Last week trained on Monday, Wed, Fri morning classes only. Saturday Fundies, noon class and Sunday advanced. Covered top side-control in Fundies and am still not liking how I presented it. I don't feel like I brought it into a cohesive whole. The individual techniques were ok.
Saturday open mat was brutal. Non-stop rolling for an hour and half. I think I rested for two non-consecutive rounds. A wide variety of rolling partners, and though I was tired, I felt like I was doing pretty well.
Sunday I worked the deep half defense from earlier in the week. I was struggling with the transition to the crucifix and could not figure it out for the life of me. I asked James later and it was b/c my partners weren't getting the underhook on my leg. I also did some takedowns, and finally started to feel somewhat decent with one of them. I got a lot of advice on a different takedown which was nice, but not the dump of info that I needed.
Rolls were ok. I got absolutely destroyed by Rachael.
This week it's back to double classes on Mon & Wed unless Rachael comes up with an excuse not to go. The morning class covered the basic omoplata setup from guard and some variations on that depending on how they defend.
KOTH rolling; win by back-control, mount or sub. I almost lost to Dennis in the first 30sec b/c he pulled guard and very nearly immediately swept me into mount. I avoided that by the skin of my teeth. He dominated the roll and eventually won (don't remember how). Kris and Kelly also beat me (don't remember how in either of those). I was able to get mount on a newer white belt, Dess with something and then time ran out while I was rolling with Zack L.
I feel like my movement overall is getting incrementally better, but my passing needs soooo much work. I don't feel threatening AT ALL.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Monday Deep Half Defense
I asked James if we could cover how to approach deep half for the person on top, since all I could really think of to do was to underhook their far arm. Wasn't sure what to do with it after that, and it usually ended up in a scramble or me being swept.
Preventing the deep half, which was something I hadn't even considered. Go figure. What to do if you can underhook the arm on the same side of the trapped leg but they get the other arm under. The answer is...crucifix. Reacting to full deep half (under the far arm and then work your way over to the other side). If they start to sweep you from the outside, try a modified reverse scissor. All of it was really good stuff, most of it I hadn't seen before and will be drilling on Sunday.
Rolled with big Mike, Jason W., Jason S. and can't remember who else. Felt like I had one big guy after another, but more or less held my own.
Preventing the deep half, which was something I hadn't even considered. Go figure. What to do if you can underhook the arm on the same side of the trapped leg but they get the other arm under. The answer is...crucifix. Reacting to full deep half (under the far arm and then work your way over to the other side). If they start to sweep you from the outside, try a modified reverse scissor. All of it was really good stuff, most of it I hadn't seen before and will be drilling on Sunday.
Rolled with big Mike, Jason W., Jason S. and can't remember who else. Felt like I had one big guy after another, but more or less held my own.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Seminar & Advanced Class
Friday morning was an open mat. Cindy had just finished a private and asked to roll so that she wouldn't get stiff between the lesson and class. She took it very easy on me and we transitioned through a number of positions. Unfortunately I don't remember much about the roll, other than I hadn't warmed up yet but felt like I more or less still rolled ok.
Don't remember much about the open mat either. I was pretty bushed at the end, and later on in the day I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Not sure how many rolls I had, probably close to 10.
Seminar in the evening was awesome. Wish more people had attended, but sad for them who didn't. Started off with a leg lace pass, where I got some good details like putting the shoulder on the side of the knee instead of the side of the thigh. Also the head down on the leg instead of on the hip as I am wont to do. After that it was sweeps and back-takes from the koala guard. Attacking someone who is back-stepping off of a knee slice seems downright awesome, but I'm going to have to drill it quite a bit b/c it does not come natural to me. Overall I was really pleased with the style and content. Many new takes and variations on themes that we rarely cover.
I had an unexpected private with Cindy while James taught the Fundies class. We started off with some passing, namely how to stay out of the danger zone of the legs and getting out of DLR if they establish a hook. From there it was some really cool details on maintaining top side control, then head snap-downs for both take-downs and passes. Also a crazy simple technique (squeeze their fingers together) if someone has back-control or if you're trying to get them react from a passing position (i.e. arm-drag). Much of it was conceptual, which is exactly the kindof stuff that I'm looking for right now.
Saturday noon class was open mat, which I only participated in the later rounds. I was a little tired from the private and enjoyed sitting next to James and watching other people bust their asses on the mats for awhile.
I used Sunday's advanced class to drill the leg lace and side control maintenance. Also drilled my DLR inversion thing a bit, the sasae (which quickly morphed into other takedowns) and grip breaking. A bit of bolo'ing too, since Sam was drilling X'ing the feet after inverting to maintain control of the legs. Worked very, very well.
I got pretty well manhandled during the rolls. Sol, Shaun, Kelly, Chaz, Sam and James. I nearly got to Sam's back (after he dominated most of the round) but reached for the upper body instead of securing the hips, which resulted in him escaping. I came close to James' back, but couldn't finish that either. He said that my leg hooks from half guard and scrambles are getting quite good, so there's that. I've been doing a lot of scorpion hooking and whatever else you call it to extend their legs and get to the back or a top position.
Don't remember much about the open mat either. I was pretty bushed at the end, and later on in the day I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. Not sure how many rolls I had, probably close to 10.
Seminar in the evening was awesome. Wish more people had attended, but sad for them who didn't. Started off with a leg lace pass, where I got some good details like putting the shoulder on the side of the knee instead of the side of the thigh. Also the head down on the leg instead of on the hip as I am wont to do. After that it was sweeps and back-takes from the koala guard. Attacking someone who is back-stepping off of a knee slice seems downright awesome, but I'm going to have to drill it quite a bit b/c it does not come natural to me. Overall I was really pleased with the style and content. Many new takes and variations on themes that we rarely cover.
I had an unexpected private with Cindy while James taught the Fundies class. We started off with some passing, namely how to stay out of the danger zone of the legs and getting out of DLR if they establish a hook. From there it was some really cool details on maintaining top side control, then head snap-downs for both take-downs and passes. Also a crazy simple technique (squeeze their fingers together) if someone has back-control or if you're trying to get them react from a passing position (i.e. arm-drag). Much of it was conceptual, which is exactly the kindof stuff that I'm looking for right now.
Saturday noon class was open mat, which I only participated in the later rounds. I was a little tired from the private and enjoyed sitting next to James and watching other people bust their asses on the mats for awhile.
I used Sunday's advanced class to drill the leg lace and side control maintenance. Also drilled my DLR inversion thing a bit, the sasae (which quickly morphed into other takedowns) and grip breaking. A bit of bolo'ing too, since Sam was drilling X'ing the feet after inverting to maintain control of the legs. Worked very, very well.
I got pretty well manhandled during the rolls. Sol, Shaun, Kelly, Chaz, Sam and James. I nearly got to Sam's back (after he dominated most of the round) but reached for the upper body instead of securing the hips, which resulted in him escaping. I came close to James' back, but couldn't finish that either. He said that my leg hooks from half guard and scrambles are getting quite good, so there's that. I've been doing a lot of scorpion hooking and whatever else you call it to extend their legs and get to the back or a top position.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Road Trip
Visited a couple of schools while I was in Colorado. The first had people that were exceptionally welcoming. I mean, just ridiculously nice people. Their noon class consisted of self defense, specifically kick self defense. I was pretty winded during warm-ups, having only been at altitude for 24hrs or so. The techniques weren't terribly taxing, although I did feel uncoordinated since most everything consisted of being on one's feet.
After technique was open mat for an hour or so. I barely held my own against blues, and in some cases didn't even do that. Rolled with the brown belt instructor that had a simple but effective failed flower/pendulum sweep to triangle by intentionally gripping the wrong sleeve. Rolled with a newish white belt last. Incredibly welcoming crew. Something I'd like to emulate, at least as an individual at our school. There were a couple of instances in which I felt like not having enough oxygen was an issue, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The next place I dropped in was for a Sunday open mat. All gym affiliations welcome, no fees. They had an interesting approach to selecting partners for open mats. Everyone lined up by belt rank and then the highest belt would pick his partner, then the next highest belt and so on. There was one brown, a slew of purples and then blues and whites. I ended up rolling with all of the upper belts. My first roll was a guy who had been out for over a year due to surgery, and I did more or less ok with him. Everyone else pretty much whomped on me.
Stamina was much better than the day before.
After technique was open mat for an hour or so. I barely held my own against blues, and in some cases didn't even do that. Rolled with the brown belt instructor that had a simple but effective failed flower/pendulum sweep to triangle by intentionally gripping the wrong sleeve. Rolled with a newish white belt last. Incredibly welcoming crew. Something I'd like to emulate, at least as an individual at our school. There were a couple of instances in which I felt like not having enough oxygen was an issue, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
The next place I dropped in was for a Sunday open mat. All gym affiliations welcome, no fees. They had an interesting approach to selecting partners for open mats. Everyone lined up by belt rank and then the highest belt would pick his partner, then the next highest belt and so on. There was one brown, a slew of purples and then blues and whites. I ended up rolling with all of the upper belts. My first roll was a guy who had been out for over a year due to surgery, and I did more or less ok with him. Everyone else pretty much whomped on me.
Stamina was much better than the day before.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
TAKEDOWN
Last week's training was pretty good. Hit seven classes, and although I felt it, I wasn't completely wrecked.
Fundies was a small class, I think five or six. Covered unsexy mount escapes, but I feel like I'm starting to get into a groove as an instructor.
Sunday didn't start off that great. I went in with a gameplan to drill a takedown, a guard pull defense and lasso/spider pass. Both of the standing techniques were awful. I mean AWFUL. I was doing something really wrong on both of them. Discouraging, b/c it's a little over a month away from Master Worlds. The lasso/spider pass went a bit better, and I got some really good feedback from my drill partners.
First roll was with Jason S., and he quickly and predictably tied me up in knots and I think finished me with an arm-bar.
The next roll however.... I got my first legitimate takedown EVER. It wasn't pretty, but it was what I had been drilling. Russ and I were both shocked. I did well during the rest of the roll, getting good positions and possibly a submission.
Rolled with Shaun and Kelly after that. Nothing especially notable, except Shaun got a quick toe hold but otherwise I did well. Kelly tried some interesting techniques that he later showed at the Monday class. I hadn't seen them before, but I did a good job of staying in not awful positions.
Monday's class was Kelly showing us a number of leg locks that I worry will end up in getting your back taken more often than not.
Traveling this week, hoping to be able to drop in at least one day while I'm gone.
Fundies was a small class, I think five or six. Covered unsexy mount escapes, but I feel like I'm starting to get into a groove as an instructor.
Sunday didn't start off that great. I went in with a gameplan to drill a takedown, a guard pull defense and lasso/spider pass. Both of the standing techniques were awful. I mean AWFUL. I was doing something really wrong on both of them. Discouraging, b/c it's a little over a month away from Master Worlds. The lasso/spider pass went a bit better, and I got some really good feedback from my drill partners.
First roll was with Jason S., and he quickly and predictably tied me up in knots and I think finished me with an arm-bar.
The next roll however.... I got my first legitimate takedown EVER. It wasn't pretty, but it was what I had been drilling. Russ and I were both shocked. I did well during the rest of the roll, getting good positions and possibly a submission.
Rolled with Shaun and Kelly after that. Nothing especially notable, except Shaun got a quick toe hold but otherwise I did well. Kelly tried some interesting techniques that he later showed at the Monday class. I hadn't seen them before, but I did a good job of staying in not awful positions.
Monday's class was Kelly showing us a number of leg locks that I worry will end up in getting your back taken more often than not.
Traveling this week, hoping to be able to drop in at least one day while I'm gone.
Monday, August 3, 2015
On the Other Side of Privates
Double class today. The morning class was packed and HOT. Somewhere around 26 people and 90F in the gym. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaayum.
Covered chokes starting from N/S. Breadcutter, far-side kimura by laying your hip on them instead of pulling them on their side, and a shoulder lock and kimura on the near side. Rolled with Anjela and can't remember who else.
Night class technique was the same thing, with the addition of the traditional N/S choke from Jamie. Rolled with Rachael the entire time. I feel like she had the better of the rolls the past couple of times, but today was my day. She caught me with a toe hold early when I tried to bolo. After that, I had back-mount and got a bow and arrow and from then on I had most of the dominant positions. She had some great reversals and was able to escape my back-mount several times. I think I was able to stay out of bottom side most if not all of the roll.
Before night class, one of the newer guys asked me if I'd give him a private lesson. I was stunned. Totally caught off guard, I told him to ask James how that would work. I don't know what James wants purple belts to charge, what percentage if any he takes, etc. Also, I assume he'd be ok with me giving private lessons... Holy cow. I sortof came around to the idea that I was good enough to teach group classes, but for some reason it didn't occur to me that someone would trust my teaching enough to want a private lesson. Totally made my day.
After class Sarah came by and we rolled for probably another 20+min. Got in some wacky positions as per usual. She got an arm-bar and was close on both a choke from top half and an omoplata.
Covered chokes starting from N/S. Breadcutter, far-side kimura by laying your hip on them instead of pulling them on their side, and a shoulder lock and kimura on the near side. Rolled with Anjela and can't remember who else.
Night class technique was the same thing, with the addition of the traditional N/S choke from Jamie. Rolled with Rachael the entire time. I feel like she had the better of the rolls the past couple of times, but today was my day. She caught me with a toe hold early when I tried to bolo. After that, I had back-mount and got a bow and arrow and from then on I had most of the dominant positions. She had some great reversals and was able to escape my back-mount several times. I think I was able to stay out of bottom side most if not all of the roll.
Before night class, one of the newer guys asked me if I'd give him a private lesson. I was stunned. Totally caught off guard, I told him to ask James how that would work. I don't know what James wants purple belts to charge, what percentage if any he takes, etc. Also, I assume he'd be ok with me giving private lessons... Holy cow. I sortof came around to the idea that I was good enough to teach group classes, but for some reason it didn't occur to me that someone would trust my teaching enough to want a private lesson. Totally made my day.
After class Sarah came by and we rolled for probably another 20+min. Got in some wacky positions as per usual. She got an arm-bar and was close on both a choke from top half and an omoplata.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Saturday
Fundamentals consisted of maintaining and attacking from back-control. I think this was one of the best classes of I've done, in that I felt very confident with the material and the class was engaged. Bigger class too, around 12 ppl including Rachael. Three or four of those guys are going to be testing for their blues tomorrow, so we'll see who comes to next week's class...
While I was prepping for class, I came across a Mendes video where Rafa explained that having your head next to theirs on the non-choking side and actually tilting your head into the side of their head can help prevent them from both escaping and keep their chin up a bit to allow for chokes. A new nugget that seemed pretty legit.
Apparently the noon class has turned into an open mat, so lots of rolls. Rachael, Russ, Richard (bigger Richard), Joe, Jeremy and can't remember who else. Jeremy got me with a super sneaky toe hold, especially for a white belt. I was on the defensive more than I would have liked in general, but considering how I felt when I woke up, I'll take it. It felt like either one of my ears needed to pop and/or I suddenly went partially deaf on one side. It was messing with my groove a bit, to the point that I wasn't sure that I'd do the noon class. Very strange, but at some point during Fundamentals it cleared up.
Seven classes this week, including Fundamentals. No advanced class tomorrow due to belt testing, so I'm going to have a much needed day off.
My weight is quite a bit higher than I would like, but I'm not going to concern myself too much with it until I get back from my road trip in a couple of weeks. That'll leave me one full months before Master Worlds to either get lighter for Heavy or go down to Med-Heavy.
While I was prepping for class, I came across a Mendes video where Rafa explained that having your head next to theirs on the non-choking side and actually tilting your head into the side of their head can help prevent them from both escaping and keep their chin up a bit to allow for chokes. A new nugget that seemed pretty legit.
Apparently the noon class has turned into an open mat, so lots of rolls. Rachael, Russ, Richard (bigger Richard), Joe, Jeremy and can't remember who else. Jeremy got me with a super sneaky toe hold, especially for a white belt. I was on the defensive more than I would have liked in general, but considering how I felt when I woke up, I'll take it. It felt like either one of my ears needed to pop and/or I suddenly went partially deaf on one side. It was messing with my groove a bit, to the point that I wasn't sure that I'd do the noon class. Very strange, but at some point during Fundamentals it cleared up.
Seven classes this week, including Fundamentals. No advanced class tomorrow due to belt testing, so I'm going to have a much needed day off.
My weight is quite a bit higher than I would like, but I'm not going to concern myself too much with it until I get back from my road trip in a couple of weeks. That'll leave me one full months before Master Worlds to either get lighter for Heavy or go down to Med-Heavy.
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