Wed Night

Went in early to roll with Rachael. Didn't put my mouth guard in b/c... it's just for fun, right? BOOM! Knee in the mouth, teeth cut into my lip and viola! Banged up lower lip. Bled a fair amount for awhile, but it finally settled down. It was inside enough on my lip that I wasn't too worried about germs.

My night didn't improve much, b/c we did KOTH. I got Kasey twice and Manny twice. Manny tapped me in our first roll in less than a minute. Second roll took a bit longer but he eventually got...something. 

First roll with Kasey he just sat on his knees and swatted any guard maneuvering that I tried. After a couple of minutes of me trying to futilely work some sort of open guard, he raised up and did some sort of rolling back attack something in about a half second flat and applied some sort of leg lock. Fast. Second roll I said screw guard and decided to go for his back instead. He turtled up, let me take his back, then I futilely worked chokes until going for a bow and arrow. I thought I had a it pretty tight, but after a bit he yanked me off and went for another leg lock. Fast. Goddammit.

So I wasn't feeling too great about myself, but got over it by the end of class.

Rachael wanted to roll after class, so with mouthguard we did two 5min rounds. She completely kicked my ass in both. I did stupid shit trying to pass her guard and ended up almost triangled, then s-mounted and finally she got a submission with my arm. She was on top for most of the 10min, or I was doing the stupid crap I do to pass guard. Was not super happy with myself when we were done.

The good news is that it's only supposed to be 99F tomorrow instead of a 100F, so...there's that.

Baratoplata

Sarah asked if I wanted to go to no gi last night, and I had to resist mightily. Rest the body!

Today I was running late due to getting sprinklers fixed. I didn't anticipate being able to make it to class at all, but my sprinkler guy rocks.

Gi d'arce from KOB, gi d'arce from side-control, rolling over them if you can't pull them on their side and transitioning to a belly down straight arm-bar or combo from a not-quite-crucifix position if you can't get the lapel grip that you need for the gi d'arce.

Rolled with Sarah for a couple of rounds, then Jason S. and Kelly. I'm a little worried that Sarah is giving up on positions when rolling, which may translate to how she performs at Vegas. I'm not sure how or whether I should say something to her about this. If it were a technique thing I'd feel comfortable saying something, but it's an overall approach to the game so I'm not as comfortable giving advice.

I tried to keep good posture and fend of Jason's attempt at lapel guard and was successful for a little while. He eventually got a sweep and then spent the remainder of the round in mount trying to baratoplata me. I staved off those attempts, but couldn't get an escape to save my life. Ironic that I'm teaching mount escapes in the fundamentals class this week...

When I was in Kelly's open guard he kept getting my weight over his head and then easily worked sweeps from there. I get drawn in and think that I'm going to work a pass, but...no. Over I go. He got a bolo at one point but I stopped a rolling back attack, which was good for me. He commented after the roll that my rolling back attack defense is good, so I have that going for me. It's fun/frustrating to roll with him b/c his hip movement is sooooo fluid.

Michael F. and Tyrone got stripes after class, both of which were well deserved.

Monday Morning

I felt like a sack of potatoes today. How fitting then, that we did takedowns. Fortunately, it was a couple of take-downs that I already know: Uchi mata to ankle pick or diving under them, hooking the leg and sweeping. 

Sarah was also feeling like a sack of potatoes, so we made an awesome pair. I didn't have an especially strenuous weekend, although riding for 6.5hrs apparently does sap one's energy.

We also looked at finishing a pass if they happen to trap you in reverse half guard from the hooking sweep. I picked up some good details here, as I've tried to use it quite a bit to no avail. Shocker, a cross-face is important here.

Rolled with Sarah for duration. We were both doing silly things that left the other person in a much better position than we intended (i.e. pulling them into 40/60 instead of 50/50). My brain was only half in it today.
 

Saturday Classes

Fundamentals class went well, although I'm still feeling like I need to tweak my yapping-to-technique-display ratio. If I'm going to go off on a philosophical tangent, I want to do it before I show the actual technique. I find that I'm showing the first part of a technique, doing lots of yapping, showing the second part, more somewhat yapping, etc. I want to keep the display of the technique concise enough that the different parts flow together. 

Jason (b) taught the noon class and went over guard opening and passing, but had several different takes on it. One of them involved stuffing one of the guard player's arms under their back, which is very effective and mega annoying for the guard player. I might pursue it, except that I absolutely despise when other people do it to me.

Rolled with Kevin, Rachael and Joyce. I think I rolled with Rachael twice. Nothing especially memorable about the rolls, except that I absolutely love seeing Joyce use techniques that I've taught. Very gratifying.

Elephant on My Chest

More like James using me to demo arm-bars from s-mount. Several times he took his weight off of me while he chatted about the details, but there were numerous occasions in which he didn't. I really wanted to pay attention to what he was saying, but my brain was busy worrying about things like expanding my diaphragm enough to get another breath. 

Nevertheless, I did pick up a few details on the near side armbar, far side straight armbar/kimura and a roll into an omoplata that I haven't seen before. Also breaking the grip for a regular armbar from mount that I think I'm finally getting.

Rolled with Sarah the entire time to her get ready for Vegas. I turned up the intensity in the last roll and gave her several different scenarios to work with. I found myself doing some really stupid stuff like giving up a top side-control position b/c I had a kimura grip and wanted to try rolling through to finish the kimura. Using a kimura grip while she tried to pass didn't work out for me either. I also tried the pass from Mackenzie's seminar but screwed up the leg positioning somehow.

Before and after class I went over opening guard and guard passes for tomorrow's Fundamentals class.

My body has been feeling really beat up this week after the two day seminar this weekend and double-dipping on Monday and Wednesday. I think I'm going to back off training a bit next week. 

 
 

Wed Morn & Night

So... I did jiu jitsu today.

Some of it was awesome, several parts felt decidedly not awesome.

Worked guard breaks in the morning and lapel guard in the evening.

Rolled with a bunch of the big guys in the morning, got squashed. Rolled with Savannah in the evening (KOTH and we ended up rolling the entire time), and I spent the entirety of the roll trying to prevent her from passing. Rolled with Rachael after class and did pretty well.

Super mega tired, going to bed.

Woooooo jiu jitsu.

Monday Night

I'm a true glutton for punishment.

James decided to do 2min drill sessions, then 2min positional sparring, then 5min rolls. There are a couple of tournaments coming up so we've got some folks getting cardio ready.

I worked one of the passes from the seminar and was getting a little more comfortable with it, though it's still pretty dicey. The guys commented that the shoulder pressure was intense when I did it right.

I wasn't too crazy about exerting that much, but my body responded well and I never would have guessed that I had such a long weekend. I rolled with Rachael, James and Corey. I don't remember much about any of the rolls, my brain is pretty fried. 

After class, Rachael and I showed James most of the techniques from the seminar. We did well...the detailed notes certainly didn't hurt.

Monday Morning

After 10hrs of jiu jitsu this weekend, I felt like I got hit by a truck this morning. I didn't think going to class was a good idea, but I did it anyway.

I told James I'd show him the seminar material tonight b/c I was still pretty zombified in the morning class. Also, I wanted Rachael to be there so that we could do it together.

We went over half guard sweeps, at least one of which I haven't seen before. Took me awhile to get into the swing of things, as my body and brain were like "wtf are you doing?" I was a little slow, but executing everything ok. Nothing was especially sore or troublesome, just an overall bit of fatigue.

Rolled with Sarah, Little Michael and Julio. Don't remember much about my roll with Sarah...tried to keep it mellow b/c I was tired and her knee was bothering her. I had rear mount on Michael for at least 4 of the 5 minutes, mainly b/c I didn't want to work that hard at scrambling around. I went for chokes but he defended fairly well. I eventually transitioned to mount and got an arm-bar, then went for the choke from the seminar this weekend. It worked like a charm!

I asked Julio to go light and he (mostly) did. It turned into an instructional b/c he decided to show me an arm-bar option from failed spiderguard sweep. That was just about my speed today.

Mackenzie Dern Seminar

Just...wow.

Two full days of jiu jitsu, with 5hrs of instruction on Saturday and 4hrs of instruction on Sunday. I didn't roll very long on either day after the instruction portion was over, probably an hour total (if that). Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10hrs of class in two days. My body is feeling it.

Drove over Friday night and though we were stop and go relatively early on b/c of a wreck that had been recently cleared, the rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. Saw smoke from numerous fires and seemed like the whole damn state was on fire except for the coast.

Got the gym Saturday morning in plenty of time. There were around 26 ppl in attendance. Mackenzie was the only black belt. There were three browns (one was injured), three purples (myself included) and the rest were blues and whites. 

Mackenzie was running late, so we didn't start until 9:30 or so. Her instruction and personality was awesome. We did a kindof knee cut pass to head-and-arm choke to fist choke (don't know what else to call it). We also did an transition from mounted arm-bar to a sortof triangle choke, a choke if someone has double-unders in your guard and a choke if they're passing. 

There was plenty of time to drill each technique b/c she was going to each pair and ensuring that they had it down. That gave me plenty of opportunity to write down decent notes that I re-wrote in more legible hand-writing and with more detail that night. I felt ok with most everything, though Rachael and I got ourselves royally confused a couple of times. 

After her instruction it was picture time, and we got a pretty good shot of the three of us. I asked Mackenzie if she would roll, and she said after the afternoon seminar. I was so jacked, as I many high level competitors won't roll during seminars for various understandable reasons. I've never rolled with a woman black belt before, so I was especially happy that she was cool with it.

In the afternoon seminar, Amanda went over a way to make bottom side-control less miserable. I understand the premise behind it, but I had a really hard time incorporating it into my escapes. It seemed like one of those things that may not be quite for me, but I should work on it some more before giving up on it.

After Amanda's portion of the seminar, I rolled with a couple of the blue belts. I thought that Mackenzie had left after I finished my second or third roll, but she came back out and asked if I wanted to roll. It was a blast. She was definitely playing a dominate top game, but she let me work a bit from one not-great bottom position to another. What was really cool about it is that I could tell that she was putting some effort into it and not just effortlessly kicking my ass or being passive. She got at least one arm-bar and let several others go. She was really fluid on top, and I quite honestly didn't have much of an idea of what was going on during the roll as I was just focused on surviving. I was so, so stoked to get a chance to roll with such a high level competitor.

She was very accommodating of our random questions, and Rachael and I chatted with her for at least a half hour on both days.

I went to bed early on Saturday night and stayed there until 8:30 on Sunday morning. My body felt surprisingly good, though I could tell I was bit mentally and physically fatigued.

Sunday was another instructional with Amanda and one with Leah. I understood Amanda's content a lot better (not getting swept from open guard) and did a pretty decent job of putting it into practice. I understood Leah's too (passing) but had a much more difficult time of executing it. 

More open rolls at the end, and I was dog-tired at this point. Rolled with a couple of blues (including Rachael, b/c everyone else was paired up). Was hoping to roll with Amanda or Mackenzie again, but it didn't work out. 

Overall it was a really good experience. That is a lot of jiu jitsu to cram into two days. I have fairly decent notes though, so hopefully I'll be able to retain at least some of it. 

Fire in the Sky

Over the past couple of days, both literally and figuratively.  :(

My back is a 100% and gave me no problems in class today. We worked lapel drag from seated guard, options if they stand and try to walk around you, and a choke from the seated position.

I understand the movements fairly well, but wasn't executing as well as I would have liked. I blame it on the smoke-filled air. When I went out to my motorcycle after class, I could see tiny ash particles had landed on it.

Rolls with Zack, Sol, Gage and Jason S. I'm not sure if Zack was practicing his back-mount defense or not, but I seemed to be hanging out there for an unusually long time. Attacked many different chokes and resisted the urge to bail and go for an arm-bar. Kept pretty good control throughout.

Sol definitely gave me back-mount, and I tried and tried the paper-cutter (or whatever it's called when you do it from back mount...lapel choke?) but couldn't finish. I think I was letting my wrist flare out. Something wasn't quite right. He eventually got to all fours and pulled me over his head. I started working a pass and then some ineffective side-control chokes.

Gage I kept in my guard for most of the roll. I did catch and release on various arm-bars, but primarily worked sweeps. I got a flower and spiderguard sweep. I tried for a lasso sweep but got totally crushed as he was able to pass into side-control. He's a big kid too, so I didn't fancy staying there for long. I eventually regained guard.

Jason wanted to do more of a flow roll since he was feeling beat up, so I worked some DLR and he worked worm guard. 

The interstate eastbound was closed due to poor visibility which resulted in a massive wreck yesterday. It looks like they're detouring traffic and westbound is unaffected. If the status quo remains for the next couple of hours, then we should be good to go for the Dern seminar. I really, really hope I get to roll with her.

Wed Night

"Arrive early so we can roll", she said.

"It'll be fun", she said.

It was fun, except somewhere along the way one of my ribs got out of alignment. Or something. I don't know how or what happened, except that I had to bail on part of the warm-up and rolling b/c I couldn't tolerate having my back on the mat. Taking a deep breath didn't feel that great either. We went through the same 93 guard sweeps from this morning, and I let Rachael take all the reps. I tried to do one and when I loaded her weight on top of me my back said NOPE. 

I got on the foam roller after drilling and it seemed like that popped the problem child back into place. My back was a little sore afterwards, but nothing like it was at the beginning of class.

I was worried that it would prevent me from going to a seminar this weekend, but my back seems ok the morning after. I won't know for sure until I get someone's weight on top of me.

First World Problems - Stiff Belt

First class for the Koral belt. It's so new and stiff, the ends stick straight out after it's tied. *sigh*

93 guard sweeps and a transition from an attempted 93 guard sweep to deep half. 

I'm pretty familiar with the 93 guard sweeps, except James showed a variant today where they try to knee cut pass after you've set up the sweep. I was executing it ok, but I didn't feel like I was getting the appropriate amount of knee tweakage.

Rolls with Sarah, Ryan, Ben and Shaun. Sarah pulled me into 50/50 at one point...but missed and pulled me into 60/40 instead. I took her back immediately while she lamented her mistake. Her knee was bothering her a bit today, but we still had a roll that was full of transitions and movement.

I had Ryan in my closed guard and I told myself "Don't just hold closed guard and look for subs!" Sooo...I opened my guard and tried for spiderguard but I didn't have good control and he started to pass instead. I had the underhook and managed to escape to his back. We had a scrambly type roll. He has really good instincts and hip control for a two stripe white. 

I did well against Ben, getting a tripod sweep (though I had a devil of a time coming up) and used a kimura from bottom half (or side control, can't remember) to get a reversal. 

Shaun wanted to go relatively light, so we did some tame work from guard. He's really going to help me with not leaving my ankles out for foot locks.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Today was Walter's last day with us before flying back down to Vegas. Someone was able to snag a private with him during part of class, so we ended up rolling the whole time.

This was ironic for me, b/c I had two beers the night before, and two beers for me is like a six pack for most. Once I got over the first couple of rolls it was fine.

I already knew this, but KI belts are awful. I ordered a purple belt from Koral a couple of months ago b/c I knew Walter gave out KI belts. I wanted to wear the Koral today for the first class, but I figured there was a possibility that it could be construed as disrespectful, so I wore the KI instead. I'm definitely breaking the Koral out tonight though. It felt a little weird trying to tie a different belt, b/c I'm so used to my blue Atama.

Pretty good sized class, so I got to roll with different types of people. Sarah, James, Tyrone, Jason (b), Sol, (small) Michael, Julio, Ryan and Ben. Nothing especially stood out to me, except that my lasso sweep doesn't work on ANYBODY.

At the end of class, Walter said that he wants to get a trip to Brazil planned for sometime next year. I would love to do this with some teammates, as I'd be worried about safety just traveling by myself or with Nando. I guess this means that I need to get serious about portugues. I've only been putting in about 10-15min a day.

Faixa Roxa

I was Ben's dummy for his blue belt test, which was good for me as it gave me a chance to get warm before the shark tank.

The shark tank was both better and worse than I imagined. I wasn't able to mount any sort of offense, b/c by the time I'd get to at least a neutral position (if I got that far), I had a new person and had to stand up. I took several hard falls on takedowns, one of which had me not doing much of anything for about 20sec. I felt like the entire 6min I was just turning from one side to the other trying to keep up with the guys that were flying around in top position. Walter and James didn't partake of our rolls, which disappointed me.

The belt whipping wasn't that bad. It stung more after than during. I also wasn't being hit that hard, which I could tell by looking at the video. 

Anyways, now there's this...

I certainly don't feel like a purple belt, but my angst about it has disappeared.

Fri Night Seminar & Last Day as Blue

Seminar went for two hours. Started with a couple of passes, which I completely botched. Then a couple of deep half sweeps, which went much better. Finished with a choke & shoulder/arm lock from side-control that was absolutely brutal. 

I think I drank too much water between the morning class and the seminar, b/c my body was feeling a little imbalanced. Could be fatigue, but it felt more like a nutrient problem. I partially attribute that to struggling with the first several techniques. 

KOTH at the end. I started with Savannah, and we ended up doing the Roshambo thing b/c neither of us were really getting anywhere. I'm not sure how long we rolled, probably 15min or so. I felt bad b/c there was a huge line of people waiting to roll and I didn't want to take up that much mat time (again).

After the rolls Walter and James presented Savannah with her blue belt (she tested earlier in the day), Julio with the fourth stripe on his brown and Russ with his first purple stripe. As a group we had gotten together and pooled money to send Julio to the Vegas Open. James presented that after the stripe and it was an awesome moment.

I'm pretty much a zombie now. Looking forward to (hopefully) sleeping in tomorrow and doing a whole lot of nothing until promotion tomorrow night.

Fri Morn Deep Half

Woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Doing the morning and night classes on Wed, followed by a night class on Thursday and knowing that I had class this morning and seminar tonight... damn.

A cup of coffee more or less got me moving in the direction of work. Felt decent by the start of class. Walter showed us an entry to deep half from seated guard. Will be curious to try it outside of drilling, b/c it presupposes that someone is kneeling in front of your seated guard. Got a lot of reps on this one and started to feel pretty good with it. 

After that it was a deep half to turtle attack, and then a nice choke from turtle. Good stuff, new, easy to digest. Awesome.

KOTH, win by submission only. My first roll was with Quito, who's a big white belt. I KNEW better than to try to triangle him, but I went against my brain and tried it anyway. Predictable fail, and got passed for my trouble. It was all downhill from there, as his weight was too much of a match for my technique. I managed to get to 93 guard and tried to dive in and sweep him to the other side, but couldn't load him up nor I could I get control of his leg. I can't remember exactly what happened, but it ended up with me being arm-barred. Bah. Credit to him, he's really developed his technique and uses his weight in the right way. 

So back to the wall, and back to feeling like shit about KOTH. A relatively short wait and then I rolled with Ryan. It felt like we were rolling forever, but it was probably closer to 20-25min. He was pushing the pace in the first half, and his top control was good as he kept moving around instead of hanging out in one spot to allow me to work an escape. I had to tell myself to chill out several times and not get discouraged about being housed by a(nother) white belt.

He had a lot of advantageous positions and some submission attempts, and came fairly close on having an omoplata set-up. He had a triangle briefly set but I was able to posture up and he bailed on it to try an arm-bar instead, which got me out of his closed guard.

At one point when I had regained a semblance of guard, I got a loop choke that wasn't amazing but decent. He jumped over the top of me and I somehow ended up in mount. I very, very briefly felt like a rockstar for applying a loop choke that accomplished something.
 
I eventually got to his back and fought for any sort of purchase under his chin and finally got the grip I needed for a bow and arrow. He got one of his legs free, but that was fine as it helped me transition for the finish. I was worried that my arm was going to burn out before he tapped, but he finally and thankfully tapped. 

I was proud of not getting too down on myself and just giving up on the roll. 

After that Tyrone came over and mentioned that he was mildly concerned that he might get sick (puke) b/c he'd been going so hard. I looked him with some alarm and suggested that we flow instead. He happily agreed, but we only had a few minutes before the end of class.

Walter had a lot to say (there is something to the saying of the darker the belt, the more you talk), but I do love listening to him. After he wrapped it up, Kelly got a red sash on his belt as an instructor. Well deserved.

Pounding water, bananas, electrolytes. Rinse, repeat.

40min Roll

Two events of note tonight:

1. Walter flew in today and showed up to tonight's class while we were rolling at the end

2. This was Rachael's first class back after being in Vegas

Russ taught class tonight, going over cross choke from KOB, transitioning to a near-side arm-bar if that fails and then a N/S choke. Felt good with the first two, not as much with the last one b/c it was definitely more of a crank than a choke. When Rachael and I asked him if it should be a choke or crank he said that it was going to be both. We felt like the tap was going to come from the crank much more than choke, which is why I wasn't a particular fan of it.

KOTH and I started down. Rachael came over b/c she's still being selective about who she rolls with b/c of her knee. We jokingly (sortof) talked about just rolling together the entire 30min. Turns out we rolled for the 30min plus an extra 10, b/c Walter showed up mid-way through so people just kept rolling. I was trying to get to mount and/or submit, but her top side-control game is smothering. Once or twice I felt threatened with submissions, but otherwise I was just trying to figure a way out. I got to top a couple of times. One time I was very close to getting mount, but wasn't quite able to stabilize my knees past her hips. At one point she kneed me good in the chin (might have been with the brace), and I had to sit back and collect my thoughts for a minute. I didn't feel concussed, and I didn't feel like there was danger in continuing, so on we went. 

Walter was rolling next to us and at one point he said that we should just Roshambo for it since neither of us was getting a mount or submission. We eventually did, then we both got some water and I went back to the wall. After a few minutes I rolled with Walter. I did an ok job of fending off his pass for about 30 sec, then he passed and got a kimura. At one point I was going for a loop choke to at least give him something to think about while he was passing, but I let it go and leaned back to try to create space. He said that I should have kept the grips and not detach my torso, b/c that is what led to the pass. 

Tonight I tried to focus on moving my hips toward my bottom leg if someone was trying to pass and was in the midst of collapsing my legs together. It seemed to sortof work, and I'm going to work on it more.

After class, Russ received his red instructor sash on his purple belt. Awesome for him, and well deserved.

I was exhausted after class, and very thankful that I had drank as much water as I did today. The gym was a friggin sauna. I'm pretty wiped, but hoping that my body will recover enough for morning class and the seminar tomorrow night.

Wed Night Farewell to Callum

Callum is about 14y/o and hasn't been training with us for too long, but he's a good kid and trains hard. Tonight was his send-off, so after class we did a 9min shark tank on him. Poor kid. He looked like death.

That's what I have to look forward to in three days. Awesome.

KOB submissions tonight. Far-side arm-bar, near-side arm-bar, or pull them up so that you can slide into a hybrid s-mount / mounted triangle for more arm-bar or triangle fun. Nothing was new, although trying to get a straight arm-bar on the far side from KOB was virtually impossible. Also I was working with Savannah, so pretty much every limb lock was impossible. James showed us a great way to help get the straight arm-bar but we didn't have time to drill it. I was going to do it after class but forgot. :(

KOTH for rolling (mount or submission stays). I didn't start down. Ended up with Jesse first. He came close to getting mount a couple of times, but I was able to fend it off. I tried open guard, did not attempt closed guard, and couldn't pass for beans. We were going at it for awhile and I could tell he was getting tired, but he passed my guard and I think got a submission. 

After that it was Sam, who's been to a handful of classes in the past six months but doesn't seem to skip a beat. He pretty much boat-raced me. 

A round with Rachael B., where I let her work for quite a bit and then finally took mount. Kelly let her win the match before.

Started to roll with Tien, who was doing the double-under guard pass similar to Russ. Time was called midway through.

Russ asked me after class if I was excited about being promoted. No. Everyone keeps bringing up 2013 Pans as evidence of my skill, but I'm not buying it. I won three matches that I should have won. Not to mention the fact that it was over a year ago.

I told Russ that I feel like I'm relatively happy with my knowledge but that my rolling is lacking. He responded with "You're comparing apples to oranges in here and you need to go compete so that you can get an apple to apple comparison". That's fine, except that I've not done very well at the last couple of tournaments when it was apples to apples. 

I had my head in a pretty good spot last week about trusting the instructor when it comes to promotions and all that. I need to get back into that space, and quick.

Wed Morn Back Escapes

Learned a back escape that I haven't seen before (or if I have seen it, I've forgotten) if they have underhooks on both sides. Get them on their back and slide up their torso until your thighs are pretty well clear of theirs, then get your side on the mat and free your legs. It was the latter part that I was having difficulty with, conceptually. I felt fairly comfortable if I could get a cross-face which would hopefully stave off being mounted, but it still seemed like a pretty tenuous position.

Felt good with the other back-escapes, probably b/c I taught them a couple of weeks ago in the Fundamentals class. That class is really, really helping me.

Rolls with Sarah, Jerry, Dennis, Jason (b) and Ben. I attacked a kimura from an odd angle but felt like I could do something with it, but Sarah defended well and it resulted in a stalemate. I let it go and worked from guard instead. Good roll, lots of transitions. I tried some wonky stuff while she was attempting a pass and it didn't work out that great for me.

First time I've rolled with Jerry, and it was a great challenge. I'm not sure how much he was dialing back (he's a purple belt and seems very solid with technique), but he was giving me all I could handle. I saw him roll with Julio on Monday night and they seemed fairly evenly matched. I don't recall specifics of the roll, but I was impressed with his blend of technique and athleticism. 

Did a fairly good job of keeping Dennis in some form of open guard. I got myself in a couple of precarious positions, but tried hard to keep at least a frame if not controlling grips. He commented afterward that my guard retention seemed on point today.

Jason (b) tapped me several times, at least once with a footlock. At one point when we reset, I dropped to turtle to get out of the monotony of trying to sweep or pass him.

Pretty evenly-matched roll with Ben. I was able to maintain guard and constantly attacked submissions with no finishes.

Monday Night Spiderguard

Spiderguard sweeps tonight. Focus was mostly on hip position, which, surprise, is pretty important. Just worked two sweeps, the lasso and the basic spiderguard sweep, and transitioning between the two. I really like the lasso especially, and had spent some time earlier in the year drilling it during the advanced class. Important detail is to bridge up as you straighten your leg. It gives you a lot more umpf. I tend to just straighten the leg. Also emphasis on closing the distance and being truly perpendicular. I've had trouble loading people up on this sweep and it's due to one of those two details.

Rolls with Russ, Dennis and Sol. Russ wanted to go relatively light, then he asked for more juice, so we went about 75%. I wasn't very flow-y.

Dennis was a fun roll. I tried to pass his guard and got close but missed an underhook or something and he got a kimura grip that he used to get most of a sweep. We had to reset b/c we were running into people, but I think at the very least it would have been a scramble if not a sweep for him.

Sol and Jason (b) just sit there and wait for you to engage them in seated guard and then smash you. I tried to get DLR at one point and he did some crushing DLR defense that had me petrified that my knee ligaments were going to shoot off like fireworks. No damage done, but it was a super dicey position.

I have a difficult time engaging with the guys that do that, so I think I'm going to turtle on them instead to mix it up. 

First KOTH I've Ever Enjoyed

Do you know how to tell when belt testing is near? When a class on submissions from bottom side-control is followed up by submissions from bottom turtle.

We started with submissions from top turtle, which is a little less suspect. A sortof arm-in cross-choke, arm-bar, RNC with the arm trapped, paper cutter with arm trapped and transitioning to a bow and arrow.

Submissions from bottom: Wrist lock if they get a thumb-in grip, kimura if there's an arm across your back that you can trap, a near-side americana if they get a thumb-in grip and I can't remember anything else.

KOTH today, and I started down. First roll was with Sarah. I did well and felt like I was generally in control of the positioning and pace. I had a triangle at one point but didn't quite finish. Finally got mount after about 10min.

After that a new kid came over that I haven't rolled with before. He was a little spazzy but left arms out all over the place. I kept him in my closed guard for a bit and then worked an arm-bar for the finish. 

Last but not least was Tyrone. Apparently I made quite the impression on him during a recent roll, b/c he said he could hear me saying "Oh, Tyrone" in a I-can't-believe-you-left-your-arm-out-in-my-closed-guard way each time he rolled. He did better at keeping his arms in, but I did snaggle a triangle at one point (that I couldn't finish). He passed my guard, and I worked to get the far arm trapped for one of the submissions that we did last week. I couldn't quite get it, but during a scramble I did get the reverse triangle. I had it tight but the angle was wrong, so I attacked the near arm and got the kimura.

So yeah, two of them were white belts, with one of those being pretty new. But still, I held my own and managed to stay on the mat the entire time. I'll take it.

Advanced Class

Fairly warm out today, low 90s. Coupled with a holiday weekend, and there was a general sense of laziness on the mat this afternoon. I had been lounging in the yard and finally convinced myself to go in for class. Only three others when I showed up, two more came later. There was a lot of chit chat, and pretty much everyone was hoping to learn jiu jitsu by talking about it today instead of doing it. We finally got off our asses and did some drilling. 

I started with the DLR to reverse DLR, then worked the d'arce from bottom side control and as a response to the knee cut pass. The latter is not an especially great option, especially with someone who is good at pressuring your torso on the way through. If you don't get your head through you're left in a really crappy position. 

Worked the 93 guard sweep and back-take, including what to do if they get a whizzer when you try to take the back.

That was the extent of my drilling. I let Jason and Manny drill during my time since they're testing next week. 

Rolled with Manny, Jason S., Jason (b), James and Kelly. Had a good roll with Manny, in that it seemed more evenly matched than it has in awhile. Jason S. swept me several times, but I managed to stay out of especially bad positions. James let me get around to his back several times, but I never came close to capitalizing on anything. I felt like my back control was pretty decent, though getting hooks in when he was actively defending was impossible. Kelly was working different techniques that he hasn't done frequently, so we ended up in some weird 50/50 type positions. He had a foot lock ready to go for awhile and I tried to get out of it but just wasn't clear on which way to go.

Glad I went to class even though I was on the fence before I left.

Fundamentals & Not Fundamentals

Had someone stop in from the forums today and he was a good dude with good jiu jitsu. Will be a great addition to the team if he decides to stay at our gym.

I decided to go with the hip-bump sweep, kimura and guillotine combination for the fundamentals class. They didn't take the entire hour, probably b/c I don't know enough details about them yet to make it last that long. Savannah is testing for blue next week, so we also covered the scissor sweep and spiderguard sweep as she's going to use one or both of those.

Felt fairly comfortable with the class. Always I see details that I want to add later. I should have been taking notes after these classes to make sure I cover that stuff for next time but I didn't think that far ahead.

In the noon class we went over worm guard sweeps. I feel like it's a lot of manipulation just to get the worm guard, but once you do, it's a nightmare to pass. I worked with Nando and felt ok with most of them. One of them we used a technical stance to sweep, the other was a roll, and the last was a roll that failed to knock them down so you take the back.

Rolled with Nando, Manny, Joyce and Kasey. Nando kicked my ass pretty good. I don't get how I can attend 14 classes in the time that he attends one and he still dominates me. I have to let that ego stuff go though.

Manny kicked my ass pretty good too. We got into some weird positions. He's better at scrambling, so if I don't control him I'm cooked.

I let Joyce work the sweeps we did in the earlier class today. She knocked them out pretty good.

Kasey did that thing where he waits for me to get mid-way through a technique and then just stomps it out. I swear I feel like my legs are in mortal danger every time he grabs them.

Wed Night Bottom Side Submissions

Night class did the same techniques as the morning class, minus the d'arce. I was bummed about this, b/c that's the one that gave me the most trouble. I cornered James and got some help on it though, so I can at least write up basic notes on it.

Rolled with Russ (who wanted to drill double-under passing again), Kasey, Manny and Richard. Kasey was sortof letting me get open guard positions and then shutting down whatever I tried. I had a triangle at one point, but he's so freaking big that I didn't bother trying to finish it b/c there's no way my legs would get around his neck/shoulders. It was a little frustrating rolling with him b/c he wouldn't engage until I got mid-way through a move, then he'd completely shut it down. Anytime he got close to a leg lock I tapped. He explodes through movements and it scares the bejeezus out of me that he's going to snap a ligament.

I tried to match Manny's speed but he boat raced me tonight. He got an omoplata that he finished, and at least one other submission. I couldn't get any offense working against him. 

Richard has a strong base, and I worked primarily from guard with him.

No real desire more after class. I think I need to give myself a bit of a break if I don't perform as well in the evening class if it's my second class of the day. 

Wed Morning Bottom Side Submissions

Went for a 10 mile hike yesterday. Feet were super pissed about 3/4 of the way through, but then they settled down. After I'd been home for an hour the forefoot of my left foot started to throb, but it was fine the next morning. Heard a lot of interesting birds, saw a bunch of fat little slugs and what appeared to be elk tracks. 

It's easy to tell when the belt test is approaching, b/c it's the only time that James breaks out the bottom side-control submission series. I've been using this pretty consistently since the last belt test period, but was missing some key details. When you're using shin-on-arm control, to get the far-side shoulder lock, turn your knee into them and hip away instead of trying to lift their arm up. For the reverse triangle, you have to get ahold of their far side arm to even have a chance, but you're better off attacking the near side arm with a kimura, wrist lock or americana. 

We also did the d'arce, but I'll be damned if I can remember which hand goes where. I don't know why I struggle so much with the d'arce and anaconda but I do. 

Rolls with Jason S., Sarah, Kayla and Nate. I feigned attacking lapel guard against Jason and tried to use hooks instead. I don't remember how our roll went, except I don't think he got a submission and I stayed out of trouble. I may have even been in mostly ok positions most of the roll.

Sarah and I had a good roll, but the momentum was more on my side today. I had several submissions that I didn't attempt to finish.

Kayla seemed more tired than usual today, and I harassed her constantly from closed and open guard. I got the flower sweep a couple of times and had submissions close but didn't go for the finish.

I couldn't believe it when I reversed Nate's bolo attempt not once but TWICE and took his back (or came close to it) both times. I think I've reversed someone's bolo before, but it's been a long time and both of them today were right on the money. 

After class I snuck up behind Dennis and got a seatbelt grip and one hook. He eventually escaped and we worked the rest of the time from my guard.

I crept up behind Sol too and tried to take his back. He turtled, caught my arm in and got to top side control. I spent the entire time trying to escape, and once I finally did we called it good.

My rolls felt really, really good today.