June 27th Gi - Coke withdrawal

 I decided to quit drinking pop.  At work a can of Coke is only 25 cents.  I've been feeling pretty tired at work the past two days and the urge to break down and get a Coke has been massive.

Before class Ken worked with me on the foot sweep.  I'll have to practice it more but he really helped with the kazushi part of it. 

Greg was our teacher last night and put on a pretty good class.  It was a pretty large class with a couple of new people which was nice to see. Our main focus was side mount escapes and after some exhausting animal walking we did a tripod drill.  The remainder of the class we spent with partners doing side control escapes one of them using the tripod.

We then did a drill where our partner would give us one or the other escape and we had to decided which one to take.  And finally the partner on top gave full resistance from sidemount.

Because of the good feedback Greg received from the 4 position drill we did on Sunday, he decided to have us do it last night as well.  It wasn't any easier, especially when I also did this same drill in my Hapkido class that morning.  Ken was my partner for this drill and we both worked pretty hard.  He really impressed me with his bucking and escape ability.  I guess I just have to work harder.

This was the first time I questioned whether I wanted to do open mat.  But, of course I did.  I rolled with Blain or Brian I can't remember his name but he's a tall white belt.  He's only been there for 6 months but he was still able to kick my butt.  He got me in an armbar and then the second time he let me submit him in an armbar.

After that I got a headache.  I'm not sure if it was from lack of caffeine or being dehydrated or what, I kind of had neck pains too.  It didn't matter I still rolled with Ken.  We had a pretty good roll.  There was one point when I kind of gave up because he got me in a bad position.  Ken wouldn't accept that and he had me work my way out of it, however I couldn't hear him give me advice because his legs were around my head.

I've got to find some kind of supplement for after class.  I'm very drained, achy, and a little loopy.  Let me know if anyone has any suggestions for recovery after class.  I usually do a Gatorade and banana and water.

June 26th No-Gi

Pretty small class yesterday with me being the least experienced.  Greg taught and Ray, Adam, and Aaron were also in attendance.  We warmed up with some shrimping up and down the floor. We did a couple of mount escapes that I have worked on before and got some pointers on.

We went through a drill of one person surviving from 4 different bad positions for 2 minutes each: Mount, Back, Side, and Turtle.  The bottom person was supposed to improve position and the person on top was trying to submit.  I started off on bottom with Aaron as my partner.  I had a hard time with mount as usually people can neutralize my legs by putting their feet under them or grapevining.  Back mount wasn't as much of a problem for me mostly because we started from sitting and there is no pressure on my chest from that position, I pretty much have to guard my neck.  Side Mount is my least favorite position.  It seems like I regularly become immobilized and all of the bucking and shrimping I do just tires me out.  Turtle wasn't as bad as the others, maybe 50% I'd end up in guard.

We cycled partners and I watched Greg do the top positions on Aaron and it was very cool to observe.  It's amazing to see him work.  After that I worked with Aaron again on Side mount and mount while Greg took on Ray and Adam.

I rolled with Aaron a little bit which was pretty good.  I haven't rolled without a gi for a while and I was able to move quite a bit more.  We had several scrambles and I was able to slip out of a couple of submissions.  In the end he got me in an figure 4 armbar from side mount.  I hadn't worked with Aaron before since he's been injured for a while.  Hopefully he'll be around more often now.

While Ray and Greg were working on stuff I asked Adam if he would show me some wrestling.  We worked on an armdrag, double leg and single leg.  The single leg stuff was pretty cool as there were 3 or 4 transitions that you could go to (at least that he showed me).  Adam was a little surprised that I was interested.  Personally I'd rather end up in the top position if I can and I think learning a little bit of wrestling can only help.

Fuji, I love you man

Thursday class started with Ray going over some throw drills with us.  First with a partner we went up and down the floor getting them on our back and then throwing.  I worked with Fuji again.  After that we got into 2 groups of 4 with myself, Patrick, Fuji, and Matt (new guy) in the big guy group.  One guy was to be in the middle and then throw the other guys as they came at them.  It was pretty fun.  I did a wrist throw as one of my throws which I think surprised everyone.  Just trying to keep it interesting.

Greg showed up to teach the middle portion of this three part class.  We worked on some half guard stuff.  It was a progression like usual from keeping on your side to taking the back or going deep and grabbing their ankle to a reversal.  I worked with Matt on these techniques, he seemed to pick things up pretty quickly for it being his second day.  Then we finished with 3 minute partner drills to try to improve from half guard.  I had no success with Fuji on top of me. 

Sensei Beggs did his Judo thing at the end of class.  We didn't actually do any throwing this time but did the entry first using the bands, then belts.  Finally we got into groups of three and one person did a seat belt grab behind the other person. The third person would then try to throw both people.  Pretty tough.

I rolled with Patrick at the end of class.  For some reason he likes to roll with me, probably because he wins.  I was able to roll him over from side control once out of the blue that I thought was cool.  He eventually submitted me though.  I also rolled with Tyler who I hadn't rolled with before.  We went twice and both times he got me with wicked armbars from the guard.  I couldn't figure out how he set them up so well but I'm intrigued.

So, Fuji flipped me some crap about his feelings being hurt from reading my last post.  I'm pretty sure he was joking but it made me think about how honest I should be on this blog.  I know there are quite a few people that I work out with that read this.  For now it's probably fine since everyone is beating me.  However, how excited should I be when I finally reach my goal and submit David or Ken and make them cry?  I don't want to gloat or make anyone feel bad even though I'm going to be stoked about these types of milestones that will hopefully happen.  Oh well no sense in worrying about it now.

I'm Crushed

Horrible weather on the way to class last night.  I was hoping it wasn't bad enough that class would be cancelled.  Class seemed to go by rather quickly.  Greg taught and the focus of class was on guard passes mostly using a grip on the gi and the pants or sleeve.  This was a technique that I hadn't worked on before.

I was partners with Fuji pretty much the whole time.  We were having a little trouble due to the size disparity but we made it work.  I couldn't get my legs all the way around him and it was pretty easy for both of us to pass.  While I like to work with Fuji as he has some good pointers and can make the exercises more challenging, I'm not sure if I got the most out of this class.  It seems kind of silly but I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or sound like I'm complaining by asking to switch partners.

Before open mat we did some 3 minute live drills of trying to pass guard or submit/sweep from guard.  Ken passed me several times when I was on bottom.  Then I was in Brian's guard and I couldn't get his long legs apart (very frustrating).  I think he got me in a triangle in the end.

For open mat I rolled with Ken.  At one point I had him in the halfguard lockdown pretty good but couldn't get low enough to do the sweep that I wanted.  He eventually mounted me and crushed the life out of me.  The muscles under my ribs started to hurt making it hard to breath.  I eventually got out of mount and into side control and kept trying to shrimp.  He got me in some kind of americana variation.  After we were done, I was having a really hard time catching my breath as my muscles under my ribs were really tense.  After a little while I was okay though.

I then rolled with David.  I don't remember the details too well except he mounted me too.  I didn't get the side pain again though.  Eventually he put me into a triangle from mount and rolled over to get it from guard.  I'm getting better at keeping my posture from here instead of trying to stack the triangle like I have been.

June 16th Class

Conan taught class yesterday but couldn't do much because of some injuries that he had.  He looked like he had some arm pain throughout class.  The focus on class was takedowns.  We started with a lot of falling and rolling.  We worked on double leg and sprawling and sitouts.  I worked with Fuji for most of it, which while he is a lot bigger than me is good to work with because I have to have the technique right to get him down.  He also gave me some good pointers on the takedowns.

Sensei Beggs came in and taught some throws again.  Still having trouble remembering the Japanese names.  We did kind of a reap that spread the opponents legs apart and then force them down.  From there if they didn't go down we trip on the other side or do O Soto Gari.

I rolled with Brad who got me in a triangle.  I definitely underestimated him.  It was good to roll with someone that doesn't keep me on the bottom the whole time like the other guys or he isn't just playing opossum until I make a mistake.

After that I rolled with Aaron who was Gi-less.  He kept cheating and grabbing my gi but it was understandable. The handles are there grab them.  Eventually he got me in an armbar.

I am a white belt

Conan taught class last night.  We had a pretty good warmup of rolling, shrimping, jumping, falling, tripodding, and more. 

The theme was a guard sweep that started with holding the opponent's own arm around their neck.  We did a sweep, a choke, a neck crank, another sweep, and then took their back.  I can't wait to work on this more.

For open mat I started by rolling with Conan.  I felt like I was doing better than usual as I was implementing some of the things we've been working on.  I did some guard passes and I pushed his head to his hip side but eventually he got the best of me.  I don't even recall what the submission was, I think a choke.

I worked with Greg next (blackbelt from california).  He worked me in spider guard and x-guard which I have little experience with.  When I roll with him and Conan I feel like I can't do anything right.  They have perfect timing and use little strength and energy.

I also rolled with Carlos, who I hadn't rolled with before.  I outweigh him quite a bit which helped me I think.  He was hard to keep down though and we went back and forth with guard passes.  Conan had us all stop and switch partners before either of us got the better of the other.  I then rolled with David.  I did a little better against him but eventually he crushed me and submitted me a couple of times.  After we bowed out I rolled with Ken with the usual results.  We started standing up and I realized that I need to be a little more aggressive instead of reactive, the person that attacks usually has some type of advantage.

There is no getting around it.  I realized last night that I am a white belt and this is going to be a long road to greatness.  Obviously I have been wearing a white belt, but before I started I felt I may have enough experience to quickly learn a few things and be at blue belt level in no time.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  Yes my experience has and will help but the real thing I've been missing is the mat time with this level of experienced people.  I've just got to keep working hard and strive for the awesomeness to happen.

June 10 Gi class

It turned out to be a rather large class yesterday taught by Conan.  Our focus was on preventing guard passes by pushing on the head and keeping the head and hips on the same side and then try to shrimp back to guard.  This is something that is really going to help me.  I'm always getting passed by my partner wrapping up my legs and moving into side control.  We also worked on headstands from there to assist the passer.

Sensei Beggs showed up toward the end of class and taught us some Judo techniques.  I guess he's going to be coming in often to do that.  We worked on O Soto Gari off of making them step back and then another throw where you sit in front of them but I can't remember the name.

After class I rolled with Patrick first.  I was on top for a little while but he got me in a kimura and was able to roll me off of side control.  I'll have to learn how he did that or at least how to defend it.  From then on I was on the defensive and he eventually submitted me in an Americana.

I also rolled with Dave the tree trunk guy.  We didn't get to finish but I was able to execute one of the butterfly sweeps I learned on Monday.  It's always cool to do something you just learned on a resisting opponent.

I signed up for the Cornhusker State Games.  The Jiu-Jitsu tournament will be held July 24th.  I'll be preparing for that in the weeks to come.