11:45a to 1:45p

11:45a-12p: Got to class early to stretch. Caught up with Ryan, a visiting student of Professor Leo and fellow white belt, who won his first tournament last weekend. Won all three bouts by points, including one 13-0. He was pumped. Said he went in to have fun and ended up taking the thing. Nice.

12-12:30p: Warm-ups and drills. Xande led. Running, push-ups, awkward (for me) core/hip work. Arm bars from mount (15 each side). Then a combo that required a roll-over sweep to mount then mount arm bar. (5 each side).

12:30-1p: Technique. Xande showed how to take the back from turtle. Position body/hips/weight over lower back. Reach around and snake hand under to grab opposite gi lapel. One foot next to opponent's leg. Slide other knee out and at same time nudge elbow and yank gi lapel to break down posture. Insert one hook. Roll opponent over and insert 2nd hook or take side control or north-south (depending on opponent reaction). Took a while to get it right. At one point Xande shouted from across the mat and gave me a thumbs up. Nice. Gold star! REALLY glad to know this technique. Had it completely wrong before. I used to get on top and try to insert both hooks while opponent is still in turtle. Balance always felt extremely awkward and occasionally I'd lose the position to roll-out. This technique avoids those problems.

1-1:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got Justin first. Big strong guy in his mid-20s. Been training only a few weeks. My goal was to control the roll tempo and wait for him to gas. He didn't gas, but he sure fought hard. Took mount a couple times and he always responded with push-ups. I should have been able to effect arm-bar, but he moved so quickly I couldn't execute. Defended neck well so cross and Ezequiel chokes weren't panning out. No americana opportunities. He eventually escaped the mounts via combination of upa and force. Need to work on mount maintenance. Near the end of the roll I shot a triangle from guard. He postured up and then started to stand up. Switched to arm bar. I had to throw all the way over on my left upper shoulder/neck and eventually rotated all the way over to my knees with his arm locked up to finish. Not very pretty, but it worked.

Thomas was second. White belt. A bit smaller than me. I think he said he'd been training about four months. We had a pretty good back and forth with roughly equal reversals and submission attempts/escapes.

Sat out third roll. Odd number of classmates. I realized that I take too long to prepare for the next round and by the time I looked around for a partner, everyone was paired up and in starting position. Need to work on that and get ready to go quicker so I don't miss as many rolls.

Last roll of the day was with Joe. Another white belt. A bit smaller than me and my guess is he hasn't been training as long (but I don't know for sure). Spent a bit of time securing side control. Once in mount I spent an aweful lot of time trying to set up for a choke or armbar, but Joe defended well. Caught him in a triangle with only 15 seconds or so to spare.

1:30-1:45p: Cool down stretches.

INJURY REPORT: Sprained my left pinky toe during drills. Same toe I dislocated a few months back. Today was the 2nd day I attempted to work without tape. Bad move. It's quite tender. Will keep the tape on...probably forever... Professor Matthias said it will bother me as long as I continue BJJ. Thought he was exaggerating, but perhaps not.