April 7th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Week# 9 Koshi Guruma, Standing Guard Break, Torreando Pass
Partner: Quinn

Had a good group this morning and Conan had us do a couple of cool things for class today.  We walked down the floor to generate the kazushi to setup the throw.  We played with the torreando and responding to someone trying to prevent the pass a little bit.  We also did the stiff arm on the sleeve to regain guard.  This may have been an eye opener for some of the guys.

Rolling: Closed Guard, Open Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Quinn, Jesus, Jeff

Had good rolls with everyone.  I think Quinn felt a little dejected after our roll but I tried to assure him that I have years of training on him.  We talked a bit about having confidence in your frame and when it's best or okay to stand especially if they're hand is occupied.  

Open guard was fun with Jesus, he attempted to grab my ankles a few times to flip me to my back but wasn't getting off to the side to pass quick enough.  I used the single half guard a few times to help sweep.

As an experiment I decided to try to get sweeps as quickly as I could on Jeff and go a little competition intensity from the bottom.  I wasn't trying to force anything but move quickly and directly.  I felt pretty good about it and got a few butterfly sweeps out of it. 

Office Hours Partner: Jeff, Conan

Craig asked me to help Jeff with smash pass so I showed him a few setups and some of the things that I think are important for the technique.  First being keeping the hips down.  It seems pretty common that people want to raise their hips to get over the legs but it just gives the bottom person space to get some leverage back.  We covered windshield wiping the legs after that.

Had 2 great rolls with Conan.  At the end he made the comment "sometimes you're the hammer and sometimes you're the nail."  Today I felt like the hammer while most other days he does.  The main takeaway was that I felt pretty strong attacking his turtle setting up the crucifix or taking the back.  I'm really glad I decided to focus on that recently.

April 6th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Week# 9 Koshi Guruma, Standing Guard Break, Torreando Pass
Partner: Jordan

I enjoy working with someone more advanced once in a while.  Jordan and I got to play around with troubleshooting the pass and follow ups. I also showed him the pistol grip trick Jerad taught yesterday. Plus half of it we discussed his trip to Europe.

Rolling: Closed Guard KOTM
Rolled With: Jordan, Jeff, Jesus, Daniel

I challenged myself during rolling by attempting the z-guard when I could.  The person that gave me the most trouble with it was Jeff.  I just couldn't get around to hand off the lapel for the single leg half guard.  I had a little tunnel vision in only wanting one thing and I eventually abandoned it when Greg said we had a minute left.  I'll have to think about the setup more.

Office Hours Partner: Jordan

Jordan let me drill the foot sweep a few times after class. I'm feeling better about it but I'm not ready for live yet.  No one else wanted to stay and roll.

April 5th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Week# 9 Koshi Guruma, Standing Guard Break, Torreando Pass
Partner: Tom (New), Jess

Glad to have a few weeks in a row with more than 2 people in class.  I asked Dave to work with me a bit on the Judo sweep and he seemed to enjoy it as well.

Jerad made a cool realization today with something that he uses. While doing the standing guard break he would start with a pistol grip and then hand it off to the other hand with an umbrella grip. It makes a whole lot of sense.

Some tips for this weeks techniques:

• Koshi Guruma: Don't grab their shoulder and don't push their hips back when you put your arm around their neck
• Standing Guard Break: I would suggest that everyone do some reps with this with a partner where they do 20 in row.  One of the best exercises that we've done in the competition practices.  You can also add a situp for the bottom person.
• Torreando: I prefer doing this pass more like an x-pass.  I won't push both legs equally back but the closer one back and the far one out.

Rolling: Closed Guard
Rolled With: Jess, John, Jerad

Jess's open guard is getting quite good and I think I need to take it more seriously.  He was able to sweep me today with a spider guard sweep. Then on my turn I got him with a waiter.

John went to a long step pass from the start and almost completed the pass. We did some back and forth with half and deep half.  I don't remember what happened when I was on top.

Jerad and I had quite the battle. When I was on bottom I recovered a few times from almost getting passed.  My collar grip saved me with some loop choke attempts.  When I was on top I did the standing guard break and as I was trying to pass I got pulled to half then he got 2 on 1 and started to arm drag. I put pressure on his opposite shoulder to prevent back mount but he used it to sweep.

Office Hours Partner: Jess

Jess let me drill some crucifix and I think I figured something out with the armbar from the top.  I could get a lot more leverage if I kept my knees a little closer and brought my hips down.  We rolled after that and I had a tough time with his open guard but eventually passed. I have to work on my spider defense.

April 4th 2017 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Passing Butterfly: Guillotine Step Around, Knee Slide
Partner: Ben

Great class today.  Not that I need to say it because I rarely have a bad class at Jiu-Jitsu.  Although as many know I dislike classes based around kesa gatame. 

The first pass that we did often ended up in north/south choke for me, which I enjoy.  Greg did point out that I wasn't controlling the chin as much as he wanted me to.  I really enjoy the knee slide pass and was able to give Ben a few pointers.  I think everyone's first inclination it to smash the other person's leg down during the pass.  It's not really necessary, you just need to get your knee to the ground and turn your hips through.  I found myself having my head up more than I should of too often and need to keep an eye on that. 

I found a video instructional that is very similar to what we practiced today.

Rolling: Butterfly Partner and Up/Down/Out
Rolled With: Bob, Ben, Sam, Richard, Jess

I hit quite a few guillotines today and it mostly had to do with the other person's posture and hand fighting.  Keep your head up in butterfly, both top and bottom.  Or think of it like keeping your head above your hips in alignment.  I also used the kimura a couple of times, once to pass with the front roll sort of motion and once for the spin around back take. 

Office Hours Partner: Ben, Jess

Gave Ben some tips on deep half with the shin sweep and preventing kimuras.  Shin sweep has become one of my gotos although I haven't drilled it too much.  Had a few good rolls with Jess and after catching some guillotines we discussed the grip that I was using.  He thought my one arm guillotine grip felt strong so I tried my best to explain the concept of pulling into your body. 

With many grips like defending the harness in back mount or defending a guillotine I'm not trying to use muscle to pull their arm away, rather I'm pushing their wrist into my body.  This goes for sleeve grips as well.  Find a way to use your body to support your grip or your frame.  If I'm on the bottom of side control against someone stronger I try to bring my elbows into my body.  When someone tries to isolate my arm I move in a way that they push against my body instead of just my arm muscles.  Of course I don't have it all figured out because I still get caught, I get my arm isolated, I lose guillotines, but I feel like I'm figuring it out.

March 31st 2017 - Gi All Levels

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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:

• 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.

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.

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:

• 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.  

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.

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. 

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.

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.