Friday, July 29, 2016

July 29th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass
Partner: Shane

Evan showed up for class again and seems to be enjoying Jiu-Jitsu.  I worked with Shane similarly to Nick the week before.  He's great with being direct and good pressure.  He had some great things to say about our school and our purple belts and we got a bit on the topic of how they're all great in their own unique way. 


Rolling: Closed Guard, Kesa Gatame, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Shane, Evan, Conan

Shane and I both were better with our guards than our ability to pass them this morning.  We both got a couple of sweeps but couldn't pass the others guard.  One of the things I noticed he does differently and works well is he likes to push on the side of my head to limit my mobility.  I was a little more determined to make my cross guard work today and played a little more rough with it on Shane and Conan.  This may be the time that I start putting a little more omph into this technique as I've been trying to make it so perfect lately that I think I just need to also impose my will a little more.

Evan did well with kesa position with a little bit of couching trying to help him figure out what the desired outcomes would be.  Someday I may look into this position further but for now I completely hate it from both top and bottom. 

Thursday, July 28, 2016

July 28th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass
Students: Daniel, Shane, Kit, Lucas, Bob, Ben

Had everyone do the ideal tournament scenario warm-up after the floor exercises.  Had a few newer guys that I had to spend some time helping at first.  But I observed everyone improve with their transitions from stand-up to a position and then a submission. 

Felt pretty good about my explanations of the techniques of the week.  I saw quite a few bent arms though during drilling and I'm not sure how to emphasize how important it is to work on keeping that straight.

Rolling: Closed Guard, Free Rolling

Ended up with even numbers today so I mostly just coached people.  Most of the stuff I said in guard had to do with posture.  Newer people want to push forward in a closed guard and get kind of stuck where they should be focused on breaking the guard open to start passing.  I think this just needs to sink in. 

Office Hours Partner: Daniel, Shane

Daniel and Shane were nice enough to stay after a bit and roll with me.  After rolling with Dan, we talked about dealing with wrestlers as he hadn't known that many at his previous school.  I said that I was still in the process of figuring it out too but advised him against trying to hold them down in side control and you have to be very mobile and reactive to their movements and try to stay ahead of them.

After rolling with Shane we talked about the armbar from guard as he was feeling like he could set it up but not finish it.  I helped him tighten up the technique a bit with keeping his back flat instead of shrimping, getting him to kick me more forward with my armpit and then clamping down with both legs independently instead of crossing feet.  Seemed to make a big difference. 

I really enjoy teaching!

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

July 27th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass
Students: Justin, Evan (New Guy)

Covered for Jerad today with a pretty small class which can be a great thing sometimes.  It was Evan's first class with us but he had trained a little bit previously.  It was business as usual and ran them through a regular warm-up and the techniques of the week.
  •  Headlock escape: Once you get their head to the floor bring your arm out from underneith you to provide a base to get out of the headlock with.
  • Kneeling Guard Break: Keep your arm straight slacker
  • Knee Slide Pass: Point your knee to straighten out your body and get your hips to the floor as quickly as possible
Had them roll from guard and then a free roll and they both did well.  I limited my coaching to just some helpful hints as I didn't want to overwhelm either of them. Unfortunately they both had to leave directly after class and I didn't save enough time for me to get a chance to roll with either of them.  Hopefully I made a good enough impression on Evan for him to return.






Tuesday, July 26, 2016

July 26th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Side Control Side Switch to the Back, Neon Belly Side Switching
Partner: Kit

Mike was showing the techniques from today to someone (maybe Bhuvana) last week, so I think he got the idea to teach it today.  It was a great thing to work on as I would like to get better at this.  The first couple times I had some trouble blocking the underhook but Mike gave some tips on blocking it.  I still need to work on keeping lower and ensuring I get behind their shoulder.  Kit did very well for his second class but I think he has trained in the past. 

Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Kit, Bob, Justin

As I rolled with Kit he kept telling me I was very strong.  I tried to assure him that I was being pretty relaxed and trying to be as technical as possible.  It's been a while since anyone has said that too me and I wasn't sure how I should take it.  He had some skill and knew the objective of the exercise so I didn't feel like I could use kid gloves on him either. 

Bob did a good job from the top and bottom.  He pointed out that his habit of giving up his back was bad and I should punish him for it.  I wasn't sure if he meant the punishment should go beyond just taking his back since we would normally just stop there.  He was hard to hold down while on the bottom of side control which is something I need to get better at dealing with in no gi so it was good practice for me.

Office Hours Partner: Justin

Rolled with Justin at the end of class and a few times after class.  A few things came up that I gave him pointers on like jumping cross body to defend a guillotine, and head placement when attempting singles and doubles to avoid the guillotine.  I give him props for making me work in no gi.  He has a wrestling background and has pretty good movement so I had to deal with that and I want to get better at my own wrestling. 


Saturday, July 23, 2016

July 23rd 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Lucas, Shane, Greg, Mo, Henry, Bhuvana, Cat, Bauer

Strange open mat today in that I didn't roll that much but got some good drilling in.

Lucas & Shane: Lucas was going over some basic wrestling stuff with Shane so I crashed the party and worked on shooting and a few techniques to deal with the sprawl.  The major thing I took away from this is that want to bump into them a little bit with my shot, this whole time I've been trying to get my shoulder on their hip but if I make them stumble back a bit it helps so much.

Greg: We did some more NS Choke practice using the head and arm setup. We watched a video of Marcel Garcia doing the choke and he does it differently than I do head position wise.

Mo: Had a very short roll with Mo where he felt like he needed to warm up a little more and use my back buddy.  It's becoming quite popular at the school.

Henry: He and I had a war. A lot of back and forth and I felt like I had to dig deep to keep up with him.  There were a couple times where I had top position and lost it and then Henry was able to go right into a guard pass.  This is something that I need to work on myself, to smoothly transition to a pass after a sweep or reversal.

Bhuvana: We worked on a couple things concerning breaking guard and preventing tozi pass. We also reviewed the butterfly guard kick up thing that I've been working on this week with Greg's help.

Cat: Had some good rolls with her no gi. Made some ankle lock attempts that didn't work out. We discussed back mount defense for a bit mostly about bridging and getting her back to the mat.

Bauer: We worked on the side control to mounted triangle. It eventually morphed into spiral armbar and he gave me such a good pointer on controlling the arm during the step up. He got the idea from a video where Dean Lister sets up a ankle lock. Instead of pressuring sideways I want to clamp downward with my ribs.




Friday, July 22, 2016

July 22nd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Seio Nage, Double Ankle Sweep, Butterfly Guard Hook Sweep
Partner: Nick

Nick is becoming my new training partner buddy for morning classes.  He and I were drilling the double ankle sweep and the hook sweep and seemed to get in a rhythm.  I would sweep him, get up and get into his guard and he would sweep me and repeat.  We almost got our cardio in as Conan commented that we looked to be getting a workout.

Rolling: Butterfly Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Nick

We had a newer female in class so Conan decided to have me just work with Nick and Jordan work with Helena.  For her third class she seemed to do quite well with the exercises and stuff, hopefully she sticks around.

Rolling was fun and challenging.  It seems like we mostly fought from half guard and there was a lot of back and forth.  I think what I really need to work on is defending knee slide as I find myself there often, not only with Nick but a lot with Jerad and Conan too.  I tried to work some lapel stuff but was unable to get the grips I wanted through his pressure.  Regardless it's great for me to have another person to challenge me in the morning classes.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

July 21st 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Seio Nage, Double Ankle Sweep, Butterfly Guard Hook Sweep
Students: Bhuvana, Bob, Justin, Ben, Nick, Byrav

Did a running warm-up and took some turns with throw fit-ins and throwing.  Teaching the shoulder throw is strange with Bob there as I know he has a lot to teach me about this and other throws.  He's a good sport about it though.

When teaching the butterfly sweep I shared a cool thing that Greg showed me the other day that I've made work since then.  I normally wouldn't teach something that I just learned but this makes so much sense.  You grab both of their lapels and scoot your butt up to your heals as you pull them over you putting their hands on the floor, then as you bring them back down you can get a great underhook.  I also showed getting the under/over hook grips the standard way and said to practice both.  Seemed like everyone had a little success with this.  

Rolling: Butterfly Guard, Closed Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Nick, Ben, Justin

I watched the first couple of rolls since there were even numbers of students but then several people took off for work so I got to work in.  I noticed Nick being very helpful with everyone and doing equal amounts of time giving pointers and kicking butt.

Had some good rolls with everyone that remained.  Nick gave me some things to think about as we had some back and forth.  I'm not sure but I think he let me get away with a few things that I probably shouldn't have.  I helped Ben a bit with collar drag and Justin with escaping mount.

Office Hours Partner: Nick, Justin

Nick gave me a quick overview of his de la riva x guard and can see incorporating it in the near future.  I think Conan would like it too.  I'm glad he'll be coming to more morning classes.

Went over a few of the basic things Justin hadn't seen in class yet like scissor sweep and paper cutter choke.  We discussed focusing on the beginner core stuff for a while before trying to figure out his game and I think that's a great idea.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

July 20th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Seio Nage, Double Ankle Sweep, Butterfly Guard Hook Sweep
Partner: Tom

Got to work on a butterfly guard technique that Greg was showing John the other day.  You grab both collars and scoot under them and kick them way up.  Then as they come back down you should be able to get a great underhook. 

Tips on this weeks techniques:
  • Seio Nage: The biggest tip I've been giving this week is to make the muscle arm strong and don't try to grab their arm.  When I've worked on this throw with Bob he says that this is an arm throw rather than a hip throw and I'm starting to figure that out.
  • Double Ankle Sweep: Working on grip breaks is pretty important for this technique as you need both of your hands free to grab their ankles.
  • Hook Sweep: The thing that I helps me a lot with this sweep is a strong underhook that it tilted upward and then I hang off of the other arm to get their weight shifted.  With a week underhook my partner usually is able to put their weight down on it and prevent the sweep.

Rolling: Closed Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Tom, Justin, Dave

Helped Justin with some grip breaking half way through our roll.  He was using a brute force method and I showed him how to do it more technically by pushing on the thumb muscle and moving your body away from the grip.  I used the butterfly technique from earlier a few times and instantly feel like it's going to be a part of my game.  Love finding things like this. 

Office Hours Partner: Jerad, Dave, Justin, Tom

Jerad did the usual thing of taking me apart piece by piece.  I almost passed his guard at one point and he acknowledged it so that was a good thing.  I'm not really sure what he's doing differently than anyone else but it's kind of like he's always slightly out of the position that I want him to be in to do what I want.  Then after he mounts me I have to work really hard to defend and try to escape. 

Talked to Dave and Justin a bit about how I developed my game using mind maps and the techniques and positions that I focused on for competition class.  I think the mind maps are helpful for both figuring out what you're good at and where you have holes in your game.



Tuesday, July 19, 2016

July 19th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Back Control: Regaining Position from Escape Attempt, Transitioning to Kimura Grip; Straight Ankle Lock
Partner: Jesus

Mike taught a good class today on a topic that everyone that wants to attack the back should know (so everyone).  He covered a lot of stuff about the harness grip that I've been passing on lately as well like the importance of using the elbows and the chin on the shoulder.  I really liked the details that he put in when transitioning to the kimura.  How to control someone with a kimura grip is something I'm still trying to figure out as I still lose it in a few situations.  The major take away from the ankle lock setup is that I can bring my foot a little more across their hip than I thought.

Rolling: Free Rolling, Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Nick, Ben, Jesus, Tom, Tim

Did some good things in rolling today after writing yesterdays sob story of a post.  The ups and downs are a real thing in this sport and it's good to be reminded of that once in a while.  I had some great feedback from friends on Facebook that appreciated the post.  The thought that upper belts have bad days too was refreshing to some.

I've been working on incorporating arm drags in my no gi game a little more lately.  It seems my no gi guard game currently consists of butterfly guard to either hook sweep, single leg-x, kimura, guillotine, arm drag or fall into half guard (okay that seems like a lot).  I played some deep half as well today and need to work on tightening up my no gi deep half as it's feeling a little loosy-goosy. 

Office Hours Partner: Ben, Mike, Tom

Went over my ideas on cross guard in no gi with Ben. Mike also showed us some side to side transitions from side control.

Monday, July 18, 2016

July 18th 2016 - Gi Advanced

Theme & Techniques: Neon Belly: Farside Armbar, Kimura
Partner: Josh M

Haven't been to a knee on belly class in a while and enjoyed the techniques although my NS Choke wasn't covered. One small detail that Greg showed for the armbar was instead of directing it to bis shoulder he kind of put his elbow on the wrist to kind of lock it in place. I think I was doing this but didn't realize it.

Rolling: KOB, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Josh, Lucas, Mike, Henry, Adam

Didn't have my best class today rolling wise. Not much I did worked.  I hate leaving class feeling this way, questioning if I'm any good and not knowing where to put focus to improve. Am I tired from 7 days in a row sometimes multiple classes in a day? Am I expecting too much out of myself when rolling with the killers in advanced class?

All that being said it wasn't a total disaster. I avoided quite a few submissions, regained guard a few times, won a few battles for top position. Hell if I can figure out what the difference is between a good class and a bad one in my head.

Ugh, okay positive thoughts.  Days like this are good for lighting the fire. Making me search tournament footage and instructionals to solve the problems I'm experiencing.  All I can do is trust that as long as I stick with it, I'll get better and a good day is around the corner.

Apologies to anyone reading this far hopefully that didn't sound like a request for pity. Just didn't feel like a play by play of everything. This is like my therapy and I already feel a little better.


Sunday, July 17, 2016

July 17th 2016 - No Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Bread Cutter, Darce
Partner: Henry

Conan demonstrated the no gi bread cutter on me for the class and it was miserable. I've done it a few times during rolling but find it difficult to set up. Since Henry and I were both pretty versed in these chokes we worked a bit on Japanese Necktie as well.

Rolling: Side Control
Rolled With: Henry, Daniel, Ben, Josh (New)

Henry did a great job today and I had a hell of a time trying to control him.  He was able to escape side control a few times with inverting so I had him show me that after class.

I helped out the new guy Josh as much as I could during rolling, I walked him through passing guard and some basic things that he should think about. But, I also swept him or passed his guard as cleanly as possible to which he commented that it didn't seem to take much effort.

Office Hours Partner: Henry

Henry and I rolled a few times making it quite a workout. He was on point with guillotines and was able to make them tight. I had a few submission attempts that were close but he was able to eventually slip out.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

July 16th 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Lucas, Derek, Daniel, Bhuvana

Not a lot of students today due to the state games taking place. I haven't heard too many good things about the experience though from the people who went.

Some tough rolls off the bat. Considering that Lucas and Derek both have years of wrestling and size on me, I'd say I do pretty well.

Lucas: He started off challenging himself and playing guard which he hasn't done with me in the past. I was able to pass his guard but then had to deal with him getting to turtle. I made the mistake of getting a deep grip on his lapel which led him to roll to the top. I was on the bottom for the rest of the time sometimes in guard sometimes not. I threatened an omoplata but messed up the transition to submit and he was able to stack and pass.

Derek: Started off well with him and eventually ended up in an omoplata position but had a tough time finishing it. I also screwed up a deep half guard sweep as I attempted it before I had a good position.  He was able to stack and escape it and I was defending from the bottom for the rest of the time until he caught me with a baseball bat choke.

Daniel: Had quite a few rolls with him, and some back and forth.  He's pretty good at going for the lock down in half guard and I did everything i could to avoid it.  He seems most comfortable in half guard.

Bhuvana: We did some guard retention and she did quite well.  We worked on a knee slide defense with kneeing them in the butt to come up. I worked on the Japanese Necktie and showed my arm triangle to NS Choke, then she worked on the arm triangle for a while.

Friday, July 15, 2016

July 15th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Spider Guard Passes
Partner: Nick (Visitor)

Nick, another purple belt visitor, may become a permanent student as he just moved here from San Diego.  He trained at ATOS where he trained with a few people I've heard of, which is awesome.  It's fantastic that we've had all of these purple belts visit recently and it's giving me a larger sample size to see what purple belt skill is like.

Due to the class size we went over the same passes from Wednesday advanced class which was great.  The biggest problem had practicing the split pass today was trying to get my knee on the ground.

Rolling: Spider Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Nick, Dave, Conan

Felt better about my spider guard, Nick and I both did good things and I noticed that he also had good pressure like the other purple belts that I've met.

Had fun rolling with Dave and gave him some pointers here and there. I plan to go over grips with him from guard next time I see him.

Conan smashed me pretty well and kept me on defensive for most of our roll.  After class I showed him my new Arm Triangle to NS Choke thing.





Thursday, July 14, 2016

July 14th 2016 - No Gi Advanced

Theme & Techniques: Darce Choke, Japanese Necktie
Partner: Jellybean

Haven't practiced the Darce for a while, It'll come up during rolling every now and again but it's not something I setup on purpose.

I think the Japanese Necktie may be my new favorite choke.  It was a little deceptive as when I've seen it done it looked like it was difficult to control. It seems perfect for my shorter arms.

Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Adam, Mo, Mike, Jerad

Side control with Adam was challenging from top and bottom, at least in gi I feel like I have a little more control. It's good for me though and I need the adversity to get better.

With Mo I found a new north/south setup off of the armpit cross face, can't wait to try it a few more times and show it to Greg.

With both Mike and Jerad had some opportunities to sweep with x-guard but failed miserably. Mike and discussed it after class.

We had a couple of wrestlers visit class today and it was a pleasure for a few of us watching Henry getting taken down after class. Seemed like some good guys that would be good additions to the class.

July 14th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Cross Guard: Guard Pull, Position to Omoplata, Barrel Roll Sweep, Triangle, Pendulum Sweep
Students: Ben, Bhuvana, Harvey, Byrav, Jordan, Bob

I went off the books today and decided to teach cross guard.  There were only 2 students at the time and since Jordan is competing on Saturday I just wanted to provide a change of pace.  Then 4 other students showed up, so I went with it.  I did quickly review everything from the week

Starting with the guard pull was probably not the best idea and I think the next time I teach this class I will put it at the end as a bonus instead of being the first thing I teach.  Regardless everyone made due and was able to get some semblance of the technique and I made the comment as we went for the wall for the next technique "that wasn't completely terrible."

The rest of the class went pretty well and I really only had to correct the common mistakes that everyone makes from this position.  A couple of tips:
  • You only need to hold their sleeve to your body, don't pull it all the way across 
  • Punch their wrist into your hip after you've shot your hips up.  It's very difficult to put their wrist into the proper place if your hips are on the floor.
  • Take it in degrees go 90 degrees to get to the position and 90 more to go to omoplata, it's difficult to try to do the full 180 all at once.

Thinking about what I taught today I think I have 3 greatest hits subjects for classes like this that I can teach. Of course I'm fine with teaching anything from the weekly curriculum but if someone was interested in details on the stuff that works for me I have a couple of ideas for classes in my back pocket.  Cross Guard, Deep Half, Knee On Belly Attacks (Featuring North/South Choke).  I could probably spend a couple of classes on each of these subjects as well.  Bragging aside, it's pretty cool to be at a point where I feel like I have niche at our school on some of these subjects. 



Wednesday, July 13, 2016

July 13th 2016 - Gi Advanced

Theme & Techniques: Passing Spider Guard: Split Pass, Leg Drag
Partner: Shane

Spider guard is something I haven't worked a long time and it really showed today.  I enjoyed working the split pass especially the leg drag variation.  The thing that I needed to work on most was posting my rear leg out as that felt the most unnatural.

Rolling: Spider Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Shane, Darijo, Lucas, Adam, Mike

Super tough class for me. I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time concentrating on spider guard. Lasso helped a little as I have some go to techniques from there.

From the top I felt like I should have attempted the passes that we worked on with more initiative, but I felt like that would be expected. I didn't do much better with the other passes that I know. Besides making my way to being able to pressure or get to half guard.


July 12th 2016 - Takedowns & Gi All Levels

No Gi Takedowns
Theme & Techniques: Russian: Inside Trip, Single Leg
Partner: Brett, Cat

Nice couple of techniques although the trip was a little difficult for everyone at first. It's a little bit of an odd movement but I can see how it can be used in conjunction with other techniques.

Single leg was business as usual I feel probably the best about this wrestling technique I just need to find my way(s) of setting it up.

Rolling: Takedown Sparring
Rolled With: Brett, Adam, Cat

We did a few rounds a piece and I realized that I don't feel like I have any setups that are mine, at least. I'm more reactive than proactive and I think I need a few no gi high percentage setups.

Gi All Levels 
Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense Against Wall, Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Hook Pass
Partner: Josh M, Justin

Apparently during training we knocked some stuff down from the shop next door not sure if it was due to practicing the guillotine against the wall or not but the guy came over and complained.

I need to get to bed so I'll make the technique tips short. Guillotine Defense: Keep posture throughout; Kneeling Break: Keep your arm straight; Double Under: Tight elbow.

Rolling: Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Greg, Josh, Shane, Dave, Henry, John, Bryan M, Conor, Probably others

Did some good things from top and bottom guard. Lot of opportunities for cross guard omoplata sweeps and 2 on 1. From the top I attempted standing passes several times and had to deal with Greg and Henry attempting lumberjack sweeps.

I also attempted tozi but failed several times. I'd get into position but would worry about my arm getting trapped. Greg showed me that I didn't need to worry about it too much because of the position. I'm going to work on this more this week.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

July 12th 2016 - No Gi All Levels (Bachelor Week 2016 Part 2)

I will be training as much as I can for another full week due to my wife and kids going out of town to see my in-laws.  Before anyone asks, everything is fine, they're just bored at home while school is out and I'm at work all day.  So cheap vacation to grandpas mixes things up a bit.  So I'll get in some more training and fix some things around the house and also try to get in some video game playing time. 

Theme & Techniques: Half Butterfly Kimura
Partner: Bhuvana

Great info put forth by Mike today.  Kimura from half guard is something that I play around with occasionally, so it's good to get some extra details.  Bhuvana was pretty excited that the techniques look more difficult than they are during instruction, especially the back take magic trick. 

Rolling: Half Butterfly KOTM
Rolled With: Jordan, Daniel, Tom, Jesus, Mike, Justin

Had some good tough rolls, but it was half guard so I did my best to maintain my crown at all costs.  I'm really feeling good about the limp arm from dog fight since Mike showed it last week I've found a couple of uses for it where I would normally try a roll back sweep but instead I'm attacking the back so I'll keep that in my hip pocket. 

Office Hours Partner: Mike

We discussed a few of those Cyborg techniques and half guard in general and had a good conversation about teaching.  Well gotta run so I can get something to eat before the next class.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

July 9th 2016 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Back Mount: Cross Collar, Bow and Arrow
Rolling/Game: Back Mount, Free Rolling

Kids are doing better lately.  Greg had them do a pretty cool obstacle course where some of the adults helped out holding belts for them to jump over, crawl under, and roll over.

My boys are still had a little trouble with the back mount chokes. It seems like it has mostly to do with the collar grip.  They did pretty well rolling from back mount.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Jerad, David, Shane, Bhuvana

Before rolling Greg worked on north/south choke with me, wanting to know if I had any tips. The few things I emphasized were keeping the elbow on the floor and hiding my head behind the shoulder.

Jerad: He helped me drill a few things from some Cyborg videos I've been watching. I didn't quite get them to work out as well as Cyborg but they have some potential.

We rolled a few times and I had a very hard time passing his guard as I tried to throw everything at him.  They were both good rolls for me as I need to seek out and roll with the people that have an edge over me.



David: He's getting ready for state games next week and wanted me to play guard. He is pretty good at controlling my hips and preventing movement in guard. He really made me have to work technique because I wasn't going to overpower him and he has good technique himself and has great defense.

Shane: This was the first time I rolled with him and he was very tough. I felt like I did some good things like transitioning to deep half, but he seemed to capitalize on any mistakes I made. We discovered that my biggest problem was leaving too much space when transitioning between guard passes. He asked me about the finer points of NS Choke too and I explained what I could with the help of Henry.

Bhuvana: She wanted to work on a few things. Side control escapes and then I shared the NS Choke for the 3rd time. We discussed getting the underhook from bottom side and trying to walk hips out to get a reaction.


Thursday, July 7, 2016

July 7th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Side Control: Tripod Escape, Kimura
Students: Adam, Harvey, Ian, Tim, Bhuvana, Justin, Byrav, Frank, Jesus, Ben

Large class today.  Due to road construction I pulled up to the school a little late to see people walking in the door.  I freaked out a bit because I didn't know who would be there with a key.  Turns out Adam has the week off from work so let everyone in.  Plus glad to have him in class.

Had everyone do the best case scenario drill today and seemed to go fairly well with just a few helpful hints I had to drop.  This time as I explained the exercise I told everyone that if they didn't have a best scenario they should use o-soto gari to side control to americana. 

Then we circled up and spent some time doing tripods individually before getting to techniques.  When explaining the tripod escape I'm finding a lot of people are having success with getting their head inside the knees.  I saw a lot of success with it today.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Several Students

I was able to pull off the tripod today during rolling and couldn't be happier as I usually use underhook to half guard instead.  I was also able to setup a few kimuras using the setup of the week. 

Had a hell of a roll with Adam.  Started out with setting up my guard and came really close to completing a cross guard omoplata but he was able to posture out of it.  I ended up in butterfly guard and knew I was in trouble of his kick back pass or whatever it's called.  New goal to learn to prevent this thing.  Spent the rest of the round trying to escape side control and avoid getting choked as he was doing some brabo stuff all day. 

Office Hours Partner: Harvey, Tim

Had some Harvey time again and we discussed starting a free roll.  Pretty much I emphasized the importance of getting the grips you want regardless of if you're the passer or guard player.  From the top I'm going for pant grips or trying to control the legs, from the bottom I'm preventing pant grips and going for sleeve and collar and maybe foot on hip.  We got into some murky waters as I said sometimes I can ignore a collar grip if I have both pant grips but that's more of a feeling on my part.  

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

July 6th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Side Control: Tripod Escape, Kimura
Students: Sam, Derek, Harvey

Taught the class for Jerad today and was happy to see some people walking in the door this week.  We did

Tips on the techniques of the week:
  • Koshi Guruma: It seems pretty natural for everyone to try to grab the shoulder or the gi when wrapping your arm around their head.  Stop doing that.
  • Tripod Escape: After getting the far underhook I've been explaining to walk out a little bit and get your head between their knees.  This has helped me immensely with getting to the tripod because my head would keep getting stopped by their knee.
  • Kimura: When setting this up use your body as much as possible.  Once their arm is over my shoulder it hold it there and move to north/south then use my foot to help turn them on their side.

Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone

Had some good rolls and gave tips where I could.  Sam was going for a butterfly guard at one point and after I kind of sprawled on a sweep my arm ended up on her shoulder.  I told her to take my back from there and kind of coaxed her in that direction.  We were then in an interesting kinda back mount position where I was seated and she had one hook in.  She attacked for collar grips as I defended.  After the roll I suggested that she should have fallen to the side with the hook in that situation and we drilled that a couple times.

Office Hours Partner: Harvey, Derek

both of them had questions on half guard.  Harvey from the bottom wanted to deal with being on the bottom when the top person has underhook and cross face.  I suggested butterfly half to either get to full butterfly or work to an underhook.  Derek wanted the opposite and wanted to know how to pass from there to which I suggested the tripod pass or hip switching.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

July 5th 2016 - No Gi

Theme & Techniques: Half Guard Torque Position: Dog Fight Takedown, Sweep, Limp Arm to Back Control
Partner: Ben, Tom

Gained some great details from today's class.  I've known for a while that I'm a little lazy with my no gi underhook from half guard.  In gi I feel like I get away with it because I usually grab the belt, but no gi I really need to get a hold of the far hip bone.  The other detail during the sweep was that I'm better off going under their leg instead of trying to control the knee like I do in the gi so some good stuff today. 

Rolling: KOTM Half Guard
Rolled With: Mike A, Tom, Ben, Harvey, Dave

Had success with half guard and pulled off the torque sweep or came up with it.  Didn't find a time to attempt the limp arm.  I played a lot of different things in half guard and felt good about my breadth of diversity in my techniques. 

Mike and I had a good roll with a lot of transitions.  Primarily I went to deep half and some other positions.  I ended up in kind of a leg drag position after going for single leg x and we talked about that after and that I should have looked for full x guard before he came down to his knee. 

Office Hours Partner: Mike, Harvey, Tom

We talked some more half guard after class and discussed some passing options and defenses.  Smash pass probably took up the significant portion of time. 

Friday, July 1, 2016

July 1st 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Americana from Mount, Paper Cutter Choke
Partner: Josh J.

Conan had us do a few setup variations on the two techniques which lined up more with how he completes them.  With the americana it was more about push their head to their shoulder and using the finger walk method to move their arm up into position.  The paper cutter choke we did by trapping their arm and then using our own gi to go around the back of their neck.  Very sneaky.

Rolling: Side Control, Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Conan, Jeff, Josh

We did some rotating to roll a little bit with everyone.  Josh did great at defending and we went a couple rounds where he kept me from submitting him.  There were a couple times with Jeff that I gave him pointers because he was close to something but was going to miss the opportunity.  Afterward he made a comment to the effect of "yes, I can submit you if you stop fighting and talk me through everything!"

Conan felt like a beast and gave me a hell of a time when he was on top.  There was a point where he had me in a head and arm position under the armpit and I was miserable and wanted to tap from pressure and being smothered.