Keiko Raca Limited Series Gi Second Impression

After a wash in hot water and a few rounds in the dryer, I am warming up to this gi a great deal. It now feels much more solid and fits me like a glove. I think it's going to be spectacular when I've broken it in about a month from now.

Keiko Raca Limited Series Gi First Impression

My first impression was only so so. The fabric of the jacket feels oddly flimsy as does the rope of the pants. The collar feels great, however. Really solid and firm. Maybe my idea of what double weave feels like was off, but I was expecting it to feel thicker.

Everything else about the gi is great so far. It fits me very well, and after a wash I think it's going to fit like a glove.

Class 12/15/2010

Went to the beginner's class tonight. The technique we covered was regular old straight footlocks. Not too much new information except the instructor talked about feeling their toes in your armpit and starting to straighten the foot before you hit the ground.

Positional sparring was from open guard. First round in I passed using my standard method and was on bottom for some time. I made good use of my new de la riva sweep, making sure to control the distance very actively. I was finally knocked out because I was complacent about getting sleeve grips and got passed. I need to really start focusing on not settling for whatever grips happen and take more of a judo mentality: the right grips are essential to playing my game.

Sparring started with another blue. He asked if I would start inside his closed guard, which I'm fairly certain was because it's his strongest position. I worked on just maintaining my posture and keeping his hips on the ground. I mostly was able to neutralize his hips and offense. He made a few half hearted attempts at collar choking me, but since he didn't have his hips with him I was able to posture out of it. He was very proactive about working for an overhook, though, which is not a game I'm very familiar with countering and it definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Especially since I always feel way off balance when I try to free the overhooked arm. I'm also very uncomfortable pushing them down when they sit up and hug outside my arms, which is also something I must figure out how to deal with.

Second roll was with another blue who was very short and squat. I pulled him onto his ass and worked my usual passing strategy. He was all about the running man escape, but left some holes which allowed me to get my penn state and take his back. On the back I was constantly working for the clock choke. Using my legs and penn state grip to clear his hands so I could snag the collar. At one point he stripped one of my hooks and I thought about trying to go for the twister. In the end it was too much effort and an opportunity to get my hook back presented itself instead. Eventually I was able to get a desirable grip on the collar, so I underhooked the leg and went for the choke. He tucked his chin and defended, but I kept my choking elbow tight enough that he couldn't slip his head out. Eventually I went back to the back and time ran out.

My last roll was very similar to the second. I passed guard, he tried to reverse by going to the knees, but I was johnny on the spot and got a deep leg in a la wrasslin. From there I mostly worked to control and try to snag a collar, but to no avail. What I need is better control with my feet so I'm not so dependent on the penn state and can work with both hands to get the grip I want.

Advanced Class 12/2/2010

Last night I attended the advanced class. Unbeknown to me, all advanced classes are tournament prep until January 8th. I thought I was going to do some drilling followed by light sparring where I could work on my de la riva guard. Boy was I mistaken.

We started off with conditioning drills, which were pretty tiring, but I've done a lot worse in my day. The most fun one for me was monkey men. Because I absolutely loved this drill, I will describe it: you start by jumping guard on your partner who stands with their legs apart and their arms held straight out to their sides (picture the vitruvian man). Your goal is to climb up and over their shoulders, down their back (upside down), out through their legs and then back up their front, returning to guard with them standing. All of this without touching the ground. As an added motivator, for every rep that someone completed without touching the ground, everyone did 10 burpees. We did a total of 30 burpees because three monkey men were completed.

Next we did a relay with some monkey walks etc.

Finally, we divided into groups of three by weight and went 5 minute matches. We went in the order
Best vs. Worst
Best vs. Middle
Middle Vs. Worst

I declared myself the worst in my group as the other two were a purple and a blue who was promoted about a year before me.

My first match was exciting because I wasn't that tired, I'm not competing, and generally will try the most preposterous things I can think of when rolling with people who I know are much better than me. I pulled guard immediately, which he passed as I went to my knees for a single leg. I sat through and we scrambled for a bit with him coming up in sidemount top. He collar choked me and we reset.

I pulled guard again and he worked to pass, but I was much more on the ball with my passing defense and I used the single under counter sweep to start a scramble and end up on top in turtle. I fought for the clock choke for some time but he rolled and reversed me into side mount. He moved to north-south where I stiffarmed his hips and tried to take his back. I had to settle for inverted guard which allowed me to set up a real, live omoplata and sweep for another scramble. Then time ran out.

Next I rolled with the blue for a much less exciting match. I pulled guard again and he went to knee slide pass. One thing I noticed was that because he controlled my left arm expertly, I wasn't able to underhook and shuck him off my head to take the back, as I am want to do. Must protect that arm in the future. One exciting bit was that I swept him from quarter guard, but I have no idea how. Let's just call it a fluke. I tried playing de la riva to absolutely no avail whatsoever.

The best part of this class, though, was that it reminded me of how much I actually like hard work. That feeling you get when you've worked out super hard and your mouth tastes like iron? I tell myself that it's a bad feeling, but I really do love it, and it's good to be reminded of that.

Motivation

I've been struggling seriously with motivation of late. Since I switched schools I've found my desire to go to class to be lacking. More than that, I've had trouble getting excited about jiu jitsu period. Normally I'm nearly always watching videos, reading articles, writing stuff down as I think of it throughout the day. Not so for the last few weeks. The times I've gone to practice I've felt bored (yes, even while rolling) and the thought of watching or reading anything jiu jitsu related hasn't whet my appetite as it usually does.

I'm inclined to think that this is in large part because I've come a looong way toward meeting a lot of my short term training goals. For instance, guard passing was my project this summer and I've been met with huge success in that department. Whereas guard passing used to be a scramble, I'm now at a place where I'm pressure passing most blue belts and one or two purples with relative ease and composure.

Although this has been extremely rewarding, it's left me in a place where I find myself asking "now what?" I realize that I have tons more to learn about the subject, but I'm at a place where I think I need to move on to something else. This is difficult because it means I need to find something else I'm bad at and take it on, which is a daunting prospect since it means "losing," and as much as I like to pretend that I have no ego attachment to how I do in sparring, I'm just not there yet. I get cranky when my game doesn't work.

Fortunately, two things have recently come along that have resparked my love of the game. First, I've been drilling on Thursdays with one of my training partners at my old school. Mostly, I've been working a lot on de la riva and last night something clicked. I haven't had a moment like that in a few months and it made me very hungry for more. I'm going to make de la riva my project for the next few months (I'll add a longer list at the end).

I also saw a video by Graugart (my hero) in his Flighthours series. It's incredible to see how good he's gotten since he posted his first one, and it inspired me a great deal.

So, here's what I'm working on for the next few months:
-Classic de la riva sweep & taking the back
-Bow & Arrow choke from the back
-Basic closed guard posture (bottom)
-KOB top game fluidity

New School Day 2

First things first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mo1VlnIg2o&feature=player_embedded

Epic.

Second, more training at my new school. I'm liking it so far. The sparring is significantly harder than it was at my old place, which is both good and bad. On the one hand, I'll get better. On the other hand, I'm not trying to get hurt.

Today we covered throws and then sparred. A lot. My first round was with a pretty solid whitebelt. He was super proactive at breaking my posture in his guard, however, it was an encouraging moment because it showed me that my posture and position is good, as he never came close to sweeping or submitting. Eventually I passed to sidemount with relative ease. He reversed me off knee on belly and I worked my flower sweep series. I crossed his arm just fine and was starting to set up my sweep/backtake when time was called. It's a slow burn, that move.

Next, I rolled with a purple belt who wrecked my shit. He blew past my guard with a super solid knee slide pass, which I must learn to counter (duh). Not much else to say there. He destroyed me and it was all a little over my head. As far as I could tell my posture was alright and my limbs weren't in the wrong place. He was simply better.

Next, I rolled with a female white belt who, I swear to god, was stronger than me. I mean she was solid muscle. It was like grabbing a wooden dummy. I worked my de la riva against her combat base and pulled the Basic Sweep. She got a knee up but I smooshed it and passed to side. I went for twister side control and she underhooked me (muahaha) which gave me the opportunity to snag the kimura, transition to the other side, get my penn state and take the back. From there I alternated between mount and her back, switching between collar chokes, armbars and moving back and forth between the positions.

My final roll was with another whitebelt. More or less the same as the first roll. She tried to pass my guard with a kneeslide, but I had the underhook so as soon as her hips were on the ground I shucked her off my head and took the back.

Back in Action

So now my move is complete, my fridge has food in it, and I've switched to a school that's much closer to my new place. Let's see what kinds of magic I can make now.

Earlier I hit an open mat with Tony to work my passing. I've been continuing to practice pinning a knee and smashing the legs with the leg rope to pass, which has generally been met with a decent amount of success. The next step is going to be integrating some options if they prevent me from a) putting my knee down and b) flare their top leg so I can't leg rope.

At this point, I've been playing with three options:
1) if they stiff arm my knee, switch and knee slide out
2) OR Capoeira pass
3) Stand up and X-pass

I drilled this scenario with Tony, and I'm starting to get more comfortable with it. I'm getting better at seeing the best option, so now I think I just need to practice and drill to bring the amount of time I have to spend thinking about it down as well as ingraining the details in my muscle memory. Good times.

I also think I'm going to start looking at Eddie Bravo's stuff on twister side control. My passing game often lands me in that position anyway, so I feel at home with a lot of the things he brings up anyway.

Sigh

I always feel useless when I don't go to class, but I think I need to take a break and get my life in order. I can't help but notice that my fridge has been devoid of groceries for 5 days now...

Projections...

I went to the advanced class on tuesday, and while I'm having trouble remembering a ton of specific details, I did feel as though I had a pretty good night. One of my main goals right now is to really work on having good posture, especially in guard e.g. getting my hips off the ground in closed guard, not being flat on my back in open guard, not looking down when passing etc.

I have also been working especially hard on grip breaking and denying my opponent the grips they want. During several of the rolls I focused almost entirely on stripping grips in closed guard, and I was pleased to see that I was met with great success.

My other main focus is on developing my pressure from the top, especially in terms of guard passing. Since I want to get better at the leg rope pass, I've been working especially on pinning one knee and then smashing the legs together. It just occurred to me that I need to control the hips better. I'm going to experiment with one grip on the knee and using the other hand to grab the back of the pants to control the hips.

I also picked up an important detail on the leg rope pass. I've been stepping out with the wrong leg. Rather than extending my left leg (assuming I'm passing to the left) I should extend my right leg and use the hand that is threaded through the legs to extend them and sprawl away from their hooks. I also figured out how exactly to pivot on that knee in order to free my leg from their hooks. Good stuff.

He's turning blue...

In more ways than one...tonight we practiced bow and arrow chokes, and I also received my blue belt! It's a moment I've looked forward to with some anticipation, but much like graduating from college, it was over in a flash and after the fact I realize that it's not the moment itself, but all of the moments leading up to it that matter. Mostly, I'm just amped I can go to the advanced classes since they fit my schedule much better :)

Sparring went so so. I've been on a short break, so I didn't have tremendous expectations, but I felt ok about the whole ordeal. My first roll was with Jonathan, who had only sparred once before but is super athletic. Since I recently picked up some important details to do with closed guard, I held him there and worked on implementing them without focusing too much on sweeping or submitting. Eventually, I did sweep to mount using a steering-wheel sweep. From mount I worked to set up the cross choke as Roger Gracie tends to do it, but since this is a completely new technique, I had limited success. I need to work on incrementally establishing the grips. When I would focus on controlling and maintaining position, I couldn't work on grips as intently, and when I worked on grips he would start making good his escape. One big problem was that he was stiff arming my hips, which is something I need to kill if I want to work the cross choke into my arsenal.

Second roll was with Hong, another blue. I was mostly working to pass his guard, focusing on the three step process: pin a knee, push knees together, hug legs and pass. Although I was met with less success than usual, I already feel that this will bring me far greater gain in the long term. He cross choked me once, but that was because I was not posturing properly, so my bad on that one. He did go for the same choke again later in the roll, but I was better about posturing and he did not succeed. At one point I had passed the guard and was working my sidemount game, but I was really passive, and rather than working hard for the mount I kind of sat there. bleh. I know that I have a well documented tendency to be somewhat passive, and my biggest fear is that the feeling of added pressure because of having been promoted will make my game super conservative and stifle progress. Can't let that happen.

Finally, I rolled with Charles, the French brown belt who had his way with me in a way that was that was wholly unprecedented. In previous rolls with Charles, he has usually kept a decently slow pace, but tonight he switched it on. I should have known I was in trouble when he said to me "Congratulations! You 'ave improved now, yes?" at the start of the roll :p To detail the roll would be very challenging at this point, but I will point out a few things that I noticed.
-I did not establish three points of contact at all times when I had open guard.
-I started countering guard passes too late, especially the single under pass. I need to be more proactive about hipping out as soon as they go for the under.
-I need to make a long term goal of improving my knee on belly escapes. Major weakness. Might have something to do with Charles being a brown too, but still.

All in all, not a bad first night back :)

The Return 2: The Revenge

As it turns out, my "back in action" declaration was a little hasty. On the metro ride home it became very apparent that I had not recovered from my sinus infection as fully as I wanted to believe, and I have subsequently taken an additional week off. Frustrating, yes, but it was also good to have 2 weeks or so to reflect on some things. At this point I'm back on the wagon and have thought up some things that I want to write down so I can more easily keep track of them for future reference.

One of the most important thoughts I've had is how to effectively train and learn a chain of techniques. Upon some reflection, I saw why I've had so much success with the arm drag to flower sweep/back/armbar series this summer. It's because the first step of this series is very concrete and definitive: push their elbow across your centerline. It's not that I have some natural talent for pushing elbows across centerlines or anything like that, but rather it's the fact that the entire series requires a very definitive first step that is easy to identify and practice. Similarly, the second step (trap the arm using the sleeve and your chest) is also very clear and easy to identify. All of this is to say that my success has largely been in part to having a series that is broken down into a number of steps that can individually be broken down and practiced on their own, such that when the whole shebang is strung together, it's that much easier to perform.

Seeing this has really turned me on to the way Eddie Bravo teaches his system. If you read Mastering the Rubber Guard, you see that his guard techniques are broken down into a string of very simple and relatively small steps. First you break them down. Then you hit mission control etc. The genius of this is that it gives you a series of layovers, so to speak, that give you something more to work towards than "do an armbar." What I especially like about this mindset is that it makes it much easier to be proactive in any given situation. Whereas I used to sit and wait for my opponent to make a mistake, having a concrete first step (cross the elbow) has made it easier since everything leads to that default action. For example: Break Grips --> Cross arm. That's obviously a gross simplification, but having that progression in mind is very useful.

What's more, thinking of techniques this way makes it much easier to troubleshoot your game. Rather than saying "my armbar from guard doesn't work. I need to practice that" you can say "Step B of my armbar doesn't work. I need to practice that." I realize that this little discovery of mine is probably fairly low on the totem pole, but holy shit :)

Back in Action (9/8/2010)

Back to class after a week long hiatus because of a sinus infection. I still felt somewhat wobbly tonight, but I took it super easy during my sparring rounds. During the technique portion, Jeremy showed how to...sucker punch someone. Then we also covered the basics of the RNC as well as a neck crank from having one hook on the back, and finally the twister.

First round of sparring was with a one stripe white belt who had a good number of pounds on me. We started grip fighting, but his arms were waaay extended, so I armdragged to the back, but since I only got one hook in I was in a good position to try the neck crank we learned out. He didn't give up the crank, but that caused him to leave his collar wide open and turn away so that I could slide to triple attack. I was setting up the choke, but he was tapping much earlier than I expected, so I eased off because I didn't feel as though a more obstinate person would have tapped. I secured the Roy Dean clock choke grip and walked my legs around and finished there. We reset and I swept him from butterfly guard as he overextended himself and leaned left to avoid my armdrag. From mount I slid to s-mount and worked to set up an armbar when I lost my balance and he rolled. I finished the armbar from there, this time focusing very intently on really working with the leg on his head and raising my hips as high as possible.

My second and final roll was with a three stripe white belt. I toppled him and worked to pass my guard. He played this really quite bizarre guard that I had a hard time wrapping my mind around, not because it was difficult to counter, but rather because it was easy to counter and I didn't see how it afforded him any offensive options. Essentially, he put both feet on my hips, grabbed both my collars rather low and then pulled with all of his might. I guess he was trying to stretch me out and break my posture, but since my arms were tight there wasn't really anything to prevent me from popping one of his feet off and running a knee straight up the middle. He did work well to scoot his hips away, which made pressure passing somewhat challenging. Eventually I did secure an underhook, pop my knee across his leg and hip switch out of his guard. From there, it became apparent that he follows the "abuse the face" school of side mount escape thought. It always amuses me when people are more concerned with making their partner uncomfortable than with building a solid frame. As such, he spent the next few minutes trying to either rub my neck raw with his elbow or attempting to roll me over the top by trapping my arm with his neck and torquing with both of his arms. He did unbalance me somewhat at first, but since my arm wasn't straight and my hips were low, it was a simple matter of switching my hips toward his legs and dropping my shoulder onto his face. Eventually, he tried to turn away from me, so I stepped over to mount and went for grapevine/crossface control. He continued to try and abuse my face, so I started working for armtriangles every time his elbow came up. Eventually he extended one of his arms and I went straight for triple attack. There, I found the penn state grip and took his back. I clock choked him from there, although I suspect he tapped because he was tired, as the choke felt very loose. We reset and I pulled closed guard. I only worked on controlling his posture and scooting my hips to the side. I did an ok job.

Mediocrity

Tonight was not a great night for me. Jeremy covered some kimuras and whatnot, and I'll go into that later.

My first roll was with Rob, another white belt. This roll was frustrating because my guard passing blew. I didn't have base, my posture sucked, and I got reversed all over the place. I was going for my usual passing strategy, but somehow he was always killing it by overhooking my arm and sweeping to that side. It was frustrating as hell because I know what I was doing wrong in retrospect. In recent times I've become to kind with the knee slide pass. I'm afraid to put my weight down and put them on their side. Because I was languishing with my knee in the middle and not controlling the sleeve, I let him use the overhook to pull me over.

My guard retention was solid, although I had a really hard time breaking his frame. I need to remember to switch to grip breaks if my usual strategy of pushing from the outside and hipping doesn't work. While on that note, I didn't do a very good job of hipping away from the arm I was pushing either. The roll basically went such that I would hold closed guard and he would break and try to pass, usually with some degree of success before I retained it and we started over. At one point he was passing and setting up a knee crusher (despite me telling him about my knee injuries. Fucker.) and I felt some tension so I tapped to be on the safe side. At one point, I set up my spider overhook sweep, but he started to push my other knee out from under him, and I could not leverage the sweep. In retrospect, this was a golden opportunity to switch to the omoplata or to spin 360 into a triangle, however, since I was too committed to the sweep and had underhooked his leg completely, I was caught beneath him and unable to spin through the gap. I also didn't think to do it, which will put a preemptive stop to just about anything. Once again, I suffered from being too attached to my initial technique. I really need to get it into my head, the first move never works.

Next I rolled no gi with a big dude, and this round was nothing short of obnoxious. I began by working for an armdrag to the back since I really didn't want this dude on top of me, but once again I floundered and failed to move my hips, and instead just tugged on his arm for a bit before pulling closed guard. Once there, I was successful in crossing the arm, however, he worked very hard to control my other wrist, which made it impossible to work anything else. In retrospect, I realize that I should have used my body to pull my shoulder and arm away, as this would force him either to let go or lose his posture completely, which would have given me the space needed to take his back. I didn't do this, however, and instead fought fruitlessly for the leg, which I did eventually get, but I was still unable to sweep him. Then we went back to me playing butterfly, him trying to plant my feet, me kicking his hand off, rinse, repeat. Eventually he was frustrated by my guard and sat back for a footlock. It's nice to notice that my footlock counters, at least, are intact. I scooted through to halfguard, where I spent a few minutes laying on his face until I could pop my knee free and push through to quarter guard and lay on his face some more. End of round.

Finally, I rolled with Kenny who destroyed me. My takeaways from this roll were that my hip movement was off (again), I had completely abandoned my attempts to get better at pressure passing and instead regressed to "four lane highway" passing, and I need to stop looking down. Needless to say, I was not met with great success. I did have one good moment wherein I balanceball passed his x-guard. That felt good.

All in all, my takeaways from tonights class are as follows:
1) Move my hips more. A lot more. I caught myself being flat on my back a lot, and that is why my guard strategy failed. In order to bump the arm off, I need to be on my side. Move the hips. Move the hips. Move the hips.

2) When passing, lead with my hips, not my head. If I am going to pressure pass, I need to be much lower and straighter, and I need to focus super intently on creating angles and cutting the corner. If I am going to get good at pressure passing, I need to learn to keep my effing head up. I think part of the reason I'm struggling with this style of passing might be because I have atrocious hip/groin flexibility. The solution to that is simple, but will take a while.

3) If I notice that someone is starting to knee-in-ass pass, my focus ought to be on a) establishing de la riva or b) fighting the hand that is gripping the pant. I caught myself failing miserably in this regard tonight, and my guard was opened as a result.

4) Keep my head up. Up, not down. Up. Straighten my shoulders and stop hunching. There are times for wet blanket and beachballing, but top position is not one of them. Lead with the hips, not the head. Chest forward, back straight. It's counterintuitive that straightening out creates pressure since there's a strong instinct to want to be close to whatever it is your pushing on. A good way to look at it is to pretend there's a ceiling that I can push on to create downward pressure.

A big reason that I managed to phail tonight was because everyone was all about overhooks, and for whatever reason, that really intimidated me and shut my game down. Now, that I was getting overhooked and the fact that said overhooks were effective in stifling my game are both indicative of one very important mistake:

I was not compact with my elbows. If someone gets a tight underhook, you are leaning into them too much and also allowing yourself to get pulled to the wrong side. An overhook or a wizzer is pretty tricky to get unless your opponent reaches for you. This means that I must focus more on t-rexing.

An example is my roll with Rob. When I was passing by running my knee up the middle and underhooking, his overhook should not have done shit. With the cross knee pass, I want to be turning his body in the direction of my pass, which effectively nullifies his wizzer if he has it. Because he was able to turn away from the pass, he could use the overhook to kill my post and sweep me. Ergo, I was not pressuring effectively and killing his hip mobility.

As far as the meta is concerned, I think my big problem tonight was that I regressed to attaching some aspect of my identity to how I do on the mats. I've been doing a good job of focusing on right action this summer and as a result a lot of my rolling has been fantastic. Tonight, I got wrapped up in the pecking order and who should pass whose guard and all kinds of similar nonsense. I am not my jiu jitsu, and in order to focus on doing the right sequence of techniques at the right time, I need to leave everything except my jiu jitsu at the door.

At the end of the day, though, I have to keep in mind that this all isn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. If the worst thing that happens to me is having a shitty night at jiu jitsu, I'm doing pretty well for myself :)

Class 08/31/2010

Today, Will covered a triangle set up from open guard with both feet on the hips and sleeve control. I liked it because it'll tie in with the open guard I've been working on recently as both rely on stretching people out with feet on the hips and both hands on a sleeve. He also covered the armbar counter to a posturing opponent. Tony pointed out that it's good to focus more on the leg that's higher on their head (both legs are on the head/neck for this armbar) than the lower one. I picture it as trying to bend the neck and put that heel on the ground.

My first roll was with Tony. I worked to pass his guard and was eventually successful. I spent some time in side mount, and Tony kept working to trap my bottom arm with his legs. I opened his lapels and tried using them to keep him turned away from me, but at some point I was reversed, as I recall it was because I leaned forward in KOB. He started to set up an armbar, which i countered by slipping under his leg and forcing him to go belly down. At that point, my arm was entangled in som mystifying way that wasn't an armbar but put a lot of pressure on my shoulder, so I tapped. After that, I passed guard again and then time ran out.

My second round was with Adam. He pulled guard and I started working to pass. He started playing spiderguard, and I am disappointed in how not proactive I was about passing. I had solid posture and base, so he was not able to sweep me or set up any submissions, although I noticed that he was trying to work the triangle we had just learned. What frustrated me was that I noticed a severe deficiency in my ability to strip his spider hooks. What's even more frustrating is that I know how to do it, I just didn't. I have some great fear of standing up against an opponent who's playing guard, and I need to overcome that in case someone tries to play spider guard since getting both of their legs extended is much easier if you're standing. Eventually, he gave up the spider hooks, though, and I was able to leg rope and pass without too much trouble. What I did notice, though, is that he has become much more prone to stiff arming my hips and that gave me fits. This means that I must become more adept at breaking his frame with my legs. I also need to address my lack of head control recently. I've become to accustomed to reverse scarfhold and have this let the shoulder of justice fall by the wayside. It's time to bring it back.

I was sitting the last round out because there was an odd number of people until Adam rolled his ankle and I jumped in with Jay, a high level purple. I worked to pass his guard with my usual trickery. I noticed that there was one point at which he had stretched me out almost completely and I was doing nothing to get my arm back. Derp. I did get my arm back, though, and started working on my leg rope pass. I passed to my usual side mount, but he grabbed my head and started pulling me over backwards. Fortunately, I was able to trap his legs and prevent him from coming on top until I freed my head and came back into his guard. Since we started rolling with 1:40 left in the round, time ran out about now.

Today yielded a few important points:

1) On top, press down at an angle, not straight down. From sidemount, push into your partner by driving forward and down. Think a 45 degree angle instead of a 90.

2) Jay pointed out that I was looking down by bending my neck. In the future, I'll have to make sure I keep my view on the point where the wall and ceiling meet each other to ensure that my posture is good.

3) Head control. Nuff said.

Class 08/26/2010

Jeremy showed some kimura setups, and most importantly he reopened my eyes to the royler gracie kimura, or "roylermura." I had completely forgotten about it for the longest time, so I was very happy to be reintroduced to it.

My first round of sparring was with a blue named Jen. If I had to guess, I would say that I probably weigh twice as much as her. That being said, I tried my hardest not to put undue force behind anything and doing my best to only move from my core, rather than flailing my limbs about. I started by sitting out to butterfly hooks, but I soon gathered that she would rather play guard than pass, so I came forward. I was able to make good use of my sprawl pass to sidemount where I worked on controlling the hips and setting up my kimura/armbar setup as she came up on her side. I got in position a few times, but she generally closed up and it seemed inappropriate to muscle for it. At one point she reguarded and I passed again. The round went by with my staying in sidemount and switching sides for the arm as she turned to her side.

Next, I rolled with George, and I continued to work on my back control after armdragging to the back. Once again I had zero luck trying to find a hole in his defense, and spent most of the time working on moving with him and staying tight on the hips. I also focused on shifting my grips and hook retension.

Finally, I had a very dynamic and athletic roll with Big Tony. He started with butterfly guard and I worked on pressurepassing it. I was somewhat stymied because he secured an overhook on the side I was trying to pass to and he is also excellent at keeping his hooks after I am mostly passed. I figure the solution to that is to escrima my legs out of the hooks. From sidemount I worked to set up a collar choke, but it was very loose and he turned into it and we scrambled like mad. I felt him setting up an armbar, so I started defending immediately and escaped it without too much trouble. We continued from the same position and he scrambled to mount where he hit some bizarre choke that I mostly tapped to because I was afraid of it. We reset and I passed his guard again, still struggling with his hooks. The time expired with me in sidemount.

Class 8/24/2010

I showed up very late for lunch class today and really only partook in the sparring.

First round was with Robin. Started off by pulling guard and setting up the dariush guard. Managed to set up an omoplata almost immediately. He rolled out and I went to side mount. From there I spent some time surfing and trying to move as best as possible. He reguarded me a few times, but I was able to pass without too much trouble. I find myself being super lazy when it comes to hunting for subs with Robin. Most of the time I just lay and ride his momentum where ever it takes me. I hope it's not engendering any bad habits.

Second, far more eventful roll, was with Kevin. I started pulling guard and tried to play butterfly. Eventually I knocked him onto his ass (that might have been what he wanted since he seemed to want to play guard himself) where he set up a triangle. Fortunately my insert knee instinct was on its game, so I got a knee and a hand inside. I grabbed his belt and started turning the corner to break the triangle, but he switched to an omoplata. Once again, I was prepared for it, so I started putting my knee on his belly, controlling his hip and posturing until I was able to step over completely and free my arm. Upon this, he postured and ended up in my omoplata, but he countered and was put in my guard. I went back to trying to play dariush, but he wouldn't let me stretch his arm. At one point he was passing, but I was doing a good job of stuffing his head and hipping to kill the guard pass. He congratulated me on it and said that he only passed because of pure athleticism and muscle, and that my defense was technically sound. Good to know. He did complete that pass, however, and I struggled under sidemount for a while, managing to make good space a few times before he stepped over my head and crushed my face. Literally. It wasn't a choke or a crank. It was a straight up face crush. One step on the path toward looking like Dan Henderson. I didn't see the point in fighting that, so I tapped. We started again and I played some open guard, trying to set up some de la riva action, but to no avail.

My final round was with George. I pulled closed guard and worked for a while to set up the flower sweep. I did cross the arm, but he resisted, so I went with the hook sweep instead. Swept to triple attack, took the back and started looking for the collar. A long ass time went by without anything of note happening until he started slipping his shoulders down on the side opposite my penn state. I shot for an armbar but was foiled by the punching bag we had ended up under. We reset and I swept again, this time only to lay in sidemount for a while before the time expired.

Class 8/20/2010

This post will cover two day's worth of sparring since I was lazy on Wednesday and didn't do it then.

On wednesday afternoon I went for some sparring with Tony and Robin. My first roll was with Tony, and the first thing of note is that he has gotten a ton better at stopping my flower sweep. I switched between the flower, taking the back, and the hook sweep, but none of them worked! It's awesome to see that I have a training partner against whom I can really sharpen my flowersweep series. The better Tony gets, the better I will have to get. As our roll continued, I worked some butterfly and managed to set up a bunch of sweeps that I didn't quite manage to finish. He also did a good job of stuffing my hooks and working the wallid ismael pass; it was only by virtue of a lot of head stuffing that I was able to hip escape out and retain my guard. Eventually I hit an over/under sweep and took mount. From there, I scooted for triple attack and worked the penn state grip to the back. For a long time I only had one hook, but I managed to prevent ending up in halfguard top or bottom. The round finished right as I pulled off a nice bow and arrow choke.

Next, I had a roll with Robin. I spent most of this session lazily working half-assed open guard. I managed to secure a few almost-sweeps in the sense that he was sitting on his ass, but I did not put in the effort to come up on top. Oddly enough, most of the roll consisted of Robin shooting for footlocks and me countering them. To this date my record for defending footlocks remains perfect with one exception. I wonder how long I can keep that up? At times he almost passed, but I retained guard decently well. He did pass completely on one occasion, but I managed to maintain my composure and work for a belly down escape to sitting through to guard. He did attempt a 10 finger guillotine, but I had my butterfly hooks and double unders, so I shucked it off without too much trouble. I swept and time ran out.

Next I rolled with Tony again, and this time I managed to take his back using my standard method, where we spent most of the round. Same ending as last time.

I had one final roll with Robin again, this time being far more aggressive than the one before. I was much more proactive with my open guard and rode the momentum to the top instead of just sweeping and sitting.

------------

Today, I went to class as well.

My first round was with Big Tony; he's an enormous purple belt who lets me use him like a jungle jim. He lets me run around like a little monkey, and every now and again will catch me in a bicep slicer...always bicep slicers, never anything else. Despite his sandbagging for my benefit, I felt pretty good about the roll. I made a point of using my pressure pass against his butterfly, and although that was not successful in and of itself, it did allow me to leg rope and smash pass. Once in side mount I made a big production of trying to take the back. I figure trying to hit subs is just pointless, and so is just laying there, so I might as well work on positioning. I managed to secure my penn state grip three times, but the crux seems to be sinking my hooks. I found that I can typically find myself on his back in the most literal sense possible, however, the hooks are generally what's lacking. After some hemming and hawing on my part, Tony would roll, but thanks to my grips I would generally be able to follow back to sidemount with a kimura grip rather than getting reversed. At one point, I had him turtled and decided that, why the hell not, I would shoot for the triangle from the back a la ryan hall. What comes next should surprise no one: it didn't work and he started to stack pass. Thankfully, Jeremy was watching and I felt extra motivated, so I hit a, in my eyes at least, slick sweep that Kevin showed me. I ended up in his half guard which I passed to side mount where the round ended.

Next, I rolled with George, another purple. I pulled guard and immediately started working for my flower sweep series. I pulled the flower sweep, although it was not as smooth as I would have liked. I scooted for triple attack and set up my penn state to take the back, once again. I managed to sink my hooks this time, but George has the "defend and wait until they get impatient -->submit them" strategy down to an art. There isn't a damn thing I can do to get at his collars or his arms without being a huge dick. He's 68. There's no way I could ever justify trying to out-athlete him and feel good about it. As such, the roll was slow as molasses from that point on. Eventually, true to my earlier statement, I went for an armbar from the back. It was promptly countered and I was thereby collarchoked. Fortunately, I was able to identify the sticking point this time: I did not have sufficient head control with my leg. Good to know.

My final roll was with Robin. I decided to give my dariush guard a try (thanks, youtube!) and put one foot on his hip, the other foot on his bicep/shoulder, gripped cuff and elbow on the hip side and streeetched. Much to my surprise, this worked exactly as I was told it would and I hit a triangle almost right off the bat. More than that, it was the first triangle I've finished all summer. Go Dariush! Next, I stood up to pass his guard, and he did something so stupid I didn't commit it to memory, but I do remember that it led me straight to mount. After some general dicking around in mount and sidemount, I set up a far side armbar and was working to finish it as time ran out.

Private 08/13/2010

Today I had a private lesson with Jeremy. He answered a few specific questions that have been on my mind recently. First, we covered a good guard option against a standing opponent. I had expressed my reticence to make use of De La Riva because of my knees, so we covered situp guard instead.

It was nice to have a thorough introduction to this guard as it's not something I've worked with extensively before. We started with the standard version, which means that both of your feet and hands are on the inside, and your head is on the front of your opponent's leg. Having achieved the "default" (I'm going to have to learn the Capital language) it's important to control the far sleeve, and now you have the opportunity to hit one of the two sweeps we covered.

The first sweep involves taking your opponent forward by underhooking their far leg and taking them forward. Unfortunately that is all of the detail that I can remember for now, so this will only be a brief run through of the different options. Consider it the basic "if X then Y" part of the game since I have never played sit up guard before.

The second sweep we covered allows you to take your opponent backward. In this case, you tap the outside of the knee and flare your knees while keeping a foot behind their ankle, such that when you lift your hips forward and into their shin, it's as though you're ankle picking.

The situp guard also provides ample opportunity for transitioning to x-guard, single leg x-guard, de la riva, and more.

The most common ways of passing include cutting the knee across, in which case you employ the first sweep. The same applies if they put a knee in your chest to try and flatten you out.

If they try stepping backward, you use the appropriate hook on their stepping leg, as the other one ought to be trapped, and sweep them backwards.



Next, I asked about defeating the z-guard and opponents who are hipping out during the knee-slide pass. The former is laughably simple to defeat: as soon as they press the knee in, stand up and knee slide across their top leg. BAM.

The latter is also relatively uncomplicated: rather than being beholden to the underhook, stiffarm either their shoulder or their hip to kill the hip escape. BAM.

My final question was regarding killing the single-leg stack pass. This was a very useful portion of the session because I unearthed another basic principle of guard retention: don't let them turn your hips away from them. In this particular case, this can be achieved by planting your non-stacked foot on the mat, posting on their shoulder and hip and turning your hip in until your stacked leg can be reinserted.

That's it for now; I'm going to look into some sit-up guard techniques for now.

Class 08/11/2010

Evening class today. Jeremy covered a self defense technique that I'm having trouble remembering. He also taught some sidemount escapes. I was drilling with Charles and he gave me some good pointers.
-the importance of hooking something with your top leg as soon as you drive a knee into the empty space; this prevents your opponent from moving clearing the knee

My first roll was with Charles, and I generally felt pretty good about it. I fell into a brabo choke from half-guard bottom because I did not make space when I noticed that he was underhooking. Beyond that, I pulled off a pretty slick escape from under north-south by framing his hips up above my head and rolling back to get my hooks. I did not manage to take the back, but I did escape a bad position. In particular, I did a poor job of retaining my guard. Specifically, I did not do a good job of maintaining an appropriate distance, keeping my hooks, and breaking posture.

I spent most of my second roll trying to pass, which I also managed to do poorly. My hips were not heavy, my pressure was bad, my posture was bad, and I did not do a good job of controlling his hips. I was trying to use my regular passing strategy, but he continually shrimped away, which tells me that I was not doing a very good job of controlling his hips. Moreover, he played a lot of z-guard, and I did not do a very good job of smashing his legs together; for whatever reason, I did not use the leg rope as I usually do, and I paid the price. The solution to that observation is simple: don't be a dumbass and use the leg rope before you try to smash and pass. I also felt off balance throughout most of the roll. Not a good day.
f
My final roll also went rather poorly. First, I was trying to play some open guard, but I failed in two critical regards. First, I did a miserable job of keeping him from hipping into me. I really need to start working on controlling the sleeves from open guard before I focus on anything else. Second, I did not create angles very well. The roll thereafter was an odd scramble that I have a hard time analyzing. I did discover one positive, though: I am rather good at defending straight ankle locks.

I think that the main reason that today's sparring was shit is because I've been feeling too good about myself; too good in the sense that I have lost my edge and drive to do well. I've been so focused on not using strength that I've also lost my drive to put effort into my rolls period. I must not let that continue happening. Keep advancing without forcing.

Boss Triangle

Seat Belt!

Class: August 5, 2010

Today Jeremy reviewed the sweeps from yesterday as well as the monson choke from sidemount. I picked up some details on the monson choke:

-use your chest to create space and get under the chin

-when you walk, turn their head away from you using your body

-drop your head to the mat

-walk backwards to increase pressure and get deeper

During sparring I sat the first round as there was an odd number of people and I didn't partner up fast enough.

Second round I partnered with a really large noob who loves to smash people. I started playing some butterfly guard and eventually armdragged to the back where I worked my penn state grip, which I've been slaying people with of late, until he suggested that we reset. We reset and he tried to pull guard. I passed to mount and worked my usual head control and post way out with grapevine game until he tried to bench me off. Straightening his arms gave me the opportunity to hit an arm triangle. We reset and I armdragged to the back again, this time setting up and finishing a rear naked choke.

My final roll was with our resident old and gnarled badass. I started off playing some butterfly guard again, looking for the loop choke. He stuffed my right hook, so I popped my left foot onto his bicep and got sleeve control while underhooking his leading leg in the hope of sweeping from spiderguard. He sank back and I almost managed to sweep straight over the top, but a brief scramble ensued and I was back in guard. We continued with him killing my hooks and me head manipulating and hip escaping back to guard. Eventually we were in a position that resembled what Kevin taught on Tuesday, except one of my legs was closer to his hip. I tried to use this as a hook for taking the back, and I was very nearly successful. He had my other leg, though, and did a great job of keeping it pinned to the mat which prevented me from getting my hips around.

After class, Jeremy showed me a great detail on the running man escape, which is to use the hand that normally protects your collar to windshield wipe under you as you roll such that you can use it as a lever and keep their legs off.

Class August 4, 2010

Today Jeremy covered a way to finish a double leg: if your opponent steps their leg back, you underhook hard on the same side, tap the knee and take them in the direction of your head; the opposite direction you would go if you were turning the corner.

Next, he taught a counter to the almost inevitable guillotine. You control their near shoulder and plant your forehead on the ground and move in the direction of north/south. If you need, you control the hip with the hand that was underhooking. Eventually, your head pops out. Jeremy pointed out that this escape is a secondary option to going to sidemount with your head trapped.

Next, Jeremy covered the same takedown from the knees. He covered several variants, and the ones I found the most interesting were ones that started from butterfly guard. The best place to start from is already having a deep underhook and reacting depending on how your opponent responds. If they are trying to posture up and away, you come up and hit the sweep. If they're trying to push into you, you must have double underhooks whereupon you lift them and push them away. You use the momentum to come up and tap the knee.

Next Jeremy covered three ways to defeat any eventual attempts to post with their arm (apart from snatching the post out from under them). First, he covered the option of moving around them to sidemount, which assumes that they collapse their post. This option requires you to smash their legs together and that you place your weight on their hips as you move around to sidemount. The next option involves using your knees to put your knee on their leg/hips as you move around. When you've gotten far enough, you switch your knees so that you're essentially in a basic KOB position. The next option is if they don't collapse their post, in which case you take their back. The final option supposes that they sit back and try to pull butterfly guard. It is essential to keep the underhook and pin the leg with the other hand. You proceed as with the jumping guard pass from shogunhq.

My first roll was with Tony, and arguably one of the most fun rolls I've had all summer. We moved around a lot and I really felt like I was on. I can't think of any real questions.

My next roll was with a bit of a spaz. I focused on moving slowly and methodically. My biggest question is: how di I defeat the chin tuck when trying set up a goat slayer without simply brutalizing their face.

Finally, I rolled with a blue belt who looked to be about my weight. I started under sidemount. I escaped using Roy Dean's underhook the body and spin method. After that, we played guard and I was left with a few questions:

1) How can I improve my deep butterfly sweep? I often get their knee to the ground but can't get on top. Throw the other leg and use momentum to come up?

2) Again, how do finish goat slayer?

Idea

If my core is tired, I did good jiu jitsu; if my arms are tired, I did bad jiu jitsu.

Class 7/29/2010

Jeremy showed some guard pulls and open guard sweeps against a standing opponent. The most interesting bit for me was the possibility of using one leg x-guard against standing opponents who step one of their legs too far back to hit a sickle sweep on.

Sparring started off with Robin, a fellow white belt. He started by trying to pull guard, which I passed without too much trouble. Unfortunately, I spent most of the time languishing in sidemount. I really need to stop being lazy in sidemount and either be more aggressive about going for attacks or just giving it up altogether and putting myself in more bad spots. That being said, I was somewhat proactive about setting up far side armbars and kimuras. I had trouble finishing them because I did not effectively prevent him from turning into me, which is something I will need to work on.

-How can I prevent my partner from turning in during armbar setups?

My next roll was with Arlan, a white belt who is considerably less technical, but also a great deal bigger and stronger, so he presents a series of challenges all his own. He started trying to pass my open guard, and managed to get to half-guard once, but I hipped out and got back to guard. Nothing else of any real importance happened; I showed him some guard passes and that's about it.

-Control the sleeves and stretch standing opponents out more

Finally, I rolled with Kevin the gnarled purple belt. He passed my guard into sidemount where I secured an underhook early on and managed to create some good space, which was crucial as he was working to set up a gi-brabo. I eventually used the underhook to get to my knees and sit through for butterfly guard as he tried a 10 finger guillotine on me. I defended and eventually popped my head out. He stuffed one of my hooks and worked my favorite butterfly pass. Eventually he got a head and arm and I tapped as he was mounting because my nose was getting smashed.

We started again and I worked to pass his guard, but made a stupid error and pulled my arm out because I thought the other one was already out. He triangled me and then time ran out.

Mastery

I've started reading Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long Term Fulfillment by George Leonard. This book is the tits. Read it.

Mixed Class 7/27/2010

Today's noon class covered the hip-bump sweep and a kimura setup based on the most likely counter. The hip-bump begins with your partner basing with both hands on your stomach. You lift your hips without uncrossing your feet and as you drop your hips, sweep both of their hands off your chest by circling your hands under from the outside. An important note is to always maintain contact with your wrists; if you don't, there is a much smaller guarantee that their hands will end up on the mat. Will recommended the paw as a way to check their hands and also to make the circle as small as possible. Next, pick a side and control that wrist with your same-side hand. Sit up without uncrossing your ankles and cup their elbow with your other arm while coming up on the elbow of the hand that is controlling their wrist. Once you've cupped their elbow, post on your wrist controlling hand and uncross your ankles. The next step was new to me: in order to break their balance, push into them before starting to move sideways. This was tremendously useful because it makes their knees light and thus easier to sweep backward.

The kimura setup was predicated on your partner pushing into you to stop the sweep. Using their momentum, snag the kimura grip and move your hip out as described in the last post. It was good to review the kimura from last week, and I noticed a few details that I should remember to work on:

-really clamp with my elbows

-create as great a bend as possibly in their elbow

-really roll the wrists

-work especially hard on getting onto my side with my whole body and not just my hips; shoulders matter too

Sparring started with a three stripe blue. I started by trying to play some spider guard with one shin across the belly. I was hoping to bait the pass so that I could hit my sweep, but he did not go for it and I had to rethink. Eventually I ended up in butterfly with a deep underhook. I went for the standard sweep but did not manage to control his posting arm well enough initially so he fought me for it. Eventually I snagged it and managed to hit the sweep. It was kind of clunky, but he was considerably larger than me and I didn't feel myself muscling to get it. I spent some time in sidemount, working to set up far-side armbars and whatnot and transitioning to knee on belly, but to no avail. At one point I was in reverse scarfhold and I went to my favorite mount, but he snagged my leg as I was stepping over and pulled it into quarter guard. I tried to baseball slide out and set up a gi brabo, but his underhook was too deep and he had my belt, so I had to bail. Eventually he rolled me because I was getting experimental and he trapped one of my feet. We spent some time dicking around with him squishing one of my butterfly hooks and me trying to free it. We reset, and I wrapped an arm from spiderguard to go for the hilariously awesome omoplata I learned last summer, but I did not succeed. The round ended with some sort of halfway between open guard and side mount.

My next session was a real challenge. I rolled with a dude named brian. He pulled guard and I worked to pass, but I noticed him trying to set up a triangle, so I was very wary of getting to close and trying to ball him up. I managed to stave off his triangle, however, at one point he got up to his feet and started working a loop choke. I had his leg and was trying to scoop it with my foot to get into half-guard top, however, he unbalanced me and I ended up in his guard again. Eventually, he worked a scissor sweep and I was swept into guard, which he almost passed right away, but I managed to hang on to his calf with the tips of my toes and I ended up getting my top knee between us and securing z-guard. I went for an underhook to start trying to get some ball and chain action going, but my underhook must not have been tight enough because I blundered right into a kimura. Fortunately I was controlling his legs with my feet and an underhook by my head, so he was unable to position himself properly. We stalemated for a good while because my control of his legs prevented him from finishing the sub, and his grip on my arm prevented me from working a sweep. Eventually he freed his leg, took mount where I fought him with quarter guard, and then finished the kimura. We started again and he pulled guard again. This time I was very adamant about stapling his hips to the mat, so I began by nailing one of his knees down and posting on his pant leg. I sat on it and tried to work one of the passes that will taught in times past, and he put his knee across my chest to frame away. I put some good pressure and tied his legs together, but forgot to control his upper body. Fortunately, I was still able to underhook his framing leg and hit a double under pass as he tried to collar choke me. The round expired as played some extremely lazy sidemount.

Finally, I rolled with Adam, a newly minted blue belt. He came at me pretty hard so I pulled guard. I worked some feet on hips and spider guard nonsense, but he almost passed a number of times. Eventually I rolled into upside down guard and locked my ankles around his waist as he lost his balance. I walked up into reverse mount and went for a kneebar, which he countered by rolling and I was put in something that resembled 50/50. I went for a few sweeps as he bore down on me. At one point I was somewhat concerned about my knee, but I scooted my hips and managed to set up an ankle lock which I finished. (Side note: because I've been so manic about control and position of late, this is one of the few subs I've finished this summer. Go me.) We restarted in more or less the same fashion. At some point I ended up in his guard in a manner I don't entirely recall. He played spiderguard and I worked on just getting a knee up and stripping his hooks without setting myself up for a triangle. Eventually I underhooked both of his legs and got solid grips on his pants. From there I flipped him over his head to turtle. He rolled and I surfed to sidemount, where we spent the remainder of the round as I worked poorly to set up some armbars or whatever.

Mixed Class 7/20/2010

Today we covered the same guillotine escape as yesterday along with a kimura from guard.

It was a regular kimura setup, but Will covered a few details that were very helpful. First, he highlighted the importance of moving your hips to the same side as the shoulder you're locking. Second, he pointed out that you want to be on your side as you go for the finish. Third, it's important to climb your leg as high on the back as possible, keeping your shin parallel to the spine and using the knee to generate downward pressure as well as preventing the roll. Fourth, clamping down on the shoulder to increase torque. Fifth, rolling your hands in so as to create more tension in the arm. Finally, creating a more acute angle at the elbow to further create tension in the arm.

Sparring today was so-so. I can feel myself getting stuck in the pass guard-->hold sidemount holding pattern, so I think my goal will have to be to either avoid sidemount or be more proactive in looking for submissions or transitions to mount or the back.

My first roll was with a newly minted blue belt. He worked to pass my guard for a while as I tried to get some butterfly action going, however, his base and posture were excellent, so I was unable to get him moving around enough to effect a sweep. Eventually he ended up in my closed guard and I immediately started working for the flower sweep. I eventually set it up and swept to mount, however, after a botched armbar attempt I bailed and settled into sidemount. The rest of the round expired as I attempted to look for a lock or choke without giving up position and he tried to escape. Overall it wasn't a bad roll, just somewhat boring and conservative.

Second roll was with another fresh blue. He pulled guard and I passed without too much trouble. I started working my usual sidemount game, actively being more aggressive this time around so as to avoid a stale round. We spent some time transitioning between sidemount and north south as he worked for various escapes, but I was very diligent about keeping my head and shoulders planted on his stomach, so none of the escapes were very effective. Eventually I took the back by giftwrapping and getting a penn-state grip. I spent the rest of the round working for a clock choke, but then time ran out.

Final roll was with an older purple. When I say older, I mean waay older. Probably in his late 60's if I had to guess. Despite his age, he's rock solid. His game has zero holes for submissions and his base is phenomenal. Most of the first part consisted of me trying to play butterfly and him dominating my hooks. Eventually I got my hips underneath him and hit a sweep to sidemount. I spent some time trying to penetrate his defense from there, but as usual there were no holes to exploit. Eventually, I hit the penn state grip again and took his back, and the round expired as I worked for a collar choke and negated his escape attempts.

The big lesson was to look for the harness BEFORE taking the back. Despite having the back, it was a complete stalemate because I couldn't get anything under his arms. I was glad that I was able to effectively counter the scoop, but maintaining position was the best I could do. I was not able to mount a serious offense.

Beginner's Class 7/19/2010

Tonight we covered a standing guillotine setup, a guillotine counter, and a guard break and pass.

The setup was based on your typical underhook tieup, and also assumes that your opponent drops their level, presumably to shoot or set up a throw of some sort. The first step is to ditch the underhook and wizzer their underhooking arm, with the idea of giving you enough room to slip your free arm in for the guillotine. Danny prefers grabbing the chin, but my arms are to long for that to be practical for me.

Next, you step away from the wizzer in order to get the space to sink the choking arm deeper. At this point, I discovered that the standard guillotine may not be the ideal move for me. I kept sinking my arm too deep to hit an effective guillotine by grabbing my wrist. Instead, I think that the front-naked grip might be a better option for me. Regardless, the finish comes by lifting your wrist and rotating your elbow toward your own belly button. Also, performing the hard to describe tightening that is part of any choke.

If the opponent tries to counter, Danny showed a method for pulling them into your guard and killing the counter: basically, you step on their toes with one foot and lift the other to establish closed guard. Finishing from this position comes by scooting your hips in the same direction that you're trying to rotate your choking arm.

The guillotine counter was more or less standard fare: the hand on the choking arm side grabs their hand to relieve pressure while the other arm goes over the shoulder to help maintain shoulder pressure as you tripod onto their neck. Walk your legs and rotate your hips such that you prevent them from turning their hips in the right direction. Break the grip, slip your head out, and establish posture.

The guard break was based on a lapel grip in the solar plexus, and and additional grip further down the collar and a hidden elbow in the thigh. Stand up and use the knee on the side you have the higher lapel grip and rotate their hips. Pop with the elbow on the knee and open. Single stack pass, dragging the lapel through the legs.

My first roll was with a blue belt whose name I don't remember. Most of the roll consisted of my maintaining sidemount as he was in running-man posture. I was trying to get a collar to set up some sort of choke, but his defense was really tight, so rather than trying to muscle I made some attempts to head to KOB or take the back or mount, but his defense was still too good. Eventually, he attempted to roll to guard, but since I was well aware that that was his intent, I followed him and forced him to turtle. Once there, I worked on setting up a clock choke, but he defended well again and I was unable to pull it off. Fortunately I had a one-on-one on the far side and got my knee inside his shell, which made it very hard for him to roll me despite controlling my hand that had been going for his collar. Eventually I managed to scoop his arm with my leg with the idea of going for a crucifix, but he moved his arm to reverse omoplata position on his own, so I went for it. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish and he escaped because I neglected to secure his leg as I rolled. I will have to remember to do that next time I try this move. He ended up in my guard and we stalemated there until the end of the round.

My next roll was with a huge dude who was all kinds of abrasive. I swept him using butterfly guard and he tried to derp-press me off him. I armbarred him in short order and we reset. This time he passed my guard and made no attempt to do anything except smoosh my face from sidemount. I kept my leg up and before long he gave me space enough to recover butterfly guard. I went for a sweep, but through a combination of my sloppiness and his massive bulk, he passed and I had to scramble for closed. From there, he went right into more face-mashing, still without trying for a submission. I nearly set up a flower-sweep, but I was frustrated and tired and thereby failed to set it up nice and clean. I did not succeed, and with about a minute left in the round I tapped to face smashing/exhaustion.

I was severely miffed after this roll, and I realize that it's almost entirely because I'm frustrated with myself for not being good enough to lay waste to dumbasses who go out of their way to do bad jiu jitsu. I also realize that the only way to get better is to roll with said people. Sigh.

My third roll was with a fellow white belt. I started off by passing his guard without too much trouble. He also went right for running man (I guess people have been reading Jiu Jitsu University left and right) and I worked to set up a collar choke. At one point, I goofed up and played some open guard. I caught myself being super lazy and basically playing without my hands, at which point I gussied up and actually worked for a sweep, which felt like a total bullshit sweep; I grabbed his ankle, put my foot on the same knee, underhooked his other leg and rode into a guard pass. I started setting up the same choke, and I was certain I would get the choke, but did not. Instead I transitioned to the back and spent some time switching between triple attack position and back, eventually setting up an armbar and finishing it with a few seconds left on the clock.

First Post

This log will be where I keep all of my notes from jiu jitsu, along with all of my hopes and dreams.