February 28th 2014 - Gi (Swiss Army Knife)

Theme & Techniques: Technical Standup, Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura

Even though I've been given an extra hour to sleep on Fridays, I feel like it's more difficult to get up.  Had a good group this morning of Air Force Brian, Darijo, and Austin.  Darijo was my partner for drilling.  All of the techniques felt pretty good, so nothing interesting to report.

Rolling: Guard Position (6 x 2 min rnds), Free Rolling (5 min rnd)

From top I focused on the standing guard break and torreando pass.  From the bottom I tried the 2 on 1 and had some success.  Brian was preventing me from getting to butterfly.  Greg told me to hook the shins in order to pull their legs out to get the position.  I had a few butterfly sweeps from there and then also one legged-x for when the brought up their opposite side leg.  I free rolled with Brian and felt pretty good. 

After class we were talking about when things start to make sense.  Brian asked what it felt like to be able to have a plethora of techniques and be able to transition from move to move.  First I take it as a compliment that he thinks that.  I told them that after a year or so of training when new guys start coming in everything will start coming together. 

Thinking about it more later and to use a silly analogy I think Jiu-Jitsu can be equated to the creation of my personal Swiss Army knife.  Eventually in Jiu-Jitsu you find a technique that works for you from a certain position.  I'll use my side control game as an example.  Farside armbar was the first technique I felt confident with which will represent the basic blade.  You can get a lot done with a sharp blade, but there will come a time when it isn't the best tool for the job.  So then I started adding pieces to my knife to make it more versatile.  North/South choke probably came next and that could equal the scissor tool on my knife.  If people are insistent on keeping their arms in and protected it often leaves their neck exposed.  Followed by other techniques: baseball bat choke equals a saw, Rickson Choke equals a toothpick, kimura equals a cork screw, etc.  I keep attempting to add techniques to my game that serve a purpose that my existing techniques don't fulfill.  So just like I would choose the can opener over the scissors to open a can of soup, I would choose a  darce choke over a norh/south choke if my opponent turned hard into me.