October 9th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Straight Footlock and Defense
Students: Craig, Dave, Robert, Josh

Had the opportunity to teach today and was excited to do it as always.  Did a couple extra things with the warmup with some standup grip fighting and some throw fit-ins.

I felt like I taught the ankle lock well but I don't feel as confident with it as other technics. I thought about it after class and figured out the reason is that I haven't finished any straight ankle locks in sparring. I don't even try to set them up. So I don't have any good tidbits of advice to help people finish it like I do with other techniques. So my new mission is to improve this and other techniques from the beginner curriculum until I have practical knowledge of them.

I added the single leg x entry from butterfly for fun as another way to get to the ankle lock position. Although it was a little difficult to get to the ankle lock.

Rolling: Full Guard (2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (3 x 5 min)

I sat out for a lot of the rolling due to even number of partners. I did help with some coaching but nothing to really write about.

Had some good rolls with Dave and helped him through some stuff.

October 7th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape Over Head Roll, Straight Footlock and Defense
Partner: Casey

I'm not sure if I'm feeling better about the straight ankle lock or not.  Yesterday I felt good about it but today I had some trouble with getting the toes right in my armpit.  Then the angle felt off with my forearm and their ankle.  Hopefully I can get this sorted out on Friday.  For the headlock escape Greg commented that I needed to push into them more and then not pause before rolling them over.

Rolling: Closed Guard (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Casey, Morgan, Ben, Dave

I've been a little concerned about resting on my larals lately.  Not that I do everything perfectly or that I'm not getting a good workout but more like I'm resorting to the same things that work for me instead of trying some new stuff.  So the question is what should I introduce or what should I limit.  I think I'm going to really focus on trying to complete the technique of the week first and foremost.  Yeah it's going to be difficult because it's on everyone's mind and I'll probably fail, but I should get a lot out of it too.

So while rolling today I attempted a couple of straight ankle locks but failed miserably.  Mostly with maneuvering around their other leg to get my leg positions.  I don't think anyone went for an ankle lock against me in guard.  From a training session with Mike A. recently we discussed how not having to defend ankle locks can make you be a little sloppy with your leg positions.  Like knee shield or the basic side control escape. 

In my last roll with Dave I think I surprised him because I walked him through passing my guard, attacking from side control, going to mount, going to high mount, then finishing an americana.  I did some small resistance with each movement and then told him what to do next.  He seemed to appreciate it.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

We rolled a couple times, not sure if it was humidity or what but I was already feeling pretty hot.  I found myself attacking the kimura but not to finish with the technique but more to move to back mount.  It didn't workout that I got a submission from there but it was an interesting exercise.  Close to the end I went for an ankle lock but he defended it well and somehow pulled sleeve, putting my arm into a type of armbar.  I was able to recover, but I don't really know what happened.

October 6th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Head Lock Escape Over Head Roll, Straight Footlock and Defense
Partner: Ben

I was actually happy to see the straight footlock come up this week.  I recently trained with Mike A. on some no gi footlocks and decided that I want to spend some time improving them.  This week couldn't have come at a better time.

The things that I took note of today:

• After opening the guard, grab the heel and push their foot forward until their toes are in your armpit. 
• Your elbow will kind of stick out with some space because you want the skinnier part of your arm against their achilles.
• After you fall to your side you will then collapse your elbow underneath you, look to the floor, open your shoulder, and finally bridge.

I think the biggest improvement that I felt today was doing the kick to place the foot into the hip and then falling to the side.  I'm also focusing on keeping my thighs tight. 

Rolling: Guard (4 x 2 min)
Rolled With: Robert, Brian G.

It was good to roll with Robert again, as it's been a while.  The thing that he's able to do to me more often than anyone else is find a way to stand up while I'm attempting to pass his guard.  It was even on my mind today and I tried to take the precautions to prevent it but he still did it.  From the bottom I held him at bay but wasn't able to sweep.  At one point I felt like I had him in a loop choke that was locked in, but he weathered the storm and eventually got free of it. 


Office Hours Partner: Brian G, John

Rolling with Brian at the end of class and after was good.  He put me on my butt at one point with a scissor sweep but gave me enough space to come up and regain the top.  When he was attempting to pass there were a couple times when I felt like he was almost locking my legs down but I could just scrape by a little bit and get my knee free and regain guard.

John did a couple of good things that I didn't expect.  2 times when I was attempting to pass his half guard he was able to regain the underhook and turn the position around on me.  I'll have to think about if I'm leaving an opening there or if he's doing something extra to get that underhook.  I caught him a couple times with my modified butterfly sweep, that he was kind of surprised by.  I showed it to him after we finished rolling.

October 2nd 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard, Tripod Sweep
Partner: Craig

I was surprised to see such a small class.  Not sure if it's the weather change or what, but Fridays haven't been as big lately.  I know that Friday is early for some of you out there, but if you are looking for some personal attention, it's a great class to attend.  Especially if you are willing to stay after class I will gladly roll or drill with anyone and Conan always has good advice.  This goes for any class that I attend.  Please come roll with me.  Hopefully that comes off as pathetic as I meant it to.

There was a little confusion with the curriculum sheet this morning, but we got it sorted and I helped a little bit since Conan hadn't attended a beginner class this week. 

Rolling: Open Guard (6 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Craig, Morgan, Conan

Rolling felt good.  I actually setup a triangle which really excites me.  It would be great to finally figure out the triangle choke. I've got to get over this thought that my legs are too short and focus more on getting the technique and angles as perfect as possible.  I think my biggest problem is still controlling the posture.

When rolling with Conan he set me up to see if I would notice where he was off balance.  I saw it and attempted to sweep him but I knew that his hand was free to base.  We discussed it a bit.  He said it was good to go for it, because if I didn't he would take advantage of it.  I've been contemplating whether going for something that I know isn't perfect is a waste of energy or if I just need to think about it as a possible opening for something else.  I think that is how people have dominated me in the past, I wait for a perfect opportunity of a sure thing and the time never comes and I get run over.  Interesting to think about.


Office Hours Partner: Morgan

We did a few more open guard rounds after class.  I helped Morgan out with the omoplata after he ended up in a good position to do one, but didn't know.  It's difficult to think that with all of my experience with the omoplata that many of the beginners have little knowledge of it.  I guess it's because it's not a part of the beginner curriculum.

September 30th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard, Tripod Sweep
Partner: Anthony

Anthony has returned after taking some time off over the summer.  He mentioned being worried about forgetting everything but he seemed to be in the swing of things once class got going. 

During drilling I tried to focus on my opponents posture.  I got the idea when I was on the top of Greg's guard that there came a point where I was too extended and didn't feel comfortable or felt like I was ready to be put into a submission at any moment.  So reverse engineering that how can I make the top person feel that way.  Not sure I totally figured it out but it was a different way to look at it.

Rolling: Open Guard (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Anthony, Ben, Brian G.

This session made me realize how good this position is.  I had a really tough time passing my partners' guards.  I was also able to maintain this position very well.  The combination of the collar/sleeve grabs and the feet on hips and bicep cover your bases.  I haven't figured out how to smoothly transition to submissions or sweeps but keeping this position seems pretty natural.

During free rolling I played a lot of guard as relaxed as I could be.  I found myself using scissor sweep and butterfly sweep.  It seems like the loop choke has been presenting itself lately too.  One thing I noticed was I did some shaking to free something today.  Like trying to pass half guard I shook the legs to free my knee.  I shook my arm free after an over/under pass.  Not sure why I noticed this. 

Office Hours Partner: Anthony

Happy to have someone stay behind and roll with me a bit.  After a few rolls I ended up talking him through some passing and setting up some submissions. 

September 29th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Basic Open Guard, Tripod Sweep
Partner: Bhuvana, Megan

Bhuvana brought a friend in to train today and she had a pretty good attitude for her first class.  Understandably a little hesitant but willing to try the stuff and take instructions.  I think it was a pretty good class to start with because we started with open guard and only did a couple other things from there.

Some things that I found work for me in open guard:

• The leg on the bicep is your active leg.  Keep that hip off the floor so you can move that leg around anywhere you need it.
• When learning this position, relax.  Know that you want to remain on your side and keep your hips in line with them.  When they move try to figure out how to reset the starting position 
• When coming up from the tripod sweep pull the pushing leg back so you can kneel on it. 

Rolling: Basic Open Guard (4 x 2 min)
Rolled With: Greg, Josh M

Interesting roll with Greg.  My open guard didn't last too long when I was on bottom either time and I ended up in half guard or he was in knee up passing position.  I felt pretty good about the half guard time, I ended up using his lapel under his leg to try to work my way into deep half and keep him from passing.  It worked for a little while at least.  From the top I was really worried about getting triangled.  I attempted the belt grab and foot push pass but couldn't get free of his grips.  On our last roll we ended up in an interesting foot lock position where he played around with a calf cutter.

With Josh I was able to setup some loose omoplatas and move into cross guard.  When I was on top, Josh caught me in a triangle position near the end of our roll.  I was able to posture but he was still working for it until the time ran out. 

Office Hours Partner: Josh

Greg had us work a bit on the twist sweep.  He pointed out that I was focusing too low with the sweep and should control their thigh instead.  Hopefully this is the detail I need because it's still not sinking in.  No one wanted to stay and roll with me though, bummer.

September 25th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Defending Knee Slide
Partner: Dave, Morgan

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well Wednesday and had some work to do, so I skipped class.

Since there were so few of us Conan wanted to work on something a little bit different for the last class of the week.  While he taught a couple techniques, it was more conceptual and more of a progression. 

First was to hide your arm under your thigh or knee.  If you don't make it there put your arm under their knee and don't let it touch the floor.  From those positions we would choose to push them forward with your knee or back based on what they do.  Finally use the stiff arm to their shoulder or opposite bicep or the outside foot to push on their shoulder or with a knee shield.  We did quite a few reps experimenting with each.

Rolling: Open Guard (4 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Morgan, Dave

I felt very relaxed while working from the bottom.  While I still "tried" to not have my guard passed, I was trusting the techniques.  I still had to go to turtle or choose an alternate way to recover but all in all a very good learning experience for the concepts covered.  From the top, both Morgan and Dave gave me a hard time passing.  Granted I was just trying to do the knee slide over and over, and the only times I really did pass were when I switched to a different one.