Sunday, December 28, 2014

December 28th 2014 - Weekly Review

Focus of the Week: Half Guard Sweeps, Triangle and Deep Half Hunting


Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Standing RNC Defense - O-Soto Gari, Back Mount Escape, RNC from Back Mount

Smallest class that I've seen in a while for a Tuesday noon and it seemed to go by in a blur.  Maybe with fewer people Greg can keep a better eye on when we've had enough reps.

Technique wise a few things came up.  Greg emphasized using the head to get to the other side to start the back escape.  Then for the RNC after controlling the underhooked hand then the choking arm pulls back fast and then grabs the hand on its side.  I think he taught this last time as well but it didn't stick with me.  I felt better about inch worming my arm to the choke.  I helped Ben with the squeeze as he was doing more pulling than squeezing.  We also discussed doing the RNC on your knee after class like Eddie Bravo shows in this video: Eddie Bravo On: The power of the Sqeeze.  I used to do this while watching TV or hanging out at home and it helped my RNC quite a bit I think.

Had some good rolls with Ben, Sam, and Greg.  Greg rolled with me after class and pretty much destroyed me.  I did some good things but they were few and far between and never made much of an improvement on my position.  Here is a video that Bhuvana took for me, let me know if it doesn't work: Greg & Josh roll


Open Mat

Had a great open mat session and got to roll with some people that I haven't seen in a while like Moe and Brian (Sweany Todd).  Also got to roll with Gina and helped Bhuvana with some guard passing.  Jerad and Bauer were my toughest rolls of the day.  I am trying to take on the persona of keeping it playful and not caring whether I win or lose.  It seemed to do me well and I think it kept things more exciting and less inhibiting for me. 

Drilling: Greg asked me if I wanted to drill some techniques with him and I'm happy that this is becoming a regular thing during open mat.  Due to my recent bouts with big guys from half guard I've decided to focus on some of the sweeps from bad half guard positions.  I started with the twist sweep and was having a little trouble with it.  Eventually with some help from Mike I saw that I was not coordinating my movements very well at all.  I need to bridge just a little and then push on their knee and squeeze.  It was really burning my thighs working on this and Greg was a little surprised by that.  In the end I think I got it, but I'm going to drill this a lot more.

Monday, December 22, 2014

December 21st 2014 - Weekly Review

Focus of the Week: Deep Half to Double Under Pass, Triangle (Yes, Really)

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Double Leg Takedown, Upa Escape from Mount, Cross Collar from Mount

I enjoyed the double leg practice and really tried to smooth out the steps.  The penetration step is probably the piece that gives me the most trouble.  The cross collar choke works well during drilling but I feel so clumsy trying to get my grips deep enough.  I tried it during rolling a few times but pretty much abandoned it. 

I've been trying to setup triangles as much as I can lately and I think it's bearing some decent fruit.  My biggest problem was controlling their posture when I grab my shin and I feel like I'm tightening that up a little more. 

Robert stayed after class Tuesday for some great rolls.  We had the battle of the north/south chokes and expressed admiration for each others skill.  I went for deep half a few times and he threatened a guillotine which stopped all of my momentum.  I discussed it with Greg later and he said that I should just continue through it to deep half, so I will try that next time.

I rolled with Ben and Ross Friday morning during office hours.  I showed Ben some of the finer points of the arm triangle which he seemed to appreciate, so look out everyone.  Ross' guard passing is getting a lot better.  I'm starting to play more of an aggressive guard with him rather than the more flowy lazy guard that I'll play when I'm trying to be cool.  We talked about darce a little bit and how to defend it.

Advanced: Half Guard Leg Torque Sweep and Variations

This is a sweep that Greg has been drilling quite a bit lately and I'm starting to like it too.  We had a blue belt visitor (Tony) from Houston come in and I got to work with him on the drilling portion of class.  I'm always stoked to work with someone from another school and get a feel for how they do things differently and the same.  We did king of the mat from half guard.  Here are some highlights as I don't remember everything.
  • Greg was amazing at getting the underhook from the bottom.  There were a few times that he made me feel like I knew nothing about the half guard.  I hung on a couple times but every time he swept me very smoothly using the torque sweep.
  • Mike and I had a few battles.  I was trying my best not to use strength on him but it felt really limiting.  I hit a waiter sweep on him but wasn't able to get up from it.  A different time I had him in a guillotine and as he was getting out of it I recovered full guard.  He was able to sweep me with a tornado sweep that was pretty slick. 
  • I screwed up a deep half guard sweep with Jordan and he was able to free his leg and go right into north/south.
  • I think I only fought Henry from the bottom and I did a good job both times, but he eventually passed.  Still working on my Henry game plan.

Mike showed me a good deep half guard transition if someone steps over my head.  Usually I would struggle pretty hard to take the back but this was so simple that I just needed to come up and shoot for the underhook.  It takes a little timing, but it is so much more efficient than what I was doing.  Mind blown!

Open Mat

I did some drilling with Greg and he was doing some more half guard sweeps.  Looking back I think I need to focus on some of these.  Deep half is good, but if I can't get there I need something to fall back and I need to work on how to get there too.  I drilled the sweep from deep half that Mike helped me with on Wednesday and Greg approved.  Then I drilled the sweep to double unders and got it pretty well figured out on both sides.  I think I'm going to look into the back takes as well as review the entries next as the sweeps seem to be coming together. 

Our friends Andrew and Adam visit from North Platte.  I only rolled with Adam and he ended up challenging my ego a bit.  We've rolled before and I think we're pretty even for the most part but if he gets on top he's very difficult to roll back over.  We had 2 good rolls where he ended up grinding me out into half guard and then side mount and mount and then submitted me.  I did some good things during the rolls with an omoplata setup and I was in side mount for a while and attempted a baseball bat choke. 

I was a little disappointed in my rolls with him, but I thought about it on the drive home and I really have no reason to be.  I was thinking I should beat him because I just assume that he doesn't train as much as me or with as good of people as I do.  I really had no evidence to base that on; also, who the hell am I.  I'm not so awesome to have the expectation of submitting every visitor.  This does make me want to train harder and diversify the techniques that I focus on.  In the end this is just a game and learning from losing is the best type of learning.  He won the game yesterday and hopefully I will play it better next time.  From now on I need to limit the expectations I put on myself and just roll.  As I write this, I may be blowing my feelings out of proportion a little bit.  I hold no ill will toward Adam or anyone else that submits me but pride can mess with me from time to time.

I rolled with Kat, who was visiting from Lincoln MMA.  She had some good technique and was competent.  I did my best to keep from smashing her though as I don't want to be that guy.  She moved well and had me in side control a few times.  The thing I probably tried the most during our rolling was putting her in x-guard because she kept leaving her combat base leg out pretty far.  We had a good couple of rolls and I hope she returns.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

December 14th 2014 - Weekly Review

Focus of the Week: More Deep Half, Over/Under Pass

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Head Lock Defense w/ Tani Otoshi, Kneeling Guard Break, Single Under Pass

With these particular techniques I'm working on speed and minor details.  My guard break is pretty solid once I get the first hand position on the chest.  For the single under pass I focused on weight distribution and made sure my head never went too high.  I also did some experimenting with immediately going into the Rickson Choke off of the single under pass since the hand is already in the correct position on the collar.  While I didn't have too much of a problem with the throw, during the last couple of reps I discovered I should have been doing more of a circular stepping.

Rolling was great on both days with some guard positional and some free rolling.  Still the classes are too short and I'm glad Ross, Harvey, and Brian (Backdraft) were all willing to roll with me after class.  I attempted the Sao Paulo pass a couple of times that Conan had shown the week before.  I did get stuck in the bottom of half guard a few times which slowed my momentum.  I'm thinking I need to readjust how I frame and maintain space from the half guard.  I often give up too much ground and then have to fight to regain it.

Advanced: Drilling: Deep Half Waiter, X-Pass, Baseball Bat Choke, Sacrifice Shoulder Throw

It was a relatively small class Wednesday night so Greg had us drill techniques of our choosing instead of the normal way.  We did 4 minutes each with a guard technique, guard pass, a submission, and a take down.

I did deep half to waiter with Adam as my partner and even though we were just drilling, his weight and solidness were still something I had to deal with.  The techniques still went well I just need to focus on using my free leg to help pendulum a little more.

My legs were killing me for the x-pass.  My posture felt a bit off and Greg and I both agreed that I was leaning forward too much.  It killed my thighs by the end with all of the squatting and back kicking I had to do.  The posture thing is something I'll have to pay attention to, but I think it also has to do with looking at my grips which I'll have to get over.

The main focus for the baseball bat choke was to get my hands as close together as possible and I think I got some good reps doing that.  My problem may be that I usually just settle with getting my thumb in their collar near the back somewhere before going north/south but touching my hands together made a huge difference during drilling.

Conan complimented me on my sacrifice throw.  It's one that I hit from time to time but I can also put myself in a nasty position if it fails.  The major thing I focused on was being tight on the shoulder before dropping and then paying attention to hip connection.  If I leave too much space or if they are able to sprawl the hips away I'll end up in the bottom of side control and that is no good.  The hip connection thing was a pretty big realization that I'll explore further. 

We finished the class with some great rolling with Adam, Gina, and Greg.  Adam twice which turned out to be very tough, but I think I'm learning how to deal with his butcher technique.


Open Mat

Had a lot of fun in open mat.  Got to roll with Mike (tumbleweed) after he's been out with some injuries.  We had an awesome roll and I really felt confident in my guard in the beginning.  I passed his guard once and worked for a north/south choke for a while but didn't complete it.  I went for the baseball bat but had a hard time getting around his arms and constantly defending his legs from inverted guard.  He eventually got back on top and we ended up in a kimura position.  I was defending well but I decided to tap because he had me.  This paragraph doesn't really do the roll justice, there was a lot of movement and a lot of technical stuff.

I don't remember much about rolling with Conan, so I'll put the same thing that I put for every Conan roll lately.  I did pretty well in the beginning but I eventually fucked up and got put into side control.  Conan grinded me out and took away my limbs one at a time until he got a submission.  I might as well save that to my template.  He was complementary at the end and said that I did well.

Jerad and I had another epic couple of rolls.  He also complimented me after rolling even though he pretty much dominated.  Our first match he caught me with a crucifix after I fought hard for some type of takedown.  I thought I was doing well until my arm got locked between his legs and he went over my back.  I said some thing like "Stupid!" and Mike chimed in that he has some videos of me saying funny shit while rolling.  I am known for shouting "Nooooo!" or "Fuuuuck!" when I get caught with something that I see in advance but can't seem to stop.  It's never in anger but more pissed at myself.  The other two rolls there were a lot of back and forth and a lot of half and quarter guard.  There was one point where we were scrambling and he stood up, I had a sleeve grip and was able to sweep him with and omoplata, that felt great.  He submitted me with a mounted triangle the last time.

Monday, December 8, 2014

December 7th 2014 - Weekly Review

I didn't post last week because I was very busy with work and only ended up attending 2 classes anyway because it was Thanksgiving week and I didn't feel there was much to report.  We did go over farside armbar and Scissor Sweep in the beginner class and reviewed a few of the gi chokes from the seminar.  

Focus of the Week: Baseball Bat choke, Deep Half Guard, Over/Under Pass, Nothing New 

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: O-Goshi, Guard Techniques - Cross Collar Choke, Armbar

Cross collar choke is among the triangle in techniques that I rarely attempt.  I do the technique fine during drilling, but never feel like I can get my hands in the right place during rolling.  Armbar from guard felt great and I did attempt a few during rolling this week.

Conan showed up to Friday morning class and we ended up having a great roll.  He sat and I started from the knees.  He let me get pant grips and I stood and bobbed weaved to complete the toreando pass.  I made sure to prevent any type of butterfly hook as he can work magic with them.  I did it!  I made it to side control.  I went to knee on belly and started attacking the baseball bat choke.  He used his shins effectively to almost regain half guard a few times, I went to north/south choke but he turned his head.  I went back to side control and knee on belly.

Finally I made a mistake or he caught up to my movement and timing and was able to secure an arm under my knee on belly shin and grab the back of my gi.  He then reversed me and during that process I said something to the effect of, "this shouldn't be happening" or "how could this happen!"  I defended from side control for the rest of the five minutes.  Thinking about it now though I might have won if that was a tournament match because he wouldn't have gotten any points for that reversal.  It's a stupid rule.  He showed me the reversal after class, but I may have him show me again next time I see him.

Conan showed a closed guard pass after class that I'm still not sure about the name of.  From within the closed guard you take an underhook and then walk to the opposite side smashing their leg and then unhooking their ankles to escape guard.  I think Will was working on it for a while.


Advanced: Distant Belt Grab Pass - To North/South, w/Foot on Hip, Start of Lasso

I liked these techniques when we did them in the seminar but I realized that I don't run into this situation during rolling too often.  I'm hardly ever standing without any grips already.  I had some great rolling during up/down/out.  We did sitting guard against standing opponent and dealing with this situation has come a long way for me.  I primarily have Mike and Jerad to thank the most for that.  I rolled with quite a few people and I'm so happy with being able to attend this class for the material and my fellow blue belts that kick my ass.    


Open Mat

I only rolled with 4 people this past open mat.  I used to average 6 or more.  Of course they were quality rolls including Jerad and Greg so I'm not complaining but there were a few times that I was sitting wanting to roll and no one was available. 

Brain AF did a pretty good job of defending, I can see some improvement and he's getting dangerous with his inverting, going to turtle, and backtakes, however weak at north/south choke defense.  Bhuvana asked to work on some guard passes.  I showed her the knee over pass and the one that Conan shared the day before.  I rolled with Jerad the most and we went back and forth quite a bit.  Greg did some pretty cool backtake setups and just shut me down in general.

Monday, November 24, 2014

November 23rd 2014 - Weekly Review

Focus of the Week: Deep Half Waiter Sweep, Tinguinha's Baseball Bat Choke setup, Over/Under Pass

I've been keeping with the theme of deep half and got a chance to study the Ryan Hall Deep Half Guard DVD set some more with a particular focus on the waiter sweep.  I didn't get it in rolling this week but there were a couple people that were nice enough to let me drill it on them.  I've also been hitting the switch side baseball bat choke setup that Tinguinha taught us at the seminar.  I was trying to incorporate that technique anyway but this way has solved the grip problems I was having.  My new problem is working my knee cut over their defending arm. 

I didn't purposefully focus on the over/under pass but it came up a lot this week.  I think after seeing Tinguinha do it to Greg several times while watching them roll put it to the forefront of my subconsciousness.  I have been playing with switching my hips a little more in the progress and It's been serving me well.  Also during open mat Jerad shared his techniques to prevent this pass. 

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: O-Soto Gari, Side Control Escape, Paint Brush

O-Soto Gari feels good in practice for me.  I'm getting down the timing of the lift and turn with my arms, however I would like to get more confident with setting this (and other throws) up during rolling.  I'll have to tap my judo player brethren for advice. I feel like I can do a lot of throws really well, but the setups and closing the distance seems beyond me at the moment.

I felt better about the side control escape after drilling it this week.  Greg mentioning that we bridge to bring their elbow off the floor to make the hip escape possible really sunk in this time as the main purpose.  Greg also added hooking the ankle during the escape to help prevent the smash pass.

Nothing really to report on the americana.  I focused on pushing with my whole body to get their arm into position.

During rolling I found the hip shovel escape was working well for me from the deep half dvd, so I was transitioning to that if the basic escape didn't work.  From the top I practiced the baseball bat choke every chance I got and maybe threw in some north/south chokes in there if my partner was asking for it.

One thing that struck me this week was that I saw some waning confidence in some of the white belts that I rolled with.  There were a few defeatist remarks and a few partners I felt tapped early or were hesitant to engage.  I had a discussion with Greg about how important confidence is.  I considered if I do this with anyone now like Greg or Conan.  I'm going to pay attention to this when going up against people that tap me out on a regular basis.  Greg also gave me some awesome news that I will share in the future when it comes to fruition. 

Advanced: Lasso: Sweep when far leg is up, Stand-up sweep, Turtle to Omoplata

The first sweep was something I didn't feel good about at the seminar, but it made a lot more sense after Wednesday.  I don't think my butterfly hook was down on the ankle as much as it needed to be.  Was happy to review the turtle to omoplata although I haven't gotten it to work much during rolling like I thought I would have.  I've tried it a few times but usually end up in guard so I think my angle is off on my roll. 

I always enjoy the advanced rolling sessions because I get my mind challenged and my ass kicked.  Matt really put a lot of pressure on me and gave me a lot to think about.  I think I gave up the inside space too easily and once it was gone it was very difficult to get it back.  I really need to focus on my controlling the space and not allowing my opponent to get me to a point to where I have to regain ground.  Then I have to expend extra energy to undo what has been done to get back to even.  I think I need to expend more energy to keep good position instead of being lazy until the position is lost and it's too late.

Open Mat

Was able to drill the waiter sweep with Jerad and Greg and felt good about it.  Greg drilled a new half guard pass that was very effective.  After that we rolled and I felt like I had nothing for him except prolonging whatever submission he was going for.  I think he submitted me 3 times at least.

Jerad and I had a long match where I was defending most of the time.  I'm back to getting stuck in quarter guard with him.  I do have a few more avenues that I can pursue once there, but I should probably be a little more active in preventing it in the first place.  He attacked with a deep collar grip from mount a lot and eventually was able to submit me with it.

Fuji and I had a little back and forth and it was good to roll with him again.  Still submitted me like always, but I did some good things.  I also rolled with Brian (AF) and Ross and was able to work on some of my deep half stuff. 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

November 16th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner: Head Lock Escape Roll Over Back, Straight Footlock Submission and Kick Over Defense

Straight footlock in the gi is not my technique.  I'm glad Greg added it into the rotation because it's something that I don't feel confident with it at all.  My biggest problem is the timing with the hands and leaving enough room to get under their ankle appropriately.  I felt like my angle was off on the Achilles as well.  I made my partner tap, but I didn't feel like it really clicked.

Rolling was great especially since Greg rolled with me after class.  My guard passing felt pretty strong.  I had a lot to deal with though as he went to spider guard whenever he could and then there was x-guard and single leg x.  My over/under felt pretty good as well and I think I had some confidence in seeing Tinguinha do it to Greg.  I was able to hit a smooth omoplata during a transition.  I hung out there for a while not able to finish the sub.

Advanced: Lasso Sweep from Knees and 1 Leg Up 

Greg wanted to work on some of the stuff from the seminar while it was fresh in our minds.  One thing that he stressed that I haven't been doing while executing this sweep is to push them away to get the slingshot kind of action as they try to move into you to not lose their balance.  I felt a little bit better about the technique at the end, but my slingshot motion does need some work. 

Rolling starting from lasso was not easy on either end for me.  Everyone's expecting the sweep so there was a lot of dealing with pressure.  However, I do feel like the turtle to omoplata that we worked on in the seminar is something that I'll be trying to work into my game. 

One thing I always enjoy about advanced class is that we roll a lot and it's always challenging.  I rolled with Justin, Gina, Brian, Henry, and Greg.  I did have a bit of a scary moment with Henry where I was defending as much as I could against everything that he was throwing at me, but he caught me very quickly with a kimura during a transition.  I was a little shook-up that it went so fast and I could have been injured and I thought about how that would affect my life currently.  But all was well and I may have overreacted a bit.

All Levels: Side Control: Brabo Baseball Bat, Bread Cutter w/ My Gi, Escape Pin Arm and Grab Belt to Roll Over

Conan gave everyone a glimpse into one of the things that he constantly does to me. Smashes my near arm and takes it out of play and then does what he will to submit me.  While training I felt like I was getting better at it, by maneuvering my body to get over the arm and then smash it to the mat and then under my shin.  I enjoyed the baseball bat setup and I think I may look into it more the next time I roll.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

November 9th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Guillotine from Guard Defense, Ezekiel from Mount & Top Half Guard

It was quite a week.  These classes were pretty hard on the neck as most choking weeks can be.  I did find out that I'm generally being too nice with my ezekiel because I'm not bringing it across the throat as much as I should, so look forward to that.  I also needed to work on keeping my head down before applying the choke.  I think this has a little to do with discomfort concerning tight spaces and a little bit of a sweat factor.  I had a bit of a theory that the EZKill was easier to get from half guard since their hands are out of the equation rather than the mount where I feel a lot of people can defend with their hands and keep their head tight to the mat.  Greg disagreed and I think I'm coming around to his way of thinking.

Rolling was fulfilling during these classes as I got to roll with Zack who just returned to Jiu-Jitsu after a hiatus as well as Greg, Brian AF, Ben, and Bhuvana.  I helped Brian get ready for his blue belt test and got some half guard questions from Zack.

No Gi: Pummeling Techniques, Passing Butterfly guard: Guillotine, Hip Switch Pass

It's been a long time since I've felt this sweaty in class, but no-gi will do that to you.  Tinguinha led us through quite a warm-up focusing on the abs.  Jerad was my partner which was very productive for some good training especially when it came to the hip switch guard passing. 

During rolling I got all of the big guys.  Adam took it to me pretty good and I had to scramble my ass off.  Jorge had learned some new tricks, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't berimbolo me the next time we roll as he was close this time.  Bauer reminded me of why I need to train more no-gi as with all of my gi grips gone I had a hard time controlling him.  Jerad pretty much destroyed me with butterfly sweeps and armdrags. 

Tinguinha and Greg rolled to finish out the session and Greg had a lot better showing than earlier in the day.  In the rolls that I saw them together in, I really saw Greg's A game shine through as he was doing everything that I know him to be good at in rapid succession but Tinguinha always had an answer for it.


Tinguinha Seminar

I created a post just for the seminar: November 8th 2014 - Tinguinha Seminar

One thing that crossed my mind during the seminar was how similar mine and Tinguinha's body types were.  We seemed to be of similar height and frame, maybe weight.  It probably is a good idea to model some of my game after him.  I've already discovered the cross guard to click well with me.  Maybe the spider guard should be my next focus.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Conan: The second in command and currently the only purple belt at LBJJC is one of the reasons that I started Jiu-Jitsu in the first place.  When I first met Conan back in 2000, I was seeing him several times a week at Detox.  Before you start jumping to conclusions it was because I worked there and he's a police officer.  Not until several years later when I visited his Jiu-Jitsu class with some of my Hapkido colleagues did I realize how much of a badass Conan was and how little I knew.

He constantly surprises me technically with his ability to put enormous amounts of pressure on me from side control with seemingly little effort.  Then there's his stupid butterfly hook that comes out of nowhere.  I also hate when he plays possum and gives me a good position and then reverses and sweeps me slowly and methodically.  Sorry, I'll keep this positive and digress.  He's also given me a lot of great advice that has served me well.  He's been there for others as well both as a teacher and a friend.  I would consider him our Papa Smurf.

Conan deserves a lot of props for getting Jiu-Jitsu going in Lincoln.  I'm not clear on the whole back story but I know Conan had to do quite a bit of research and experimentation on his own to get good at Jiu-Jitsu and along the way gather up several of my closest brothers and sisters in this sport.  He introduced Jiu-Jitsu into the State Games a few years ago and put on a few local tournaments.  Plus we probably wouldn't have our current school without contributions from him and Jerad.  So Thank You Conan!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

November 8th 2014 - Tinguinha Seminar

Had a great couple days of Jiu-Jitsu starting with no-gi class last night taught by Tinguinha and a gi seminar today.  Here is a link to last year's seminar post if you're interested: July 27th 2013 - Seminar / Promotion (The Dexterous Dozen).  There were a lot more new faces in the group picture this time! 

Great turnout for our growing LBJJC family
There was a lot of good information given starting with passing the open guard, followed by some open guard techniques and finally a few submissions from side control.  I used a note taking program on my phone to jot everything down which turned out to be better than bringing a notebook like I had meant to do.  If anyone was paying better attention than I and you see that I missed some please let me know.  Here's the list of techniques:

Guard Passing
  • Butterfly Reach over underhook, grab the belt post leg, knee and hip switch to side control
  • Same as previous bottom foot traps leg, move around their knee, move their wrist up, crossface and step to mount
  • Attempted Hook Sweep, Post foot and head to floor, switch hips and jump to other side
    • Had some trouble with the timing of this one, I got it a few times, but it was difficult
  • Single Under arm position with their hips off the floor, grab leg over head and head weaves to leg drag position, shut down hips collar control smash to side control
  • From a distance reach and grab belt and top of the foot circular standing pass to north/south postion
    • This was pretty cool and something I may follow up on, if only I had longer arms
  • Same as above but their foot is in the hip, push their leg down with hand not on belt and move to north/south
  • Same as previous but opponent does Lasso not completely locked in, walk to the side of the arm that is lassoed, put shin pressure on ribs and grab belt, pry the elbow loose.
  • Same as previous but locks Lasso in, walk to other side push leg down and staple, push knee down and use your chest for pressure and get them flat on their back in side control.
Open Guard
  • Lasso sweep using outside pant grip, free leg moves across.
    • This lasso stuff was great as I've been experimenting with it lately, I'll take it as a sign to continue working with it.
  • Lasso sweep opponent posts leg up, hook free leg under their leg to sweep.
  • Lasso opponent posts other leg. Lasso foot moved under opposite armpit free leg goes to the ground and helps shrimp, then hook sweep.
    • I wish I could have made this look as good a Tinguinha was doing it.
  • Lasso opponent hunkers back to pass, move to turtle and front roll into omoplata
    • I shouted "Yes!" when he showed this technique
  • Lasso opponent stands, inside cross pant grip, free leg goes on opposite side of opponent's body for sweep
Side Control Submissions
  • Side control pull gi skirt out and bring across neck, cross face arm grabs gi, switch to other side and choke
  • Upside down collar grip and knee on belly, opponent escapes KOB, switch sides and grab other side of baseball bat choke.
    • I meant to ask Greg if he knew about this before the seminar as this is some dangerous stuff for my white belt rolling partners of the future.
During the drilling portion I had an on and off headache that I attributed to forgetting my morning coffee.  I might have been a little dehydrated from the night before also.  I think the mixture of beginner and advanced techniques and concepts was perfect for the crowd.  That's probably a difficult part of planning a seminar for a diversely skilled crowd.  The quarters were a little cramped and 3 hours is a long time.  Craig and I kept a pretty good pace throughout and I think we got in sufficient reps on everything.  

Close to the end I saw an opportunity and asked Tinguinha to critique my cross guard.  I showed him the basic omoplata, the armbar, and the omoplata sweep.  He seemed to be happy with it and asked me if it worked for me during rolling and said that was the most important thing.  I showed him what I was doing from standing to pull the cross guard and he liked it although it was a little different than what he showed in the video.  The one major compliment he gave was on me getting my hips up high which was a common mistake.  I'm glad I took the opportunity!

After the seminar we had stripe and belt promotions.  My sons, Jayden and Jace, excitedly received their grey and white belts.  I'm very proud of them.  I received a second stripe on my blue belt, while Jerad and Mike received their third.  Brian AF moved up to blue belt (I had been his partner for testing the night before), he is the first blue belt under Greg to do all of his Jiu-Jitsu training at LBJJC.  Conan dawned a purple belt and the school went crazy.  Finally Tinguinha gave Greg his first degree stripe and certificate. 


Conan: First LBJJC Purple Belt


Monday, November 3, 2014

November 2nd 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Basic Open Guard

This is only the second time working on this particular position as it was new to me last May when we worked on it.  I have used it in rolling off and on since then but the major thing that was impressed upon me from the last time was the importance of the push/pull concept in open guard.  I'm also happy with the submissions and sweeps available from there.  Triangle (which I've been making an effort to improve on), scissor sweep, sickle sweep, and of course omoplata.  Had some great rolling sessions with all of my teammates and the open guard served me well.

Advanced: Half Guard Gordo Sweep, Wizzer Sweep

It had been a while since I worked with Fuji and I was glad to see him back on Tuesday.  He still didn't roll but hopefully he'll be back in at full strength soon.  Training with him was really good for me as at the beginning I was having a problem with getting into a good position to complete the sweep.  With his help and Greg's I became a little more comfortable with rolling him over me a little to get down low enough to get the sweep.

I had some great rolling throughout the rest of the class.  I rolled with Bauer, Conan, Greg and Jordan and left feeling great.  I feel like my regular half guard is back on track.  A while ago I thought half guard bottom was my thing but then that feeling went away and people started smashing it, shutting it down, and I was constantly getting passed from there.  I feel like my options have increased along with my confidence from the position.



My major takeaway from rolling was to search for videos for some ideas concerning dealing with someone covering up really well in mount.  I had Bauer in mount and as much as I tried I wasn't able to isolate an arm or get any kind of a choke.  I haven't really found anything noteworthy yet or at least anything that I wasn't already familiar with.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Fuji: Currently his name in my phone is Fujitsu.  He's been there since the beginning of my journey and a constant resource for Jiu-Jitsu related links and that which interests him on Facebook.  He's also known for his fantastic cooking.  Like many of the other blue belts I feel like he respects and appreciates Jiu-Jitsu as much as I do.

During lunch the other day he mentioned that he didn't submit anyone for a whole year when he first started and it wasn't until I showed up, that he started submitting people, namely me.  From my perception he's always been better than me and on par with most of my seniors.  In the recent past he's been destroying me with his lasso guard and repeatedly brabo choking me. 

He also mentioned that he and Mike would laugh about my persistent fake rivalry with Bauer, which was interesting to me.  It was mostly about how we match up physically and technically.  This gave me a little bit to think about, mostly concerning being in my own head and wanting my technique to be so perfect that I sometimes don't act timely or at all.  There are times when I need to stop thinking so much and just do.




Sunday, October 26, 2014

October 26th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Koshi Guruma, Triangle with punch setup

Working on the triangle this week gave me a lot to think about.  I would consider it probably the technique that I have the least success with although it's one of the most popular BJJ techniques.  In the recent previous weeks, I've felt like I could usually do the techniques that we worked on during the rolling portion of class.  Try as I might this week I could not complete a triangle during rolling, I don't even feel like I came close.  It probably shouldn't be a big deal, but I do want to be good at everything, but I'm not sure if this is meant to be.

I had some good teaching and rolling moments with Bhuvana, Harvey, Tim, Dave during the office hours portion after class.  I really enjoy helping fellow students figure their game out or solve a recurring problem.

Advanced: Half Guard Clothesline & Twisting Sweep

Wednesday was the first time in a long time that I attended class with Fuji and OG Jordan who had both been out with injuries for a while.  It's good to have them back!

I was familiar with the clothesline sweep but haven't completed the full sweep during rolling yet, I have used it to regain an arm position so I do find it useful.  Ken and I covered a lot of mat practicing both moves as once you rolled the person over you essentially switched places and the other person could now do the technique.  You just kept rolling until you reach the edge of the mat and then you switch sides and roll the other way. 

I really felt like the other technique was too easy to complete during drilling.  The technique itself wasn't the important part though, it was timing it.  We started it presuming that the person on top was moving forward into getting the underhook and then we would do the twisting sweep.

Had a tough evening of rolling with Ken, Matt, Adam, and Jerad.  I felt like I held my own except with Jerad because I was exhausted from the other guys.  I was definitely feeling the effects of fatigue after this class and it was totally worth it.

Open Mat

This open mat was quite an ego boost for me.  Everything seemed to work out and I felt that I flowed quite well.  I didn't go into the session with too much of a game plan or things to try for like I should of.  There were a couple of people that I asked to roll but told me they needed to catch their breath, probably shouldn't think too much of that, but I would have liked to have a few more partners on open mat day.  I did a little teaching with various people this session as well and answered as many questions that I could.  I got to roll with Jordan and it was great to see him back on the mat.  He commented that his knee didn't cause him any issues so that's great!

Although Jerad whooped up on me, I felt like I've improved and had more answers to problems that he presents.  The biggest thing was being more active in half guard or when he was standing in my guard.  I had a real chance at submitting him with a kimura turned armbar but he was able to defend it. 

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Tim: I haven't trained with him as long as some of the other people that I've mentioned in this section, but I have attended quite a few Tuesday classes and open mats since he started last Februaryish.  We found out early on that we were kind-a-sort-a-not-really related in that he is the uncle of my cousin's wife.  He's an interesting guy that performs in a band and a father of 2.

I feel like he's taking a good approach to learning Jiu-Jitsu.  He stays after most Tuesdays and rolls with me and asks questions about what he can improve on.  I enjoy his attitude and the fact that he's putting forth the mental effort to try to figure this Jiu-Jitsu stuff out.  I've seen him improve and figure things out and if I may be so bold, partly because of my help. 

Sunday, October 19, 2014

October 19th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Kesa Getami Escape to Backmount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass

I was still a little congested this week but felt decent otherwise.  My major focus during the beginner class drilling sessions was to improve my left side knee slide as I'm still having some coordination issues when it comes to using my hips and timing the slide down the thigh. 

I also noted that jerking the bottom shoulder during the kesa getami escape is very important.  I can really feel Greg use it when he demonstrates but I think I've been focusing too much on the leg swing.

Friday ended up being a great rolling session for me.  We did King of the Mat from closed guard and I had a lot of chances to work on my 2 on 1.  I rolled with Austin, Dave, Anthony, and Darijo.

Advanced: Kesa Getami Escapes Conan Style

I wasn't excited to work on kesa getami more.  I understand that it's something I need to know how to escape, but it is not in any of my game plans to go to this position on purpose offensively.  Ken was my partner for the class and it was good to work with him.  We finished class with some positional sparring from Kesa.

Mike shared a darce setup that he saw in a Kit Dale video that I've tried to implement a few times.  I liked the setup so hopefully I can get it to work.

Open Mat

I didn't have any easy fights yesterday with Brian AF, Henry, Conan, Jerad, and Bauer.  As I was driving to open mat I came up with a couple things I wanted to work on or attempt. Deep half guard will be on my list for a while to come and I was able to get there several times and sweep.  I also shared a little bit of deep half technique with Brian as he was in the position with me at one point.

The baseball bat choke from side control was also another thing I wanted to attempt and work on.  I thought I had Henry at one point with it but he told me later after armbarring me that it was on his jaw.  I attempted it on Jerad and Bauer as well with little success but I think I might be figuring some things out.

The last technique that I wanted to attempt was a triangle as that is not in my basic game plan at all.  I didn't see any opportunities to set one up but I think that had to do with the skill level of my partners.
Conan gave me some tips on using my leg to assist my underhook when he's smashing it in side control.   It seemed so obvious after he pointed it out but a lot of the best techniques are.  There was a point when he had me pretty pinned down in side mount and I took an opportunity as he was transitioning to get a single leg, he said something to the effect of "Now that's surviving!"

I had my last match with Bauer and it was great.  We had a long tough roll with a little bit of back and forth.  The 2 on 1 really served me well and I'm getting more confident in opening my guard and moving to butterfly after I get it.  After we finished we had a good discussion about what we were working on and goals and some compliments.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Bauer: A good way to get in this section of the blog is to compliment me and Bauer surprised me when he said that he's working toward making his Jiu-Jitsu game like mine.  He was one of the first people I competed against and we've had a fake rivalry ever since then.  His work schedule hasn't allowed him to make it to Jiu-Jitsu as often as he would like so I'm always happy to see him make it to class.

He's also helped me with a couple non-Jiu-Jitsu related workouts.  He came in to the Y early one morning several years ago and gave me a whole bunch of pointers on my swimming.  Before the last tournament he also helped me out with a weight lifting routine that I did several times.  Unfortunately I didn't keep up with that, but I still swim every week. 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

October 12th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Seoi Nage, Double Ankle Grab Sweep, Butterfly Hook Sweep

I only made it to 2 classes this week; we had some sickness going around our house.  Hopefully this week will be a normal training week despite having to work some overtime.  Also Tinguinha will be visiting our school some time next month.

I worked with a new guy named Andrew on Tuesday that had some pretty good instincts.  He surprised me a couple times while we were doing guard position sparring.  I rolled with Tim after class and then helped Harvey with a triangle question of all things, I diverted it into an omoplata lesson as a contingency for when a triangle isn't happening.

Bhuvana ended up kicking me in the face Friday morning while I was trying to pass her open guard.  It actually wasn't that bad but she was so worried that I was hurt that she stuck her hand in my face and repeated "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" over and over. It took a while for me to get across to her that I was okay and that we should keep going.

I got some great rolling in for a Friday morning with Greg, Bhuvana, Darijo, Austin, Justin, and Jordan.  I felt like my butterfly hook sweep improved as I attempted it every chance I got.  Greg completely shut my game down at every turn, which was good for me.  He was especially catching me with arm drags this week.  I had some success with the 2 on 1 grips and was able to take some backs and pendulum sweep.  I only made it to deep half guard once with Jordan and was attempting the waiter sweep, I did complete a sweep but not the waiter and to his credit he recognized the technique from only working on it with me that one time.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

October 5th 2014 - Weekly Review

It was a good week of Jiu-Jitsu but crappy at work.  After I get done writing this I'm planning on working a few hours before hitting the rack for the third night in a row.  So apologies if this seems rushed.

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Guillotine defense against wall, Basic guard break,  Double Under Pass

Just did my thing in beginner class.  I feel pretty confident in my guard break at this point and while double unders isn't one of my main passes I am able to finish it more often than not if it comes up.  Mostly I coached my partners on how to get the opponent up on their hips and make sure they keep their elbows tight during the pass.

I had an enlightening discussion with Greg about grip fighting.  Mostly centered around when to abandon your grip attempts and try to break your opponents.  One thing that I've been dealing with lately from Mike and Jerad is a collar grip from open guard.  They're trying to get a collar drag and back take and I'm unsure if I should be fighting the grip or working my pass.  It's a work in progress but I have a better understanding than previously.

Advanced: Bottom Turtle Seat Belt Escape

The technique was when you are on bottom turtle and your opponent has a seat belt grip.  We would step behind their near ankle and collect it up while getting the basic grip to defend the choke.  Then we would roll over and end up in a weird half guard.  From their break the grips and work into side control.  It was a good technique, but I'm actually on the hunt for top turtle techniques as I'm continually getting beaten there by certain people...that will remain nameless...um...Henry.

After a brief drilling session, we did a lot of rolling.  Starting from King of the Mat turtle.  I didn't like the sound of that at first, but it turned out to be pretty fun and move a long fairly quickly as you're either regaining guard or you're put into side control or back mount.  I had a pretty good night during this part, however Henry trounced me pretty good in the competition style rolls to follow.  Partly from me gassing and him out wrestling me. 

Open Mat

I did some teaching at open mat yesterday.  Just gave some pointers on what I saw others needed to work on or if they asked about anything specific.  I went into the session wanting to work on Deep Half guard and I got there a few times and also drilled the waiter sweep with the help of Greg and Jordan.

I was also reminded of how much I need to improve by Jerad and Adam.  I felt crushed both spiritually and physically after a 10 minute roll with Adam.  I defended so many submission attempts and suffered many a crossface while trying to at least regain guard.  I think Jerad sensed I was tired and took it easy on me, but still kicked my butt.  Jerad and I also discussed grip fighting a bit after rolling.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Adam: He is a huge asset to our school, in that he brings a high level of wrestling and strength that we have to deal with.  I can say that I'm a lot tougher after rolling with him over the years, especially mentally.  I remember wanting to tap to pressure and almost begging him to submit me just to finish the roll.  Now I use him as a resource for anything wrestling, most recently he's been showing me the butcher from side control over and over again and it's pissing me off.

Monday, September 29, 2014

September 28th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Koshi Gurma, Kimura from side control, Tripod Side control escape

In both Tuesday and Friday I put my teacher hat on for a bit.  Tuesday I worked with Kyle on his first day, his son attends the kids class.  He actually did quite well which may be from watching the kids do it.  On Friday there was a point when Greg was indisposed and I helped some of the other groups with their kimuras.

The piece I focused on the most was during the kimura keeping the hand above the shoulder in the beginning.  A good defense to stop this technique from the beginning is to bury you hand in their armpit so they can't control it using their head and shoulder.  Greg gave us some pointers to apply pressure to the knuckles to help prevent them hiding it. 

Also Greg gave a little extra instruction on Friday adding that we could go to half guard if the opponent put on a really good wizzer as we were coming up during the tripod escape.  Which fed well into deep half guard.

Advanced: Single Leg-X Entry from Butterfly Guard against knees and combat base

We had a visitor, Bethany, who is a purple belt from Florida and a world champion.  She was very skillful and a pleasure to watch, especially because she gave Henry a hell of time on their first roll.  In general it's an enjoyable class when we have a visitor, because I think everyone wants to represent and show how good our school is.  I had the opportunity to roll with her once during KOTM and had a really tough time as well. 

This class made me never want to begin a roll in combat base again.  I already kind of knew this but it is so easy for someone to get single leg-x off of someone in combat base.  The techniques were all similar to the guard pull to single leg-x that we worked on several weeks ago so it was a good review.  I also used this several times while rolling throughout the week. 

I felt in the zone during the rolling portion of class.  Both guard passing and guard retention were flowing well and I was able to pass and sweep some people that I usually don't.  I even almost took Greg's back, but wasn't able to seal the deal.

Open Mat

Had fewer training partners than I would have liked, but got some good training in regardless.  I spent most of my time with Jerad and we had some show and tell between rolls of what we are working on.  I started the day off playing a little lazy and then after Jerad informed me that it didn't seem like I was being as persistent as I usually am, I stepped it up a bit.  I went over north/south choke defense with Brian.  Seems like I've been sharing the defense for that a lot lately.

I was able to work some deep half guard which has been going well throughout the week.  I've watched the first 2 DVDs in the Ryan Hall set a couple times, but I'm saving the third for a later date.  I already feel like there is way too much information to process. 

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Jerad: He was there for my first class and has been a huge part of my development since.  I have assimilated some of his techniques into my game like the darce choke and more recently the mounted triangle.  The most frustrating thing is that he's able to shut down most of my guard game and things that I'm good at.  I am always challenged by Jerad and he's provided some pretty good and timely advice so far. 

Sunday, September 21, 2014

September 20th 2014 - Weekly Review

I was loaned Ryan Hall's Deep Half Guard which was the coolest thing that happened this week.  I watched the first two DVDs of 3 took some notes and tried out a few of the things in class.  It's a great series so far and I've gotten a lot of great ideas on things I can fix and some new stuff.


Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Double Leg Takedown, Americana from Mount, Paper Cutter Choke from Side Control

Double leg is something I continually trying to get a grasp on.  I understand the concept, but it may never feel comfortable since I had my knee issues.  I'm getting a little better with my posture and not leaning over too much though.

It seems like the paper cutter choke has been evolving since Greg taught it the first time.  We're now doing a kind of sitout to a plank position after getting the collar grip to keep pressure on them and keep them from regaining guard.  I tried it a few times during rolling and found it to work pretty well for me but not sure if it will take the place of the leg push method that I use currently. 

I felt good during the rolling sessions.  I was even able to roll with blue belts Robert on Tuesday and Mike on Friday. 

Advanced: Omoplata! Stretch Sweep, Back Roll Sweep

I was pretty excited when I heard that we were working on something I feel like I'm good at.  I was even able to pass on some advice to the class concerning the back roll sweep.  I was having the hardest time with it a year ago and what I discovered was that I shouldn't hold on to the underhooked leg so tight because it wasn't giving my neck and shoulder enough room for the roll. 

I was able to roll with Ken which I haven't done in a long time.  I'm no longer used to his style as there were a few things that he did that no one else does, but I felt like I did a lot better against him than I've ever done.  I was able to get to the omoplata position with Greg and I almost completed the back roll sweep but let go of his sleeve and got my back immediately taken.

Open Mat

Before class I reviewed my DVD notes.  The main takeaway so far is an improvement to my regular half guard using a knee up to block their other hip and then controlling the inside space.  
  • Keep Spine Straight
  • Plant Feet After Hip Escape
  • Knee Up In Half Guard
  • Control the Inside Space
  • Use Wizzer Entry to DH
Rolled with quite a few people today.  There was a new guy, Felipe that is a blue belt from Brazil.  He was pretty fun to roll with as he's a pretty small guy with good technique.  Had a great roll with Jerad and felt like I played open guard a little better against him.  I helped out Austin and Brian AF with some techniques.  Unfortunately I didn't make it to deep half guard, however I was able to do some different things with my regular half guard.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Mike (Tumbleweed): It was great to have him around in Friday class.  We discussed some of the stuff from the DVD.  It's cool to bounce ideas off of him as he has a very analytical eye.  The major thing from the past week though is that my side control escape improved dramatically after he gave me a hint about using my arms a little bit more to escape.  He's been a big part of my Jiu-Jitsu development and I have learned a lot from Mike over the past 3 years.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

September 13th - Weekly Review

As many of you already know, I decided to take my blog underground and not share it anymore.  I feel like it's been a good decision as I feel more free to write what I want without thinking about who's going to read it etc.  I got a lot of good comments on Facebook from my friends saying they liked the blog, so I came up with the idea of doing a weekly review just to keep it going a little bit.  I'd also like to blog here about events like tournaments, belt promotions etc that the school does.  So hopefully this turns out okay.

Also quick shout out to all of my LBJJC family that competed at Circle of Iron.  I have already seen some videos and some hardware pictures.  Respect to everyone that put themselves out there and competed.


Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Standing Headlock Defense w/ Hammerlock, Armbar from Mount, Elbow Escape from Mount

I didn't find the self defense technique too appealing, maybe because it reminded me of Hapkido, but it grew on me as the week went on.  Tuesday I got to work with both Robert and Will which is a real treat for a Tuesday beginner class as I am often the only blue belt.  Rolling felt good in these classes all week.  I feel pretty strong with my mount escapes and attacks.

Advanced: Clock Choke, Various Conan Style Side Control Escapes

Greg was absent for the advanced class on Wednesday so Conan went through one of his famous classes.  These reversals actually came quite a bit easier during drilling than they usually do, maybe some of the Conan magic is rubbing off on me.  But, then I rolled with Conan from side control and completely shut me down from top and bottom.  It is very interesting how he put pressure or lock something up on me and I'm not able to do anything.

Open Mat

Had some good rolls as usual.  One huge takeaway was that Mike noticed that I should use some grips a little more during side control and that was an instant change when I tried it during rolling, I'm going to really be looking into this next week.  Greg and I discussed single leg-x defense as well as passing butterfly guard that I will also add to my list of things to work on.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Bhuvana: It's interesting to see her go from thinking BJJ was primal and not understanding what was going on to now speaking the lingo with me at work.  She's also a big supporter of the blog and sometimes my proof reader.

Brian (Firefighter): For this comment he made about my blog: "I was judging my BJJ progression by whether or not I got mentioned on the blog. When I did get mentioned, I felt like Susan Lucci when she finally got an Emmy after 30 years of waiting!!"  Not because I saw him in class this week.

Henry: For gi choking me pretty well twice. 


Friday, September 5, 2014

September 5th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: O Goshi, Back Mount Gi Chokes: X-Choke, Wing Choke, Bow & Arrow
Partner: Anthony (Bandana)

Not much to say here.  Focused on my wrist position and tried not to get Anthony's hair too tangled up in my choking hand.  He seemed to be getting the techniques today and only required a few pointers.

Rolling: Back Mount Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling/Competition Matches (2 x 5 min)
Rolled With: Anthony, Ross, Jordan

Anthony did well with back mount for being so new.  I think his long legs helped with that.  During free rolling I helped him out with some basic strategy and informed him thusly that he didn't want to attempt to collar choke me in my closed guard.  Jordan's guard passing is coming along, but I think our size difference gives me a major advantage on top of having more experience.  I think I've seen a skill jump in Ross lately as he's getting ready for the tournament.  I'm excited to see how everyone does. 

No one wanted to hang out for office hours today.  Probably too many burpees inflicted by Greg.  Greg and I discussed the benefits of the beginner class as opposed to the mixed classes we used to have at the old school.  I was contemplating how different it would be if instead of being thrown to the wolves, I started in a beginner class.  I think the factor that helped the most with my success was the attitude that I went into Jiu-Jitsu with.  At the old school I witnessed a lot of new guys start then get discouraged and then quit.  With already having a martial arts background I felt confident that if I stuck it out and learned the techniques and put the work in it would eventually pay off.  Even with this attitude some days were tougher than others. 

Thursday, September 4, 2014

September 3rd 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Takedown Fit-Ins, Closed Guard Brabo Cross Choke and Brabo Choke
Partner: Ken, Will

As always, it's good to see Ken and work with him.  The technique was pretty solid today, although I don't go for the brabo very often especially in guard.  I had a little trouble coordinating the steps of breaking their posture and keeping them down while I worked their gi lapel to the back of their head, but once there the choke seemed pretty easy.

Rolling: Guard King of the Mat, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Henry, Will, Adam, Gina, Greg, Mike, Ken

Had a bit of a rough session of rolling tonight which shattered my ego a bit.  I may not have been in the right mindset walking into class, there have been a few things bugging me that logically shouldn't but some self doubt and other personal insecurities have been creeping in.  So when things didn't go right during KotM it fed my bad mood a little.  Then I got into a bit of a cycle to where I thought if I just tried harder on the next round I'd get through it.  Then when my expectations weren't met it made me feel worse.  Eventually my analytical side was able to talk myself out of it a little bit.  Of course we've all read the memes of "You either win or you learn" or "It's a marathon not a race" things that I've said earnestly to others.  It can be tough to swallow your own medicine at times.  Fuckin ego.

There were some good things that happened.  Had a good bout with Ken where I attempted a standing guard break then he stood up and Judo tripped me but I was able to use the momentum to sweep him.  I had a tough half guard battle with Adam where I used the arm weave against his knee shield, eventually he was able to almost take my back but we ended up in side control. 

By the time I rolled with Adam during the free rolling portion, I felt like my head was in a pretty good place.  My main objective was to keep him from passing my guard and I hung on longer than I expected.  He had me in side control for a while, but I was able to regain butterfly guard and got a little excited but he was able to pass it again.

With Gina I tried to be a smooth as possible without using any pressure; well I probably used a little bit of pressure.  There was a point when I caught her with the head and arm choke and I could feel that she was giving in so I told her to fight out of it and I wasn't going to let her quit.  After she escaped I started in bottom side control and wasn't able to make anything happen.  She apologized later for being a bad rolling partner and I tried to tell her that is never the case. 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

September 2nd 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: O Goshi, Back Mount Gi Chokes: X-Choke, Wing Choke, Bow & Arrow
Partner: Anthony (Bandana)

Probably my biggest take away from this portion of class was with the wing choke.  Greg gave the example that this technique is stronger from a technical or s-mount.  I've never been able to complete the wing choke during rolling, so this gave some hope for it.  Otherwise, I feel pretty good about my bow & arrow and did my best to walk Anthony through the finer points of it.  The advice I find myself giving most often is to get the hips out from underneath the opponent after getting grips like a trap door.  It seems to help.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Back Mount
Rolled With: Corey, Tim, Greg, Anthony, Robert, John, Bhuvana, Sam

Everyone was collar hungry during this portion of class.  So much so that it made it easier to hit armbars and regular RNCs.  I did have to be very vigilant on protecting my own collar as everyone was hunting it.  I felt good by being able to defend a few submission attempts from Greg going from bow & arrow, to an armbar to a triangle and then back to an armbar.  I saw Sam fight for an armbar that she ended up losing, but I saw some good things, she hung in there and countered being stacked.  I finished up with Robert where he was able to escape my back mount to half guard. 

Office Hours
Rolled With: Tim, Bhuvana

Tim and I have kept with our tradition of starting from standing and I took him a little by surprise with a snap down.  We discussed it a little bit and talked about follow ups.  I really need to improve on my stand-up, I think.  At one point I was working toward an americana and I could feel Tim was starting to give up, so I coaxed him with "hey, don't give up!" and he fought through it.  I played some single leg-x with Bhuvana and eventually made my way to mount.  She did a great job of keeping her cool even though I was putting a little pressure on her and attempting some submissions.  She was covering up so much though that I was able to take her back and then had to pry her arm free for an armbar because she was basically hugging herself to keep me from choking her.  We went over what she could have done and a couple reps of the half guard sweep.

Sunday, August 31, 2014

August 30th 2014 - Kids, Competition, & Open Mat


Kids' Class

About 10 minutes before we left for class, Jace was brushing his teeth and yelled that his nose and mouth were bleeding.  I came into the bathroom to find a crime scene.  I kept him relatively calm as I cleaned him up, but he said that he didn't want to attend class today, but he came along anyway.  He ended up getting his gi on anyway and did fine.

Despite a few minor times in the beginning of class when Jace wanted to get in Jayden's lane they were really good.  The both did well with falling and rolls and they even did their forward rolls without the ball quite well.  They played flag tag and Jayden didn't win which seemed to bother him a little bit.  Greg added an extra flag to make the game a little more complicated.  The technique of the day was getting a high collar grip from mount, which tickled them both.

Competition Class
Focus: 2 on 1 Back Take, X-Pass, Deep Half Sweep
Partner: Jerad

Greg kicked our butts with some partner exercises today.  Did several sets of burpees in between lunges, leg lifts, sprints, wheel barrows, piggy back, and bench pressing our partner.  That took a lot of the fight out of me. 

From there Jerad and I did our sets of techniques.  Major takeaway was that I was releasing my leg too much in my entry to deep half from knee shield, which is where Jerad usually catches me.  We had a competition style roll and he shut me down badly.  He was up 10-0 before submitting me with a bow and arrow choke. 

Open Mat
Rolled With: Jesse, Tim, Ross

I noticed a dog tag tattoo on the new guy Jesse and we ended up talking for quite a while about the Marine Corps.  He had quite an impressive hardcore career that I won't go into too much, but it was a little intimidating rolling with someone who would have outranked me and was definitely a badass in the Marines.  He didn't have much experience with BJJ though so I ended up doing more positional sparring with him and explaining some of the basics. 

I wanted to continue my guard aggressiveness with Tim and Ross, but it was difficult to maintain after the competition class.  I was hitting some omoplatas from open guard which seemed to fall into place.  I also hit a couple deep half guard sweeps.  I went over an escape for omoplata with Tim, which he was able to use in our next roll.  

Friday, August 29, 2014

August 29th 2014 - Gi (Office Hours)

Theme & Techniques: Scarf Hold Escape, Roll Over from Turtle to Side or Back Mount
Partnered With: Anthony (Bandana)

Before class started, Dave made the comment that he considers the after class rolling that I do as my "office hours."  I'm flattered considering I am not a professor...yet.  For me the rolling that I do after class has been indispensable.  I know not everyone can stick around and I make sure that Greg is okay with us staying.  I usually use it for extra rolling time and I'll often give or get pointers on things that come up.  

Went over some instruction on the scarf hold from the top with Anthony to help him understand the pressure of the position.  I put a little more pressure on him toward the end of the exercise to show how important getting the elbow free is.  He didn't have any real problems with the turtle stuff except for moving up the hip placement during the back take.  Seems like he's picking things up very well.

Rolling: Turtle position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled with: Anthony, Ross, Brian (FF)

Turtle position went fine, Ross came the closest to taking my back.  I didn't have as much success with the granby roll, but no one was looking for me to regain guard. 

On the way to class I decided to rekindle my aggressiveness in guard initiative so instead of laying back and letting them come to me, I tried to push forward and attack.  This resulted mostly in putting me in a good position for butterfly guard sweeps or in single leg x-guard.  I was especially seeing the hand fighting to underhooks that Greg was showing a couple weeks ago to the advanced class.  This makes a lot of sense why people have been passing me lately, I'm in the mid-range, that is better for the passer, when playing more aggressive I was able to get more under my partner and control their posture more.  I will be experimenting with this.

Office Hours: Dave, Austin

After playing a little more with my aggressive guard, I stopped at one point in mount on Dave and asked him what he would do to get out of it.  I then walked him through the upa escape, a guard pass and a farside armbar with a little resistance.  Kind of like the perfect gameplan drill.  The next time we rolled I joked with him and told him it was serious this time.

The first roll with Austin I took advantage of his really wide combat base and slipped into single leg x.  He complained that all of the blue belts did that to him, so I showed him that he needed to tighten up his combat base.  Then let him practice single leg x on me with a wide base and see easy it was to get to the position when all that space is there.  Later on I caught him with a head and arm choke to which he had a hard time defending.  I showed him the under knee grab defense and on our following roll, setup the same choke so he could try it. 

Thursday, August 28, 2014

August 27th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Takedown fit-ins, Standing Guard Break to Knee over pass
Partner: Adam

I lightly rolled with Gina before class and got a little warm-up in.  For the takedowns we had to do three different techniques in a row: a shot, a sweep/trip, and a hip throw.  Adam gave me some pointers on a low single, that I may try to work in my game some time in the future.

The standing break we did was interesting, instead of the usual way where we hand off their sleeve to the other hand we just push on their knee from there and staple their thigh to the ground.  It seemed like it would be better, but I wasn't able to use it during training today.

Rolling: Guard Position (8 x 2 min), Free Rolling (3 x 5 Min)
Rolled With: Adam, Henry, Gina, Greg

I was a little sluggish today.  It might have been because Adam and Henry were monsters.  Gina was doing a good job of recovering her guard during my pass attempts, but eventually I worked into a double unders pass.  From there I coached her through the stiff arm escape.  Adam was able to pass my guard a couple of times and had me in side control for a majority of our free roll.  I had to fight hard to keep from getting submitted.  Henry was passing my half guard at will and I thought I was about to take control a few times but he did well with the scrambles.  I was able to hold on to him in deep half for a while even though he was standing up and trying to shake me off.  He eventually setup an armbar that was locked up pretty quickly and I yelled tap to make sure it didn't get any tighter before I hit the ground. 


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

August 26th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Scarf Hold Escape, Roll Over from Turtle to Side or Back Mount
Partnered With: Anthony (New), Bhuvana

Great class today.  I ended up taking on more of a teaching roll during this portion of class.  The scarf hold escape has quite a few steps in it.  The hardest part for both Bhuvana and Anthony was the armbar at the end.  Putting the foot and shin in the right place and taking up the space as they sat proved difficult.  The roll over to side control and back take, feels pretty natural now.  The only thing I had to stress for my partners was to lock the elbow on the hip before attempting to roll them over.

Rolling: Turtle position Up/Down/Out, Free Rolling Post Class
Rolled with: Ben, Moe, Bhuvana, Brian (FF), Anthony, Greg, Tim, Harvey

Felt pretty on my game today.  I kept everyone from taking my back except Greg.  I mostly went for backs as well using the technique from today.  What works best for me is to get my lapel grip on the near side and then jump to the other.  I saw Moe do some great things against bigger guys.  He was doing a great job of attacking the back and not getting rolled over.  Hang in their Moe!

I rolled with Bhuvana a little after class and I showed her knee on belly and 2 on 1 only because she asked.  

Tim mentioned that I was pretty much running through him.  I said I was getting him back for nominating me for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.  Here is me and Jace doing it.  We talked a bit about feeling on some days and off others.  It can be difficult to gauge progress when there are so many variables.  I can tell that he's getting better, I remember when he first started and not having any problems passing his guard or worrying about him passing mine.  That's changed, I have to work harder and not be as lazy. 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

August 23rd 2014 - Kids, Competition, & Open Mat (The Scraps)

Kids' Class

Kids were better than usual.  I think my deal with Jayden is working pretty well.  I just have to figure something out for Jace.  The did some sumo matches for their first game.  I was impressed with both of them.  Jayden was doing similar techniques to an armdrag to get behind them that they may have picked up from flag tag.  They weren't really into the technique of the day which was getting certain grips from both top and bottom of guard.  Finished up the class as usual with blob tag with several kids from the older kid class.

Competition Class
Focus: 2 on 1 to back take, Smash & X Pass, Deep Half Sweep
Partner: Henry

Not sure if 2 on 1 is working out for me.  I've been trying to incorporate it into rolling lately and it hasn't been working out for me.  It may be time to move on to something else.  Drilling seems fine but I think a lot of people have had to deal with Greg doing it and they've become wise to the technique.

X Pass feel great and I got some pointers on the smash pass from Greg.  I was not putting my head up by their head where it needed to be was the biggest thing.  From there it's more uncomfortable for my partner as it twists them up a bit more.

Had a competition match with Henry and didn't do too great.  I didn't get submitted but I was way down on points mostly because he passed my half guard several times after I regained it.  Eventually towards the end he went for an armbar and I was able to counter and get on top, but it was too little too late. 

Open Mat
Rolled With: Jerad, Mike, Sam, Tim

I can always count on Jerad to keep my grounded.  I have a real hard time dealing with his open guard and top half guard.   We were talking about my shortcomings after rolling and he said that I don't seem to flow with him as much as other people and a lot of that is probably mental.  Which is true, I'm a little more cautious with him and others that I know are better than me.  I did hit an omoplata sweep and had side control for a little while, but he eventually escaped. 

Mike and I rolled for a long time.  He was still wearing a brace on his finger from the dislocation a couple of weeks ago so he was a little limited.  That said, he was still a handful although I did feel bad a couple of times for taking advantage of his injury.  We got stuck in some berimbolo type positions and for a little while I was caught in a turtle where he was attempting to take my back or armbar or triangle.  Somehow I was able to pass his guard and eventually setup a north/south choke which was a battle to finish.  He'll probably be getting me back as soon as he's 100%.

I was a little surprised when Sam asked to roll with me as I think we've only rolled one other time in open mat.  I figured I must have smashed her or something in that roll.  I was impressed with her shoulder pressure from side control and I think in general she knows what she's doing.  She seemed a little disappointed a few times when I passed her guard.  I went over the farside armbar setup with her from side control.

Tim did pretty good today and had me in a nice tight side control at one point.  I attempted some 2 on 1 but failed miserably.  There were a couple of pass attempts that he had, where i ended up regaining full guard and he had to start over attempting to pass.  I don't recall how our roll ended. 

Thinking more on the 2 on 1 not working for me, I have a hypothesis that the techniques that become part of my A-game are the scraps from my seniors.  Things like butterfly guard, 2 on 1 are/were prevalent in Greg's game and my fellow students are having to defend these techniques from him on a regular basis.  Then if I come around and do these certain techniques at a lower skill level I get shut down easier.  No one that I know of does cross guard to omoplata, north south/choke, or deep half guard (except Ray) as much as I do.  I'm able to have a little more freedom to make mistakes when practicing these techniques because my fellow teammates don't see them as often.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

August 22nd 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Tripod Pass, Granby Roll from Turtle
Partner: Dave

Low attendance for a Friday morning.  Dave was in rare form, as some jackass had berated him on his way to Jiu-Jitsu for riding his bike too slowly.  He gave Jiu-Jitsu props for keeping him calm and being able to just shrug it off and keep on making his way to class. 

As usual Dave was great to work with and is thankful for all of the pointers and help I gave him with the techniques.  He had the most improvement with the granby roll with rolling a little tighter and getting under himself as well as swinging his leg out a bit more and using his other leg to hook my armpit. 

Rolling: Half Guard & Turtle Position (6 x 2 min), Free Rolling Post Class
Rolled With: Dave, Anthony (New), Greg

Dave did a good job of locking my leg in tight and not allowing the knee slide.  From the bottom I was usually able to get an underhook and stay on my side. He may not realize how important underhooks are yet but I'm sure it will come soon.

I almost gave Anthony the nickname of Willie for Willie Nelson.  At the beginning of class he wore a bandana and he has a beard and long hair, but he's quite a bit younger.  It may be a little early for nicknames.  At first I imposed the techniques that we worked on in class to hopefully show that they work, then I helped him get through a couple escapes with a little more resistance than he probably faced in the drilling portion.  He seemed to enjoy himself and asked some good questions.

I was excited to train with Greg today.  I was so close to sweeping him, I got an underhook and he moved to inverted half guard automatically I used a butterfly hook on his calf and was able to raise him and almost get to side control. Then Greg performed magic and regained half guard.  My worst showing was in top turtle. I think I need more attacks from there. Switching sides to get grips has been working well though.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

August 19th 2014 - Gi

Noon
Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Tripod Pass, Granby Roll from Turtle
Partner: Mike (Lawyer)

Big takeaways from today.  During O-Soto Gari, Greg did an initial upward pull before the bus turn.  It seemed to help a lot with off balancing while trying it, I also recently watched a fit-in video for this technique that gave me some pointers.  During the half guard pass, I was raising my butt while attempting to cross my instep over the leg.  Greg told me to move over and pull their leg out more which worked like a charm.  I still felt like my butt was a little high at times, but this was a big improvement.  I felt really good about my granby roll, I remember having a problem with knowing which shoulder to roll over and having confidence and waiting too long before going for it.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Half Guard & Turtle, Free Rolling Post Class
Rolled With: Mike, Sam, Harvey, Tim, Jordan (Wrestler)

Felt good during this portion of class.  From the bottom of half guard I was able to reach full guard most of the time, I think everyone was more concerned with getting swept or their back taken than keeping tight on the leg.  With Greg I was able to make it to butterfly but left too much space and he ended up passing with a knee slide on the other leg, felt pretty good about it nonetheless.  From the top I generally weaved my arm and grabbed their bottom leg or did the switch hip pass. 

For top of turtle my grip fighting felt decent, I had to switch sides a couple of times and I was even able to setup the clock choke that Greg and I talked about the other day.  From the bottom my granby rolling was strong and I found that going for it quickly from the beginning ensured a lot more success.  Greg did an awesome trick that I will be implementing Friday morning.  He grabbed my ankle which made me react and open up allowing his hook to come in, pretty simple and effective.

Tim and I rolled after class.  We've been starting from stand-up lately and he has been getting more confident with it over time.  In our second roll I was able to catch him with a drop shoulder throw and we ended up working on it for a while after.  Greg gave us some pointers and I realized that I wasn't even close to getting far enough under the legs.  He also showed us a couple of techniques to get them to move their legs farther apart to setup the throw.  I had Tim in back mount a couple times and tried to relax more and go with the flow.  I think I've expended too much energy in the past.  My hook control and transitioning and regaining back mount seem to be getting easier.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

August 16th 2014 - Kids, Competition, Open Mat

Kids' Class

Jace had a little trouble focusing today and wanted to annoy his brother through the beginning of class.  Jayden was pretty good about ignoring him while trying to complete all of the exercises.  Jayden and I have a little deal that if he behaves and tries hard for 6 Jiu-Jitsu classes in a row, he can get a mod for Minecraft (computer game).  Class 2 of 6 down.  He even counted the reps during falls which he hasn't been doing. 

They both did well in flag tag as usual.  These games are teaching them some good grappling basics that will help later.  They worked on a wrist grab release as the technique of the day, maybe it had something to do with flag tag?

Competition Class
Focus: 2 on 1 to back take, Smash & X Pass, Deep Half Sweep 
Partner: Henry

I took a couple videos of my drilling to see what these new techniques look like.  2 on 1 seems to be coming along.  I think during rolling I need to trust it more once I get the grip and elbow control, because I'm still hesitant about opening my guard and moving to butterfly.  I originally was only working on the smash pass, but the x-pass has become instant A game material.  I need to get a little lower and more pressure with the smash pass, makes sense that smash is in the name.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Henry, Tye, Gina, Ross, Austin,

It was an odd day of not many people showing up to open mat.  Nevertheless I still got some good rolls in.  2 rolls with Henry one in the gi and other no-gi.  We had quite a battle and I thought I had him a couple of different times but eventually he outpaced me.  My laziness or being tired was a major factor in him tapping me out.  There were definitely times where I sat to my butt instead of pushing forward and fighting for top position like I should of.  Henry finished me with a nasty cross choke that smashed my nose pretty good, in no-gi I don't remember, may have been armbar or guillotine.

Tye surprised me today.  Started off playing a lazy guard and let him pass and he went to mount fairly quickly.  Big mistake as he got in both grapevines and made me very uncomfortable.  I was a little concerned about hurting my knees and played it pretty safe until I was eventually able to get a leg free.  Once I got on top he also did a great job from guard and attempted some triangles and a cross choke.  I eventually turned the tide and got to a dominant position. After the roll was over I told Tye that I would have to start respecting him more during rolling, I do not want to be mounted by him again.

In my other rolls I was able to use some deep half guard, X-pass, the rolling back take and the cross collar drag.  I used a couple north/south chokes which Nic took notice of and asked me about.  It's part of my A game for sure and I feel like I can set it up with little difficulty.  Part of that may be because not to many of my teammates use it often.  However, I have shown multiple people how to defend it so my avenue to it may eventually disappear.  I coached Austin on some armbar defense and Ross on some technical mount defense.

Friday, August 15, 2014

August 15th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense, Half Guard: Clothesline Sweep, Defend Crossface, Regain Underhook Escape to Back Mount, Recover Guard 
Partner: Ross, Austin

Greg switched it up from Tuesday and had the top person start with the underhook and crossface.  From there we did the clothesline sweep.  He also mentioned later on that he was going to add this technique to the curriculum.  The piece of the technique that gave me the most trouble was squeezing with the knees at the beginning of the technique.  I didn't get it at first and Greg had to remind myself and others to do it several times.  By the end of the class it felt better.  I also had a few problems with the hand position to protect from the crossface, mostly because I wanted to grab the gi.


Rolling: Up/Down/Out Half Guard
Rolled With: Ross, Austin, Darijo, Dave

I don't have much to complain about from rolling this morning.  I did attempt a few shaolin sweeps that were denied, can't seem to figure the timing out on that one.  I think it has something to do with how I attempt to pull their arm across to the other side that's giving away the technique too soon.  I went to deep half a couple of times and it's feeling more natural to attempt to sweep right away rather than hang out there.  I tried not to use the hip switch pass too much from the top, I rely on that one too much.  One piece of advice I would give to my fellow teammates new to half guard is when we start with the diamond position to frame well with that top arm so it doesn't get smashed to your body right away and you get put flat on your back.  I felt like I was able to do that to everyone this morning.