October 17th - Gi (Feelin Good)

Conan was there last night in a pretty cool different looking Shoyoroll gi.  The theme was chest pressure movement drills from being on top.  We did a far side armbar first then worked on switching sides in side control and turtle position.  Then we took back from turtle.  I'm getting pretty tired of not being able to see during class.  Hopefully I can wear my contacts to class again in 2 weeks.

During Open mat I rolled with Jerad first.  I worked my way into top position early on and was able to keep it for a while.  Although I was controlling him and keeping him in side control and mount I found myself at a loss for what submission to try and go for.  I just felt like everything I tried he knew what I was going to do before I did it.  My downfall was when I went for an arm triangle choke and was going to step over to the other side which gave him a window to reverse me and roll me over.  He eventually worked me into a very nice bow and arrow choke.

We rolled again and I was able to get him into x-guard which I thought was awesome until I executed the sweep.  I didn't follow through and use the momentum to get up and he was able to reverse it.  He didn't submit me this time only because we were stopped to bow out.

I rolled with Adam next and I felt surprisingly good.  I could still feel his strength and he did grab my sleeves and bully me around a bit.  We spent a lot of time kind of pass fighting where neither of us had position and we kept trying to pass the others guards.  I eventually was in guard and tried some of the omaplata stuff that we did last week.  It didn't workout too well but at least it was some attacks and didn't put me in a bad position.  After a tough battle for me he passed my guard and eventually took a north/south sitting on my head and submitted me with a kimura.

Ken and I had a war as usual.  We were all over the place and I eventually had him in side control and then the gift wrap.  Instead of trying to take the back I slid my arm further around his neck and went for the arm triangle.  I was pretty confident with it, but Ken became a flopping fish and eventually worked his way out of it.  I was able to get my current favorite deep half guard sweep but I got stuck in a triangle that turned into a teepee.

While I didn't win any matches last night I felt good about the techniques I pulled off and how much more comfortable I was.  However, I'm pretty sore this morning.