October 19th 2014 - Weekly Review

Theme & Techniques
Beginner/All Levels: Kesa Getami Escape to Backmount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass

I was still a little congested this week but felt decent otherwise.  My major focus during the beginner class drilling sessions was to improve my left side knee slide as I'm still having some coordination issues when it comes to using my hips and timing the slide down the thigh. 

I also noted that jerking the bottom shoulder during the kesa getami escape is very important.  I can really feel Greg use it when he demonstrates but I think I've been focusing too much on the leg swing.

Friday ended up being a great rolling session for me.  We did King of the Mat from closed guard and I had a lot of chances to work on my 2 on 1.  I rolled with Austin, Dave, Anthony, and Darijo.

Advanced: Kesa Getami Escapes Conan Style

I wasn't excited to work on kesa getami more.  I understand that it's something I need to know how to escape, but it is not in any of my game plans to go to this position on purpose offensively.  Ken was my partner for the class and it was good to work with him.  We finished class with some positional sparring from Kesa.

Mike shared a darce setup that he saw in a Kit Dale video that I've tried to implement a few times.  I liked the setup so hopefully I can get it to work.

Open Mat

I didn't have any easy fights yesterday with Brian AF, Henry, Conan, Jerad, and Bauer.  As I was driving to open mat I came up with a couple things I wanted to work on or attempt. Deep half guard will be on my list for a while to come and I was able to get there several times and sweep.  I also shared a little bit of deep half technique with Brian as he was in the position with me at one point.

The baseball bat choke from side control was also another thing I wanted to attempt and work on.  I thought I had Henry at one point with it but he told me later after armbarring me that it was on his jaw.  I attempted it on Jerad and Bauer as well with little success but I think I might be figuring some things out.

The last technique that I wanted to attempt was a triangle as that is not in my basic game plan at all.  I didn't see any opportunities to set one up but I think that had to do with the skill level of my partners.
Conan gave me some tips on using my leg to assist my underhook when he's smashing it in side control.   It seemed so obvious after he pointed it out but a lot of the best techniques are.  There was a point when he had me pretty pinned down in side mount and I took an opportunity as he was transitioning to get a single leg, he said something to the effect of "Now that's surviving!"

I had my last match with Bauer and it was great.  We had a long tough roll with a little bit of back and forth.  The 2 on 1 really served me well and I'm getting more confident in opening my guard and moving to butterfly after I get it.  After we finished we had a good discussion about what we were working on and goals and some compliments.

Esteemed Colleagues and Honorable Mentions

Bauer: A good way to get in this section of the blog is to compliment me and Bauer surprised me when he said that he's working toward making his Jiu-Jitsu game like mine.  He was one of the first people I competed against and we've had a fake rivalry ever since then.  His work schedule hasn't allowed him to make it to Jiu-Jitsu as often as he would like so I'm always happy to see him make it to class.

He's also helped me with a couple non-Jiu-Jitsu related workouts.  He came in to the Y early one morning several years ago and gave me a whole bunch of pointers on my swimming.  Before the last tournament he also helped me out with a weight lifting routine that I did several times.  Unfortunately I didn't keep up with that, but I still swim every week.