March 7th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Neck/Hip Throw, Standing Guard Break & Toreando Pass

Smaller class this morning with myself, Darijo, and Austin.  When there's only three of us we have to kind of treat it like up/down/out to make things go faster.  I saw Austin improve greatly in the passing technique during this class.  Darijo's technique was looking good as well.  We finished the drilling portion of class with the knee on belly switch if they try to escape.

Rolling: Guard Position (2 min rnds), Free Rolling

My goal from top was to practice the standing guard break and toreando pass from the drilling.  It worked quite well and I think it helped the other two realize that the technique does work and some ways to adjust to prevent it.  By the end they were keeping me from getting the grips I wanted and I had to be more crafty if I wanted to pass their guard. 

From the bottom my main focus was the 2 on 1 and it felt like it was really coming together today.  It may be a little unfair to the other two guys because doing the standing guard break puts their sleeve right where I want it for my 2 on 1 grip.  I played a little cross guard too but for the most part I got my 2 on 1 grip went to butterfly guard and then attempted to hook sweep or arm drag.  Greg told me that he ranks the arm drag as his go to technique from this position which makes sense, I was thinking the hook sweep would be the #1.  I also need to do more with pushing or punching their arm into them to help get a reaction. 

I rolled with Darijo after class a few times and I can see that he's making some progress.  I used some single leg x, as well as the knee on belly switching from earlier to setup the baseball bat choke.  He did concern me one time when he sat back for a straight ankle lock, he must be following in his coworker Ray's footsteps.