March 22nd - Gi (Good Workout)

We had a really good workout yesterday with Ray at the Helm.  It was a good balance of cardio, throws, some ground work, and then open mat time at the end.  Due to the Judo class time change I haven't felt like Thursday classes have provided as much of a workout lately because open mat time has seemed to suffer a bit.  I think working harder like we did yesterday will make up for this. 

We did some rolls then falling.  We got with a partner and did 50 fit in combo throws and then some partner drills like leap frog and monkey rolls.  Monkey rolls are a 3 person drill kind of like break dancing where you jump over a person rolling toward you and then you roll toward the next person.  Our group was probably the most dangerous consisting of the big guys me, Jerad and Fuji.  Then we did some fitting in and worked on the shoulder throw.  I was partnered up with Gina and one of the newer guys for that.  Too bad Gina's wrist is still bothering her.  We went up and down the mat with the shoulder throw.  We worked on a couple of arm bar setups from guard.  The basic setup underhooking the leg and pushing off the hip and then where we climb up their back.  I still need to work on the climb up the back one.  My partners were both pretty new guys so I didn't get any true resistance and was helping them more with the technique.

Finally we setup two rings and did tournament type rolling.  I went with Fuji first and he beat the crap out of me.  We each tried to throw each other without any success and then I shot in for a double leg.  I got all excited because I got him down but then I was flipping over him and we both ended up standing again.  Eventually I was kind of lead into pulling guard.  From there on out it sucked as he smashed me and put me into horrible positions.  I'm sure he racked up quite a few points.  At least I survived until the end.

Second I went with Ray.  I'm always apprehensive when I go against Ray in standup.  With his Judo background he has a way of pulling a throw seemingly out of nowhere.  However, as he was pushing me sideways I went for broke and sat into the Valley Drop throw (Tani Otoshi).  It worked beautifully and I ended up in back mount.  However, it was short lived and Ray was soon on top punishing me and put me into an armlock.

I went up against a new guy Devon.  After a little bit of patty cake I shot in for a double leg and from there I didn't let him get off his back.  I did help him get out of my knee on belly but then went right into north-south choke which he wasn't expecting.  He and I worked a little bit on a couple of things after that.  The disparity in knowledge and skill is amazing in this art.  Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything correct but put me up against one of the new guys and I really can't do anything wrong.