October 7th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape Over Head Roll, Straight Footlock and Defense
Partner: Casey

I'm not sure if I'm feeling better about the straight ankle lock or not.  Yesterday I felt good about it but today I had some trouble with getting the toes right in my armpit.  Then the angle felt off with my forearm and their ankle.  Hopefully I can get this sorted out on Friday.  For the headlock escape Greg commented that I needed to push into them more and then not pause before rolling them over.

Rolling: Closed Guard (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Casey, Morgan, Ben, Dave

I've been a little concerned about resting on my larals lately.  Not that I do everything perfectly or that I'm not getting a good workout but more like I'm resorting to the same things that work for me instead of trying some new stuff.  So the question is what should I introduce or what should I limit.  I think I'm going to really focus on trying to complete the technique of the week first and foremost.  Yeah it's going to be difficult because it's on everyone's mind and I'll probably fail, but I should get a lot out of it too.

So while rolling today I attempted a couple of straight ankle locks but failed miserably.  Mostly with maneuvering around their other leg to get my leg positions.  I don't think anyone went for an ankle lock against me in guard.  From a training session with Mike A. recently we discussed how not having to defend ankle locks can make you be a little sloppy with your leg positions.  Like knee shield or the basic side control escape. 

In my last roll with Dave I think I surprised him because I walked him through passing my guard, attacking from side control, going to mount, going to high mount, then finishing an americana.  I did some small resistance with each movement and then told him what to do next.  He seemed to appreciate it.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

We rolled a couple times, not sure if it was humidity or what but I was already feeling pretty hot.  I found myself attacking the kimura but not to finish with the technique but more to move to back mount.  It didn't workout that I got a submission from there but it was an interesting exercise.  Close to the end I went for an ankle lock but he defended it well and somehow pulled sleeve, putting my arm into a type of armbar.  I was able to recover, but I don't really know what happened.