September 2nd 2014 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: O Goshi, Back Mount Gi Chokes: X-Choke, Wing Choke, Bow & Arrow
Partner: Anthony (Bandana)

Probably my biggest take away from this portion of class was with the wing choke.  Greg gave the example that this technique is stronger from a technical or s-mount.  I've never been able to complete the wing choke during rolling, so this gave some hope for it.  Otherwise, I feel pretty good about my bow & arrow and did my best to walk Anthony through the finer points of it.  The advice I find myself giving most often is to get the hips out from underneath the opponent after getting grips like a trap door.  It seems to help.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Back Mount
Rolled With: Corey, Tim, Greg, Anthony, Robert, John, Bhuvana, Sam

Everyone was collar hungry during this portion of class.  So much so that it made it easier to hit armbars and regular RNCs.  I did have to be very vigilant on protecting my own collar as everyone was hunting it.  I felt good by being able to defend a few submission attempts from Greg going from bow & arrow, to an armbar to a triangle and then back to an armbar.  I saw Sam fight for an armbar that she ended up losing, but I saw some good things, she hung in there and countered being stacked.  I finished up with Robert where he was able to escape my back mount to half guard. 

Office Hours
Rolled With: Tim, Bhuvana

Tim and I have kept with our tradition of starting from standing and I took him a little by surprise with a snap down.  We discussed it a little bit and talked about follow ups.  I really need to improve on my stand-up, I think.  At one point I was working toward an americana and I could feel Tim was starting to give up, so I coaxed him with "hey, don't give up!" and he fought through it.  I played some single leg-x with Bhuvana and eventually made my way to mount.  She did a great job of keeping her cool even though I was putting a little pressure on her and attempting some submissions.  She was covering up so much though that I was able to take her back and then had to pry her arm free for an armbar because she was basically hugging herself to keep me from choking her.  We went over what she could have done and a couple reps of the half guard sweep.