May 19th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Cross Collar Choke and Armbar from Guard
Partner: Robert

During the hip throw I focused on keeping my elbow high in the look at the watch position.  I think it helped a little bit with the throw. 

One huge ah-ha piece of the cross collar choke was when Greg was working with us and Robert and I both had some issues with our second grip.  Greg told us to change the angle of our upper body and then princess wave to get the grip deeper.  Moving the body away made a huge difference on the angle of the forearms and allowed me to get the grip right.  I've got to experiment with this during rolling the rest of the week.

Armbar felt natural and smooth.  The only help I gave Robert was with kicking the armpit forward to break my posture.  We messed around with transitioning to triangle and omoplata towards the end of drilling the technique.

Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling
Rolled With: Robert, Zack, Morgan

Had a good day of rolling.  Actually hit an omoplata sweep on Robert and made sure I kept the pressure on so he wouldn't just get up after.  At one point I had him in a triangle but he postured way back and I wasn't going to I was in Zack's open guard trying to pass and he got an overhook with my gi and was setting up a collar choke.  I felt like passing may make the choke tighter and I hesitated to pass, he ended up sweeping me with it.  When I was on the bottom of guard with Zack I ended up in half guard and used the knee shield primarily.  I attempted a couple shaolin sweeps but didn't have the right grip on his sleeve.  Need to gain some confidence in the technique because I think I'm close to a breakthrough with it.  Rolled with Morgan and after completing a couple submissions I talked him through regaining guard and doing the armbar from class.

Office Hours Partner: Morgan

I really appreciate when people stay after class.  I know everyone can't but I know I've benefited a lot from extra rolling after class.  We went over breaking the guard and knee slide pass and then rolled a little bit.  He's still really new and I didn't have too difficult of a time doing the techniques I wanted.  I did some deep half.  I should have went after the triangle or the cross collar choke to really challenge myself.