My body took a lot of punishment and I haven't felt this worn out after Jiu-Jitsu in a long while. Jerad led us through a good warm-up with some different body weight exercises thrown in. The punishment started when I decided that I was okay enough to join in the team leap frog exercise around the mat. I've been skipping it ever since Greg introduced it a couple of months ago. I did okay with a few exceptions of landing gingerly (I hate that word). I did have to opt out of some of the squat jumps and lunges that we did later. I tried my best but my left knee was feeling fatigued at that point. No need to push it.
The theme of class was sweeping someone that stands up in guard. All were good techniques that I've done before starting with the basic grab ankles and then bridge with the knees in their center. We finished with the star sweep and knee bar.
For training we did guard passing starting with the top guy standing. My first opponent was Fuji. I came so close to passing him and putting him into side control but he regained and we started over. Somehow on my second pass attempt he secured a toe hold and stupidly I tried to fight out of it. We rolled a bit and just as I was about to tap my ankle stretched a little bit and there were some crunchy noises. It's not serious just a little sore this morning but it worried me a little at the time. I was miraculously able to pass Jerad after a hard fight. Then I went up against David (Judo guy) he's pretty tough with his grips and he pushed me around a bit, but I was able to maintain guard. In the end he stood up giving me the opportunity to do the star sweep that we worked on today. I went over to turtle and then swept his leg and took side control.
Apparently David Kluthe had to go do something silly like help his girlfriend cause her car wouldn't start. So instead Mike and I fought the first round of the round robin tournament. We did a five minute round starting from standing. I tried to do some Judo and started with an inside trip that I was going to turn into a throw, but he kind of fell to his butt and from there I worked to pass his guard. I didn't get take down points because he only went to his butt and I didn't put him on his back, got to remember that. We stayed in guard with me trying to pass pretty much in Mike's half guard and him securing grips and trying to choke me. I almost passed once but he inverted and was able to regain guard. What won the match for him was when he threw up an armbar that I was able to pull out of. He also tried a triangle after that but I was able to get my shin up there. So it ended up that he won due to those attempts. I shall reflect on what I should have done differently cause I wasn't getting anything done in his guard.
I rolled with Ken next. I am having a really hard time with Ken lately and I don't know what it is. With everyone else I feel like I'm improving but Ken has my kryptonite for some reason. If I get anywhere near the deep half position with him it turns into him taking my arm and kind of taking my back and somewhat triangling me there. I think I need to take a different approach when it comes to him.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
October 28th - No Gi
Conan had something to do, so for the first 5 minutes of class I was the teacher until Jerad got there. I ran us through a little warm-up of shrimping and other stuff up and down the floor and then armbar and omma plata drill from guard. Jerad had us work on some guard passes which was great because I've been thinking about working on them lately since I've been more comfortable with getting on my knees again.
We worked on several passes starting from the regular hands on the stomach knee in the butt then turn sideways guard break. From there we did a couple versions of the knee over pass with and without underhooking the leg and then sliding to the other side. Then we did single and double under passes using stacking and pressure on their legs. The final thing we worked on was to break the guard by standing up and dropping their butt over the shin, which is always fun.
Open mat with both Adam and Jerad went better than expected for me. Adam and I had quite a battle and I felt like I really took it to him and defended well. I did a lot of squirming and regaining half guard or going to turtle when I could. Lately I've had limited success with the inverted triangle from bottom side mount which seems to at least annoy people and help me get to some kind of guard. I used it a couple of times with Adam as he likes to put me in north/south. I also tried some wristlocks on him since I know he doesn't like them. Finally I went for a heel hook but it wasn't meant to be. After that he smashed me in side control and secured a kimura.
I got lucky with Jerad during the first match. I don't remember what helped me get on top but I was able to take side control and somehow worked into the inverted triangle. We struggled there for a while as I tried to tighten it and he tried to get out eventually I saw and opportunity and reached down for his foot and put him into a toe hold. With him in the triangle he had no where to go so he had to tap. In our second match I almost got him into the inverted triangle again but he wasn't going to let me do it twice. I remember making it to deep half once and actually completing the sweep but not to the extent that Ray was showing me with a leg drag so I need to work on that. Somehow I screwed that up and he was able to get back to the top position and all the way to mount. Lately he's been getting me with the gift wrap position from here so I've been taking special care to defend that, I guess he was expecting that and he threw on a mounted triangle as soon as I pulled my arm down. It took me completely by surprised and I wasn't able to put up much of a fight.
We worked on several passes starting from the regular hands on the stomach knee in the butt then turn sideways guard break. From there we did a couple versions of the knee over pass with and without underhooking the leg and then sliding to the other side. Then we did single and double under passes using stacking and pressure on their legs. The final thing we worked on was to break the guard by standing up and dropping their butt over the shin, which is always fun.
Open mat with both Adam and Jerad went better than expected for me. Adam and I had quite a battle and I felt like I really took it to him and defended well. I did a lot of squirming and regaining half guard or going to turtle when I could. Lately I've had limited success with the inverted triangle from bottom side mount which seems to at least annoy people and help me get to some kind of guard. I used it a couple of times with Adam as he likes to put me in north/south. I also tried some wristlocks on him since I know he doesn't like them. Finally I went for a heel hook but it wasn't meant to be. After that he smashed me in side control and secured a kimura.
I got lucky with Jerad during the first match. I don't remember what helped me get on top but I was able to take side control and somehow worked into the inverted triangle. We struggled there for a while as I tried to tighten it and he tried to get out eventually I saw and opportunity and reached down for his foot and put him into a toe hold. With him in the triangle he had no where to go so he had to tap. In our second match I almost got him into the inverted triangle again but he wasn't going to let me do it twice. I remember making it to deep half once and actually completing the sweep but not to the extent that Ray was showing me with a leg drag so I need to work on that. Somehow I screwed that up and he was able to get back to the top position and all the way to mount. Lately he's been getting me with the gift wrap position from here so I've been taking special care to defend that, I guess he was expecting that and he threw on a mounted triangle as soon as I pulled my arm down. It took me completely by surprised and I wasn't able to put up much of a fight.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
October 26th - Open Mat (Foot Locked)
Made it to open mat with a couple groups still rolling. I rolled with Mike first and we started from standing. He pulled guard and we assumed our usual from there. Like usual I had a hard time passing his guard, but I'm a lot less worried about his chokes without a collar to grab. My best bet lately to passing him is to get in tight with half guard. This led to him getting deep half on me which I was then able to get my foot free and work into an armbar. After some work and avoiding Mike's legs I was able to break his hand grip with the hip grab and roll. It's very rare for me to even threaten an armbar on Mike much less finish it so I was pretty happy about that. During our second match I had attempted a couple of foot locks as well but Mike was able to roll out of them. I don't remember the setup but Mike was able to secure a heel hook and I tapped as soon as I could. This was only the beginning.
For the remainder of the time I rolled with Ray, who ankle locked me all over the place. We did talk about some of the Jeff Glover stuff and I tried some of it while rolling. I was able to make it to deep half quite a few times but like usual I would get caught in the triangle kind of guard area whenever I tried to sweep. Ray told me to focus more on pulling on their knee as I tried to sweep and then leg drag as I came up. It seemed like I would be doing well and had success defending most of Ray's submission attempts but once he smelled ankle there was no stopping him. The worst was when I'd have him in closed guard and I thought I was safe. But, as soon as I opened up he would sit back and it was over.
Something that he mentioned later that I didn't realize that I was doing so much was using wristlocks while defending. Ray said it was pretty annoying when he would be setting something up and I'd throw a wristlock on. While he could get out of it, the lock made him reset and have to start over with his submission attempts. The last submission he caught me in was from the 50/50. Right away I claimed that it wasn't fair since I've only attended one class that taught this position and Ray was the one that taught it. My only defense was to try to hand fight and triangle my legs. It was inevitable though that he got a heel hook.
For the remainder of the time I rolled with Ray, who ankle locked me all over the place. We did talk about some of the Jeff Glover stuff and I tried some of it while rolling. I was able to make it to deep half quite a few times but like usual I would get caught in the triangle kind of guard area whenever I tried to sweep. Ray told me to focus more on pulling on their knee as I tried to sweep and then leg drag as I came up. It seemed like I would be doing well and had success defending most of Ray's submission attempts but once he smelled ankle there was no stopping him. The worst was when I'd have him in closed guard and I thought I was safe. But, as soon as I opened up he would sit back and it was over.
Something that he mentioned later that I didn't realize that I was doing so much was using wristlocks while defending. Ray said it was pretty annoying when he would be setting something up and I'd throw a wristlock on. While he could get out of it, the lock made him reset and have to start over with his submission attempts. The last submission he caught me in was from the 50/50. Right away I claimed that it wasn't fair since I've only attended one class that taught this position and Ray was the one that taught it. My only defense was to try to hand fight and triangle my legs. It was inevitable though that he got a heel hook.
Friday, October 26, 2012
October 25th - Gi (Worth the Trip)
Couldn't get off work early yesterday to make it to class on time but I arrived in time for the open mat portion at the end of class. After some stretching and watching other people roll I got to partner up with Mike. We assumed our normal position of him fighting from his back and me trying to pass his guard while defending his collar chokes. Unfortunately I wasn't defending them well because I had 2 close calls where I had to act fast to avoid getting choked. I almost passed his guard one time with an over/under pass but I think I stopped pushing too soon and he was able to shrimp out that one last time and keep me at bay. He finally had me in a loop choke which I defended but turned into an arm in guillotine, with both chokes I made gurgling noises but the last one I felt I had to tap to or I would have gone out.
I then rolled with Conan who dominated me like usual. However, I felt like I did better than usual. I was able to move him a bit more and regained half guard a couple of times from his side control. The worst part about being in half guard with him is that I always get caught by his crossface so I'm learning to look for it more now and get lower to prevent it. I was defending his submissions from side mount when finally he put a shin over one arm and then started the kimura with the other one. I grabbed my pants to defend but then could feel that he was going for the magic grip that we talked about on Monday. I immediately let go of my pants and told him I knew what he was doing, but guess what? That just gave him the kimura, so lose, lose there.
After that Conan lent me his copy of Jeff Glover's deep half guard dvd. I watched most of it last night and I am now even more in love with this position. I can't wait to watch it again and start drilling and incorporating some of the techniques from there. So even though I was late, it was worth going into the Dojo yesterday.
I then rolled with Conan who dominated me like usual. However, I felt like I did better than usual. I was able to move him a bit more and regained half guard a couple of times from his side control. The worst part about being in half guard with him is that I always get caught by his crossface so I'm learning to look for it more now and get lower to prevent it. I was defending his submissions from side mount when finally he put a shin over one arm and then started the kimura with the other one. I grabbed my pants to defend but then could feel that he was going for the magic grip that we talked about on Monday. I immediately let go of my pants and told him I knew what he was doing, but guess what? That just gave him the kimura, so lose, lose there.
After that Conan lent me his copy of Jeff Glover's deep half guard dvd. I watched most of it last night and I am now even more in love with this position. I can't wait to watch it again and start drilling and incorporating some of the techniques from there. So even though I was late, it was worth going into the Dojo yesterday.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
October 22nd - Gi (Magic Grip)
Jerad taught class yesterday with the focus on the kimura. We started from side control and worked on the basics first. If they grabbed their gi we stepped over their head and did the pull in the other direction before to break the grip.
The next technique that we did was new for me we put our opposite arm deep and kind of hug their elbow. From there put the knee on their stomach and then step over their head, from there we did a shoulder pull/separation. The final technique was my favorite where we reached past their arm and grab their pants with the"magic grip" and from there take their back and do a modified bow and arrow. See video below.
We did king of the mat from closed guard pass/sweep/submit drill. I surprised myself by staying in several times in a row. I feel like my game has improved from here with cross guard, hip heist, and flower sweep as my A game. I found it's a lot more tiring to stay in several times in a row.
During open mat I asked Jerad to work with me on tornado guard and we each did a few reps. We rolled for a while after that. I tried to work on bull fighter pass and failed a little bit. Jerad was able to take top position and he quickly passed my guard. It wasn't long before he got me with a bow and arrow. Mike shared some helpful bull fighter techniques after that.
The next technique that we did was new for me we put our opposite arm deep and kind of hug their elbow. From there put the knee on their stomach and then step over their head, from there we did a shoulder pull/separation. The final technique was my favorite where we reached past their arm and grab their pants with the"magic grip" and from there take their back and do a modified bow and arrow. See video below.
We did king of the mat from closed guard pass/sweep/submit drill. I surprised myself by staying in several times in a row. I feel like my game has improved from here with cross guard, hip heist, and flower sweep as my A game. I found it's a lot more tiring to stay in several times in a row.
During open mat I asked Jerad to work with me on tornado guard and we each did a few reps. We rolled for a while after that. I tried to work on bull fighter pass and failed a little bit. Jerad was able to take top position and he quickly passed my guard. It wasn't long before he got me with a bow and arrow. Mike shared some helpful bull fighter techniques after that.
Monday, October 22, 2012
October 21st - No Gi (Quiet Class)
The Kobudo group was having a testing during our class time yesterday, so we put up the black curtains separating the mat from the wood floor and tried our best to keep quiet. We did similar a warm-up to the recent previous classes. Lately we've been working on a guard recovery drill called crazy legs which I've found myself using during rolling. It's cool to actively notice something that we've been working on lately getting incorporated into my game.
We did further drilling of someone turning their back to us in side control and then taking the back from there by sitting them up and rolling to the other side. Then if they turned toward us we would smash their head and circle to their back and take their back in a similar fashion. We then did some guard passing and passing defenses. Starting from double unders and did 2 defenses like rolling all the way over or the other one from last week where we end up in crucifix. We finished class with a couple or passes and then a defense from a failed scissor sweep attempt. Then Conan showed us a technique that will beat David, so I won't share it here.
During open mat I started with a quick roll with Conan. Once again he sort of allowed me to take the top position, but quickly swept me. I felt pretty good about my performance from there as I kept guard for a while. However, just before I was going to submit him (yeah right) he noticed some blood on the floor so we quit to clean it up.
Mike and I had an epic roll, I had multiple toe hold attempts and he had multiple guillotine attempts. We also covered a lot of ground starting at one corner of the mat and ending up in the other corner. I think with my attempts I needed to secure him with my legs a little bit more so he couldn't roll or flip out of them. On the plus side I'm getting pretty good at defending the guillotine and hand fighting. I need to revisit guard passing and figure out my a game when it comes to my passing. My opponent's knees seem to get in the way far too often. At the end of our roll I ended up saying something like "damn" and forgot that we were supposed to be quiet. We decided to stop, I know I was exhausted and it didn't seem like either of us was going to get the upper hand today.
We did further drilling of someone turning their back to us in side control and then taking the back from there by sitting them up and rolling to the other side. Then if they turned toward us we would smash their head and circle to their back and take their back in a similar fashion. We then did some guard passing and passing defenses. Starting from double unders and did 2 defenses like rolling all the way over or the other one from last week where we end up in crucifix. We finished class with a couple or passes and then a defense from a failed scissor sweep attempt. Then Conan showed us a technique that will beat David, so I won't share it here.
During open mat I started with a quick roll with Conan. Once again he sort of allowed me to take the top position, but quickly swept me. I felt pretty good about my performance from there as I kept guard for a while. However, just before I was going to submit him (yeah right) he noticed some blood on the floor so we quit to clean it up.
Mike and I had an epic roll, I had multiple toe hold attempts and he had multiple guillotine attempts. We also covered a lot of ground starting at one corner of the mat and ending up in the other corner. I think with my attempts I needed to secure him with my legs a little bit more so he couldn't roll or flip out of them. On the plus side I'm getting pretty good at defending the guillotine and hand fighting. I need to revisit guard passing and figure out my a game when it comes to my passing. My opponent's knees seem to get in the way far too often. At the end of our roll I ended up saying something like "damn" and forgot that we were supposed to be quiet. We decided to stop, I know I was exhausted and it didn't seem like either of us was going to get the upper hand today.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
October 19th - Open Mat
It was good to make it to open mat since I haven't made it in a while. It's just too bad that I couldn't get there earlier. There were still quite a few guys engaged in rolling. I slow rolled with Adam for a bit to warm-up. Once Conan was free Adam wanted to roll with him, so I waited for someone else to roll with.
The rest of the time I spent with Jerad. He started out by letting me take side control and then I moved into mount. He was able to bait me into thinking I could isolate his arm and then he reversed me. From there I kind of got stuck in a loop. I'd gain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. Finally I decided to try to be more aggressive and it helped a little. I was able to sweep him from half guard once or twice and I took top position again. Although I fell for a similar trap when I went for an armbar from side control and got rolled over. I had to defend multiple different chokes, since it's still choke month for Jerad. He finished me the first time with a straight arm lock. The second time we ran out of time but he dominated me.
The rest of the time I spent with Jerad. He started out by letting me take side control and then I moved into mount. He was able to bait me into thinking I could isolate his arm and then he reversed me. From there I kind of got stuck in a loop. I'd gain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. I'd regain half guard and Jerad would knee cut pass me. Finally I decided to try to be more aggressive and it helped a little. I was able to sweep him from half guard once or twice and I took top position again. Although I fell for a similar trap when I went for an armbar from side control and got rolled over. I had to defend multiple different chokes, since it's still choke month for Jerad. He finished me the first time with a straight arm lock. The second time we ran out of time but he dominated me.
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