Idea

Revelation: Jiu Jitsu is a battle for control of the inside space. This is true from virtually every position there is. Opening and occupying the inside space will win you most fights.

Unwanted time off

I haven't been going to class much more than once a week since I came back from Sweden. I'm not sure why, but I find myself dragging my feet at the prospect of going to my new school. I'm not sure what it is, but the environment there doesn't really whet my appetite for training.

I can't help but feel guilty about this because I'm paying for it and because I'm starting to wonder if switching was the right decision. I know the training there is good, but the people just don't feel as enjoyable and going to class feels like much more of a chore than it has in the past. I also feel bad because I can feel my body deteriorate. I hate being idle because it's like looking at a time lapse of myself and seeing my body and skill waste away.

I guess the root of all of this is why I convince myself that I don't like it there. I always have fun when I go, it's just getting over the hurdle and doing it that gives me trouble.

Class 1/25/2011

Noon Class at Capital today.

5 Attempts; 2 finishes. 65 pushups.

1. Push hand in setup from closed guard against Tony
2. Falling off the front from the back against Tony.
3. Overhook and wrist setup from closed guard against George.
4. Hip bump setup against George (finish).
5. Extended setup from spider against Andrew (finish).

Notes:
As I'm continuing to work for nothing but triangles I'm becoming more and more familiar with what initial conditions I need in order to make them work. First and foremost, posture control has been driven home again and again. Rolling with George, I found myself isolating the head and arm only to have him posture up and out, effectively making my attempt null.

Second, I've been using the hip-check to great effect, and while combined with pulling the head down it's been working wonders. Once having a hand on the head becomes automatic, I need to start working on also turning the head and misaligning the spine.

Third, I need to be more proactive about walking my shoulders back. I struggled today since I was caught against a wall a lot, but it took a few seconds for me to think about it and I had a really hard time securing the lock as a result.

Finally, creating the angle and not burning myself out is crucial.

Class 1/20/2011

3 attempts and 85 pushups.

First attempt was a triangle from under north-south.
Second attempt was a flying from standing.
Third attempt was a transition from an omoplata where my opponent postured and stood up. Got slammed. heh.

Class 1/13/2011

Noon class at Capital.

Triangle attempts: 8 over two sparring rounds of 7 minutes.
Pushups: 60

More to come later. For now: inverted triangle from the back? Yes please.

Spring Training!

Ok, so here's the deal: I recently have read a lot of things suggesting that something that will greatly help training goals is to choose a variable and keep track of it. Even if the variable itself isn't tremendously relevant, it's the record keeping that matters, not the variable itself. As such, I have decided to try this for the next six months. I am calling this The Great Triangle Project, and as the name suggests, I am going to keep track of how many triangles I attempt in sparring.

I have also decided to implement an incentive system. I am going to start each day I go to class with a surplus of 100 pushups. Every triangle attempt will subtract 5 pushups from this amount, meaning that in order to do 0 pushups, I must attempt 20 triangles in one class.

In order to prepare for this task, I have stockpiled a number of resources on setting up and finishing leg triangles, which I hope will be put to good use. Here goes nothing!

Awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USNuyH8XihU&feature=player_embedded

Yep.