Theme & Techniques: Week #8 Technical Stand-up, Closed Guard: Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura
Partner: Jeff
Pretty small class today but we got our work in. Both Jesus and Jeff were in yesterday's class so we breezed through the instruction portion pretty quickly. Only had to give Jeff a couple of pointers on hip bump and kimura about body position. Also demonstrated how I would probably get a hand on the mat because it's not always going to work as perfectly as when we practice the wipe.
Rolling: Guard
Rolled With: Jeff, Jesus, Conan
My mission was to hit a hip bump sweep on Jeff. It didn't work out but came close a few times. When his default mode is moving forward with pressure it's difficult to trick him into going back. I did setup a kimura out of the deal so that's good. I did feel him try to go for over/under pass a few times and let him know since we've been working on it. From the top I tried my best to be calm and use structure to break the guard and pass.
Jesus did some good things and worked some spider guard and almost put me in a triangle from it. I did give him a few hints that he wanted to be more on his hip in spider guard and not centered up with his hips.
I felt like I was doing a cardio workout trying to maintain guard and then pass Conan's open guard. He turned it up today and was just ahead of me on a lot of the exchanges. It was super fun and a learning experience. I think the winner between us was generally who acted first and was persistent in what they wanted.
Office Hours Partner: Jesus, Conan
Jesus asked me about spider guard after class. I showed him the basic sweep from the knees and then said that I go to lasso generally if someone stands. Other's in our school are far better at spider than me. We worked on the lasso sweep a few times and I think he could work with it.
Conan let me drill some crucifix stuff and he gave me some different resistance than I'm used to which is good. He also seemed miserable when I went for some of the chokes. One thing that he helped me with was when I can't isolate their hand, I can put my foot on my knee until I can force their arm to be isolated.
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
March 30th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #8 Technical Stand-up, Closed Guard: Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura
Partner: Bob, Jeff
We did the hip bump a little more dynamic by pulling out partners posture down and then following them up as they postured.
Gave a lot of pointers to Bob and Jeff on getting their hips in the right position to use their body more for the kimura.
Rolling: Closed Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Shane, Bob, Jeff
Had some good rolls. Shane's guard is getting pretty difficult to pass and he's not doing too bad from the top either. Jeff almost passed with the over/under pass that I showed him last week.
Bob and I had fun. I used the z-guard to sweep him and come to the top and said, "That's a sweep" to which he responded, "Nope, I was winning." So I asked him if he was a Trump supporter. Luckily he thought it was funny.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff
Went over over/under pass several times making sure he kept his hips down and head right to my thigh. I also showed him how I set it up from closed and open guard and no gi.
Partner: Bob, Jeff
We did the hip bump a little more dynamic by pulling out partners posture down and then following them up as they postured.
Gave a lot of pointers to Bob and Jeff on getting their hips in the right position to use their body more for the kimura.
Rolling: Closed Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Shane, Bob, Jeff
Had some good rolls. Shane's guard is getting pretty difficult to pass and he's not doing too bad from the top either. Jeff almost passed with the over/under pass that I showed him last week.
Bob and I had fun. I used the z-guard to sweep him and come to the top and said, "That's a sweep" to which he responded, "Nope, I was winning." So I asked him if he was a Trump supporter. Luckily he thought it was funny.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff
Went over over/under pass several times making sure he kept his hips down and head right to my thigh. I also showed him how I set it up from closed and open guard and no gi.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
March 29th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #8 Technical Stand-up, Closed Guard: Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura
Partner: Jess
For beginners I think this is the week where they get introduced to techniques that can flow into each other if the other fails. I use kimura to hip bump quite often if they defend.
Rolling: Closed Guard
Rolled With: John, Jess, Dave
Rolling went good. I was able to hit a hip bump and did some cross guard from the bottom. From the top I went for a few standing guard breaks. Had to work hard to avoid open guards from John and Jess. Dave prevented me from attempting a tozi pass.
Office Hours Partner: John, Jess
Worked with John on some deep half stuff that works for me. Went over waiter and shin sweeps.
Jess asked to work on de la Riva which I'm not good at but helped him with the basic sweep. We rolled a few times. He had a good foot lock attempt that I was just barely able to squeak out of. Once I got out I went for the back but ended up in side control. He was pretty gassed and I felt him give in a bit and pointed it by saying, "oh, he's giving up!" We discussed gassing out and working through it and the many times where I've been in situations where I wished the other guy would just hurry up and submit me.
Partner: Jess
For beginners I think this is the week where they get introduced to techniques that can flow into each other if the other fails. I use kimura to hip bump quite often if they defend.
Rolling: Closed Guard
Rolled With: John, Jess, Dave
Rolling went good. I was able to hit a hip bump and did some cross guard from the bottom. From the top I went for a few standing guard breaks. Had to work hard to avoid open guards from John and Jess. Dave prevented me from attempting a tozi pass.
Office Hours Partner: John, Jess
Worked with John on some deep half stuff that works for me. Went over waiter and shin sweeps.
Jess asked to work on de la Riva which I'm not good at but helped him with the basic sweep. We rolled a few times. He had a good foot lock attempt that I was just barely able to squeak out of. Once I got out I went for the back but ended up in side control. He was pretty gassed and I felt him give in a bit and pointed it by saying, "oh, he's giving up!" We discussed gassing out and working through it and the many times where I've been in situations where I wished the other guy would just hurry up and submit me.
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
March 28th 2017 - No Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Butterfly Guard: Arm drag, Hook Sweep, Knee Tap
Partner: Richard (new guy), Nate
Worked with 2 of the new guys as they were partnering up with each other and would have been pretty lost left to their own devices. So I would do each technique to each of them to show what it feels like and then I coached them through doing the techniques to each other. One of the difficult things with new people is to not overwhelm them with too much details but still get them to do the technique generally correct. They did fine for their first time with butterfly.
Rolling: Butterfly Gaurd
Rolled With: Greg, Bob, Richard
Felt pretty good about some of my attempts to pass and sweep Greg, although I didn't accomplish much. There was a deep half waiter attempt that was close and a few over/under passes that were almost there (or were they).
Bob gave a good couple of rolls. We had some good back and forth and he said he liked rolling with me in no gi better because it was more forgiving.
Rolled with Richard last and after sweeping and passing a few times I helped him out with some things that he should do. He thanked me for helping him out today.
Office Hours Partner: Greg, Justin
Greg asked if I'd do another round of butterfly and of course I would. It went a lot worse for me than our earlier rounds. He heel hooked me most of the time. There were a couple of times where I thought I was getting somewhere but it just led to the ankle lock positions. Asked a quick question about crucifix and they suck your leg up. Greg told me to triangle when that happens which isn't something I thought of before.
Rolled with Justin a few times and he didn't kick me in the head today. We had some good exchanges and I found myself in positions to do rolling back takes. I didn't succeed at them all but felt good about my timing. He wanted to work on some half guard and did well from there. I gave him some tips on working with his legs a little more instead of just locking them up.
Partner: Richard (new guy), Nate
Worked with 2 of the new guys as they were partnering up with each other and would have been pretty lost left to their own devices. So I would do each technique to each of them to show what it feels like and then I coached them through doing the techniques to each other. One of the difficult things with new people is to not overwhelm them with too much details but still get them to do the technique generally correct. They did fine for their first time with butterfly.
Rolling: Butterfly Gaurd
Rolled With: Greg, Bob, Richard
Felt pretty good about some of my attempts to pass and sweep Greg, although I didn't accomplish much. There was a deep half waiter attempt that was close and a few over/under passes that were almost there (or were they).
Bob gave a good couple of rolls. We had some good back and forth and he said he liked rolling with me in no gi better because it was more forgiving.
Rolled with Richard last and after sweeping and passing a few times I helped him out with some things that he should do. He thanked me for helping him out today.
Office Hours Partner: Greg, Justin
Greg asked if I'd do another round of butterfly and of course I would. It went a lot worse for me than our earlier rounds. He heel hooked me most of the time. There were a couple of times where I thought I was getting somewhere but it just led to the ankle lock positions. Asked a quick question about crucifix and they suck your leg up. Greg told me to triangle when that happens which isn't something I thought of before.
Rolled with Justin a few times and he didn't kick me in the head today. We had some good exchanges and I found myself in positions to do rolling back takes. I didn't succeed at them all but felt good about my timing. He wanted to work on some half guard and did well from there. I gave him some tips on working with his legs a little more instead of just locking them up.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
March 25th 2017 - Open Mat
Open Mat
Rolled With: Derek, Josh J, Ryan (Visitor), Justin
Game Plan: Crucifix
Derek: We did some drilling on our respective techniques. He said that my z-guard felt better than the last time I drilled with him.
When we rolled it started out well for me, I mostly kept control and was in good position to attack from turtle and side control. I couldn't get him to tap though and eventually I started to gas after several failed attacks and he eventually double legged me out of turtle and transitioned into side control and threw on an americana.
Josh: Had some great rolls with Josh. He's been working on smash pass and did everything right except get the underhook. At another point he had me in the bottom of side control but felt hesitant to attack. We talked about it afterward and I gave him the suggestion of switching sides to setup attacks. At one point I was able to setup crucifix but ended up with back mount and his arm trapped.
Ryan: He was in town visiting a friend and trains elsewhere. We rolled no gi and it can be exciting figuring out a new person and their game. He hasn't been training for as long as I have, so while he did present some challenges for the most part I controlled the rolls.
I went over north/south choke with him and my setup. Also some knee slide stuff.
Justin: He asked me to roll before calling it a day. We started standing since people were clearing out. He's so low to the ground though and I had a tough time making anything happen on the feet. He was able to get me down with double and single legs while I threatened guillotines went for guard.
On the ground I was being pretty flowy and playful until I was in a donkey guardish position and Justin accidentally heel kicked me in the jaw. I was fine and my mouth guard saved my teeth but it was a hard shot.
On our last roll I was attacking from turtle and was able to goad him into reaching between my legs for the crucifix. He kept a tight hold and put his hands together but I was able to weasel my hand around his neck. Crucifix is really becoming a go-to position for me.
Rolled With: Derek, Josh J, Ryan (Visitor), Justin
Game Plan: Crucifix
Derek: We did some drilling on our respective techniques. He said that my z-guard felt better than the last time I drilled with him.
When we rolled it started out well for me, I mostly kept control and was in good position to attack from turtle and side control. I couldn't get him to tap though and eventually I started to gas after several failed attacks and he eventually double legged me out of turtle and transitioned into side control and threw on an americana.
Josh: Had some great rolls with Josh. He's been working on smash pass and did everything right except get the underhook. At another point he had me in the bottom of side control but felt hesitant to attack. We talked about it afterward and I gave him the suggestion of switching sides to setup attacks. At one point I was able to setup crucifix but ended up with back mount and his arm trapped.
Ryan: He was in town visiting a friend and trains elsewhere. We rolled no gi and it can be exciting figuring out a new person and their game. He hasn't been training for as long as I have, so while he did present some challenges for the most part I controlled the rolls.
I went over north/south choke with him and my setup. Also some knee slide stuff.
Justin: He asked me to roll before calling it a day. We started standing since people were clearing out. He's so low to the ground though and I had a tough time making anything happen on the feet. He was able to get me down with double and single legs while I threatened guillotines went for guard.
On the ground I was being pretty flowy and playful until I was in a donkey guardish position and Justin accidentally heel kicked me in the jaw. I was fine and my mouth guard saved my teeth but it was a hard shot.
On our last roll I was attacking from turtle and was able to goad him into reaching between my legs for the crucifix. He kept a tight hold and put his hands together but I was able to weasel my hand around his neck. Crucifix is really becoming a go-to position for me.
Friday, March 24, 2017
March 24th 2017 - MMA
Theme & Techniques: Thai Pad Combos
Partner: Mike
I don't have much experience holding pads especially the Thai variety. I felt bad for Mike as I had difficulty timing strikes and putting the pad in the right position. I did get better toward the end. It's pretty amazing when Henry and Nick do some.
We did some jabs into an elbow strike followed by knees and finally a round house. Mike was good at pushing off after the knees. I could improve my timing and distance control quite a bit.
Sparring: Simulated Matches, Stand-up Sparring
Sparred With: Clint, Mike, Cody
Cody and Mike did 2 rounds each with a couple opponents and I was Mike's 2nd round. Unfortunately he wore MMA gloves and I wore 16 oz ones so when we hit the ground I couldn't do shit.
After that we did a few rounds. I let loose a few times and tried some more dynamic kicks, but also had some moments of fatigue where I needed to guard up.
Partner: Mike
I don't have much experience holding pads especially the Thai variety. I felt bad for Mike as I had difficulty timing strikes and putting the pad in the right position. I did get better toward the end. It's pretty amazing when Henry and Nick do some.
We did some jabs into an elbow strike followed by knees and finally a round house. Mike was good at pushing off after the knees. I could improve my timing and distance control quite a bit.
Sparring: Simulated Matches, Stand-up Sparring
Sparred With: Clint, Mike, Cody
Cody and Mike did 2 rounds each with a couple opponents and I was Mike's 2nd round. Unfortunately he wore MMA gloves and I wore 16 oz ones so when we hit the ground I couldn't do shit.
After that we did a few rounds. I let loose a few times and tried some more dynamic kicks, but also had some moments of fatigue where I needed to guard up.
March 24th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 7 Seio Nage, Back Mount Lapel Choke, Guillotine from Guard
Students: Jess, Jeff, Max
Did some different warm-ups today. Max is pretty new so I didn't want to do drilling. I had us do some takedown fitins, grip fighting, and clinch work. We had a lot of time to work on techniques so I added both the wing choke and we looked at bow and arrow.
Looking back probably the tip I gave the most often was concerning the wrists and canting them out as you choke. With the guillotine it was about moving the hips back enough to make space.
Rolling: Back Mount, Closed Guard
Rolled With: Everyone
Had some good rolls, Max is pretty green so after a few times of executing the technique of the day I helped him defend some stuff. I had a conversation with Jess about this after class and how I usually deal with someone that is pretty new. I'll usually go for what we worked on during class a couple of times, mostly to show that it works and for my benefit of practicing it. If it's too easy I'll then help them defend what I'm doing and give some basic pointers.
The rest of the rolling was good. Controlled Jeff from the back and worked on maintaining the back. In guard with Jess I worked a little cross guard and 2 on 1. When I was on top, my goal was to stay out of his spider guard, so I stayed kneeling and worked for pressure passes.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff, Jess
Went over the over/under pass for both of them and showed some details as they both worked on it with me a little previously. Jess and I got a good roll in. We ended up in turtle again and I tried for crucifix as I'm wanting to do. While he was defending I was able to trap his arm as I went for back mount hook and setup the sliding lapel choke.
Students: Jess, Jeff, Max
Did some different warm-ups today. Max is pretty new so I didn't want to do drilling. I had us do some takedown fitins, grip fighting, and clinch work. We had a lot of time to work on techniques so I added both the wing choke and we looked at bow and arrow.
Looking back probably the tip I gave the most often was concerning the wrists and canting them out as you choke. With the guillotine it was about moving the hips back enough to make space.
Rolling: Back Mount, Closed Guard
Rolled With: Everyone
Had some good rolls, Max is pretty green so after a few times of executing the technique of the day I helped him defend some stuff. I had a conversation with Jess about this after class and how I usually deal with someone that is pretty new. I'll usually go for what we worked on during class a couple of times, mostly to show that it works and for my benefit of practicing it. If it's too easy I'll then help them defend what I'm doing and give some basic pointers.
The rest of the rolling was good. Controlled Jeff from the back and worked on maintaining the back. In guard with Jess I worked a little cross guard and 2 on 1. When I was on top, my goal was to stay out of his spider guard, so I stayed kneeling and worked for pressure passes.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff, Jess
Went over the over/under pass for both of them and showed some details as they both worked on it with me a little previously. Jess and I got a good roll in. We ended up in turtle again and I tried for crucifix as I'm wanting to do. While he was defending I was able to trap his arm as I went for back mount hook and setup the sliding lapel choke.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
March 23rd 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 7 Seio Nage, Back Mount Lapel Choke, Guillotine from Guard
Partner: Bob, Frank
Greg had Bob teach the drop shoulder throw today and I was pleased. However, he makes the floor come quickly when he throws me. Both Bob and Frank did a good job with both chokes and there were only some minor adjustments that I made mostly with body position, elbows etc.
Rolling: Back Mount, Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Frank, Jess, Andy, Nate, Tim, Jeff
I think I only made one grave mistake today and it was when I was setting up a choke on Jess and he almost passed my guard. I had to recover to turtle and granby to get back to guard. Otherwise I had a lot of success with sweeping and passing. I probably should have went to half guard and attempted some z-guard sweeps.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff, Jess, Greg
Jeff asked to work double legs again and I did my best to show him what I know about it. Focused on the penetration step, changing levels, keeping posture and turning the corner. It looks like he's taken this on as a personal project to improve on.
Rolled with Jess 3 or 4 times. Had a good time. I was lazy somewhere in the middle and he caught me in a straight ankle lock. It felt like it was a little low on his body and I was going to wait it out, but there was a little pop so I tapped. It turned out to not be anything and I wasn't in any pain. I should have been actively defending the footlock though instead of thinking that he'd eventually let go of it. Did some good things in the roll, had a nice spider guard sweep, attacked for crucifix from turtle but he hid his arm well so I went to the back.
Greg wanted to work takedowns and although I gave him two rounds, my congestion didn't make me very competitive for him. I did feel good about changing levels and moving around a bit, but it kind of felt like anything I extended myself for Greg was ready to pounce on. I did hit a nice butterfly sweep at one point after he took me down but the rest of the times he got me with the takedown that he's been working on.
Partner: Bob, Frank
Greg had Bob teach the drop shoulder throw today and I was pleased. However, he makes the floor come quickly when he throws me. Both Bob and Frank did a good job with both chokes and there were only some minor adjustments that I made mostly with body position, elbows etc.
Rolling: Back Mount, Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Frank, Jess, Andy, Nate, Tim, Jeff
I think I only made one grave mistake today and it was when I was setting up a choke on Jess and he almost passed my guard. I had to recover to turtle and granby to get back to guard. Otherwise I had a lot of success with sweeping and passing. I probably should have went to half guard and attempted some z-guard sweeps.
Office Hours Partner: Jeff, Jess, Greg
Jeff asked to work double legs again and I did my best to show him what I know about it. Focused on the penetration step, changing levels, keeping posture and turning the corner. It looks like he's taken this on as a personal project to improve on.
Rolled with Jess 3 or 4 times. Had a good time. I was lazy somewhere in the middle and he caught me in a straight ankle lock. It felt like it was a little low on his body and I was going to wait it out, but there was a little pop so I tapped. It turned out to not be anything and I wasn't in any pain. I should have been actively defending the footlock though instead of thinking that he'd eventually let go of it. Did some good things in the roll, had a nice spider guard sweep, attacked for crucifix from turtle but he hid his arm well so I went to the back.
Greg wanted to work takedowns and although I gave him two rounds, my congestion didn't make me very competitive for him. I did feel good about changing levels and moving around a bit, but it kind of felt like anything I extended myself for Greg was ready to pounce on. I did hit a nice butterfly sweep at one point after he took me down but the rest of the times he got me with the takedown that he's been working on.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
March 22nd 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 7 Seio Nage, Back Mount Lapel Choke, Guillotine from Guard
Students: John, Frank, Jess
Got to teach class today. Had everyone drill something as the 2nd half of the warm-up, I chose crucifix. I'm liking adding this section to the classes that I teach, I may need to include some neck exercises too though.
I taught drop seio nage after showing the standard way we teach it. I showed it with the leg grab setup that the kids also are taught. Everyone looked pretty good during reps.
Everyone did well with the sliding lapel choke right away so I showed the bow and arrow too and only gave out a few critiques here and there.
Showed the guillotine as a precursor to next weeks techniques of hip bump and kimuara, as all of these techniques have the same setup. The big tip that helped everyone was to move the hips back enough to make the space needed to get your hands together properly. We also discussed the Marcelotine variation.
Rolling: 8 Minute Escapes, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, John
Since we had a lot of time after drilling and it was on my mind from yesterday I decided to do the 8 minute escapes drill. I believe I was defending first and did my best to not get submitted. Jess did come close once with an armbar from mount as I executed the bridge and roll. I was able to stack and get out of it but his intuition to attempt it was right on. Felt good about my turtle attacks and got to crucifix a couple of times. The last one ended up with Jess arms trapped and then he trapped my legs with his. As I worked for the choke it put the armbar on.
Rolled with John next and he said something like "my goal is to not get choked from north/south." I started with a z-guard and swept, but I kept it for too long and he eventually got the underhook from half guard. He ended up in mount and I had some ground to recover. Somewhere along the line I made it back to the top and just as I was setting up the NS choke the timer goes off so he completed his goal.
Office Hours Partner: John
We went over a lot of stuff after class, maybe teetering on over-information. We discussed my series from 2 on 1, some stuff that I do from mount, and even some deep half stuff.
Students: John, Frank, Jess
Got to teach class today. Had everyone drill something as the 2nd half of the warm-up, I chose crucifix. I'm liking adding this section to the classes that I teach, I may need to include some neck exercises too though.
I taught drop seio nage after showing the standard way we teach it. I showed it with the leg grab setup that the kids also are taught. Everyone looked pretty good during reps.
Everyone did well with the sliding lapel choke right away so I showed the bow and arrow too and only gave out a few critiques here and there.
Showed the guillotine as a precursor to next weeks techniques of hip bump and kimuara, as all of these techniques have the same setup. The big tip that helped everyone was to move the hips back enough to make the space needed to get your hands together properly. We also discussed the Marcelotine variation.
Rolling: 8 Minute Escapes, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, John
Since we had a lot of time after drilling and it was on my mind from yesterday I decided to do the 8 minute escapes drill. I believe I was defending first and did my best to not get submitted. Jess did come close once with an armbar from mount as I executed the bridge and roll. I was able to stack and get out of it but his intuition to attempt it was right on. Felt good about my turtle attacks and got to crucifix a couple of times. The last one ended up with Jess arms trapped and then he trapped my legs with his. As I worked for the choke it put the armbar on.
Rolled with John next and he said something like "my goal is to not get choked from north/south." I started with a z-guard and swept, but I kept it for too long and he eventually got the underhook from half guard. He ended up in mount and I had some ground to recover. Somewhere along the line I made it back to the top and just as I was setting up the NS choke the timer goes off so he completed his goal.
Office Hours Partner: John
We went over a lot of stuff after class, maybe teetering on over-information. We discussed my series from 2 on 1, some stuff that I do from mount, and even some deep half stuff.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
March 21st 2017 - No Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Escape from Back Mount & Granby from Turtle
Partner: Ben
We worked on 2 things that I feel like I'm relatively good at. Escaping back mount had a few different details for no gi. Since we can't stiff arm the leg, Greg had us do a kind of a half guard on the leg that we didn't smash to the floor. Then we would use our knee and foot to slowly pry it out once we were in a good upper body position to move to side control.
I tried to give Ben all of my tricks for doing the granby roll as he started out rolling forward a little too much. Things like try to kiss your knee, try to get the back of your shoulder on the floor as quickly as possible, try to fold under yourself. I feel like he improved on this a lot today.
Rolling: 8 Minute Escapes
Rolled With: Greg
We did the 8 minute drill and I was ecstatic that Greg asked me to be his partner. I started on defense and was actually able to escape a few times from each position except for back mount. From turtle the first time I was able to use the granby roll to get back to guard.
Attacking was a different story, I didn't submit him although I was able to go from turtle to side control once. I did take note of some of Greg's escapes from mount, he's great at getting his knee in for SLX. Mount was where I felt like I couldn't do anything to him. Regardless, I feel pretty good about my performance and he told me that did a good job.
Office Hours Partner: Mike
We discussed some half guard kimura stuff and we had a good discussion on positives and negatives from transitioning shin across from turtle. He had some good arguments to avoid the position and won me over in the end.
We had a couple of good rolls that were fast paced. I ran into my waiter sweep then attacked his standing leg to attempt an ankle lock again that he was able to roll out of. We discussed this after and I have some things to think about. He had a great idea of an alternate leg position that I should use while doing this to prevent the roll. We also discussed the truck and who is winning or in control of the truck by who is closer to the opponent's knee.
Partner: Ben
We worked on 2 things that I feel like I'm relatively good at. Escaping back mount had a few different details for no gi. Since we can't stiff arm the leg, Greg had us do a kind of a half guard on the leg that we didn't smash to the floor. Then we would use our knee and foot to slowly pry it out once we were in a good upper body position to move to side control.
I tried to give Ben all of my tricks for doing the granby roll as he started out rolling forward a little too much. Things like try to kiss your knee, try to get the back of your shoulder on the floor as quickly as possible, try to fold under yourself. I feel like he improved on this a lot today.
Rolling: 8 Minute Escapes
Rolled With: Greg
We did the 8 minute drill and I was ecstatic that Greg asked me to be his partner. I started on defense and was actually able to escape a few times from each position except for back mount. From turtle the first time I was able to use the granby roll to get back to guard.
Attacking was a different story, I didn't submit him although I was able to go from turtle to side control once. I did take note of some of Greg's escapes from mount, he's great at getting his knee in for SLX. Mount was where I felt like I couldn't do anything to him. Regardless, I feel pretty good about my performance and he told me that did a good job.
Office Hours Partner: Mike
We discussed some half guard kimura stuff and we had a good discussion on positives and negatives from transitioning shin across from turtle. He had some good arguments to avoid the position and won me over in the end.
We had a couple of good rolls that were fast paced. I ran into my waiter sweep then attacked his standing leg to attempt an ankle lock again that he was able to roll out of. We discussed this after and I have some things to think about. He had a great idea of an alternate leg position that I should use while doing this to prevent the roll. We also discussed the truck and who is winning or in control of the truck by who is closer to the opponent's knee.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
March 18th 2017 - Open Mat
Open Mat
Rolled With: Josh J, Ray, Bauer, Craig, Jerad
Game Plan: Conserve energy
Since I've been sick I tried to take it easy today although no one that I rolled with is an easy roll. I just have some bad congestion now so it can be difficult to breathe.
Josh: Both he and Bauer pulled out things while we were rolling that I taught them recently. Josh picked an opportune time while in my half guard to go to x-pass position, I wasn't expecting it and told him "good job!" but immediately saw an opportunity for a loop choke. Mike gave me shit for giving a compliment right before going into my own sub. We had a few other good rolls after that.
Ray: Had a few tough rolls with Ray. He gave me a lot of compliments afterward for my sleeve and collar gripping and my general ability to see moves ahead. He's still damn difficult to submit and can bring the pressure from the top. I was happy to prevent some of the ankle lock stuff that he looked for that he's caught me with in the past.
Bauer: We rolled no gi and I definitely had a tougher time controlling him without grips. The underhook from half guard became more important.
Craig: Craig showed me a couple of things that he saw off of videos concerning side control and asked for help on NS choke. I had him do the choke to me and noticed that his elbow was off the floor. Generally I plant my elbow and move away from it to make the choke tighter. I also tend to wiggle back and forth to get their neck and chin in the right place. Something that I didn't tell him that might have helped is that I don't squeeze until I'm in a very tight position.
Jerad: Did a no gi roll with Jerad although I was pretty well exhausted. Still did about my average. I got pretty far on top in half guard but my base wasn't solid at one point and he overwhelmed me with a sweep. The rest was trying to keep half guard but I don't remember what I tapped to.
Rolled With: Josh J, Ray, Bauer, Craig, Jerad
Game Plan: Conserve energy
Since I've been sick I tried to take it easy today although no one that I rolled with is an easy roll. I just have some bad congestion now so it can be difficult to breathe.
Josh: Both he and Bauer pulled out things while we were rolling that I taught them recently. Josh picked an opportune time while in my half guard to go to x-pass position, I wasn't expecting it and told him "good job!" but immediately saw an opportunity for a loop choke. Mike gave me shit for giving a compliment right before going into my own sub. We had a few other good rolls after that.
Ray: Had a few tough rolls with Ray. He gave me a lot of compliments afterward for my sleeve and collar gripping and my general ability to see moves ahead. He's still damn difficult to submit and can bring the pressure from the top. I was happy to prevent some of the ankle lock stuff that he looked for that he's caught me with in the past.
Bauer: We rolled no gi and I definitely had a tougher time controlling him without grips. The underhook from half guard became more important.
Craig: Craig showed me a couple of things that he saw off of videos concerning side control and asked for help on NS choke. I had him do the choke to me and noticed that his elbow was off the floor. Generally I plant my elbow and move away from it to make the choke tighter. I also tend to wiggle back and forth to get their neck and chin in the right place. Something that I didn't tell him that might have helped is that I don't squeeze until I'm in a very tight position.
Jerad: Did a no gi roll with Jerad although I was pretty well exhausted. Still did about my average. I got pretty far on top in half guard but my base wasn't solid at one point and he overwhelmed me with a sweep. The rest was trying to keep half guard but I don't remember what I tapped to.
March 17th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #6 RNC Defense with O-soto gari, Back Mount: Escape, RNC
Students: Jeff
I've been sick the last few days, unfortunately it's on my bachelor's week. Pretty much gave Jeff a private class as he was the only one to show up. Since he missed the previous week we did a few reps of this week's stuff and then went over the double leg and mount stuff from last week.
We had some good rolls but he's still trying to move straight through my guard, so I chastised him a bit for that and showed him the over under pass.
Students: Jeff
I've been sick the last few days, unfortunately it's on my bachelor's week. Pretty much gave Jeff a private class as he was the only one to show up. Since he missed the previous week we did a few reps of this week's stuff and then went over the double leg and mount stuff from last week.
We had some good rolls but he's still trying to move straight through my guard, so I chastised him a bit for that and showed him the over under pass.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
March 14th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #6 RNC Defense with O-soto gari, Back Mount: Escape, RNC
Partner: Jeff, Giovanni
Small class tonight, what happened? I want to get some sleep so I'll make this short.
Tips on techniques of the week:
Rolling: Back Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone
Had some good rolls. Both Jeff and Giovanni are strong and have decent body control. I helped them both a bit with back mount related stuff and some guard passing for the gi.
Mike and I had a couple of good battles from the back. He had a nice toe hold attempt that he turned into a knee bar when I defended it.
Partner: Jeff, Giovanni
Small class tonight, what happened? I want to get some sleep so I'll make this short.
Tips on techniques of the week:
- O-soto gari: Take them down
- Back Mount Escape: Get out of back mount
- RNC: Choke them
Rolling: Back Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone
Had some good rolls. Both Jeff and Giovanni are strong and have decent body control. I helped them both a bit with back mount related stuff and some guard passing for the gi.
Mike and I had a couple of good battles from the back. He had a nice toe hold attempt that he turned into a knee bar when I defended it.
March 14th 2017 - No Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Side Control: Arm Triangle Choke, Tripod Escape to Half Guard
Partner: Jess, Mike
Got a good detail about the arm triangle today. I've been having a hard time getting their arm in the right position before going over. Mike helped me figure out the angle and how to push with my head to get their arm up. Feeling good about it.
Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Mike, Bob, Jess
Good rolls by all. Mike and I had a "Leg Lock Bonanza" (his phrase, not mine). He caught me a couple times although I'm feeling like our leg lock battles are becoming more involved and I'm sort of keeping up although behind the curve. During our last exchange I was in a position to waiter sweep but he stood up. I went to the other leg with single leg x and he turned and I attempted to setup a knee bar but wasn't sure which
Office Hours Partner: Greg, Mike
Mike and I did a couple of standup rounds for Greg. I have some congestion and found it hard to breath through my rounds. I did some good things, had a good series where I got around his back and attempted valley drop. I got him down but I couldn't get to the top, eventually I tried to drag him into back mount but didn't respect his kimura grip and he locked that out. I was feeling okay about my posture and my hands but he also completed his favorite takedown 3 or 4 times on me.
Partner: Jess, Mike
Got a good detail about the arm triangle today. I've been having a hard time getting their arm in the right position before going over. Mike helped me figure out the angle and how to push with my head to get their arm up. Feeling good about it.
Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Mike, Bob, Jess
Good rolls by all. Mike and I had a "Leg Lock Bonanza" (his phrase, not mine). He caught me a couple times although I'm feeling like our leg lock battles are becoming more involved and I'm sort of keeping up although behind the curve. During our last exchange I was in a position to waiter sweep but he stood up. I went to the other leg with single leg x and he turned and I attempted to setup a knee bar but wasn't sure which
Office Hours Partner: Greg, Mike
Mike and I did a couple of standup rounds for Greg. I have some congestion and found it hard to breath through my rounds. I did some good things, had a good series where I got around his back and attempted valley drop. I got him down but I couldn't get to the top, eventually I tried to drag him into back mount but didn't respect his kimura grip and he locked that out. I was feeling okay about my posture and my hands but he also completed his favorite takedown 3 or 4 times on me.
Monday, March 13, 2017
March 13th 2017 - Gi Advanced
Theme & Techniques: Deep Half Waiter Sweep!
Partner: Henry
I'm on a bachelor's week with my wife and kids out of town for their spring break. I really miss advanced classes.
Greg has been teaching deep half lately and tonight was waiter sweep. Henry sought me out to be his partner and said I might have some things to share.
A couple of small suggestions that make a difference are:
Rolling: Half Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Henry, Ben, Adam, Greg, John, David, Jerad
Rolling was tough, everyone was dangerous and had a chance to sweep or pass. I had quite a few close battles. Unfortunately I didn't go for deep half very much, I was looking more for the z-guard, knee shield twist sweep, and loop choke. I had some successes and some learning experiences.
I probably will keep most of the posts short this week as I need to get more rest than usual to do a couple classes a day. Oh and I swept Greg today, so there's that.
Partner: Henry
I'm on a bachelor's week with my wife and kids out of town for their spring break. I really miss advanced classes.
Greg has been teaching deep half lately and tonight was waiter sweep. Henry sought me out to be his partner and said I might have some things to share.
A couple of small suggestions that make a difference are:
- During the entry protect against the cross face until your head can get to their hip.
- After that extending your arm to move under them instead of pulling them over you.
- During the sweep direct your pressure toward their knee
Rolling: Half Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Henry, Ben, Adam, Greg, John, David, Jerad
Rolling was tough, everyone was dangerous and had a chance to sweep or pass. I had quite a few close battles. Unfortunately I didn't go for deep half very much, I was looking more for the z-guard, knee shield twist sweep, and loop choke. I had some successes and some learning experiences.
I probably will keep most of the posts short this week as I need to get more rest than usual to do a couple classes a day. Oh and I swept Greg today, so there's that.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
March 12th 2017 - No Gi Beginner
Theme & Techniques: Crucifix: Setup from Turtle, Armbar, Choke
Partner: Chris C
I requested crucifix since I've been working on it lately. It's nice to get some different approaches from others. Chris hadn't worked on the position before so I got to help him learn it a bit.
One thing that we worked on was recovering the crucifix if they rolled over while in the seat belt. I think the key to this is staying a bit ahead and keeping a tight harness.
Rolling: Turtle Up/Down/Out, Free Rolling
Rolled With: A lot of people
Huge class today and we had the mats full while rolling. Everyone was super tight defending against the crucifix. I did go for the back when they hide their arm. I did attempt and fail at the recover after getting rolled over, might need to work on that.
Had some good rolls with Chris and Matt. I told Matt afterward that he was driving forward too much in my guard, which wasn't helping him pass. So we talked about posture and breaking the guard open before passing.
Office Hours Partner: Matt, Conan, Henry, Mike
Rolled quite a few times with Conan and felt good about some of the things I did. We got into an arm drag battle early on that I came out on top of. I attacked some guillotines and N/S chokes. We both took turns starting from the bottom of side control.
I joined Henry and Mike who were training with strikes from guard. I'm really getting the hint that I don't know the best thing to do in situations with striking. Some stuff that I do is fine but there are some bad habits that get me punched in the face. The best thing that happened was when I got Mike to turtle and setup a crucifix. I wasn't able to finish but it was cool.
I asked Mike about the finer points of kimura from half guard. He gave me some good tips about getting butterfly hook or knee shield first. If they start to move over my knees then I have to push my hips out from under them. A lot of good stuff.
Partner: Chris C
I requested crucifix since I've been working on it lately. It's nice to get some different approaches from others. Chris hadn't worked on the position before so I got to help him learn it a bit.
One thing that we worked on was recovering the crucifix if they rolled over while in the seat belt. I think the key to this is staying a bit ahead and keeping a tight harness.
Rolling: Turtle Up/Down/Out, Free Rolling
Rolled With: A lot of people
Huge class today and we had the mats full while rolling. Everyone was super tight defending against the crucifix. I did go for the back when they hide their arm. I did attempt and fail at the recover after getting rolled over, might need to work on that.
Had some good rolls with Chris and Matt. I told Matt afterward that he was driving forward too much in my guard, which wasn't helping him pass. So we talked about posture and breaking the guard open before passing.
Office Hours Partner: Matt, Conan, Henry, Mike
Rolled quite a few times with Conan and felt good about some of the things I did. We got into an arm drag battle early on that I came out on top of. I attacked some guillotines and N/S chokes. We both took turns starting from the bottom of side control.
I joined Henry and Mike who were training with strikes from guard. I'm really getting the hint that I don't know the best thing to do in situations with striking. Some stuff that I do is fine but there are some bad habits that get me punched in the face. The best thing that happened was when I got Mike to turtle and setup a crucifix. I wasn't able to finish but it was cool.
I asked Mike about the finer points of kimura from half guard. He gave me some good tips about getting butterfly hook or knee shield first. If they start to move over my knees then I have to push my hips out from under them. A lot of good stuff.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
March 11th 2017 - Open Mat
Open Mat
Rolled With: Josh J, Craig, Justin, Clint
Game Plan: Bottom - Z-Guard, Top - Crucifix
Josh: Did some drilling for a warm-up. Worked on my usual techniques lately. Playing around with switching the grip to my other hand in z when I can't get the pant grip, might be time to run through the DVD again. Crucifix is feeling good the combination of being able to attack the armbar and the choke at the same time is awesome. Josh drilled X and smash pass with some of my help.
We rolled a few times. I worked especially for Z and got it a few times. He actually took an opportunity to do the smash pass at one point and I couldn't be happier.
Craig: The mat was pretty crowded and I had to do some catch and release a few times. He commented that he liked my knee shield grip stripper (patent pending) and I gave him a little instructional on it.
Justin: My goal was to get him to turtle and crucifix. From side control I've been trying things like cross facing excessively or giving enough space encourage my partner to turtle. I haven't found the magic formula yet but I did get Justin to reach out for an underhook that I pushed between my legs and rolled for the crucifix, it was awesome.
I showed Justin the back take from North/south using the lapels under the armpits. He seemed to like that.
Clint: I think I was too worn out for this roll because I got gassed pretty quickly. He does a good job of applying constant pressure from the top, not sure what his guard is like though. As I got tired I had trouble maintaining my half guard and eventually he was able to pass to side control.
As I was contemplating whether to quit from exhaustion or see it through, I developed a plan to get back to close guard and go right into cross guard and omoplata sweep. That was my best option to sweep. I turtled, he went to head lock position, I sat and pulled him into closed guard and right into the cross guard barrel roll sweep. I was so relieved that worked.
One thing that Bernardo Faria says a lot in his DVDs is to find ways to get to your sweeping position from anywhere. Generally I sweep from 2 places deep half or cross guard.
Rolled With: Josh J, Craig, Justin, Clint
Game Plan: Bottom - Z-Guard, Top - Crucifix
Josh: Did some drilling for a warm-up. Worked on my usual techniques lately. Playing around with switching the grip to my other hand in z when I can't get the pant grip, might be time to run through the DVD again. Crucifix is feeling good the combination of being able to attack the armbar and the choke at the same time is awesome. Josh drilled X and smash pass with some of my help.
We rolled a few times. I worked especially for Z and got it a few times. He actually took an opportunity to do the smash pass at one point and I couldn't be happier.
Craig: The mat was pretty crowded and I had to do some catch and release a few times. He commented that he liked my knee shield grip stripper (patent pending) and I gave him a little instructional on it.
Justin: My goal was to get him to turtle and crucifix. From side control I've been trying things like cross facing excessively or giving enough space encourage my partner to turtle. I haven't found the magic formula yet but I did get Justin to reach out for an underhook that I pushed between my legs and rolled for the crucifix, it was awesome.
I showed Justin the back take from North/south using the lapels under the armpits. He seemed to like that.
Clint: I think I was too worn out for this roll because I got gassed pretty quickly. He does a good job of applying constant pressure from the top, not sure what his guard is like though. As I got tired I had trouble maintaining my half guard and eventually he was able to pass to side control.
As I was contemplating whether to quit from exhaustion or see it through, I developed a plan to get back to close guard and go right into cross guard and omoplata sweep. That was my best option to sweep. I turtled, he went to head lock position, I sat and pulled him into closed guard and right into the cross guard barrel roll sweep. I was so relieved that worked.
One thing that Bernardo Faria says a lot in his DVDs is to find ways to get to your sweeping position from anywhere. Generally I sweep from 2 places deep half or cross guard.
Friday, March 10, 2017
March 10th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #5 Double Leg, Mount: Cross Collar Choke, Upa
Partner: Matt
Probably a combination of the cold whether and too many cross collar chokes this week but my fingers were aching this morning. Not much new in the technique portion of the class for me. It was fun working on the double leg with Matt as he's a former wrestler so we went at a pretty good pace.
Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Matt, Jess, Jesus, Conan, Bauer
Attempted the collar choke several times but couldn't pull it off. It didn't get me into trouble either. I also attempted the upa when I could and hit it often or got an elbow escape.
Free rolled with Bauer and had to deal with his base when I was attempting to sweep. His flexibility allows him to widen out quite a bit to prevent sweeps, although I am having more success than I have had in the past. He's also good at smothering in half guard.
Conan took me apart pretty handily. He's been working on tying up my hands with my lapels while in side control. It is so frustrating to deal with. I wasn't able to escape this time, but on our second roll we had about 20 seconds left and he gave me side control. I went right to knee on belly and he turned away a bit so I went for a toupee lock and got him to tap right away.
Office Hours Partner: Bauer
Bauer wanted to start rolling from half guard bottom to work on it. He was able to sweep the first time and hooked up a kimura later. I was able to turn the tables most of the time but we had some good back and forth.
After rolling I showed some of my knee shield concepts and kimura from half with the butterfly hook and the spinning back take.
Partner: Matt
Probably a combination of the cold whether and too many cross collar chokes this week but my fingers were aching this morning. Not much new in the technique portion of the class for me. It was fun working on the double leg with Matt as he's a former wrestler so we went at a pretty good pace.
Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Matt, Jess, Jesus, Conan, Bauer
Attempted the collar choke several times but couldn't pull it off. It didn't get me into trouble either. I also attempted the upa when I could and hit it often or got an elbow escape.
Free rolled with Bauer and had to deal with his base when I was attempting to sweep. His flexibility allows him to widen out quite a bit to prevent sweeps, although I am having more success than I have had in the past. He's also good at smothering in half guard.
Conan took me apart pretty handily. He's been working on tying up my hands with my lapels while in side control. It is so frustrating to deal with. I wasn't able to escape this time, but on our second roll we had about 20 seconds left and he gave me side control. I went right to knee on belly and he turned away a bit so I went for a toupee lock and got him to tap right away.
Office Hours Partner: Bauer
Bauer wanted to start rolling from half guard bottom to work on it. He was able to sweep the first time and hooked up a kimura later. I was able to turn the tables most of the time but we had some good back and forth.
After rolling I showed some of my knee shield concepts and kimura from half with the butterfly hook and the spinning back take.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
March 9th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #5 Double Leg, Mount: Cross Collar Choke, Upa
Partner: Jess
Some tips on the techniques of the week:
Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, Tim, Frank, Greg
Had a couple of opportunities to go to the shin across armbar/kimura position during the mount exchanges that I had. I'm feeling better about the transition but still need to tighten it up. From the bottom transitioned between my 3 main escapes of upa, ankle drag to deep half, or elbow escape.
Frank is improving on his grip fighting although he may have overemphasized on trying to control my arms too much where he should have probably been focusing on controlling my legs when trying to pass. But he addressed any collar grab which is a huge improvement.
Got to roll with Greg and had a good couple of exchanges. There were a couple of times where I felt like I was getting somewhere but something would happen to turn the tables and everything would unravel and I'd be defending from the bottom of side control. I was able to get to the z-guard and transfer the lapel but he went to reverse half guard and then came back and drove his hand through to get the under hook.
Office Hours Partner: Greg
Greg asked if I would do some standup sparring with him and I couldn't have been happier. We did two 3 minute rounds. I had a few "almosts" with some drop seio nage attempts, double leg attempts, a decent single leg, and a cross guard pull but he figured out a way to stuff them all. He also hit me with the takedown that he's been working on at least 3 times, which I may switch to in the near future.
I asked Greg about people hiding their arm when I was going for crucifix and he told me to just start going for their back and hopefully the arm will present itself again for crucifix.
Partner: Jess
Some tips on the techniques of the week:
- Double Leg: It's so important to get down the penetration step and level change. I feel like it's coming around for me now I just need to figure out when to do it.
- Cross Collar: Something that I noticed today that I hadn't previously was that Greg put his head to the mat before attempting any type of choking motion. I think this may have costed me the submission in the past.
- Upa: One thing that still sticks with me is how Greg does this in live rolling. Everything happens at once with trapping the arm and foot and bridging. My upa improved exponentially after working on that.
Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, Tim, Frank, Greg
Had a couple of opportunities to go to the shin across armbar/kimura position during the mount exchanges that I had. I'm feeling better about the transition but still need to tighten it up. From the bottom transitioned between my 3 main escapes of upa, ankle drag to deep half, or elbow escape.
Frank is improving on his grip fighting although he may have overemphasized on trying to control my arms too much where he should have probably been focusing on controlling my legs when trying to pass. But he addressed any collar grab which is a huge improvement.
Got to roll with Greg and had a good couple of exchanges. There were a couple of times where I felt like I was getting somewhere but something would happen to turn the tables and everything would unravel and I'd be defending from the bottom of side control. I was able to get to the z-guard and transfer the lapel but he went to reverse half guard and then came back and drove his hand through to get the under hook.
Office Hours Partner: Greg
Greg asked if I would do some standup sparring with him and I couldn't have been happier. We did two 3 minute rounds. I had a few "almosts" with some drop seio nage attempts, double leg attempts, a decent single leg, and a cross guard pull but he figured out a way to stuff them all. He also hit me with the takedown that he's been working on at least 3 times, which I may switch to in the near future.
I asked Greg about people hiding their arm when I was going for crucifix and he told me to just start going for their back and hopefully the arm will present itself again for crucifix.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
March 8th 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week #5 Double Leg, Mount: Cross Collar Choke, Upa
Partner: Jess, Dave
For some reason I was excited to work on double leg this week. I'm always feeling better about this technique in practice but don't have too much success hitting it in sparring. Mostly because I hardly do any takedown sparring but also because wrestling has always been difficult for me.
Jerad had us do both the palm up way and his way for the cross collar. I have a lot more success with his way. It feels right when I practice the palm up way, but I just can't seem to get the grips I want during rolling.
Rolling: Mount
Rolled With: Dave, Jerad
Rolled with Dave first from mount. I attempted both techniques as often as I could and completed each a couple times. We discussed coming up to the armpits while on top to help isolate arms. He has such a great attitude.
Jerad whooped me from the bottom. It was odd but I couldn't keep him in mount today. The hip push was key, I don't think I have a good answer for that, yet.
Office Hours Partner: Jess
Jess and I had a good couple of rolls after class. I saw an opportunity for crucifix from turtle at one point, but he defended it well and pulled his arm way inside. I'm so intent on the crucifix but I should probably put my hook in for back control at that point.
Jerad gave some pointers to lift their shin to get them to base out on the arm that I want. I drilled the crucifix a few times and I'm feeling better about the armbar from the top.
Partner: Jess, Dave
For some reason I was excited to work on double leg this week. I'm always feeling better about this technique in practice but don't have too much success hitting it in sparring. Mostly because I hardly do any takedown sparring but also because wrestling has always been difficult for me.
Jerad had us do both the palm up way and his way for the cross collar. I have a lot more success with his way. It feels right when I practice the palm up way, but I just can't seem to get the grips I want during rolling.
Rolling: Mount
Rolled With: Dave, Jerad
Rolled with Dave first from mount. I attempted both techniques as often as I could and completed each a couple times. We discussed coming up to the armpits while on top to help isolate arms. He has such a great attitude.
Jerad whooped me from the bottom. It was odd but I couldn't keep him in mount today. The hip push was key, I don't think I have a good answer for that, yet.
Office Hours Partner: Jess
Jess and I had a good couple of rolls after class. I saw an opportunity for crucifix from turtle at one point, but he defended it well and pulled his arm way inside. I'm so intent on the crucifix but I should probably put my hook in for back control at that point.
Jerad gave some pointers to lift their shin to get them to base out on the arm that I want. I drilled the crucifix a few times and I'm feeling better about the armbar from the top.
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
March 7th 2017 - No Gi All Levels
EBI Slap-Jitsu Champ: Nick Honstein
Nick participated in the first Combat Jiu-Jitsu 4 man tournament in EBI 11 and came home with the belt. He won both of his matches the first in over time by RNC and the second with a Twister after one of his awesome double legs. This is huge for Nick and our school.
https://www.facebook.com/UFCFightPass/videos/1109269439195480/
Theme & Techniques: Half Guard: Underhook Pass, Regaining Underhook from Bottom
Partner: Daniel
Greg showed the pass that he seems to always do to me when we roll. He seems to always be able to blow through my half guard. So I have a lot more to learn about this pass as I don't even come close to passing people as smoothly with this pass. I think my knee pads also affect my success with this pass.
Rolling: Up/Down/Out Half Guard
Rolled With: Mike, Frank, Daniel, Jesus, Bob
Greg had us start the first several rolls with the top person having an underhook. Attempted the pass a several times but ran into some lockdowns or leg entanglements that prevented it. From the bottom it was business as usual with knee shields to underhook to deep half. Mike gave me the most trouble and we ended up in some leg lock battles. One of our rolls was at a pretty intense pace for 2 minutes.
Office Hours Partner: Bob, Justin, Mike
Greg and Bob worked on a half guard pass where you knee slide through a knee shield. I drilled it a few times too and thought it was a pretty good pass that I'd like to incorporate. We took it past the pass a few times and he complimented me on being smooth.
Rolled with Justin and he gave me a hard time in a few places. There were times when I had him and due to no gi and his explosiveness he'd get out of a bad position. It was a nice roll for me to get in some extra cardio. I was hunting for crucifix but missed my chance in the scramble. Hard to work on the position when I haven't figured out how to get to it.
Mike drilled an outside single leg that I liked. Then we discussed some leg lock stuff. I feel like I'm focused too much on getting my hands right for the submission and need to get to the leg lock position first before securing the heel hook or toe hold.
Nick participated in the first Combat Jiu-Jitsu 4 man tournament in EBI 11 and came home with the belt. He won both of his matches the first in over time by RNC and the second with a Twister after one of his awesome double legs. This is huge for Nick and our school.
https://www.facebook.com/UFCFightPass/videos/1109269439195480/
Theme & Techniques: Half Guard: Underhook Pass, Regaining Underhook from Bottom
Partner: Daniel
Greg showed the pass that he seems to always do to me when we roll. He seems to always be able to blow through my half guard. So I have a lot more to learn about this pass as I don't even come close to passing people as smoothly with this pass. I think my knee pads also affect my success with this pass.
Rolling: Up/Down/Out Half Guard
Rolled With: Mike, Frank, Daniel, Jesus, Bob
Greg had us start the first several rolls with the top person having an underhook. Attempted the pass a several times but ran into some lockdowns or leg entanglements that prevented it. From the bottom it was business as usual with knee shields to underhook to deep half. Mike gave me the most trouble and we ended up in some leg lock battles. One of our rolls was at a pretty intense pace for 2 minutes.
Office Hours Partner: Bob, Justin, Mike
Greg and Bob worked on a half guard pass where you knee slide through a knee shield. I drilled it a few times too and thought it was a pretty good pass that I'd like to incorporate. We took it past the pass a few times and he complimented me on being smooth.
Rolled with Justin and he gave me a hard time in a few places. There were times when I had him and due to no gi and his explosiveness he'd get out of a bad position. It was a nice roll for me to get in some extra cardio. I was hunting for crucifix but missed my chance in the scramble. Hard to work on the position when I haven't figured out how to get to it.
Mike drilled an outside single leg that I liked. Then we discussed some leg lock stuff. I feel like I'm focused too much on getting my hands right for the submission and need to get to the leg lock position first before securing the heel hook or toe hold.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
March 4th 2017 - Open Mat
Open Mat
Rolled With: Patty, Derek M, Justin, Josh J
Game Plan: Bottom - Z-Guard, Top - Crucifix
Patty: I think we're pretty close in skill level but each with different skills. He had me defending from bottom I'd get to turtle and he went to my back. This was tough trying to fight off his constant neck attacks. I eventually made it to deep half and swept to double unders. Then somehow we repeated that sequence.
I put him into crucifix for a while but had a hard time controlling his upper body and making the submission happen and he eventually escaped.
I ended up passing and attacking NS choke but not able to finish and came up on a guillotine. We fought from half guard for a while neither of us able to do much. He escaped and my pants were coming off and we ended up quitting the roll.
Derek: We just drilled our homework. I worked on z-guard and turtle stuff. I'm feeling good about both. Derek seemed to appreciate the z-guard sweep and said it doesn't feel like it's inhibiting him until I'm sweeping. The ankle pick is just awesome. The feeling for the armbar from the top is not there yet, but I do feel good about combining the choke and armbar from the bottom.
Justin: Haven't rolled with him in a while since he's been too busy for day classes. We rolled a few times and I was able to setup the z-guard and use the ankle pick to sweep. I setup an armbar from mount that he almost defended.
We went over some armbar defenses (RNC and Push the leg into half). I also showed him the z-guard which he seemed to like.
Josh: I was dog tired by this roll and decided to try to control the pace. He came really close to passing my guard at one point but I worked my way back to half and then full and went for cross guard omoplata for the sweep. I went to kimura and used the kimura trap to transition to the bread cutter.
We discussed why it seems like I take his back a lot during rolling. It had mostly to do with him bringing his arm inside my knee shield from half. I showed him some passes that I like to use from the top as alternatives to the knee slide.
Rolled With: Patty, Derek M, Justin, Josh J
Game Plan: Bottom - Z-Guard, Top - Crucifix
Patty: I think we're pretty close in skill level but each with different skills. He had me defending from bottom I'd get to turtle and he went to my back. This was tough trying to fight off his constant neck attacks. I eventually made it to deep half and swept to double unders. Then somehow we repeated that sequence.
I put him into crucifix for a while but had a hard time controlling his upper body and making the submission happen and he eventually escaped.
I ended up passing and attacking NS choke but not able to finish and came up on a guillotine. We fought from half guard for a while neither of us able to do much. He escaped and my pants were coming off and we ended up quitting the roll.
Derek: We just drilled our homework. I worked on z-guard and turtle stuff. I'm feeling good about both. Derek seemed to appreciate the z-guard sweep and said it doesn't feel like it's inhibiting him until I'm sweeping. The ankle pick is just awesome. The feeling for the armbar from the top is not there yet, but I do feel good about combining the choke and armbar from the bottom.
Justin: Haven't rolled with him in a while since he's been too busy for day classes. We rolled a few times and I was able to setup the z-guard and use the ankle pick to sweep. I setup an armbar from mount that he almost defended.
We went over some armbar defenses (RNC and Push the leg into half). I also showed him the z-guard which he seemed to like.
Josh: I was dog tired by this roll and decided to try to control the pace. He came really close to passing my guard at one point but I worked my way back to half and then full and went for cross guard omoplata for the sweep. I went to kimura and used the kimura trap to transition to the bread cutter.
We discussed why it seems like I take his back a lot during rolling. It had mostly to do with him bringing his arm inside my knee shield from half. I showed him some passes that I like to use from the top as alternatives to the knee slide.
Friday, March 3, 2017
March 3rd 2017 - MMA
Theme & Techniques: Shawn Williams' Guard
Partner: Clint
Nick is out of town for his participation in the first Combat Jiu-Jitsu competition for EBI. Awesome to have someone representing us in the debut!
We still got some work done. Mike taught the basics of SW Guard pretty much the same as he has in the no gi class but with the added dynamic of MMA gloves and avoiding punches. The grips were definitely different. From there we transitioned to armbar, triangle, and omoplata.
Sparring: Guard Position, Stand-up
Rolled With: Clint, Cody, Henry, Mike, Jerad
Had to dig deep today during sparring, we didn't take many breaks and we all rolled with each other.
I had the most trouble with Henry, he seemed to slip right through my guard and when I attempted to snatch up a kimura he reversed it into an armbar.
I did have some success with the omoplata sweep a few times but also messed it up by going for a toe hold. I'm still having a hard time with disengaging and attempting to stand up, I have to remember that it's a desired option.
From the feet my main goal was to keep my hands up and not give away how tired I was. I used Nick's advice from a few weeks ago that you have to conserve energy and be defensive until you catch your breath. Otherwise I had a few good kicks and felt better about my movement.
Partner: Clint
Nick is out of town for his participation in the first Combat Jiu-Jitsu competition for EBI. Awesome to have someone representing us in the debut!
We still got some work done. Mike taught the basics of SW Guard pretty much the same as he has in the no gi class but with the added dynamic of MMA gloves and avoiding punches. The grips were definitely different. From there we transitioned to armbar, triangle, and omoplata.
Sparring: Guard Position, Stand-up
Rolled With: Clint, Cody, Henry, Mike, Jerad
Had to dig deep today during sparring, we didn't take many breaks and we all rolled with each other.
I had the most trouble with Henry, he seemed to slip right through my guard and when I attempted to snatch up a kimura he reversed it into an armbar.
I did have some success with the omoplata sweep a few times but also messed it up by going for a toe hold. I'm still having a hard time with disengaging and attempting to stand up, I have to remember that it's a desired option.
From the feet my main goal was to keep my hands up and not give away how tired I was. I used Nick's advice from a few weeks ago that you have to conserve energy and be defensive until you catch your breath. Otherwise I had a few good kicks and felt better about my movement.
March 3rd 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 4 Standing Headlock Escape to Tani Otoshi, Kneeling Guard Break, Single Under Pass
Partner: Bob, Craig, Jesus, Morgan
Conan skipped right to the guard break and he added in the double under and defending by moving the legs out and hooking their thighs. I like that each of us present a few alternatives each class.
Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Bob, Jesus, Morgan
Had good rolls with everyone. My main objective today from the bottom was to get to the z-guard and sweep and I accomplished it at least 3 times. Bob was able to pass my guard today after a few sweeps. Morgan had just transitioned into deep half when the round ended. He just needed to keep his posture because he was letting his neck bend a little too much when he got under me. Conan showed Bob some tips on defending my over/under pass.
Office Hours Partner: Morgan
Morgan drilled some de la riva with the help of Conan. Conan was insisting that he grab the belt to do the overhead sweep and he made a pretty good case for it. I drilled some armbars and chokes from crucifix, it was good to go with someone with longer arms. I'm feeling better about my knee in to separate the arm.
Partner: Bob, Craig, Jesus, Morgan
Conan skipped right to the guard break and he added in the double under and defending by moving the legs out and hooking their thighs. I like that each of us present a few alternatives each class.
Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Bob, Jesus, Morgan
Had good rolls with everyone. My main objective today from the bottom was to get to the z-guard and sweep and I accomplished it at least 3 times. Bob was able to pass my guard today after a few sweeps. Morgan had just transitioned into deep half when the round ended. He just needed to keep his posture because he was letting his neck bend a little too much when he got under me. Conan showed Bob some tips on defending my over/under pass.
Office Hours Partner: Morgan
Morgan drilled some de la riva with the help of Conan. Conan was insisting that he grab the belt to do the overhead sweep and he made a pretty good case for it. I drilled some armbars and chokes from crucifix, it was good to go with someone with longer arms. I'm feeling better about my knee in to separate the arm.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
March 2nd 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 4 Standing Headlock Escape to Tani Otoshi, Kneeling Guard Break, Single Under Pass
Students: Daniel, Jess, Jeff, Ben, Shane, Frank
I was the teacher today and had them drill for 3 minutes each again on a technique of their choice. I had them each do it a few times before I started the time to make sure everyone had their technique correct and their partner knew what they were doing. I think everyone got some good work in.
This is a rare week where I'm more excited about the self defense technique than the other stuff. The single under pass is just not something I use that often along with the kneeling guard break, but they are important to know. I showed the elbow push as a counter to the single under pass and everyone seemed to do well with it.
Rolling: Closed Guard Up/Down/Out
Rolled With: Everyone
Gotta give props to Shane today he was able to come up on a sweep when tried a long step pass. His guard is getting pretty good and he's doing an especially good job of recovering. Otherwise had some good rolls and saw some good things when I wasn't rolling. I did complete one single under pass and in the process I almost got caught by the elbow push escape. Saw some good hand fighting from Ben and Jeff they both kept me working to get grips.
Office Hours Partner: Shane, Jess
Shane asked about getting the overhook and people attempting the tozi pass on him every time. I showed him he could go right for a collar grab to frame against their neck.
With Jess, I drilled some z-guard for a while with a little resistance. We also troubleshooted some problems he was having with the over/under pass. We rolled and he did pretty well navigating my guard. I attempted to attack crucifix but wasn't able to get his arm out before we changed positions. We ran into a footlock battle where I was just a little quicker and in a better position.
Students: Daniel, Jess, Jeff, Ben, Shane, Frank
I was the teacher today and had them drill for 3 minutes each again on a technique of their choice. I had them each do it a few times before I started the time to make sure everyone had their technique correct and their partner knew what they were doing. I think everyone got some good work in.
This is a rare week where I'm more excited about the self defense technique than the other stuff. The single under pass is just not something I use that often along with the kneeling guard break, but they are important to know. I showed the elbow push as a counter to the single under pass and everyone seemed to do well with it.
Rolling: Closed Guard Up/Down/Out
Rolled With: Everyone
Gotta give props to Shane today he was able to come up on a sweep when tried a long step pass. His guard is getting pretty good and he's doing an especially good job of recovering. Otherwise had some good rolls and saw some good things when I wasn't rolling. I did complete one single under pass and in the process I almost got caught by the elbow push escape. Saw some good hand fighting from Ben and Jeff they both kept me working to get grips.
Office Hours Partner: Shane, Jess
Shane asked about getting the overhook and people attempting the tozi pass on him every time. I showed him he could go right for a collar grab to frame against their neck.
With Jess, I drilled some z-guard for a while with a little resistance. We also troubleshooted some problems he was having with the over/under pass. We rolled and he did pretty well navigating my guard. I attempted to attack crucifix but wasn't able to get his arm out before we changed positions. We ran into a footlock battle where I was just a little quicker and in a better position.
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
March 1st 2017 - Gi All Levels
Theme & Techniques: Week# 4 Standing Headlock Escape to Tani Otoshi, Kneeling Guard Break, Single Under Pass
Partner: Jess, Dave
Jerad taught the follow up of the bread cutter choke after the pass. During drilling we discussed using analogies to help people learn techniques like me saying to put your arm like you're holding Captain America's shield.
Tips for Techniques of the week:
Rolling: Closed Guard UDO
Rolled With: Jess, Dave, Jerad, Frank, Ben
Had some tough exchanges today. Jess was keeping me from sweeping him pretty well and I ended up working pretty hard to get to the top on our first roll. There was a point when Dave was in guard and I believe Jerad was starting to pass and I yelled out "Get a grip, Dave!" I meant a collar or a sleeve not that he was losing his self control or anything.
Office Hours Partner: Jerad
Jerad and Jess rolled a bit after class and Jess setup a lapel choke that he had seen on youtube and it almost worked. Too bad he burned his forearms out and Jerad just kind of outlasted it. Cool to see him attempt and almost complete something that he had only seen.
Jerad and I rolled and I did some good things. I was able to setup a z-guard while he brought his knee up to pass. He didn't let me get to his other knee but it setup a single leg x and full x and finally an x-guard sweep. He ended up catching me with an armbar.
Partner: Jess, Dave
Jerad taught the follow up of the bread cutter choke after the pass. During drilling we discussed using analogies to help people learn techniques like me saying to put your arm like you're holding Captain America's shield.
Tips for Techniques of the week:
- Standing Headlock: Once you get a hold of their far arm use it to turn them as you do the trip
- Kneeling Guard Break: Having a straight arm and keeping their hips down is so important but really difficult for beginners. I like to align my shoulder over my fist for added pressure.
- Single Under Pass: I like to think of my inside arm as a triangle shield. Keep a hold of their pants and your elbow checking their thigh and don't let them pull that arm into the triangle.
Rolling: Closed Guard UDO
Rolled With: Jess, Dave, Jerad, Frank, Ben
Had some tough exchanges today. Jess was keeping me from sweeping him pretty well and I ended up working pretty hard to get to the top on our first roll. There was a point when Dave was in guard and I believe Jerad was starting to pass and I yelled out "Get a grip, Dave!" I meant a collar or a sleeve not that he was losing his self control or anything.
Office Hours Partner: Jerad
Jerad and Jess rolled a bit after class and Jess setup a lapel choke that he had seen on youtube and it almost worked. Too bad he burned his forearms out and Jerad just kind of outlasted it. Cool to see him attempt and almost complete something that he had only seen.
Jerad and I rolled and I did some good things. I was able to setup a z-guard while he brought his knee up to pass. He didn't let me get to his other knee but it setup a single leg x and full x and finally an x-guard sweep. He ended up catching me with an armbar.
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