Wednesday, June 27, 2012

June 27th - Morning Open

I was getting a little worried this morning as I was the only one there for the first 10 minutes.  Luckily Ken showed up after work and then around the same time, Claire.  I rolled with both of them repeatedly and after this morning feel even more confident in my X and deep half guards. 

It seemed like we pushed mount defense on Claire.  I tried to coach her the best I could but I have trouble getting out of Ken's mount too so most of my advice probably didn't help that much.  We also talked about defending armbars and then went over some cutter techniques.

For my battles with Ken there were very few times that either of us had a dominant position.  I was regaining half guard pretty consistently whenever he'd pass and then I'd make it to deep half and get to my knees into a single leg.  I'd get close to passing and he would be able to kick away effectively as I try to hold his hips down.  He submitted me once with a bread cutter kind of choke.  I defended it for a long time, but eventually the horrible wrenching on my neck got to me. 

When I had him in x-guard a couple of times his flexibility really saved him from getting completely swept.  I got him down but wasn't able to automatically pass like I should have. 

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

June 26th - Gi (The Tip?)

Jerad ran us through a warm-up of animal walking and then some take down/trips/judo throws.  Greg themed the class around a triangle escape fitting the knee into the triangle to make space kind of like a crowbar.  As a precursor to the triangle escape we did a similar guard pass.  I was somewhat familiar with this escape but it is still something to get used to as you have to keep your shin completely vertical because if your knee is forward they will get stuck above it.  I worked with Fuji for the entirety of the class. 

During the demonstration of the technique, Greg was trying to tell us the position of his foot under David's butt in top guard.  He asked David what position he felt his foot was in and David said, "I can feel the tip..."  Everyone burst out laughing and David was fired from being demonstration partner for a while.  Instead of "Danger", Fuji and I decided to change his nickname to David "Just the Tip" Kluthe.

At the end of class we did a kind of the mat with 4 stations and the person in guard would try to sweep or submit and the person on top tries to pass.  I had a pretty good run at the beginning but eventually got dethroned by Ken.  Adam and I had a pretty good one and I felt like I almost was going to pass, we continued even though we ended up on the hard floor for a little while.  Greg of course gave me a hard time, I tried my best to get to an over/under pass position but he was able to prevent me from getting my head against his thigh.  At the end I felt tricked and I wasn't really sure how I ended up on the bottom.

It seemed like everyone was pretty tired after that.  After some rest Mike and I rolled.  It was really fun because we played really loose guards and I could play the deep half and I attempted to get to x-guard a couple of times.  Somehow I was able to pass his guard and took side control.  My main objective from here was to keep my knee against him and not let him regain guard.  I went for a north/south choke and thought I had it but he weathered it and eventually escaped.  I saw it coming and regained side control.  I went for kimura and armbar but he did a great job of keeping his hands in.  From there I grew a little frustrated and I triangled his head.  Still not being able to get the kimura I reached out for his foot and finished a toe hold.

We talked about north/south choke and went over what I did wrong.  I also decided that I should stop going for toe holds in gi.  Yes I love them but they won't be legal for me until brown belt I think.  In other news, I weighed in this morning at 193 lbs, so that is 17 lbs that I've lost since April.

Monday, June 25, 2012

June 24th - No Gi (Hide Your Ankles)

Conan taught class yesterday and when asked Ken suggested we work on head and arm triangle.  We started with transitioning from one side to the other in the side mount position.  We went over some of the finer points of the technique, then Ray showed us the Judo way.  We worked on talking on the phone and the grab the knee escape.  Like most techniques the best way to defend it is during the transition phase when and if there is any space allowed.

I rolled with Mike, Conan, Jordan, and Ray during open mat.  Mike's guard was as tough as usual and I was unable to pass with whatever I tried.  I spent most of the time trapping his leg between mine and trying for over/under.  I don't remember how it happened but I think I was defending an ankle lock and during the scramble I was able to grab the toe hold on Mike.  Pretty cool.

Conan was pretty dominating.  I believe I defended well for a while.  I tried to go to deep half a couple times but was stuffed and then cross faced repeatedly.  Most of the time he's pretty slow and methodical he'll try a couple of things but doesn't really commit to them and then bam he picks a submission and it's locked in.  This time I'm pretty sure I defended his bam technique that he thought he was going to get.  He did however get me not soon after with the bread cutter.

With Jordan my main goal was to get to deep half or x-guard.  I usually tried for x-guard first but it seemed like whenever I made some progress he would fall over before I could get the position, this of course worked in my favor but it's not what I had intended.  Not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if it's Jordan's inexperience at work.  Deep half worked just fine for me and during our match I asked if Ray would show me the ankle locks we went over from deep half.

After going over 4 or 5 of those locks Ray and I rolled with ankle locks being legal.  He tricked me from all over the place including some really odd positions.  I thought I was getting good at hiding my feet when working with Mike but Ray seemed to be able to pull off these locks from anywhere.  I did get deep half on him once and was able to sweep but that was the most of my success.  One of the most demoralizing locks Ray got me with was when he had my ankle locked between his calf and thigh in a kneeling position.  I couldn't move and he just pushed on my foot slightly with a toe hold. 

Friday, June 22, 2012

June 22nd - Morning Open 3

A smaller turnout this morning that I thought there would be.  In attendance was myself, Claire, Robert, and Ryan.  We did the normal routine of setting the clock for 5 minute rounds and switching partners during a rest period. 

Claire and I were the first 2 there and I felt like I could roll more seriously with her.  She did a lot better job today of maintaining guard.  After a couple of matches we drilled some back mount and mount escapes.

I started standing with Robert and he schooled me for the most part in wrestling.  I think he tapped me out today but I can't seem to recall how.  My memory from the last several days of open mat is kind of running together.  I think it was an armlock but it could have been a choke too. 

I rolled with Ryan (visitor friend of James) and I felt really smooth.  He has some wrestling experience and is stronger than me but I seemed to transition between open guard to half to deep half then take the back or sweep effortlessly.  I submitted him once with a face crank from back mount.  I guess I could have tried for something different that would have showed more finesse.

When Robert left I worked with Ryan and Claire on some basic guard principles and then went over the flower sweep and the armbar from guard since they have similar motions.  It seemed like I taught it well and Claire even made the comment that I seemed to be getting better at teaching.  In my usual self deprecating fashion I deflected the compliment and said that maybe she was just becoming a better student. 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

June 21st - Morning Open

In attendance this morning was David, Fuji, James, and Claire.  Fuji put on his gi so I decided to wear mine as well.

As I was loosening up Fuji decided to attack me and he pulled guard, which was actually nice of him.  I attempted to pass for a while but he eventually swept me.  From there it was the usual death by side control and knee on belly.  I don't recall but I think he submitted me with an americana.  I did much better in our second roll later.  We started from our feet and I decided to just pull guard instead of letting him launch me.  I tried some spider guard which he quickly dispatched.  I kept guard for a while and even had x-guard.  I went for the sweep but he did a good job of defending and stayed standing.  Eventually he passed my guard and I was saved by the timer from there.

David was a different story.  He actually didn't slaughter me like usual.  I was able to play my half guard and deep half game.  I never passed his guard but somehow I ended up with his back at one point.  I couldn't do anything from there though and he eventually escaped.  He got me stuck in top half guard and I tried like hell to get free but couldn't get my leg free.  I think the clock stopped us around there. Watch out David, Fuji may be taking your spot as lead nemesis. 

I rolled with James a couple of times and tried to push for the takedowns.  He didn't let me though.  However, we ended up on the ground I eventually tried butterfly guard.  I attempted a straight ankle lock but he defended well.  He had me in an arm triangle for a while and I somehow got out of it.  He finally finished me when I went to turtle and he did a pretty cool far side armbar that he demonstrated for me later.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

June 20th - Morning Open

This was class 1 in a series of 3 morning classes in a row.  With the Karate convention going on this weekend Thursday and Friday Jiu-Jitsu afternoon classes are canceled.  So if you are a school member we will be meeting at 6:15 am Thursday and Friday.  We need to be off the mats and have them cleaned by 7:30.

This morning consisted of myself, Robert, Ken, and Claire.  I just set the timer for 5 minutes with 20 second rest and we went several rounds with each person.  I didn't get submitted today so I have that going for me.

We mostly started from standing and I tried to arm drag as much as possible.  I was feeling it kind of work but I just need to commit a little more.  I felt really comfortable with my deep half guard and I even took both Robert and Ken's backs at one point.  Although I wasn't able to finish from there.  Moving myself under the other person instead of trying to pull them onto me is really starting to come together for me.  I still had a hard time passing Ken's guard but I could at least get to top guard.  The over/under pass was also working well for me as long as I prevent the kimura and guillotine.  Really good workout and hopefully tomorrow is more of the same.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

June 18th - Gi

From this post going forward I'll stop mentioning how fracken hot it is and how I end up with a soaked gi after each class.  How I already feel warmed up and get a good sweat going just by getting dressed for class.  But I'm not going to talk about any of that.

Jerad taught class with inspiration by a baseball bat choke video that Mike linked to on Facebook.  I appreciated the class since I've only done this technique a handful of times.  After learning the basics of the technique we did some variations setting it up with a failed scissor sweep to get them on our side.  Part of the trickiness of this technique is that you end up in a bad place positionally to make the choke work.  So, you can kind of lull your opponent into thinking they're passing your guard and then sink in the choke.

After that we pretty much opened it up and did 3 minute tournament style matches starting from standing.  I think the only person I didn't roll with was Bryan.  Some of the highlights were:

I weathered the storm of Fuji for a while and prevented some takedowns until we fell.  From there I gained half guard once but I was crushed for the rest of the time. 

I rolled with a new guy who is a fellow former Marine.  He was stronger and a little more knowledgeable than I thought he'd be.  In the end I was able to take his back but it was a harder fight than I thought it should be.

I kept David at bay in my guard with an overhook for the majority of the match.  He did get takedown points when I went for a guillotine.  Just when we were starting to work into something else the timer went off. 

Mike (blue belt)  and I had our normal battle of me trying to pass his guard and him not letting me.  There were a couple of times where he had me off balance and there were a couple of times where I should have taken more advantage of him going inverted. 

With Mike (white belt) and Garrett I wanted to focus on my takedowns and it was a little more awkward than I would have liked.  I really need to find a comfortable standup game for myself.  I feel like I know a lot of techniques and throws but don't know the best ways to set them up.  It may be a little bit paralysis by analysis too.

I rolled with Jerad after class and right away I attempted the baseball bat choke.  Which I think he was surprised by because he said he didn't know whether to be mad or proud.  I didn't complete the choke and we had a pretty good battle.  My game has evolved a little bit now where I'm doing more than half guard and I'm going to deep and sometimes working for back mount or a single leg or x-guard.  He ended up getting me with a collar choke from behind and an Ezekiel later.  However, my shining moment of the day was in our second match when we agreed that ankle locks were legal.  I was trying to keep my feet safe through our entire roll and I defended a knee bar.  I saw my opportunity to go for a foot and I sunk in a toe hold and at the same time tried to keep my feet out of his reach and got the tap.

Oh and by the way it was fricken hot.

Monday, June 18, 2012

June 17th - No-Gi (Feeling Ehh)

Possibly due to Father's day it was a pretty small class yesterday.  In attendance along with myself was Ken, Jerad, and Adam.  Conan asked me what I wanted to work on and I suggested head and arm chokes.  We did a series of different chokes from mostly side mount. 

The Can opener from guard was one of the techniques I had no idea was so awful.  This is where someone grabs your head and then wrenches it to your chest. Even if you have your legs wrapped around them there's not much you can do.  We worked on north/south which I asked about getting rolled over from and everyone pointed out that I kept my legs bent and close together.  We also worked on the paper cutter which I still have a deficiency in.  I just can't seem to get the right pressure and maintain my posture.

I started off with Adam and he brutalized me.  His cross-faces seemed worse than usual and he kept getting me with the same new pass that he had learned at Mid America.  One that I hope to implement myself after I practice it a little more so I won't go into details yet.  Adam pretty much broke my will at every turn

Ken and I had a couple of good battles.  I tried to be more active today.  I was more successful from half guard and deep half with Ken than I have been before.  I was moving a lot but I had a really hard time once Ken got me in mount.  From there he did the dreaded Americana which pissed me off greatly but I kept it inside.  Our second match was more of the same he got me with a beautiful armbar that he went belly down on.

Finally I rolled with Jerad last.  I tried my best to stay active again and there were a couple of times where I normally would have sat or laid down into guard where I got to my knees instead and stayed up.  I need to keep going with that mentality and stop settling for the bad positions. 

So after open mat yesterday I kind of felt a little beat up and just ehh.  It's a good reminder that I have a lot more work to do.

Friday, June 15, 2012

June 14th - Gi (More Doing)

Shihan asked to talk to me before class.  He requested that I make sure that visitors to Wednesday morning open mat sign a waiver and pay a mat fee.  Which was something I was wondering about, so I'm glad he brought it up.

With how hot it was and the fact that Ray was running class, I knew it was going to be a rough practice.  He made the comment that Shihan and he were talking about sometimes we do too much talking and not enough doing.  We broke from the usual instructor demonstrates a technique then we all work on it and instead split up into partners and worked on position sparring.  After each round the junior student would rotate.  We worked from mount, side mount, butterfly, half butterfly, turtle and some other things. 

Ray had us lined up by weight and then put us into groups.  I was of course in the heavy group.  We treated them like tournament matches.  I went with Fuji twice and had a hell of a time trying to figure out a way to get him down and end up on top.  It didn't happen and in fact he through me perfectly the first time and landed on me in side control.  He didn't submit me either time and I believe I was able to at least get half guard but he pretty much held me down and went for arm triangle repeatedly which was what he got me with last time.

I went with James next and he completely dominated me.  He scored all of the points that he could by getting a takedown to passing guard to mount, to back mount, then back to mount and then into armbar.  The time stopped before he could complete it.  It sucked being dominated like that but it was also amazing to see how smoothly he transitioned and hit all of the points.

I also went with Tate.  I was pretty tired by this time and was pretty much just trying to survive.  I remember that he tried a throw but I was able to shrug it off.  I believe he beat me on points for passing my guard but I defended well beyond that.  I ended the match in deep half which was cool to see.

I rolled with Jerad too but I don't really remember much from that match.  I know I spent some time trying to pass and I was possibly overextending myself from being exhausted.  I remember getting into a baseball bat choke early on but he had his arm in defending and I gave it up.  I have no recollection of the rest of the match.  He might have bow and arrowed me for all I know.

After bowing out I worked with Claire.  She was getting a little miffed at Ray trying to coach her.  We talked about a post that I had made a while back that she related to on a certain person coaching me.  I tried to do some x and spider guard with Claire to work on some things that I'm not as confident with.

As an added note this morning my coworker and I freestyle swam a mile (33 laps) straight without a break.  It was both physically and mentally tough but I feel great about finishing it.






Wednesday, June 13, 2012

June 13th - Morning Open (Feeling Good)

Had a good session this morning.  We had a few visitors and I think I rolled with everyone.  I felt really good about my skills today.  I think that predominately has something to do with who's there. Ken and Fuji didn't show up which might have changed my perception of the day.

With both Claire and Jake they were doing a good job of getting the knee in between us when in side control.  I was pretty surprised with Jake's progress.  He was doing very well at keeping me from doing the submission that I wanted.  I still kept top position for the most part but I had to be creative to finally get the submissions.  Claire also did well.  She's asking good questions and actively looking for solutions to problems that she frequently comes up against. 

Robert may have been nice to me today because it seemed like I was on the attack for most of our rolls.  At one point he had a single leg grab and I was able to roll over him into a half crucifix.  It didn't really work out in the end because he was able to get out of it and end up on top. 

There were 2 visitors one was (Josh) the wrestling coach from Lincoln MMA and another was a friend of James.  While I couldn't compete with either from a wrestling standpoint I was able to do a lot of good guard work and even sweep them.  I was able to complete a rear naked choke on Josh but he got me later with an americana from half guard.  I kind of felt like that americana shouldn't have happened because of my position, I should have fought it more but I was depending on the position that I had too much.  The other guy always shot in head first and it was pretty easy to put him into a guillotine.  Otherwise he was strong and had a decent base.

I finished the morning off with James.  It was a really good roll with a lot of movement.  He eventually got me into mount and then got a gift wrap and took my back and then finished me with a rear naked choke.  I am really impressed with his control from both mount and back mount.  I'll have to figure out how he does that.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

June 11th - Gi

Last nights class was run by Jerad and it was nice that he split us up by experience level.  It looked like the new guys were working on David's bread and butter, the triangle.  We worked on x-guard, which was awesome.

I worked with Fuji for most of the class, he kept complaining about badly his legs hurt.  Then he had the audacity to tickle my feet from the knee bar position and not let me go.  He seemed to get a kick out of it, so I had to punch him in the leg. 

Anyway, we did a few things that I hadn't done from x-guard and Jerad taught a few things different than Greg.  Which is fine to get a different take on things.  I felt kind of bad for mentioning that Greg did something a different way, I know it can be difficult to teach when I perceive that the students already think they know better than me about something.  Jerad didn't react that way and I'm sure that I don't know better than him but it's just one of those things that I do that bugs me.

We did the sweep/pass/submit training next and rotated through several partners doing both top and bottom.  I really feel like my over/under pass is coming together nicely.  I'm able to keep them locked in and if I can get into side control I can keep trying until I do.  Also since the new people had been working on being David clones with the triangle choke many of them tried to pull off the triangle.  Whenever that happened, I'd either be in the over/under pass already or I'd go for the double under pass.  I did have some trouble with Dwight, a new visitor from Lincoln MMA that seems pretty cool.

I rolled with Ken during open mat.  He's recovering from an injury so we kind of took it easy at first.  It was a good roll but I had some trouble getting him off of me once he got to mount.  He ended up armbaring me.

I finished off the night with Jerad.  I felt really good about this battle.  There was even a point where I swept him from x-guard.  I was also doing well with open guard and keeping him from passing although he eventually did a couple of times.  I had this really great reversal from side control too where I must have just caught him at the right moment and was able to roll him off of me.  Alas, in the end he got me locked up in the darce head and arm trap that he loves.  I fought it off for a while but he eventually found the correct angle and I had to tap.

Monday, June 11, 2012

June 10th - No-Gi

I'm pretty busy at work today so this will be a short one.

For a little while yesterday I thought I was going to have to teach the entire class.  I started everyone with a warmup and in the end we were doing some side switching from the sprawl/turtle position.  Jerad took over and ran with that and had us do things from the top and bottom of this position.  First we worked on sprawling and some different things to do from there.  Then we worked on chokes (anaconda, darce, guillotine)  from the top position.

I rolled with Jerad for probably 15 to 20 minutes mostly in a defensive posture.  I was on top a couple times but never came close to a submission.  I defended countless darce and north/south chokes and he finally caught me with a kimura. 

I rolled with Steven for the remainder of the class.  I tried my best to give him pointers as we went.  I think when I work with newer people I need to establish some type of goal for the roll.  Like "I'll work for butterfly guard to x-guard" or "I'll work for a back take" this way I can challenge myself to try different things instead of doing what I'm already decent at over and over again.


Saturday, June 9, 2012

June 8th - Open Mat

Got there as quickly as I could after work.  Luckily Adam, Fuji, and Mike stuck around to roll with me. 
Adam was first.  It was pretty much the same as the day before.  It seems to be a fight for butterfly guard a lot of the time lately.  Again I was on the bottom mostly, but I moved quite a bit more.  He eventually finished me with a Kimura.
Fuji and I started from standing where I did not fare so well.  We rolled 3 or 4 times and while I did better than Monday night I really didn't make anything happen and got crushed quickly. 

Mike and I had a bit of a leg lock battle after he got a quick guillotine while I was standing.  I think I did a good job defending most of the leg locks but he still got me.  He also got an armbar that was very smooth as I tried to escape an inverted triangle.  Mike probably thinks that I get pretty annoyed with him.  Which is true to an extent when Fuji has me in knee on belly and he's trying to tell me to cup his knee and walk out of it.  He can also be a little harsh when teaching something new or critiqing, but at the same time he's been the source for a lot of my improvement lately.  So, Mike while it may seem like I'm pissed at you some times you are helping me out quite a bit and I appreciate it.

Friday, June 8, 2012

June 7th - Gi (It's Gettin Hot In Here)

It was a hot one yesterday.  It never helps that on Thursdays my gi sits in my car all day while I'm at work.  I believe I started sweating while getting changed.  Nonetheless, It was a pretty productive class.  Mike and I drilled the butterfly guard sweep and made some tweaks to it here and there. 

Conan's theme for class was the lockdown from half guard to whip up and then various sweeps from there.  All in all we only really worked on a few techniques which was nice.  I didn't have too much trouble with it as half guard has been my focus lately. 

During open mat I rolled with Steven first.  We rolled 3 or 4 times.  I got him with the north/south choke twice so I showed him what I was doing and some ways to prevent the technique.  He actually almost got me in a triangle but I must have gave him the impression that he wasn't going to finish it because he gave up on it.

Adam and I had a really tough roll next.  I really felt mobile and stronger than usual.  I quickly switched between butterfly guard to half guard to making space back to full guard.  I had a couple of sweeps and I was even in the spider guard for a while.  Alas I couldn't keep the pace up and eventually he had me stuck in north/south.  I ended up tapping from exhaustion and feeling overheated.  It's going to be a hot summer.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

June 5th-6th - Judo & Morning Open

Went to Judo for my last class of my week chalk full of martial arts classes without my family around.  I didn't get to all of the classes I wanted to get to but it was a pretty successful week none the less.  I wasn't as good about my diet as I would have been if my wife had been here, but luckily I maintained at 195 lbs. 

Beggs taught Judo as usual with a couple of other blackbelts in attendance.  Nick (unfortunately I can't remember his last name) was who I worked with throughout the class.  He was very knowledgeable and smooth.  In fact I was downright impressed by his grasp of Judo.  He really knew how to apply the kazushi to get my body into the right position for whatever throw he wanted to do.  Although he seemed a little injury prone, the technique was really there and it was through minimal amounts of movements.

We started off with the bands and did some individual exercises and then up and down the floor pulling on the bands with a partner.  We chose a throw and then did fit-ins 20 times in a row with a partner.  Then we worked on a few throws that I don't remember the Japanese names of.  The one that I remember was when they grab both of your sleeves and then you do a type of a hip throw while lifting their arms up.  For the ground portion of the class we did the basic Judo pins and switched in between them. 

After class ended I worked with Nick again and he showed me tons of different things.  The thing that I took away from it most was that I might switch one of my grips to the back of my opponent's collar.  Then kind of reverse motorcycle grip the collar to get them on their toes and then throw.  There was also a very cool soto makacomi setup that I want to work on more.

It was only Claire and I this morning.  We treated it more like a class rather than open mat.  We worked on side control defense at her request.  I then tried to review as much of the x-guard stuff as I could which was a good review.  In the process I taught Claire the butterfly sweep and also a little x-guard.  We then went over north-south choke because Claire asked if there was anything to do from the north/south position.  We rolled a couple of times and while I can submit her pretty easily I see some improvement.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

June 4th - Gi (Blackout)

Jerad taught a class on side control escapes.  We mostly worked on reversals that would use a lot of bridging and hips to roll them over into side control.  This is something that I rarely do but should probably try more.  I haven't had that much problem escaping side control lately and I usually end up in half guard where I like to be or turtle.

We drilled from side control and switched partners.  I was lucky to start off on the senior side so it wasn't too difficult to maintain side control or escape it.  When Mike came around and took my place I had a hard time dealing with my nemesis, David.  He just sunk down and I couldn't do anything against him. 

For open mat I started out standing with Fuji.  It was really quick after some grip fighting he jerked me down, then took side control and got me in a arm triangle variation.  Very disappointing.

I rolled with Jared next and got hammered.  He pulled guard on me quickly.  After trying to pass a couple of times I screwed it up and got swept.  From there he was back and forth from side control.  He finally got me on my side and got me in a bow and arrow.

Later Brian snuck up on me and put me into back mount.  I defended well and was able to take deep half and then move to back.  From there I tried everything I could to choke him.  I almost had a rear naked for a little bit but couldn't finish it, then I had a bow and arrow but he had my leg trapped underneath him.  He was eventually able to escape and I ended up in his guard.  As I was trying to pass he wrapped his long legs in a triangle with my passing shin inside.  I underestimated that he could finish the triangle from there and he was able to slowly pull me in and readjust.  Finally he had me and squeezed quickly and I had to tap.  Then I had a quick blackout which was very odd.  It took me a little while to recover it was a harder choke than I thought and I don't think the summer heat helped that much either.  Mike and Jerad gave me some pointers later on how I could have defended it and from this day forth I'm going to take triangle defense much more seriously.

Monday, June 4, 2012

June 3rd - Private Lesson & No-Gi (Watched Worlds)

Had a private lesson with Greg yesterday morning concerning the x-guard.  It was a great session and I picked up quite a few things that I hadn't known.  I especially like that most of the techniques that we worked on can be done from both gi and no-gi.  I picked up a lot that I need to drill if I'm going to use it.

I came back an hour later for no-gi class.  Kind of a small class at first.  Ray taught us some of his deep half guard game.  It was quite interesting and I feel that I gained some knowledge from the class.  We started off with getting into the position then did a sweep and then some leg locks from there.

For open mat I rolled with Tate a couple of times.  I wasn't feeling very spry yesterday and he dominated me more than usual.  I was still able to play some of my guard game but I wasn't able to get up off the floor very much.  I believe he got me with a darce and an armbar. 

I rolled with Adam next and he destroyed me even more.  We agreed that ankle locks were okay but I never came close to getting one on him.  His knee on belly was killing me once again.  He got me with an armbar and a toe hold.

After a quick shower and taking care of some stuff at home, I headed over to Mike's place to watch the IBJJF Worlds.  It was actually more interesting and exciting than I thought it would be since I really don't know the names of most of the fighters.  There was an awful lot of open guard de las rivas type stuff which was cool to see.  There were even some flying armbars and some other fancy techniques.  It's definitely an eye opener to see these guys roll at such a high level.


Friday, June 1, 2012

May 31st - Gi Jiu-Jitsu & Judo

Conan taught a good class yesterday on maintaining the guard and preventing passes.  With each technique he would have Ray start a pass and then show a way to prevent it or recover.  We did defenses against both knee over passes, double unders, smash pass and maybe a few others.  We then worked on the Conan sweep that is like getting into half butterfly and then putting your knee on the other side and then lifting them backwards.  I used to get caught with this all of the time.

For open mat I rolled with Ray.  I felt like my movements, defending, and positions were good.  I transitioned from half guard to full guard then back to half.  Apparently I still have a problem with affecting the leg and the upper body at the same time.  Ray told me later that controlling the leg is much more important than fighting for the underhook, I'm so confused.  Finally he got me into side control and smashed me a bit.  I can't remember what he tapped me out with, maybe an americana?

I rolled with Mike next.  We had quite a battle like usual.  I felt like I was passed his guard for a second but then he quickly regained it.  There were several scrambles and I tried a straight ankle lock but he defended sufficiently.  There were a couple of times I went for the over/under pass which would end up being my demise because he eventually setup a triangle.  I felt like if I put his leg to the floor I could get out of it but he switched it to a bolt lock and finally choked me out.  We had an hour to kill before Judo so Mike and I went and got a sandwich and discussed Jiu-Jitsu and existentialism.

Judo was a very active class.  I was partnered up with Ken for the majority of the class.  We used the blue bands in the beginning and did some individual exercises and went up and down the floor fitting in.  Now that I think about it I don't think we did any actual full throwing.  We did 50 fit ins in a row, which I feel like I did better at than usual.  I was stringing together throws and trips pretty quickly.  We did a guard pulling drill from the knees the second time we rolled into top position as quickly as we could.