January 7th - Gi

Our regular instructors were absent yesterday so Ken warmed us up and Will ended up teaching the technique portion of class.  Ken did a decent warm-up with the addition of some falls that we haven't done in a while.  I was having some troubles with keeping up due to some pain so I did what I could or stretched while they did some sprints and other running type exercises.

Will had us work on a series from closed guard starting with the x-collar choke.  It's not something that I get very often, usually when I try it I can never get the wrist positions correct.  I worked with Mike on this who really likes these types of chokes and he gave me some pointers.  Next we moved to armbar if they defend the choke.  I worked with Chris and Ken on this and the remaining techniques.  This was Chris's first day back in quite a while and it seemed like his body had forgotten how to do some of the techniques but it was coming back to him.  From there we did the opposite side armbar utilizing the shin if they pulled out the initial armbar.  Finally if that technique failed we went for the triangle.  It was a nice progression, the only thing I would add to it is the omma platta as that is what naturally came to me a few times.

We did the 8 minute drill per my request so I could get some pseudo rolling in.  I worked with Mike and while I did catch him once from the back he completely made me look like a fool in mount and side mount.  I was very impressed by his escaping ability.  Any space that I would give him he'd find a way to sneak a leg in, go inverted or reach some type of butterfly guard.  Some of this was me not being able to use my leg the way I want to but I can't take anything away from Mike's ability.  I don't recall being submitted by Mike, but it's possible it happened.  He kept really good control over me and I didn't escape very often. 

I watched Mike and Will roll during open mat and gritted my teeth when I had to turn down James and Ken when they asked me to roll.  My gi is currently in Wisconsin, hopefully it arrives tomorrow, can't wait!

October 2nd - Gi

I decided to attend the final Tuesday evening class last night since I won't be able to make it this Thursday.  The class was relatively small but good with myself, David (Judo brown belt), Mike, and Will in attendance. 

Mike asked if we could work on half guard from the bottom.  We did "The" half guard sweep, as Will put it, first.  I've seen this done many ways and he does it slightly different than I do.  We also did some recovery if the opponent gets you flat on your back.  Finally we went over some 10th planet lock down and some dog fight type stuff.

I rolled with Mike first during open mat and we had some pretty good battles.  He played a lot of spider guard from the beginning.  It's becoming more difficult to deal with as if I get one arm free he can still use the other one to get me off balance.  Grip fighting is huge when fighting with Mike and  We stalemated on our first match and switched partners.

I rolled with Will next and it must have been my day because I felt pretty dominant with him.  Early on I threatened a wristlock from side mount that had him flopping around quite a bit and he eventually got free.  We had a few scrambles but I was able to get some key sweeps and came out on top and mounted him.  From there I worked the americana, he did a great job of keeping me from completing it, but I used it to setup an armbar which worked perfectly and made him tap.

I rolled with Mike again and we started from standing which was a little iffy for me, but since I outweigh him by quite a bit I wasn't as worried about getting hurt as I would have been with Fuji or Adam.  During one of my throw attempts he ended up taking a pretty bad nut shot and had to sit out for a little while.  When we continued he ended up pulling guard and we worked from there.  He almost had a repeat with the bow and arrow choke from Monday night but I was able to defend it with both hands in.  However, he eventually got me into a crucifix and after some fighting he applied a choke from there.

I don't like to get into the politics of the dojo on the blog because a lot of it is kind of petty and I don't need to concern myself with it.  However, I really don't understand why this class was cancelled.  There are other classes going on at the same time with Iaido and the sparring class and they have less students attending them on average.  Is this the Jiu-Jitsu class being treated as the black sheep of the dojo that I've heard about?

September 17th - Gi

Pretty small class again tonight.  Will taught with a focus on Shawn William's guard and omma plata.  I worked with Garrett for most of class as we went through 5 or 6 different techniques.  Nothing was too new for me but I did have some understandable trouble with the gogo plata. 

We did a king of the mat pass/sweep/submit drill after that and I had a good little run at one point.  My game has improved in the some parts of the guard I feel like I'm getting better at loading up onto my hips and working for the armbar or flower sweep and then also going for cross guard and the omma plata.  However, with my injury still healing it is very easy to open my closed guard and I often give up knee cut passes way too easily.  But, that comes with the territory of trying to heal and train at the same time.  Got to swallow my pride and just accept my limitations and find other answers.

I rolled with Will during open mat and had a pretty good match.  There were a couple times where I had to escape and give up position because of a deep butterfly or pressure on the knee.  I went for the bull fighter (not bull rider) pass and ripped Will's pants.  Apparently he was wearing his first gi.  I felt a little bad for I let it go.  I spent most of the time on the bottom in full or half guard.  I even had a couple of opportunities for triangles that we both fought for and against for a couple of minutes.  I didn't want to push too much though because triangles can be hard on the knees.  Will eventually got me in a straight ankle lock.  

I've been thinking about blue belt a lot lately and what I would need to work on to earn it.  I'm having a little internal ego battle about it.  On one hand it shouldn't matter and I should just train to be my best regardless of what's around my waist.  On the other hand I feel like I'm ready for more of a challenge to live up to.  Will my senior training partners take me more seriously?  Will I be hunted by the white belts and visitors?  It's quite motivating to ponder.