Wednesday, August 29, 2012

August 29th - Morning Open

Decided to try my luck and participate this morning.  James and Ken showed up and they luckily took it easy on me.  I tried my best to configure my game to hardly use my legs.  So what I resorted to was sitting on my but and then inverting as soon as they moved in to me and either went for an oma plata or an armbar from guard.  It was a pretty limited game but I found myself focusing on timing the very few moves that I could do.  There were only a few ouch moments where I quickly just gave up like closing my guard or putting my left knee of the floor.  I did work on the side control position that I saw in the Jiu-Jitsu university book.  I liked it and will make it a part of my defense.

I called Lincoln Orthopedic Center to attempt to reschedule my appointment but ended up with something later on Sept. 11th.  So I'll get my left knee X-Rayed and jerked around a bit and then discuss the next steps with the Dr.  Going in there the first time I was hopeful that I would be told that I could just heal on my own and not have to do an MRI and surgery.  But, after all of this inactivity and stewing about it I think I would much rather know if something is wrong and I have a high chance of reinjury.  I don't want to think it's okay and then hurt myself right away as soon as I get on the mats. 


Monday, August 27, 2012

August 26th - No Gi (Sidelines)

I decided to punish myself by going to class and watching yesterday.  Oh, what a horrible punishment it was.  Conan taught and he had a notebook paper of things that he wanted to work on.  I think he ended up only doing half of the first page.  The theme was techniques off of a failed hip heist.  They did Kimura, guillotine, oma plata, and a triangle.

It was interesting watching other students work ethic and how they worked with their partners.  I haven't seen class from the outside perspective before.  Everyone had the most trouble with the triangle choke which depended on their base arm being way back.  Different partner groups dealt with the problem differently and found ways to get the arm out of the way.

I felt pretty antsy and wanted to get out there but also knew that it wouldn't be long before I was hurt.  I tried to read my new book (Jiu-Jitsu University) when I could.  I even asked Conan a question about a side control defensive posture shown in the book that had to do with blocking the cross face.  This was something I haven't been doing but will start as soon as I come back.

During open mat there were 3 groups of epic battles.  Conan and Tate had a really good match ending with a knee bar ball smash that made Conan tap.  Before that there were a couple of times back and forth that looked pretty close to ending the match.  Adam rolled with Jordan, a wrestler that I've seen a couple of times in class.  Adam pretty much had his way with him but Jordan had some good wrestling and was able to pull of some decent escapes a few times.  Jerad and Sara were the third group and I saw some really good things from her.  I haven't seen her roll much and was pretty impressed by her skill.  I was also impressed with her hair when she took out her hair tie.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

August 22nd - Injury Report

A week has come an gone without partaking in Jiu-Jitsu.  It's been a depressing turn of events as I've been playing more video games, sleeping in, and eating more junk food.  I'm kind of looking at it as a break and that I should enjoy it, but I would enjoy getting back to Jiu-Jitsu so much more.  Before my injuries I was getting up early and swimming or doing Jiu-Jitsu as well as attending Jiu-Jitsu classes 4-5 times a week.  After I hurt my right knee I tried to keep it up, but that was a terrible idea.  I didn't think that I would cause the same injury to my other leg.

What's worse is that I went to the Creed concert on Friday (which was awesome) and stood for 4 hours.  Saturday I was pretty much worthless and couldn't get around the house without some kind of support.  Thankfully my wife wasn't too mad at me, or at least didn't show it, and allowed me to stay in bed all day.  I've been wearing a knee brace to work this whole week and using the elevator.  Today the knee brace was bothering me a little so I took it off and I've felt a lot more mobile.  There's still a long road to recovery but there is a little glimmer of hope there.  My right knee has been doing a lot better, there is still some tightness and some loss of range of motion but no pain.  There is still a possibility that I'll need surgery on both or either knee, which I would be willing to do assuming it's better for me in the long run. 

To quell some of my Jiu-Jitsu desires I've ordered the book "Jiu-Jitsu University" by Saulo Ribeiro due to recommendations of my Jiu-Jitsu brethren.  Too bad it won't get here for another 5 days.  I'll probably make some type of book review once I've given it a thorough once over.  I may purchase Andre Galvao's book, "Drill To Win" next as I like the concept of a book that gives you drills for an entire year.  After thumbing through it at Barnes and Noble I picked up a few drills that I can do now while I'm injured.


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

August 15th - Morning Open (Hiatus)

Well, I guess I'm not invincible.  I thought I could just take it easy and train through this injury and eventually it will be okay.  I am now forced to take some time off.  I injured my other knee today, most likely because I've been over compensating with it.  So I think it is a good idea if I take some time off and try to heal.

Drew and I were the only ones for a little while until Ken showed up.  This was somewhere around Drews 6th class so I took it easy on him and explained things as we went along.  I didn't do so much explaining specific techniques but some concepts like what to do in someone's guard, where to put your arms etc.  I felt pretty smooth and in control when I wanted to be.  The learning curve in Jiu-Jitsu is amazing.

Ken was ready to roll as soon as Drew needed to leave.  Ken and I rolled and I just went to my back and tried to play butterfly.  I didn't attempt to maintain guard too hard and we went from position to position.  He would get me in side control for a while and then I would escape, I'd try to pass his guard and the would figure out how to prevent it.  Then there was one point when I was going for a knee over pass and a pain shot through my left knee.  Something was wrong.  I rolled to my back as he got on top of me I pushed a little bit and there was more pain with my left knee.  I told Ken I was done.  I could barely stand on it. 

Dammit!  A lot of things went through my head about how long I'd have to take off or if I need surgery on both knees, how am I going to get to work today, etc.  I got a couple more knee braces which seem to help with walking.  Now I gimp on both legs.  I had to take the elevator up to my office.  I'm especially dreading not being able to participate in Jiu-Jitsu; what am I going to do with myself?  I'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

August 13th - Gi (Pushed Too Far?)

Went to the Dr. today and got relatively good news.  He took some x-rays and moved my leg around a bit.  He said that at worst it could be a meniscus tear or at best pinched.  He gave me options to let it heal for another month, get an MRI, or go straight to surgery.  We both agreed that letting it heal for another month is probably the best choice for now.  If it is torn I will need surgery, but it could be a lot worse.

Got to class early yesterday so I did some side control drills with the little purple grappling dummy.  I wish it worked a little better for butterfly guard.  Maybe I could wear ankle weights or something to help with practicing this.

Jerad taught with the theme of the shin sweep last night.  It's a technique that I like but it's a little bit dependent on knee mobility.  We worked on it a couple of ways, like if they base out or as an escape from mount.  A couple of them I could only do on one side, which was disappointing. At the end of the day my knee was very sore and I probably did a little too much.

During open mat I went with Jerad a couple of times.  He dominated me thoroughly.  In between rolls, Dwight (I think that's his name) came over and asked for some help with armbar from guard and top halfguard and Jerad and I gave him some advice and showed him some things. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

August 12th - No Gi (MMA)

The first thing Ray said when I walked into the Dojo was "Did you bring Gloves?  Cause we're going to hit each other today."  Cool, too bad I didn't bring my gloves and my knee isn't 100%. 

My knee held up okay throughout class.  We hit the pads with some boxing and then threw in some round house kicks and a push kick.  We also did some double leg shooting off of punches and kicks.  To end the drilling part of class we did 90 leg techniques with 30 round house kicks on each leg and then 30 knees from the clinch.

We split into 3 groups and had different stations.  First we grappled with MMA gloves and were allowed some light punching contact, next was stand-up boxing and the third station was just rolling.

Adam and I started out as partners for the first go around.  In the past when I've worked on ground and pound type sparring I've felt like I've done pretty well.  Adam is a completely different type of beast and ending up on the bottom was a terrible action for me to take.  I feel like I did okay but he would have destroyed me if we were using more contact and he didn't like me.  I did a little bit better on the feet.  Although I probably would have been in trouble with Adam if wrestling was allowed.  The gloves that I had sucked and at one point my contact fell out so we had to cut our match short.  I felt pretty useless on the ground with my knee still hurting.  I have no advantages against Adam anyway so with a gimpy leg I pretty much just try to survive.  He tapped me out with a pair of kimuras from side mount.

I went with new guy Wes for another round of 3 stations.  Due to it being Wes's second Jiu-Jitsu class I didn't have too many problems anywhere with him.  He is in shape though, so he's not a complete push over.  With the ground and pound I stayed on top and tied him up the best I could with crucifixes or mount and then sent down a few punches.  From the feet, it was a little awkward with the big gloves getting in the way.  I'm kind of a sniper and not a combination kind of fighter so I missed some opportunities to throw multiple punches.  With rolling instead of just dominating him I showed him some mount escapes and some basics.

After class I rolled with Ray a couple of times.  He took it easy on me and we decided no ankle locks.  I've been successful with a omma-platta to triangle combination lately and was able to threaten it on Ray he still defended both but it was cool to work it.  I believe he choked me out with a guillotine and something else. 

I rolled with Claire until Daito-Ryu came out and to challenge myself I tried to use my hands as little as possible.  While I kept her at bay for most of the match and had a triangle and a few omma plata attempts, escaping from side control was the hardest, and I didn't know what to do when I had mount.  I also found myself cheating a couple of times on accident.

Friday, August 10, 2012

August 9th - Gi

As much as I was trying to avoid it, I made an appointment with an orthopedist for next Tuesday.  While my knee has gotten better and become somewhat manageable, I feel like it's time that I got it checked out.  Hopefully it's nothing serious.

Jerad taught class and continued with butterfly from Monday (Tuesday classes don't exist to me).  For a warm-up did some grip fighting and then judo takedowns.

I had a good time with all of my training partners.  Everyone worked hard and we played around with the butterfly position.  We looked at some things to do when we couldn't get the over under grips.  We then went over the progression of when they base out into the straight arm and then back to the butterfly sweep.

We drilled from the butterfly after that trying to sweep or pass.  I completed a couple of passes that I didn't expect and also got passed a couple of times.  Switching to x-guard from butterfly guard is becoming easier for me.  Mike must be slipping because he allowed me to complete a pass.  Bauer also returned for class, which was very cool.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

August 8th - Morning Open

Good workout today.  Ken and Claire attended as well as the return of Robert.  It was good to see him back and hear about his experience in Arizona.  I rolled with everyone equally. 

With my knee still not completely healed, I just accept that I'll be on my back, so my focus will continue to be butterfly for a while.  It was a good exercise but I need a lot more work.  I was able to move to x-guard a couple of times, but never really got a decent sweep. 

Robert seemed to be much stronger and slicker as well.  He improved his darce and north/south choke which is a great combination.  I've recognized a new problem with my passing in no-gi, if I try the over-under pass I need to hide my front arm.  Otherwise I get kimura'd.

I mostly stayed on the bottom for Claire to help her to improve her top game.  I showed some things from mount to isolate the arm.

I mostly stayed on my back with Ken and he was able to pass my guard.  I was so close at one point to getting x-guard but some how it backfired and he smashed me down into mount.  I got pretty frustrated.  All together I felt frustrated today.  I may be hitting a plateau.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

August 6th - Gi

Knee is still bothering me a little so I skipped out of some of the warmup with butterfly and dragon walk.  Shrimping wasn't too bad. 

Jerad taught Butterfly sweep as the theme of the class which was pretty cool since that's what I've been working on.  I was actually contemplating yesterday if the butterfly sweep that I know is contingent on getting the over under grip.  Which is what we worked through, if they are able to base out with that arm where to go next.  The solution is to attack the base out arm and try to straight armlock it.  If that doesn't work and they bend the arm then they pretty much lock the arm up for you so you can sit up into butterfly again and complete the sweep.  It was a nice little progression.

We did some guard pass training at the end.  Jerad had the crazy idea that the person on the bottom couldn't use their hands.  It was very difficult and I think everyone was able to eventually pass everyone.  Great exercise.  Then we switched to allowing hands.

During open mat I mostly watched.  Jerad and I rolled a couple of times and my main focus besides surviving was looking for sweeps.  I did get into x-guard and was able to sweep once but he pretty much dominated me the rest of the time.  There were several times where I could have gotten to my knees a little quicker or did some other things that my knee didn't like.  I can't wait until I'm back to 100%.

Monday, August 6, 2012

August 5th - No Gi

There was some type of Karate seminar going on yesterday when I arrived at class so we were kicked out of the dojo.  I proposed an alternate location of the Chung Do Kwan Taekwondo school and we took a trip over to 48th and Cornhusker.  It was a small class with Claire, Garrett, Wes (new student), and Conan.

The theme turned out to be a kimura from guard.  We progressed from them putting their hand on the floor to us moving their hand off of our body to the floor.  We also did some variations by not grabbing the triceps and locking it up differently.  My knee was getting pretty sore during the class as sitting in guard causes a lot of pressure on it.  I ended up working with Wes for the instructional portion of the class and he seems like a decent guy.

I rolled with Claire a couple of times during open mat and Conan must have gotten tired watching me arm drag her and he showed her how to defend it.  She caught on right away and took that away from me.  Then she pulled guard on me which was fine.  After controlling her from the top position for a while I had her start on top and she did a good job controlling from side mount.  Once I escaped my goal was to get to x-guard which I accomplished a couple of times.

I rolled with Conan a couple of times and while I did some good things he dominated me fairly well.  At one point I was able to get my legs into armbar/triangle position while trying to regain guard and he made the comment that he got sloppy.  Instead of taking it how he said it, I'll take it as a win for me.


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

August 1st - Morning Open (Ready to come back?)

Even thought my knee feels like it's got a raquet ball inside of it, I decided to attempt to train today with a brace.  Fuji, Ken, and Claire showed up.  I asked Fuji if he would drill some butterfly sweeps with me.  My knee did okay but twinged a few times.  He showed me a progression using their underhooked arm to go for an armbar or regain the butterfly guard if the sweep fails.  It felt pretty good to get some reps in and to start my journey of sweep proficiency.

Ken showed up and I rolled with him mostly just staying on the ground and playing an open guard.  There were a couple of times that I just let him pass to prevent pain.  He eventually locked up my arm in an Americana.  After that we took turns with the butterfly sweep again and Claire jumped in for a few reps as well.  Not sure if I'll be up for a full class tomorrow; we'll see.