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.