I slow rolled, sort of, with Bauer before class to get the blood pumping. I wanted to drill something but couldn't think of what. At the start of class, Greg made the comment that it would be a difficult training session. Announcing something like this actually makes me relax a little more and try to go with the flow, worrying about it won't help. We did the normal warm-up with the addition of a push-up ladder to 7 and resting in the plank position. We then worked on the double leg takedown with removing a collar grip first with a downward elbow movement. I worked with Mohamed on this and the techniques that followed.
We did a couple escapes from side control starting with the basic bridge to knee across belly to guard recovery. I had to coach Mo a little on putting enough pressure down from top and then on hip movement from the bottom. It looked like he improved with this technique quite a bit. We then went over the tripod to single leg escape which I still have trouble with. Greg mentioned during the instruction that we may need to scoot down after getting the underhook to have the room to tripod, which did help. I can do it fine alone, but with a partner I have trouble keeping my head and shoulder on the ground.
We did king of the mat next, with the king starting in bottom side control. Not a great place to start from. Mike and Adam dominated the session. Although Bauer, Claire and I were kings for a little while as well. I thought I was doing well against Adam but every time I think I'm about to get somewhere, he's able to get to his knees and single leg me. Mike is tough for different reasons. His flexibility and prowess in inverting doesn't allow for people to leave much space. He's also so low to the ground and wirey that it's difficult to keep pressure on him.
We did two rounds of rolling after that. I went with Air Force Brian first and took it pretty easy. I probably should have been a little more aggressive because he did pass my guard in the beginning. I was able to regain half guard and eventually somewhat sweep and work to his back. I was working on a bow and arrow choke when the time ended. Adam and I went next and I was already pretty tired. He submitted me with the Rickson choke that I was attempting on Bauer earlier but was unable to complete.
After class, Mike drilled some single leg defenses on me, although I felt a little like crap and probably wasn't the best partner. I asked about completing the Rickson choke and got some pointers from Greg and Mike. It turned out to be an issue with how I'm setting it up and not keeping pressure on the opponent's arm. I think I'm going to focus on this technique for a while as I'm seeing opportunities for it lately and it goes nicely with my north/south game.
Mo seemed a little discouraged and asked why techniques weren't working for him. If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you'd know that I've had my ups and downs with BJJ and it taken time to gain confidence in my abilities. We all tried to assure him that if he would stick with it, he'll see improvement and it's supposed to be difficult. I told him, that in a couple of months when some new guys come in he'll definitely see his practice pay off.
No comments:
Post a Comment