July 16th - Gi

Felt a little sluggish last night.  At the end of class my body didn't want to cooperate, I soon figured out why when I took off my gi top and it probably weighed 10 lbs. 

We had a quick warmup and then worked on the sacrifice throw that Ray taught Thursday.  It's looking more and more likely that this might become a part of my arsenal.  Ken showed me another similar throw after class that I may experiment with as well. 

Jerad taught class with the theme of someone standing up in your guard to break it open.  We did the star sweep, putting the feet on the hips and kicking out, then the backward roll to one side for the ankle pick.  Mike also showed me the waiter sweep.  Probably the most difficult part about all of this was the getting to mount after the takedown.  If you weren't able to follow them up with momentum immediately you may have a scramble on your hands.  I did like the armbar that we did from there if they grab your collar.

We did the king of the mat drill from there starting in open guard and trying to sweep/pass/submit.  There were quite a few people so there were a couple more opportunities to take breaks in between each match.  Over and over again these exercises are a clear indication of who is the most skilled in class.  While belts tell us this, it's good to see the ranks of skill displayed consistently. 

I rolled with Bryan first after class and I feel pretty good about my performance although it was exhausting.  I did a good job of staying away from his legs, he's caught me too many times where I've misjudged the length of his legs and he would throw one over my head.  By using the gift wrap I was able to take his back and hang there for a while.  He did a great job of defending the RNC and preventing me from getting the bow and arrow grip that I wanted.  He escaped my back mount once and got into my guard and then passed.  From there I was able to get half guard and then somehow I got back to his back.  I was a little discouraged from the first time so I conserved my energy a bit.  I finally got a decent grip on his collar and I went for the bow and arrow which he defended, I was then able to slip into an arm bar from there which worked out nicely.  I jokingly gave him a little shit for taking a long break from class.

Rolling with Ken was the same as usual except for me not having any gas in the tank.  He mostly stayed on top and I did a lot of half guard and deep half.  He submitted me from straight armlock from half guard.