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.