DL Day 11

Feeling gimpy...

Good warm-up followed by stretches and right into techniques. Professor Jake taught 3 chokes from side control when opponent has good cross-face defense. I'll file the last choke, which involves use of your gi lapel, far in the back of my mind. It felt sooo awkward. The first two chokes are very doable and I'm glad to have a couple choke options from side control in my repertoire.

Sat out a couple rolls and worked core, ankle weights, and rotator cuffs. Worked sweep/pass the guard with a Blue Belt instead of sparring. Well...no sweeps. He basically crushed my guard the entire time. Couldn't do a darned thing to stop him. He said I missed an arm bar opportunity. Yeah... I realized that. But I didn't have it by the time I remembered the arm bar steps. So we worked some arm bar drills. Ok... I'd still rather shoot triangles. ;-)

Worked sweep/ pass the guard with Joe (White Belt) next. Swept him several times and caught him in an arm bar (non-standard). He asked how long I've been training and seemed relieved to know I have 4x his experience. C'mon Joe! Hang in there! It's only been 1 month man!

Worked with another Blue Belt at the end. He passed my guard and executed one of the side control chokes we learned today. I fought it for a while, but he finally locked it in. I trapped his right arm from closed guard and almost had an arm bar, but he escaped.

Professor Jake said he's recovering from an LCL sprain. His injury sounds very similar to mine. His advice wasn't very encouraging. In essence, he said I'd likely have one knee problem or another as long as I continue the sport. No bueno!

DL Day 10

A bit bummed that my knee isn't feeling much better than it was last Friday / Saturday, even after 3 days off the mats. The odd sensation (err "pain"?) seems to have migrated to the right side of my calf/back of shin and right side of the hamstring. It doesn't really hurt. Just feels strange and the nerves are definitely sending all sorts of warning signals to my brain when it's put under different pressures and into various angles. Hmmpfff...

Too much to do today so I didn't attend class. Completed the full hour of P90X Core Synergies instead. Very good workout.

Excited to get the latest issue of Gracie Mag in the mail today and even more excited to see Rolls Gracie on the cover. Not sure what it is about Rolls that draws me to his story, but I can't wait to read the article. In fact...I think I'll do that now.

Ice...

DL Day 7

Open mat. Started with standard class stretch and warm-up routine, but solo. I probably look strange warming up by myself when almost everyone else dives into rolling, but hey...I'm too old to dive in cold and I still gas during warm-ups so it's real exercise to me. After 20 minutes and a lot sweat, I noticed a new guy looking around bewildered. Chris said it was his day. Open mat on first day? Cool. Decided to spend some time showing him things I wish someone had shown me before being thrown to the wolves in a real class.

Chris is 6'4" and 210lbs. Wrestled through high school. Now a NAVY corpsman. We started with standard stretches. Then spent a fair amount of time on the hip escapes. Explained closed guard, open guard, half guard, side control, and mount. Then showed him two guard break techniques and a couple passes. Worked those a bit. Then I introduced bottom resistance and explained my goal from closed guard (break posture, balance, create angles, look for sweeps and submissions). We ramped up the intensity a bit and by the end of the hour, Chris was able to pass my guard without too much trouble (...sigh...). Before calling it a day, we discussed side control goals for defense and offense and I introduced knee on belly and mount.

Knee feels ok. Not great. Not bad. Just ok. I stopped one guard pass attempt due to awkward pressure on the knee. No pain, but I knew that if it went any further I'd be hurting. Plan to stay away from sparring and some technique/drills for at least another week.

Oh... 201lbs after workout (no gi). Amazing. That's 19 lbs since starting jits 4.5 months ago and 24 lbs since June 8th when I logged a 5lb weight increase. Doesn't look like I'll have too much trouble making the 207.5 threshold (with gi) by November 13th.

DL Day 6

Open mat this morning. Solo warm-ups. Then worked with Mike (Purple Belt) a bit. He helped me with side control posture / escapes and hip movement. Sweep / pass the guard with me on bottom since that feels safest right now. Played a lot of open guard. De La Riva and Spider mostly. Mike also showed me a technique to break posture from closed guard and side escape that opens up sweep and submission opportunities. Most important take away lesson = Less push/pull and more hip movement to create angles. I know...I know...but why do I have so much trouble doing? Essentially did the same thing with two others (a Blue Belt and a 2-yr White Belt), but much less teaching and they went for submissions (successfully I might add; several chokes and an arm bar.). Took it pretty easy but still managed work up a good sweat. Knee brace helps. Icing to follow.

DL Day 5

Got to class a few minutes early. Enough time to change and catch some of the rolls from the prior Black Belt class. Lots of guys speaking Portuguese. Xande, Leo, Paulo, Cadu, and a few Brown Belts I didn't recognize. Xande and Leo were rolling harder than I've ever seen anyone roll during training. Almost seemed like an actual fight. Unreal.

Completed warm-ups with a bit of knee-induced apprehension, but sat out the first set of drills. Worked a little core instead. Very sore still from Tuesday. Lower back cramped with only a few dozen reps.

Joined a group for the technique portion of the class. Worked De La Riva set-ups followed by two sweep options. First sweep was standard De La Riva. Second included a roll over sweep if opponent only gives you the inside arm/sleeve. Basically spin under to almost X-Guard and roll opponent over to take side control. REALLY enjoyed this. Read about it in Saulo's book dozens of times but haven't had much success implementing during training.

Sat out the rolls. Spent about 12 minutes or so on an exercise bike that works both arms and legs. Sit ups until cramps. Leg lifts with ankle weights. Hip work with the stretch chord. Rotator cuff work with 8lb free weights. Finished with balance exercises on bosu ball.

Collin (Blue Belt) said he had a very similar knee injury a while back. Recommended I stay off it for a while and get a wrap. Picked up a knee brace this afternoon. Icing as I type. Will try to make open mat tomorrow and see if I can find someone to work sweep/pass the guard drills and other light technique work.

DL Day 4

Missed class this morning. Worked late and overslept. Injured knee still feels strange, with dull / achy pain. Need to ice. Core is sore from yesterday's workout. Completed full hour of P90 X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps this afternoon. Pretty intense. I smell. Time to hit the showers.