November 30th - Morning Rolling

It was just me, David, and Ken this morning.  It was a little chilly but not too bad.  Ken and I went first and I felt like I was doing pretty well being aggressive and we went back and forth with positions for a while.  Once he passed my guard I did have a much harder time since I'm still accepting the side control position (I've got to break that habit).  He eventually got me with a kimura from north/south.  We talked about it a bit and I have some ideas for next time I get put in that position. 

I went with David next and tried to follow his advice from last time.  Just to keep my feet close to my butt and try not to let my legs get straightened so he could pass my guard.  It worked for a while and I did feel a little more confident although he almost took my back.  I was able to get back to guard but couldn't figure out how to what submission to do.  I felt like I came close with an armbar but couldn't get my leg around his head.  At least I felt like it was the right technique to do but executed poorly.

Ken and I did some stand-up Judo for a while.  It was really getting me winded.  I think the constant trying a throw and failing in Judo is what takes a lot out of me.  We took it to the ground again.  There were a couple of times I had his back or had gift wrap from side control and couldn't do anything with it.  I believe Ken got me with an americana or a straight arm I can't remember.

I think next time there is a small group with odd number of people we'll try to do more position drills with time where we can switch partners more often.

November 28th - Gi

It was good to be in class again after 5 days of vacation and gluttony.  Jerad's focus of the night was on backmount, which I didn't realize with how we started.  We began with one of the Judo takedowns where you bear hug their waste and then do like a one legged squat to trip their back leg (not sure of the Japanese name).  From there we did a takedown kind of like pulling guard from behind by kicking behind their legs and sitting down.

From there we went through several chokes and the armbar.  Mostly a basic back mount class with the gi.  We finished with a couple of partner backmount drills.  I went with Fuji and Matt.

Unfortunately My toe was bugging me so I decided to skip open mat last night.

Highlights of last Wednesday early morning open mat with David, Fuji, Robert, Bauer, and Greg.  I rolled with Fuji, David and Robert.  I got tapped out by all three.  Greg and David worked on some De La Riva stuff to back mount.  David and Bauer were in a weird position and Bauer said something like 1..2..3..go and went up in the air and tweaked his neck pretty bad.

November 21st - Gi (I'm Yellow not Blue)

Jerad taught last night and the theme was submissions from guard.  We did a couple of different variations of armbar, triangle, and kimura.  I worked with quite a few partners and felt pretty good about my techniques.  Triangle can be difficult for me at times, not sure if it's the shortness of my legs but I can't always hook it up properly or I don't feel like I'm in the right position.

We drilled from guard with person on top trying to pass and person on bottom escaping, reversing or submitting.  I had a tough time with both Fuji and Robert, however I caught them both once.

A couple of people asked me if I was promoted to blue belt yesterday which was odd but also made me feel feel good about my progress.  Nope just got promoted to yellow as far as I know (yellow is equivalent of white with stripes for BJJ).  Then Adam goes and heel hooks me during open mat because he thought I was a blue belt too.  Yeah, nice try Adam.  I tried to assure him that I didn't mind and as long as we're careful I'd like to learn to defend the ankle stuff too.

Adam and I had a good roll, however my ribs are still not 100% and there were a few times I didn't buck or defend well because of the pain.  Hopefully after this long weekend I'll be healed and rejuvenated.  Besides the heel hook he didn't submit me but he could of a couple of times I think he was just working on technique.  I was doing my best to stay on my side in half guard and not get passed.  I worked several times to get quarter guard to half.  I also ended up in side mount at one point.

I think I need to start back at square one with guard passing and review the basics again.  I've got the gist of it but I think there are some little technical things that I'm missing that make a world of difference.

November 20th - No Gi (Ribcage, Hold Together)

Conan was teaching class when I came in a little late.  The theme of the day was defending the armbar from mount and guard.  Most of the defenses were kind of utilizing the rear naked choke kind of bicep grab and then trying to block the leg and stack.  We usually ended up in side control from there and we also worked to knee bar and ankle lock positions.  There were a couple of times while practicing where my bridged or extended my body and the muscles between my ribs were killing me.

For open mat I ended up just going with Eric who I hadn't rolled with before.  As he is bigger than me I decided not to be too aggressive and pulled guard and half guard right away.  No reason to struggle from the knees.  I was able to prevent him from passing my guard for the most part and conserve some of my energy.  He did eventually mount me but with his long legs there was a lot of space for me to escape through the back door, I was able to do this a couple times.  However, one of the times I really stressed my rib when I tried to roll him over.  At one point I had him in a arm triangle but couldn't finish.  I dragged him across into backmount but wasn't able to do anything there either.  I went for an armbar and he used the defense that we had been working on that day.

He did get me in a kimura from half guard and I made a noise of disappointment which made him stop.  I didn't mean for him to think I was hurt and I feel kind of bad about it. I'll have to work on how vocal I am when I'm disappointed, I don't want to give a ref the impression that I'm verbally tapping.  In both matches I eventually ended up in side mount and submitted him with an americana and the second time with a darce.  We went over the darce a little after that.

November 17th - Testing (Yellow Belt Achievement Unlocked)

Went into the testing not knowing what to expect although I had heard stories before.  Shihan was present and ran the testing after Ray took us through some basic falls and rolls. 

From there on the testing focused on Judo throws for the most part.  I partnered with Fuji and we threw each other several times to demonstrate different throws we've been working on.

We also talked about some Judo pins which was odd because we cover more positions to a greater extent within our Jiu-Jitsu classes. 

Shihan had us demonstrate a few chokes from back mount and an arm locks from mount.  I must have got Fuji pretty good with a bow and arrow choke because he coughed for a while.  This was the extent of the ground work.

For the remainder of the testing each person was tasked with throwing everyone in the class 5 times each.  It was pretty tough and I was winded afterwards, but I think I showed good technique throughout.  Close to the end I was shoulder thrown by someone and I felt something funny in one of my left ribs.  I continued but I knew something was wrong.

We bowed out after that and were told to Randori standing up with Judo.  I went with Adam and got taken down at will.  When he was told to try Judo stuff it got a little easier but when ever I tried to twist my side bothered me so I didn't do much good the rest of the time.

I'm still hurting a little bit but I'm surprisingly feeling better than last night.  So, I'm pretty sure my rib isn't seriously injured.  I'm a little disappointed in the testing mostly because I didn't feel like I got to show my stuff, I was hoping to do more Jiu-Jitsu. 

November 16th - Morning Mat (Getting Colder)

It was only David, AJ, and I this morning.  It was a little rough to get started because the mat is getting colder and colder in the mornings.  David and I drilled Armbar from guard and mount until AJ joined us.  We talked about testing a little bit and I worked on a few techniques for tomorrow (Guard pass, Reversal/Sweep from bottom, Arm lock from top and bottom, Judo throw, wrestling takedown, etc). 

David didn't want to get too sweaty because he had a presentation at class in an hour so AJ and I just rolled for a while.  I was really relaxed and kind of went with the flow until I could use good technique to reverse him.  I let him take my back a couple of times and fought out of it.  I'm not sure if I was being lazy or just trying to challenge myself a little more (a little of both).  There is tons of benefit in having the knowledge that you are a little more experienced than the person you're rolling against.  You can relax a little more and just let things happen.  I wish I could feel this same way when I'm going against David or any of the other purple and blue belts, but I guess that's the point. 

I did work outside of my normal game and was able to pull off the baseball bat choke, far side armbar, and the kimura all from the side control stuff that we worked on Monday. 

November 14th - Gi

Jerad taught class yesterday which was centered around techniques from knee on belly.  We did far side armbar, kimura, taking the back, darce, and baseball bat choke.  I had a few problems with my stupid gouty toe but it was some good drilling.  At the end of class we did some partner drilling and I worked with a visitor, Josh who has been doing Jiu-Jitsu in Kansas for a year.  He seemed to be pretty good.

For open mat I went with Robert first.  Which was our first time facing each other.  It actually wasn't the blowout that I thought it would be, he pretty much dominated but I did reverse him a few times and spent some time in dominant positions.  Hopefully this shows that my defense is getting better as it took him quite a while to submit me.

The new guy David looked like he needed a partner.  I tried my best to instruct while try to get him to figure things out while we rolled.  He seemed to have some knowledge of positions like he knew that getting his back taken was a big deal.  I tried to get across to him that it's going to be a rough ride and it will take time to get good and your ego would constantly be destroyed.

I went with Will last.  The one cool thing in our roll was that I was able to do the north/south choke defense that we learned on Thursday with turning to the side, grabbing the chin, and controlling their arm and taking them down. to side control.  However, he gained guard soon after.  I'm not recalling how he submitted me. 

The last several classes I've felt pretty good about my performance.  My defense has been improving greatly and I'm not getting caught in the same things over and over, I'm also not getting gassed or breaking as quickly as I used to.  I'm anticipating and afraid that this feeling will soon go away.