July 30th 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Single Over Pass/Knee Over from Combat Base, Same Pass as Counter to Spider Guard
Partner: Will

Before class I asked Henry if he'd like to slow roll and he obliged.  We both flowed through some good stuff.  I don't know about him but there were a few times that I had to remind myself not to take it seriously and just be chill. 

This was a good technique to work on.  At first I thought it was basic and I wouldn't get much out of it, but there were some things to glean from it.  A lot of it is similar to the over under pass that I use in that we loaded their leg onto our shoulder and then slide our knee over their thigh to staple it down.  From there the person on the bottom has their flexibility put to the test as the top person puts pressure down and back steps followed by side control. 

The Counter to spider guard was awesome.  Spider guard has been tough for me to deal with lately and I get stuck in it often lately unable to remove one spider hook to complete a pass.  First you place your knee on their thigh which should allow you to circle your hand under to grab their pants.  Then step up with a hip bump to remove the other hook.  This puts their leg into the perfect position to go right into the pass above.  It was very slick.

Rolling: King of the Mat Guard Positions
Rolled With: Anthony, Mike, Jerad, Greg, Adam, Will, Fuji, Gina, Henry

In my first roll with Anthony, I setup the omoplata fairly quickly and went for the sweep.  I felt a twinge in my bicep femoris muscle (according to self diagnosis through google image).  I ended up completing the sweep but decided to make sure my leg was okay and resigned my kingship.  It was just a little tight and didn't feel like a serious injury.  After some stretching and walking it off I got back in line.  It feels okay now as I write this, but I suspect I may feel it in the morning, so we'll see.

The farthest I made it today was butterfly guard, which was pretty good, but Mike dethroned me with a sweet armbar.  I did some good against Adam and held on to guard a lot longer than I thought possible with some fancy leg work.  While attempting to pass Greg I attacked from half guard for a while and got a little excited that I might pull off a pass, but he was able to turn it into a single leg x sweep.  I finished the evening with a sweet omoplata combo with Will.  He was able to roll with my first attempt and tried to pull my arm into his own omoplata, I rolled again and was able to finish it the second time. 

My cross guard is feeling great lately and I'm very happy that I've refocused my efforts into this position.  After class I asked Greg about ending up in single leg-x after pendulum sweeping from cross guard and he showed me that I needed to change the angle and pendulum my leg quite a bit more.  Then I should end up in a good armbar position.  I suspect I was just pushing them over and then gave them too much space to be able to fit their knee in.  I'll be working on improving this soon.