Friday, November 11, 2011

November 10th - Gi (Nose Smash)

Had a pretty good class yesterday.  Conan taught.  We did some partner drills and the forward shrimp drill that I suggested from a video (abs hurt).  I think because we had a few new people in class and we haven't done it in a while we did some falls.  Seemingly this has become my least favorite thing to do in Jiu-Jitsu class.  Not because it hurts or it's hard but I've spent so much time falling and teaching people how to fall in Hapkido that I really don't see how I can get any more out of it.  I understand that it is a very important skill for all martial artists especially new ones so I will shut up and just do the falling.  However, if we start doing the high obstacle rolls and stuff like that, I'm all about it.

The theme was side control escapes again mostly focusing on getting guard and half guard.  There was a point when Conan had Will teach and he seemed a little caught off guard.  When Will has taught me things in the past one on one he's been very clear, but he struggled a little bit with this.  It could have been that he didn't understand what Conan wanted him to teach or it could have been that his basic go to escape is a little different than the standard escape that Conan was looking for.

This made me ponder if there is a struggle between "the correct way" and the "way that works" for the individual.  While I am definitely a stickler for detail I can understand how people modify techniques to suit themselves.  Doing what works best for you when rolling is best for competing but what about for teaching?  Should you teach things the proper way or the way that works for you? 

I rolled with Conan first.  This was very different than usual.  He did not let me put him in side control like usual and let me try some things before reversing me.  He didn't let me have anything really (maybe he did but I don't know enough to realize it).  After he swept me I spent most of the time in side control trying to defend my arms from getting taken away.  There was one point when I was able to get to my knees but he kept me in the sprawl position.  I was able to take half guard from there but it didn't last long.  His side control was very heavy and I felt out of breath through most of the match.  In the end he set me up with a arm triangle choke which I tapped to.  I might have tapped a little too soon though, which he commented on. 

I rolled with Ray next and we started out standing.  I feel like I need to man up a little bit more with my standup because I'm so worried about over committing to a technique and it not working and getting reversed that I end up half assing the technique and they still don't work.  Not that I would have a lot of success with Ray anyway but I should at least try.  We locked up at one point and Ray did a huge throw and ended up landing on my face.  While I didn't bleed at that time I blew some blood out later that night.  We continued from side control and Ray pretty much kicked my ass.  I did okay at defending and pulling my arm out when I would get caught with something but I pretty much stayed in side control until he Kimura'd me. 

Afterward Ray made the comment that him and Conan both thought my defense was getting tougher.  Which was really cool.  Hopefully someday they'll be able to say that my offense is getting good.

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