July 31st 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Back Mount Wing Choke & Bow and Arrow
Partner: Zack

Conan had us focus more on the kuzushi when doing the throw.  I still don't feel like I'm able to make it work that well.  Like I always say, I do the throws well but it's setting them up that doesn't seem to come together.  Nothing new to say about the chokes.

Rolling: Back Mount (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (5 min)
Rolled With: Zack, Dave, Ross

Zack kicked my butt from the back.  I tried my normal escape stuff and even felt like I was getting him off of my collar but he would find a way to turn it into a tight choke.  This was making me a little perturbed, but I'm glad that another hole in my game has been exposed.  I didn't do much better on his back and I never really feel good about starting this way.

Dave had very strong back control.  I had heard people say that he was very strong but never really felt it until today.  He just kind of latched onto my back and I had to work really hard to move.  Once I did escape the back but he ended up with side control.  Dave is definitely getting better.

Ross gave me a tough roll and jumped on me right away.  He was trying pretty hard to get the darce but I was able to get a 2 on 1 position out of it and went to take his back.  He allowed the sweep to prevent that and I stood and went right into an x-pass and then knee on belly.  Conan said something like "Hey Ross, you know Josh just did a 7 point move on you."  There was another point when I was attempting lasso to turtle to omoplata.  But he grabbed my free leg to prevent me from going to turtle.  Conan went over dealing with the lasso a little after our roll.

Office Hours Partner: Zack, Greg

We went over defending the bow and arrow a little bit that he caught me with during rolling.  When getting my hips down to the side to escape I was going over his forearm which made the choke better for him. 


I went over a spider guard pass with Conan and Greg.  It seemed to be pretty cool when I saw it in the video below but Greg was concerned about freeing the outside arm.  It's pretty unconventional, hopefully I can make it work.

July 29th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Back Mount Wing Choke & Bow and Arrow
Partner: Kat, Morgan

Couple things to mention on the bow and arrow.  I have been trying to stay up but Greg specifically mentioned to fall on your side.  I asked him about it and it has a lot to do with compressing their defending arm.  It also allowed for the leg to push their hip better. 

The other part was the use of the wrist on the choking arm.  I find it's much better to have a strong wrist and flex it away with the fishing pole cast motion right from the start.  If the wrist is bent it takes pressure off of the neck.

Rolling: Back Mount (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (3 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Kat, Ross, Jordan, Morgan, Greg

Some great rolling today.  I'm continuing my quest to be insistent on what I want.  Difficult to do while defending the back but when we did free rolling I felt a difference.  Jordan was a good partner to do this with as he is athletic and he has some wrestling skills.  So getting up to attack where I would usually try to lay back and pull him in is not comfortable for me.  I fought a lot more from bottom turtle which I need to get used to. 

My roll with Greg was especially tough.  Putting more energy into the roll makes things go faster and more difficult to remember.  He had me hung up with a spider hook and I couldn't get around it.  I was preventing him from getting under me pretty well but eventually I lost balance and ended up on the bottom.  He's been going for arm triangle lately and I was able to defend that but kind of got stuck there.  In the end I recovered half guard right before the buzzer.

Office Hours Partner: Kat, Greg

I helped Kat with some things from back mount.  Like using my head position to help escape with.  Greg wanted to work on a back attack using a kimura grip to transition to an armbar. 

July 28th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Back Mount Wing Choke & Bow and Arrow
Partner: Robert

Greg wanted to save some extra time for the positional sparring at the end so after the floor exercises we got into the technique.  There was a new detail to the wing choke that he added this time around.  Instead of just pushing the arm up and behind their neck we would push their arm out and away in kind of a circle to make their defense weaker.  This is something that I always saw as a downside to the choke and wrote it off. 

One thing that others seemed to have a problem with on the bow and arrow was not scooting their hips to the side enough.  Once you get your collar grip and the pant grip move your feet and bump your hips over so you're lined up like you're doing an armbar.  One thing that Robert had trouble with was people on top of his leg and I showed him to roll them forward to free your leg and then complete the choke.

Rolling: 10 Minute Defensive Position Drill (2 x 10 min)
Rolled With: Robert

We did the 8 minute drill of 2 minute rounds with one person on the bottom of Back Mount, Mount, Side Mount, Turtle and then added an extra round for back mount.  I started on the offensive side first and did pretty well in both areas.  I was glad to be working with Robert because I think we challenge each other pretty well.  Not too many things of note.  I felt a little better about my top game and holding positions on him.  On the flip side he put me into trouble more than once but I also escaped a few times.  

Office Hours Partner: Robert

We did two 5 minute rounds of rolling.  I was trying very hard to be more assertive and aggressive.  I think this helped a lot at a couple of points where I usually would have laid back instead of getting up.  I was actually able to complete a legit sweep on him and was happy about it.  In our second round Greg wanted me to start from single leg x.  I didn't feel strong in this position at all but it was more to help Robert learn to deal with it.  At the end I asked Greg about it and saw him do the position.  I realized that he was raising his upper back a lot more than I was and he had the top person's shin in his armpit rather than on the hip.  It made all of the difference for this position. 

July 26th 2015 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class Technique: Half Guard Back Take 

Rolling/Game: Half Guard Position, Sumo

Jayden seemed a little sluggish today but made it through the class fine.  They both did a lot better today with the back take than on Wednesday.  It did seem like a lot of steps.  Probably the biggest detail that I helped the class with today was to use the underhook to get under their armpit and shrug them up a little more. 

During rolling I noticed quite a few kids had trouble with keeping their opponent's leg in the half guard.  It's a common problem for adults as well.  During sumo I saw some good match-ups and the kids attempting a lot of cool throws.  I'm still amazed at how the kids seem to be willing to attempt more techniques in stand-up than I see adults do. 

Open Mat
Rolled With: Henry, Greg, Dave M, Jordan, Bhuvana, Alejandro
Game Plan: Deep Half, Insisting on what I want

Henry: We started off with some deep half stuff and he seemed to have some light bulb moments.  We've also been working on a type of shin sweep that he showed me a few days ago.  Henry kicked my butt pretty thoroughly when we started rolling.  I don't think played really any offense with him.  

Greg: I don't think I did anything well against Greg either.  He did give me a good piece of advice though.  He pointed out that often I will not work too hard to prevent transition to mount in hopes of catching people in half guard.  He said that he knew because he used to do it and Tinguinha would yell at him about it, so he was passing it on.

Dave: We had a pretty good roll.  I started in butterfly and ended up pulling him into full.  He was pretty grounded and difficult to move from there.  I attempted to go to cross guard a couple times but he was able to smash it.  Eventually with some work I was able to displace his weight a bit with a scissor sweep.

Jordan: He gave me a run for my money today.  I spent a lot of time in his side control and had to scramble quite a bit to avoid submissions.  He even made me go to turtle to attempt to escape.  Eventually I recovered half guard and did my best to not let it go. 

Bhuvana: She just wanted to work on the omoplata from cross guard.  Had a few bumps along the way that we had to iron out.  The most important thing was that she wasn't raising her hips and instead pushing me away.  Once that got a little better the sweep came pretty easily. 

Alejandro: I didn't feel like I had anything for him today.  I don't remember much about our roll except that I didn't feel like I could do anything to him.  The cool thing was that he showed me some of his deep half.  He likes to go right to the waiter sweep and then to x-guard.  I really like this as an alternative to when I can't sweep from the waiter.  When we were sitting around talking after open mat, Alejandro made the comment that he didn't see me taking a rest in between rolls.  It's true I try to use every moment of open mat that I can and not take too many breaks.  Greg kind of took it a different way and said that when I roll I keep an even level of energy throughout my rolls.  I start relaxed and keep the same level throughout.  Not sure if this is good or bad, because I have been wanting to be more aggressive lately but may not be accomplishing that goal yet.

July 24th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side Mount & Back Mount
Partner: Zack

Not much to report on this portion of the class.  During the demonstration of the judo turnover Conan showed that in no-gi you can put your fingers in their hip flexor and being the demonstratee it surprised me a little bit when he jammed his fingers in my hip.

I felt pretty good about my sliding under and getting my hook in for that portion. It's something that I've been working on lately while acquiring back mount.

Rolling: Turtle Position (4 x 2 min), Side Control(2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Zack, Jordan, Ben, Grant

Had some good rolling.  Everyone that I rolled with did some good things.  From the top I do well but on the bottom, I really need to act quickly because it really only gets worse.  Zack is tough in turtle and I always have to worry about my collar with him.  Jordan made it pretty difficult to pass his guard.  He did a great job at keeping my hips down in side control.  I went over passing from transitioning from side control to mount with Ben and showed him some ways to prevent me from catching half guard in the transition. 

Office Hours Partner: Conan, Zack

Conan rolled with both Zack and I twice.  While he did get winded a few times, he was still kicking our asses.  Zack seemed to fair better than me but I had some good moments.  When I asked Conan if he had seen anything that could be improved in my rolling, he just said that I need to insist on what I want more.  This is something I struggle with still.  How much effort do I need to put into a certain technique or position before I go for something else.   We talked about dealing with top half guard when they have the underhook. 

July 22nd 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side Mount & Back Mount
Partner: Jordan

Only had a few tips for Jordan today. 

• Emphasis on pulling the shoulder back when escaping the headlock
• If you're pulling to side control it's better to let go of the sleeve on the second pull.
• When getting the bottom hook in just roll them a little bit to point your knee at like 45 degrees.  So when you go to put your hook in they almost fall back down to the floor on the correct side. 

Rolling: Turtle Position (6 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Jordan, Ben, Austin, Will, Ross

It felt pretty hot during rolling and I had a tough time with cardio.  I attempted a granby with everyone I rolled in turtle with at least once.  I'm way more successful if I attempt it right at the beginning.  I did feel in danger a couple times and had to bide my time until I could find a reasonable escape.  From the top I attempted to get my hook in for the rolling back take.  I came close a couple times but never committed to a roll. 

During free rolling Will and I pretty much stalemated.  I started down in guard and eventually went to full guard.  He kept a good base and attacking grips and I had a few attempts at sweeps and a kimura but no position changes occurred.  Ross and I had a good roll as well.  I was a little more cautious since he rolled so well the other day. 

Office Hours Partner: Ross

He worked on the granby with rolling under himself.  We rolled a little bit no-gi and ended up in a mounted guillotine.  We talked about that for a bit and how tightening up half guard from the bottom can make it worse.  We went over the darce a little while as an option from top half.  No training tomorrow, ending a 9 day streak of training everyday. 

July 21st 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape to Armbar, Turtle Turnover to Side Mount & Back Mount
Partner: Bhuvana

Had a big Tuesday class with quite a few people that don't usually attend.  A couple things I noticed while doing the head lock escape.  Don't come at it with your elbow already bent to push away.  Make it more like a punch motion and go across their cheek.  Next after scooting your hips out, you have to lift your hips off the floor with both legs.  Use your raised hand to hand off their head to your leg. 

Rolling: Turtle Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (4 min)
Rolled With: Bhuvana, Josh (Beard), Alejandro

I think some time spent on turtle may be in my future.  I know from rolling with Aquila, Adam, and Greg last week that there is more to the top position.  So I need to learn how to do those things and defend them.  Josh and Bhuvana both gave me a hard time while I was on bottom.  I was able to roll through a couple times but only if I tried it right away. 

Rolled with Alejandro again.  He swept me right from the start with de la riva right over his head.  Wow, no one else plays that.  The only thing I seem to do reasonably well against him seems to be deep half guard.  I get there I feel a little safe.  I start to sweep, but he pulls me into an armlock.  He made the comment later that deep half was one of his favorite positions so I plan to pick his brain about that.

Office Hours Partner: Alejandro, Zack, Robert

Robert wanted some 5 minute rounds so the three of us each took one.  I rolled again with Alejandro and it was more of the same.  He passed my guard quite easily with an x-pass.  I tried to push his knee away and Greg warned me to grab his sleeve instead.  I think that roll ended with a brabo choke. 

Zack just wanted me to attack his back.  I think I did a fairly good job controlling although he eventually ended up in the bottom of mount.

Had a decent roll with Robert in no-gi.  I was mostly on the bottom the whole time in some type of half guard.  Whenever I would get close to sweeping I felt like he would threaten a guillotine and slow me down and take me out of position.