Mon-Tues

Private with Michael Jr. on Monday. Reviewed techniques from the last private (sweeps and attacks from basic open guard, including scissor sweep, helio gracie palm up / palm up choke, palm up / palm down choke, arm bar (2 variations), triangle, hip bump, guillotine, and kimura. New techniques included basic posturing in guard, grip defense, bait until you get the grip you want, pistol grip the opponents grip and stand up, break opponents grip, break guard, and establish x-pass setup. Standing break followed by ground break technique.

Tuesdays class was hot. I mean real hot. Started sweating before class started. Light warm-up and lots of stretching before 30 minutes of technique. De la Riva passes to positive and negative sides. Basic principle involved demobilizing opponents attacking leg (the one that stretches you out) by popping down and collapsing on it by switching to a crouching/squat position on your toes. The passes involved moving the trapped leg to one side or the other depending on opponents reaction and passing over. I struggled with the crouching/squat position. My thighs are big oxygen consuming beasts and this technique gassed me...fast. Followed technique with 10 minutes of sweep/pass the guard from de la riva position. And I thought I was tired before...about puked.

Professor Leo took it easy on us during training. 6 minute rounds as opposed to 8 or 10 mins. Got a Black Belt and two Blues. Sat out a round. Almost swept the Black Belt a few times via knee push and x-guard, but his base was solid. I think I rushed the x-guard sweep. He eventually took my back and I spent several minutes defending neck and arm attack setups. Survived...but barely. The first Blue is much smaller. Lots of good sweeps. I caught him in either a reverse triangle or a shoulder lock via north south transition from a sweep off a pass. I was working both attacks when he tapped. Not long after he caught me in a reverse triangle. Tit for tat. Second Blue is much heavier than me. I got destroyed. He eviscerated my guard. Crushed me in side control. Tapped me by baseball bat or bread cutter from knee on belly, bow and arrow, arm bar, and kimura. It wasn't pretty. Extremely tired after class. My body took forever to cool down. Still sweating an hour later...