Theme & Techniques: Shoulder Pressure Guillotine Defense from Guard, Ezekiel Choke from Mount & Top Half Guard
Smaller class than usual with only 4 of us: Bhuvana, Tim, Ben, and myself. I worked with Ben for this portion of class, and our throats were sore by the end of the class.
A couple things became apparent concerning the ezekiel choke. One was Greg kept telling me to keep my head down. It has to be deceptive so your opponent doesn't see what's coming. Also I think I've been too nice or wanted the choke to be too perfect, but really it should be a nasty choke. For some reason I had a hard time also going for deep cross faces because and Greg showed me that I needed to twist more. When working on it from half guard I had a tough time ignoring my habits of what I usually do from this position. I guess it's pretty engrained for me to do the switch hip and go for a kimura or push their knee down. Maybe the ezekiel will be a good addition to my game though.
Rolling: Mount Position (2 x 2 min), Half Guard Position (2 x 2 min), Free Rolling (4 min & Post Class)
The ezekiel was a lot harder to get during rolling since everyone was expecting it. I still went for it and was able to get it once maybe from half guard. I attempted a shoalin sweep a couple times and was able to complete 1 of them. The only reason I didn't finish the other one I think was because I didn't explode enough into the back roll.
Greg threw out a challenge when I started rolling with Ben saying that he wanted to see some deep half guard. So I pulled half guard and tried to work my way there. Once I got there he was already on his butt to I automatically went to the sweep, but his other leg did get in the way a little bit. I eventually worked my way around it but I must be doing something wrong, but I don't think that other leg should be an obsacle.
I rolled with Tim after class and tried a few things I've been working on lately. The 2 on 1 to arm drag, the loop choke and the ezekiel. We had another good discussion about progress and what not afterwards. I thanked him for always sticking around to roll with me. I appreciate the extra rolling.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
May 31st 2014 - Kids & Open Mat
Kids' Class
My boys did great today. Due to no class Memorial day and my son having to get his front teeth taken out on Wednesday they haven't attended for a week. They were excited to get back
Sumo was the first game and there were enough kids to run 2 separate rings. This exercise is probably the most helpful in class for dealing with a bully. The kids learn how to keep their own balance while trying to take someone else down or push them out of the ring. I've seen them toughen up quite a bit since sumo was introduced. They still need a little work on their strategy though at times. Too much pushing in a straight line.
They worked on O-Soto Gari and there wasn't any problems picking partners and we finished up with a large group for blob tag. The blob always wins.
Open Mat
Today I tried to do more with the open guard that Greg showed us the day before. I also attempted quite a few loop chokes although many of them were defeated. The IBJJF worlds competition was also going on this weekend and several times everyone was huddled around the laptop checking out the matches. There was also some talk about the worm guard seen in Keenan vs Buchecha and is featured in this BJJ Scout video.
Mo: He started off by asking me to review my north/south choke setup from knee on belly, that I had showed him recently. I'm honored that others would ask me to show them techniques from my game. I mostly experimented with getting to the open guard with him and then maintaining it and looking for a few submissions.
Ray: Had some good rolls with him today. They all mostly ended up with him putting on the pressure from half guard and side mount and me struggling from the bottom. Ray complimented my guard game saying that I was doing some new things. My claim to fame is sweeping him with x-guard. He did foot lock me from back mount and then again from deep half and I think he might have gotten me with a kimura at one point too. Afterwards we talked about my attempted escapes and how they seemed to be all or nothing, usually nothing. He thought maybe I should try to escape in increments like Conan does by constantly regaining ground and not giving it back, but neither of us really knows how Conan does that.
Mike: With Mike I had my mind on my open guard against a standing opponent, most notably getting my gi grips. I even surprised him with a loop choke in our first roll, although I think he took it as a success for himself since he just gave me some great pointers on the technique Monday. In the end he caught me with a brabo choke and then said that was the only way he could catch me now, to which I said it's my new americana.
Jordan: He has been out for a while with an injury and said that he was feeling a little lightheaded from overexertion. So I told him just to keep it playful and I'd flow. I had a little bit of an internal argument at first about how light I was going to play and if I was going to turn it up if I were to come close to being submitted. I convinced myself it was silly to even worry about it but it does show that my ego is still around. I may have played it too light because I ended up on the bottom right away. From there I did a lot of half guard and tried to always be moving but not use too much strength.
Henry: He really took me a part today. I did well in the beginning by trying to control the pace and hunker down, but once I allowed him to get to turtle I really lost momentum. I really need to butch up my attacking from that position. Lately with him, I'm really keeping an eye on my gas tank, trying to figure out how to pace myself and when I need to exert and when I need to rest.
Tim: I played a lot of open guard with him. I also got to use some of the defense from knee slide that Conan worked on last week because Tim was really threatening that pass. Later on we discussed gauging improvement and how difficult it is. Greg had told him that he was getting better, it's just hard to see because everyone else is getting better as well. It's true, he's definitely getting better and I feel like I've been there, you could probably go back a couple years ago in this blog and read about some of my frustrations.
He also made mention that Open mat was his favorite class. I didn't argue with it but it did make me think a little bit. It's most certainly an important part for me but I'm not sure if I currently learn the most through open mat or through other classes. I can honestly say that my biggest jump in skill came from attending the competition classes that we had in the November, December, and January time frame. Choosing the cross guard, over/under pass, and single leg to drill over and over again and then seeing them work in rolling was a huge eye opener for me. In my opinion, to get to the next level for proficiency for me I need to focus more on drilling and then incorporating what I drill into my rolling. I need to have specific goals for open mat to maximize the time I spend.
My boys did great today. Due to no class Memorial day and my son having to get his front teeth taken out on Wednesday they haven't attended for a week. They were excited to get back
Sumo was the first game and there were enough kids to run 2 separate rings. This exercise is probably the most helpful in class for dealing with a bully. The kids learn how to keep their own balance while trying to take someone else down or push them out of the ring. I've seen them toughen up quite a bit since sumo was introduced. They still need a little work on their strategy though at times. Too much pushing in a straight line.
They worked on O-Soto Gari and there wasn't any problems picking partners and we finished up with a large group for blob tag. The blob always wins.
Open Mat
Today I tried to do more with the open guard that Greg showed us the day before. I also attempted quite a few loop chokes although many of them were defeated. The IBJJF worlds competition was also going on this weekend and several times everyone was huddled around the laptop checking out the matches. There was also some talk about the worm guard seen in Keenan vs Buchecha and is featured in this BJJ Scout video.
Mo: He started off by asking me to review my north/south choke setup from knee on belly, that I had showed him recently. I'm honored that others would ask me to show them techniques from my game. I mostly experimented with getting to the open guard with him and then maintaining it and looking for a few submissions.
Ray: Had some good rolls with him today. They all mostly ended up with him putting on the pressure from half guard and side mount and me struggling from the bottom. Ray complimented my guard game saying that I was doing some new things. My claim to fame is sweeping him with x-guard. He did foot lock me from back mount and then again from deep half and I think he might have gotten me with a kimura at one point too. Afterwards we talked about my attempted escapes and how they seemed to be all or nothing, usually nothing. He thought maybe I should try to escape in increments like Conan does by constantly regaining ground and not giving it back, but neither of us really knows how Conan does that.
Mike: With Mike I had my mind on my open guard against a standing opponent, most notably getting my gi grips. I even surprised him with a loop choke in our first roll, although I think he took it as a success for himself since he just gave me some great pointers on the technique Monday. In the end he caught me with a brabo choke and then said that was the only way he could catch me now, to which I said it's my new americana.
Jordan: He has been out for a while with an injury and said that he was feeling a little lightheaded from overexertion. So I told him just to keep it playful and I'd flow. I had a little bit of an internal argument at first about how light I was going to play and if I was going to turn it up if I were to come close to being submitted. I convinced myself it was silly to even worry about it but it does show that my ego is still around. I may have played it too light because I ended up on the bottom right away. From there I did a lot of half guard and tried to always be moving but not use too much strength.
Henry: He really took me a part today. I did well in the beginning by trying to control the pace and hunker down, but once I allowed him to get to turtle I really lost momentum. I really need to butch up my attacking from that position. Lately with him, I'm really keeping an eye on my gas tank, trying to figure out how to pace myself and when I need to exert and when I need to rest.
Tim: I played a lot of open guard with him. I also got to use some of the defense from knee slide that Conan worked on last week because Tim was really threatening that pass. Later on we discussed gauging improvement and how difficult it is. Greg had told him that he was getting better, it's just hard to see because everyone else is getting better as well. It's true, he's definitely getting better and I feel like I've been there, you could probably go back a couple years ago in this blog and read about some of my frustrations.
He also made mention that Open mat was his favorite class. I didn't argue with it but it did make me think a little bit. It's most certainly an important part for me but I'm not sure if I currently learn the most through open mat or through other classes. I can honestly say that my biggest jump in skill came from attending the competition classes that we had in the November, December, and January time frame. Choosing the cross guard, over/under pass, and single leg to drill over and over again and then seeing them work in rolling was a huge eye opener for me. In my opinion, to get to the next level for proficiency for me I need to focus more on drilling and then incorporating what I drill into my rolling. I need to have specific goals for open mat to maximize the time I spend.
Friday, May 30, 2014
May 30th 2014 - Gi
Theme & Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Basic Open Guard
It was rather bright out this morning when I woke up around 5:45. So much so that I thought I missed my alarm and was late to class. Thinking I'm late always wakes me right up. Had a rare appearance from Jordan A, who said he's looking forward to starting again for the summer.
I worked with Brian AF today and I think we both were productive and learned a lot. This was the first time I've seen Greg teach this position in class. While working on it, it seemed pretty powerful and like it had so many options. Getting into the position was similar to getting into spider guard, except we started with a deep collar grip and then worked our way to feet on hips and then put our foot on the shoulder opposite the collar gripped side. From there a lot of the techniques I do from cross guard were available like omoplata and triangle, but it's more of a straight on position at first.
I was surprised to see that Brian was not that familiar with omoplata. But, it makes sense since it's not on the white belt curriculum. I guess, I'm biased as it's probably the technique I have the most success.
Rolling: Closed Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Basic Open Guard (4 x 2), Free Rolling (4 min)
With every roll I attempted to get to the open guard position that we worked on. Submissions didn't come as easy as I thought they would. The opponent's elbows are the most difficult thing to deal with in this guard and I found when I was on top it was rather easy to hunker down and keep my elbows in tight. The technique that worked the best for me was the scissor sweep.
Rolling seemed more difficult than it should have been. Not sure if it was a lack of sleep, dehydration, or not eating enough but I had a major lack of energy. I needed to sit by the fan again before heading out and was feeling back to normal after a Gatorade. Hopefully I get over this, I'll try increasing my water intake before class.
It was rather bright out this morning when I woke up around 5:45. So much so that I thought I missed my alarm and was late to class. Thinking I'm late always wakes me right up. Had a rare appearance from Jordan A, who said he's looking forward to starting again for the summer.
I worked with Brian AF today and I think we both were productive and learned a lot. This was the first time I've seen Greg teach this position in class. While working on it, it seemed pretty powerful and like it had so many options. Getting into the position was similar to getting into spider guard, except we started with a deep collar grip and then worked our way to feet on hips and then put our foot on the shoulder opposite the collar gripped side. From there a lot of the techniques I do from cross guard were available like omoplata and triangle, but it's more of a straight on position at first.
I was surprised to see that Brian was not that familiar with omoplata. But, it makes sense since it's not on the white belt curriculum. I guess, I'm biased as it's probably the technique I have the most success.
Rolling: Closed Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Basic Open Guard (4 x 2), Free Rolling (4 min)
With every roll I attempted to get to the open guard position that we worked on. Submissions didn't come as easy as I thought they would. The opponent's elbows are the most difficult thing to deal with in this guard and I found when I was on top it was rather easy to hunker down and keep my elbows in tight. The technique that worked the best for me was the scissor sweep.
Rolling seemed more difficult than it should have been. Not sure if it was a lack of sleep, dehydration, or not eating enough but I had a major lack of energy. I needed to sit by the fan again before heading out and was feeling back to normal after a Gatorade. Hopefully I get over this, I'll try increasing my water intake before class.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
May 26th 2014 - Open Mat
My wonderful beautiful wife didn't protest too much when I went in for our special Memorial day open mat. Thanks to Jerad for opening up the school. Looking back now, I only rolled with 3 people but 2 hours went by quickly. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to roll with Henry, Brian AF, and Dwight who were also in attendance.
Mike: I don't remember much from our actual roll except that it lasted a long time and it ended with me being choked with a brabo. He gave me some advice on dealing with a standing opponent from my open guard. He suggested to pick a couple of guards and work towards them instead of just using my feet on hips. Also my distance and controlling sleeves and/or lapels is an important detail I'm missing. I requested a refresher on loop choke and there were a couple details that I think will help in the future. We reviewed a wristlock that he had seen on a video, which was nice, but not really my style (you think it would be). Finally we worked on an arm drag from spider guard which was new to me. I really enjoyed it and it may be the thing I try on the new guys.
Austin: I did no-gi with Austin and mostly worked some x-guard and single leg x and some back control. Towards the end of our rolls I had him start in side control and showed him the twister side control to mount. We went back to that position a couple times and I gave him a few pointers on how I like to escape the mount.
Jerad: The first roll with Jerad I felt like his guard was impassible. He feels like he's made the skill gap between us a lot greater. He ended the roll by setting a nice triangle that I started to posture out of but once he switched to a bolt lock and then back to a triangle my posture was broken and I had to tap. Went a little loopy from that one. I turned it up on our second roll and threw everything I could at passing his guard. I felt like I came really close but eventually got sucked back into his guard and then swept. I don't remember how he submitted me after that. We discussed open guard a little and the importance of knee and shin placement for both the guard player and passer.
Mike: I don't remember much from our actual roll except that it lasted a long time and it ended with me being choked with a brabo. He gave me some advice on dealing with a standing opponent from my open guard. He suggested to pick a couple of guards and work towards them instead of just using my feet on hips. Also my distance and controlling sleeves and/or lapels is an important detail I'm missing. I requested a refresher on loop choke and there were a couple details that I think will help in the future. We reviewed a wristlock that he had seen on a video, which was nice, but not really my style (you think it would be). Finally we worked on an arm drag from spider guard which was new to me. I really enjoyed it and it may be the thing I try on the new guys.
Austin: I did no-gi with Austin and mostly worked some x-guard and single leg x and some back control. Towards the end of our rolls I had him start in side control and showed him the twister side control to mount. We went back to that position a couple times and I gave him a few pointers on how I like to escape the mount.
Jerad: The first roll with Jerad I felt like his guard was impassible. He feels like he's made the skill gap between us a lot greater. He ended the roll by setting a nice triangle that I started to posture out of but once he switched to a bolt lock and then back to a triangle my posture was broken and I had to tap. Went a little loopy from that one. I turned it up on our second roll and threw everything I could at passing his guard. I felt like I came really close but eventually got sucked back into his guard and then swept. I don't remember how he submitted me after that. We discussed open guard a little and the importance of knee and shin placement for both the guard player and passer.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
May 24th 2014 - Kids & Open Mat
Kids' Class
Small kids class again this week with 2 other kids besides my own. Jayden seemed to be a little goofy today and was looking for some attention. I tried to coax him a little to work harder, but I decided not to push him and let him be. They worked on the paint brush technique and today was the first time I've seen them finish a submission. Usually they just do sweeps, takedowns, and escapes but not anything they'd have to tap out to. I think it was good for them as they need to get used to tapping when they need to. They played sumo for the first game and I saw some good takedowns. Jerad had given some advice before we started ending with telling them they could also trip and I saw the kids try and succeed with some trips.
Open Mat
My ankle was bothering me again going into practice today so I wore my ankle support which helps a lot. It actually felt much better after the session. My main objective today was to work on not getting my guard passed and using the stiff arm bicep stuff we did on Friday morning. For some reason the elbow stiff arm escape from side control presented itself a lot today. I wore my new grey gi and I'm very happy with it. The A2H seems to be a perfect size and I kept telling people it's the color of a shark instead of a goose.
Tim: We had some good rolls as usual. I had setup a kimura from guard and then used it to hip bump sweep. Later on Mike showed him a defense for that and we drilled it a few times.
Henry: Had 2 good roles with Henry except that I ended up gassing out near the end. Most of the time we battled from half guard. He would pass it and I would get it back but couldn't do much against his base. Then I spent a lot of time defending his baseball bat choke and failed. We spoke a bit after class and I learned that we have something in common in that we are both not on speaking terms with our former martial arts instructors.
Conan: I didn't have much for Conan, but I did pass his guard at one point. From side control I attempted to farside armbar but he was messing with my base out arm so I could never get any pressure on his ribs. He did allow me to get the cross stiff arm a few times by setting it up for me. Which was nice.
Austin: I gave some advice on isolating an arm from side control. He was using his arms too much instead of his body. He claimed that he learned something today, which was a great compliment. He played spider guard a lot more than I remember. Definitely made it more difficult to pass his guard.
Pedro: We have a huge size discrepancy so I did my best to be smooth and not use too much pressure. At one point he tried to take a big step to pass my guard and I was able to turn it into the waterfall sweep that Conan had just shown Brian AF at the beginning of open mat.
Brian AF: Started in guard and eventually ended up in half guard. Setup a kimura from there and used it to get on top and eventually to side control. He has a wicked bridge which makes me a really have to watch out in top side control.
Small kids class again this week with 2 other kids besides my own. Jayden seemed to be a little goofy today and was looking for some attention. I tried to coax him a little to work harder, but I decided not to push him and let him be. They worked on the paint brush technique and today was the first time I've seen them finish a submission. Usually they just do sweeps, takedowns, and escapes but not anything they'd have to tap out to. I think it was good for them as they need to get used to tapping when they need to. They played sumo for the first game and I saw some good takedowns. Jerad had given some advice before we started ending with telling them they could also trip and I saw the kids try and succeed with some trips.
Open Mat
My ankle was bothering me again going into practice today so I wore my ankle support which helps a lot. It actually felt much better after the session. My main objective today was to work on not getting my guard passed and using the stiff arm bicep stuff we did on Friday morning. For some reason the elbow stiff arm escape from side control presented itself a lot today. I wore my new grey gi and I'm very happy with it. The A2H seems to be a perfect size and I kept telling people it's the color of a shark instead of a goose.
Tim: We had some good rolls as usual. I had setup a kimura from guard and then used it to hip bump sweep. Later on Mike showed him a defense for that and we drilled it a few times.
Henry: Had 2 good roles with Henry except that I ended up gassing out near the end. Most of the time we battled from half guard. He would pass it and I would get it back but couldn't do much against his base. Then I spent a lot of time defending his baseball bat choke and failed. We spoke a bit after class and I learned that we have something in common in that we are both not on speaking terms with our former martial arts instructors.
Conan: I didn't have much for Conan, but I did pass his guard at one point. From side control I attempted to farside armbar but he was messing with my base out arm so I could never get any pressure on his ribs. He did allow me to get the cross stiff arm a few times by setting it up for me. Which was nice.
Austin: I gave some advice on isolating an arm from side control. He was using his arms too much instead of his body. He claimed that he learned something today, which was a great compliment. He played spider guard a lot more than I remember. Definitely made it more difficult to pass his guard.
Pedro: We have a huge size discrepancy so I did my best to be smooth and not use too much pressure. At one point he tried to take a big step to pass my guard and I was able to turn it into the waterfall sweep that Conan had just shown Brian AF at the beginning of open mat.
Brian AF: Started in guard and eventually ended up in half guard. Setup a kimura from there and used it to get on top and eventually to side control. He has a wicked bridge which makes me a really have to watch out in top side control.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
May 23rd 2014 - Gi (Defrag)
Theme & Techniques: Countering Knee Slide Pass
I was half expecting to work on the triangle again, since Greg has been repeating the same techniques throughout each week. However, I was more than happy that Conan chose to share some of his magic.
The main thing I took away from today's class is the use of the stiff arm. Normally I fight hard for the underhook when I'm being passed. It works well against the new guys but not so well against my seniors. I may have to put some more work into this.
I worked with Dave on this portion of the class. While I feel like what we worked on was conceptual and a little advanced, he did a good job.
Rolling: Open Guard Postion (3 x 3 min)
I did my best to use the stiff arm as much as possible while on the bottom. From the top I only tried to do knee slide pass but did deviate a couple times when I had to. I had rounds with everyone in class: Austin, Dave, and AF Brian. I felt pretty good about the stiff arm and was able to hold everyone off with it, except one time Brian took my back.
New Analogy: Defragging the Computer
Bhuvana has been watching some instructional videos lately and was a little concerned about how complicated everything seems in BJJ. I tried to explain that she's trying to take in a whole new technique which is difficult. Usually when I watch a video I already know the basics of the technique and I'm picking out minor details to improve. So I tried to relate learning BJJ to how a computer stores information. Hopefully it makes sense, let me know what you think.
A computer saves information on the disk in blocks and often the blocks for 1 file can get written in separate places on the disk, making it fragmented. The hard drive has to work harder to get all of the information when a file is accessed. Defragmentation puts all of the blocks in sequential order so the information can be accessed faster with less work.
We learn BJJ in pieces at a time. After being taught an armbar we have most of the information but it's difficult to put it together. We need to go through the steps and possibly repeat them out loud. Over time we drill the technique and eventually attend another class where it's covered again. Each time the technique is worked on the data in our heads is being "defragmented" to put all of the data blocks next to each other for easier access. Too bad I just can't run the BJJ defragmenter each night while I sleep.
I was half expecting to work on the triangle again, since Greg has been repeating the same techniques throughout each week. However, I was more than happy that Conan chose to share some of his magic.
The main thing I took away from today's class is the use of the stiff arm. Normally I fight hard for the underhook when I'm being passed. It works well against the new guys but not so well against my seniors. I may have to put some more work into this.
I worked with Dave on this portion of the class. While I feel like what we worked on was conceptual and a little advanced, he did a good job.
Rolling: Open Guard Postion (3 x 3 min)
I did my best to use the stiff arm as much as possible while on the bottom. From the top I only tried to do knee slide pass but did deviate a couple times when I had to. I had rounds with everyone in class: Austin, Dave, and AF Brian. I felt pretty good about the stiff arm and was able to hold everyone off with it, except one time Brian took my back.
New Analogy: Defragging the Computer
Bhuvana has been watching some instructional videos lately and was a little concerned about how complicated everything seems in BJJ. I tried to explain that she's trying to take in a whole new technique which is difficult. Usually when I watch a video I already know the basics of the technique and I'm picking out minor details to improve. So I tried to relate learning BJJ to how a computer stores information. Hopefully it makes sense, let me know what you think.
A computer saves information on the disk in blocks and often the blocks for 1 file can get written in separate places on the disk, making it fragmented. The hard drive has to work harder to get all of the information when a file is accessed. Defragmentation puts all of the blocks in sequential order so the information can be accessed faster with less work.
We learn BJJ in pieces at a time. After being taught an armbar we have most of the information but it's difficult to put it together. We need to go through the steps and possibly repeat them out loud. Over time we drill the technique and eventually attend another class where it's covered again. Each time the technique is worked on the data in our heads is being "defragmented" to put all of the data blocks next to each other for easier access. Too bad I just can't run the BJJ defragmenter each night while I sleep.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
May 20th 2014 - Gi
Theme & Techniques: Roll Over Escape from Headlock, Triangle Choke punch setup
Partnered with Bhuvana for this portion of class and Greg demonstrated the techniques on me for the rest of the class. So I ended up getting choked a lot.
Bhuvana was a little concerned that the triangle was too complicated, but I think she did fine. She had to repeat the steps as she went through them which is understandable. The hardest thing about learning the triangle in my opinion is getting the body alignment correct. I had a little trouble setting up the triangle myself, I'm not a fan of the punch defense, but honestly I have a hard time doing the triangle from guard using any setup. Mount is a different story.
Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Had some great training today rolling with everyone. I'm really appreciating having Robert in the noon class as he really gives me a hard time. He's strong and also has some good technique. I don't think he's figured out gi grips yet completely because he's trained more wrestling and no-gi. In our free rolling, I started off pulling guard and setup an omoplata sweep that ended up failing, he also got past my 2 on 1 that I tried next. I spent the rest of the roll in his side control.
I also had good rolls with Bhuvana and Ben. Ben's pretty fun to roll as he's so strong, so he's tough to deal with but technique has been overcoming so far. Bhuvana is aggressive as well although she masks it by saying things like "I don't know what to do" I did end up tricking her by going for the rolling backtake from quarter mount. We rolled a few times after class and I showed her cross guard to omoplata.
Partnered with Bhuvana for this portion of class and Greg demonstrated the techniques on me for the rest of the class. So I ended up getting choked a lot.
Bhuvana was a little concerned that the triangle was too complicated, but I think she did fine. She had to repeat the steps as she went through them which is understandable. The hardest thing about learning the triangle in my opinion is getting the body alignment correct. I had a little trouble setting up the triangle myself, I'm not a fan of the punch defense, but honestly I have a hard time doing the triangle from guard using any setup. Mount is a different story.
Rolling: Guard Position (4 x 2 min), Free Rolling (2 x 4 min)
Had some great training today rolling with everyone. I'm really appreciating having Robert in the noon class as he really gives me a hard time. He's strong and also has some good technique. I don't think he's figured out gi grips yet completely because he's trained more wrestling and no-gi. In our free rolling, I started off pulling guard and setup an omoplata sweep that ended up failing, he also got past my 2 on 1 that I tried next. I spent the rest of the roll in his side control.
I also had good rolls with Bhuvana and Ben. Ben's pretty fun to roll as he's so strong, so he's tough to deal with but technique has been overcoming so far. Bhuvana is aggressive as well although she masks it by saying things like "I don't know what to do" I did end up tricking her by going for the rolling backtake from quarter mount. We rolled a few times after class and I showed her cross guard to omoplata.
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