Tuesday, October 30, 2012

October 29th - Gi (Punishment)

My body took a lot of punishment and I haven't felt this worn out after Jiu-Jitsu in a long while.  Jerad led us through a good warm-up with some different body weight exercises thrown in.  The punishment started when I decided that I was okay enough to join in the team leap frog exercise around the mat.  I've been skipping it ever since Greg introduced it a couple of months ago.  I did okay with a few exceptions of landing gingerly (I hate that word).  I did have to opt out of some of the squat jumps and lunges that we did later.  I tried my best but my left knee was feeling fatigued at that point.  No need to push it.

The theme of class was sweeping someone that stands up in guard.  All were good techniques that I've done before starting with the basic grab ankles and then bridge with the knees in their center.  We finished with the star sweep and knee bar.

For training we did guard passing starting with the top guy standing.  My first opponent was Fuji.  I came so close to passing him and putting him into side control but he regained and we started over.  Somehow on my second pass attempt he secured a toe hold and stupidly I tried to fight out of it.  We rolled a bit and just as I was about to tap my ankle stretched a little bit and there were some crunchy noises.  It's not serious just a little sore this morning but it worried me a little at the time.  I was miraculously able to pass Jerad after a hard fight.  Then I went up against David (Judo guy) he's pretty tough with his grips and he pushed me around a bit, but I was able to maintain guard.  In the end he stood up giving me the opportunity to do the star sweep that we worked on today.  I went over to turtle and then swept his leg and took side control.

Apparently David Kluthe had to go do something silly like help his girlfriend cause her car wouldn't start.  So instead Mike and I fought the first round of the round robin tournament.  We did a five minute round starting from standing.  I tried to do some Judo and started with an inside trip that I was going to turn into a throw, but he kind of fell to his butt and from there I worked to pass his guard.  I didn't get take down points because he only went to his butt and I didn't put him on his back, got to remember that.  We stayed in guard with me trying to pass pretty much in Mike's half guard and him securing grips and trying to choke me.  I almost passed once but he inverted and was able to regain guard.  What won the match for him was when he threw up an armbar that I was able to pull out of.  He also tried a triangle after that but I was able to get my shin up there.  So it ended up that he won due to those attempts.  I shall reflect on what I should have done differently cause I wasn't getting anything done in his guard.

I rolled with Ken next.  I am having a really hard time with Ken lately and I don't know what it is.  With everyone else I feel like I'm improving but Ken has my kryptonite for some reason.  If I get anywhere near the deep half position with him it turns into him taking my arm and kind of taking my back and somewhat triangling me there.  I think I need to take a different approach when it comes to him.




Monday, October 29, 2012

October 28th - No Gi

Conan had something to do, so for the first 5 minutes of class I was the teacher until Jerad got there.  I ran us through a little warm-up of shrimping and other stuff up and down the floor and then armbar and omma plata drill from guard.  Jerad had us work on some guard passes which was great because I've been thinking about working on them lately since I've been more comfortable with getting on my knees again.

We worked on several passes starting from the regular hands on the stomach knee in the butt then turn sideways guard break.  From there we did a couple versions of the knee over pass with and without underhooking the leg and then sliding to the other side.  Then we did single and double under passes using stacking and pressure on their legs.  The final thing we worked on was to break the guard by standing up and dropping their butt over the shin, which is always fun.

Open mat with both Adam and Jerad went better than expected for me.  Adam and I had quite a battle and I felt like I really took it to him and defended well.  I did a lot of squirming and regaining half guard or going to turtle when I could.  Lately I've had limited success with the inverted triangle from bottom side mount which seems to at least annoy people and help me get to some kind of guard.  I used it a couple of times with Adam as he likes to put me in north/south.  I also tried some wristlocks on him since I know he doesn't like them.  Finally I went for a heel hook but it wasn't meant to be.  After that he smashed me in side control and secured a kimura.

I got lucky with Jerad during the first match.  I don't remember what helped me get on top but I was able to take side control and somehow worked into the inverted triangle.  We struggled there for a while as I tried to tighten it and he tried to get out eventually I saw and opportunity and reached down for his foot and put him into a toe hold.  With him in the triangle he had no where to go so he had to tap.  In our second match I almost got him into the inverted triangle again but he wasn't going to let me do it twice.  I remember making it to deep half once and actually completing the sweep but not to the extent that Ray was showing me with a leg drag so I need to work on that.  Somehow I screwed that up and he was able to get back to the top position and all the way to mount.  Lately he's been getting me with the gift wrap position from here so I've been taking special care to defend that, I guess he was expecting that and he threw on a mounted triangle as soon as I pulled my arm down.  It took me completely by surprised and I wasn't able to put up much of a fight.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

October 26th - Open Mat (Foot Locked)

Made it to open mat with a couple groups still rolling.  I rolled with Mike first and we started from standing.  He pulled guard and we assumed our usual from there.  Like usual I had a hard time passing his guard, but I'm a lot less worried about his chokes without a collar to grab.  My best bet lately to passing him is to get in tight with half guard.  This led to him getting deep half on me which I was then able to get my foot free and work into an armbar.  After some work and avoiding Mike's legs I was able to break his hand grip with the hip grab and roll.  It's very rare for me to even threaten an armbar on Mike much less finish it so I was pretty happy about that.  During our second match I had attempted a couple of foot locks as well but Mike was able to roll out of them.  I don't remember the setup but Mike was able to secure a heel hook and I tapped as soon as I could.  This was only the beginning.

For the remainder of the time I rolled with Ray, who ankle locked me all over the place.   We did talk about some of the Jeff Glover stuff and I tried some of it while rolling.  I was able to make it to deep half quite a few times but like usual I would get caught in the triangle kind of guard area whenever I tried to sweep.  Ray told me to focus more on pulling on their knee as I tried to sweep and then leg drag as I came up.  It seemed like I would be doing well and had success defending most of Ray's submission attempts but once he smelled ankle there was no stopping him.  The worst was when I'd have him in closed guard and I thought I was safe.  But, as soon as I opened up he would sit back and it was over.

Something that he mentioned later that I didn't realize that I was doing so much was using wristlocks while defending.  Ray said it was pretty annoying when he would be setting something up and I'd throw a wristlock on.  While he could get out of it, the lock made him reset and have to start over with his submission attempts.  The last submission he caught me in was from the 50/50.  Right away I claimed that it wasn't fair since I've only attended one class that taught this position and Ray was the one that taught it.  My only defense was to try to hand fight and triangle my legs.  It was inevitable though that he got a heel hook.

Friday, October 26, 2012

October 25th - Gi (Worth the Trip)

Couldn't get off work early yesterday to make it to class on time but I arrived in time for the open mat portion at the end of class.  After some stretching and watching other people roll I got to partner up with Mike.  We assumed our normal position of him fighting from his back and me trying to pass his guard while defending his collar chokes.  Unfortunately I wasn't defending them well because I had 2 close calls where I had to act fast to avoid getting choked.  I almost passed his guard one time with an over/under pass but I think I stopped pushing too soon and he was able to shrimp out that one last time and keep me at bay.  He finally had me in a loop choke which I defended but turned into an arm in guillotine, with both chokes I made gurgling noises but the last one I felt I had to tap to or I would have gone out.

I then rolled with Conan who dominated me like usual.  However, I felt like I did better than usual.  I was able to move him a bit more and regained half guard a couple of times from his side control.  The worst part about being in half guard with him is that I always get caught by his crossface so I'm learning to look for it more now and get lower to prevent it.  I was defending his submissions from side mount when finally he put a shin over one arm and then started the kimura with the other one.  I grabbed my pants to defend but then could feel that he was going for the magic grip that we talked about on Monday.  I immediately let go of my pants and told him I knew what he was doing, but guess what?  That just gave him the kimura, so lose, lose there.

After that Conan lent me his copy of Jeff Glover's deep half guard dvd.  I watched most of it last night and I am now even more in love with this position.  I can't wait to watch it again and start drilling and incorporating some of the techniques from there.  So even though I was late, it was worth going into the Dojo yesterday.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

October 22nd - Gi (Magic Grip)

Jerad taught class yesterday with the focus on the kimura.  We started from side control and worked on the basics first.  If they grabbed their gi we stepped over their head and did the pull in the other direction before to break the grip. 

The next technique that we did was new for me we put our opposite arm deep and kind of hug their elbow.  From there put the knee on their stomach and then step over their head, from there we did a shoulder pull/separation.  The final technique was my favorite where we reached past their arm and grab their pants with the"magic grip" and from there take their back and do a modified bow and arrow.  See video below.

We did king of the mat from closed guard pass/sweep/submit drill.  I surprised myself by staying in several times in a row.  I feel like my game has improved from here with cross guard, hip heist, and flower sweep as my A game. I found it's a lot more tiring to stay in several times in a row.

During open mat I asked Jerad to work with me on tornado guard and we each did a few reps.  We rolled for a while after that.  I tried to work on bull fighter pass and failed a little bit.  Jerad was able to take top position and he quickly passed my guard.  It wasn't long before he got me with a bow and arrow.  Mike shared some helpful bull fighter techniques after that.


Monday, October 22, 2012

October 21st - No Gi (Quiet Class)

The Kobudo group was having a testing during our class time yesterday, so we put up the black curtains separating the mat from the wood floor and tried our best to keep quiet.  We did similar a warm-up to the recent previous classes.  Lately we've been working on a guard recovery drill called crazy legs which I've found myself using during rolling.  It's cool to actively notice something that we've been working on lately getting incorporated into my game.

We did further drilling of someone turning their back to us in side control and then taking the back from there by sitting them up and rolling to the other side.  Then if they turned toward us we would smash their head and circle to their back and take their back in a similar fashion.  We then did some guard passing and passing defenses.  Starting from double unders and did 2 defenses like rolling all the way over or the other one from last week where we end up in crucifix.  We finished class with a couple or passes and then a defense from a failed scissor sweep attempt.  Then Conan showed us a technique that will beat David, so I won't share it here.

During open mat I started with a quick roll with Conan.  Once again he sort of allowed me to take the top position, but quickly swept me.  I felt pretty good about my performance from there as I kept guard for a while.  However, just before I was going to submit him (yeah right) he noticed some blood on the floor so we quit to clean it up.

Mike and I had an epic roll, I had multiple toe hold attempts and he had multiple guillotine attempts.  We also covered a lot of ground starting at one corner of the mat and ending up in the other corner.  I think with my attempts I needed to secure him with my legs a little bit more so he couldn't roll or flip out of them.  On the plus side I'm getting pretty good at defending the guillotine and hand fighting.  I need to revisit guard passing and figure out my a game when it comes to my passing.  My opponent's knees seem to get in the way far too often.  At the end of our roll I ended up saying something like "damn" and forgot that we were supposed to be quiet.  We decided to stop, I know I was exhausted and it didn't seem like either of us was going to get the upper hand today.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

October 19th - Open Mat

It was good to make it to open mat since I haven't made it in a while.  It's just too bad that I couldn't get there earlier.  There were still quite a few guys engaged in rolling.  I slow rolled with Adam for a bit to warm-up.  Once Conan was free Adam wanted to roll with him, so I waited for someone else to roll with.

The rest of the time I spent with Jerad.  He started out by letting me take side control and then I moved into mount.  He was able to bait me into thinking I could isolate his arm and then he reversed me.  From there I kind of got stuck in a loop.  I'd gain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me.  I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me.  I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me.  Finally I decided to try to be more aggressive and it helped a little.  I was able to sweep him from half guard once or twice and I took top position again.  Although I fell for a similar trap when I went for an armbar from side control and got rolled over.  I had to defend multiple different chokes, since it's still choke month for Jerad.  He finished me the first time with a straight arm lock.  The second time we ran out of time but he dominated me. 

Friday, October 19, 2012

October 18th - Gi (Tornado)

We had an even spread of experience from purple to white in class today with me in the middle.  We had a pretty quick warm-up and then split into two groups white belts led by Conan and colored belts led by Jerad. 

Jerad had us work from the Tornado guard.  I have really only been showed this once or twice by Mike and I've never practiced it myself.  It seemed that it was relatively natural for me, compared to some other things anyway.  The technique is from half guard, you grab their pants of the leg you have trapped, your other hand is on their collar.  When you see the opportunity, you swing the outside leg around and invert between their legs and then complete the sweep. If they were to block the sweep we also worked on going to a triangle. 

The last technique that we worked on was a kneebar from reverse dlr in combat base.  This gave me some flashbacks to a kneebar that had been put on me in the state games.  What I liked about it was that is was an option B if trying to do the back take failed.  You grab their knee and do a similar inversion as the tornado guard but the trick was you do the kneebar on the other leg that has the knee on the floor.  Awesome.

Instead of open mat we did the 8 round position drill.  Apparently it was Conan's first time with it so there was a little confusion at first.  I started on top with Will for this drill.  I was not able to submit Will but I felt pretty dominant during the exercise.  We each had our good moments and I think we both challenged each other.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

October 16th - Gi (Challenge Accepted)

I was able to make a rare appearance to a Tuesday class since I took Monday and Tuesday off this week.  It ended up being a decent size class with Conan teaching with a focus on the double unders guard pass.  It's one of my goto passes.  Before class started David called me out and said that we were going to roll during open mat.  Of course I accepted. 

After we had a quick warm-up continuing on the theme of several reps of Jiu-jitsu related individual exercises Conan started us with learning how to execute the pass.  From there we learned several tips and defenses starting with trying to hook their thighs and the shoulder submission from there.  The next technique that we worked on moved from hooking their thighs to kind of sprawl position and hooking their arm and then rolling over the top to crucifix.  Which was cool. 

We broke into king of the mat with 3 groups with the starting position of double unders.  From there we were trying to pass/sweep/submit.  I had a few successes, but for the most part Conan, Ray, and Adam were the kings.  I was able to out wrestle Ray one time and pass him, but it was a short lived victory as he was my partner again right after that.  Conan toyed with me, making me feel like I could complete the pass, but I couldn't get the right pressure and ended up on the bottom somehow.

After we bowed out, I tried to get in a match with David and I with only five minutes remaining.  We started from our knees and I accepted guard and moved to closed guard.  As we were working Conan and Ray made us call it a day.  So we have some unfinished business.  There's been talk on Facebook of a 3 man super fight round robin tournament between myself, David, and Mike.  I'll keep you posted with the date/time, location, ticket prices and odds.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

October 15th - Gi

Jerad taught class tonight with a focus on armbar from guard.  We had a pretty good warm-up and did the neck stretches which I'm still feeling.  We started out doing a lot of reps of armbar from the guard trying to be as technical as possible.  From there we worked on when the pull the arm out which our answer was to shrimp away and switch our hips and armbar the other arm that was still in.  We worked on reaching for the far leg and somewhat inverting to take the side armbar.

To finish up the class we discussed and worked on some techniques to break the grip when someone was defending the armbar.  We went over several different ways and then kind of tried out whatever we liked.  The most popular one was grabbing the hip and rolling to our side.

We trained with guard passing king of the mat with 3 groups.  I don't feel like I did so well, but it was good training.  I think once I have faith in my knees again guard passing is going to be my number 1 goal to improve. 

I rolled with Ken a couple of times during open mat and he kicked my butt.  I'm having a really hard time with his legs.  I feel like I'm doing the right thing by going to deep half, but all too often I get caught in kind of triangle/armbar/kimura danger area.  Not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it.  Maybe I just need to not hang out there anymore like Mike has been telling me.  He ended up submitting me from mount with a straight armlock and from deep half he transitioned into an armbar.  Ugh, time to change it up a bit.

Monday, October 15, 2012

October 14th - No Gi

Conan was already on the mat when Sara and I walked into the Dojo.  He had warm-up drills on a couple of notebook pages ready for us.  We did a good progression of Jiu-Jitsu related warm-ups and calisthenics. 

We started out working on the hip heist and a couple of variations if they defend it.  We then defended the hip heist by pushing the leg to half guard and working to the back.  It was a nice little transition and something that fits into my game as I'm usually good at pushing a leg into half guard during a transition or scramble.  Next we worked from taking the back if the turn away in side control.

We did some training starting from turtle.  I worked with Mike and we pretty much free rolled from there.  After a lot of work, somehow we got in kind of a truck leg lock position and while he attempted a banana split I went for a toe hold and after some adjustment I got him to tap.  We rolled again but I do not recall the outcome, must be selective memory or Conan might have had us stop before it ended.  I believe I rolled with Jerad next but I don't remember the outcome of that either, I should really write these posts sooner.

Friday, October 12, 2012

October 12th - Gi

I've been rather happy with the direction our classes have been going lately.  It may be because I'm healing more but our warm-ups have been better and I like the focused training after the technique portion. Jerad warmed us up and then Greg took over. 

The focus was on regaining guard from the the turtle position.  Basic principles were to hand fight and not let them get any good grips or secure chokes.  Next we did a sitout kind of motion to slide our shin under into guard and then recover fully.  I worked with Mike for the majority of technique time which was good because turtle position still causes me a bit of trouble and I can't sit my butt all the way back yet, so working with someone lighter made it a little easier to take. 

Next we worked from someone to the side.  We did the granby roll first which is basically doing a forward roll and then swinging your leg into guard.  The thing that causes the most trouble with this is fighting their hand off that is around your body.  I like the resistance I get with Mike, he doesn't just let you do anything but at the same time he doesn't over fight and he gives good advice.  The final technique was more like the first one from the front headlock with sliding the shin to regain guard.

We did a few rounds of top and bottom for 2 minute rounds then switched partners.  Mike had no trouble regaining guard, which isn't that surprising.  I however, did have some problems.  I went with wrestler Jordan next and he didn't seem difficult to deal with at all.  I was surprised because I thought turtle would be his home.  But maybe he just needs to work on his jiu-jitsu positions a little more.

We went to free rolling next and I had the honor of rolling with Greg first.  I can't tell if I'm doing good against him or if he is just taking it easy on me.  I spent most of the time on the bottom doing various half guard type stuff.  The one time I did get on top he put me into x-guard which was cool to see.  I used my new love of the baseball bat choke to regain guard at one point.  Hopefully that surprised him.  I can't recall how he submitted me, it might have been a bow and arrow choke because I remember trying to defend that for a while.

I finished the day with Fuji.  He's been working on spider guard so he tried to put me in that right away.  I grabbed his pants and tried to prevent it and completed the bull fighter pass to knee on belly.  I stayed on top for a good long while, but really couldn't make anything happen.  I don't know why but I made the comment "This is weird Fuji, usually you're talking shit to me."  From then on he started talking smack and eventually I lost top position.  He kept me in side control and knee on belly and I couldn't do anything to get free and it sucked.  Eventually time was up so I avoided getting submitted barely.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

October 8th - Gi

Jerad lead class last night focusing on the darce choke.  It was a great class but like most choking classes was really rough on my neck and throat.  It was a decent size class of 10 and I was glad to be on the novice site of the circle so I could work with all of the advanced people.  We started with the armdrag to trip takedown that we practiced on Sunday.  We also did a pretty good warmup with a lot of abs, arms, and then the neck exercises.

We started working the darce from turtle position and I had a real tough time locking up the choke.  Once I was able to roll them to their back is when I could really lock it up.  Usually I feel pretty good about this choke but I was having a few problems yesterday.  Once we moved to side control it was much easier for me to reach.  We also did a guillotine if they defended the darce.  One thing I learned from this is that to finish an arm in guillotine you are supposed to crunch instead of arch your back.  The final technique that we worked on was a setup from mount.  Where as someone tries to hip escape we move to sidemount and do the darce from there.

We trained from mount and switched top and bottom doing 2 minute rounds.  I trained with Adam for the first set.  I did okay escaping, I think side control is his preferred position to mount.  I was happy to be able to escape once.  When I was on top I came close to an armbar with him but he was able to roll over and stack me.  I went with the visitor Adam next and had a really hard time with him.  He kept a pretty strong mount and locked his ankles together underneath me.  I was pretty relaxed the whole time and kept trying to work technique eventually I got out and he was huffing and puffing.  When I was on top he was using a lot of strength again and pushing his arm straight out trying to bench press me, I went for armbars a couple of times but he was able to roll out of them to both.  The third time he tried it I took his back instead of going for the armbar.  He had to quit after that due to being out of breath.  I spoke with Jerad when we broke for a water break and he said I should have used the cross-face more in order to setup the armbar.

I didn't feel so well during open mat.  Ken had his way with me and caught me in a couple things that he normally doesn't.  I was in kind of a weird mood and didn't feel up to the level that I usually fight him at.  He made me tap with from my back with kind of an armbar but I really felt it in my shoulder.

I then took a break and felt a little better rolling with Jerad.  I've found that I need to change my game with him because he prevents me from getting half guard and I end up getting a lot of quarter guard while he's standing, which makes it easy for him to pass.  He got my back and we both fought for and against the bow and arrow choke.  It was only a matter of time before he sunk it in.  It came on fast and it was a little scary because I almost didn't feel like I had time to tap.

Monday, October 8, 2012

October 7th - No Gi

Conan taught yesterday starting with a focus on the triangle choke.  It was a different setup than I usually try, in that we get the overhook and just kept scooting away until our foot would pass their arm.  Usually I do the jump rope method (not that it works that often).  We worked on using the fist to complete the choke if they tried to reach around the leg, which really sucks for the person being choked.  We also worked on kicking out if they compressed the leg to block the triangle.

We then switched our attention to side control.  We set up various techniques from the opponent defending kessa getama and then trapping their arm with our shin after they defended.  From there we went to farside armbar and inverted armbar, I think we did another technique but I can't seem to remember it.  One key aspect was that we did the windsheild wiper with our legs to switch from one shin to the other on their bicep.  We might have done kimura but I'm not sure.

For open mat I went with Conan first and we had a pretty good match.  He still dominated me like usual but he was out of breath by the end so I'll take that as a win.  He started out playing possum and gave me his side but quickly he was defending my guard passing attempts.  His guard seemed more active today than it usually does with me.  Once he got me on my back with his Conan sweep he was cross facing me all over the place and kept me pinned on the bottom.  I was able to regain half guard several times but was passed again quickly.  I don't feel like I was ever in a position to put a submission on but I do feel better than I have against him in the past.  I don't recall how he made me tap.

I rolled with Jerad a couple of times and we started from standing.  He ankle picked me once and I think my second throw failed and I ended up pulling guard.  He choked me with a darce that he had been trying to setup for the entire first role.  He kicked my butt thoroughly but gave me the compliment later that I wasn't giving him anything and he had to resort to the mean bread cutter choke in our last match.  I had to defend a lot of guillotenes so I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.  My one shining moment was when he was stacking me in closed guard and I pulled off the underhook back roll to ankle pick, which eventually lead to a toe hold attempt.   

I went with Adam to experience more crossfacing.  There is usually quite a bit of hand fighting between us.  If he gets a hold of my wrist it's pretty tough to deal with.  I don't feel like I did much good with him and he squashed me like a bug.  He eventually finished me with a kimura.


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

October 2nd - Gi

I decided to attend the final Tuesday evening class last night since I won't be able to make it this Thursday.  The class was relatively small but good with myself, David (Judo brown belt), Mike, and Will in attendance. 

Mike asked if we could work on half guard from the bottom.  We did "The" half guard sweep, as Will put it, first.  I've seen this done many ways and he does it slightly different than I do.  We also did some recovery if the opponent gets you flat on your back.  Finally we went over some 10th planet lock down and some dog fight type stuff.

I rolled with Mike first during open mat and we had some pretty good battles.  He played a lot of spider guard from the beginning.  It's becoming more difficult to deal with as if I get one arm free he can still use the other one to get me off balance.  Grip fighting is huge when fighting with Mike and  We stalemated on our first match and switched partners.

I rolled with Will next and it must have been my day because I felt pretty dominant with him.  Early on I threatened a wristlock from side mount that had him flopping around quite a bit and he eventually got free.  We had a few scrambles but I was able to get some key sweeps and came out on top and mounted him.  From there I worked the americana, he did a great job of keeping me from completing it, but I used it to setup an armbar which worked perfectly and made him tap.

I rolled with Mike again and we started from standing which was a little iffy for me, but since I outweigh him by quite a bit I wasn't as worried about getting hurt as I would have been with Fuji or Adam.  During one of my throw attempts he ended up taking a pretty bad nut shot and had to sit out for a little while.  When we continued he ended up pulling guard and we worked from there.  He almost had a repeat with the bow and arrow choke from Monday night but I was able to defend it with both hands in.  However, he eventually got me into a crucifix and after some fighting he applied a choke from there.

I don't like to get into the politics of the dojo on the blog because a lot of it is kind of petty and I don't need to concern myself with it.  However, I really don't understand why this class was cancelled.  There are other classes going on at the same time with Iaido and the sparring class and they have less students attending them on average.  Is this the Jiu-Jitsu class being treated as the black sheep of the dojo that I've heard about?

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

October 1st - Gi

Before class started I had an impromptu roll with Will.  I just came over while he was lying on the mat stretching and tried to pass his guard with bull fighter pass.  To an onlooker it probably looked similar to when my cats fight as one will come over to the other and nudge them a bit and then bite their neck out of nowhere.  We slow rolled and had a good time.  We both had our moments of being on top and trying sweeps.  At the end I was able to get to deep half and almost take the back.

I ended up being the least experienced person on the mat last night.  It's not that often that I have to stand at the end of the line.  Greg put us through a pretty good warm-up which seems to be a good change from him lately.  Unfortunately I couldn't partake in the class team leapfrog that took place.  My knees are getting closer though.

Our focus was on the opponent stopping our butterfly guard and putting us on our back.  From there we did a couple of ways to complete the sweep by pushing them away and to the side and then using the overhook and pulling their base arm in.  If that didn't work we worked on doing the triangle.  We then trained from the butterfly position taking turns on top and bottom with and without the underhook/overhook.  I worked with Fuji and James. 

We then had some six minute rounds which I was paired with Mike.  Mike always gives me the compliment that I use more technique and less strength than others, which I appreciate.  I did some pretty good things like using the baseball bat choke to pass his butterfly guard, I couldn't complete the choke though.  Later on he went for deep half guard and I worked fast to get my leg out from between his which allowed me to work into some type of an upside down triangle.  I couldn't get it tight enough to choke him but it allowed me to mess with his arm and I eventually got him to tap from a wristlock.

Mike got me back in our second match when he grabbed both of my wrist and jumped into mount.  From there we were stuck for a little while as neither of us wanted to make a mistake.  I eventually was able to scramble but I made some bad moves and he kept going for my back.  He then was able to get my collar and put on a tight bow and arrow.

Monday, October 1, 2012

September 30th - No-Gi

Ray taught the no-gi class yesterday with a focus on top half guard attacking techniques.  Good stuff since I normally am just trying to pass half guard instead of submit from there except for maybe the darce a la Jerad's instruction. We did Kimura, Darce choke, then Guillotine choke if they defended the darce, and then a knee bar by sitting back over them and taking their leg which I had not done this way before.

We trained the half guard after that with partners and king of the mat.  I wasn't really able to pass anyone but half guard has been one of those positions lately that is dangerous for my knee, especially the lockdown.  So, I tried to take it easy from here and not do anything that would aggravate them.

During open mat I rolled with Jordan several times.  He seemed to improve quite a bit since last time we rolled.  He did a good job of exploiting my weakness but standing up and moving around my guard.  I think I'm going to play around with some inversion going forward to prevent this.  I caught him in a couple of arm bars and a rear naked, but I feel like I had to work a lot harder for them than previous weeks.  We talked a little bit about half guard and I showed him some things that I like to do to make it work like the importance of the underhook.

I rolled once with Jerad and we had a long active roll.  I spent most of the time playing open guard and half guard.  He did a really good job at defending my deep half and it was a little frustrating.  There were a couple of times when I was able to come up to like an over/under pass but that pass is so difficult for me in no-gi.  In the end he got me with an arm triangle that he set up from my back which was really tight.