost took the wind out of me as he traveled some distance before landing on my ribs. I had a pause for a couple of seconds but no damage taken. After the roll was over he said that I'm getting better at defending knee-bars...even though I really have no idea how. So...I guess that's good.
Had a pretty good roll with James. I snagged his far arm at one point when he was facing away from me and tried to use that to take the back. I didn't have a lot of success with it, and probably stayed with it longer than I should have.
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Teaching and Learning
I was really excited to see Chris come through the door this morning. He received his blue belt last year, but shortly thereafter had back surgery and has been off the mat since. He helps James with the kids class and stays involved, but his back has been too dicey for him to roll. I think today was the first class he's attended for himself, and it was great to have him.
Also had a friend of Joyce's (Denise) who had come to the Friday morning class. She liked it enough to come back, which was awesome.
Went over submissions from rear-mount, including RNC, lapel choke, bow and arrow and arm-bar. I stressed the importance of active hooks a dozen times. There were six people, which is a good size for me, as it gives me a chance for me to see everyone do the techniques. I felt comfortable teaching everything except the arm-bar, b/c I almost never abandon the position to go for it myself. Overall it went well, and it seems to be really well received by the people who attend. It's stressful, but I think it's really, really good for me.
Had about 16 for the noon class, where James went over chokes and arm-bars from closed guard using the back of their jacket. I really like this as an option and have tried it a couple of times, but getting their gi untucked enough and pulling it through is tough. If nothing else, people generally stop stalling and move to something else while you're fussing with their gi.
Rolls with Opal, Denise, Savannah, Sol and Nick. I let the white belts work for the most part. Nick said his ribs were still recovering, so I tried to stay off of them as much as possible. Savannah passed my guard as per usual but I got her back several times. Sol let me sweep but was able to pass. He said that my guard maintenance is better, but I don't see it.
Also had a friend of Joyce's (Denise) who had come to the Friday morning class. She liked it enough to come back, which was awesome.
Went over submissions from rear-mount, including RNC, lapel choke, bow and arrow and arm-bar. I stressed the importance of active hooks a dozen times. There were six people, which is a good size for me, as it gives me a chance for me to see everyone do the techniques. I felt comfortable teaching everything except the arm-bar, b/c I almost never abandon the position to go for it myself. Overall it went well, and it seems to be really well received by the people who attend. It's stressful, but I think it's really, really good for me.
Had about 16 for the noon class, where James went over chokes and arm-bars from closed guard using the back of their jacket. I really like this as an option and have tried it a couple of times, but getting their gi untucked enough and pulling it through is tough. If nothing else, people generally stop stalling and move to something else while you're fussing with their gi.
Rolls with Opal, Denise, Savannah, Sol and Nick. I let the white belts work for the most part. Nick said his ribs were still recovering, so I tried to stay off of them as much as possible. Savannah passed my guard as per usual but I got her back several times. Sol let me sweep but was able to pass. He said that my guard maintenance is better, but I don't see it.
Friday Night No Gi
I ate much closer to class time than I should have, but figured by the time we got through technique that the food would have settled. Whaddya know...James decided to roll all class. Sumbitch.
Stomach held up ok. My no gi game was a bit off. I've been focusing lately on techniques that require gi grips, so coming up with something outside of that was tough. It's good though, as it gets me out of gi grip box.
Lots of rolls but can't remember much. Rolled with Savannah at least twice, Manny, Joyce, Dennis, Ian, Aaron, Sol and I'm sure others.
With 15min to go in class, James decided that we'd do circuits. The sweat was already literally pouring off of everyone. I have a pretty high tolerance for the human condition, but a super sweaty no gi session pushes my boundaries a bit. The circuits made it even worse. We were supposed to wall-walk up and down at one of the stations, and I couldn't keep my feet from sliding in order to do it. Ugggggggggggggh.
Stomach held up ok. My no gi game was a bit off. I've been focusing lately on techniques that require gi grips, so coming up with something outside of that was tough. It's good though, as it gets me out of gi grip box.
Lots of rolls but can't remember much. Rolled with Savannah at least twice, Manny, Joyce, Dennis, Ian, Aaron, Sol and I'm sure others.
With 15min to go in class, James decided that we'd do circuits. The sweat was already literally pouring off of everyone. I have a pretty high tolerance for the human condition, but a super sweaty no gi session pushes my boundaries a bit. The circuits made it even worse. We were supposed to wall-walk up and down at one of the stations, and I couldn't keep my feet from sliding in order to do it. Ugggggggggggggh.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Friday Morning
I got to class early to go over the back-mount chokes that I'm teaching tomorrow. I'm glad I did, b/c I watched technique videos that I was going to incorporate but James wasn't a fan. I see the reasoning on both sides, but moreso his. I probably did a poor job of explaining the why behind the technique, but no matter. The less complexity I bring into it, the better for me and the class.
Warm-ups consisted of flow rolls, yay! First one was with Sarah. We're both pretty passive in flowing which doesn't work in our favor. Ben was a surprisingly good flow partner. I felt like I was moving my hips especially well. Ditto with James, but at one point I ran out of open guard sweeps. My mind just boinked but I didn't want to do the same ones over and over again.
Technique was DLR sweeps if they're in a combat stance. Pulling them over to your free leg side, baby-bolo'ing the hook (or coming up with control of a single leg) and an arm-bar which I really struggled to get.
Rolls with Sarah, Sol, Jason (b), Shaun and Blaine. The rolls with Sarah, Shaun and Blaine were good. I felt competitive and I fended off a pass from Shaun for a good while. He eventually gave up and we reset.
Sol would use the side-control smash, then give me enough space to regain guard, I'd ineffectively try to sweep, then he'd pass again and smash. By smash I mean he's very, very heavy. He sits in a scarfhold position and it's miserable to try to escape. He went to the turtle position and I tried to set up a crucifix but he wasn't letting me get my knee in.
Jason smashed me too and got several submissions. I don't think I'm a good roll for him b/c it goes pretty much the same each time and I'm not picking up on what I'm doing wrong. I need to remember to pick a point in the roll where I'm getting in trouble and ask him about it after.
Warm-ups consisted of flow rolls, yay! First one was with Sarah. We're both pretty passive in flowing which doesn't work in our favor. Ben was a surprisingly good flow partner. I felt like I was moving my hips especially well. Ditto with James, but at one point I ran out of open guard sweeps. My mind just boinked but I didn't want to do the same ones over and over again.
Technique was DLR sweeps if they're in a combat stance. Pulling them over to your free leg side, baby-bolo'ing the hook (or coming up with control of a single leg) and an arm-bar which I really struggled to get.
Rolls with Sarah, Sol, Jason (b), Shaun and Blaine. The rolls with Sarah, Shaun and Blaine were good. I felt competitive and I fended off a pass from Shaun for a good while. He eventually gave up and we reset.
Sol would use the side-control smash, then give me enough space to regain guard, I'd ineffectively try to sweep, then he'd pass again and smash. By smash I mean he's very, very heavy. He sits in a scarfhold position and it's miserable to try to escape. He went to the turtle position and I tried to set up a crucifix but he wasn't letting me get my knee in.
Jason smashed me too and got several submissions. I don't think I'm a good roll for him b/c it goes pretty much the same each time and I'm not picking up on what I'm doing wrong. I need to remember to pick a point in the roll where I'm getting in trouble and ask him about it after.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Battle Ball
I didn't think I was going to do night class, but Rachael texted me this afternoon and said that she was going to be at class a half hour early, so if I wanted to get in some rolling...
So yeah, I went to class. My attitude is much better and it's making a big difference during rolls. Rachael and I had a 20min continuous roll that started off trying to be a flow roll but stalled and then ended up being a more serious roll. I'm conscious every time of not moving her knee laterally and trying to not mess with it when it's planted. We had a good back and forth exchange. She was getting a high lapel grip that I didn't break for a long time b/c we were "flowing".
The warm-up for class was two teams sprinting to the other end of the room, grabbing a tennis ball, bringing back so the next person could run down and do the same thing. I was the first to go from our team, and I was so excited about getting a fast start and I'm so unused to sprinting that I fell right on my face a couple of yards into it. I managed to turn it into a front roll, but my god the lack of grace was astonishing.
Class consisted of the same escapes from reverse kesa gatame that we went over a couple of days ago (Monday?). I was happy to work something that I'd seen recently, as my mind was quickly turning into mush.
KOTH with wins consisting of a submission or mount. This was going to be a good test if my attitude really was adjusted or not. I was one of the first ones down, and Rachael came over first. I'm not sure exactly how it went down, but I passed her guard and mounted in relatively short order. Then it was big Jesse. We battled it out for awhile, probably close to 15min or so. I tried a triangle at one point and as soon as I did I face-palmed internally. WHY would I try to triangle someone that big? Dumb. He had top position quite a bit, but I was doing a decent job of preventing mount and submissions. James was encouraging me to get up on my elbow at one point to hip escape from side control and I was like, dude, there's 220lb flattening me right now. How do you expect me to get up on my elbow? I wish I could have stopped the roll to ask him. In any case, Jesse had top position for too long and eventually got a kimura. I wasn't pleased with myself.
After that was a roll with Savannah, which I knew was going to be tough. It's rare for either one of us to get mount or a submission, and today was no exception. She passed my guard, I fended off mount attempts and at one point was able to get her back. I had both hooks in and tried for a modified bow and arrow and then a wrist lock when I had her back in a sortof turtle position. It was a no go. At one point she kneed me in the mouth, which didn't hurt but it did kick me into a second gear that I haven't been in awhile. I need to find that gear more often, as it really makes me move instead of being so passive all the time.
Time was called while we were still rolling. I should be relatively happy with that performance, as I was able to spend a fair amount of time on the mat.
After rolling we did a game of battle ball. Everyone is divided up into two teams and are facing each other from the ends of the room. A medicine ball is in the center of the room, and from your knees you and your team try to move the ball to the other side of the room. The other team got really, really close, but we managed to yank it out right before they passed our goal line and get a score of our own. I was in the bottom of the scrum for a piece of time and I had at least one of the big dudes and someone driving into my chest and I damn near tapped. (Tapping is allowed if you're getting pummeled on the bottom)
So yeah, I went to class. My attitude is much better and it's making a big difference during rolls. Rachael and I had a 20min continuous roll that started off trying to be a flow roll but stalled and then ended up being a more serious roll. I'm conscious every time of not moving her knee laterally and trying to not mess with it when it's planted. We had a good back and forth exchange. She was getting a high lapel grip that I didn't break for a long time b/c we were "flowing".
The warm-up for class was two teams sprinting to the other end of the room, grabbing a tennis ball, bringing back so the next person could run down and do the same thing. I was the first to go from our team, and I was so excited about getting a fast start and I'm so unused to sprinting that I fell right on my face a couple of yards into it. I managed to turn it into a front roll, but my god the lack of grace was astonishing.
Class consisted of the same escapes from reverse kesa gatame that we went over a couple of days ago (Monday?). I was happy to work something that I'd seen recently, as my mind was quickly turning into mush.
KOTH with wins consisting of a submission or mount. This was going to be a good test if my attitude really was adjusted or not. I was one of the first ones down, and Rachael came over first. I'm not sure exactly how it went down, but I passed her guard and mounted in relatively short order. Then it was big Jesse. We battled it out for awhile, probably close to 15min or so. I tried a triangle at one point and as soon as I did I face-palmed internally. WHY would I try to triangle someone that big? Dumb. He had top position quite a bit, but I was doing a decent job of preventing mount and submissions. James was encouraging me to get up on my elbow at one point to hip escape from side control and I was like, dude, there's 220lb flattening me right now. How do you expect me to get up on my elbow? I wish I could have stopped the roll to ask him. In any case, Jesse had top position for too long and eventually got a kimura. I wasn't pleased with myself.
After that was a roll with Savannah, which I knew was going to be tough. It's rare for either one of us to get mount or a submission, and today was no exception. She passed my guard, I fended off mount attempts and at one point was able to get her back. I had both hooks in and tried for a modified bow and arrow and then a wrist lock when I had her back in a sortof turtle position. It was a no go. At one point she kneed me in the mouth, which didn't hurt but it did kick me into a second gear that I haven't been in awhile. I need to find that gear more often, as it really makes me move instead of being so passive all the time.
Time was called while we were still rolling. I should be relatively happy with that performance, as I was able to spend a fair amount of time on the mat.
After rolling we did a game of battle ball. Everyone is divided up into two teams and are facing each other from the ends of the room. A medicine ball is in the center of the room, and from your knees you and your team try to move the ball to the other side of the room. The other team got really, really close, but we managed to yank it out right before they passed our goal line and get a score of our own. I was in the bottom of the scrum for a piece of time and I had at least one of the big dudes and someone driving into my chest and I damn near tapped. (Tapping is allowed if you're getting pummeled on the bottom)
Wednesday Morning
Things are looking up in my life outside of jiu jitsu. I had a great class today and didn't feel like such crap during rolls. I know part of what has been causing my moodiness of late, but I wonder if there's something else contributing (i.e. chemical/hormones) as I had an unusual streak of down.
Williams guard today (true Williams guard, not modified). The transition to triangle is really slick. Getting the arm-bar is doable but I never feel like it's deep enough when I'm doing it. I don't think it's specific to Williams guard, but moreso anytime I armbar their left arm instead of their right.
Rolls with Sarah, Jason S., Dennis and Jordan. Another freaking fun roll with Sarah. I felt like I was doing a good job of passing her guard. She swept me into a straight arm-bar which was really cool. She didn't finish it, but I'm not sure if it's b/c she wanted to keep the roll going or if the angle wasn't right. I have no idea how it happened, but it was really, really cool.
Jason did a bit of worm guard and got a sweep. I tried to focus on hip movement to reguard/maintain guard and was having some success with it. Near the end I tried the lapel guard that James showed on Monday night but I completely forgot where my hand and leg were supposed to be in relation to his leg.
Dennis and I started with me trying to pass his guard. I kept switching between trying to leg drag and diving under and he was having none of it. Finally he got a lapel grip to sweep and maintain side-control. It was super annoying as I was trying to escape side-control and couldn't get onto either hip. He finally let it go to transition to something else. I think we spent the remainder of the round with me trying to escape.
I was focused on sweeps with Jordan and hit both the spiderguard sweep and the lasso sweep. I think that's the first time I've ever gotten the lasso sweep to work. I got back-mount at one point and let him work the escape. He turned the wrong way so I regained his back. He asked me about it after and we talked about turning out vs. turning in.
I hope the good vibes continue for awhile, as the crappy ones were really not ok.
Williams guard today (true Williams guard, not modified). The transition to triangle is really slick. Getting the arm-bar is doable but I never feel like it's deep enough when I'm doing it. I don't think it's specific to Williams guard, but moreso anytime I armbar their left arm instead of their right.
Rolls with Sarah, Jason S., Dennis and Jordan. Another freaking fun roll with Sarah. I felt like I was doing a good job of passing her guard. She swept me into a straight arm-bar which was really cool. She didn't finish it, but I'm not sure if it's b/c she wanted to keep the roll going or if the angle wasn't right. I have no idea how it happened, but it was really, really cool.
Jason did a bit of worm guard and got a sweep. I tried to focus on hip movement to reguard/maintain guard and was having some success with it. Near the end I tried the lapel guard that James showed on Monday night but I completely forgot where my hand and leg were supposed to be in relation to his leg.
Dennis and I started with me trying to pass his guard. I kept switching between trying to leg drag and diving under and he was having none of it. Finally he got a lapel grip to sweep and maintain side-control. It was super annoying as I was trying to escape side-control and couldn't get onto either hip. He finally let it go to transition to something else. I think we spent the remainder of the round with me trying to escape.
I was focused on sweeps with Jordan and hit both the spiderguard sweep and the lasso sweep. I think that's the first time I've ever gotten the lasso sweep to work. I got back-mount at one point and let him work the escape. He turned the wrong way so I regained his back. He asked me about it after and we talked about turning out vs. turning in.
I hope the good vibes continue for awhile, as the crappy ones were really not ok.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Monday Night
Lapel guard tonight. Not to be confused with worm guard.
I picked up on the techniques ok, especially since it was the first time I'd seen them.
Rolling was a complete debacle. I shouldn't have been at class tonight. I was shot physically and emotionally, and that's a bad combination for jiu jitsu. I thought more mat time might help me get over the hump of shitty rolling, help me with timing or something, but it appears to just be wearing me down instead. An unequivocal unfun night.
Monday Morning
I could have gone to bed early (or even on-time) last night, but I couldn't stop playing Scramble. Stupid addictive word games.
Either due to not getting quite enough sleep (for however many days in a row), general emotional malaise or more specific malaise regarding my jiu-jitsu game, I was very mellow during today's class. James mentioned a couple of times that I was quiet today, which is saying something since I'm such an introvert. We started off with flow rolls, which is my favorite way to warm-up. Sarah and I had kindof a goofy couple of rolls, b/c we were both doing stuff that would never, ever work against a resisting opponent. Then I rolled with Julio, who tapped me out several times. During a flow roll. Seriously. Then Shaun, who also tapped me out. With a foot-lock. We. Are. Flow. Rolling.
Side-control escapes if they're facing into you, facing away, or if you're forced to escape by rolling away from them. Picked up a couple of tips that I hope to use against the guys who usually bury me in side-control, namely transitioning from bridging into them to shrimping away from them if you get halfway up but no further.
Rolls with Sarah, Shaun, Zack and Nate. Usual fun roll with Sarah where we went all over the place. I pulled her into 50/50 and tried to take her back when she came up, but she did a good job of protecting the leg from coming through.
Shaun started to go for foot-locks but then bailed b/c he's competing in the Las Vegas Open and won't be able to do them there. So it was a lot of me trying to pass his guard, and otherwise uneventful. He did complete at least a couple of passes, b/c I remember thinking during the roll that he would have easily won on points.
Zack came over and seemed to be rolling with one hand. I couldn't tell if it was for a specific training purpose or if he hurt his shoulder or what. I got his back and top position a couple of times, but didn't go all out for chokes b/c that didn't seem quite sporting. Turns out he got wrist-locked a little too hard the roll before.
Had a pretty good roll with Nate. He was able to secure top position and when he went for an arm-bar I was able to stack the bejesus out of him and escape. I was pleased with that.
Either due to not getting quite enough sleep (for however many days in a row), general emotional malaise or more specific malaise regarding my jiu-jitsu game, I was very mellow during today's class. James mentioned a couple of times that I was quiet today, which is saying something since I'm such an introvert. We started off with flow rolls, which is my favorite way to warm-up. Sarah and I had kindof a goofy couple of rolls, b/c we were both doing stuff that would never, ever work against a resisting opponent. Then I rolled with Julio, who tapped me out several times. During a flow roll. Seriously. Then Shaun, who also tapped me out. With a foot-lock. We. Are. Flow. Rolling.
Side-control escapes if they're facing into you, facing away, or if you're forced to escape by rolling away from them. Picked up a couple of tips that I hope to use against the guys who usually bury me in side-control, namely transitioning from bridging into them to shrimping away from them if you get halfway up but no further.
Rolls with Sarah, Shaun, Zack and Nate. Usual fun roll with Sarah where we went all over the place. I pulled her into 50/50 and tried to take her back when she came up, but she did a good job of protecting the leg from coming through.
Shaun started to go for foot-locks but then bailed b/c he's competing in the Las Vegas Open and won't be able to do them there. So it was a lot of me trying to pass his guard, and otherwise uneventful. He did complete at least a couple of passes, b/c I remember thinking during the roll that he would have easily won on points.
Zack came over and seemed to be rolling with one hand. I couldn't tell if it was for a specific training purpose or if he hurt his shoulder or what. I got his back and top position a couple of times, but didn't go all out for chokes b/c that didn't seem quite sporting. Turns out he got wrist-locked a little too hard the roll before.
Had a pretty good roll with Nate. He was able to secure top position and when he went for an arm-bar I was able to stack the bejesus out of him and escape. I was pleased with that.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Fundamentals and Noon Class
I started off the Fundamentals class with the Tarzan drill and drastically underestimated how long it would take for people to catch on. I conveniently forgot how much time Brian had spent on demonstrating it at the seminar. I think it was a good thing to cover, but I needed to allocate more time for it.
After that we delved into back-mount escapes. Two with a seatbelt grip and one without. I may not have put emphasis on quite the right things, but overall people seemed to get it. Also, in the future I'll probably do back-mount attacks before back-mount escapes so that people have a better idea of how to apply a bit more realistic pressure from the back. I put a fair amount of prep into this and am relatively happy with it. There were 8 people, which really made me happy.
Rolled with Rachael between classes. Can't remember the bulk of the roll. She ended it with a foot-lock during a scramble.
Noon class we had 23 folks, which made for a crowded mat. James went over the 93 guard sweeps that I love. One of them has a couple of spots for a knee-bar, which I barely got into b/c of Rachael's brace. I found that I was struggling with keeping my knees tight when transitioning from the bottom to the top, which was causing my to lose the leverage on the knee. Would like to drill that with someone who doesn't have a suspect knee (and brace) to see if I can noodle it better.
Rolls with Rachael (twice), Sarah, Joyce and Savannah. I barely touch Rachael's knee unless I'm going in a straight forward/back motion with it. I kept trying to dive under it for a pass when she pulled DLR but she wasn't letting me get there. She had me in tight guard positions threatening back-takes or in top positions. I think I got to the top only once in the three times we rolled.
Good roll with Sarah... tried to take her back several times but couldn't get there. We traded sweeps and moved through quite a few positions.
I let Joyce a bit, especially since she had a dodgy knee too. I did take her back at one point and she worked the escape pretty well. Very happy to see her put the newly dropped knowledge to use.
Savannah passed my guard several times. I did play a little bit more effective open guard than usual, but the result was the same.
There's a local seminar tomorrow, but I'm probably not going to attend. I'd rather have a full day to myself without looking at the clock or having any plans.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Friday Morning
All omoplata. All day.
Basic omoplata, then what to do if they try to jump their feet over your body. I've never learned this defense before, so I wasn't a great candidate for being the demo dummy. I dislike not being a good demo dummy. :(
Also the defense if they roll, if they try to block your far leg or if you are close to finishing but they either get their hands together or their other hand touches the mat close enough for you to grab the sleeve.
Then one really weird one where if they get their arm out and then jump their legs over your body, or if you end up deep in their territory and sortof turtled like a failed double-leg. Pick them up with your torso so they are upside down behind your back and then pull one leg across your body as you sweep the other one away. I wasn't a particular fan of this one, but I was able to do it on 200+lb Jason so size isn't the issue.
Rolls with Jason S., Zack, Sarah, and Jason. Don't remember much about any of the rolls, except Sarah got a sweet wrist-lock at one point. We were mid transition and as I was thinking to myself "hmm...I feel like my arm is exposed", she wrist-locked me. Jason S didn't work any lapel guard for which I was thankful. Zack had top position but wasn't doing much with it. He finally left enough space so that I could get guard. Jason let me take his back and I tried to work back-control and chokes until he had enough of that and got me with something that I don't remember. I feel like I maintained pretty decent control of his back. He tried a couple of footlocks later on and my defense seemed ok.
Basic omoplata, then what to do if they try to jump their feet over your body. I've never learned this defense before, so I wasn't a great candidate for being the demo dummy. I dislike not being a good demo dummy. :(
Also the defense if they roll, if they try to block your far leg or if you are close to finishing but they either get their hands together or their other hand touches the mat close enough for you to grab the sleeve.
Then one really weird one where if they get their arm out and then jump their legs over your body, or if you end up deep in their territory and sortof turtled like a failed double-leg. Pick them up with your torso so they are upside down behind your back and then pull one leg across your body as you sweep the other one away. I wasn't a particular fan of this one, but I was able to do it on 200+lb Jason so size isn't the issue.
Rolls with Jason S., Zack, Sarah, and Jason. Don't remember much about any of the rolls, except Sarah got a sweet wrist-lock at one point. We were mid transition and as I was thinking to myself "hmm...I feel like my arm is exposed", she wrist-locked me. Jason S didn't work any lapel guard for which I was thankful. Zack had top position but wasn't doing much with it. He finally left enough space so that I could get guard. Jason let me take his back and I tried to work back-control and chokes until he had enough of that and got me with something that I don't remember. I feel like I maintained pretty decent control of his back. He tried a couple of footlocks later on and my defense seemed ok.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Wednesday Night
Big class tonight, around 25 peeps.
Warm-ups consisted of a lot of running, some stretching, then a fair amount of ab work. Felt like Hades in there b/c it just finished dumping an inch of rain over the past 36hrs, so it made for a muggy evening.
Technique was the same as this morning: locking their elbow from guard and either sweeping, pendulum sweeping, triangle or arm-bar.
Rolls consisted of KOTH with purple belts and above starting on the mat. Win by submission or back-take. Loser goes back to wall. I really dislike KOTH. First roll was with Cody, who I rolled fairly well with but he eventually sunk a bow and arrow. Second roll with Sam who got a triangle. Third roll with Kelly, can't remember what he got. With 5min left in class, the rules changed that the winner went to the wall. That's when I got paired up with a 2 stripe white belt girl on whom I was able to get to the back. And that's it. In total, I probably rolled 5min, tops. Hate KOTH.
What's really going to suck is when I'm a purple, and I start down, and I get kicked to the wall in the first roll while the rest of the purple belts hold their spot for 15+min. Meh.
EDIT: I really, really need to get over the color of the belts. Otherwise I'm going to drive myself crazy.
Warm-ups consisted of a lot of running, some stretching, then a fair amount of ab work. Felt like Hades in there b/c it just finished dumping an inch of rain over the past 36hrs, so it made for a muggy evening.
Technique was the same as this morning: locking their elbow from guard and either sweeping, pendulum sweeping, triangle or arm-bar.
Rolls consisted of KOTH with purple belts and above starting on the mat. Win by submission or back-take. Loser goes back to wall. I really dislike KOTH. First roll was with Cody, who I rolled fairly well with but he eventually sunk a bow and arrow. Second roll with Sam who got a triangle. Third roll with Kelly, can't remember what he got. With 5min left in class, the rules changed that the winner went to the wall. That's when I got paired up with a 2 stripe white belt girl on whom I was able to get to the back. And that's it. In total, I probably rolled 5min, tops. Hate KOTH.
What's really going to suck is when I'm a purple, and I start down, and I get kicked to the wall in the first roll while the rest of the purple belts hold their spot for 15+min. Meh.
EDIT: I really, really need to get over the color of the belts. Otherwise I'm going to drive myself crazy.
Wednesday Morning
I did nothing yesterday except for some deadlifts. Was looking forward to a nice 8hrs of sleep but couldn't fall asleep and then the dog woke me up at 3am. :( Feel a little out of it today. Not sick, just mentally not all here.
Today was setting up a pendulum sweep and some options on what to do if they're able to get their arm out to post.
Rolls with Jordan, Jason (br) and Savannah. I tried and tried to give up my back to Jordan so that I could work the back escapes that I'm going to be teaching this Saturday...but he wouldn't take it. He finally took it and I was able to work one of the escapes. He went for a kimura several times which I defended, but I don't think it was quite right (i.e. my defense probably wouldn't work on a more experienced person). Also, I was able to complete a spiderguard sweep after a couple of tries.
I had Jason in a 93 guard right where I wanted him but he had his feet tucked up close to his thighs so I couldn't snag them for a sweep. I should have tried to take the back at the point, but didn't quite make it to Plan B. He got a couple of submissions, I think both were leg-locks.
Savannah is working on her knee cut to the left now, which is a new wrinkle. I was able to fend that off, and then let her have side-control and the back so that I could work a different back-mount escape. I was having a devil of a time keeping her bottom foot pinned to the mat to scoot my body over it. I did eventually get it b/c I used on of my hands to help.
It is oddly very freeing to go into rolls with a plan of giving up terrible positions to work escapes.
Today was setting up a pendulum sweep and some options on what to do if they're able to get their arm out to post.
Rolls with Jordan, Jason (br) and Savannah. I tried and tried to give up my back to Jordan so that I could work the back escapes that I'm going to be teaching this Saturday...but he wouldn't take it. He finally took it and I was able to work one of the escapes. He went for a kimura several times which I defended, but I don't think it was quite right (i.e. my defense probably wouldn't work on a more experienced person). Also, I was able to complete a spiderguard sweep after a couple of tries.
I had Jason in a 93 guard right where I wanted him but he had his feet tucked up close to his thighs so I couldn't snag them for a sweep. I should have tried to take the back at the point, but didn't quite make it to Plan B. He got a couple of submissions, I think both were leg-locks.
Savannah is working on her knee cut to the left now, which is a new wrinkle. I was able to fend that off, and then let her have side-control and the back so that I could work a different back-mount escape. I was having a devil of a time keeping her bottom foot pinned to the mat to scoot my body over it. I did eventually get it b/c I used on of my hands to help.
It is oddly very freeing to go into rolls with a plan of giving up terrible positions to work escapes.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Ruminations
Took today off from class, my body needed it after the past four days. Planning on doing another two-a-day tomorrow.
It struck me at some point in the past couple of days that it's no so much that I feel like my entire game is below the level that it should be, but moreso that my rolling is not up to par. I feel like my scope of knowledge and execution of techniques is where I'd want it after ~5yrs of training. Rolling, not so much.
This gives me a bit of hope, as I don't entirely feel like I'm regressing. I'm just not applying my knowledge during rolls. I really don't want to be that grappler that can demo fifty different sweeps but can't execute a single one mid-roll. Unless I'm going against a new white belt, I almost never finish a sweep. That's a bit absurd. I don't expect to hit them on the regular against equally skilled opponents, but I don't think a 40-50% rate is out of line.
So...what's the problem?
1. I neglect sweeps in lieu of submission attempts, especially against equal or more highly skilled opponents.
2. I'm often so busy trying to defend against a pass that I can't initiate offense.
3. In general, I'm a passive player.
4. I'm sick of being in bottom side-control, so I'd rather play it safe and maintain some sort of guard instead of risking sweeps (closely related to #1).
I think it's part of a larger issue, but when I sat down to think about what part of my game bothers me the most, it's my inability to maintain or improve my guard positions. It's especially frustrating b/c I really enjoy drilling sweeps, especially from DLR, lasso and 93 guard.
I'm also frustrated b/c I feel like I don't learn from my mistakes during rolls. I do learn, but it's very, very slowly. I can't seem to immediately equate cause and effect. I wonder how I can better analyze a roll while it's happening or immediately after to determine why a particular technique is failing. One way is to solicit input from my training partners as to how they shut something down. Will try to be more cognizant of what's happening during rolls over the next couple of weeks and see if there's improvement in at least identifying what's going wrong.
It struck me at some point in the past couple of days that it's no so much that I feel like my entire game is below the level that it should be, but moreso that my rolling is not up to par. I feel like my scope of knowledge and execution of techniques is where I'd want it after ~5yrs of training. Rolling, not so much.
This gives me a bit of hope, as I don't entirely feel like I'm regressing. I'm just not applying my knowledge during rolls. I really don't want to be that grappler that can demo fifty different sweeps but can't execute a single one mid-roll. Unless I'm going against a new white belt, I almost never finish a sweep. That's a bit absurd. I don't expect to hit them on the regular against equally skilled opponents, but I don't think a 40-50% rate is out of line.
So...what's the problem?
1. I neglect sweeps in lieu of submission attempts, especially against equal or more highly skilled opponents.
2. I'm often so busy trying to defend against a pass that I can't initiate offense.
3. In general, I'm a passive player.
4. I'm sick of being in bottom side-control, so I'd rather play it safe and maintain some sort of guard instead of risking sweeps (closely related to #1).
I think it's part of a larger issue, but when I sat down to think about what part of my game bothers me the most, it's my inability to maintain or improve my guard positions. It's especially frustrating b/c I really enjoy drilling sweeps, especially from DLR, lasso and 93 guard.
I'm also frustrated b/c I feel like I don't learn from my mistakes during rolls. I do learn, but it's very, very slowly. I can't seem to immediately equate cause and effect. I wonder how I can better analyze a roll while it's happening or immediately after to determine why a particular technique is failing. One way is to solicit input from my training partners as to how they shut something down. Will try to be more cognizant of what's happening during rolls over the next couple of weeks and see if there's improvement in at least identifying what's going wrong.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Monday Night (Rachael's Back!)
Tonight was a dose of half guard sweeps. Drive the bus, twist sweep, what to do if they're facing away with their arm under your head and what to do if their facing away with their arm across your stomach.
This is stuff that I should be drilling the crap out of, b/c I find myself there quite a bit.
Rachael had a decent sized brace on, but it didn't seem to hinder her except on one of the sweeps that required going inside out when hooking their leg. I was very mindful of her knee and went super slow on anything that required lateral movement. It seemed to do ok.
During the roll I was really, really careful. I wouldn't touch her leg with any part of my body, and when she posted it on my hip in guard I didn't bother it. It was her first roll back in several months and I didn't want to be the one to knock her back out. She seemed to be fine pressuring with it. She got a sweep, then a pass and worked the rest of the round from top position. She's a strong top player, so it's not like I was giving that much to her. She was super happy to be back on the mats.
Roll with Michael, who has really slowed down his rolling. He was very mellow, not trying to necessarily finish chokes. He was transitioning through positions and letting me transition through positions as well. Kid's 16y/o and probably at least 180lb and all muscle. Ridiculous. It was nice to roll with him, except he was almost giving away too much. It's like flow rolling with people that don't give you quite enough resistance. But to props to him though for trying to be more controlled and smooth. I'm not going to complain.
Rolled with Cody, who pretty much tied me up in knots and got a bow and arrow at one point that surprised me. I didn't realize I was quite in that much danger. He got to my back quick on multiple occasions.
Rolled with Dennis. I decided to try to pass instead of being in guard. I think he ended up with a sweep, then I worked from guard. He got a pass, I regained guard, and that was that.
I got kicked in the head at the end of the last round by a pair next to Dennis and I. It was right on the top so didn't do much damage but it didn't feel that great either.
Took the dog for an hour long walk after I got home class. In the past four days, I've done 10hrs of jiu jitsu, which is a fair amount for me. Looking forward to letting my body rest tomorrow.
This is stuff that I should be drilling the crap out of, b/c I find myself there quite a bit.
Rachael had a decent sized brace on, but it didn't seem to hinder her except on one of the sweeps that required going inside out when hooking their leg. I was very mindful of her knee and went super slow on anything that required lateral movement. It seemed to do ok.
During the roll I was really, really careful. I wouldn't touch her leg with any part of my body, and when she posted it on my hip in guard I didn't bother it. It was her first roll back in several months and I didn't want to be the one to knock her back out. She seemed to be fine pressuring with it. She got a sweep, then a pass and worked the rest of the round from top position. She's a strong top player, so it's not like I was giving that much to her. She was super happy to be back on the mats.
Roll with Michael, who has really slowed down his rolling. He was very mellow, not trying to necessarily finish chokes. He was transitioning through positions and letting me transition through positions as well. Kid's 16y/o and probably at least 180lb and all muscle. Ridiculous. It was nice to roll with him, except he was almost giving away too much. It's like flow rolling with people that don't give you quite enough resistance. But to props to him though for trying to be more controlled and smooth. I'm not going to complain.
Rolled with Cody, who pretty much tied me up in knots and got a bow and arrow at one point that surprised me. I didn't realize I was quite in that much danger. He got to my back quick on multiple occasions.
Rolled with Dennis. I decided to try to pass instead of being in guard. I think he ended up with a sweep, then I worked from guard. He got a pass, I regained guard, and that was that.
I got kicked in the head at the end of the last round by a pair next to Dennis and I. It was right on the top so didn't do much damage but it didn't feel that great either.
Took the dog for an hour long walk after I got home class. In the past four days, I've done 10hrs of jiu jitsu, which is a fair amount for me. Looking forward to letting my body rest tomorrow.
Monday Morning
Big morning class today, close to 20 people. School is clearly out...
Variation of the Williams guard. Instead of gable gripping your hands together, one pulls an arm into your shin and the other holds your knee to keep their posture broken. My hips were a hot mess today. I'm guessing it's from all of the sprawling that we were doing on Saturday to finish the choke. Whatever it was, I could barely get my foot inside of Sarah's bicep. Any motion of bringing my knees into my chest was difficult.
Triangle if they don't hold your leg, omoplata if they do hold the leg and arm-bar if they try to turn back into your guard from the omoplata.
Rolls with Sarah, Tyrone, Blaine, Kayla and Ryan.
I can't remember what all happened in my roll with Sarah. I had some good positions including a triangle, mount and mounted triangle. I didn't try to finish any subs.
Tyrone passed my guard early, but I was able to get back to a half guard and eventually took his back. He wasn't very diligent about protecting his neck so I went for a bow and arrow. I didn't have a good angle (I keep angling my body toward the head instead of the legs) and switched to an arm-bar. Was finally able to pry his arm away with my foot and finish it. We started again and I think I maintained some sort of guard and was close to taking his back again when time was called.
Kayla was doing a good job of staying on top and staying active once she passed my guard. I was able to regain guard and was determined to end the round in a top position. I was in the midst of taking her back when the buzzer sounded, so didn't quite get there.
I tried to get the arm-pit choke on Blaine but couldn't get my arm-pit in his neck. I had a couple of triangle attempts but wasn't able to lock them up. I was trying to maintain guard and held him at bay for a bit by threatening a loop choke, but abandoned it and he passed. I had a baseball choke set from side-control but couldn't get turned enough to finish it.
Ryan had top control for duration of the round, though I think I was able to finally get to a half guard and was working my way to his back toward the end.
It's funny, I feel like I was closing in on the back at the end of every round, even though that's probably not what happened.
Variation of the Williams guard. Instead of gable gripping your hands together, one pulls an arm into your shin and the other holds your knee to keep their posture broken. My hips were a hot mess today. I'm guessing it's from all of the sprawling that we were doing on Saturday to finish the choke. Whatever it was, I could barely get my foot inside of Sarah's bicep. Any motion of bringing my knees into my chest was difficult.
Triangle if they don't hold your leg, omoplata if they do hold the leg and arm-bar if they try to turn back into your guard from the omoplata.
Rolls with Sarah, Tyrone, Blaine, Kayla and Ryan.
I can't remember what all happened in my roll with Sarah. I had some good positions including a triangle, mount and mounted triangle. I didn't try to finish any subs.
Tyrone passed my guard early, but I was able to get back to a half guard and eventually took his back. He wasn't very diligent about protecting his neck so I went for a bow and arrow. I didn't have a good angle (I keep angling my body toward the head instead of the legs) and switched to an arm-bar. Was finally able to pry his arm away with my foot and finish it. We started again and I think I maintained some sort of guard and was close to taking his back again when time was called.
Kayla was doing a good job of staying on top and staying active once she passed my guard. I was able to regain guard and was determined to end the round in a top position. I was in the midst of taking her back when the buzzer sounded, so didn't quite get there.
I tried to get the arm-pit choke on Blaine but couldn't get my arm-pit in his neck. I had a couple of triangle attempts but wasn't able to lock them up. I was trying to maintain guard and held him at bay for a bit by threatening a loop choke, but abandoned it and he passed. I had a baseball choke set from side-control but couldn't get turned enough to finish it.
Ryan had top control for duration of the round, though I think I was able to finally get to a half guard and was working my way to his back toward the end.
It's funny, I feel like I was closing in on the back at the end of every round, even though that's probably not what happened.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Advanced Class
Father's Day weekend, and only six of us in class today. Nando got to join b/c we were an odd man out. His persistence in trying to get into the advanced class is starting to pay off.
We started late and thought it was going to end up being a short class, but James was intent on doing quite a bit of drilling of rolling. Five rounds of drilling and then I somehow ended up with 6 rounds of rolling. I started with James and went over three basic back escapes since I'm planning on teaching that at the next Fundamentals class. Whenever that is...b/c every time we have a seminar or competition on Saturday, my class gets hosed. But anyway, it was good to work on them b/c I was doing quite a bit wrong.
Spent one of my rounds drilling the arm-pit choke from top side and another round drilling it from guard. Drilled the Tarzan sweeps (I have no idea what else to call this series). Am really struggling moving from pretty much any top position to the arm-pit choke. My leg furthest from their head ends up in a weird spot which makes it difficult to get my hips down and sprawl for the finish. Will need to ask James about that soon.
Rolls with Keith, Sol, Nando, Kelly, Sol again and James. My roll with Keith had a fair amount of back and forth. I was closing in on submissions from guard but he was able to pass earlier.
The first round with Sol I deliberately did not DLR b/c he had just been working a DLR pass that was pretty unpleasant. I want him to be able to work on it in rolls, but after going through a drilling round with both James AND Sol using me as the dummy, I had no more appetite for it. I tried spider guard instead but that was fairly weak and ineffective. He passed and spent most of the round in top side control. Near the end we reset and I tried a spiderguard sweep to absolutely no avail.
Kelly seemed to be working some new things and wasn't going a 100%. It was nice b/c it was a bit more of a flow roll (i.e. he wasn't going for the kill). I kept trying to drag him into a 50/50 but got caught in 60/40. We got in some funky positions while he tried to take my back, but I feel like I was legitimately shutting down his attempts. It was one of the most enjoyable rolls I've had with him.
Nando passed my guard and tried to use the arm-pit choke several times, but he was too high and I was able to get my back flat. Another time I was able to turn in and then get an arm in to block. When he gets close to something he really cranks up the pressure in a hurry to finish it, so I had to be mindful of not getting my neck cranked too far. He might have got me with a submission early on, I can't quite remember.
Second roll with Sol he spent most of the time instructing me on how to get a crucifix from turtle. I've done it before, but it's been awhile and the refresher was good. Using your feet to finish the arm-bar on the far side is diabolic and solid.
Last roll was with James, and it was a doozy. He got a rolling back attack and as soon as our legs locked up (which I tried to do to prevent him from getting the back-take), I knew I was cooked with either a banana split or calf slicer. Sure enough, calf slicer. After that I was fending off his attacks, as he also came in with the arm-pit choke (can't remember how I defended). The next time he went for a bolo or rolling back attack, I let my back hit the floor and tried to scramble out of it. He ended up on top, but at least I didn't get leg-locked.
Overall I felt like my defense was really on point today. One of the better days of rolling that I've had in awhile, and I can only hope it'll continue.
Rachael might be back tomorrow night. It's been close to 3mos that she's been out. I'm considering doing both the morning and evening classes MWF. Will be a tough slog, especially since I want to work three days of lifting into the week. The lifts are very minimal though, and I'm not back to heavy weights yet, so it should be doable.
Watched some soccer over the weekend and for the first time I'm enjoying it. I still largely do not have any idea what's going on, but it seems interesting to me. Couldn't believe that the first goal of the Cup was Brazil scoring on itself. The irony is just perfect.
We started late and thought it was going to end up being a short class, but James was intent on doing quite a bit of drilling of rolling. Five rounds of drilling and then I somehow ended up with 6 rounds of rolling. I started with James and went over three basic back escapes since I'm planning on teaching that at the next Fundamentals class. Whenever that is...b/c every time we have a seminar or competition on Saturday, my class gets hosed. But anyway, it was good to work on them b/c I was doing quite a bit wrong.
Spent one of my rounds drilling the arm-pit choke from top side and another round drilling it from guard. Drilled the Tarzan sweeps (I have no idea what else to call this series). Am really struggling moving from pretty much any top position to the arm-pit choke. My leg furthest from their head ends up in a weird spot which makes it difficult to get my hips down and sprawl for the finish. Will need to ask James about that soon.
Rolls with Keith, Sol, Nando, Kelly, Sol again and James. My roll with Keith had a fair amount of back and forth. I was closing in on submissions from guard but he was able to pass earlier.
The first round with Sol I deliberately did not DLR b/c he had just been working a DLR pass that was pretty unpleasant. I want him to be able to work on it in rolls, but after going through a drilling round with both James AND Sol using me as the dummy, I had no more appetite for it. I tried spider guard instead but that was fairly weak and ineffective. He passed and spent most of the round in top side control. Near the end we reset and I tried a spiderguard sweep to absolutely no avail.
Kelly seemed to be working some new things and wasn't going a 100%. It was nice b/c it was a bit more of a flow roll (i.e. he wasn't going for the kill). I kept trying to drag him into a 50/50 but got caught in 60/40. We got in some funky positions while he tried to take my back, but I feel like I was legitimately shutting down his attempts. It was one of the most enjoyable rolls I've had with him.
Nando passed my guard and tried to use the arm-pit choke several times, but he was too high and I was able to get my back flat. Another time I was able to turn in and then get an arm in to block. When he gets close to something he really cranks up the pressure in a hurry to finish it, so I had to be mindful of not getting my neck cranked too far. He might have got me with a submission early on, I can't quite remember.
Second roll with Sol he spent most of the time instructing me on how to get a crucifix from turtle. I've done it before, but it's been awhile and the refresher was good. Using your feet to finish the arm-bar on the far side is diabolic and solid.
Last roll was with James, and it was a doozy. He got a rolling back attack and as soon as our legs locked up (which I tried to do to prevent him from getting the back-take), I knew I was cooked with either a banana split or calf slicer. Sure enough, calf slicer. After that I was fending off his attacks, as he also came in with the arm-pit choke (can't remember how I defended). The next time he went for a bolo or rolling back attack, I let my back hit the floor and tried to scramble out of it. He ended up on top, but at least I didn't get leg-locked.
Overall I felt like my defense was really on point today. One of the better days of rolling that I've had in awhile, and I can only hope it'll continue.
Rachael might be back tomorrow night. It's been close to 3mos that she's been out. I'm considering doing both the morning and evening classes MWF. Will be a tough slog, especially since I want to work three days of lifting into the week. The lifts are very minimal though, and I'm not back to heavy weights yet, so it should be doable.
Watched some soccer over the weekend and for the first time I'm enjoying it. I still largely do not have any idea what's going on, but it seems interesting to me. Couldn't believe that the first goal of the Cup was Brazil scoring on itself. The irony is just perfect.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Brian J. Seminar
Absolutely fantastic seminar. Probably my favorite one thus far as far as knowledge gained.
Started off going over the Tarzan drill. Sounds goofy, but similar to the DLR->DLR movement, it relies on establishing grips as you work your way around someone's body (they're standing). The great part about it is that Brian showed a sweep or back-take from every angle. Nothing fancy, but the level of detail was perfect (for me) and each technique flowed well from one to the next. It's awesome as a warm-up drill and then segueing into techniques from each position.
Afterwards he showed us the arm-pit choke (terrible name). Spent quite a bit of time going over how to execute it from a partner that isn't resisting in side-control. The first time Sarah and I went through it, we were nailing it. The second time we were both doing something weird and had to ask for help. It is an absurd amount of pressure when done correctly. Similar to the brabo when it's your entire upper body that's applying the pressure.
After we got the gist of the choke, he showed us entries from top half guard, passing the guard when your opponent has both legs up, scarfhold and two variations from closed guard.
He finished with "the unstoppable pass", which we didn't have time to drill but is something I might try to work on tomorrow.
All in all, a ton of information, but I'm excited b/c I think that I'll be able to retain a fair amount of it.
At the end of class, Jason got his brown belt. So now I'm going to just refer to him as "Jason" and blue belt Jason will be "Jason S.". I knew that using (b) and (p) to differentiate them was going to stop working sooner or later.
Started off going over the Tarzan drill. Sounds goofy, but similar to the DLR->DLR movement, it relies on establishing grips as you work your way around someone's body (they're standing). The great part about it is that Brian showed a sweep or back-take from every angle. Nothing fancy, but the level of detail was perfect (for me) and each technique flowed well from one to the next. It's awesome as a warm-up drill and then segueing into techniques from each position.
Afterwards he showed us the arm-pit choke (terrible name). Spent quite a bit of time going over how to execute it from a partner that isn't resisting in side-control. The first time Sarah and I went through it, we were nailing it. The second time we were both doing something weird and had to ask for help. It is an absurd amount of pressure when done correctly. Similar to the brabo when it's your entire upper body that's applying the pressure.
After we got the gist of the choke, he showed us entries from top half guard, passing the guard when your opponent has both legs up, scarfhold and two variations from closed guard.
He finished with "the unstoppable pass", which we didn't have time to drill but is something I might try to work on tomorrow.
All in all, a ton of information, but I'm excited b/c I think that I'll be able to retain a fair amount of it.
At the end of class, Jason got his brown belt. So now I'm going to just refer to him as "Jason" and blue belt Jason will be "Jason S.". I knew that using (b) and (p) to differentiate them was going to stop working sooner or later.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Friday No Gi
Brian Johnson is in town for a seminar, and came to the no gi class tonight just for kicks. Jason (p) was teaching. He went over a series on arm-dragging from guard and taking it to an arm-bar or pulling them back into back-mount. Brian showed us some slick kimura type sweep that starts from the arm-wrap position. Savannah and I liked it quite a bit and spent one of our rolling rounds drilling it.
Rolls were a complete disaster. Rolled with Savannah, who passed my guard and got me with some sort of choke or arm-bar. Roll with Jason (p) who smashed and tapped me repeatedly. Drilled a round with Savannah.
Tomorrow is a seminar with Brian, looking forward to that.
Friday Fiddy Fiddy
I asked James before class if we could go over 50/50. Mostly b/c it's a position that Sarah and I get into a lot and have no clue how to effectively move from there. I don't have a clue anyway. I vaguely remember some stuff he went over a long time ago, but haven't drilled so am never really sure what I'm doing. Anyway...
A take-down into 50/50 (take their back, baseball slide leg under and wrap around their leg to get them down), passing when staying in 50/50, taking the back when someone passes and moving into 60/40 for the pass. It was made clear to me that passing instead of trying to take the back from 60/40 is far more successful.
Rolls with Sarah, Jason (p), Jordan and Will. Sarah and I had our usual fun roll, full of numerous transitions and few sub attempts. We got into a stalemate in 50/50 (shocker), but that was good practice to transition between trying to get the pass while in 50/50 and trying to get to 60/40.
Jason (p) let me start in guard each time, easily thwarted my attempts to sweep and passed into crushing side-control or went for leg-locks. There's one where he weaves his forearm between my lower legs that is straight up nasty.
I worked primarily guard with Jordan, but I should have been focusing on sweeps instead. He's still pretty new, and working sweeps would have been more beneficial for me. He did get his second stripe today, so woo hoo Jordan.
Will is a bigger guy, pretty new. He was exerting a fair amount, and I worked guard and from his back. At one point I wanted to work the grip break when they clasp their hands together to defend the arm-bar but for some reason couldn't remember quite how my hands were supposed to go. Did a lot of catch and release with both guys.
Planning on doing no gi tonight since I suddenly have all this free time on my hands in the evenings and weekends.
A take-down into 50/50 (take their back, baseball slide leg under and wrap around their leg to get them down), passing when staying in 50/50, taking the back when someone passes and moving into 60/40 for the pass. It was made clear to me that passing instead of trying to take the back from 60/40 is far more successful.
Rolls with Sarah, Jason (p), Jordan and Will. Sarah and I had our usual fun roll, full of numerous transitions and few sub attempts. We got into a stalemate in 50/50 (shocker), but that was good practice to transition between trying to get the pass while in 50/50 and trying to get to 60/40.
Jason (p) let me start in guard each time, easily thwarted my attempts to sweep and passed into crushing side-control or went for leg-locks. There's one where he weaves his forearm between my lower legs that is straight up nasty.
I worked primarily guard with Jordan, but I should have been focusing on sweeps instead. He's still pretty new, and working sweeps would have been more beneficial for me. He did get his second stripe today, so woo hoo Jordan.
Will is a bigger guy, pretty new. He was exerting a fair amount, and I worked guard and from his back. At one point I wanted to work the grip break when they clasp their hands together to defend the arm-bar but for some reason couldn't remember quite how my hands were supposed to go. Did a lot of catch and release with both guys.
Planning on doing no gi tonight since I suddenly have all this free time on my hands in the evenings and weekends.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Antone's Back!
Was super happy to see Antone back. Seems like it's been forever since he's been in class. Probably 4-5months.
My head still isn't quite in the game. Doesn't help that I'm being asked on a daily basis if I'm going to test for purple next month. Ugh.
Started with the lasso -> spiderguard sweep from Monday.
From there, the DLR -> RDLR drill. I tried to do the dumb side for a minute and holy crap, what a trainwreck.
DLR to baby bolo and the sickle sweep from RDLR.
Rolls with Sarah, Antone, Dennis and Flor. (Yes, it's Flor, I got confirmation on the spelling. Spanish for flower.) Sarah and I had a pretty fun roll. I did a catch and release on an arm-bar, otherwise it was pretty evenly matched. It went much, much better than the flow roll that we did to start class. I was being a complete dork during the flow roll.
Antone passes in a completely different manner than anyone else that I roll with regularly, so it was good to get a different perspective on how my guard game works with that (short answer: it doesn't). I did manage to fend him off from truly awful positions for a little while, but he got a couple of submissions (a choke and arm-bar). I felt like I was relatively close to a back-take or two, but couldn't get around the corner.
Dennis and I had one of our old-school rolls where he tries to pass my guard for 5min and I try to sweep for 5min. I was relatively happy with my footwork and hip movement. I was perfectly set-up for the baked chicken when he got double-unders, but I tried for a butterfly sweep instead and botched it b/c I did it wrong. I'm still not sure how.
Flor was a bit more aggressive, but was cursing herself on the regular and had a difficult time staying balanced. She would fall completely to her side when moving from one position to another. It's one of those things that hopefully she'll pick up. I tried to explain how it's important to stay off your side if you're in the midst of passing or in a top position but I don't think I did a good job.
After class Jason (p) and Dennis were talking about deep half while I eavesdropped nearby. Jason and I were both working deep half on the Sunday advanced class, and I really liked his philosophy of controlling the arm that's under your leg instead of the other arm if you're on top.
My head still isn't quite in the game. Doesn't help that I'm being asked on a daily basis if I'm going to test for purple next month. Ugh.
Started with the lasso -> spiderguard sweep from Monday.
From there, the DLR -> RDLR drill. I tried to do the dumb side for a minute and holy crap, what a trainwreck.
DLR to baby bolo and the sickle sweep from RDLR.
Rolls with Sarah, Antone, Dennis and Flor. (Yes, it's Flor, I got confirmation on the spelling. Spanish for flower.) Sarah and I had a pretty fun roll. I did a catch and release on an arm-bar, otherwise it was pretty evenly matched. It went much, much better than the flow roll that we did to start class. I was being a complete dork during the flow roll.
Antone passes in a completely different manner than anyone else that I roll with regularly, so it was good to get a different perspective on how my guard game works with that (short answer: it doesn't). I did manage to fend him off from truly awful positions for a little while, but he got a couple of submissions (a choke and arm-bar). I felt like I was relatively close to a back-take or two, but couldn't get around the corner.
Dennis and I had one of our old-school rolls where he tries to pass my guard for 5min and I try to sweep for 5min. I was relatively happy with my footwork and hip movement. I was perfectly set-up for the baked chicken when he got double-unders, but I tried for a butterfly sweep instead and botched it b/c I did it wrong. I'm still not sure how.
Flor was a bit more aggressive, but was cursing herself on the regular and had a difficult time staying balanced. She would fall completely to her side when moving from one position to another. It's one of those things that hopefully she'll pick up. I tried to explain how it's important to stay off your side if you're in the midst of passing or in a top position but I don't think I did a good job.
After class Jason (p) and Dennis were talking about deep half while I eavesdropped nearby. Jason and I were both working deep half on the Sunday advanced class, and I really liked his philosophy of controlling the arm that's under your leg instead of the other arm if you're on top.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Monday Morning
Worked a series of sweeps that I like a lot. The main entry is spiderguard to a leg lasso, except you hook your foot on their opposite armpit, kick up and dump them.
If they step their foot up to stop it, bring your other leg under the arm that you have hooked, let go of the other sleeve grip to grip under their leg and sweep them in front of you.
If they don't step the leg up but have a good base, put your free foot in the elbowpit of the side you have hooked, bring other leg out to the outside of their near-side leg, sit up (maintaining the sleeve grips) and then arm-drag.
Alternatively, you can do the basic spiderguard sweep to the other side. I got some help with this one, b/c whenever I land it I end up pretty far away from my opponent, which allows them to immediately get a knee in and go to single leg X or something similar. When I made a conscious effort to keep the bottom leg tight to their body throughout, it resulted in a lot less space.
Rolls with Jason (b), Tyrone, Sarah and Quito (sp?). Jason was on top and submitted me quite a bit. Didn't use a ton of lapel guard today though. I ended up with Tyrone in my guard for most of the round and got an arm-bar at one point. Sarah and I had a back-and-forth roll, with a bit of 50/50 thrown in. She still has better instincts for it than I do. I had Quito in my guard and tried to triangle b/c he committed the cardinal sin of pulling one arm out, but his shoulders are so broad and I was already a bit stacked when I started, so it didn't work out well for me. He eventually passed my guard, and hung out in top side-control for awhile. I finally worked my way out and got to his back.
Rolled with Julio after class, and he seemed primarily interested in slapping on submissions as fast as humanly possible. He'd start on his knees, and I'd try to work an open or closed guard. He'd thwart whatever I tried to do very quickly and then moved on to some submission or another. Good times.
If they step their foot up to stop it, bring your other leg under the arm that you have hooked, let go of the other sleeve grip to grip under their leg and sweep them in front of you.
If they don't step the leg up but have a good base, put your free foot in the elbowpit of the side you have hooked, bring other leg out to the outside of their near-side leg, sit up (maintaining the sleeve grips) and then arm-drag.
Alternatively, you can do the basic spiderguard sweep to the other side. I got some help with this one, b/c whenever I land it I end up pretty far away from my opponent, which allows them to immediately get a knee in and go to single leg X or something similar. When I made a conscious effort to keep the bottom leg tight to their body throughout, it resulted in a lot less space.
Rolls with Jason (b), Tyrone, Sarah and Quito (sp?). Jason was on top and submitted me quite a bit. Didn't use a ton of lapel guard today though. I ended up with Tyrone in my guard for most of the round and got an arm-bar at one point. Sarah and I had a back-and-forth roll, with a bit of 50/50 thrown in. She still has better instincts for it than I do. I had Quito in my guard and tried to triangle b/c he committed the cardinal sin of pulling one arm out, but his shoulders are so broad and I was already a bit stacked when I started, so it didn't work out well for me. He eventually passed my guard, and hung out in top side-control for awhile. I finally worked my way out and got to his back.
Rolled with Julio after class, and he seemed primarily interested in slapping on submissions as fast as humanly possible. He'd start on his knees, and I'd try to work an open or closed guard. He'd thwart whatever I tried to do very quickly and then moved on to some submission or another. Good times.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Sunday Advanced Class
Personal life took a complete nose-dive in the past 24hrs, so was pretty unfocused in class today. Drilled random techniques like the DLR -> sickle sweep -> RDLR, baby bolo, deep half stuff from yesterday's noon class and the side-control transitions that I taught yesterday.
Rolls with Sol, Russ, Dan and Jason (b). Spent the majority of the rolls in some sort of bottom position. Nothing particular to note, head wasn't really in it. Was probably good to go anyway.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Saturday Fundamentals and Noon Class
Fundamentals was top side-control. Went over transitioning from cross-face to scarf-hold and then cross-face to reverse kesa gatame. Also did the kimura and far-side arm-bar submissions.
Everything went really well except for the far-side arm-bar. I liked how I was setting it up yesterday when I went over it with James, but I somehow forgot that setup and ended up doing something different that I was having a hard time explaining on how to get it to work. Not sure what happened there.
Overall though, had six people show up and was pretty happy with the class.
I was dead tired by the time the noon class rolled around. We did deep half guard sweeps, which weren't fortunately weren't too taxing. I got the set-up on transitioning from mount to deep-half pretty well. The only one that I struggled with is where you feed part of their gi jacket behind them and try to come out the back.
Rolled with Nando, Sarah (twice) and Joyce. Nando was on top for the entire roll (frustrating). Sarah and I transitioned through a bunch of positions, and she had a kimura at one point but didn't finish it. Joyce has really, really improved. I made the kimura from side-control available and she did everything except get the grip on the wrist. Details.....
Was completely wiped out, so came home and took a nap.
Everything went really well except for the far-side arm-bar. I liked how I was setting it up yesterday when I went over it with James, but I somehow forgot that setup and ended up doing something different that I was having a hard time explaining on how to get it to work. Not sure what happened there.
Overall though, had six people show up and was pretty happy with the class.
I was dead tired by the time the noon class rolled around. We did deep half guard sweeps, which weren't fortunately weren't too taxing. I got the set-up on transitioning from mount to deep-half pretty well. The only one that I struggled with is where you feed part of their gi jacket behind them and try to come out the back.
Rolled with Nando, Sarah (twice) and Joyce. Nando was on top for the entire roll (frustrating). Sarah and I transitioned through a bunch of positions, and she had a kimura at one point but didn't finish it. Joyce has really, really improved. I made the kimura from side-control available and she did everything except get the grip on the wrist. Details.....
Was completely wiped out, so came home and took a nap.
Friday Part II (Open Mat)
The open mat was about 40min away. As I was pulling up to the gym, I got a text from James that everyone else bailed on coming out. Nice. It was a little weird to be the only one from my gym in attendance, but I had scheduled to hang out with some friends in town afterwards, so I wasn't too bothered by it.
Jenny was there, so I got to roll with her several times. Rolled with a couple of big purple belt guys. One let me work a bit, the other just crushed. Rolled with a youngish white belt guy who had good basics. Rolled with a couple of white belt women that where ok but didn't seem all that interested in rolling with different people. Rolled with a couple of brown belt guys that have come to our gym several times but I haven't been able to roll with them. Those rolls were pretty fun.
Overall, it was a great workout. I felt like I was doing weird stuff most of the time. Like grabbing lapels in places I usually don't, inverting in positions I usually don't, etc. I'm not sure why I used the open as an experimentation zone, but whatever. It was a good time.
Reconnected with friends I haven't seen for a couple of years. Stayed until late catching up on life.
Jenny was there, so I got to roll with her several times. Rolled with a couple of big purple belt guys. One let me work a bit, the other just crushed. Rolled with a youngish white belt guy who had good basics. Rolled with a couple of white belt women that where ok but didn't seem all that interested in rolling with different people. Rolled with a couple of brown belt guys that have come to our gym several times but I haven't been able to roll with them. Those rolls were pretty fun.
Overall, it was a great workout. I felt like I was doing weird stuff most of the time. Like grabbing lapels in places I usually don't, inverting in positions I usually don't, etc. I'm not sure why I used the open as an experimentation zone, but whatever. It was a good time.
Reconnected with friends I haven't seen for a couple of years. Stayed until late catching up on life.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Friday Part I
Great class this morning. We went over butterfly guard. I've done all of the techniques before and felt pretty comfortable with them. Sarah and I were working with Floor (I meant to ask her how her name is spelled, b/c I'm pretty sure it's not "Floor"...). She was pretty hesitant and apologized a billion times unnecessarily, but she was starting to get some of the techniques.
Rolls with Sarah, Sol, Sean, Sarah again and Jason (b). Sarah had her top game on point today and I told her so. Twice she was set up for a monoplata wrist-locky thing but she didn't finish. I had a helluva time escaping.
Sol started each roll in the fetal position, then rolled up to turtle and swept me. I had his back at one point, but I'm pretty sure that was mostly a gift.
Jason did lapel guard stuff and had pretty good control throughout. It's a super frustrating position to be in, and my conclusion thus far is that it's best to keep your jacket tucked and out of his hands. Once he gets a good grip it's almost impossible to break it. I tried to pull him into 50/50 to see if that would help but not so much. He also did a bit of spider/shin guard that was tight control made it very difficult to maintain my base.
Sean did his usual "I'm tired" and then proceeded at a pretty intense pace. I did better with him than usual though and was able to pass his guard at least once if not twice. I don't remember much else about the roll.
Spent some time with James going over what I'm going to be teaching in Fundamentals tomorrow, which is top side-control. I'm going to go over transitioning between cross-face, kesa gatame (no head control) and reverse kesa gatame. Also going to cover the far-side arm-bar and kimura. He liked the movements that I had planned out, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Tonight is an open mat hosted by a gym that's 45min away. I'm looking forward to heading over and getting in some good rolls. Hoping some folks will be interested in doing no gi too.
Bonus is that I'm going to visit some friends afterwards that I haven't seen in close to two years. Happy about that, b/c we've known each other for 20yrs but have really let our friendship slide.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Enough with the Wrist Locks
Another good-sized morning class, about 15ppl.
Passing the half guard. If they have the lock-down, if they get an underhook, and if you back-step and they start pushing away with their far arm. Felt good with all of the techniques, though I realized that I'm really, really bad about keeping my head high. I need to focus on keeping my head on their chest instead of looking around at what I'm doing.
Rolls with Sarah, Floor (new girl, I have no idea how to spell her name, but it really sounded like "Floor", not "Flora"), Sol, Ryan and Savannah.
Another fun roll with Sarah. Tried to get the DLR back-take but I'm creating too much distance on the invert and not getting grips. Or something. Something is going wrong each time. We did a little bit of 50/50 (actually 60/40 for me). I came close to getting her back but couldn't quite get the hooks. Technical and fun.
This was Floor's first or second class and she was super hesitant. I had her work through today's techniques, which were admittedly pretty complex for a brand new person.
Sol was letting me start in top side-control, and then escaping and working top side-control of his own. He had top side-control and was aggressively trying to get my hands in a position for a wrist lock. I defended fairly well, and cursed him good-naturedly. A bit later on in the roll, he got a wrist-lock and then applied it HARD. I yelped out a tap and laid on the mat for a minute trying to figure out if I was injured or not. I wasn't, and after a bit we went back to rolling. He was very passive after that, letting me spiderguard sweep him. He apologized several times, and he certainly didn't mean to cause pain, but I was still a little pissed. It didn't help that James had a wrist-lock bonanza on my last night. No permanent damage though, so I need to let it go.
Roll with Ryan was disheartening b/c he got on top and stayed there the entire roll. Fricking two stripe white belt who's about my size can get on top and stay there for five minutes. Not the first time this has happened either. FML.
Savannah was being goofy at the start of our roll just lying down, so I started in N/S. She tried to work an escape which led me to getting close to her back. Halfway through the round, we reset and she started in N/S. I was able to escape and do a fairly good job of keeping guard.
On a completely unrelated note, I've decided that I'm going to get back to lifting and eat pretty clean for the next month. Walter is coming in mid-July. More than likely I'm going to be shark-tanked and belt-whipped. For vanity's sake, I'd like to do the belt-whipping with no shirt, just a sports bra. I want to lose some weight (~10lb or so) and get some muscle back on my upper body. It'll be good motivation to get back to lifting.
Passing the half guard. If they have the lock-down, if they get an underhook, and if you back-step and they start pushing away with their far arm. Felt good with all of the techniques, though I realized that I'm really, really bad about keeping my head high. I need to focus on keeping my head on their chest instead of looking around at what I'm doing.
Rolls with Sarah, Floor (new girl, I have no idea how to spell her name, but it really sounded like "Floor", not "Flora"), Sol, Ryan and Savannah.
Another fun roll with Sarah. Tried to get the DLR back-take but I'm creating too much distance on the invert and not getting grips. Or something. Something is going wrong each time. We did a little bit of 50/50 (actually 60/40 for me). I came close to getting her back but couldn't quite get the hooks. Technical and fun.
This was Floor's first or second class and she was super hesitant. I had her work through today's techniques, which were admittedly pretty complex for a brand new person.
Sol was letting me start in top side-control, and then escaping and working top side-control of his own. He had top side-control and was aggressively trying to get my hands in a position for a wrist lock. I defended fairly well, and cursed him good-naturedly. A bit later on in the roll, he got a wrist-lock and then applied it HARD. I yelped out a tap and laid on the mat for a minute trying to figure out if I was injured or not. I wasn't, and after a bit we went back to rolling. He was very passive after that, letting me spiderguard sweep him. He apologized several times, and he certainly didn't mean to cause pain, but I was still a little pissed. It didn't help that James had a wrist-lock bonanza on my last night. No permanent damage though, so I need to let it go.
Roll with Ryan was disheartening b/c he got on top and stayed there the entire roll. Fricking two stripe white belt who's about my size can get on top and stay there for five minutes. Not the first time this has happened either. FML.
Savannah was being goofy at the start of our roll just lying down, so I started in N/S. She tried to work an escape which led me to getting close to her back. Halfway through the round, we reset and she started in N/S. I was able to escape and do a fairly good job of keeping guard.
On a completely unrelated note, I've decided that I'm going to get back to lifting and eat pretty clean for the next month. Walter is coming in mid-July. More than likely I'm going to be shark-tanked and belt-whipped. For vanity's sake, I'd like to do the belt-whipping with no shirt, just a sports bra. I want to lose some weight (~10lb or so) and get some muscle back on my upper body. It'll be good motivation to get back to lifting.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
No Gi Tuesday
So on Monday, Sarah and are like, hey, James is teaching no gi on Tuesday night (Kelly usually does), so let's go to no gi! It'll be a fun change of pace! Yay!!!
Guess who shows up to class?
Literally every guy we have that's an upper belt over 200lb. Dammit!
We went over my favorite 93 guard sweeps, including an arm-drag on that I either haven't seen before or have already forgotten about. There was another where you go inverted that I hadn't seen before either. It took awhile to get those entries ironed out, but otherwise I felt good with the techniques.
Rolled with Sarah several times, Julio, Kasey and James after class. Fun, technical rolls with Sarah, as usual. I tried to use the DLR back-take but (no surprise), it's crazy difficult if you don't have the gi to grab on to as you circle around the back. However, the DLR to RDLR sickle was feeling pretty good after the drilling that I've been doing on it. We stayed out of 50/50 for the most part and both of us primarily worked open guard. I took her back a few times and felt like I had decent control.
Julio came in from standing, but I did a better job than usual of keeping guard. I think it's b/c he didn't have fabric grips on my legs. He did eventually pass and got me with a couple of subs, I don't remember what.
I started off in sitting guard with Kasey (4 stripe purple) and he kinda went monkey poo on me right away. At one point he JUMPED onto me and then rolled into a toe hold. I was scared shitless b/c he is a big dude, well over 200lb and thick as a brick. I've rolled with him at least once in gi and he was very mellow, but not so much tonight. I'm not worried about getting hurt by too many guys, but him for sure if he rolls like that.
I asked James to roll after class and he was game. Not sure how long we went for, I'm assuming over 5min. It's so flipping frustrating to roll with him b/c I'll be in the midst of getting to what I think is a good position (i.e. back-take) and then I get wrist-locked. He wrist-locked me at least three times tonight. You'd think I'd learn my lesson, but I saw opportunity instead of bait. It was still a fun roll, and I take it as a point of pride that he said our rolls end up in some weird positions. I think that's a good thing.
Guess who shows up to class?
Literally every guy we have that's an upper belt over 200lb. Dammit!
We went over my favorite 93 guard sweeps, including an arm-drag on that I either haven't seen before or have already forgotten about. There was another where you go inverted that I hadn't seen before either. It took awhile to get those entries ironed out, but otherwise I felt good with the techniques.
Rolled with Sarah several times, Julio, Kasey and James after class. Fun, technical rolls with Sarah, as usual. I tried to use the DLR back-take but (no surprise), it's crazy difficult if you don't have the gi to grab on to as you circle around the back. However, the DLR to RDLR sickle was feeling pretty good after the drilling that I've been doing on it. We stayed out of 50/50 for the most part and both of us primarily worked open guard. I took her back a few times and felt like I had decent control.
Julio came in from standing, but I did a better job than usual of keeping guard. I think it's b/c he didn't have fabric grips on my legs. He did eventually pass and got me with a couple of subs, I don't remember what.
I started off in sitting guard with Kasey (4 stripe purple) and he kinda went monkey poo on me right away. At one point he JUMPED onto me and then rolled into a toe hold. I was scared shitless b/c he is a big dude, well over 200lb and thick as a brick. I've rolled with him at least once in gi and he was very mellow, but not so much tonight. I'm not worried about getting hurt by too many guys, but him for sure if he rolls like that.
I asked James to roll after class and he was game. Not sure how long we went for, I'm assuming over 5min. It's so flipping frustrating to roll with him b/c I'll be in the midst of getting to what I think is a good position (i.e. back-take) and then I get wrist-locked. He wrist-locked me at least three times tonight. You'd think I'd learn my lesson, but I saw opportunity instead of bait. It was still a fun roll, and I take it as a point of pride that he said our rolls end up in some weird positions. I think that's a good thing.
Monday, June 2, 2014
Osmosis Jiu Jitsu
I thought my game, especially my non-existent 50/50 game, was going to be fractionally better after watching it at the highest levels all weekend. Not so much. I still couldn't identify whether I was in 50/50 or 60/40. After talking with James after class though I think I've got that part sorted.
Kimura from side-control and arm-bar grip breaks. The one that James normally shows where you fall towards the head on your way to multiple shoulder-locks before the arm-bar finally clicked for me today. I was working with Jason (b), and having his full weight in s-mount was pretty damned miserable.
Rolls with Jason, Sol, Sarah, Nate and Sarah again after class. Jason and Sol kicked my ass. Sol was being encouraging of my attempts to recompose guard from his crushing side-control, but it felt like a feeble effort. Jason swept me quickly and worked from top side-control and possibly mount. Got me with a choke, I think bow and arrow.
I tried to get Sarah in 50/50 today, which was a change of pace b/c we usually end up there by her volition instead of mine. I really thought I had subconsciously picked up on some skillz, but I don't think that's the case. I did get to 60/40 several times and was able to scoot around for attempted back takes. I also worked my DLR back-take and the baby bolo a bit. Sarah was working for a head and arm choke from top side that was fairly tight, but she let it go at some point.
Overall, great class. Might do no-gi class this week since James is teaching. There's going to be an open mat for all of the local schools on Friday night that I'll probably attend.
Kimura from side-control and arm-bar grip breaks. The one that James normally shows where you fall towards the head on your way to multiple shoulder-locks before the arm-bar finally clicked for me today. I was working with Jason (b), and having his full weight in s-mount was pretty damned miserable.
Rolls with Jason, Sol, Sarah, Nate and Sarah again after class. Jason and Sol kicked my ass. Sol was being encouraging of my attempts to recompose guard from his crushing side-control, but it felt like a feeble effort. Jason swept me quickly and worked from top side-control and possibly mount. Got me with a choke, I think bow and arrow.
I tried to get Sarah in 50/50 today, which was a change of pace b/c we usually end up there by her volition instead of mine. I really thought I had subconsciously picked up on some skillz, but I don't think that's the case. I did get to 60/40 several times and was able to scoot around for attempted back takes. I also worked my DLR back-take and the baby bolo a bit. Sarah was working for a head and arm choke from top side that was fairly tight, but she let it go at some point.
Overall, great class. Might do no-gi class this week since James is teaching. There's going to be an open mat for all of the local schools on Friday night that I'll probably attend.
Sat & Sun Worlds Viewing Party
The jiu jitsu first...
Taught basic submissions from guard on Saturday morning, b/c I had zero time to prepare and needed to go with what I was most comfortable with. I wish I would have been able to prep more. Class went ok, but more prep makes it more better. Had four ppl attend.
After that it was open mat. Two people had driven a couple of hours to come roll with us, and sad for them but James was out coaching kids at a local tournament. One of them was a big purple belt dude. Not too many people wanted to roll with him, so I ended up going against him twice. The first time he positionally dominated but wasn't able to get a submission. The second time he went for a rolling back attack and I took his back instead. That lasted for a very brief while, and then he was able to get a submission (can't remember what).
His gf/wife is a blue belt, and when we started to roll she seemed super tentative, so I went very easy. Turns out her open guard is very good, and she was able to keep me from passing. In mid-pass at one point she got me with a Frank Mir.
I think that I also had rolls with Russ and Sol and or Jason (p).
Came back and watched Worlds after classes. We had missed the open weight matches, but caught quite a few weight division matches. I grilled burgers and dogs and that seemed to satisfy folks. Matches went until about 9pm. Everyone wanted to go to Russ' house to hang out after but I was wiped. Went for a short walk with the dog instead and then to bed.
Sunday morning some folks came over at 10am to watch the quarters and semis in the weight divisions. The matches were generally pretty good. Some stalling, but overall I understood what was going on better than last year so even had some appreciation for the 50/50.
We moved class to 3pm instead of 1pm to coincide with the match schedule. Only four of us at the advanced class. James worked some lapel guard, Sol a half guard pass, Jason I can't remember. I worked on DLR -> sickle sweep -> RDLR -> kiss of the dragon (and I was still grabbing the wrong leg to invert!). Also did half guard sweeps.
Rolls with James, Sol and Jason (p). Had a pretty fun roll with James. Sol smashed me a bit but let off. Same with Jason.
Short class, and then back to my house to watch all of the finals. Caught some of the women's matches, including one where a girl damn near got her arm taken clean off. Almost all of the men's matches were super close and very exciting in the last couple of minutes. I'm surprised the Miyao's made it that far, but they made believers out of me. I think Joao was scored correctly but Paulo wasn't. Really wanted Rodolfo to win, but as soon as Buchecha got the takedown it was a done deal.
Overall, the weekend went really, really well. First party was a success!
Taught basic submissions from guard on Saturday morning, b/c I had zero time to prepare and needed to go with what I was most comfortable with. I wish I would have been able to prep more. Class went ok, but more prep makes it more better. Had four ppl attend.
After that it was open mat. Two people had driven a couple of hours to come roll with us, and sad for them but James was out coaching kids at a local tournament. One of them was a big purple belt dude. Not too many people wanted to roll with him, so I ended up going against him twice. The first time he positionally dominated but wasn't able to get a submission. The second time he went for a rolling back attack and I took his back instead. That lasted for a very brief while, and then he was able to get a submission (can't remember what).
His gf/wife is a blue belt, and when we started to roll she seemed super tentative, so I went very easy. Turns out her open guard is very good, and she was able to keep me from passing. In mid-pass at one point she got me with a Frank Mir.
I think that I also had rolls with Russ and Sol and or Jason (p).
Came back and watched Worlds after classes. We had missed the open weight matches, but caught quite a few weight division matches. I grilled burgers and dogs and that seemed to satisfy folks. Matches went until about 9pm. Everyone wanted to go to Russ' house to hang out after but I was wiped. Went for a short walk with the dog instead and then to bed.
Sunday morning some folks came over at 10am to watch the quarters and semis in the weight divisions. The matches were generally pretty good. Some stalling, but overall I understood what was going on better than last year so even had some appreciation for the 50/50.
We moved class to 3pm instead of 1pm to coincide with the match schedule. Only four of us at the advanced class. James worked some lapel guard, Sol a half guard pass, Jason I can't remember. I worked on DLR -> sickle sweep -> RDLR -> kiss of the dragon (and I was still grabbing the wrong leg to invert!). Also did half guard sweeps.
Rolls with James, Sol and Jason (p). Had a pretty fun roll with James. Sol smashed me a bit but let off. Same with Jason.
Short class, and then back to my house to watch all of the finals. Caught some of the women's matches, including one where a girl damn near got her arm taken clean off. Almost all of the men's matches were super close and very exciting in the last couple of minutes. I'm surprised the Miyao's made it that far, but they made believers out of me. I think Joao was scored correctly but Paulo wasn't. Really wanted Rodolfo to win, but as soon as Buchecha got the takedown it was a done deal.
Overall, the weekend went really, really well. First party was a success!
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