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.