One Year

April 14, 2010: Stepped onto the mats for the first time. I was almost dead after 15 minutes of warm up. Mike (Purple), the guy who brought me, saw me in a wrecked state, smiled, and said with a chuckle, "The easy part is over man!". He wasn't joking. Almost puked, had a horrible achy night sleep, and could hardly walk the next day. But I was hooked. From day one. Not going to do a lengthy recap. I'm stronger, healthier, feel 10 years younger, more confident (in general), happier and, perhaps the coolest part - I've made many new friends. A few injury setbacks notwithstanding, I don't see how my first year could have been better. One thing I know for sure. This training log has been a tremendous complement to my training. Because I know I will write about my training, I pay more attention during class. Moreover, writing about what I just went through each night is similar to meditation. I have to replay the night in my head and internalize the night's lessons. It has to have helped my game.

5:20-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:55p: Extended warm up / drills. Had a very good sweat going.

5:55-6p: Abbreviated sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into Purple's guard. Got swept. Stood up. He opened and sunk a De la Riva hook. I tried to counter and he switched to something I've never seen before. Tried to counter that and it was as if he expected my response and dropped me. Impressive. Wish I knew what he did. Stepped into another Purple's guard. Passed via a very assertive knee slide. A bit muscly, but it's a start. I've been working on the pass for a month or so know and Professor's advice to be a bit more aggressive. It feels sloppy and muscly but it's working. Perhaps with time I can continue to refine and pull it off with more finesse. Blue stepped into my guard. He stood up. Dropped him with a classic under hook and hip twist on the thigh / dead angle knee. Professor called time so I couldn't attempt to finish and transition to mount. This particular Blue has always scrambled out when I've employed that sweep so I need to work on the transition. Next time.

6-6:30p: Technique. Two self defense techniques. Responses to sucker RNC attempts. First is a standard hip throw. Second is a take down if attacker inserts a knee / leg between your legs to prevent the hip throw. Followed up with two subs from closed guard. Straight arm lock via whizzer plus a shoulder lock option in response to typical whizzer defense.

6:30-6:55p: Rolls. Groups of three. Five or Six minute rounds. Got a Green and a White. White is roughly my size with more experience. Good rolls. X-guard work with the Green. For some reason I find lots of opportunities to work x with her. Possibly because she's so much more flexible than most guys. She thwarted many choke attempts from back, mount, and technical mount. Good survival skills. Found out she came from Rafael Lovato's school. Explains the Green Belt. Ribeiro schools do the yellow, orange, green steps for adults. White dropped me on my butt in a failed standing guard pass attempt. Pretty slick. Got a couple knee slide passes. Straight ankle lock, front gi choke, couple of sloppy kimura's from north / south. Also got a tap from a Gogoplata set up. I had the shin under the chin and started working to lock it in with my other leg. He started struggling a bit and thought he was going to escape. Started plotting a transition to omoplata when he tapped.

6:55-7:05p: Young, big, very strong White asked to roll before calling it a night. Ok. Why not? He started in my closed guard. I opened and he put on some serious pressure. Obliterated my open guard but never secured side control. Inverted to open recovery. Triangle attempt failed. But got an arm bar from a transition. Straight ankle lock failed as well. He forced me to bail to turtle a couple times. Tried to take the back. Got stuck. After the roll, showed him a couple options to either take the back or transition to technical mount.

Shot a few triangles tonight. All failed. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but my triangle success rate is abysmal. Will work on it with Professor Matthias at our private Saturday morning.