March 1st 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine from Butterfly & Turtle
Partner: Tom

I apologize to all that attended today, I was the one to request the guillotine as the topic for today's class.  Greg had us do both of the techniques with the high elbow which I've had success with during rolling.  One thing that was a little tough for me to get my mind around was that I didn't need my legs in half or full guard but Greg just wanted a knee in and a leg over their back. 

I enjoyed the second technique as we did a response to someone turtling after a knee slide pass.  It was pretty brutal on the throat but I've seen Greg snap this on many times and feel better about it now. 

Rolling: Butterfly Up/Down/Out & King of the Mat
Rolled With: Greg, Mike, Brian G, Tom, Ben, Jesus

Even thought Mike and Greg were able to get the sweep or pass each time I feel pretty good about the way I rolled with them.  I at least felt like I made them have to work.  Mike caught me with a couple ankle locks and we had battling toe holds at one point.  I avoided getting butterfly swept from Greg but had to fight him in half guard.  There was a time when I had a great position with an underhook but he made enough space with a twist sweep to take it back and eventually sweep. 

With the other guys I tried to keep it with butterfly and sweep from there and accomplished that a few times.  From the top I'm liking to attack the over/under from butterfly guard.  As long as I clear the foot and get my head to their thigh I'm pretty well off.  I saw a lot of guys going to combat base and Mike and I kept trying to tell them not to.  Going to have to hit some more shin on shin to single x I guess.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

Worked on the over/under pass with Tom, trying to mold his game to be similar to mine. I probably could have done a better job of explaining the techniques because I kept having to correct him on little things that I didn't tell him about in the first place.  It is a bit more difficult in no gi but I've still been having success with it.  I think he understood it pretty well by the end.