February 23rd 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Closed Guard Kimura & Hip Bump Sweep
Partner: Ben

I think I really made a difference in the way Ben does these techniques today.  He obviously had the basic concepts down on what needs to happen and how they work but a few little changes made them more efficient and take less effort.  With the kimura after he got his grips it felt like he was trying to push my hand off the ground to get the lock where I had him secure my elbow to his chest and then think about putting his shoulder down on the mat changing the angle seemed to take a lot less effort. 

For the hip bump sweep we focused on preventing half guard at the end of the sweep by not being lazy with the feet as the sweep is completed.  I also went a little off the books and showed him some deep half entries for the person getting swept to recover to. 

Rolling: Closed Guard King of the Matt
Rolled With: Greg, Robert, Mike, Bhuvana, Ben, Tom

Had some great rolls and it worked out that I went up against Greg, Robert and Mike quite a few times.  Sometimes when we have king of the mat I end up not facing them because of the way the line works.  Some cool things that happened:

• I went for some leg locks.  I didn't get them and made some mistakes but I'm putting in the mat time to make them better.
• I defended some leg lock attempts against me.  A few of Greg's did ultimately get me.
• I gave Greg, Mike, and Robert a hard time (I think).  None of my rolls were over quickly and I threatened quite a few passes and did a decent job in top and bottom half guard, butterfly, and single leg-x. 

Office Hours Partner: Robert

Tough roll after class with Robert as usual.  Good to have a gut check often from him.  Like usual I have to fight for everything that I want and rarely see a top position.  Probably the only place I felt like I was out of danger was when I made it to deep half, but once I got there Mike and Greg were telling me to off balance him and start sweeping.  Needless to say I shouldn't be resting there.  I tried to sweep with homer simpson, but he would really hunker down so I worked my way into a waiter sweep to which he moved to stack.  I then responded by trying to take his back but he was able to turn back into me and we ended up in half guard again.

Greg gave me a couple pointers from there.  For that back take I should have used both hands to secure his hips and keep him from turning.  I had one on the floor to keep me stable but both hands on him would have been better because I would either follow him or pull him down into my waterfall sweep.  I think I may get someone to drill that with before class tomorrow.  The other option was to transition with my free leg into a reap for a heal hook or single leg-x I'm assuming, I may drill this a few times as well. 

Another things I screwed up was a point when I was in single leg-x, he stripped my foot off his hip and he sat on my butterfly hook.  I should have planted my foot and kicked him forward to reestablish the position. 

I feel like this type of stuff is the great part about writing this blog for me.  Unfortunately for the reader it may not mean that much for their skill level or their particular game.  But me recounting it and thinking of how to word it and type it out helps me retain the information that much more for next time.

February 20th 2016 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Cross Collar Choke
Rolling/Game: Guard Position

Super proud of how Jayden did in sparring today!  I think he finally got tired of getting his guard passed so easily all the time. He went for grips used his legs and ended up with a couple sweeps.  He still needs to work on his hustle during warm-ups but we'll keep working on that.

A continuous issue with helping teach the kids' class is knowing when to coach and who. I try my best to coach everyone equally and I don't want to only coach my own boys.  It also can be difficult to coach against them.  I know the kids probably don't always understand but it's more important to me that they are trying to do techniques well rather than trying to win at any cost.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Josh J, Henry, Adam, Mo, Greg, Connor
Game Plan: Maintain Guard

Josh: Happy to welcome Josh to his first open mat. By the end of class he said that he'd be attending more often.  We rolled quite a few times with my main goal being to setup the spiral armbar but it never really presented itself. We went over some mount defense and a few other things before switching partners.

Henry: It was just as much a mental battle as a physical one rolling with Henry. Whenever  I'd do something good and try to slow the pace down and he'd get out of it and scramble again. I hate that feeling of disappointment after I just worked so hard for a sweep only to have it taken away.  I need to overcome this thought process and go with the flow.

Adam: Always a pleasure to roll with Adam. I did a few good things and hopefully made it more difficult to submit me than usual. I was able to keep guard a little longer than usual and also recovered guard a few times. My practice with controlling my breathing with bridging is paying off.

My best attempt to get him was when I set up cross guard and went for an omoplata. He stacked and stood to defend.  I'm still not ready to attempt the back roll yet though.  He eventually caught me with a straight armlock.

Mo: I'm going to have to start taking him more seriously because he almost caught me a couple times. At the beginning of our second roll I wanted him to play deep half but I must have been too obvious because he thought I was trying to set him up for a trap.  We went over transitioning to mount from a low side control.

Greg: I was lucky enough to get asked to roll no gi a couple times with Greg. But, not lucky enough to complete any meaningful technique. He stopped my butterfly guard attempts, he caught me with a kimura, an armbar, and head and arm choke.  There was one point where I thought I had pulled him into closed guard but he went to a tozi pass and got out.

Conor: This was his second class so we just drilled a few basics and rolled a bit.  It seems pretty common for new people to try to fight guard by pushing straight forward.  Does anyone else remember how long it took you to get over this?

February 19th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Headlock Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass
Partner: Morgan, Jeff

Cool write up on a leg lock seminar that Greg did during his recent trip to California: Rise Again BJJ

Quote of the day goes to Sam.  In the middle of drilling she said something to the effect of, "your testicles aren't so great!"  Without context I was puzzled about what could be going on over there.  Apparently they were discussing the importance of testicles to ovaries or something. 

Another training session in the books.  Since I don't have much to talk about technique-wise today here's some blog/training stats: According to the counts on my blog I've made 729 posts.  I've made a post for every class, seminar, and tournament.  So I've "done" Jiu-Jitsu 729 times usually for an hour and a half if not more each session (So somewhere on the higher end of 1093-1458 hours).  I've completed 424 gi classes, 120 No Gi and 170 Open Mats.  My teachers have primarily been: Greg 306 classes, Conan 124, Jerad 62, Ray 23, Mike 12, and apparently I've taught 30.  I've competed in 5 tournaments and attended 4 Tinguinha seminars. 

Rolling: Kesa Gatame (2 x 3 min), Guard (2 x 3 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min), Open Guard King of the Mat
Rolled With: Conan, Craig, Morgan, Jeff, Sam, Josh

I was partners with Conan for kesa gatame, my all around least favorite position to defend and attack with.  It went as expected, he crushed me a bit from the top and I had to wait for him to give me some space to try to escape.  While he was able to escape me a couple times easily.  Once his head started popping out I felt very precarious and was reminded why I hate the position.  

The rest of rolling I tried to be very methodical in my passing and always looking for the knee slide.  I was able to do a few cross guard sweeps, some butterfly sweeps, I escaped side control once with the granby escape.  I enjoyed the open guard king of the mat as we had one person stand and one person sit.  I attempted to play some sit up guard and single leg-x, but I wish I would have went for some de la riva too.  All in all a good day of rolling.  

Office Hours Partner: Zac, Conan

Conan covered a huge pointer for guard retention.  Zac was doing the same thing that I usually do when someone is making space when they pass by reaching out his leg to try to keep them from moving.  This actually opens up the space that they want for side control so just suck the leg back in and look to sit up and/or get grips.  I find that sometimes I can reach and pull them into half guard but the really good people can get me way over extended and then pass.  I need to fight this urge to stop guard passes with just the tips of my toes and focus on movement and space control instead.

February 18th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Headlock Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass
Partner: Frank, Harvey

Retraction: I missed one piece of information when I taught the headlock escape yesterday.  I forgot to tell them to pull the arm out to help escape the headlock.  I apologize for ruining Jiu-Jitsu for anyone affected by this in class yesterday.

Another detail that Greg taught that I didn't think to was grabbing the pants at the knee to help you step over as you start your knee slide.  Something I do when I need to but didn't think to teach at the time.

Rolling: Guard (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Harvey, Frank, Shane

During rolling, I did my best to attempt the knee slide pass with any opportunity on the top.  I had more success with going to quarter guard and then switching back to knee slide or transitioning from knee over pass to knee slide.

From the bottom I was able to foil a few knee slides when they left room for my underhook, overcoming this made a huge difference in my guard passing.

Office Hours Partner: Frank, Harvey

During our roll I ended up with a hook in turtle and a collar grab on the same side. I felt a little stuck as I didn't have the leverage to roll him either way but I didn't want to let my hook or collar grip go either. Eventually I worked into the sliding lapel choke which we figured to be the best course of action.

Harvey and I worked with the knee slide a bit more and I worked on spiral armbar.

February 17th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Headlock Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass, Knee Through Guard Break
Students: Mike, Frank, Morgan, Ben, Tom, Byrav, Jordan, Dave

Nice sized class for a Wednesday morning!  We also had a drop in, Frank, who trains at the old school with Ken.  I also met him at a Hapkido class that I visited some time back. Always happy to have a visitor, especially if they've trained.

Tips on this week's techniques:

• Headlock Escape: I emphasized focusing on moving your shoulder underneath you instead of trying to pull your elbow out.
• Knee Slide Pass: After breaking the guard it's important to bring your knee up right away and connect your elbow and knee.

I showed the knee through guard break because it sets you right up for the knee slide and gave the guys that have done kneeling guard break a bunch a different option.

Rolling: Guard (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 5 min)
Rolled With: Tom, Frank

We had even partners during the guard portion so I watched and tried to coach where I could.  I tested Tom's butterfly guard again today and saw some improvement.  He even had a decent attempt at shin on shin to single leg x.

I tried to be pretty flowy but precise with my techniques when rolling with Frank.  He had some skills and knew what he was doing positionally. He seemed to be a little worn out so I didn't want to push him too much and gave him a little bit of room to work.

Office Hours Partner: Mike, Ben, Tom

More discussion on shin on shin, single leg x and x guards.  I commented to Mike that it seemed like shin on shin was having an insurgence in our school lately as I've taught it to a couple people recently and seen it taught by others.  So word to the wise stay away from trying to pass in combat base.
 
Had an Epic roll with Mike.  I'm happy about avoiding ankle locks but did run into a bit of a problem from bottom turtle.  I went to turtle to escape side control but he took grips on my belt the back of my collar and I couldn't move without giving up my back.  To make matters worse he would double knee ride to make the experience more demoralizing.  I ended up giving up my back but I defended well enough to get my shoulders to the mat.  Somehow I ended up fighting for a toe hold and used it to get up and pass the guard making him turtle and eventually take his back.  In transition I got a cross collar grip and sunk in a tight collar choke from the back.

February 16th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Butterfly Guard Passing Kneeling Headlock Pass, Standing Knee Cut Pass
Partner: Tom, Ben

Got some good information in class today.  We did 2 different guard passes against butterfly guard.  Greg was saying how standing to pass was sometimes better against bigger guys and the kneeling pass would be better against someone smaller or decent at leg locks. 

The first pass I sort of taught last week in the gi class.  The end result is pretty much the same but Greg's setup is much better.  As the butterfly guard guy goes for his underhook you collar tie them and pass their head to the other arm in a guillotine.  Then you decide to post on the floor and walk around or grab their ankle and spin them into side control.

The knee slide from standing I use quite a bit.  Stepping your foot in between their legs then simultaneously driving for the underhook and knee sliding.  The pointer that seemed to help my partners was to kind of throw yourself into the pass cross body like.  So don't try to put your knee straight across their thigh but turn the knee out and straighten your body. 

Rolling: Butterfly Guard (4 x 3 min), Free Rolling (2 x 5 min)
Rolled With: Ben, Tom, Greg, Mike

Butterfly guard felt good for me today on both sides.  I was able to do both passes a couple times today so mission accomplished there.  Recently I got away from trying to focus on the techniques of the week as much.  I think it's still a good thing to do but for a while I was focused on being more aggressive for the tournament.  Lately I've felt like I've been teaching more and haven't been rolling as much in the beginner/all levels type classes.  Regardless I think the important thing is that I'm actively focusing on learning something specific in class.

Had a lively roll with Greg, I think.  I can never tell how much he's letting me work and what I actually am able to do on my own volition.  I started on the bottom the first couple of times and tried to work some butterfly with little success.  I ended up in half guard instead and did a good job of making space when I needed to.  I went for a couple of kimuras and was excited that I may actually get somewhere but I allowed him too much space and he jumped out of my half guard to side control so I let the kimura go.  The following rolls he just grabbed both my ankles and flipped me up and then went for a heel hook pretty easily twice in a row. 

I wanted to avoid any footsie with Mike today and I was lucky to try the double ankle grab that Greg had just done to me and got a pass out of it right into north/south choke.  I had to deal with his inverted guard a bit but got around that, but he was still able to get his hand on my chin and break out of the choke.  I went for the choke again later on and the same exchange ensued.  I just couldn't get my head low enough to avoid his hand on my chin.  He eventually got his legs around for an inverted triangle and as I tried to escape it he got a kimura grip. 

Office Hours Partner: Mike, Greg, Tom

After class Mike and I talked about the north/south choke and how to avoid his defense, I think a lot of it had to do with his size too.  Tom was asking about butterfly and Greg had me try to pass him for a while.  A good discussion followed going from butterfly to shin on shin to x guard and single leg x.  Talking about the best sweeps from single and full x guards etc. 

February 13th 2016 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Drop seoi nage
Rolling/Game: Standup Sparring, Free Rolling, Flag Tag

Jace has been sick for a few days and was not able to go to class today.  I'm happy with how Jayden did on his own.  He still has some trouble with the partner exercises like pulling across the floor and giving piggyback rides.

I was impressed with how well him and his partner did with the drop shoulder throw. They both seemed to enjoy it.  It's one of my favorite throws.  During stand up Sparring he would start off well but eventually he'd get stuck bent over with his head down. We'll have to work on that.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Andy, Sam, Hiro, Dave K, Morgan, Derek, Henry
Game Plan: Bottom - Deep Half, Top - Knee on Belly

Had quite a few rolls today, which explains why I'm so tired.

Andy: I was able to foil his nefarious plans to choke me with a baseball bat choke from the bottom.  I'll probably eventually have to show him how to defend my over/under pass.

Sam: After a couple roles we got on the subject of the single leg x entry from butterfly and we worked on that for a while.  I was surprised that she had never worked on it before, but she made the comment that Mike caught her with it all the time.

Hiro: He was a visitor from MAMA who is planning on interviewing some of us for his thesis.  We went no gi and I soon realized that he was more experienced than me.  I felt like I would almost get somewhere only to be blocked.  I had a little success from deep half and almost swept with a waiter sweep but couldn't turn my hips over. He eventually got me with a guillotine from the top of half guard and I couldn't defend anymore.  He complimented me on my toughness, which I'll take.

Dave: Had a couple of tough rolls. I was able to use the shin on bicep to set up the omoplata and went to the crucifix position. In our second roll he was able to trap me in half guard for quite a while before moving up into mount and while transitioning to back mount he caught me with a tight head and arm choke.

Morgan: Had a good couple of rolls and he was able to surprise me with regaining guard from north/south. But, the notable phrase from our roll was when I had him in a cross collar choke from the back and he said, "Can we have a beard break?" At first I thought he said "beer break" but the hair of his beard was caught in my collar grip.

Derek M: He wasn't up for rolling but we drilled some regaining guard from half and side mount before he had to take off.  Probably a good thing because I was pretty worn out and he's a beast.

Henry: I thought I had enough gas in the tank to do another roll but I was wrong. It started out well with some back and forth but there was a point after he turtled and I was a little high on his back with a collar grip. He shrugged me off and I began to get a decent cramp in my ribs and basically gassed out.