May 2nd 2015 - Kids & Competition & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique/Game: Side Control Escape, Side Control to Mount, Side Control and Free Rolling

Only had a little bit of trouble during the technique portion today.  There was some tickling and getting in each others faces to make the other laugh.  Otherwise they were trying during the warm-up and the rolling went very well.  Jayden was a little sad that Jace kept stepping over into mount, but I saw him do some good things from the top and when the actually free rolled he got a sweep.  I can see them moving their hips correctly to get to their knees and get on top.  It's very fun to watch them roll.  Hopefully they'll realize how important taking the technique portion of class seriously is.

Competition Class
Focus: Guard: Omoplata Sweep; Pass: X-Pass, Smash Pass; Takedown: Cross Guard Pull 
Partner: Henry

Greg had us warm-up with some different grip breaks with 2 minute rounds.  The first two were ones that we commonly use, the third one was a defense against a stiff arm on the lapel where we kind of compressed it into our opponent.

The humidity was tough to deal with today and I felt a bit out of shape.  I got winded doing so many reps of the omoplata sweep and the x-pass was tough on my legs.  It felt good to join in on the competition class though.  I think focusing on the omoplata sweep during rolling is going to be a good idea.  I was setting up a wrist lock or going to the spiral armbar as a follow up.  During the guard passing portion I had Henry grab my ankle after a while to deal with it since it's a common problem from the position.  

Open Mat
Rolled With: Conan, Adam, Jerad, Mo, Bauer
Game Plan: Bottom - Anything Deep Half & Cross Guard, Top - Baseball Bat Choke, Spiral Armbar

Conan: I had asked him yesterday if he had any pointers on the Tozi pass since he's been working on it.  He basically took me through a whole class.  Several things that I didn't know were brought to light.  He lays on his side more than I do once the thigh is smashed down.  His head doesn't necessarily need to be up by their head but can be in the armpit too.  He will also push on their hip with his free hand.  A lot of good information that I collected today.  I don't think I ended up in anyone's close guard after that so I didn't get to use it today.

We rolled and I started out pretty well.  He ended up sweeping me from half guard with an underhook.  I almost regained a couple times and was able to mess with his balance but it was only a matter of time before he submitted me.  I think it was either an armbar, kimura, or americana.

We went over dealing with the knee slide pass and keeping my arm under my leg to keep him from grabbing it.  Also controlling my opponents knee and not letting it hit the floor by pulling it into myself.

Adam: Had some good things happen with Adam but ultimately I felt weak against him.  He eventually passed my guard and while I regained to half guard and then butterfly, I never came close to a top position. 

I struggle with how much energy I need to conserve.  Yeah I can keep him from submitting me for quite a while in side control, but how much more effort would I save if I used it on preventing being passed?  Maybe that is an experiment that I need to conduct.  Focus all of my energy on maintaining guard and sweeping.

Part of my problem is also not trusting my technique with the better guys.  Sometimes an opportunity will present itself for the makings of an omoplata or something else I'm good at, but I'll think that they're too good to fall for that and not try it or be too slow to try it.  Need to work on getting some confidence in my technique and throwing a little caution to the wind for a while.

Jerad: Jerad called me out early on since we didn't get to roll last week.  I tried to turn on my no-thinking mode and it worked pretty well.  I was able to pass his guard with an x-pass and I attacked from top for a time.  I went to north/south choke, then guillotine then mount and finally switched to ezekiel but apparently I was in the middle of his throat instead of on the side.  Once he busted out of that I ended up on bottom, and he turned it up a notch.  I felt too tired to fight back effectively and my fingers seemed to completely shot.  He submitted me with an armbar maybe, not sure why I'm blanking on the submissions tonight.

Mo: During our roll I went through my north/south choke to guillotine sequence again.  He ended up getting free but I went right into a rolling back take from quarter guard that seems to be getting better for me.  After our roll he asked some questions about the north/south choke and I showed him my sequence and how I go to mount using the guillotine and then post my head and try to connect my hands.  He says that the north/south choke has been working for him lately, so I'm happy to help him with his contingency plan.

Bauer: We had an epic match which took too long because I was late getting home and didn't get a chance to work with Bhuvana.  Bauer, like me, is very good at defenses.  I think we have being the junior guys at Roseberry's before the move to LBJJC to thank for that.  I felt like I was always playing defense there.

I was in mount and couldn't isolate an arm or get the ezekiel, he made me question if I could submit him from mount.  I was able to setup a spiral armbar but when I went for it he sat right up and stacked.  I had a couple of good sweeps after that with a deep half guard sweep and a butterfly sweep.  The butterfly was in transition as he had just reversed me to the top and was going for mount.  I caught his leg in half butterfly, went to full butterfly and swept and went right into knee slide.  I think previously I would have stopped to think or rest once I captured his leg.  I attacked a lot of bread cutter chokes and tried to setup a farside armbar but never felt confident enough to finish the techniques.  Finally I got into a north/south choke and really took my time in keeping everything tight. 

I asked Greg how I could prevent people sitting up into my spiral armbar.  It was simple, I just needed to step my other leg over his shoulder and it made all the difference in the world.  That is a huge piece to that technique that I completely overlooked.  Fair warning to everyone I mount I'm hunting for this particular sub.