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.

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 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.

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 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.

February 24th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Week #3 O-Goshi, Armbar from Guard, Cross Collar Choke
Partner: Bauer

Bauer's making a resurgence at the gym and it's good to see him around again.  Was happy to work with him although we were forced to choke each other repeatedly.

I noticed that Conan taught each thing just a little differently or with different details than I gave the day before.  I think this is great because I know when I teach I usually will say some of the tips that helped me finally make a technique work and those things can be different for everyone.  Part of being an instructor is also being able to tailor your instruction to the best way the student learns.  So the more ways I hear a technique presented the more ways I can teach it to someone else.

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

Had some good rolls, my goals were to look for turtle and crucifix or Z-guard.  So while I was in full guard I worked my way to half and started controlling the collar to loop it under the leg.  I was able to complete the sweep with it twice although I had to work through Conan's cross face.  Try as I might I wasn't able to find a way to crucifix but was in turtle at one point trying to isolate the arm.  My partner tried so hard to prevent the crucifix that I was able to go for a regular back mount hook, which may be my go to. 

February 10th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Week 1 O-Soto Gari, Side Control: Knee Across Escape, Americana
Partner: Jesus, Craig

Not much to add to previous posts this week.  Mostly helped with bridging and hip shifting with the side control escape.  Conan added a little to the americana by rolling weight down when their arm is greater than a 90 degree angle.

Rolling: Side Control, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Conan, Ryal, Craig, Jesus, Morgan

Conan was on point with his side control escapes.  Only toward the end was I able to get somewhere.  I escaped his side control once within the time limit and he got mount the other time. 

Other rolls went well, and I don't think I was in danger of getting submitted.  I hit a lasso sweep, an americana, had a good transition to back mount and then bow and arrow at one point (or maybe that was yesterday?).  I also had a nice exchange with Jesus where I attempted several submissions and ended up in an armbar from the bottom of guard.  He said "that was cool" and I had to agree.

Office Hours Partner: Morgan

Worked with Morgan on loop choke after I caught him once.  He seemed to like it and do it well.  He complimented my half guard and said I felt like a rock in that position (I think that's good). 

January 27th 2017 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Guillotine Defense from Guard, Ezekiel Choke from Mount & Half Guard
Partner: Mike G, Jeff

We had 9 students in class this morning where we're usually lucky to get 6.

Here are some tips on the ezekiel:

• Make sure you get all 4 fingers in your sleeve.  You'll destroy your finger joints if you don't.
• Line up your shoulders with the choke.  If I'm attempting the ezekiel and my head and shoulders are above my opponent the angle is off a bit.  I want to shove my fist directly into their neck but not in a downward angle.
• I get this choke far more often from the threat of the half guard pass or directly after getting the mount.  I'll also use it in mount to help me move up on their chest and isolate their arms for other submissions. 

Rolling: Mount & Half Guard Up/Down/Out, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, Jeff, Jesus, Justin, Conan, Craig, Ryal

Not a lot different from yesterday.  I did have a good exchange with Jess where he turtled up and I stayed on his back and transitioned into armbar/kimura position.  I think he's been helping me with that position set since he seems to be able to get to turtle most of the time. 

I free rolled with the new guy Jeff and had to rely on technique a few times as he has some strength and great body movement.  Even though he was making rookie mistakes of trying to bench press me all over the place he was still difficult to handle.  I think I calmed him down a bit after a while and helped talk him through what he should do instead, but I could see how a less seasoned student would have a lot of trouble with him.

Office Hours Partner: Conan

Conan had the better of me today and once he swept me with butterfly I wasn't able to escape.  I made a good effort I thought, but I need to work harder to avoid the bad positions in the first place.  It's also good to get a reality check and spend some time on the bottom being smashed.

December 23rd 2016 - Gi All Levels (Comfort Zone)

Theme & Techniques: Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Pass
Partner: Jess, Matt (New)

Mostly helped Jess and Matt on some minor details of the techniques.  Mostly hand position and posture. Matt is a friend of Jess and used to coach wrestling.

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, Craig, Ryal, Matt

Felt good about my rolling today. Did a lot of hand fighting and pushed the pace to make up for yesterday. I helped Matt with some basics while we rolled.

Thoughts: Comfort Zone

I had a thought on the drive home about progress and getting over plateaus.  What I've noticed during my journey from blue to purple (hopefully) is that I'll get to a comfort zone with my game and feel like I'm stagnating, then I'll find something to work on that is outside of my comfort zone. I'll research, drill, and troubleshoot the subject until I feel like I'm safe in my comfort zone again. Then I'll feel like I'm not learning anything new and search for the next thing.

Most of this year was about being more assertive and imposing my will.  I've just started familiarizing myself with leg locks and related positions.  Another aspect that has presented itself that I've seen others like Jerad doing is stringing techniques together.  Often when I sweep or pass guard there will be a pause as I collect myself and decide what to do next.  Occasionally though everything will come together and I'll escape, sweep, pass the guard, and attack a submission without a break in the action. Improving this will be my goal for this year.

December 9th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Double Leg, Mount Americana, Side Control Bread Cutter
Partner: Craig, Jess

Light class as I expected with the cold weather.  Unfortunately Jess had to sit early because he tweaked his back. 

We had a bit of a discussion about the bread cutter and Conan showed it one way and I showed it another. The major difference had to do with how deep of a grip that you take. Both work and can cause a tap so no worries just 2 different ways to do something.

Rolling: Free Rolling
Rolled With: Craig, Conan

Had some good rolls with Craig and he's continuing to show improvement with his passing and guard retention.  On our last roll I played a little more defensively from the bottom and had a few points where I was able to recover from being in trouble but maybe wasn't the best technique at times like holding on to a straight leg butterfly hook for too long.

Conan and I have tough battles which often go his way.  He has a way of getting on top and stripping away my defenses and making pressure along the way. It makes it important for me to get the upper hand early. I'm finding this to be a forced change to my game with trying to deal with him and Jerad.

Thoughts: 

I felt a little more bold trying to pass Conan's guard and threw some torreando and x-passes in there.  Mostly because I've been drilling x-pass lately.  I felt like they were almost there but I still wasn't passing his guard.  So what's missing?  The techniques are sound and high percentage.  From my understanding I'm doing the passes correctly, but I obviously could be doing something better.  It very well could be details I'm overlooking or that I could be doing it faster or that I need to set it up differently.  It all amounts to drilling more and not settling for lazy subpar techniques.  It's part of the rabbit hole of BJJ being a lifelong pursuit.

December 2nd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Armbar from Mount variations
Partner: Craig

Conan had us do a few setups for the armbar to isolate the arm and go to s-mount, then to recover if they get their elbow free, then we worked on breaking the grips and preventing other defenses.  I tried my best not to put all of my weight on Craig's chest for the whole drilling portion, because S-mount can be brutal.

Rolling: Mount, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Craig, Jesus, Jess

Felt good about my attacks.  I got to play around with the armbar where they bridge and push with a straight arm.  Its not quite belly down armbar but kind of a hip switch with the shin across their neck to a kimura grip.  I'm feeling better about going to this position and not as worried about kicking people in the head as I do it.

November 27th 2016 - No Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Chair Sit to Back Sequence
Partner: Chris C

Got in to work off some turkey along with 16 other guys. Biggest class I've attended in a while.

We worked on going to a chair sit when they turn away to turtle up from side control then a few defenses and contingencies.

Rolling: Up/Down/Out Side Control

Had some challenging rolls but did well.  I generally escaped with an underhook to half guard but didn't feel like I was able to come up to dog fight. From the top I attacked with N/S choke, kimura, and farside armbar.

Office Hours Partner: Henry, Tom, Mike

Had a good roll with Henry my goal was to defend against kimuras and guillotines and I did well for quite a while.  He was mostly on top of my half guard or scrambling.  I think I need to make an effort to focus on wrestling again because I was not winning those battles. I had a great deep half to waiter sweep but felt like once I got to the top I couldn't hold him down long enough to pass the guard may need to seek out some details about possible passes after the waiter.  He finally caught me with a kimura in the end.

Had a good time rolling with Tom.  We both thought our rolls have been going longer and longer as we're used to each other's techniques.  I was able to hit another waiter sweep in the process.

I asked Mike about the quarter guard spiral armbar position and he gave me a few options like going for an omoplata, one handed kimura, or doing a gift wrap to stretch them out.

November 18th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kesa Getami Escapes
Partner: Craig

Every time this position comes up I mention how much I hate it and hate working on it both top and bottom.  Then I qualify it with, yes some people do it well and it's important to learn how to defend it, blah blah blah.  But not this time, I'm going to avoid saying anything negative about this stupid position.  But seriously, Fuck Kesa Getami, I hate it.  

Conan had us do a couple of escapes besides the one from this week.  Focusing on getting under their ribs and using other ways to get our elbow to the floor or control their far arm.  He also showed a submission that I didn't know about from when they are trying get under your ribs, you can kind of kimura them by hooking their elbow. 

Rolling: Kesa Getami
Rolled With: Craig, Jess

Felt decent about my bottom game, was able to keep my arm safe and maneuver my way around to eventually escape.  Maybe some day I'll experience Ray's Kesa again to see how awful it can be.  From the top I did fine, but when I started to lose the position I felt like there was no good way to recover besides trying to hang on to the position and get back to it. 

Office Hours Partner: Jess, Conan

Had a good roll with Jess.  One key thing that I took note of was at a point I had him in turtle and handed off his wrist to my other hand and basically did the lap belt turnover using his hand to take the back. 

Had quite a fight with Conan with quite a struggle from deep half.  He's been focusing on my free arm a lot I was able to sweep to top position but he eventually got me into his butterfly and swept me.  Then he was really mean to me and eventually got me to tap out with an armbar.  I asked him why he was being so mean afterwards and he basically laughed and said, "yeah I was being kinda douchey"

November 4th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense to Von Flue, Half Guard with Underhook: Take the back, Regain Guard

Since there were uneven groups and I'm a big time important instructor, I didn't really partner up today but helped with the techniques.  Probably the detail I helped with the most was pulling their body across to help with getting back to full guard. 

Rolling: Half Guard, Full Guard, Open Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Craig, Morgan, Jesus, Jess

I tried to be flowy today and also played a bit of lasso guard. 

Morgan just recently returned and I was impressed that he still knows stuff.  He still has some guard skills and did a good job avoiding my passes and hunting triangles. 

I was playing some loose open guard with Jesus, and he jumped on a nice straight ankle lock.  I was in trouble but he just didn't have my toes in the right place and putting the boot on saved me.  I will have to take him a little more seriously going forward.

Office Hours Partner: Jess, Conan

Rolled with Jess a couple times and my goal is to break him of his always move forward in his opponent's closed guard to stack.  I think it works for him a little bit against white belts as he's decent at stacking but it would serve him a little better to work on breaking open the guard with posture. 


Conan and I had a couple of good rolls.  I tried to relax a little bit and look for stability in framing.  I had a pretty well timed side control escape that he was impressed with.  In the process of attempting to pass his guard at another point he turtled up and had control of my far arm and we had a circular battle trying to get top position.  I ended up gassing soon after that. 

Just saw a totally awesome deep half to calf cutter that I can't wait to try.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH59psgDiBV/

October 21st 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Technical Stand-up variations
Partner: Tim (New)

Conan made a class out of the technical stand-up and showed some sit-up to single leg guard type stuff to use the same motion.  Tim is pretty new and I had to instruct quite a bit but by the end I think he gained some knowledge.  Hopefully he sticks with it.

Rolling: Combat base, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Tim, David

During rolling I switched between cutting to the chase with a pass or sweep and letting him work and talking him through things. 

Had a good roll with Dave, I played guard for most of the roll and we went back and forth between me attempting submissions and him getting close to passing.  We ended up going the whole round without a sub.  I did attempt to triangle the triangle guy. 

Office Hours Partner: Craig, Conan

We took turns rolling.  I was able to pull off the new side control escape that Conan and I have been working on (see video below).  I was able to pull it off too.  Conan was really in a pressuring mood and I felt like I had to fight my heart out to gain any ground.  There was a point where I was in deep half and he was trying to isolate my arm where usually I find it quite easy to retain but it was very difficult to fight him off and get my arm back.

October 14th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Back Mount: Cross Collar Choke, Bow & Arrow
Partner: Jesus, Jess

I helped Jesus and Jess on some of the finer points of the B&A along with escaping it. That technique is feeling really smooth especially my feet transitioning. I may start going for it again more often.

Rolling: Back Mount, Side Control
Rolled With: Jess, Josh J, Jesus, Tom

Transitions are feeling better than usual lately. Not trying to brag but flowing between mount, side control, and back control attacking my goto subs along the way feels very natural. Of course all of that changes against someone equal or better than me.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

Had an interesting cross guard omoplata sweep without actually having the omoplata locked in as he was hiding his elbow.  We also drilled some cross guard and omoplatas.

October 7th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Kimura basics from guard
Partner: Evan

Did some basic kimura stuff from guard.  Instead of focusing on just the technique we dealt more with when the opponent defends by trying to tuck their arm under their leg.  We then usually ended up with a sweep or a folded arm type of kimura that Conan has taught before.  I especially like the half guard stuff as I hook up the submission from their more often but am not always able to finish it.

Rolling: Guard, Half Guard
Rolled With: Evan, Ryal

Took a deliberate sloth approach to rolling with both of them.  Tried to focus on structure and very slowly working for the pass that I wanted.  It takes a little bit of trust in my grips and posture to do this.  Helped Evan out with some guard passing toward the end.  Ryal jumped right on the kimura from half guard a couple times and I had to be careful not to get it pulled away and isolated.  I told him to keep working on that because it seemed to be pretty natural for him.

Office Hours Partner: Josh

Rolled a couple times after class and Josh did a good job at giving me a hard time.  He attempted a brabo from knee on belly and I had to wait for my moment to escape.  We went over transitioning to knee on belly and I discovered something that I didn't realize that I was doing but is very effective.  He was coming up to knee on belly with his shoulder turned where when I went to knee on belly I would turn my shoulders so my chest would face him and it makes the position so much more unbearable.  People probably teach it but I just hadn't heard it verbalized or realized that I was doing it.

September 30th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Mount Escapes
Partner: Josh J

Conan went over some different mount escapes which broke the monotony of the techniques of the week. We did some extra hip escapes and bridging to coincide with the techniques he went over.  We went over pushing on the hip and using the thigh to push the foot into being trapped.  I do the second one to get to deep half often, I don't do the first one that much as I'm not that confident in it.

Rolling: Mount
Rolled With: Josh, Jesus

Gave both Josh and Jesus pointers on mount top and bottom.  From the bottom my advice is to not reach for anything, protect yourself, if you're going to grab an arm hold it to your body, and be prepared to attempt 3 different escapes in a row.  From top I'm always attacking, trying to isolate an arm, move up, and float.

Office Hours Partner: Jesus, Josh

Went over loop choke with Jesus as well as some guillotine defense fundamentals.  We rolled a few times and I helped him through a couple of armbar setups.

Rolled With Josh a few times and felt like arm drags were the right thing to do. Kind of strange since my normal arm drag is from 2 on 1.

September 16th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Closed Guard: Cross Choke, Armbar
Partner: Mike (Visitor)

Worked with a visitor today from Alvarez BJJ (http://www.alvarezbjj.com/) in Texas.  Had a good time training with Mike as he had a great attitude and was up and ready to go at 6:30 AM.  Conan had us do a different armbar setup where we climbed up their back and secured our leg on the shoulder before putting the leg over for the armbar.  I didn't feel like I was very good at it. 

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Mike, Craig

From the bottom I played closed guard and some 2 on one.  I didn't have much success with the techniques of the day though.  There were a couple times where I swept Mike, but he was pretty good about acting right away to start recovering guard and not settling.  He said that he has only trained for a year but he felt much better than that. 

Office Hours Partner: Mike

Conan, Mike, and I rolled a few more times after class.  Mike's training for a tournament soon so we went over some of his game plan and drilled a few things.  He was also interested in my North/South choke and we worked on that for a bit.

We talked about competing and visiting other schools and how a school can have a game or technique theme revolving around what the instructor is good at.  I've said it before but one of the best things about Jiu-Jitsu as that you can travel and walk into a club and feel welcome.

September 9th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing RNC Defense to Shoulder Throw, Scissor Sweep, Farside Armbar
Partner: Craig, Ryal

Felt a little sluggish this morning but started to come around after getting thrown a couple times.  Didn't have to give out too many tips.  Mostly focused on the sling shot motion to get them forward for the scissor sweep and to step further behind their back for the farside armbar.

Rolling: Side Control, Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Lucas, Craig, Jesus

Had good rolls with everyone and gave some pointers along the way.  Attack in side control; posture during the standing guard break and pull up on the sleeve; get the grips that you want and go, etc.

Left class again today not feeling like I did enough rolling.  Better make up for it at open mat tomorrow, hopefully there will be enough people there that don't care about football. 

Office Hours Partner: Conan

Worked on a deep half sweep variation that I saw on the Ryan Hall DVD last night that was a little different than I've been practicing it and teaching it.  It's a sweep using the lapels to get to double under pass with a butterfly hook.  He teaches it with the outside foot instead of the inside which even opens them up for a back take after.  I'll have to practice it more but cool minor detail that I glossed over.