Thursday, June 30, 2016

June 30th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Double Leg, Americana from Mount, Paper Cutter Choke
Students: Jordan, Bhuvana, Frank, Harvey

Another successful day of teaching.  Looking at the curriculum for the day I decided to try out an idea.  I taught the techniques in reverse order from usual and then chained them together as the next one was taught.  First was Americana from mount which everyone in class is pretty well familiar with.  Then covered the paper cutter choke.  After they did some reps with the choke I had the person defend the choke and top person transition into mount and attack the americana.  Finally we worked on the double leg takedown like we normally do.  Then put all three techniques together taking down with double leg transitioning into side mount then going right into the paper cutter choke and finally to mount and americana.  Everyone in class said they enjoyed the exercise.  I'll keep my eye out for other weeks that this can come together like this.

Rolling: Side Control, Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jordan, Frank, Harvey

Had some good rolling with everyone.  My main focus from the top was to go for the paper cutter from side control and the cross collar choke when in mount.  I felt pretty good with my attempts to setup both of these.  I gave Jordan some shit about bridging straight up instead of into me and once he changed that, he did a lot better. 

Office Hours Partner: Harvey

Harvey wanted to help with avoiding having his back taken while in the top of half guard.  Mostly what he was describing was getting arm dragged so I showed him what I like to do from the top which is cover the hip and attack for underhook and cross face while avoiding their underhook and avoiding them transitioning into full guard. 


Wednesday, June 29, 2016

June 29th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Double Leg, Americana from Mount, Paper Cutter Choke, Curriculum Refresh
Student: Tom

As 10 am was approaching I was getting a little worried that no one would show up today, but Tom came to the rescue.  After a quick warm-up and breezing through the techniques of the week, we looked at the blue belt curriculum and went over some of the details of the guard stuff.  From all of the beginner classes I've taken, I feel like I know this material very well.  Most of the things were very minor criticisms that had more to do with the way it's taught in our school as he has learned variations other places.

Rolling: Free Rolling

We rolled a few times.  He worked a bit on spider guard as I tried to pass it.  I worked for the cross collar choke from mount Jerad style.  I wasn't able to complete it but it helped open up for other attacks.  His defenses are getting better and he's making me work harder to catch him.  We went over a few things that happened in the roll like escaping back mount to the wrong side and maintaining a spider hook to regain guard. 


Tuesday, June 28, 2016

June 28th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: X-Guard: Butterfly Sweep to X, Ankle Grab Sweep, Technical Stand-up sweep
Partner: Tom

Building on last week's class of single leg x and a little full x, Mike taught the basic entry from a failed butterfly sweep.  I think the big thing for Tom was getting him to focus more on getting his upper body into position during the transition rather than worrying about getting the legs right from the start.  I think quite a few people had some trouble with the stand-up sweep so I would suggest practicing it when they have a knee down to get used to coming up.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out X-Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Mike, Jordan, Bhuvana, Byrav, Bob, Tim, Tom

X-Guard is very difficult to pass and starting from the position proved very difficult for the top person.  Sometimes I could untangle the feet but a few times I was only able to pass after they swept and were trying to come up.  From the bottom, I felt pretty good about my control and was able to transition to other guards if things got dicey.  There were a few issues with trying to control sweaty wrists when trying to do the low ankle sweep. 

Office Hours Partner: Mike

We discussed a torque sweep variation with some inversion that resembles a wrestling switch ending up in a nasty leg drag torque position.  Have to look at it more but we were liking it.  We rolled a couple times and I'm still falling for leg lock stuff.  I tried to be a little more patient and realized that is how I'm getting caught by him most of the time.  We also had a pretty cool scramble where I caught a guillotine and swept.  I felt like my angle was bad on the choke and I was losing it but the idea of switching to a no arm darce felt like a natural transition and it worked very well.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

June 25th 2016 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Back Mount Cross Collar Choke
Rolling/Game: Back Mount

My kids were a little tired from spending the night at Grandma's. Greg had them do a "Death by Crawling" exercise where they did 3 laps around the mat with backwards alligators, forward alligators and bear crawls. They did great.

The collar choke was a little tough for them but it was good as an introduction. I eventually had them do it from their knees instead which helped quite a bit.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Mike, Josh J, Henry
Game Plan: Cross Collar Choke

Mike: Went with Mike a few times no gi. He had my number today.  I had a hell of a time passing his guard and defending ankle locks.  I felt like I did some good things regardless. We discussed rolling to escape the heel hook and it's something I need to make automatic.

Henry: Had a couple good rolls with Henry as usual.  Our second roll had a nice scramble when he setup a kimura grip from half guard, there was some back and forth as we rolled around but I made a mistake going to deep half and he was able to torque it.

Josh: He asked me some help with North/South chokes and I was happy to oblige.  Focused mostly on setting it up from side control or knee on belly and controlling the chin.

During rolling I attempted the cross collar several times but he defended well, at least I was able to transition into something else with it.

We also worked on bow and arrow choke from side mount and more North/South choke.  He showed me the video of his tournament match where he used cross guard. Very cool to see someone use something i helped with.

Friday, June 24, 2016

June 24th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Mount: Elbow Escape, Armbar
Partner: Jesus

Some tips on the techniques of the week:
  • Elbow Escape: Instead of trying to push their leg out, treat your elbow as the point that you move away from and keep it in place.  Also trust your shrimp.
  • Armbar: Regardless of the variation of armbar that you use eliminate space as much as possible, get your hips behind their elbow, step over their head before you fall back, pull in with your feet.

Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jesus, Jordan, Dave

Major goal of today was to attempt the cross collar choke as often as possible and I was able to complete that goal.  I feel like a kid finding a lost toy that was in the back of the closet the whole time.  I'm planning on hunting for this tomorrow too. 

Gave some tips to everyone concerning mount from both bottom and top.  Emphasizing defense with keeping the elbows in protecting the neck, moving from the hips from the bottom, and isolating arms, moving up under the armpits and constantly attacking from the top. 

Thursday, June 23, 2016

June 23rd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing Headlock Defense to Hammerlock, Mount: Elbow Escape, Armbar
Students: Bhuvana, Byrav

It turned out to be a family private class for Bhuvana and Byrav.  We got attiquette reps for the techniques and it went rather smoothly with a few corrections here and there.  I showed a variation on the armbar from a failed americana that when they pull it back across to their chest but the double wrist grab grip remains.  We also had a bit of discussion on breaking grips in the armbar and trying to eliminate space when stepping over the head.

Rolling: Mount Position, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Both of them

I had them roll together from mount and gave Byrav some coaching.  I free rolled with both of them after that.  Bhuvana did a good job of keeping a hold of my foot in quarter guard I had to work to get it free.  After rolling I told her she would have been better served trying to go for an underhook in the process.  Byrav I practiced my new found cross choke thanks to Jerad a few times and talked him through defending and attacking the other times. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

June 22nd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: X-Pass, No Gi Toreando
Partner: Jordan

Just the 3 of us this morning so we worked on some guard passes concerning Jordan's game.  We discussed both gi and no gi versions of the x-pass.  This pass is in my go to group of passes so got some good reps in.  The other pass I hadn't done before and I really like it as an extra option for no gi passing.   I'll need to work on it more though. 

From top open guard put your hand on their belly and control the inside of their knee then go to plank position.  Pushing down on their knee while moving sideways until their knee is on the floor.  From their switch the grip to the top of the knee and push their leg across the floor.  Then move straight into side control.

Rolling: Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jerad, Jordan

We did round robin 5 minute rounds.  Had some good rolls and I feel like I made a breakthrough with the cross collar choke.  Jerad was doing it with both palms down so I decided to try that and I felt like I was able to get the angle on the neck that much better.  I'm going to be hunting this for a while from mount.  Mostly was on the bottom with Jerad and had some good exchanges but ultimately he's beating me in top half guard.  He's pretty much dismantling the stuff that I'm good at from there.  So I'm wondering if I should avoid half guard all together with him and try to play a different open guard game or if I just need to keep trying to figure out ways to use what I'm good at.  We talked a bit about it after class and he gave me some ideas with keeping his knee down or having a tight half butterfly. 




Tuesday, June 21, 2016

June 21st 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Single Leg X, Entry from Butterfly Half, Double ankle sweep, Transition to X-Guard
Partner: Justin

Mike taught the entry from butterfly half guard, which is a position I'll find myself in with bigger guys.  From there we were only reacting to if they were putting forward pressure which usually is what happens otherwise we would go for an underhook and work regular half guard.  With the forward pressure we would rock them forward and then push to the side to put the free leg into the single leg x position. 

Justin took right too this and I told him that it was probably something he should work on and experiment with because it works well with his body type.

Rolling: KOTM: Single Leg X
Rolled With: Ian, Ben, Justin, Mike, Sam, Jordan, Dave

Had some success with sweeping with the basic single leg x sweep, I did have to resort to full x a few times and got passed by Mike once or twice.  Ben gave me some trouble with finishing the sweep, I think I just needed to pull my leg out that was on the hip and come up, because I was kind of stuck on my side.  I tried to coach people into using their hips more.  To sweep from single leg x in my opinion requires a lot of lifting and engaging of the hips.

Office Hours Partner: Dave, Mike

Dave did rather well during our roll.  His base was very good and prevented a few things that I wanted.  There was a point when he didn't fight from a dog fight position and kind of fell over, and Mike and I showed him how to put a little extra pressure with the wizzer. 

Mike and I had a couple great rolls that made me sore and late to get back to work.  Tough battles as usual and thought provoking.  I'm working hard to try new things when we end up in the same positions over and over.  Had some leg lock exchanges that I'm feeling better about defending and still realizing that I've got a lot to learn. 

We went over waiter sweep after rolling and how he often goes right to heel hook or knee bar during the sweep.  We determined that I need to put my foot more up into the armpit to prevent that as I setup the sweep.  This is the great part of having good teammates, he didn't have to help me figure out a way to defend something that he always does to me but he did it to help me progress and ultimately himself if I am able to figure this out he'll have to find a new answer.



Sunday, June 19, 2016

June 18th 2016 - Kids & Open Mat

Had a large number of teammates compete at the submission challenge tournament. From the picture it looks like many did well. I'm proud to be a part of the team. Jerad and I held down the fort for the kids' classes and open mat.

Josh J texted me after the tournament and say he hit the cross guard omoplata that we've been working on. Awesome feeling to know I made a difference in someone's BJJ game.


Kids Class
Technique: Kneeling Guard Break to Knee Slide
Rolling/Game: Closed Guard, Stand-up Sparring

Teaching the younger kids class was a little trying on the patience. Luckily I've had a lot of practice with my own 3 boys and kept my cool.

The older kids' class couldn't have been more different.  My boys have been doing great in class lately.  Jayden still needs a little aggression he has a habit of turning away when someone comes at him. Jace is doing fine, but maybe relying on his walk around back take too much.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Ben L, Wes, Lucas, Justin, Jerad
Game Plan: Open Guard

Ben: This is my first roll with him and I like his style.  He did some inversion type stuff and some good grip breaking. I think we rolled 5 or 6 times.

Wes: Got several rolls with him too. He did an interesting thing to remove my knee shield in half guard using a gabble grip over the knee to pry it out of the way. After rolling we talked about open guard; I mentioned that I like 2 on 1 so we went over that for a while along with the grip break.

Lucas: I decided my best game plan was to keep my distance at all cost. I played shin on biceps guard and any time he put me in half guard or tried single under leg pass I'd fight to return to the biceps.  In the past I would go with the flow and end up in half guard and eventually get smashed and passed. It was cool that I was able to form a plan execute it and stick with it.

Justin: He did much better against me than any of our previous rolls. Probably a little of him being fresh and me just having a 15 minute roll with Lucas. Regardless he's getting better and I think he just needs to get a few answers to some common positions.

Jerad: We started out rolling well but it was only a matter of time before I gassed.  I tried to be a little less predictable and not go for my best stuff, which seemed to work, I think I just need new stuff. He caught me with a nasty cross choke from mount.


Friday, June 17, 2016

June 17th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Side Control Escaping
Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Students: Ty

Just Ty and I this morning so I asked him if there was anything that he wanted to work on.  He suggested bottom of side control which is everyone's problem.  I taught what works for me with getting underhook, controlling the cross face, elbow push escape, and bridging with breath control.  It seemed like he caught on pretty quickly to what I was putting down and commented that I "tripled his possibilities from side control."   We also went over some top side control stuff and talked about the attacks that we both like.

We rolled from side control a few times and he attempted and succeeded at some of the escapes we worked on.  I think the elbow push will treat him pretty well.  We free rolled to finish off class and he gave me a little bit of trouble with his flexibility and being able to invert and get his legs in my way.  All in all a good practice and I'm glad he showed up this morning.


Thursday, June 16, 2016

June 16th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O Goshi, Back Mount: Cross Choke & Bow and Arrow
Students: Ben, Bob, Jesus, Ian

I have returned.  I took a week off since my back felt tight, it's much better but still not 100%.  Today was a feel out day and it went pretty well.  I teach tomorrow as well so we'll see how I feel at 6 am. 

Gave a little advice on doing shrimps during the warm-up.  I told everyone that they should be able to do either side with each leg.  It seems like a lot of people only shrimp one way and I think it's beneficial to  Had a couple of extra drills after warm-up with side control side to side no hands drill and then side control circles with knee on belly, and finally stand up guard break.


Rolling: 8 Minute Drill
Rolled With: Ben

We had enough time to do the 8 minute hell drill with 2 minutes defending from 5 bad position (Mount, Back Mount, Side Control, Turtle).  Glad I was able to introduce this to Ian and Jesus.  I found that I escaped to deep half from every position except turtle.  After class Ben and I discussed my tactics for escaping bottom of turtle and how to sit to guard from there. 





Thursday, June 9, 2016

June 9th 2016 - Gi All Levels (My Class)

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Getami Leg Over Head to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side and Back Control
Students: Will, Bob, Tyler, Ian

Moving forward Thursday noon has become my class, along with Mike teaching no-gi Tuesdays and Jerad teaching 10 am Wednesdays.  It's nice to have a class that I can think of as my own.  I'm not going to take it off the rails or anything because I still have to teach the techniques of the week, but I like to do some different things with the warm-up and rolling.  Like today I had everyone work on the best case scenario drill.

One additional thing I taught for the techniques today was my trick of getting the lapel on the near side and then jumping to the other side, because it's much easier to get that grip.  Another tip on turtle is to have your elbows on the outside of your knees in the bottom of turtle.  Blocks the top guys hooks a lot better. 

Rolling: Turtle, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Will, Ian, Tyler

Will and I had a good round of turtle.  At one point I was close to the back take but my gi grip wasn't that great so there was some space that he tried to escape with.  At the same time he tried to get away I was flipping my hook in and kind of kicked him in the face.  Not too hard I don't think because we both laughed it off after that.

Went over a couple basic escapes with Ian and showed him the granby or guard pull since he missed last week.  He did a little better from top and came close to putting me into side control.

I'm always surprised by Tyler's guard.  He's great with spider and inverting and I have to stay on my toes.  I'm also wary of putting too much weight on him.  He keeps me on my toes and I feel like I have to think a lot as I defend his attacks. 

After class we discussed someone defending turtle by grabbing the near knee.  We pretty much decided that squaring up and sprawl at this point.  I wonder if there is a more eloquent solution.






Wednesday, June 8, 2016

June 8th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Getami Leg Over Head to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side and Back Control
Partner: Tyler, Justin

Some tips on the techniques of this week:
  • Kesa Escape: When pushing the face don't use forearm with a bent elbow.  Rather shoot your hand up straight turning their chin
  • Turtle turnover: After getting the far lapel it's important to pull your elbow tight to the hip with the intention of moving the hip from there as you do the turnover part.  Don't let go of the grip until you have side control or back mount secure.

Rolling: Turtle, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jared, Mark, Chris, Tom

Had a great couple of rounds with Jerad and had to work hard from both top and bottom of turtle.  We had some guard passing scrambles as we both tried to prevent the other from establishing position.  Mark also gave me a tough time and did a few different things like grabbing my collar and ankle to prevent my granby.  Nice to have some higher level guys in the day classes.


Had fun rolling with both Tom and Chris.  I gave Chris a little shit for calling me out over Facebook the previous week.  Since I knew Tom is working on spider guard I asked if he wanted to start from there and he was able to sweep with it but needs to work on coming up.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

Tom asked if there was anything I wanted to work on.  So I looked at some cross guard troubleshooting when they hide their elbow and stand up.  I finally saw some value in a position that Tinguinha teaches in his DVD where you wrap the standing leg with your leg and grab your shin and then work into a sickle sweep or back to the omoplata.  Very cool to revisit something that I dismissed out of hand previously and can now find useful when I'm ready for it. 

We worked on guard passing for Tom with an emphasis on grip fighting and breaking knee grips.  Something that I realized that I do but never really thought of it as too important was when I get my knee grips I jump to my feet while putting pressure down on their legs, from there I use whatever my opponent does to determine if I keep putting pressure on their legs to the floor or try to put them on their back. 


Tuesday, June 7, 2016

June 7th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Shawn Williams' Guard: Position, Armbar, Omoplata
Partner: Bhuvana

Mike had a little different setup for SW guard than Greg has been teaching and I kind of like it.  He said that in no gi if their hand is on the ground then he's going for the SW guard.  The toughest part for me is figuring out how to move my hips while having my arm under my leg.  Because if I try to use the leg to push with it affects my grip on their neck.  I'll have to work with it more to figure the position out. 

It seemed like everyone had a bit of a problem with the armbar which I think had mostly to do with hip movement. Omoplata was fun as usual.  The coolest part was some of the alternate finishes that Greg went over with putting the triangled leg in the armpit or under the leg were very doable.

Rolling: SW Guard
Rolled With: Morgan, Robert

We started in the SW guard which gave the guard person a leg up so to speak.  It was a good idea because I could see most of us preventing even getting to the guard and no one actually getting practice with it.  Had a tough time with Robert.  Every time I was close to sweeping him or whatever wrestling would happen and he would take the top position.  I really need to work on my wrestling and no gi.

Office Hours Partner: Mike

We rolled a bit but I felt a step behind.  Probably having to do with the tough week that I just completed.  I did some good things and prevented quite a few leg locks but mostly I was defending the whole time and then tapping.  I just need to recover a bit but good rolling nonetheless. 

Monday, June 6, 2016

June 6th 2016 - Gi Advanced & Beginner

Quite an eventful day for my last day of bachelordom 2016.  I got Conan and Fuji interested in the Back Buddy Jr. I should probably get a referral bonus.  Then I think I startled everyone when I used my Marine voice at the end of advanced class and shouted at Derek, "ON YOUR FEET, MARINE!"  Not sure if Greg appreciated that but I think I surprised a couple people that perceive me as the soft spoken guy.  

Advanced
Theme & Techniques: Omoplata Finishing triangling the legs under the arm or under the leg
Partner: Mark

Greg had us start the omoplata from shin on bicep guard.  One key thing that I forgot about setting up the omoplata from this guard is that both arms go to the side of the arm that you are going to do the technique on to control posture.  Then the techniques were in response to them basing out with either their far hand or leg and weaving the outside leg under them.  It kind of turned into the same pressure that I use when doing the crucifix omoplata. Great topic for me!

Rolling: Closed Guard KOTM, Free Rolling

I feel much better about my performance today than last Wednesday.  My back not being as tight was a huge improvement.  I played some cross guard of course and hit some omoplata sweeps and submissions.  One of the coolest things I hit was a barata plata.  I was trying to get the triangle and didn't feel like I could close my legs properly.  I set up the arm correctly and stepped over the head and it was right there.  I think I might use this as a goto for big guys that I get to triangle position in but have no chance of securing the legs.

Beginner
Theme & Techniques: Kesa Getami Leg Over Head to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side and Back Control
Partner: Angie

Felt bad for Angie as my gi was already damp with sweat.  She said she didn't mind.  I'll probably save my tips on the techniques of the week for Wednesday's post.  This was the first time I worked with Angie and besides a few pointers seemed like she knew the techniques pretty well.

Rolling: Turtle
Rolled With: Angie, John


Angie did pretty well from the top position with giving pressure on my hips and searching for the grips.  I surprised her a few times with the granby.  John was all over me from the top threatening the back.  We had some good exchanges where I really had to scramble to keep him from taking my back. 

Office Hours: Brian M.

Brian asked me to go over the hip switch guard pass again since we touched on it Friday morning.  I showed him the basics of the position and then went off on all of the possibilities that I like to go into from there.  Kimura to submit or to help with the pass, Push on the knee and Back Step, Go to Quarter Guard, Back to Knee Slide, or attempt EZKill Choke, etc.  I could see that it was getting to be too much.  So I told him to just keep it simple and get to the position for now and then work to get his foot free.  The other stuff will come with time. 

Sunday, June 5, 2016

June 5th 2016 - No Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Transition to mount from knee on belly & Twister Side Control, Arm Triangle
Partner: Bhuvana

My bachelor week is approaching the end with only tomorrow remaining. It will be nice to resume my normal schedule and hopefully return to 100%.

Good information from Conan today as I know the subject of transitioning into mount isn't covered that often.  He taught the arm triangle using the new crossface way that Greg has been teaching recently.

Rolling: Side Control KOTM, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Bhuvana, Adam, Andy, Jesus, Bauer, maybe others

Bottom person was king. Had a couple of tough rolls with Bauer especially from both top and bottom.  I was able to avoid the wrath of Adam's butcher in his jellybean rash guard and fire spats.  I setup a few north/south chokes today as my primary no gi goto submission.  Finished class with some good free rolls with Bhuvana and Andy.

Office Hours Partner: Fuji

Tried my best to keep Fuji off the top and succeeded the first roll. There was one point when I was transitioning from back mount to turtle, back to back mount until I finally fell off. Then my guard was passed and he went for north/south choke.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

June 4th 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Mark, Craig, Derek M, Drew, Cat, Justin, Michelle

Mark: I was planning on avoiding any tough rolls since my back has been iffy lately.  But it worked out that our visiting purple belt Mark and I were the only one's not rolling, so I sucked it up and asked him to roll. It was tough just like Wednesday. I still couldn't pass his guard. He would sweep me from butterfly and I would go to deep half and use some Faria stuff to sweep him back. It was good fun and injury free.

Craig: We did mostly positional stuff from side control where I showed my high percentage escapes. From the top I emphasized that I'm always trying to attack or at least keep the bottom person on the defensive. That way they're not in the best position to mount their escape.

Derek: Worked on the over/under pass with him as Greg gave him it to focus on for the tournament. I showed him a few specific things I like to do and then entries from butterfly and open guard.  We then worked on a few bottom half and deep half things.

Drew: Almost repeated all of the information I went over with Craig concerning top and bottom side control. Then we rolled for a bit.

Cat: We went no gi and had a pretty good couple rolls. She defended quite a few things that I threw her way. One thing that we discussed was her passing style and that she rarely tried to come up the middle with knee slide or something like that.

Justin: He may not feel this way, but he's been posing me some challenges when we've rolled. The combination of his wrestling experience and his short stocky build put us in a few positions I didn't expect. I think if he just breaks a few habits like turning away and not protecting his neck, he'll do well.

Michelle: We rolled several times mostly because she kept saying,"okay one more time!" I was impressed by her bridging and hip mobility. At one point I did the omoplata sweep and then rerolled which she rolled with for another sweep so I rerolled again, and a couple more times, eventually I changed it up and went for the mounted triangle setup.

Friday, June 3, 2016

June 3rd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Knee Slide Pass, Turtle Granby Roll
Students: Craig, Jeff, Brian M

Bought myself one of these: Back Buddy and couldn't be happier. My back was super tight after all of the training the night before and I was able to use it to get some knots out. I was stiff when I woke up too so I used it again and I was able to roll where I don't think i was going to be able to otherwise.

Since I had taught the same material 3 days in a row I added in a few extra things. We worked on transitioning to the mounted triangle and the hip switch pass. Both came up organically through the course of training.

Rolling: Half Guard, Turtle, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone

Took it easy rolling but didn't feel any significant back pain.  I'm thinking about focusing on head lock position defense as I feel like I'm still lacking there.

Office Hours Partner: Craig, Jeff

We had a good conversation about various things and hung out for a long time after class. I showed Jeff some more half guard tidbits. He made it seem like I blew his mind with a couple of the ideas that I showed. One of the best feelings as a teacher.



Thursday, June 2, 2016

June 2nd 2016 - Gi Beginner & No Gi Advanced

Gi Beginner 
Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Knee Slide Pass, Turtle Granby Roll
Partner: Henry

Gonna make this a quick one. Had a good time working the techniques with Henry. After the guard pass we transitioned into either the quickest or the coolest submissions we could think of.

Rolling: Half Guard, Turtle
Rolled With: Henry, Wes

During my roll with Henry I move to a double leg and when I pushed with my head my upper back got super tight. So I dealt with that the rest of the night.

Did turtle with Wes who I hadn't met before, apparently he switched places with Ross. Seems like a friendly guy.  He did a pretty good job from the top of turtle with messing with collar grips.

No Gi Advanced 
Theme & Techniques: Guillotines from Headlock position and Closed Guard
Partner: Mark

Got to work with our visitor Mark and I think he had a pretty good time with the class. After class he said he was impressed with Mike and Jerad.

I had worked on the first technique a couple of weeks ago so I was familiar with it. I felt great about getting into position with my shin.

The second was new to me. We got an underhook and off to the side. If they grab the bicep we bring the arm over to hand it off to the overhooked hand. From there we release the guard and sit up into the guillotine. I like it.

Rolling: Closed Guard KOTM, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Quite a few people

Rolling is a bit of a blur. Just trying not to injure myself further and take it easy. I did some good things and got passed and swept a few times.  Had some good rolls with Jerad, Charles, and Cat.

June 2nd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Knee Slide Pass, Turtle Granby Roll
Students: Gina, Robert, Bhuvana, Shane, David, Megan

Greg was busy getting our website back up and running so had me teach today.  Had everyone do the Best Case Scenario drill which went really well.  Not a lot more to cover in this section that I didn't mention in a previous post.  Was happy to see 3 women kicking butt in class today!  We got Megan to do some successful granby rolls. 

Rolling: Turtle, Half Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Shane, Robert

We had even numbers for the positional sparring so I sat out and watched and helped.  I guilted Bhuvana and Megan into staying one more 2 minute round so they got to work on both half guard and turtle. 

Shane did some good things when maintaining guard, I really had to work hard to stay ahead of him.  While I eventually passed I tried to assure him that he made me work harder than in the past. 

Robert gave me a really tough time and I think a huge part of it is I just have to insist on taking control rather than trying to wait for him to make a mistake.  I've been giving up too much position wise and by the time I want to start fighting I'm not in a good spot to do it. 

Office Hours Partner: Shane, Dave

We talked about some basic half guard stuff and I hopefully talked them out of triangling their legs in half guard.  I showed them how to use their legs a little bit and that they need to independently work with the upper and lower body.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

June 1st 2016 - Gi Advanced

Theme & Techniques: Hip Bump to Triangle
Partner: Henry

Had a rough time tonight it was already hot in the school when I got there and the warm-up was super tough.  My gi got soaked and I was probably dehydrated from how much sweating I did from this class and the 10 am class.  I'll have to plan a little better tomorrow to make sure I get plenty of water and sustenance.

The triangle transition was fun.  Instead of bringing the arm over the shoulder we grabbed the back of the collar instead and invited them to post out during the sweep attempt. From there we climbed up the back and brought the leg out and over their arm to lock up the triangle. Omoplata was also a valid option from what I saw.

Rolling: Closed Guard KOTM, Shark Tank Tournament goers
Rolled With: Mike, Tyler, Adam, Derek, Henry, David, Justin

I started as one of the first out and did pretty well the first 3 rounds, then I had a pretty bad cramp under my rib. It took a while to recover from that plus feeling exhausted didn't help and I made some mistakes that I shouldn't have. Tyler especially surprised me a few times.

I was going to stay for the beginner class but felt too wiped and a little discouraged from my performance in advanced class and decided to go home.

June 1st 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Knee Slide Pass, Turtle Granby Roll
Students: Mark (Visiting Purple Belt), Tom, Morgan, Justin, Chris C

One of the coolest things about BJJ is that you can usually find a school to train at wherever you travel and they are usually quite welcoming.  We often have visitors traveling through Lincoln and the ones that I'm aware of have been good experiences.  Mark is a purple belt from Texas who is also in the Army.  He was very cool and I learned a few things from him to boot.

Some tips on the techniques of the week:
  • O-Soto Gari: Keep your stepping foot close to their foot leaving just enough space for your sweeping leg to get through.  You want your weight to be directly over your stepping leg so you don't extend yourself too much while sweeping.
  • Half Guard Knee Slide: To get the initial underhook bob your head to the outside to get a clear shot to the underhook and drive their shoulder to the ground.  This avoids putting your head on the wrong side after getting the underhook
  • Granby: I adjusted a few turtles today and focused on covering up the spaces.  There has to be a balance between spreading out your knees and lowering your hips with your ability to use your elbows and hands 

Rolling: Half Guard, Turtle, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone

Did a couple rounds of half guard one with Mark.  We were able to sweep each other from the bottom but had a harder time passing.  I may have to bulk up my half guard passing because I don't feel nearly as strong from there.  He did prevent my hip switch pass which I usually have success with on better guys.  He caught me in transition and didn't let me take up the space and kind of butterfly swept me.

Helped Morgan a bit with turtle from both top and bottom.  Chris tagged me on Facebook saying that he "gunnin for me" so we had a free roll and no gunnin took place. 

Office Hours Partner: Mark, Tom

Had a good 5 minute roll with Mark after class.  I wasn't able to pass his guard.  He did a great job of preventing my over under pass and eventually I got over extended and he caught me with an armdrag and took my back.  I defended well and he went to mount and grape vined and looked for the ezkill but the time ran out before he could submit me or I could escape.  He showed me a good counter to grape vines by kicking out at a 45 degree angle and then stepping on the other foot to get to quarter guard.