Stripe 1

Not enough time for a proper post. Arrived at 5:20p. Left at 7p. Led warm ups. Got a sweep off a pass (blue). Not much else during sweep / pass the guard. Techinque = Guillotine choke and escape. Closed guard grip break to whizzer to straight arm lock. Rolls. Groups of three. Got two Blues. Both within +\- 10 lbs or so. Rolls went well. Some good. Some bad. Got a messy kimura on a Blue. Shot a couple triangles. Fail. Not bad night though. Got my first stripe at the end of class.

Elixir

A substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely. --Webster

Ok... Not indefinitely, but I am really starting to feel like I'm getting a bit of mojo back. Neck feels good. Training is progressing well enough. Trajectory looking good for the LA State Championship on May 21.

6:25-6:30p: Stretched.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-ups / drills. Including 6 min abs. Had some lower back cramping, but not too bad.

6:50-7p: Sweep / pass the guard. Started on my back. Very experienced blue stepped in. Almost swept him from closed guard via Saulo special. His base is great so he recovered no prob. Opened to lasso and switched to a spider variation. Ended up with a sweep off a pass. That was the first time I'd managed to do anything against this guy. Another Blue stepped in. Got the sweep, but I don't recall exactly how. Big White stepped in next. He wanted to start open. Ok. Heavy base and clearly a wrestling background. Couldn't get him off base at all. He smashed a sweep attempt and came down on my side. I had full contact shield between my knee and elbow so he hadn't technically passed. He stopped and proclaimed the pass. No problem. I showed him my contact and said, "not really, but close enough.". Stepped into a huge Blue's guard next. He has a reputation for rolling really hard. Stood up and broke his guard. Worked a knee slide pass I've been working with Professor Matthias. Almost had it. Almost. He scrambled out and recovered full guard. Busted my posture in my process. Ended up sweeping me via kimura attempt. I gave up the sweep to defend the kimura.

7-7:05p: Half guard drills. Full speed sweep / passes. Top guy picked the starting grips. Tough. Tiring.

7:05-7:30p: Half guard sweep techniques. One from lock down. The other a classic sweep grabbing the foot. Both require using hips or bumps to move your opponent up. Pretty simple detail I tend to forget. Have trouble grabbing the foot. Tend to prefer one of Saulo's variations that does the same thing without grabbing the foot.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Groups of 3. Got 2 Blues approximately my size. Fun rolls. Several sweeps. Inverted work, but not entirely successful. Suspect it was more nuisance than a threat, but did manage a couple open guard recoveries. Got swept. Several times. Almost got choked out from north south. Managed to squirm out. Literally one escape attempt away from tapping. Fortunately I guessed right. Escaped a kimura attempt from north/south. Caught an arm bar after transition from a sweep off an arm bar stack. Very pleased with it because I think it was my first successful combo. Visualized and executed.

8-8:05p: Stretched a bit. Reviewed the choke with the Blue who almost caught me. Still not sure how I escaped. Definitely got lucky. Talked a bit about inverted. I'm fortunately flexible. Put both legs behind my head. Apparently that's not easy to do...

Strong Night

Walked into class tonight a bit sore and contemplated asking Professor to pair me with smaller newbies to avoid injury. Tonight was the first night I've trained two full classes in a row since early December. Wasn't sure how it would turn out. Turned out fine.

525-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:55p: Long warm-up and drills. Partner drills. Lots of core. Couldn't do the partner push-ups.

5:55-6:05p: Sweep/pass the guard. Started on bottom. Professor stepped into guard. Different Professor than last night, but he stood up and stepped forward. Predictably (especially if he reads this blog), I attempted a rollout sweep. He stuffed it. Passed a Blue's guard. Standing break and step over from torreando set up. Swept a Blue who stood up and stepped in using the Rollout. Not very pretty - and ended up in a scramble - but finished. Swept a White next via Lasso. Ended up with knee on belly. Chants of You Tube from the crowd. Hee hee. Ok...not that dramatic...I'm a legend in my own mind.

6:05-6:30p: Technique. Three front gi chokes from closed guard. The first two are pretty standard. Palm up / palm up and palm up / palm down. The third was tricky. Professor joked that he doesn't do it anymore because it's not fair...he gets it every time. Too difficult to describe, but I couldn't execute. Maybe it was my training partner. Really big guy with tight fitting gi. Just couldn't get it to work...

6:30-6:55p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Groups of three. Got two Blues, roughly my size. Rolls went well enough. Mount, technical mount, a few sweeps. Inverted guard work with the second Blue. A few failed triangle attempts from inverted. Should have gone for a straight sweep, but I wanted to work on the triangle. Fail. Had my guard passed a few times. Recovered guard via north-south and inverted. Apparently kicked my partner in the face. He stopped the roll and asked me to slow down. Sorry! I really didn't feel or see the kick. Definitely unintentional.

6:55-7p: White grabbed me to roll. Big "kid." Collegiate football background. Never rolled with him before. To tell you the truth, I've avoided him. He rolls hard and, frankly, I'm not a fan of getting hurt. Whether stupid or just on an endorphin high from the great night, I accepted. Before we rolled I showed him three sweeps when someone stands up in your closed guard. The roll was fast and furious. Swept to mount and finished with arm bar in 45 secs or so. Second round, same result but it took a little longer. I showed him the mistake he was making that allowed me to get the sweeps. He corrected his mistake and broke my guard. I set the lasso and he smashed through without too much trouble. Bailed to turtle and rolled back to open guard. Set up and completed the knee push sweep. Kickboxing class started so we called it a night. He paid me a nice compliment. Asked me to call him out to roll in the future. Said he learned more in five minutes working with me than he had in a while. I suspect that's because we worked on specific problems he's been having as opposed to techniques of the night that he may or may not be able to employ during rolls. That tells me he may be ready for a private with a qualified instructor. Enjoyed this roll like I imagine my dad enjoyed beating me in basketball as a young man. After working me over, he'd say, "Son. I have to do it now because it won't be long until I have no chance." This kid is very athletic. When he figures this out, I won't have a chance.

Squish Slosh

That's the sound my neck makes when I move it these days. Thankfully not causing problems (yet), but hearing sounds and feeling the squish is unsettling...to say the least.

5:15-5:35p: Stretched.

5:35-6:20p: Private w/ Professor Matthias. Went over the sweep to triangle from the lasso via stack pass bait featured in this month's Gracie Mag. Although we had some trouble executing as shown in the pic (a step is clearly missing), we adapted and came up with something that felt comfortable for both of us. Executing clearly requires your opponent to be committed to the stack. Worked guard passes the rest of the time. Lots of review, but I learned a de la riva pass that should help me get out of a few sticky situations.

Rolled lightly for a few minutes to end the session. The only thing worth writing about is a sweep that Saulo calls a "Rollout Against Underhook Defense" (Technique 16-3 in Jiu Jitsu University). Professor attempted a standing guard break. He stepped forward and held my lapels to prevent an underhook sweep. I timed release of my guard and rolled out. Got the sweep...eventually. Steps 5&6 didn't go as smoothly as shown in the book. I didn't have full control of the foot and Professor began to step out of my rollout underhook. Had to stand up with his foot and fish the sweep while standing as opposed to kneeling in turtle. Never before did I have an opportunity to attempt this sweep. Never drilled it. Just saw it in the book and on the Revolution 1 DVDs a dozen or so times. My opponents either don't attempt standing guard passes or they succumb to the Classic Underhook Sweep (Technique 16-2). The rollout is only an option if your opponent steps into you to prevent the classic underhook sweep. I've never had a training partner step forward like that during a standing break/pass. Now I know it works. Just need to work on controlling the foot during the rollout.

6:20-6:30p: Stretched and chatted with friends before class.

6:30-6:45p: Warm-up / standard drills. More abs than usual. About 300 reps. I tried to finish the core set with the Gynastica Natural solo drill in this month's edition of Gracie Mag. I'd never tried it before and clearly attempted to do the move too quickly.

6:45-7:05p: Drilled standing grip breaks and take down set ups, a judo hip throw (not good with the judo names), and open guard passes with limited hand use. The top guy got to use one hand. The bottom gal had both hands in belt. Interesting. Didn't do as well as I thought I would. The two-three week white belt ended up passing a couple times and got mount once. I couldn't do nearly as well against him.

7:05-7:30p: Technique. Standing guard break from busted posture. Hands in arm pits. Pop up. Move one knee around and insert into butt crack. Work hands up pants until guard breaks. Then baited stack pass to step through and knee on belly. Finished with a kimura after switching to north-south when opponent pushes on knee. Last technique was a pass to arm bar from double spider guard. Hip in, reach under and secure opposite pant leg, grip a sleeve, then posture up and step back slightly while "unwinding" your opponent. Should end up in position for the arm bar.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minutes rounds. Got a Blue, Green, and Black. Roll with Blue was good. Recall losing a good north-south back position to a strong single leg from opponent's turtle. Only highlight from guard was a dive through from half guard to take the back. Roll with Green was good too. I started off with a relatively easy pass to side to north south to technical mount to arm bar set up. She escaped the arm bar and I was in a bad spot. She solidified side control and I struggled. Couldn't escape. Fought for an underhook. Denied. Tried a normal bridge to guard recovery. Too tight. Bailed to turtle and exposed the back. I don't think she got both hooks, but I was on defensive. Eventually rolled back to open guard. Final roll with Professor was good (enough). I think it was the first time he rolled to finish. Caught me in what felt like a clock choke variation while I was in turtle. Also caught me in an arm bar. Had some tingly fingers during this roll. First time with tingles in a few weeks. Bleh.

Matisyahu

Saw Matisyahu at the Howlin’ Wolf after class last night. Great show = Late post.

5:20-5:30p: Stretched. 5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. 210 core reps. No problem. 80 push-ups. Finished 90% from knees. 5:50-6p: Sweep / pass the guard. Got swept by a Purple via omoplata transition. Passed a Green via standing torreando variation. Swept a Blue…can’t remember how. Blue passed me via torreando variation. Disappointed because I dropped him on his butt twice when he stood up (using a sweep from Revolution 1), but I couldn’t transition to top quick enough to complete the sweep.

6-6:30p: Technique. Bully head lock take down, escape to arm bar. Standing guard break. Very similar to Saulo’s standing guard break from Revolution 1. Geez. One other technique, but I can’t remember at the moment. Will revise post if/when it comes to me… ***UPDATE*** The other technique was a double leg stack pass from open guard after a standing guard break. Thanks for the assist Matt!

6:30-7p: Rolls. 6 minutes. Got a Purple, Blue, and White. Purple destroyed my posture…repeatedly. Got swept twice from busted posture via flower/upa combo. Managed to reverse both mounts via upa. Done messing with busted posture, I grabbed a high lapel and fisted it down to the mat across his throat. That worked…sort of. Regained posture and opened guard, but got swept via de la riva (maybe tripod). Shot a triangle while he was trying to pass. Timing was good, but his posture timing was better. I let it go thinking I couldn’t finish. Afterwards he told me I shouldn’t have quit. Said I almost caught him and I definitely had his full attention. Interesting.

Blue passed to half guard without too much trouble. Tried to defend the cross face, but he insisted… He passed to side control and got me in a mean cross face pin. Didn’t feel good, but I wasn’t threatened either. We must have sat there for 3 minutes. He started suggesting that I shrimp. Uh, no. He had me so tight and I was so tired, I couldn’t spare the energy to do something I didn’t think I could pull off. Besides, he wasn’t advancing or threatening me. Why waste the energy? Purple reminded me afterward that I should have tried harder to escape because, in a tourney, although a good ref would tell the top guy to advance, it would burn valuable time and I was down on points. He’s right. Need to adapt my survival mindset. Blue finally tried to advance (went to north-south). Started working for inverted guard but time ran out.

Roll with White was fun. Long (and strong) legs. Tight closed guard. Tricky open guard. Encouraged her to work a butterfly hook or two into her open guard. She’s doing remarkably well for only a few weeks into training.

Self Defense Hour

Last night was supposed to be an off night, but I showed up for Rusty's (Brown) Helio Gracie fundamentals or self defense class. Glad I did. Although not physically demanding, the techniques taught are a great complement to sports BJJ training. We worked guard recovery and subs (kimura and a choke) plus strike avoidance from a side control wrestler's pin. Also worked strike avoidance and escapes while under mount. I think I'm ready to add Rusty's Wednesday 6-7p class to my two-day per week sports BJJ routine. The neck will let me know if it's too much...

Struggle

5:30-6p: Brief warm-up with extended core work and drilled six fundamental BJJ motions from back. Should have sore abs tomorrow. Nice!

6-6:30p: Three mount escape techniques. Three Purple belts each showed a different escape. Gayton taught me a new BJJ term: quarter-guard. Almost a year into this sport and I think that's the first time I'd come across the quarter-guard.

6:30-7p: Rolls. Seemed short. 4-5 minutes? Not sure. Got a Purple, Blue, and two Whites. Struggled quite a bit.

Purple caught me in a d'arce. First time I've tapped to a d'arce while wearing the gi in a long while. Caught by the time I realized I was in trouble. Got swept a couple of times, including a tripod that was just silly. I saw it coming and almost didn't care. Retreated to guard. Got a couple of decent sweeps, including a De la Riva and one from butterfly where I trapped the leg ala Saulo's Revolution 1.

One of the Whites gave me a heckuva time. I think he's in high school. Doesn't show up very often. Probably 50-60lbs lighter than me. He took my back and almost got an arm bar. He neutralized my open and inverted guards. Good for him.

Roll with the Blue was, as expected, quite the struggle. I started in his guard and he immediately busted my posture. I really couldn't do anything to regain. He shot a triangle when he probably shouldn't have. Thought I was more vulnerable to the omoplata. Thank goodness he shot the triangle though because I needed a way out of his guard. Once out, I seem to recall that I basically pulled guard. Wasn't going to try to pass again. That said... I couldn't really do anything from guard either.

Last roll with a White who has come a very long way. Felt solid. Left his arm extended and exposed when trying to open my guard. I took it. Arm bar notwithstanding, his game has improved considerably in the past couple months.