January 29th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Side Control Tripod Escape, Kimura from Side Control
Partner: Brian (Sweeney)

I gave Conan a bit of a hard time because he started teaching the americana from side mount instead of the kimura.  Otherwise business as usual.  Still working on making the tripod as natural as possible.  It's been a while since I've seen Brian as he took some time off from training, I'm happy to see him back and hopefully he can get past the "it's tough starting again" phase. 

Rolling: Side Control (4 x 4 min), Free Rolling (5 min)
Rolled With: Brian, Zac, Jeff

Brian did some good things while rolling and showed that he still has some skills.  He was doing a good job from the top trying to isolate my arm and he had me worried for a bit that I may not get out of it.   He also did pretty well from the bottom to keep me from submitting him. 

Rolling went well today.  I felt like I was in the bottom of turtle more often than usual.  I guess that's an inevitability when working on the tripod.  Zac was able to get me tied up at one point with my lower lapel.  I was scrambling to get out of it and made it to full guard, but it was still too tight and I had to tap.  That was frustrating!  When I started on the top I tried to repay the favor.  I went for my own collar chokes which I didn't complete but it did help keep him on the bottom.

It's also been a while since I rolled with Jeff, although he probably just attends classes that I don't.  I felt a little bad with our size difference so suggested that I start on my butt instead.  Seems like he's used to starting on the bottom because he was a little hesitant to come up and try to pass.

Office Hours Partner: Conan, Zac

We did some 5 min rounds of rolling.  Conan frustrated me quite a bit as I felt like I couldn't do anything to him today.  I might be too predictable at this point and he knows what I'm going for.  I did well with Zac but it was tough dealing with his strength.  It's starting to sink in that I need to focus more energy into preventing my guard from being passed rather than spending energy getting out of side control.  So focused on framing and grips.  I was successful with the cross guard and the omoplata crucifix position.  I'm finding this to be a recent successful submission for me, mostly because I blew it in the last tournament.

I felt pretty crappy after class about my performance and it took me a while to figure out why.  I did some good things and got some good training in.   I think the reason was that I felt so helpless while rolling with Conan.  This isn't the first time and definitely not the last that this will happen but can't always keep the ego in check.