No Longer Taking Names

6:15-6:30p: Stuck in traffic. Thought I was 15 minutes late, but turns out I've been away from the gym so long I forgot what time class started on Monday nights so I was 15 minutes early. Whew. I hate being late. Stretched.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. Nothing special.

6:50-7p: Take down drills. Essentially judo. Skipped the first set. Didn't want to risk neck injury. Participated in the second set, but worked with someone who was also wary of injury and we didn't finish the throws.

7-7:10P: Sweep / pass the guard. After class tonight...over a few beers...I was gently admonished for posting the names of classmates. So, I've resolved to stop taking names. I'll only refer to rank. Although this is supposed to be MY training log, I realize that quite a few classmates have found my blog and read with some regularity. So...referencing rank should allow me to track my relative progress while also protecting the innocent. First up tonight was a Brown Belt. Stepped into his guard and pretty much got owned. No submissions in this drill, but in my zeal to pass his guard Mr. Brown let me know he set up but did not execute several submissions before sweeping me. Professor also told me to relax a bit lest I hurt my neck. Didn't think I was pushing it, but if it caught Professor's attention...guess I was overdoing it a tad. Next up a White Belt who had managed a few consecutive sweeps so I got him tired. Passed his guard with a smash pass. Not the most technical, but he"s huge, young, strong, athletic, etc....I'll take what I can get. A White Belt stepped into my guard. Sweep off a pass in no time. Blue Belt up next. Swept her after she attempted a floating pass. Upon further reflection, I muscled the sweep. Lame. I apologize. Blue Belt stepped in...time ran out before we could get anything going.

7:10-7:30p: Technique. Basic guard break and knee slide pass plus a feaux cross choke to knee slide pass. The feaux cross choke to knee slide was new to me.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got three Blue Belts. Crowded mats tonight so I felt like I was stopping mid-roll multiple times to reset. Fortunately my training partners were experienced and took it all in stride. Got swept on my ass from inverted guard after several minutes trying to pass. Not sure what happened. Professor said it was a You Tube sweep. Ok... Got worked. Got drilled by the second Blue. He had me in an arm bar from mount but we ran into another group so we yielded. I didn't tap but he would have had me if we didn't roll into the other group. Other than that I feel like I gave him a hard time from guard. Almost swept him with De la Riva and spider a couple of times...but didn't quite pull it off. Last roll was good. Ran into other groups a few times and had to reset, but I managed to take mount and finished with an arm bar from technical mount. Had a few sweep set ups too. Overall, very pleased with the rolls tonight. No neck/tingly issues at all. I hope that I can train a couple nights per week without too much trouble. Fingers crossed!