January 13th - No Gi

Conan taught class yesterday starting out with just myself and Mark.  Mark tried Hapkido out with me several years ago for a short period of time.  He had a good attitude and picked up on a lot of things quickly.  Adam and Wes showed up a little while after the warm-up and we were well into working on armbar from guard. 

We did the basic setup of trapping the arm putting the foot on the hip to help turn and then throwing the leg over.  It puts your skill into perspective seeing someone learn these things for the first time and having to tell their body what to do with every single movement.  Muscle memory is truly amazing.  Conan said something to the effect of "Now that we've shown you how to do it, you will never get it in a fight."  I think he meant we wouldn't get it using that particular basic setup which is true for me.  Usually when/if I get an armbar it's in conjunction with trying other submissions like triangle and omma plata.

Conan went over some real basic defenses for the armbar like putting a hand up to block the leg or turning your head away so you couldn't hook their leg.  We played with that for a bit and then worked on getting the armbar despite their feeble attempts. 

Conan left the four of us to begin open mat and Adam suggested that we do the 8 minute drill.  Which actually turned into a 40 minute drill because we went through once with each person.  I actually wasn't that tired when it was all over.  In each position with Wes and Mark I would escape or submit them a couple of times and then try to coach them after that.  Wes seemed to be getting a little frustrated which is understandable.  I remember those days of not being able to do anything to anybody and I still get my butt whooped by everyone more experienced than me I just do it with more style now.

I rolled with Adam and apparently he wanted an ankle lock badly.  I made sure to go slow and be ready to tap at any given moment.  We were in a leg lock position and he was going for a straight ankle lock but I kept straightening or turning to keep him from getting the angle that he wanted.  Eventually he released his foot that was under my leg to then wrap it around and I seized the opportunity and put him into a reverse heel hook.  It ended quickly and we shook hands and that was it.  Maybe I'm maturing but I thought I would have taken a victory lap after submitting him.  It is not often that I even come close to submitting Adam.