December 16th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense, Half Guard with Underhook: Back Take, Guard Recovery
Partner: Ben, Jordan

We did some animal walks for a warm-up which got me breathing pretty hard even though I showed up a little late.  Pretty small class but still a good group.  Some tips on this weeks technique:

• Guillotine Defense: Posture is very important when defending this guillotine, it's not enough to just hold their wrist, you should also be raising your head.
• Half Guard: Your elbow is very important in getting the underhook.  It points the way and don't reach with your hand.  
• When regaining guard don't try as much to move them but move yourself into place. 

Rolling: Half Guard (4 x 3 min), Free Rolling (5 min)
Rolled With: Ben, Mike, Jordan

Half guard is one of my better positions where I feel pretty comfortable.  Mike made a good point while he was teaching that there are a lot of different types of half guards as opposed to other guards.  Like ways you can configure your legs whether you cross your ankles stepping on their calf, or using a knee shield etc.  Something interesting that I never really thought about.

Rolling went well I tried to setup the shaolin sweep a couple times but never felt like I could pull it off.  Arm drag has been a viable half guard technique lately, I think because my partners want to defend the underhook so much that they let their arm go across my hip too much. 

Jordan gave me a tough time again during free rolling and I had to reign him in a bit.  He was able to shut down my cross guard with really good posture but I was able to do other things.  He's good to go up against because he's strong, athletic and pushes the pace pretty well, so I have to be smart with choosing my moments and try to stay ahead of him when he's attempting to pass my guard.

Office Hours Partner: Mike

We rolled a little bit after class and got into a leg lock battle again and I was able to defend pretty well today. I'm really happy with the regularity that we've been able to roll and having him around on Wednesday morning is helpful.  We usually have good discussions after class about Jiu-Jitsu and politics.  We mostly agree but it seems like we'll argue about word definitions.