Saturday, May 31, 2014

May 31st 2014 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids' Class

My boys did great today.  Due to no class Memorial day and my son having to get his front teeth taken out on Wednesday they haven't attended for a week.  They were excited to get back

Sumo was the first game and there were enough kids to run 2 separate rings.  This exercise is probably the most helpful in class for dealing with a bully.  The kids learn how to keep their own balance while trying to take someone else down or push them out of the ring.  I've seen them toughen up quite a bit since sumo was introduced.  They still need a little work on their strategy though at times.  Too much pushing in a straight line.

They worked on O-Soto Gari and there wasn't any problems picking partners and we finished up with a large group for blob tag.  The blob always wins. 

Open Mat

Today I tried to do more with the open guard that Greg showed us the day before.  I also attempted quite a few loop chokes although many of them were defeated.  The IBJJF worlds competition was also going on this weekend and several times everyone was huddled around the laptop checking out the matches.  There was also some talk about the worm guard seen in Keenan vs Buchecha and is featured in this BJJ Scout video.

Mo: He started off by asking me to review my north/south choke setup from knee on belly, that I had showed him recently.  I'm honored that others would ask me to show them techniques from my game.  I mostly experimented with getting to the open guard with him and then maintaining it and looking for a few submissions.

Ray: Had some good rolls with him today.  They all mostly ended up with him putting on the pressure from half guard and side mount and me struggling from the bottom.  Ray complimented my guard game saying that I was doing some new things.  My claim to fame is sweeping him with x-guard.  He did foot lock me from back mount and then again from deep half and I think he might have gotten me with a kimura at one point too.  Afterwards we talked about my attempted escapes and how they seemed to be all or nothing, usually nothing.  He thought maybe I should try to escape in increments like Conan does by constantly regaining ground and not giving it back, but neither of us really knows how Conan does that. 

Mike: With Mike I had my mind on my open guard against a standing opponent, most notably getting my gi grips.  I even surprised him with a loop choke in our first roll, although I think he took it as a success for himself since he just gave me some great pointers on the technique Monday.  In the end he caught me with a brabo choke and then said that was the only way he could catch me now, to which I said it's my new americana.

Jordan: He has been out for a while with an injury and said that he was feeling a little lightheaded from overexertion.  So I told him just to keep it playful and I'd flow.  I had a little bit of an internal argument at first about how light I was going to play and if I was going to turn it up if I were to come close to being submitted.  I convinced myself it was silly to even worry about it but it does show that my ego is still around.  I may have played it too light because I ended up on the bottom right away.  From there I did a lot of half guard and tried to always be moving but not use too much strength. 

Henry: He really took me a part today.  I did well in the beginning by trying to control the pace and hunker down, but once I allowed him to get to turtle I really lost momentum.  I really need to butch up my attacking from that position.  Lately with him, I'm really keeping an eye on my gas tank, trying to figure out how to pace myself and when I need to exert and when I need to rest.

Tim: I played a lot of open guard with him.  I also got to use some of the defense from knee slide that Conan worked on last week because Tim was really threatening that pass.  Later on we discussed gauging improvement and how difficult it is.  Greg had told him that he was getting better, it's just hard to see because everyone else is getting better as well.  It's true, he's definitely getting better and I feel like I've been there, you could probably go back a couple years ago in this blog and read about some of my frustrations. 

He also made mention that Open mat was his favorite class.  I didn't argue with it but it did make me think a little bit.  It's most certainly an important part for me but I'm not sure if I currently learn the most through open mat or through other classes.  I can honestly say that my biggest jump in skill came from attending the competition classes that we had in the November, December, and January time frame.  Choosing the cross guard, over/under pass, and single leg to drill over and over again and then seeing them work in rolling was a huge eye opener for me.  In my opinion, to get to the next level for proficiency for me I need to focus more on drilling and then incorporating what I drill into my rolling.  I need to have specific goals for open mat to maximize the time I spend.

Friday, May 30, 2014

May 30th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Basic Open Guard

It was rather bright out this morning when I woke up around 5:45.  So much so that I thought I missed my alarm and was late to class.  Thinking I'm late always wakes me right up.  Had a rare appearance from Jordan A, who said he's looking forward to starting again for the summer. 

I worked with Brian AF today and I think we both were productive and learned a lot.  This was the first time I've seen Greg teach this position in class.  While working on it, it seemed pretty powerful and like it had so many options.  Getting into the position was similar to getting into spider guard, except we started with a deep collar grip and then worked our way to feet on hips and then put our foot on the shoulder opposite the collar gripped side.  From there a lot of the techniques I do from cross guard were available like omoplata and triangle, but it's more of a straight on position at first.

I was surprised to see that Brian was not that familiar with omoplata.  But, it makes sense since it's not on the white belt curriculum.  I guess, I'm biased as it's probably the technique I have the most success.

Rolling: Closed Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Basic Open Guard (4 x 2), Free Rolling (4 min)

With every roll I attempted to get to the open guard position that we worked on.  Submissions didn't come as easy as I thought they would.  The opponent's elbows are the most difficult thing to deal with in this guard and I found when I was on top it was rather easy to hunker down and keep my elbows in tight.  The technique that worked the best for me was the scissor sweep. 

Rolling seemed more difficult than it should have been.  Not sure if it was a lack of sleep, dehydration, or not eating enough but I had a major lack of energy.  I needed to sit by the fan again before heading out and was feeling back to normal after a Gatorade.  Hopefully I get over this, I'll try increasing my water intake before class.


Tuesday, May 27, 2014

May 26th 2014 - Open Mat

My wonderful beautiful wife didn't protest too much when I went in for our special Memorial day open mat.  Thanks to Jerad for opening up the school.  Looking back now, I only rolled with 3 people but 2 hours went by quickly.  Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to roll with Henry, Brian AF, and Dwight who were also in attendance. 

Mike: I don't remember much from our actual roll except that it lasted a long time and it ended with me being choked with a brabo.  He gave me some advice on dealing with a standing opponent from my open guard.  He suggested to pick a couple of guards and work towards them instead of just using my feet on hips.  Also my distance and controlling sleeves and/or lapels is an important detail I'm missing.  I requested a refresher on loop choke and there were a couple details that I think will help in the future.  We reviewed a wristlock that he had seen on a video, which was nice, but not really my style (you think it would be).  Finally we worked on an arm drag from spider guard which was new to me.  I really enjoyed it and it may be the thing I try on the new guys.

Austin: I did no-gi with Austin and mostly worked some x-guard and single leg x and some back control.  Towards the end of our rolls I had him start in side control and showed him the twister side control to mount.  We went back to that position a couple times and I gave him a few pointers on how I like to escape the mount.

Jerad: The first roll with Jerad I felt like his guard was impassible.  He feels like he's made the skill gap between us a lot greater.  He ended the roll by setting a nice triangle that I started to posture out of but once he switched to a bolt lock and then back to a triangle my posture was broken and I had to tap.  Went a little loopy from that one.  I turned it up on our second roll and threw everything I could at passing his guard.  I felt like I came really close but eventually got sucked back into his guard and then swept.  I don't remember how he submitted me after that.  We discussed open guard a little and the importance of knee and shin placement for both the guard player and passer.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

May 24th 2014 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids' Class

Small kids class again this week with 2 other kids besides my own.  Jayden seemed to be a little goofy today and was looking for some attention.  I tried to coax him a little to work harder, but I decided not to push him and let him be.  They worked on the paint brush technique and today was the first time I've seen them finish a submission.  Usually they just do sweeps, takedowns, and escapes but not anything they'd have to tap out to.  I think it was good for them as they need to get used to tapping when they need to.  They played sumo for the first game and I saw some good takedowns.  Jerad had given some advice before we started ending with telling them they could also trip and I saw the kids try and succeed with some trips. 

Open Mat

My ankle was bothering me again going into practice today so I wore my ankle support which helps a lot.  It actually felt much better after the session.  My main objective today was to work on not getting my guard passed and using the stiff arm bicep stuff we did on Friday morning.  For some reason the elbow stiff arm escape from side control presented itself a lot today.  I wore my new grey gi and I'm very happy with it.  The A2H seems to be a perfect size and I kept telling people it's the color of a shark instead of a goose.

Tim: We had some good rolls as usual.  I had setup a kimura from guard and then used it to hip bump sweep.  Later on Mike showed him a defense for that and we drilled it a few times. 

Henry: Had 2 good roles with Henry except that I ended up gassing out near the end.  Most of the time we battled from half guard.  He would pass it and I would get it back but couldn't do much against his base.  Then I spent a lot of time defending his baseball bat choke and failed.  We spoke a bit after class and I learned that we have something in common in that we are both not on speaking terms with our former martial arts instructors. 

Conan: I didn't have much for Conan, but I did pass his guard at one point.  From side control I attempted to farside armbar but he was messing with my base out arm so I could never get any pressure on his ribs.  He did allow me to get the cross stiff arm a few times by setting it up for me.  Which was nice. 

Austin: I gave some advice on isolating an arm from side control.  He was using his arms too much instead of his body.  He claimed that he learned something today, which was a great compliment.  He played spider guard a lot more than I remember.  Definitely made it more difficult to pass his guard.  

Pedro: We have a huge size discrepancy so I did my best to be smooth and not use too much pressure.  At one point he tried to take a big step to pass my guard and I was able to turn it into the waterfall sweep that Conan had just shown Brian AF at the beginning of open mat. 

Brian AF: Started in guard and eventually ended up in half guard.  Setup a kimura from there and used it to get on top and eventually to side control.  He has a wicked bridge which makes me a really have to watch out in top side control. 

Saturday, May 24, 2014

May 23rd 2014 - Gi (Defrag)

Theme & Techniques: Countering Knee Slide Pass

I was half expecting to work on the triangle again, since Greg has been repeating the same techniques throughout each week.  However, I was more than happy that Conan chose to share some of his magic. 

The main thing I took away from today's class is the use of the stiff arm.  Normally I fight hard for the underhook when I'm being passed.  It works well against the new guys but not so well against my seniors.  I may have to put some more work into this.

I worked with Dave on this portion of the class.  While I feel like what we worked on was conceptual and a little advanced, he did a good job. 


Rolling: Open Guard Postion (3 x 3 min)

I did my best to use the stiff arm as much as possible while on the bottom.  From the top I only tried to do knee slide pass but did deviate a couple times when I had to.  I had rounds with everyone in class: Austin, Dave, and AF Brian.  I felt pretty good about the stiff arm and was able to hold everyone off with it, except one time Brian took my back. 

New Analogy: Defragging the Computer

Bhuvana has been watching some instructional videos lately and was a little concerned about how complicated everything seems in BJJ.  I tried to explain that she's trying to take in a whole new technique which is difficult.  Usually when I watch a video I already know the basics of the technique and I'm picking out minor details to improve.  So I tried to relate learning BJJ to how a computer stores information.  Hopefully it makes sense, let me know what you think.

A computer saves information on the disk in blocks and often the blocks for 1 file can get written in separate places on the disk, making it fragmented.  The hard drive has to work harder to get all of the information when a file is accessed.  Defragmentation puts all of the blocks in sequential order so the information can be accessed faster with less work.

We learn BJJ in pieces at a time.  After being taught an armbar we have most of the information but it's difficult to put it together.  We need to go through the steps and possibly repeat them out loud.  Over time we drill the technique and eventually attend another class where it's covered again.  Each time the technique is worked on the data in our heads is being "defragmented" to put all of the data blocks next to each other for easier access.  Too bad I just can't run the BJJ defragmenter each night while I sleep.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

May 20th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Roll Over Escape from Headlock, Triangle Choke punch setup

Partnered with Bhuvana for this portion of class and Greg demonstrated the techniques on me for the rest of the class.  So I ended up getting choked a lot. 

Bhuvana was a little concerned that the triangle was too complicated, but I think she did fine.  She had to repeat the steps as she went through them which is understandable.  The hardest thing about learning the triangle in my opinion is getting the body alignment correct.  I had a little trouble setting up the triangle myself, I'm not a fan of the punch defense, but honestly I have a hard time doing the triangle from guard using any setup.  Mount is a different story.

Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)

Had some great training today rolling with everyone.  I'm really appreciating having Robert in the noon class as he really gives me a hard time.  He's strong and also has some good technique.  I don't think he's figured out gi grips yet completely because he's trained more wrestling and no-gi.  In our free rolling, I started off pulling guard and setup an omoplata sweep that ended up failing, he also got past my 2 on 1 that I tried next.  I spent the rest of the roll in his side control.

I also had good rolls with Bhuvana and Ben.  Ben's pretty fun to roll as he's so strong, so he's tough to deal with but technique has been overcoming so far.  Bhuvana is aggressive as well although she masks it by saying things like "I don't know what to do"  I did end up tricking her by going for the rolling backtake from quarter mount.  We rolled a few times after class and I showed her cross guard to omoplata.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

May 17th 2014 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids' Class

My oldest son seems to be going through a phase.  It took some convincing to get him to Jiu-Jitsu and then get his gi on, plus he missed Wednesday's class.  He seems to want to play by himself with lego more than anything else.  However, once he was in class he had a good time and did everything that he was expected of him.  Hope this passes, I'm doing my best not to pressure him into going. 

The technique of the week was O-Soto Gari and I helped Jayden and Conor.  They both did well, especially once they were "driving the bus" in the correct direction.  Sumo was their first game.  Both Jayden and Jace had some good matches.  I like how they're trying new things and aren't easily getting taken down most of the time.  But, size does make a huge difference at their age and they more often than not lose to bigger kids.  Which I think is a good thing since I've seen Jace deal with losing better over time, even though he still has his moments.  We finished the day with a fun game of blob tag. 

Open Mat

Had a great session today.  On the way I decided my focus was to be more aggressive with other blue belts and then deep half and 2 on 1 with white belts.  I felt a little light headed at the end of class and needed to sit for a while before I could drive home.  I think I should have ate more prior. 

Tim: I made a few attempts to get to deep half guard on him but may have forced it way too much.  When ever I'd make it there Tim was already on his butt, which was good in some ways because it made me go right for the sweep, but I really wanted to work on the waiter sweep and never got a chance.  At one point I showed him the knee pry escape from triangle which is pretty much the same as the knee in guard break.   

Conan: After class we talked about how I don't roll as well against him as I do with other people.  It may be that our styles clash or that there's an intimidation factor there.  For most of our roll I worked hard to try to pass his guard, though thwarted many of my attempts.  I cycled between over/under to bull fighter to knee slide.  The way that he is always positioning his hips, makes it very difficult to pin him down.  Finally he swept me to side control.  From there I defended the best I could until he finally isolated my arm for an americana.

Austin: Main goal was to attempt to get to deep half again but I ended up similar to rolling with Tim.  I did work from Austin's back for quite a while and used it as an opportunity to perfect my RNC setup.  I think I was being too nice as I couldn't get under his chin even with locking his arm up with my leg.  I finally got there, but still don't feel confident in setting up RNCs.  I talked to Greg about it afterwards and he gave me some good suggestions and said I had to be a little meaner.

Mike: I haven't done this well against him in a long time.  I was able to pass his guard with double unders and slowly working my way around to side control.  It really seems like a comfortable position for him so it doesn't have the same effect on him as a non-flexible person.  My focus from there is to not allow any space, because if I do he'll put a knee in that space and then return to guard.  I worked my way to mount and then automatically went for the mounted triangle.  From there I looked for the armbar but decided to sit to the side and go for the triangle.  I probably wouldn't have tried this with Mike, if I hadn't of done it the day before with Darijo.  We rolled a couple more times after that where I setup a farside armbar and he finished the third roll with the brabo choke.

Tristan: I was so impressed with his skill today.  He was all over me trying to pass my guard and he did a few times.  A little bit of my disadvantage was our weight difference.  I didn't want to crush him or use too much strength, but there were a few times when I really needed to.  He didn't really threaten me with any submissions but he was always moving.  I attempted a north/south choke at one point but his neck might have been too small and I couldn't finish it.  We ended up quitting because I had a little nose bleed. 

Henry: The first roll ended fairly quickly, where I was attempting to pass his guard standing.  He sat up and I was able to slap on a guillotine that I followed forward to the ground.  In our second roll, Henry brought it and after multiple attempts to pass my guard he reached side control and worked his way to the baseball bat choke.  I really need to brush up on the defenses for this. 

Friday, May 16, 2014

May 16th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass

I made a mistake once again being the example student for Greg.  He was trying to show if he put his knee too far across for the guard break and I made my response too complicated.  He just wanted me to roll him over.

Worked with Austin during this portion of class.  Besides getting side tracked discussing giant robot anime for just a little bit we managed to get some good work in.  I found that a lot of the advice I was giving him was the same that I gave to Ben the other day.  It was mostly concerning hip pressure.

Rolling: Guard Position (6 x 2 min), Free Rolling (4 min & post class)

Had a great time in the rolling portion of class.  Austin and Dave both attempted the pass that we worked on in class and I exploited the opening that they left for my underhook which I felt a little guilty about.  Debated whether I should let them pass and decided neigh.  I limited myself to starting with the knee slide pass but had to deviate a few times.  I felt like I had to try harder today to get grips on both Dave and Austin than I have recently. 

Brian and I had a pretty good battle from double unders where I almost passed but his flexibility and stiff arming helped him recover and we started over, but I got him the second time.  I had a couple of good omoplata sweeps from the bottom.  One that lifted him up a little bit which we both thought was cool.

Greg made me work hard from both top and bottom.  I feel pretty good about my performance, but there is no way of knowing how much he was really trying. I was able to escape his omoplata attempt but never came close to passing.  From my guard I was able to keep him from passing but I was really saved by the clock as he had me in a gift wrap and I was just holding on to quarter guard for dear life.

I rolled with Darijo after class. Generally I'll start out pulling guard with people instead of any type of knee wrestling.  Lately I think some of the new guys are trying to do the same thing, so we end up having a little dance.  When I sit down then they sit down, then I decide to get up and pass the guard and they get up too.  It might be time to start playing berimbolo when we both end up sitting.  He did a good job of defending most of my attacks.  I have been experimenting with triangle from mount a lot lately a la Jerad, usually I finish with the armbar but he hid his arm and I had to switch to the actual choke and went to the side, which worked well.

Just picked up a 93 Brand Grey Goose gi from BJJHQ.  I haven't gotten a new gi in a while and am hoping this one fits well.  It's my first A2H which if their sizing chart is right it should be perfect.  Usually the sizes are more designed for tall and skinny rather than my short and stocky frame.  The "H" I guess stands for heavy.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

May 13th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass

Worked with Ben today during this portion of class.  My main focus on the guard pass was improving shin movement and hip pressure and I would say Ben improved on these aspects as well.  We got a lot of good reps in.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Guard, Free Rolling Post Class

It's been a while since I've participated in an up/down/out and it was great.  Usually during the Tuesday noon class we only have enough people to switch partners for position sparring.  So it's a great sign that we had enough people to do this exercise.  I did pretty well.  From the bottom I had success with the scissor sweep, hip bump sweep, and 2 on 1 when they attempted to do the guard break.  From the top, I attempted the pass that we worked on mostly, I also did some standing guard breaks.  Robert and I had a well fought round, I had to work really hard to keep him pinned down.  I did a standing guard break against Greg but was eventually foiled by him setting up a 2 on 1 way in advance.  I also saw Sam playing some 2 on 1 and was impressed that she was developing it.

I rolled with Tim after class and he did well defending against my cross guard.  I was attempting to specifically setup the armbar from there but couldn't figure out how to get his far arm where I needed it.  We discussed a few things like preventing armbar from mount and defending the 2 on 1. 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

May 10th 2014 - Open Mat

Felt pretty good today.  It also served as a good reminder that I still have a lot to learn.  Almost everyone I rolled with kicked my ass today although, I did have my moments.   

Jerad: I spent way too much time in quarter guard with him.  I seem to go through this cycle with a lot of people, especially Jerad, he'll be in my open guard and he'll go for a low knee cut pass and I'll catch his foot in quarter guard.  From here I fight for the underhook but all is lost if I can't get it.  Otherwise I go for turtle.  Jerad shuts it down usually so I think I need to find a new plan.  He submitted me twice (Bow and Arrow, Armbar) although I did put him in trouble with a mounted guillotine but I couldn't connect my hands to finish it.

Chris: I felt pretty good about my performance with him although he caught me.  One thing that I learned was that I usually lose the turtle position is due to my shoulder getting pinned to the ground.  I really need to focus on preventing that.  I did have a couple of other good escapes from kesa getame.

Henry: I felt better than previously with Henry as well.  I got him stuck in an inverted no arm triangle for a little while and was attempting a kimura but he eventually got out of it.  He did say that he was very uncomfortable and considered tapping.  I was pretty impressed with how much he can move his hips when his upper body is pinned.  It makes it very difficult to control him cause he can almost always make it to his knees.  He caught me with a baseball bat choke again.  I'm pretty impressed with his progress on that.

Mike: Had a few good rolls together.  He has an interesting knee on belly that I have a difficult time with.  I got to play some deep half and was a little quicker to start affecting balance rather than settle into position.  I was able to escape his guard once after escaping a triangle attempt that I probably shouldn't of.   There was a point in deep half that I got focused on attempting the waiter sweep when we both decided I should have gone for x-guard because of his leg position but I had tunnel vision for that one sweep.

Pedro: Since I am so much bigger than him, I did my best to stay light and keep it playful.  He did well considering.

Greg: Stayed a little later to get some time with Greg.  I feel like I did a pretty good job and there were a couple of good almosts.  Almost passing his guard but putting him into turtle instead.  A couple times I ended up in reverse half guard as well, which feels like I have some control but I usually cannot make anything out of it.  On our second roll he gave me some advice on hook sweep as I was letting my knee cross to the other side too often.  He submitted me with a couple of armbars.  The second one being because I had too deep of an underhook and I should have known better.

After class Greg through out the suggestion that we should send a group to PanAms next year.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that but would like to look into it more.  Really, how good I'm going to get while getting ready for it is a lot more exciting to me than the actual competition.

Friday, May 9, 2014

May 9th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Seoi Nage, Double Ankle Grab Sweep, Butterfly Hook Sweep

Felt great this morning to be in class.  We had a class of 6 this week.  I partnered up with Brian (Sweeney Todd) for the technique portion of the class.  Without thinking about it I gave a little bit of resistance while working on the sweeps.  Brian made mention of it once when Greg had corrected him a little.  I apologized, but he said it was good as it was just the right amount of resistance. 

I remember back to drilling techniques with Mike (tumbleweed) the first few times at SRSBK.  It felt so much more dynamic than I was used to, in that although we were working on a particular technique, he was actively resisting and making me do it correctly.  Of course, it would get out of hand every now and again and turn into almost rolling.  Ever since then I've tried to drill that way depending on my partners skill level and comfort with the technique.

Rolling: Closed Guard (4 x 2 min rnds), Butterfly Guard (2 x 2 min rnds), Free Rolling

I had a lot of fun rolling, as usual.  I didn't feel too inhibited and feel fortunate to be injury free.  I really wanted to work on deep half today but didn't feel like I had any good avenues to half guard.  Instead I mostly worked 2 on 1 from the closed guard and then the hook sweep from butterfly.  From the top I broke the guard from standing mostly either using the armpit grip or the normal way then it was either double under pass, knee slide, or bull fighter.  I rolled with Ross after class and had a good time.  I should have probably picked something to focus on, but I mostly went with the flow.  

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

May 6th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Seoi Nage, Double Ankle Grab Sweep, Butterfly Hook Sweep

Great to be back.  I was very motivated during the warm-up and felt like I had a lot of energy.  However the warm-up did turn out to be more strenuous than I recall.  I worked with Greg on the throw and then partnered up with Robert and Tim for the other techniques.  Sam made a rare appearance on a Tuesday afternoon and worked with Bhuvana.

The double ankle grab sweep was the same technique the kids worked on last week and they really enjoyed it.  The first time they did it they came home and showed me right away.  With the hook sweep being one of Greg's favorite techniques, I've worked on it countless times.  However, I enjoy watching other students learn it for the first time.  Observing the common beginner obstacles while learning any technique help solidify or act as a reminder of what I already know.  

Rolling: Closed Guard (3 x 2 min rnds), Butterfly Guard (3 x 2 min rnds), Free Rolling

My guard felt pretty good today, but I had some trouble passing Robert's guard.  2 times I thought I was home free, but he was able to get to his knees each time.  Robert, like Henry, have some skills that I am missing in my game.  I'm not sure if it's athleticism, wrestling technique, aggression, relentlessness or probably some combination of them but it is something that seems unique to MMA fighters that I've rolled with. 

I rolled with Tim after class.  I had him start with side control and mount so I could work my way out of a poor position back to guard.  From there my main objective was to setup the 2 on 1 grip and use it for a hook sweep or arm drag.  Tim is getting better at defending, he's making me have to use more tricks to setup my techniques.  From mount I gave him advice to attack more and put me on the defensive and keep me there. 

I've started some diet changes in my quest to shed some weight.  Soda is forbidden, which has always been the toughest thing to give up.  I'm drinking more water and trying to limit my portions at dinner.  I've started tracking my calories through myfitnesspal.com.  Plus I'm doing more swimming and will get back to lifting once my ankle is ready.  Yesterday I weighed 214 and my current goal is 195.  I had some success with this strategy before the 2012 state games but my diet went to shit after injuring my knee. 

Friday, May 2, 2014

May 2nd 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine defense against wall, Basic guard break,  Double Under Pass

Circle of Iron tournament is tomorrow so it was a small class this morning of just me and Dave. I wish my Jiu-Jitsu brethren good sweeping and submitting.  I got to practice the techniques I witnessed on Tuesday which was cool, I hadn't worked on this particular guillotine defense before.  Dave seemed pretty happy with everything that he was learning and not too overwhelmed although both I and Greg were giving him as much instruction as possible.  Sometimes I worry that I may be instructing too much and I don't want to step on Greg's toes  While drilling the guard break, I kept wanting to grab the sleeve instead of the pants to begin.  I must have the standing guard break on my mind.

Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min rnds)

During rolling, I did my best to work on the techniques that we practiced tonight.  He did a good job with getting grips.  There isn't much more to say,  It felt good to be back on the mats again.  I look forward to being 100% and able to go to classes.

Edit: Sorry for the abrupt ending.  I actually fell asleep while writing this post.  Not sure if it's the Ibuprofen PM or what but I've been sleeping a lot better lately.