Slipped Away

Trained tonight. Gynastica Natural warm up. Nice for a change, although there wasn't enough room for the inverted rolls. I really need to work on those rolls too. I should be much better at the inverted rolls given how flexible I am, but no...terrible.

Sweep / pass the guard went ok. Got two sweeps. One sweep off a pass via lasso and a knee push. Had a takedown opportunity from a scramble after failed lasso sweep, but gave up my spot to the scramble effort. Got swept after failed knee/hip slide pass when the Blue turned it into an arm drag and took my back. Worked a lot of takedown technique and drills. Then rolls.

Got a Blue and a White. Rolled with the Blue twice. Think they were 6 minute rounds. White is a really big younger guy. He's improved a lot. Got a baseball bat choke from knee on belly. One successful transition to x guard sweep from turtle.

Blue has always given me trouble. Faired better tonight than any prior roll. Passed his guard a couple times, but it never lasted. Not sure I would have got the points. At one point I thought I had him in a front gi choke, but as I adjusted to get a deeper collar he escaped. Had a grip on a collar for a clock choke or bow and arrow set up from turtle, but...again...as I adjusted for a deeper grip he defended and escaped. Heard Professor Saulo's voice from Revolution 1 in my head: "you no need a deep grip for this choke...".. I let the subs slip away. Arghhh. Escaped an arm bar attempt. Lots of scrambling. Transitioned from turtle to x guard, don't think I. Got the sweep. Seem to recall it turning into a bit of a scramble. Had trouble defending cross face while working spider from inverted. Overall, very pleased with my two rolls with this particular Blue.

Trained with a big strong young White after class. He swept me with a hip bump to mount right out of the gate, Nice move! Crushed me several times and almost passed my guard, but I kept my cool and either recoverd or bailed to turtle. Another transition to x guard sweep from turtle. Ended up with an arm bar and a kimura from inverted triangle (top position facing north-south). Worked arm bar escapes with him before calling it a night.