There was a possibility that I would be the senior student today, so I had some things planned for class. Maybe a little half guard, maybe a wrist lock or two. However, we ended up with more senior people than usual with Ken, Fuji, Mike, Adam, and Tate.
Ken lead class with a focus on judo. We had a pretty good warmup using some matts as steps. After that we did some fitting in with bands and then a partner and a few throws. I would have prefered to do more ground stuff today but I know Ken probably wanted to teach what he's more comfortable with.
We did the guard passing/sweep/submit drill and switched top and bottom with 3 minute rounds and then change partners. I was pretty tired getting toward the end, I really noticed the change to 3 minutes rather than 2 like we usually do.
After we bowed out I worked with Mike on some standing passes. This has caught my interest right now as I hardly have any of these techniques in my arsenal. I think I'll try to get Jerad or Greg to go over some in tomorrows gi class.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
April 27th - Open Mat (Guillotine Day)
People were still rolling when I got there Friday. I hate being late but it's better than not going at all. I rolled with Mike first. He said he wanted to go with me so he could be mentioned in my blog, so here you go Mike. He made me defend two triangles and a guillotine that had all worried me a little bit, I think I would have tapped to them earlier in my Jiu-Jitsu career but I kept trying to improve my posture and pull my head up. I also got him in one and I thought for sure he was going to tap. It was so deep and against his jaw I thought for sure it was done but he eventually worked himself free. We covered a lot of distance because every time I tried to pass his guard he'd shrimp away. Which led us to later talk about standing passes.
I rolled with Tate next and I was quickly armbared in our first match. But, our second match lasted a lot longer. Tate has a little different style than a lot of the guys at our school. He likes to do a lot of the 10th planet moves. I felt like I was able to get underneath him a little easier than I can others and get into deep half or come out the back door. During one of our scrambles I was able to sink in a guillotine really tight. It sounded like he was going to tap but he weathered it and got out. He stacked me once and get me into the beginning of the twister position. I was able to get my legs free and ended up in half guard. He finished me soon after with a darce choke.
Will and I rolled for a little while as well. I find him to be very deceptive. I don't remember much from our match I think I spent most of the time trying to pass his guard and then when I did he would regain it. Once he was on top he pretty much went to north-south position. I can't remember if he submitted me or not because we had to get off the matt for the kids class.
I rolled with Tate next and I was quickly armbared in our first match. But, our second match lasted a lot longer. Tate has a little different style than a lot of the guys at our school. He likes to do a lot of the 10th planet moves. I felt like I was able to get underneath him a little easier than I can others and get into deep half or come out the back door. During one of our scrambles I was able to sink in a guillotine really tight. It sounded like he was going to tap but he weathered it and got out. He stacked me once and get me into the beginning of the twister position. I was able to get my legs free and ended up in half guard. He finished me soon after with a darce choke.
Will and I rolled for a little while as well. I find him to be very deceptive. I don't remember much from our match I think I spent most of the time trying to pass his guard and then when I did he would regain it. Once he was on top he pretty much went to north-south position. I can't remember if he submitted me or not because we had to get off the matt for the kids class.
April 26th - Gi Class (Good Training Partner)
Conan was our teacher yesterday. I arrived a little late and missed whatever they did for a warm-up. The theme was dealing with knee on belly and side control from the bottom.
I ended up working with Mike for the entire class which actually went pretty well. On most reps we would try the technique and then kind of ad lib a little bit. We played with moderate resistance and maybe went a little overboard a couple times but would just start over again. It was refreshing because sometimes drilling seems kind of flat, with this I felt like I was getting a workout and I had to try harder to make things work.
For open mat I rolled with David. I got guard really early and maintained it fairly well but had a hard time with David's forehead on my sternum. I don't remember how it happened but I eventually ended up in top side control. It didn't last very long and I ended up in David's guard. He did a great job controlling my collar and posture, I tried my best to break his grip but was unable to. It ended with the inevitable triangle.
Conan and I rolled three or four times after that. He kicked my butt pretty well. I feel like I did some good things but was really no match for him. About the best that I can hope to do is defend smartly for as long as I can.
I ended up working with Mike for the entire class which actually went pretty well. On most reps we would try the technique and then kind of ad lib a little bit. We played with moderate resistance and maybe went a little overboard a couple times but would just start over again. It was refreshing because sometimes drilling seems kind of flat, with this I felt like I was getting a workout and I had to try harder to make things work.
For open mat I rolled with David. I got guard really early and maintained it fairly well but had a hard time with David's forehead on my sternum. I don't remember how it happened but I eventually ended up in top side control. It didn't last very long and I ended up in David's guard. He did a great job controlling my collar and posture, I tried my best to break his grip but was unable to. It ended with the inevitable triangle.
Conan and I rolled three or four times after that. He kicked my butt pretty well. I feel like I did some good things but was really no match for him. About the best that I can hope to do is defend smartly for as long as I can.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
April 25th - Morning Open
Attendees: Ken, Robert, Erik, James
Wow, a good morning of grappling. I didn't really think about it but James commented on how impressed he was since I went like 12 rounds and was always going. With all of the Jiu-Jitsu and swimming I've been doing it seems like my cardio is finally picking up. Ken and Erik used the time for boxing mostly so I didn't roll with either of them. So, I took turns getting submitted by Robert and James.
We started from standing for most of the rounds so I got some wrestling practice in. I didn't do well from standing but most of the time I ended up in guard or half guard when I was taken down. They both gave me pointers and something that really stuck is that I need to keep my posture and lead more with my hips and break the plane between their feet with my knee. I'm moving in with my shoulders too much and getting stuffed easily.
There were a couple of times when I felt like I put Robert in trouble. I was able to gift wrap him then flower sweep him into mount, from their I was able to take his back. However, he grabbed my hooks and just jumped out of back mount. That was probably my success story of the day. Otherwise I was getting destroyed or fighting off my back the rest of the time. I was doing better at fighting for and keeping the underhook from half guard which helped tremendously.
I liked going from standing today and hopefully I'll make more opportunities to work on it.
Wow, a good morning of grappling. I didn't really think about it but James commented on how impressed he was since I went like 12 rounds and was always going. With all of the Jiu-Jitsu and swimming I've been doing it seems like my cardio is finally picking up. Ken and Erik used the time for boxing mostly so I didn't roll with either of them. So, I took turns getting submitted by Robert and James.
We started from standing for most of the rounds so I got some wrestling practice in. I didn't do well from standing but most of the time I ended up in guard or half guard when I was taken down. They both gave me pointers and something that really stuck is that I need to keep my posture and lead more with my hips and break the plane between their feet with my knee. I'm moving in with my shoulders too much and getting stuffed easily.
There were a couple of times when I felt like I put Robert in trouble. I was able to gift wrap him then flower sweep him into mount, from their I was able to take his back. However, he grabbed my hooks and just jumped out of back mount. That was probably my success story of the day. Otherwise I was getting destroyed or fighting off my back the rest of the time. I was doing better at fighting for and keeping the underhook from half guard which helped tremendously.
I liked going from standing today and hopefully I'll make more opportunities to work on it.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
April 23rd - Gi Class
Jerad theme for last night's class was knee on belly. It was a good theme even though I had Robert's and Adam's knees on me for most of the class. We went from holding and posturing up in the position for points to techniques to do if they're trying to push your knee off of them. We did sliding over to mount, kimura, and far side armbar. I don't really think of the kimura too much from here while rolling but it seems like a good possibility.
I rolled with Adam for open mat. It went the same as usual for the most part. We work for a while on trying to get a good position, we do some foot fighting and he tries to put me into butterfly guard. I end up getting swept eventually and then I go from half guard to side mount to half guard to full guard. I was attempting to attack a little bit more and I had a few good guillotine attempts but I wasn't able to lock my hands up. He finally had me in mount and was punishing me with cross faces and trying to isolate my arms or roll me over to take my back. Alas I fell into the same trap that I have been. When he passes my guard I have my hand up behind his neck he takes advantage of that and does a farside armbar. I'm glad he pointed it out to me, otherwise it would have continued to happen.
I rolled with Adam for open mat. It went the same as usual for the most part. We work for a while on trying to get a good position, we do some foot fighting and he tries to put me into butterfly guard. I end up getting swept eventually and then I go from half guard to side mount to half guard to full guard. I was attempting to attack a little bit more and I had a few good guillotine attempts but I wasn't able to lock my hands up. He finally had me in mount and was punishing me with cross faces and trying to isolate my arms or roll me over to take my back. Alas I fell into the same trap that I have been. When he passes my guard I have my hand up behind his neck he takes advantage of that and does a farside armbar. I'm glad he pointed it out to me, otherwise it would have continued to happen.
Monday, April 23, 2012
April 22nd - No Gi
Conan taught class yesterday with the theme of the single leg takedown at my request. There were only six of us and I ended up on the senior side. We went over a single leg and took each other down. I'm starting to feel some confidence in my technique. All of the important things I told and showed one of the new guys yesterday from keep their head up and on the correct side to make sure that they step the correct way and pull the opponent's leg between their legs and finally push with their head. From there we did the single leg from a couple of ground positions with the opponent in combat base or standing. One of my favorites was when we held the opponent's wrist under his leg and took him down where he didn't have a base.
We also did a little bit on pushing the head when someone is moving up into side control. From there the approach of the guy on top is to do a head stand and put his feet and hips on the other side. The principle is that you can't pin someone unless your head and your hips are on opposite sides of their body. It's always fun to work on this but it got me to thinking about how often we go over a particular subject. Then I started to think about how many classes I miss by not being able to make it on Tuesdays. How many things have I not learned because I wasn't there at a particular class. Of course classes aren't run in a vacuum and we often work on things multiple times in the same week or someone will drill something with me that they worked on the other day.
I rolled with Claire a little bit during open mat. I made her work on maintaining guard and escaping mount. If I passed her guard I'd work for mount, once I was there I coached her through the escapes that we worked on as a warm-up. Then once she was in guard I'd start all over again. I also showed her the triangle setup from an overhook but we didn't work on it very much.
I rolled with Adam for a while. It didn't go too much different than usual. He got me with a far side armbar with a nice setup. He locked my elbow out on his shoulder before he switched to the other side. This turned my body making it hard to defend the step over. I rolled with him again and Conan coached me a little bit, the thing that helped the most was that he had me push him to his back while in butterfly guard, something that I hadn't thought to do or thought I could do. He still ended up submitting me with an americana regardless.
Conan and Adam rolled for 10 minutes after that. There was no clear victor however, Adam was able to escape side control twice with an underhook and rolling to his side and then to turtle. This is what I have experienced from him before, it's like there's no stopping him from there.
We also did a little bit on pushing the head when someone is moving up into side control. From there the approach of the guy on top is to do a head stand and put his feet and hips on the other side. The principle is that you can't pin someone unless your head and your hips are on opposite sides of their body. It's always fun to work on this but it got me to thinking about how often we go over a particular subject. Then I started to think about how many classes I miss by not being able to make it on Tuesdays. How many things have I not learned because I wasn't there at a particular class. Of course classes aren't run in a vacuum and we often work on things multiple times in the same week or someone will drill something with me that they worked on the other day.
I rolled with Claire a little bit during open mat. I made her work on maintaining guard and escaping mount. If I passed her guard I'd work for mount, once I was there I coached her through the escapes that we worked on as a warm-up. Then once she was in guard I'd start all over again. I also showed her the triangle setup from an overhook but we didn't work on it very much.
I rolled with Adam for a while. It didn't go too much different than usual. He got me with a far side armbar with a nice setup. He locked my elbow out on his shoulder before he switched to the other side. This turned my body making it hard to defend the step over. I rolled with him again and Conan coached me a little bit, the thing that helped the most was that he had me push him to his back while in butterfly guard, something that I hadn't thought to do or thought I could do. He still ended up submitting me with an americana regardless.
Conan and Adam rolled for 10 minutes after that. There was no clear victor however, Adam was able to escape side control twice with an underhook and rolling to his side and then to turtle. This is what I have experienced from him before, it's like there's no stopping him from there.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
April 21st - Private Lesson (#1)
I met Greg early this morning for a private lesson. We had been in discussions for the past couple months and we finally figured out a time when we could get together.
Luckily when I woke up this morning I had this bright idea to pack my video camera. It will really pay off because I've already forgotten a few of the things we worked on this morning. We decided on 4 separate sessions each with their own purpose. My main goal out of all of this is to be more effective off of my back. So today's focus was preventing the guard pass.
He warned me before we started that this would be more conceptual and theory rather than just working on straight techniques. We first talked about the three different types of passes: Over the leg, under the leg(s), or around the legs. Then addressed some strategies and techniques from each area. There was quite a bit that I didn't know so all in all well worth the money. Now I'll just have to go back and review and then encorporate what I was taught into my game.
Luckily when I woke up this morning I had this bright idea to pack my video camera. It will really pay off because I've already forgotten a few of the things we worked on this morning. We decided on 4 separate sessions each with their own purpose. My main goal out of all of this is to be more effective off of my back. So today's focus was preventing the guard pass.
He warned me before we started that this would be more conceptual and theory rather than just working on straight techniques. We first talked about the three different types of passes: Over the leg, under the leg(s), or around the legs. Then addressed some strategies and techniques from each area. There was quite a bit that I didn't know so all in all well worth the money. Now I'll just have to go back and review and then encorporate what I was taught into my game.
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