Tuesday, August 30, 2016

August 30th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guard Break to Split Pass
Partner: Justin

As Greg put it we did a guard break that favors speed.  Grab the biceps and jump to the feet.  If they grab the ankles do sumo steps.  Reach back (which is usually inadvisable but with posture it's okay) and break their legs apart.  Then we stapled and worked on the involuntary yoga position that is known as the split pass.  The things that I focused on most was making sure my knee and toes were on the floor of my staple leg and to get my back leg out behind me and straight.

Rolling: Guard Up/Down/Out
Rolled With: Everyone

Had a blast playing guard today and worked a lot of different things.  Had some close calls and prevented some close guard passes.  From the bottom, I used some guillotines/hip bump/kimura combinations, also did some K-guard and only really ran into leg locks with Greg and John.  From top I had success with the double under guard break a few times other times I acted when people opened their guards.

Office Hours Partner: Justin

Went over the hip bump/kimura/guillotine with Justin as a viable starting point from closed guard.  He let me do some active drilling with K-Guard. 


Saturday, August 27, 2016

August 27th 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Jerad, Ben, James, Jake (new), Nick, Clint, Josh J
Game Plan: Be Aggressive, Deep Half work

I felt like I accomplished a lot today. I rolled with Nick for the first time who is a black belt that has been with us for a little while now.  I felt like he gave me some room to work a little bit I ended up in deep half a few times and had a good attempt at a waiter sweep that I should have come up to a single on as he spun out of it.  I've asked him to work with me on omoplatas in the near future as I saw him do some good stuff with it on others.

Jerad and I slow rolled before our actual roll as a good warm-up.  It was tough as usual and I think I did a good job of maintaining the pace.

James and I had a marathon of a roll.  Helped Clint with avoiding guillotines and hip switch pass after rolling.  I was super worn out for the last roll of the day with Josh, he's usually tough in general.

In between rolls with Ben he told me he enjoyed the blog which is nice to hear. He had a few questions about certain positions that we got in so we worked through what I would do if our rolls were reversed.

I helped a new guy Jake through 3 different things upa escape, Americana from mount, and butterfly sweep. Pretty much a first day crash course.

Friday, August 26, 2016

August 25th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine Defense from Guard, Straight Footlock: Setup from Guard and Escape
Partner: Derek M

Another small morning class but it was cool that Derek decided to get out of bed and join us.  Nothing new to report on the techniques of the day, we got through them all pretty quickly and left more time for rolling.

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Derek, Jesus, Conan

Did some good guard work with Derek.  We had some sweeps and some passes and all together a good roll.  I made the comment that he was making me work harder than I'm used to on a Friday morning.  Which is not entirely true because Conan and I have had some wars.  Rolled a bit with Jesus and talked him through some passing stuff.  Conan helped him quite a bit with toreando pass. 

Conan and I discussed preventing the over/under and long step pass with pushing their head to the side with a straight arm.  Gave me some food for thought.  Then we rolled a few good rounds.



Thursday, August 25, 2016

August 25th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine Defense from Guard, Straight Footlock: Setup from Guard and Escape
Partner: Bhuvana, Sara

Had a good time with my partners as we handed off Sara's daughter while the other 2 drilled.  For me I worked on trying to get the foot placement into my armpit as smooth as possible.  I need some more work on the hooking escape as I feel like I could kick someone in the face during live rolling.  I usually only escape by sitting on the foot.  

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Sara, Tyler, Shane

Rolled with a few weight challenged people in Sara and Tyler who are both still dangerous but I feel like I have to watch my pressure but be super technical at the same time.  Had a good roll with Shane too.  Had a little success with the footlock setup but had to switch to a guard pass a few times instead.  A few of my partners attempted it on me too which was good to see.

Office Hours Partner: Mike G

Did a few rolls with Mike and then went over both passing and maintaining butterfly guard.  I feel like I've given this mini-class often lately because it's mostly how we start a roll.  One person sits in butterfly the other kneels or stands.  I'm not sure if this is covered during beginner class much beyond butterfly sweep.  So I try to put across what I think is important grips and what I avoid from top and bottom. 


Wednesday, August 24, 2016

August 24th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine Defense from Guard, Straight Footlock
Partner: Chris C

Been getting over a cold still this week and felt like my breathing was labored more than usual during warm-ups and rolling.  Hopefully it doesn't last too much longer.

Tips on the techniques of the week:
  • Guillotine Defense: When doing this technique it's important that you get ahead of the person attempting to do the choke.  You need to grab over their shoulder and get your hips up on your terms.  (See video below).
  • Straight Footlock: I'm finding that getting their toes in the right place in my armpit is the biggest measure of how successful I'll be with this technique.  Now I just need to get better at putting them there.

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Chris, Jordan, Evan

Did my best to apply my mantras to my rolling.  I feel like I'm getting a better workout each class lately by not being as lazy but getting over being sick may also have something to do with that.

Office Hours Partner: Jordan, Jerad

Wanted to welcome Jordan to the blue belt appropriately and it's keeping in line with my upping aggression recently.  Jerad and I had a good roll where I felt a little more in control than previously.  We ended up in a few situations that we usually don't, I just wanted to avoid being mounted. 



The video of the day is an instructional on the guillotine defense.  It shows how it can actually work on a world class black belt. 


Tuesday, August 23, 2016

August 23rd 2016 - No Gi All Levels

All School Training and Promotions

Had our bi-annual all school training and promotions last Saturday.  Felt a little under the weather so didn't write about it then.  We had a theme of half guard and the instructors (Greg, Mike, Jerad, Me) each taught a technique and worked with the kids.  I taught an escape from mount to deep half.  I originally learned it from the Bernardo Faria DVD but couldn't find a clip of it, the video below is as close as I could find, and it's Jeff Glover so it's cool.

Proud of Jordan and Sam getting their blue belts!  Awesome to see people that I've helped, progress and get some color on their belts.  Hopefully I can assist them in breaking those new belts in.



Theme & Techniques: Mount: Upa Escape, Arm Triangle
Partner: Lucas

When helping Lucas and Justin on this technique today I put the biggest emphasis on using the hips and staying connected with the opponent.  Often they would limit their bridge and then try to push them the rest of the way with their arms, which created space and allowed the top person to shift and rotate hips and set up an armbar or foil the reversal. 

Arm triangle was fun and I'm still working on getting the first initial crossface, that is the difficult part of this technique for me now.

Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Greg, Justin, Ben (New), Jesus

I attempted the arm triangle on everyone I could but didn't have any luck with it today.  Mount has been a really good attacking position for me lately so mostly cycled through my list of attacks trying to setup the arm triangle or the spiral armbar.


Rolling with Greg was fun and super challenging.  I did better than I thought or he was being nice to me.  He did escape using the mount escape to deep half that I taught on Saturday. 


Office Hours Partner: Justin

Worked a little more on the mount escape and then rolled a little bit.  Greg gave him some pointers on escaping knee on belly.  I took a page out of Greg's book and tried to finish the NS choke one handed.  I didn't have much success today though so I'll have to figure that out. 



Friday, August 19, 2016

August 19th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Ezekiel from Mount & Top Half Guard
Students: Craig, Ryal, Jason (New)

Had a prospective new student today that did a pretty good job.  He said he got interested in BJJ because a friend at a party rolled with everyone and he thought it was fun.  That's a new one and I never suspected that would actually work. 

When we partnered up for technique drills I mostly worked with Justin, he had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to apply pressure during the choke which is understandable since he hasn't done it before. 

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

Once we started rolling Jason turned it up a bit where I kind of thought he may be more compliant.  He wasn't a dangerous spaz or anything just felt like a 180 from how we were drilling techniques.  We had a few discussions during class about positions and what he wanted to accomplish. 

Had a good time rolling with Ryal and Craig and tried to spam ezekiels when I could.  There was a point when free rolling I allowed Ryal to pass my guard.  I could tell he felt uneasy about it.  I told him it wasn't a trap I just wanted to work on my side control escapes. 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

August 18th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Ezekiel from Mount & Top Half Guard
Partner: Drew, Lucas

Got Drew squared away on the throw, apparently he hadn't done many of the hip type throws before.  It was cool to correct a small thing each time and see him adjust it and go from being all over the place to a more efficient throw. 

Being the demonstratee for ezekiel practice is not the most pleasant experience.  You can't keep it too casual while you have a fist to the neck and Greg explains how to properly apply pressure.  However, I do feel pretty confident with finishing this technique thanks to working with Zac several months ago.  I think previously I was applying it to shallow on the wrong side of the neck, but now if I get it I finish it the majority of the time.  People have gotten better at defending it though.

Rolling: Mount, Half Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Daniel, Bob, Sara

Rolling from mount has been more fulfilling recently.  I feel like my attacks are coming together and I'm avoiding getting rolled over a lot less.  I'm still a little slow at determining when I should go for an armbar and miss some opportunities when I'm trying to setup something else.  There's a little stubbornness there when I have my mind set on getting a cross collar choke.

Helped Bob through explaining what he should want in both top and bottom half guard of wanting underhooks and wanting them flat on their back from the top and wanting to be on your side on the bottom. 

Sara was great to roll with as I didn't want to crush her but also want to give her a good roll.  There were a couple times where techniques that I would use on bigger people weren't there.

During free rolling I shared my collar grab sneaky trick with Daniel (and now everyone else that reads this).  From bottom butterfly guard, I will often grab same side collar in hopes that they'll put both hands on my one, then I can reach up with my free hand and get a deep cross collar grip.  Works pretty well. 

Office Hours Partner: Greg

We drilled the K-guard for a round each and felt really good about it.  2 things I have to get over is going for the triangle as the primary attack is odd and not caring about the arm as much since I don't have my sleeve grip like in normal cross guard.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

August 17th 2016 - Gi All Levels


Theme & Techniques: Side Control Escapes
Partner: Chris C, Justin

The techniques for this week were ezekiel from mount and half guard and escaping guillotine from the guard.  It was only Chris when class started and he requested to work on side control escapes so I did my best to impart my bottom game. 

First I showed how to bridge and some things that I've found work for me. 
  • Bridging: Bridge into them as if you are trying to make them fall over to their back.  Make them have to adjust to keep from falling over which should create space or they fall over.  I've found breath control to be very important here, don't take a deep breath before you're about to bridge.
  • Underhook: I generally keep my hand close to my chest instead of pushing on their neck.  This way if I can get my elbow under their armpit I'm very close to an underhook.  From there I move myself down to a single leg or go to half guard or deep half.  
  • Elbow push and Controlling the cross face arm: I use the setup from the video below to attempt the elbow push or at least control the cross face arm.  Usually if I'm unable to get the elbow push and I control the cross face arm I can often use that to get the underhook with my other arm.
Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling


We did some round robin and had everyone work in each position against each partner.  There were a couple of times where I made a mistake (whether on purpose or not) and talked them through the elbow push or had them bridge.  They were both a little too overzealous about stepping over into mount. 

By request I showed Justin my attack sequence from side control as he felt like he didn't know his options.  I also attempted to show him how to flow roll and he appreciated slowing down the game a little bit and being able to see paths to techniques he knows. 


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

August 16th 2016 - No Gi All Levels


Theme & Techniques: Knee Wedge Closed Guard Break to Knee Over Pass
Partner: Justin

Greg is back to teaching on Tuesday's and we had a big class of 12 to welcome him back.  We worked on holding the biceps and wedging the knee up the middle of closed guard to break it open.  With Justin's short legs I had to make sure everything was lined up perfectly.  It gave me a little more confidence in the technique.

Rolling: KOTM Closed Guard


Got some good rolling in with the addition challenge of Greg and Henry in the mix.  Guard is not my strong suit in no gi and had some scrambles that exposed that.  I did feel good about how I dealt with the scrambles that I got into in working to get to the top.  Had a few sweeps, some triangles, and attempted back takes that turned into scrambles sweeps.

Office Hours Partner: Mike, Greg

Mike and I rolled after class and it was great exercise for me on the bottom trying to get a hold of him.  Greg showed us a guard called K-guard which is pretty close to no gi cross guard so I'm all over it.  I've been doing something close to this but trying to control the arm like I do in cross guard is exceedingly difficult in no gi.  I know I say this a lot but I am going to research this as a viable guard for me in no gi. 


Saturday, August 13, 2016

August 13th 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Mike A, Josh J, Craig, Adam, Justin
Game Plan: Be Assertive, Push the Pace, Strive for the Top

Had a good session but I'm feeling sore from a tough week of training.  Hopefully my body adjusts or I may need to pace myself a little more.  I feel like I am breaking down some mental blocks and already seeing some improvements.

Had quite a few scrambles today due to always striving for top position.  The spiral armbar is finally starting to come together as I finished it a couple times this week. Mount in general has been my attacking position rather than side control lately.

Adam was a tough roll as usual and while I had some success from top once the tables turned I was unable to stop his progress. I had to be patient while attempting to pass Mike's guard and had some interesting scrambles after that.

Besides rolling I also practiced the back mount hand fighting and played with the crucifix setup that I posted yesterday.

I worked with Josh on setting up the cross guard from an open guard and defending the NS choke. I walked Justin through the over/under pass.  Craig was working on mounted triangle to armbar and felt better about that than trying to hook up the triangle, and I agree.

I've drilled the video below a few times a d like the simplicity of it. Previously I was trying to accomplish the same thing by inverting but I would usually get smashed.


Friday, August 12, 2016

August 12th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard: Position, Tripod Sweep, Omoplata
Students: Craig, Ryal, Dave M, Jeff, Lucas (visitor)

Went through a standard warm-up since it was Lucas' first time with us.  He's trained MMA and wants to up his ground game, so it sounds like we may see more of him.

Couple of notes on the open guard techniques.  Had to emphasize the pulling the foot back on the sweep again as expected.  Also someone mentioned that Greg taught it with dropping his foot down to the ankle which made the sweep much easier. 

Rolling: Open Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Ryal, Dave, Jeff

Due to even numbers of people I sat out the first couple of rolls and then jumped in as people had to take off.  Saw some good things from everyone, a few triangles and some guard passes.

I was able to pull off the RNC hand fighting technique from the video yesterday.  It was a little crude but I got it to work.  During most of the rolls I would start off doing my more intense game plan and then toward the end I turned into more of a coach and helped them through some techniques that I felt were best for the situation.

The funny thing was that when I switched I think everyone thought it was a trap because they were hesitant to go on the offensive themselves.  I'm finding this part of the mental game to be challenging at times.  I can mentally defeat myself when rolling with the people that tap me consistently.  I won't go for certain things because I think they'll stop it or capitalize on it.  That takes thinking and makes me slower or try techniques that I'm not good at and it kind of snowballs from there.  It's a work in progress and I don't have it figured out but realizing it's a problem is part of the solution.

Video of the day is this interesting crucifix setup that was posted on reddit.







Thursday, August 11, 2016

August 11th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard: Position, Tripod Sweep, Omoplata
Students: Will, Sara, Bhuvana, Byrav, John, Daniel, Jordan, Andy, Ben

After the floor exercises I had them do a couple partner exercises: standing guard break motion to situp and the 180 chest drill on top of side control.  I heard a couple people say they were pretty tough exercises, so mission accomplished.

It seemed like everyone understood the open guard position very well.  I had them standup and move side to side and everyone adjusted and pushed and pulled as they should.  The only thing that people were having trouble with on the tripod sweep was pulling their foot back during the sweep.  I remember that being difficult for me too and I think it's something you just have to get past with time.  This motion is used often in other sweeps like spider guard and sickle sweep.

Teaching the omoplata went well too although I know several of them don't have that much experience with it.  

Rolling: Open Guard Up/Down/Out, Free Rolling

Had a lot of fun splitting my time between rolling and walking around with Sara's daughter, I called it baby cam.  I decided to do up/down/out instead of king of the mat so everyone got a chance to play both positions, but I do like king of the mat more.  Felt good about the effort that I put into rolling but I did have to remind myself a few times to get after it and set the pace rather than play my lazy way. 

Office Hours Partner: John, Jordan

I worked with John on a video that I watched earlier today concerning hand fighting for the RNC (linked below).  We both thought it worked pretty well and I can't wait to drill it a few more times and work it into my rolling.

Went over a few techniques with Jordan from the blue belt curriculum and told him that he'll do fine when he tests. 



Wednesday, August 10, 2016

August 10th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard: Position, Scissor Sweep, Triangle
Partner: Byrav, Evan, Will

We're only focusing on open guard this week.  Jerad made a good comment about it being a more conceptual class in that you're introduced to how to open the guard on your own turns and a little about pushing and pulling to control your opponent.  So I had both Byrav and Evan move their partner around a little bit just to get the feel of what could be done with the position. 

The scissor sweep was modified for the position responding to when they are pushing forward into you.  You put your foot on their knee as close to the floor as possible.  Kick their knee back and push their shoulder with the other leg to roll them over.  Most of the beginners were having trouble after this with pulling the leg back to go to side control over going to mount but most likely getting put into half guard instead. 

The position lends itself to the triangle well.  As you kick your leg over their shoulder and pull their upper body forward.  During this process use the foot on their hip to lift your hips up to make the triangle deeper.  Byrav is getting quite good at setting up the triangles.

Rolling: Open Guard
Rolled With: Jerad, Will

Felt good rolling with open guard and gained a little trust in it.  Fell into a barato plata after a triangle attempt at one point but wasn't able to finish it.  I put extra emphasis on maintaining grips and aggression and wanting to be on top. I had good rolls with both Jerad and Will and felt like I got a good workout today.




Tuesday, August 9, 2016

August 9th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Straight Ankle Lock
Partner: Justin, Jesus

Great class full of much needed leg locky goodness.  Mike taught the straight ankle lock starting from a leg lock position on the ground, which was single leg-x on the ground (not sure of the technical name).   I liked doing it this way as we got right to the submission instead of worrying too much about the setup.  Although eventually time needs to be spent on that too for beginners.

We covered the basic straight ankle that is also taught in the gi.  We covered a version where we reaped and went belly down, and we covered switching the foot to the other hip to finish or come up into leg drag.  Big key that he emphasized a lot and something that I wasn't always good at monitoring was to keep your hand high on your chest.

One tip that I'll give is to tap your partner instead of the mat during leg locks.  It's sometimes difficult to hear them tap the mat especially with several groups going at once.

Rolling: Ankle Lock Position KOTM, Free Rolling

Mike had us start from the same position for KOTM and I feel like I got a lot out of it. I failed at the ankle lock a few times and succeeded a few times. I attempted the switch but couldn't make it work but was able to eventually sweep. A big key to success is leg position and keeping your knees tight and clamped.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

I rolled with Ben at the end of class and then Tom after class.  I've written down a few mantras to help keep me focused.

  • Go after what you want
  • Always work to be on top
  • Don't give anything up (grips, position, etc)
  • Don't settle
  • Free your mind

I think this is the best path for me to improve and reach the next level for now.  I'm trying to think of ways to change the blog, I'll probably do less talking about individual rolls and focus more on the big picture. Let me know if you have other ideas.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

August 6th 2016 - Open Mat

Open Mat
Rolled With: Tyler, Derek, Josh J, Anthony, Justin

Tyler: He is developing a really good guard and it takes a lot of mental power for me to try to pass while not getting swept or my back taken.

Derek: Super tough to deal with and gave me a run for my money.  I need to figure out some answers to rolling with him. I did some good things swept from deep half an attempt at NS choke but eventually I gassed and lost position and he eventually choked me from the back. I'm going to put some effort into figuring out the bigger and more athletic guys.

Josh J: Had a super long roll with him and had to dig deep a few times to avoid bad positions.  He's getting quite good at defending my goto moves, I'll have to throw some new stuff into the mix.

Anthony: Worked on setting up baseball bat choke and using an underhook from bottom side control. There were a couple times where he had the underhook right after I passed his guard but was susceptible to the cross face.

Justin: Rolled some rounds of gi and no gi and had a good discussion about overcoming wrestling habits and passing butterfly guard.

Friday, August 5, 2016

August 5th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Closed Guard Triangle Setups
Partner: Bob, Mike G

Witnessed the return of Mike after quite a bit of time off.  He finally got cleared after some back issues and seemed happy to be on the mats again.  Craig and Josh were returning after some time off for healing as well.  

We worked on the regular setup and then looked at a deep overhook guard.  I don't have much success getting off to my side with this like Conan does and I think it mostly has to do with not putting my foot on their hip like he does.  I think in the past I've just tried to keep my guard closed so maybe I'll explore this more if I get a chance.

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Bob, Mike, Josh J

At one point Bob called me a bastard and then immediately said that he meant that in the nicest way possible.  I wasn't phased and told him that we just got done with season 6 of Game of Thrones so I'm used to bastard being thrown around. 

I took it pretty easy rolling and worked on some things that I normally don't do.  Played some DLR and worked a little more on bikini guard (probably should find another name for this).  Mike thanked me for not going too rough with him which was fun to relax and figure out how to sweep and pass without using much pressure or speed. 

When I rolled with Josh, Conan gave a lot of pointers and talked him through some defenses and attacks.  I played into it a bit and got put into trouble a couple times.  We discussed the roll a little bit after ward and he asked about some of the advice.  It boiled down to tunnel vision in some cases, one example was when he had the underhook from top half guard but Conan and I both knew that he wanted to remove it to do something else and we both told him "don't do that" at one point. 





Thursday, August 4, 2016

August 4th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Closed Guard Triangle Setup, Mounted Triangle
Students: Sara, Bhuvana, Ben, Byrav

Was a little late to class due to a work "emergency" so we did an abbreviated warm-up and went right into triangles.  Sara brought in her baby and I entertained her a few times during drilling and rolling.  Such a good baby.

Everyone seemed to be familiar with the triangle setup, the only thing I really had to emphasize once they started drilling was to raise the hips to get the knee really high and the calf across the back of their neck more.  I showed a couple setups that I have success with because I'm really only going to triangle off of a failed something else.  So I showed failed armbar where they pull the arm out and mounted triangle Jerad style with the armbar option. 

Rolling: Closed Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Ben

Mia and I watched as everyone rolled in guard.  I saw Ben and Bhuvana fought to hip bump each other and then Ben gave her some pointers on it.  Bhuvana mentioned a few times that she was worried about opening her guard.  I told her to roll with no regrets and that it's better to try and fail than just hold position and do nothing.

I rolled with Ben as everyone else had to leave.  Had some good grip fighting exchanges and he defended quite a few things that I attempted.  He attempted a shin on shin to single leg x but I was able to prevent it by pulling on his head a little bit.  We went over getting the position and sweeping with it.  We discovered a few things that helped him improve.  He needed to fall to the side more like a hook sweep and then raise his hips a little bit more.  Then transition to the full-x technical stand-up sweep or sweep with the single leg x.  

Side note, I got pulled over on the way back to work for turning left on a yellow/orangish light.  I was trying to think of a way to name drop that I had just been training Jiu-Jitsu with 2 officers or work Conan's name into the conversation.  I decided against it since he just gave me a warning. 

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

August 3rd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Gatame Bridge Over Escape, Closed Guard Triangle Setup
Partner: Evan

Evan is starting to become a daytime regular, always glad to have more people in the day classes to keep them going strong.  Hopefully Nick will be back soon.

While demonstrating the triangle I was starting to feel like going out. He didn't have it locked up but we were in the position a while while he explained things. During drilling I mostly gave advice to Evan to raise his hips more or grab my wrist instead of sleeve.  He did fine though.  Had to eventually switch places with Jordan so Evan because my shoulders were a little wide for him to triangle.

Rolling: Closed Gaurd, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jerad, Evan, Jordan

Rolling went as expected.  Jerad passed my guard a few times, I came close to passing his guard and avoided getting swept.  Gave Evan a few pointers but also worked on setting up the triangle.

Office Hours Partner: Jerad

Felt like I held my own with Jerad or at least did better than I have been.  Before we started I did a little face wipe and said something like "no thinking".  We ended up in some of the same spots as usual and I had some success using his gi for bikini guard.  My main focus was to try to avoid mount at all costs which helped I think but he finally got it and put in his deep collar grip. I tapped before he finished the choke because I started to gag.

We talked about things I could do better after and he suggested that I work on just trying to go faster during transitions.


Tuesday, August 2, 2016

August 2nd 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Neon Belly Escape to Dog Fight, Smash Pass
Partner: Tom

We did a knee on belly escape where you place your near hand on their knee and move yourself away.  As the knee falls to the floor we shot for an underhook and came up to an elbow looking to get to the dog fight position.  From there we went for the far leg for the double leg to get to smash position followed by windshield wiper or a transition into mount. 

Rolling: KOB, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Tom, Tim, Frank, Mike

Some interesting things happened with knee on belly.  I was able to setup the north south choke quite a few times as people tend to focus more on the knee.  Tim did a pretty good job of going for a single leg and we ended up in kind of a scrambly position where I was trying to get to the other side while he hung on to my leg.  Both times ended up okay for me but I would have liked to find a way to avoid it completely.

Mike and I had a tough roll and because he's preparing for MMA there were a few times he would mimic punching when he was in a good position for it.  Didn't mind and I think it's a good idea for him to be looking for that.  Had some good leg lock exchanges.  I need to put some more time into figuring out leg lock positions in the near future.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

Had a good roll that ended with a Japanese necktie.  So we worked on that for a while with Mike's help.  I'm really liking this technique and I can see replacing the darce with it especially if I don't feel like I can get to my bicep.

I'm honored to announce a meme featuring this blog posted by Henry on Facebook!