August 25th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense Against Wall to Neck Crank, Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Pass
Partner: Robert, Morgan

Before class I had Zac help me with some Uchi Matas.  I decided to research this throw and see if it's for me.  The video at the bottom of this post has been pretty helpful so far.  I'm really interested in finding some more stand-up techniques because I often don't feel confident with my takedowns. 

Not much to say about techniques this week.  Just want to point out that when defending the guillotine I like to think about scraping them up the wall and getting posture.  Bring your chest forward and up and don't use your neck to push against their arm.  Once you break the choke keep your posture because if you look down again they'll be able to pull you back down.

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

It feels like it's been a while since I trained in the closed guard and I enjoyed it.  Morgan did a good job from bottom with getting collar grips and attempting to break me down.  When I was on bottom I felt very comfortable and started playing my cross guard and 2 on 1.  I feel like I have a lot of options from here and maybe I should focus more on getting back to full guard. 

Had an almost did something good with Greg situation.  I went to cross guard but he put a wall up and got my leg out of the space that I wanted.  He started to do a standing pass and somehow I ended up with a kimura grip.  I attempted to do the rotating back take technique but got stuck.  I went for half guard but I probably shouldn't have.  From the top Greg got me in 2 on 1 and eventually led into a triangle. 


Office Hours Partner: Robert

Did the last roll with Robert and than another 5 minutes after class.  Like usual I ended up in half guard a lot.  I was able to use a butterfly hook a couple times to regain butterfly guard but he seems proficient in defending butterfly, maybe need to revisit that position soon.  I went to deep half a lot, but didn't feel confident in the position with him.  He seems to be able to beat it.  I ended up in side control at one point and was able to implement some of things that Conan worked with me on this past week.  Greg said he saw some pretty good stuff from both of us during our rolls.