Friday

Cluster of a week.

No class Sunday or Monday b/c it was a holiday weekend.

No class Wednesday b/c my friend got rear-ended on her motorcycle. Wasn't hurt, but the bike is a hot mess and may need some major repairs. Spent some quality time in the ER and got home around 1am. My dept has been under a tight deadline at work, so between no sleep and lots of work I skipped Wed class. Was able to get enough sleep and work done to go this morning.

We worked on one of my favorites, DLR to RDLR transitions and sweeps. The first was the not-quite RDLR transition where you yank them over your head and then dump them on their butt. Then it was the DLR to RDLR tripod. Then RDLR to DLR back-take. Then some time spent just transitioning through all of those.

Rolls with Sarah, Jason (p), Blaine, Dennis and Ben. Sarah was feeling a little out of sorts today. I was able to positionally dominate the roll, moreso than usual. 

Jason rolled waaaay different than usual. He didn't smash me in top side-control, but rather let me work from guard (futilely) on submissions. I eventually got to his back at one point. I was in a state of mild shock during the roll, b/c he never, ever does that. I wonder if someone chatted with him, namely a particular someone that I was talking to last weekend about how hard Jason rolls. It was somewhat refreshing, but I hope he doesn't dial it back quite that far all the time. I talked to him after class and he said that he keeps seeing the same openings and taking advantage of them, and he wanted the roll to go a little different.

Blaine and I had a bit of a war, though he was positionally dominant. He has a slightly unorthodox side-control (relative to how most people in school) and I was a bit perplexed as to how to escape. He went for arm locks at several points but I was able to defend.

Dennis and I had a very evenly matched roll, and I was oh-so-close to getting an arm-bar from guard but he slipped out. I tried to get an omoplata instead but it was too late. He had top control for a piece of time and eventually got a kimura from side-control. I think I was able to work awhile from guard after that.

I was able to pass Ben's guard rather easily the first time but after that I ran into problems. Couldn't stay on top and couldn't pass his guard a second time.

I have waaaaaaaay more food than I will have people at the house this weekend to watch World's, but whatever. Looking forward to watching the matches and really hoping the stream is smooth and high quality. 

EDIT: I forgot to mention... At the end of class, we lined up and Ben and Dennis received stripes. I tried to use a Russian tie to single leg for my takedown and failed oh so miserably the first time. I didn't even get him on the ground, and had to to do it again. So embarrassing in front of the entire class. 

Saturday Open Mat

Holiday weekend, so it was an open mat. My Fundamentals class, the Sunday advanced class and Monday classes were canceled. 

We started off with the five min rounds of drilling your choice. I decided to work on DLR to RDLR transitions, and threw kiss of the dragon in for good measure. James helped me with hand-placement, which was terrific b/c I was severely botching it until then. Tried to do a flow of DLR to sickle sweep to RDLR to kiss of the dragon. There were only a few occasions where I felt like I was getting far enough under on KOTD. It seemed like I was ending up too far in front of the person to take their back. Was fun to work though.

In hindsight, I should have worked material for next Saturday's Fundamentals class. Oops.

Can't remember who I rolled with, but I seem to remember that I felt fairly happy with my rolls. Seemed like I was getting to the back frequently. There was one moment with Keith where I very sneakily took his back. I was quite pleased with it. Never got an opportunity to work what I had been drilling as no one was attempting a standing guard pass.

I'm going to stream World's this weekend and invited people that I'm close with on the team to watch. It is honestly the first time in the six years that I've lived in that house that I've invited more than two people over at once (of my own volition). I've never hosted a group of people on my own before, so we'll see how that goes.

Wednesday

Big class today. Apparently the other black-belt owned gym shut down recently, so we're getting quite a few of his students. 

Today was a series on transitioning to a monoplata and rolling back attack from the half guard pass. We also did banana-splits and calf slicers for fun. 

Rolls with Sarah, Kayla, Jason (p) and Sarah again after class. Enjoyable rolls with Sarah.
A common element to our rolls is that we'll be in the midst of a position and one or both of us will look around to see where all of the legs and arms are to formulate a plan of attack. I think I'm still relying too much on my size to pass her guard instead of technique.

Kayla had me in side-control and I was doing some really wonky stuff to escape. I think it felt wonky b/c she wasn't responding in way that I'm used to, which allowed me to do things that I normally don't. I eventually found myself on her back and came close with an belly down arm-bar but she was able to come over the top. I got a triangle earlier from playing around with spiderguard.

Jason whupped me pretty good. Foot locks, knee bars, etc. He seemed to be experimenting, but I do think I got a semi-legit pass during our roll. I couldn't maintain it for long, but still. I had to bite my tongue from saying something, b/c that probably would have resulted in a swift and unpleasant submission.