April 24th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Getami Over Head Reversal, Ezekiel from Mount & Top Half Guard
Partner: Austin

The escape went well.  There was a few times where I felt like pulling my head out and taking the back was the better option rather than rolling him over.  Not sure if it was something that I was doing or if he just wasn't giving enough resistance.

Ezekiel felt good.  I focused on grabbing the inside of my sleeve with a tighter grip.  Too often when trying this technique, I end up having a finger come out and making the choke weaker.  An important key for the choke that I've found to help is focusing on where my elbows are.  When we flip the choking hand into the neck we want that elbow on the floor, but then when executing the choke both elbows come up.

Rolling: Mount (4 x 2 min), Half Guard (2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Austin, Ross, Josh, Dave, Zack

I attempted a few ezekiels today, some of them were defended but a few got through.  From the top of mount I was pretty relentless in going for submissions, but in keeping with the theme of the class, I allowed my partner to work on their attacks a little more.  In half guard I gave Josh some pointers on using his legs instead of just his upper body; It makes sense that it's a common theme for beginners in half guard.

Dave came out more aggressive than usual by getting his pant grips and then attempting to pass; I appreciate it.  He worked from side mount but made the mistake of taking a huge step to try to go to mount.  He said it before I did, "got greedy!"

Zack also came out with strong guard passing.  I felt like I dealt with it a little better than I usually do and controlled with the collar grip and tried to keep my legs ahead of him and brought him into closed guard.  I attempted the cross guard omoplata and thought I had it but he was able to posture out of it.  A lot of back and forth happened after that and I remember being on top of his turtle and trying to pull him to his back.  I pulled him on top of me where I should have gave him space to fall to the floor instead.  Time ran out without either of us submitting the other.

Office Hours Partner: Ross, Zack

Ross and I rolled a few times after class. During one of the rolls I ended up in an armbar position but he did a good job to get his elbow free.  I moved to a mountish position and started working for the omoplata but my leg was in the way across his chest.  I had a good butterfly sweep setup.  At one point I ended up in his guard and he started working for the 2 on 1.  He was doing a good job and I just had to make sure my elbow stayed on his hip.  He opened his guard and I stuck one of his hooks in between my legs.  He allowed me to get the underhook which helped me pass.  I ended up in top half guard and he battled for the underhook and got it, however he left himself open for the ezekiel that we just practiced.  I showed him that I like to use my shoulder more in the underhook, it keeps my opponent up higher and gives me a lot more control. 

Zack wanted to work on omoplatas today and I was more than excited to share.  To go along with the butterfly that we've been working on I showed him the shin on bicep setup that I use from open guard.  After that we worked on the cross guard and while I was giving some of the finer points I realized that I've been pretty lazy with it lately in rolling.  I think my attitude with it lately has been that if I get it, great.  If not go on to something else.  But I think I should be more insistent on doing the technique correctly.