August 7th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Elbow Escape from Mount, Armbar from Mount
Partner: Conan

Turned into an advanced class today with just Conan, Zack, Alejandro, and myself.  Conan gave us a couple variations and showed how he makes the elbow mistake work for him.  A big factor had to do with putting their weight on the knee that you want to bridge to.  He really emphasized how hard the bridge should be. 

With the armbar we moved into an s-mount setup.  This was pretty straight forward although it's usually not the way I get it myself.  Maybe because I feel like it's a little mean since the s-mount puts a lot of weight on my opponent and I'm usually heavier than them. 

Rolling: Mount Position (4 x 4 min), Free Rolling (3 x 5 min)
Rolled With: Conan, Alejandro, Zack

I didn't have much success today due to my competition being so good.  I don't believe I escaped either Conan or Alejandro's mounts and got submitted.  I prevented several submissions but they were both good at lifting my arms and getting underneath them.  Alejandro gave me a lot of trouble with his feet on my thighs.  From the top I was unable to put their arms where I wanted and that was probably the major difference between our defenses.  Not sure what I'm missing but it's something to be considered. 

I rolled with Zack but he wanted me to start on top of mount.  It was a good roll and I attacked the back a bit and almost got some collar chokes.  He told me afterward that my grips were there I just needed to position my body better. 

Rolling with Conan I attempted butterfly guard and felt like I was close to the right position, but allowed him to move to the side I didn't want him to be on.  From there I was passed and stuck in side control and couldn't budge.  He does such a good job at pinning. 

The thing that I admired about Alejandro's game today was his grip fighting.  I had a very hard time getting what I wanted and even when I thought I had the grips I wanted it wasn't good enough and he took a different grip that counteracted it.  He swept me with dela riva again and caught me with a couple armbars.

Office Hours Partner: Zack, Alejandro

Zack and I worked some turtle defense and then some half guard position.  Alejandro showed us a basic de la riva setup and sweep. 

Zack commented that I was a little quiet today.  I was pretty much being thoughtful about what I need to do to get better.  I'm kind of back to mentality again and if I need to be rougher or more aggressive.  I have no idea.  He tried to assure me that I'm on the right path and am being too hard on myself.