Saturday

I'm basically a zombie. Very busy weekend. One of those that I'll be happy when Monday rolls around.

Had 8-10 people for the Fundamentals class. Covered side-control escapes. Felt like I did a pretty decent job. Several blue belts in the class which was pretty cool. Had Rachael back as a demo dummy, which was also very cool.

Noon class consisted of straight up rolling. Not too many upper belts present, so it wasn't quite as rough as it could have been. Rolled with Rachael, Laurie, Russ, Daniel, James and can't remember who else. I tried hard to stay active in my roll with James, and it paid off. I had several almost good positions. He was def letting me work a bit, but not to the point that I felt like he was out-and-out giving me everything. He got me once with an arm-bar. Almost got a wrist-lock too, but I cursed my way out of that one.

Rest of the rolls were pretty good. I tried to let the lower belts work from good positions without compromising too much on good principles to allow them to get there. 

Watched Worlds in the afternoon. Was bummed that Mackenzie lost in the absolute semi-final, but happy she made it to the final of her weight division. She was totally crushed in the semi by a heavier opponent who crowded her severely with her hips.

Planning on watching the finals Sunday afternoon after advanced class.

White Belt

It's been a very hectic couple of days, and it's going to continue through the weekend. That's my excuse for forgetting to pack my belt for class this morning. I figured I'd just go without it, but I didn't like the jacket flapping around. I grabbed an extra white belt and felt much better. It was a kids belt, so I could only wrap it around once, but whatever.

Technique was passing from half guard to mount and then mounted arm-bar. Or americana. James showed us a way to use your chest to help finish the americana if they were especially flexible, but I was doing something wrong b/c it felt like the submission was more difficult to finish. You could eventually turn it into a wrist lock if they were especially flexible.

Rolls with Sarah (twice), Rachael and Lori. I tried to transition Lori through a bunch of different positions. She thought it was no gi today so she didn't have a gi, but she was using my gi for grips. I didn't mind though. 

I could tell that Sarah had a rough couple of days, but she and I had a pretty good couple of rolls. She got me into 50/50 more than once and finished an armbar at the end of our second round.

I managed to stay out of Rachael's side-control and I think I may have got to her back. We started standing but I chickened out and pulled guard. It was partly attributed to the fact that it was a packed mat and I didn't want to step on anyone. Riiiiiiiiiiiight.

Got some tips after class from James on bottom side-control escapes that I'm going to use tomorrow.

Wednesday Night

A friend of mine asked me this weekend to do a Spartan race with her in mid-June. I said yes, and then when I looked up what it entailed, decided that I *have* to get back to lifting. And doing some bit of running. So I ran a mile last night and followed it up with 5 rounds of Cindy (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air squats per round). Something to get started back into lifting. Turns out we may not be doing the race after all, but my legs were still plenty tired today anyway.

So.....between the workout last night and class this morning, my legs were shot for evening class. My energy was ok but not stellar. Same technique as this morning. 

Rolling KOTH, win by sub, mount or back-control. I started down with Rachael as my first opponent. I stood up with her for about a second and then pulled guard. She passed pretty quickly and I suffered in bottom side-control for awhile. She very nearly got mount, back-mount and a number of subs. I was getting my ass kicked, but stayed patient. She went for an arm-bar from top half or top deep half or almost back-control (I can't remember which). I was able to escape, get to a top position and eventually mount. My patience paid off.

After that was Rachel B. I let her transition through a variety of positions before eventually getting to mount.

Finally it was white belt Kyle. He's come to a couple of my classes, and I've overheard him giving good instructions to his wife, who also trains. We started from the knees, and I did something way wrong with an omoplata attempt and got passed. I have *got* to fix people running over the top of me on omoplatas. I know the defense for it, but I never implement it in time. He got top control and had all kinds of subs he was working. Triangle, arm-bar, you name it. He was able to finish with an arm-bar from triangle. So yeah, tapped out by a white belt. Not the first time it's happened at purple, and I suspect it won't be the last. 

Rolled with Rachael for awhile after class, she pretty much kicked my ass again. Was good to have her back on the mat.

Wednesday Morning

No more Sarah on Mon/Wed mornings. :(

Open guard and pass from standing. Crowd, crowd, crowd.

Rolled with Jason S., Chris, Russ and Ryan. Jason was going for lapel guard stuff. I was able to stay on top for a piece of time, but not terribly long. He got the sweep, and the rest of the match was me trying to maintain guard and keep him off of my back when I turtled.

I got a couple of good sweeps on Chris, both of which were on instinct. I just felt that his weight was distributed in a way that I should be able to take him in the other direction and I was right. That felt good. I tried to fend off a sweep for a longer period than I usually do. I need to get in the habit of not giving up positions so easily.

Russ toyed with me for the most part. He let me get top position a couple of times, but he was really working kinks out of his game more than anything.

Ryan pretty much kicked my ass, except that I ended the roll passing his guard and on top. He just got his blue belt a month or two ago and he can already dominate the rolls. :(

Reffing Saturday and Monday Open Mat

Reffing at the AKA Tournament

I committed earlier in the week to ref at the AKA Open. I was pretty nervous about it, even though I already had my first reffing experience last year. I got there a little early and ended up helping James build the brackets for kids. After that was a rules meeting, where my biggest concern was remembering what submissions were allowed for kids and which weren't. 

Round robin tournament, submission wins worth 2 points, points win worth 1 point and a loss was worth 0. So in addition to reffing, I also had to make sure that the points were awarded properly and ensure that competitors had sufficient rest between matches. Started off with two kids brackets. The rest is pretty much a blur. I was going non-stop for over two hours with the kids. Had a short break between kids gi and no gi, another break and then adults gi and no gi. 

I missed some calls, and corrected one that I was absolutely sure that I missed shortly after it happened. I had some coaches and parents disagree with me, but nothing too crazy. I don't think any of my missed calls affected the outcome of a match.There was one instance in which I corrected a black belt coach who didn't understand the back-mount points. 

I found that my greatest difficulty was in ascertaining what constituted a takedown as opposed to guard pull. Especially kids, when they just flop over. The majority of my missed calls occurred when there were scrambles that started from a guard position but evolved into a sweep or pass.

James came over when the purple no gi were about to start and asked if I wanted to ref them or have him ref. I very happily gave him the reins. They were crazy scrambles and even he was struggling with awarding points. That made me feel better.

Overall, it was pretty nerve-wracking, but I think with experience it will get better. Much like competing, I guess.
  
Monday

Didn't do class between Wed night and Monday morning. Wasn't expecting the morning class to be 90min of rolling and wasn't properly hydrated. Felt a little tired at the beginning, but energy felt good midway through. Rolled with Kelly last night when he jammed his big toe pretty bad. :( He banged up a knee at the tournament on Saturday, so I'm a little worried for him competing at Worlds. I hope he isn't held back by injury.

My rolls weren't amazing, but I did do some decent things. Finished on a good note. Jamie had been kicking my ass throughout the round and went for a rolling back attack near the end. I was able to reverse and take his back. I almost wonder if he gave it to me though.

Wednesday Night

I was on the fence about doing a double, and then Sarah said that she might drop in to at least roll at the end. That sealed it for me, so off I went. 

A relatively tame warm-up, for which I was thankful. Work from the guard, mainly by isolating an arm and flower sweeping, arm-barring or triangling. Also a quick review of how to manage when someone is doing a double-under pass and not doing a great job of stacking you.

KOTH, win by back, mount or submission. I didn't start down, but was the first off the wall and had Dennis. We had a good roll for 15min. I was mainly working from guard and often defensive. Had a couple of missed opportunities for sweeps and back-takes. He eventually capitalized by getting a solid top position and an arm-bar from I'm not even exactly sure where.

Sarah had come in, so she and I rolled for the remainder of the time. We got into really bizarre positions as per usual and had a fun roll. I tried to bolo her three times. She came up on top the first two times but I was able to get her back the third. We rolled for a bit after class too. Super fun and a nice way to end a two-a-day.

Wednesday Morn

Smeeds ran the warm-ups and he wasn't kidding around. Everyone was dripping sweat by the time we got to the stretching. Rekt by the old man on the mat.

Technique was passing the seated guard, namely pulling up on their wrists and dropping right into mount. Assuming that doesn't go smoothly, the BJ Penn pass if they get one knee in or a variety of butterfly passes if they get both knees in.

Rolls with Chris, Laurie, Blaine and Shaun. Pretty happy with all of my rolls. I'm slowly getting better at circling my legs in when they're in danger. I passed Chris' guard once but the rest of the time he had top control. Blaine was in my guard for most of the roll but I ended up taking his back at the end. Shaun and I flow rolled for the most part. Lots of different positions and pretty fun.

Energy level felt pretty good. Might do night class tonight.

Sat/Sun/Mon

Big fundamentals class...at least 14 (eek!). Maintaining mount and submissions from mount. It's kindof weird that people don't ask questions, but I've come to expect it. I don't ask many questions during class either.

Nooner was a relatively small crowd. Tough day, started off with 2min positional sparring. With Kelly. Mount, back-mount and side-control. I was humbled pretty quick and choked with the bow and arrow I don't know how many times. Left a nice mark that looks like a hickey. Thanks, Kelly.

Rolls with Kelly and can't remember who else. Nothing remarkable other than I probably got choked again.

Sunday advanced class was small group of six or so. I worked grip breaking, breaking spiderguard grips, DLR/RDLR and top side-control transitions. Rolls with Kelly, Shaun and Russ. 

Sunday night James asked if I'd cover the Monday morning class. Sure! Had no idea what I was going teach until a half hour before class I decided to do my favorite pass (split pass), top side-control transition to the back and then maintaining back control. I haven't done too many classes outside of fundamentals and it's a little different animal when there are mostly higher belts in the room, but not much. Overall I think it went well and several guys commented that they liked it.

Rolls with Nate, Chris, Julio, Jason S., Dennis and Joe. Nate had top control the entire time. Tried for at least one submission but I was able to get out of it. Best I could do was get to a z half guard, but that's it.

Fairly even roll with Chris, I even worked a pass at one point. 

Julio had top side pretty much the entire time. I managed to defend subs but was in one bad spot after another.

Jason got the DLR back-take (that's MY move!) and spent most of the round on my back. Got the body triangle which was a lot of unfun. I finally got to the side of the figure four, but did me no good. He finally got me with a choke, might have been a bow and arrow. We restarted and somehow I was in mount again. :(

Dennis had the better of the positioning. Mostly top side control. Almost had armbars on both sides but gave up on them or it wasn't quite right. I was sweating that. I don't think he got a sub, so there's that.

I was a bit frustrated after all of that and took it out of Joe, arm-barring him several times from guard and once from mount. Probably shouldn't have finished all of those, but he kept sticking his arms out straight after I recommend he keep his elbows in tighter to his body.

Thursday/Friday

Since I didn't two two-a-days on Mon or Wed, I went in Thu night to help Kelly prep for Worlds. However, we never ended up rolling, so I didn't help him at all.

Russ went over some guard opening and passing, mostly pressure passing. 

Rolled with Russ, Manny, Daniel, can't remember who else. Wasn't particular happy with my rolls. Felt like a half second behind. Not sure why, b/c I had plenty of food, sleep and water before class.

Friday morning no gi. James covered arm-bars from guard with Walter's jump-to-armbar method. I'm glad we covered it...something that I should try to use when rolling.

Rolled with Savannah, Jason S., Ryan, Laurie and Chris. Did fine against the women, managed to stay out of subs with the guys but not entirely pleased with my positioning. Ryan took my back or came close to taking my back several times. When I finally got to side-control he basically threw me off in two seconds. He doesn't seem stupid strong, but I couldn't control him for squat. Jason had me in a lot of bad positions. Seemed a bit more evenly-matched with Chris.

Wednesday

I came in expecting to berimbolo all the things, but that didn't happen.

Technique was reverse scissor sweep, going the other direction if they hover or kicking their knee out if you can't load them up. I've had a lot of trouble with the basic version of this sweep, specifically getting people loaded and not having my leg collapsed. I think I may have finally got some details that will help me with that, and will try it on a heavier person sometime this week.

Rolled with Laurie, Emilie, Sarah, Blaine and James. I let the white belts work their top game but if they made big errors I reversed the position. Sarah wasn't feeling very good so we did two rounds and then she sat out. Blaine was crunched in my guard the entire time. I tried every submission and came close on a couple but couldn't finish. Should have worked for sweeps earlier.

Very fun roll with James. He let me bolo him, then it turned into a scramble. I nearly had his back (said every student of their black belt instructor ever) at one point. Also had a couple of passes that he reversed. He seemed to think that it was a genuinely fun roll as well, so I was happy with that. I feel like my general positioning and transitioning has improved over the past couple of months.

Fri / Sat / Mon

Don't remember anything about Friday morning class. I feel like something good happened, but don't recall details. 

Saturday Fundies was mount escapes. I added the knee-to-elbow and now regret it. I didn't even intend to show it, but somehow there I was, demonstrating a crappy knee-to-elbow. Why? I really don't know. It wasn't awful, but ugh, no. The rest of the techniques were good. Decent sized class...8 I think.

Jason W. taught the noon class. Only 8 or so in that class too. He did some shin guard that contained some really good stuff. Working sweeps on a standing opponent. Either grab lapel and sweep to one side, or take their back if they back-step. Can go to tripod sweep if you can't grab their sleeve for the lapel/sleeve sweep.

I think my rolls were pretty good, seem to remember rolling with mostly white belts.

No class on Sunday.

Monday morning was breaking a variety of grips, opening the guard and passing. James used me for the demo dummy and oh my adductors when he was doing the stacking/split on my legs. Ooof. 

Rolled with Sarah the entire time. Very fun roll, lots of interesting transitions. I had two failed attempts at the bolo. Even tried to bolo from the dumb side.

Wed Night

I was feeling pretty stiff by the time class started and the weird thing with my knee was a concern during warmups. My knee doesn't feel loose at all, but more like a shin split just below my knee. It's very odd and doesn't feel great, but I think it's structurally sound. Doesn't bother me at all when rolling or doing lateral movements. Once I'm warmed up the pain is gone.

Big class, around 26+. Went over opening a closed guard, including from kneeling and standing. Also passing the lockdown. KOTH, win by submission, back or mount. Went with Kelly first, lost by triangle. Back to the wall. Then Nick, who I thought for sure would try to start off with spiderguard. Apparently he's working his passing. I was able to keep him from passing. I swept and almost got on top but he used an americana reversal from side-control that I was unhappy to concede. I think I ended up in mount. 

After that it was several white belt women. One of them was Akina, a teenager who recently received her brown belt in judo. I tried to berimbolo based off of some recent video instruction and lo and behold! My first well-executed bolo. After three wins you were back on the wall, so back I went. Once I got to the front, Rachael was waiting for someone to roll with, and I was only too happy to oblige. 

I tried to bolo her as well with much less success. She keeps threatening footlocks. There's a video for that which I'll have to watch soon. It was a very back and forth affair. I eventually got to top side control with her near arm pinned under my leg and most of my weight on her head and shoulders. I diligently kept after her far arm and eventually freed it for an americana. That was the first time I think I've been able to stay in top side-control.

After she left, big Chris came over. Thankfully, time was called right after we slapped hands.

Wed Morn

Straight arm-bar from top reverse half guard and transitioning to mount from top half. Good stuff, the arm-bar I haven't seen in awhile and had forgotten about it. It was great practice to work on sitting to the hip from the more traditional half guard and keeping weight distributed correctly. 

Rolls with Russ (flow), Jeremy, Shaun, Steve (new guy). I tried to keep Jeremy in tight, b/c he's a fast kid and can move quite a bit. I had him in some trouble but his mount defense and arm-bar defense was on point. 

I did very well against Shaun, probably the best I've done ever. Tapped him with a bow and arrow.

Steve has been in several times, so he wasn't totally new. He was doing a good job of trying to control my feet while trying to pass, but not quite good enough. I had him in some trouble from guard and an arm-bar from mount. Couldn't finish the arm-bar, and talked to James after class. I keep forgetting the option of just pulling their far arm into me instead of trying to break the grip.

After class James said that my back and mount transitions are looking good, which was nice to hear.

Monday Night

Hips and knees were feeling ok by the time evening class rolled around. I got up and walked around a fair amount between classes to help keep them loose.

Rachael was back, which is why I was doing double classes in the first place. After warm-ups James decided to do 2min positional sparring. Side-control, closed guard and back-control. Starting off in Rachael's bottom side-control seemed decidedly unfair. I think I finally escaped just before the minute was up. She finished an arm-bar on me somewhere in one of those three drills. I finished a bow and arrow from back-control. Very even. 

I was wiped after that, and James covered a couple of submission defenses. Bow and arrow and d'arce. I still don't know the difference between a d'arce and anaconda even though Rachael has showed me on a number of occasions. I didn't correctly do the d'arce defense once. Not one time. 

KOTH at the end, win by mount, back-control or submission. James paired Rachael and Savannah together for the entire time to help Rachael prepare for the Vegas Open. I started down and had most, if not all of the other women. Emilie, Laurie, Missy, Rachel B. Also white belt James and Daniel. I was a little leery of white belt James b/c I was worried he might be a spaz. I kept him in my guard and got an americana from kindof a weird position. Daniel picked me up while I had a triangle and James rushed over to make sure that he wasn't going to drop me. I felt like Daniel was being safe, but dropped to my feet anyway. 

It was a slew of new people, but I handily controlled every match, which is what I should be able to do.

After class rolled 5min or so with Rachael. Don't remember much about it, must have been pretty even.

 

Monday Morning

Had a brown belt visiting he today and he taught sweeps from half guard. It involved getting a butterfly hook in, and by the end of the technique portion of class I was struggling. So much hip scaping (that's how I pronounce it in my head) and squeezing my foot into a small space. The last rep I was grabbing my foot with my hand and guiding it in.

Rolled with Sarah until she got a bloody nose. Finished the round with Shaun, then back with Sarah for the remainder of time. She had some sweet transitions, and overall a very fun roll.

After class I rolled with Dennis, and it was very competitive. I enjoy and savor the days when I feel like I'm at the same level as other purple belts. I was doing a good job of getting underneath him, and had a couple of full sweeps and several almost sweeps. Got to the back once. Lost some good positions too, but I'll take the good stuff. Wish I knew how long the roll lasted...seemed at least 10min.

Probably going to do class tonight. My hips are feeling overused so I need to make sure I get warm and loose before whatever warm-up shenanigans James may have planned.

Sunday Advanced

Sarah was at her first advanced class, wooooooooooo!

Sadly, her schedule is changing in a couple of weeks and she won't be able to do advanced classes for at least another six months. What a freaking bummer for her.

I watched a couple of Mendes vids before class and tried a couple of pretty complex things. Should have stuck with one complex things and then some easier things, but nope. I also meant to do some takedown work but did exactly zero reps of that. Very negligent on my part. 

I tried a bit of a tricky sweep when your opponent is doing a knee cut and you have the RDLR hook. Get a cross lapel grip with your top arm and using your bottom arm to stuff their far arm toward their cutting knee. Bring them into you and then make them roll on their same shoulder that you have the cross grip on (you are shoulder rolling backwards to end up in top half). I hit one beautifully on Shaun. The rest of the reps were either ok or downright ugly.

Rolls with Sarah, Nader and Kelly (twice). Not sure how we only ended up with four rolls. Sarah got a sweet kimura from 50/50. 

Energy level was good. I was wiped after class, but in a good way. Need to hydrate like mad b/c I'm sweating like a beast.

Saturday Fundies and Nooner

Taught back-control today. Threw in a drill to maintain back-control if they fall to either side and free the bottom hook. I'm really liking the Mendes site. Wish they had more escapes and working from sub-optimal positions, but otherwise I'm pleased with that. Nice mix of theory and technique. Looking forward to be able to using as much as I can in my Fundies class. Had eight people today. At least 4 colored belts...which is a complete turnaround from last week's class of newbies.

Nooner was an hour and a half of rolling. My mind was ready. My body was mostly ready. Rolls with Jamie, Sam, Chaz, Kelly, Ryan, Cameron, several white belts and can't remember who else. Had Chaz and Kelly back-to-back. Just shoot me. Rolled with Sam again after class because he asked. My top side-control is not great. Otherwise, I'm not too displeased with my technique and effort. I sat out one round near the early/middle part of the class. 

Went home, mowed two lawns, walked to the grocery and had a beer with dinner. Ready to pass out at 7pm.

Friday Morning

Had planned on going to the Thursday night class but life got in the way.

Shvweaty no gi for Friday morning. Energy level was up, did not feel like I was going to lose function in my limbs due to exhaustion. Felt quite good. 

Technique was rolling back attacks from everywhere. Awesome. From 93 guard, attempt a back-take, opponent concedes guard instead of back. Rolling back attack! Good stuff on reversing a rolling back attack. Drilled with Jason S. His long legs are no joke. 

Way to win during rolls was to get back-control or mount. No subs allowed. Rolled with Jason, Ryan, Dez, Emilie and Shaun. No one got back-control or mount on me. Jason and I had a good back and forth, really fun roll. Ryan had top control quite a bit and mount several times. I got back and mount on Dez and Emilie's back. Nothing for Shaun and I. He was genuinely tired today and it was more of a flow roll. A couple of the guys tried the rolling back attack without securing the leg and they ended up disengaging completely and rolling away. Not my first rodeo with rolling back attacks.

After class I asked James if he had another roll in him and he did. Had a really fun roll with him. I don't know how hard he was trying, but he didn't get mount or back. I don't suspect that he was going full out, but he wasn't being slack either. I was happy with my transitions and control. Best roll I've had with him (and only roll I think) in awhile.

It feels good to feel good again. I'm coming to the realization that doing 6-7 classes a week may not be a wise choice.