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.