2 for 1

Two training sessions in one post. Went to see the Aggrolites at Tipitina's last night after class. Great show. Ended up talking to the keyboard player for too long after the show. Turns out he was a fan of a band I managed and produced years ago. He was still in high school. Man, I'm old. And definitely too old to stay out so late on a school night.

Wednesday 11/3/10, 5:30-9p

5:30-6p: Stretched and a mini-warm up.

6-7p: Private with Gavin. Mount survival and escapes. Turns out I know the best techniques given different mount scenarios. I just need to improve timing and practice...practice...practice...

7-8:30p: Good class. Learned three half guard sweeps. All new. One involved pushing a knee forcing the top guy on his belly while allowing you to take the back. Nice. Rolled with Shane (White Belt) and Suleman (new guy). I've decided to distinguish between White Belts and new guys... A new guy is someone usually in their first week or two but still uses a borrowed gi top and belt. They usually wear shorts. A White Belt has signed up and has a gi and belt. That's how I'll track them for blogging purposes. Anyways...Shane and Suleman are both 17. Shane is really good for 17 and only a few months experience. Passing guard wasn't too much trouble, but he kept recovering guard. Took a while to really control from cross body.

8:30-9p: Hung out a bit and watched a couple guys roll. Grabbed Dorian (4-stripe White Belt) for a roll. He escaped all sorts guard passes and attacks and turned them around on me forcing me to survive and escape. Challenging roll. Forgot to stretch before leaving...geez.

Wednesday 11/4/10, 6-7p

Late leaving work and traffic kept me from the first half hour. Felt sluggish from the long night before and I missed warm-ups and drills?!?!?! I really really need to warm up. It was going to be one of those days.

6-6:30p: Technique. Take the back when you have your opponent in north-south from turtle. First technique was a standard double lapel choke. Review. The second variation was new and too complex to describe (I'm just feeling particularly lazy right now...).

6:30-7p: Rolls. 5 minute rounds. Too crowded tonight so we split into groups of three. I got Dr. Steve (Blue Belt) and Cleveland (promoted to Blue this week! Congrats Cleve!), Steve is bigger and heavier than me. Cleveland is bigger, but my weight. Both are among my favorite training partners. Started off confident, but from the moment Cleveland first destroyed my posture and arm dragged me, I knew I was in for a schellacking. Both guys got me to spaz...a lot. I managed a handful of escapes, but only a couple were technical. The others were simply the result of spazzy luck. Spazzing didn't always work...got caught in a couple arm bars, a kimura, and probably a choke...don't recall exactly. I recall being in bad positions under attack most of the time and feeling a bit embarrassed at how much I spazzed. Oh well...tomorrow is another day. Forgot to stretch after class...again. You've got to be kidding me. Where is my head?