May 12th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Rear Naked Defense with Shoulder Throw, Farside Armbar from Side Control, Scissor Sweep
Partner: Bhuvana

She did fine with the throw, but just had a little trouble connecting the shoulder turn with the hip bump.  I think the cause was her legs were already straight by the time she was going to turn the shoulder.  In the end she was bending the knees enough to get the extra oomph to complete the throw.

I'm getting used to pushing on the face when stepping over.  I used to feel like it was too mean, but it's really no big deal when it's done to me.

Scissor sweep works for me in a pinch when rolling.  Mostly from open guard though and I can get someone coming forward.  Today Greg added kicking out their knee as a possibility that he usually doesn't include in this class.  I think the most important thing was to get a good collar grip first because it is very versatile.  don't worry about the sleeve grip until you're ready to open up for the sweep.

Rolling: Side Control with Arm(2 x 2 min), Closed Guard (2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (4 min)
Rolled With: Greg, Harvey, Zack

We started from the bottom with our arm already trapped for the farside armbar.  I got nowhere with Greg.  There was one point where I went for the armbar but stood up way too high.  I think it was nerves trying to get over his stiff arm.  Otherwise he escaped by being able to get his knee in between us every time.  From the bottom I don't think he caught me with an armbar but he did go to mount and swept me a couple of times.  I think I got a sympathetic laugh from Brian (Backdraft) on the side lines for my efforts.

From the bottom with Harvey I ended up in a shallow omoplata position.  I ended up in double unders but it wasn't as clean as I would have liked.  I attempted the scissor sweep couple times with some success.  From the top I passed once and then helped him work on the sweep with some resistance.

Had a good roll with Zack.  Was able to pass to side control, but he kept me from attacking from there.  My arm was trapped in his leg and I had to work it out.  I went for a north/south choke but he was able to hide his neck.  He then kept getting his knees in the way to recover guard.  Time ended before anything else occurred.

Office Hours Partner: Zack

I asked to work on the Faria half guard stuff that I've been watching.  I'm still not totally sure of the best way to setup the Faria half guard.  The problem is mostly that I have to grab his pants with the arm that is underhooked, so I have to figure out some way to make the other person want to bring their knee out.  Will they just do it naturally?  Do I have to trick them?  He makes it look pretty simple on the DVD.  More research required.

He had me attempt to pass his butterfly guard over and over.  Sometimes I passed and sometimes he swept.  He seemed to be focusing more on double unders.  Definitely the major determining factor for winning this battle was who controlled the grips.  I left feeling a little unfulfilled and wanted a few more rolls.  Oh well, better to leave wanting more.