October 31st 2015 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Triangle
Rolling/Game: Rolling, Blob Tag

Small class today as a few of the kids were at the Circle of Iron tournament.  I ran a special holiday warmup with some different exercises and some extra stuff. We worked on the triangle yet again so hopefully my kids don't forget it.

We did a couple tournament style sparring matches at the end. Jayden has been more into sparring lately and it's heart breaking when he doesn't score any points. I can see him getting better though and try to tell him that.

Jace is also doing well and picking up new things all the time and he's willing to try anything.  He's really into knowing how many points he's scored and tries to carry his points over to other matches.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Jordan, Andy, Chris, Jerad, Bhuvana
Game Plan: Look for Cross Collar

Had some good rolls with Jordan and went light to keep tabs on my knee. No problems today although it was a little tight.  I attempted a few cross collar chokes from mount but had a hard time getting around his headgear.  We worked on some mount escapes afterward.

Andy was a student at the old school but had to move out of town.  He's back and actually signed up today!  He was still pretty good for not training as often.

Jerad was the most difficult match of the day as usual we rolled and while we had a good discussion after rolling about what happened I don't remember much about it now. I feel like the back and forth is better lately and I'm able to match him move for move for a while but I eventually make a mistake that he capitalizes on.  It is very difficult to escape his mount after that. He submitted me with an armbar and a mounted triangle.

Chris was told by Greg to get with me to prepare for the submission challenge tournament coming up since we are of similar size.  We went over some of his game plan with a sweep, and a guard pass.  I did my best to share what works for me. I think it will be interesting to see how much he improves before the tournament.

Bhuvana just wanted to work on omoplata from cross guard. I'm a little picky with the technique since it's my go to.  We also worked on troubleshooting getting the underhook from half guard with Jerad.

October 30th 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Armbar from Guard, Cross Collar Choke
Partner: Craig, Dave

Went and got my knee checked out yesterday with a chiropractor that visited class a few weeks ago.  He moved my leg in every imaginable way and made sure that everything was okay with my knee.  He gave me some exercises and said a couple muscles in my leg were pretty tight.  I felt like I had been through a workout after this session. 

Felt pretty good when I got up this morning, but was still a little hesitant to push it too hard during class.  Had a couple of times during the day where it felt weak or moved around a bit, but there was no pain. 

Dave was pretty impressed with the armbar from guard and for some reason Craig and I tried to talk him out of it.  To me it's a pretty tough submission to complete.  We showed him how easy it was to pull the arm out if it wasn't tight enough and maybe dissuaded him a little bit, but I felt bad about it. 


Rolling: Guard (6 x 4 min), Free Rolling (4 min)
Rolled With: Dave, Craig, Josh, Anthony

Rolling went well, I did my best to attempt the techniques of the day.  From the bottom, I did get an armbar during a sweep but not technically the way we practiced it.  I was able to complete a couple collar chokes which really surprised me.  I think just going for the technique of the week has made me be a little more innovative on the fly. 

From the top I wasn't too active to make sure I didn't hurt myself but also to give my partner a chance to work on the techniques.  Most of the passes I did complete were from the knees.  I did attempt a tozi pass but wasn't able to open the guard in the end.

Office Hours Partner: Dave, Josh

Went over the drop shoulder throw some more with Dave.  He hasn't been working on it long but seems to do it well.  He was a little concerned with people telling him to just pull guard.  They're probably right, it's safer to pull guard but it would be cool to see him do the throw. 


Helped Josh with getting the overhook from guard.  Then went over troubleshooting dealing with my top guard game when he was on bottom.  I was pretty much not giving anything up and hunkering down.  My advice for him was to open his guard on his terms.

October 27th 2015 - Gi Beginners

Theme & Techniques: O-Goshi, Armbar from Guard, Cross Collar Choke
Students: Jerad, Abdul

A rare occurrence of Jerad in noon class and until Abdul showed up, I thought we were going to be the only 2.  Very odd as last week we had quite a few students in class.  Unfortunately my knee is still a little tight.  I demonstrated the techniques and did fine with that, but didn't want to chance messing it up rolling.  I'm hoping to be back Friday morning though.  It was a little odd being the instructor while Jerad was the student, but I just went with it.

Some tips on today's techniques:

• When doing any of the hip type throws I like to think of focusing on getting under their belt knot.  So if a person is much shorter than you, you have to get your hips lower than someone who is taller.
• For Armbar from Guard it seems like the people have the hardest time rotating their body.  I had 2 things that I think about to deal with this.  One is the bend in their knees.  If they are sitting back on their heals they are harder to armbar or sweep.  When turning you kick them in the armpit to drive them forward.
• The other point I make is that I try to make it as easy as possible to kick my leg over their head.  If it's difficult to get around their head I need to turn more and I'm not at the correct angle.
• For the collar choke the biggest thing that helped me get it right was keeping my wrist as straight as possible after getting the deep grip.  If you bend your wrist backward it might feel strong but you are actually conforming to their neck instead of shoving your forearm into it.

Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min)

I came close to deciding to roll but decided against it.  I did my best to coach Abdul through rolling but it was kind of difficult.  It was a lot of basics and common problems that beginners do.  Leaning forward too much in guard, crossing the center line with his hands, trying to submit in the closed guard, etc.  I tried not to harp on things over and over and Jerad took it easy on him.  He did do some good thing and started to almost pass his guard at one point.

October 23rd 2015 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Shoulder Throw RNC Defense, Farside Armbar, Scissor Sweep from Guard
Partner: Ethan

Ethan was a pretty good partner, I haven't seen him around that much but he seems to have a natural ability.  Maybe he wrestled a bit previously. 

Unfortunately I tweaked my knee a bit while doing the farside armbar.  It doesn't hurt or anything just feels kind of tight.  I'll keep an eye on it and hopefully it will heal up soon.  I'm thinking about doing the submission challenge tournament and want to get some good training in leading up to that.  Plus I want to lose 5 pounds at least so I'm not in the "and up" division (206 and up to be exact). 

Rolling: Guard Up/Down/Out, Side Control King Of the Mat
Rolled With: Conan, Craig, Ethan, David, Anthony, Justin

Since we had a large group I suggested up/down/out.  It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to do it.  I remember hitting one scissor sweep, which was difficult to setup as everyone was expecting it.  I had to use the knee push one.  I think I got around to rolling with everyone which was nice.

When we switched to side control I didn't get much of an opportunity to do the farside armbar.  I did see Ethan complete one though which was cool.  A couple times when I would bridge my knee felt a little off still so I decided to sit out of a couple rolls.  No pain but I didn't want to risk anything.  Now as I sit here writing this, it's a little tight but I'm walking without a limp so I think I'll be okay.

Office Hours Partner: Dave, Anthony

I saw a couple things for both Dave and Anthony in half guard.  They were getting an underhook but they were pretty shallow.  I went over getting it all the way to the shoulder and scooting the butt out so their weight isn't on you.

I helped Dave with some tournament prep and showed him some guard pulling and a drop seoi nage.  He seemed to take to the throw and I resisted a couple times and he was able to switch to pulling guard out of it. 

October 20th 2015 - Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Shoulder Throw RNC Defense, Farside Armbar, Scissor Sweep from Guard
Partner: Anthony

Almost forgot to write this. Took a week of vacation to use up some days and I'm getting lazy I guess.

This week's techniques are some of my high percentage ones. I'm pretty decent at scissor sweep and often get farside armbar from knee on belly. Some pointers that I use:

• For the shoulder throw getting them on your hips is a big part of the battle. There was a recent video with Rickson where he described using a sitting back on a couch motion to help load them up, I like the analogy.
• For Farside Armbar, I like to emphasise a tight knee squeeze. As soon as I rotate I'm squeezing enough that even if I don't use my arms they couldn't get free.
• For Scissor Sweep, I think of it like a Judo throw. I pull them forward and load them up on top of me and then do the kick.

Rolling: Side Control (2 x 2 min), Guard (4 x 2 min)
Rolled With: Anthony, Jason, Brian

Had some success with attempting the techniques during rolling.  For the armbar I think I need to focus on securing the arm to my head during the transition.  That's where some can escape by jerking their arm out at the right time.

I rolled with Jason on his first day and tried my best at giving him a crash course on positions.  It's very interesting to roll with someone on their first day.

October 18th 2015 - No Gi Beginner

Theme & Techniques: Darce, Japanese Necktie
Partner: Conan

Conan added some movement exercises to the warmup. We did armbar from mount and guard and hip bump sweep.

We did the Darce from half guard and for a few of the students it was their introduction to the technique.  Some things to remember:

• Controlling their posture is the most important thing. Don't let them arch their back.  
• Don't settle for crappy grips before falling to your hip. Secure the grip in the bicep

The Japanese Necktie is basically working from the same starting grip but then bringing the forearm behind the neck and putting your shoulder to the ground.  Not sure if I figured it out but I'll recognize it as an option.

Rolling: Half Guard (4 x 4 min)
Rolled With: Ken, Tyler

It's been a while since I rolled with Ken and he's still challenging.  His ability to explosively shrimp from anywhere.  I did do better against him than in my younger Jiu-Jitsu days though.

I felt a little bad for the size disparity between Tyler and I.  I did my best to try to use only technique but he's pretty skillful.  We talked about passing knee shield and we both have each other problems with it.

Office Hours Partner: Mo

Had some good bouts with Mo. He's becoming more like Mike in his guard passing.  He prevented my one legged x-guard entries and had some other fancy footwork to get around my legs. Oh I hope he doesn't figure out the leg drag.  I messed around with setting up some ankle locks.

October 17th 2015 - Kids & Open Mat

Kids Class
Technique: Double Leg, Triangle
Rolling/Game: Guard, Free Rolling

Good but small kids class today. Greg gave out some stripes but since my kids have 4 already they didn't receive any.  Both of them tried hard today with both the warmup and the techniques. We got there a little early and had some time to work on front rolls with Jayden and made some progress.

We've been doing some techniques each night before bed and that has been good for them.  This is the first week they've worked on the triangle and while they aren't great at finishing yet the steps came naturally.

Open Mat
Rolled With: Roland, Fuji, Mike, Travis, Conan, Lucas, Jerad
Game Plan: Look for Ankle Locks

Had a rough day of rolling today and several rolls reminded me that I'm not as good as I sometimes think I am.  I'm writing this on my phone so hopefully this doesn't seem poorly written.

I did do some nogi and went for some ankle locks but didn't have much success. I defended some as well.  I did see some of my reps come through in my attempts I think I need to work on finishing.

Roland is getting better. I had a harder time dealing with him than in the recent past.

Fuji was difficult to navigate and during our first roll I played as safe as I could and tried not to over commit to anything to retain the top position. There was a lot of turtle and shifting sides.  In our second roll he ended up getting a leg and taking the top position.

Today was Mike's day to dominate. While I did a few good things he seemed to get to leg drag position pretty easily. He attacked my back a lot and had me in crucifix after I attempted the funk roll.

This was the first time that rolled with Travis and it was fast paced.  I didn't feel like I could pin him at any point which is rather frustrating and kept me from Controlling the pace.  I had the bulk of the leg lock battle with him.  I attempted a straight ankle, a heel hook, and a toe hold on him and he caught me with a heel hook.  I used up a lot of energy in this roll.

Conan and I rolled pretty light.  I played some top side control and had to deal with his guard retention stuff that he's been showing to me.  I had to have patience. After we rolled we had a good discussion about ankle locks and what he thought of them.

Had a hell of a roll with Lucas. I started out with some shin on bicep guard but his pressure was immense and constant.  He passed my guard once and I regained. He eventually passed again and I was too weak to stop the americana.

I had nothing for Jerad. I tried but he went through me like butter.