December 29th 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Seio Nage, Double Ankle Sweep, Butterfly Hook Sweep
Students: Daniel, Ben, Bob, Frank, Jess

Had Bob teach a version of seoi nage where we took a lowered collar grip and squared way down. I am feeling pretty good about my kazushi. Working with Bob on the details is paying off.

Some tips on the hook sweep:

• It's important to control both your posture and theirs
• Use the underhook to lift their shoulder 
• Use your overhook to pull down their other shoulder
• Fall directly to the side not back.

Rolling: Closed Guard, Butterfly Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Daniel, Frank, Bob

Went for the butterfly sweep from the bottom every chance I got. During free rolling, I mostly started on the bottom, but attacked for a sweep and tried to push the pace.

Office Hours Partner: Daniel

Worked with him on butterfly sweep mostly the things mentioned above. He helped me with making my crucifix from turtle better. I've gotten there regularly lately but they've been able to escape by stepping over my legs.  Once I trap their arm I need to move my hips toward their head instead of hips.

December 28th 2016 - Gi Advanced

Theme & Techniques: Straight Ankle Lock Series to Leg Drag
Partner: Clint

Mike showed a sequence of the basic straight ankle lock to switching their leg to the top side.  Then if we couldn't get the tap there move to a leg drag position.  This showed another use of the butterfly guard walk motion.  Leg drag is still something I need to put some time into as I know it works on me, I just haven't found entries that work for me yet.

Rolling: KOTM Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Mike, Clint, Patty, John, David, Henry

Class kicked my ass tonight.  It's been a while since I attended an advanced class and I'm not used to all of the talent.  I'm going to have to go a little harder when I roll in the all level day classes to challenge my cardio and get back my edge.  Not to say that I did poorly in class, I think I rolled pretty well, but I did gas toward the end.

Grip fighting was probably the most noticeable difficulty and my fingers are feeling it.  So I will be focusing on that a little more, getting the grips that I want and going for it.  I also found myself in de la riva a few times and I might need to narrow down a few go to techniques from there because I feel like I pause when I get to the position.

December 27th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Knee Bar Setup from Half Guard & Defense
Partner: Henry

Mike disiminated some good information today on the knee bar.  Some details that I liked were:

• Grab the heel as soon as possible and put it by your head
• Once in the seated position, you can go in any direction 
• If it goes south maintain the seated position and look for a crossface and start passing guard.

Rolling: Knee Bar Sitting position, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Henry, Jess, Andy

Starting from the position was tough. I ran into some trouble attacking a few times as I didn't feel confident in inverting. Defending went pretty well, I'm doing better at keeping my feet out of danger.

Office Hours Partner: Tom

We rolled a lot since I'm on vacation today.  We ended up in a lot of different situations, he had my back for a while at one point. He mentioned to someone else that he has yet to submit me. I thought he had, but it may not be too much longer before he does.

We did some deep half entries, the waiter sweep, and some rolling back takes. A lot of the practice was about shucking and getting under the opponent.  I think he was picking it up at the end.

December 23rd 2016 - Gi All Levels (Comfort Zone)

Theme & Techniques: Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Pass
Partner: Jess, Matt (New)

Mostly helped Jess and Matt on some minor details of the techniques.  Mostly hand position and posture. Matt is a friend of Jess and used to coach wrestling.

Rolling: Guard, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Jess, Craig, Ryal, Matt

Felt good about my rolling today. Did a lot of hand fighting and pushed the pace to make up for yesterday. I helped Matt with some basics while we rolled.

Thoughts: Comfort Zone

I had a thought on the drive home about progress and getting over plateaus.  What I've noticed during my journey from blue to purple (hopefully) is that I'll get to a comfort zone with my game and feel like I'm stagnating, then I'll find something to work on that is outside of my comfort zone. I'll research, drill, and troubleshoot the subject until I feel like I'm safe in my comfort zone again. Then I'll feel like I'm not learning anything new and search for the next thing.

Most of this year was about being more assertive and imposing my will.  I've just started familiarizing myself with leg locks and related positions.  Another aspect that has presented itself that I've seen others like Jerad doing is stringing techniques together.  Often when I sweep or pass guard there will be a pause as I collect myself and decide what to do next.  Occasionally though everything will come together and I'll escape, sweep, pass the guard, and attack a submission without a break in the action. Improving this will be my goal for this year.

December 22nd 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense against Wall, Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Pass
Partner: Jess

Tips on techniques of the week:

• Guillotine Defense: Once you've regained your posture, keep it. Don't let your posture lapse and allow them to drag you back down.
• Kneeling Guard Break: One thing that Mike pointed out that I've noticed others doing is focusing more on the elbow between the legs rather than the hand on the hip to keep them down.
• Double Under Pass: Mike and I discussed coming forward to stack, where I've been advocating pulling them back exclusively.  We talked about keeping low as you come in which I'll have to play around with.

Rolling: Guard
Rolled With: Jess, Ben, Bob

I was a little too lazy today. Not that I went easy on anyone but I wasn't pushing the pace or imposing my will.  Ben was able to keep me from opening his guard with good hand fighting. Bob was able to get to double unders and pass right at the buzzer.

Office Hours Partner: Bob, Tom

After class the topic of hook kicks came up and everyone, including me, were showing off their kicks.  My flexibility felt pretty good for not kicking for a while.

Bob helped me with some more details on tia toshi. Mostly around keeping my posture and bending my knees more.

Tom and I rolled and I spent a good portion of the roll on his back as he defended. I felt like I had the most control with my bottom hook in and then crossing my other foot between his legs. He's really good at defending the back.

December 21st 2016 - Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Deep Half: Entering from Mount, Side Control, Half Guard; Homer Sweep, Shin Sweep, Kick Sweep to Double Unders
Students: Morgan, Andy, Justin

Small class today and the regular material for the week was pretty basic with kneeling guard break and double under pass which I knew both Morgan and Andy were familiar with.  I've been working with Morgan a little bit on deep half so he requested to work on that some more.  I'm feeling like I'm developing a seminar type format for this position as I've taught it occasionally.  I'm figuring out the best progression which starts with escaping mount to deep half, I think this is a pretty direct approach to getting to the position.  Then I'll introduce the Homer Simpson sweep and the students will attempt that through the other entries. 

From there I go to side control and finally half guard.  I usually teach to get an underhook with the knee shield before going to the position but there are several ways to get the underhook.  Finally I add in some additional sweeps using the lapel and the butterfly hook.  I hardly ever make it to the waiter sweep and may make that and back takes a part of the advanced seminar.

Rolling: Deep Half Lab, Free Rolling
Rolled With: Everyone

Had everyone go a little lighter on the deep half 2 minute rounds.  The person on top went easy on the entry then raised the intensity once they got to deep half to try to prevent being swept.  I think this was a good way to get them to work with the position.  We finished with a few free rolls and I worked my way to deep half a few times just to challenge myself and prove that it worked. 

December 20th 2016 - No Gi All Levels

Theme & Techniques: Closed Guard: Double Under Guard Pass, Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura
Partner: Bhuvana

Small class for a Tuesday.  We had Caleb returning from last week and he brought in his friend Mike who has some wrestling experience.  Greg showed the guard break that I usually go for if I can't open someone's guard in no gi.  Make enough space to fit both hands through to break the guard.  The bottom guard stuff wasn't much different than the gi class.  The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone on the hip bump/kimura is work on sitting up and putting your hand where your shoulder was for stability.  This is something you can work on by yourself and the faster you can get at getting that post the better.

Rolling: Closed Guard Up/Down/Out
Rolled With: John, Mike (Visitor), Caleb, Bhuvana

Some good rolls.  John was able to sweep me today so I will have to prevent that from happening again.  Mike was pretty strong and was good at pressure, but I don't think he understands how to pass the guard yet.  There were a couple of times that both Caleb and Mike got to double unders but I was able to widen out my knees enough to prevent the class.  I also ended up in some triangle situations but had a hard time completing them and moved on to something else.  Talked to Greg about it afterward, his advice was to grab my ankle and then push myself away with my foot on their hip.  I was doing that but I was trying to push them back instead of myself.

* Added later: Forgot that I got a bloody nose while rolling with Mike. Wasn't a big deal but it wouldn't stop bleeding. We also did some stand-up. He took me down the first 2 times but I was able to turn them into better positions for me. The last roll I went for an arm drag and turned into a drop shoulder throw. I guess it made Greg message Bob since he missed it.

Office Hours Partner: John

John helped me drill some 50/50 stuff from Ryan Hall's DVD.  We did a defensive drill where they attack straight ankle lock, heel hook, or Texas clover leaf (which we kept calling different names like Texas Flywheel, Texas Chainsaw, Texas Sharpshooter, etc).  We would then defend with the appropriate responses of RNC grip, pushing the bicep with the foot and triangling or crossing our feet.

We rolled a few times after that, and we had some back and forth.  He had my back for a while and was able to trap my arm with his leg.  I was impressed by how he set this up and we practiced it a few times after rolling.  I was able to setup my Shelving NS choke setup, some day I may have an instructional DVD on it.