February 9th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kimura Setups
Partner: Robert

The main technique that Mike wanted to teach was the front roll into kimura setup, but he thought it better to work some basic setups first for the newer guys.  The takeaway for me today was if you are working on finishing the sub you hold their elbow tight to your chest, but if you are using the kimura to move then you want to straighten your arms.  This is a rule that I can embrace for now.  We also did a pretty brutal crossface trying to reach for their armpit a couple times I wanted to tap to Robert's.

Attempting the front roll with the kimura was not as difficult as I thought.  There is some looseness to it in that you connect the kimura as you roll and then determine if you take the back or come up for the kimura. 

Rolling: Butterfly Guard (2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 5 min)
Rolled With: Robert, Mike, Harvey

Working with Robert in butterfly guard was challenging and fun.  We pretty much stalemated each other, but had many positional changes but no sweeps or guard passes completed.

Mike and I had a good roll ending as it usually does lately with him ankle locking me.  I felt a little good about my defenses but it was inevitable from 50/50.  Just got to keep working them.  I think I may need to refresh the basic leg attacks as I'm still trying to piece together when I should be defending and when I should be attacking or doing both at the same time.  When I was trying to pass the guard I was consciously thinking of my elbow placement so that is coming along.

I had some fun rolling with Harvey and tried to go with the flow but maintain a dominant position at all times.  There were a few submissions that I may have been able to get but I felt like transitioning between positions instead and not forcing anything.  To his credit he was able to make me reposition a couple of times and he was able to come up into my guard from back mount. 

Office Hours Partner: Tom, Mike

I wanted to drill the spiral armbar a bit and Mike gave me some pointers on it.  I'm still working on the position and I think I just need to be more patient and not try to force the armbar.  We rolled for a while after that and he has gotten really good at defending my attacks.  He even commented that he feels better about the basics since attending the beginner/all level classes.  He asked about granby from turtle after and Mike complimented me on how well I do with them.  I didn't know that I was known for that but the granby does work for me quite often.