March 6th 2014 - No Gi

Theme & Techniques: Side Mount Kimura & Variations

Pretty small class tonight.  Conan taught with a focus on the kimura from side control.  Our first technique was from hooking up the lock from the bottom.  Then when they spin around to counter with the armbar we'd time it to push them over.  Greg also pointed out the switch to backtake and we worked that for a while.  We moved on to the top position and worked on a couple ways to finish it.  Most notably Conan's genie lock which I've never seen anywhere else since I started.  I worked with Adam on this portion of class and we were both a little tight.

Rolling: Free Rolling (3 x 8 min rnds)

I did a good job preventing Adam from passing my guard for at least half of the roll.  He eventually got around me and I had to fight to keep my arms out of harm's way.

Mike and I rolled nonstop for the entire 8 minutes.  I spent a lot of time in half guard while he stood trying to pass.  I didn't do much attacking accept I did almost pull off the backtake kimura we worked on earlier, it at least got me back to guard for a little while.  At one point I setup a heel hook from single leg x but he was able to roll out of it.  Soon after he setup a toe hold beautifully.

I had a terrible time with Jerad's guard.  I am so much more confident passing guard in the gi and I haven't been able to find my no gi strategy yet.  There was one point when I attempted to go to the hip switch from half guard and he caught me with a kimura on the way in.  To relieve the pressure I tried to move in closer but it only locked it up worse and he fell back.  I had to yell tap very quickly and it sprained my arm a little bit.  It's better now, hopefully it feels okay tomorrow morning. 

After class Mike and I rolled from 50/50 a few times working for ankle locks.  I am such a novice from this position.  I need to work from it more and I should probably watch some tutorials on the position.  After that we talked about my deep half a little bit and he told me to control their knee more.  I think it finally sunk in.  I had so much sympathy from my own knee problems that I didn't really want to grab anyone's knee.  Not that I would hurt them but I think I just wanted to treat my opponents knees with care.  I think this is going to be a huge change for me.