Class 11

Tech: Knee bar off of open Guard -- set up like you're going to pass, front leg in between his that swivel, sit on his stomach, facing away from him, grab his knee and fall to mat.

Two taps -- choke and a arm bar, nothing worthy of note. Total: 37.

I'm just so frustrated how bad my Guard, top and bottom, is. Just horrible. Guard getting passed like it's nothing. I need to re-read all the Frustration essays online, and also I'm focusing just on Posture, posture, posture.

And also, breaking posture. Just focus on two, maybe three things. That's it.

Sore all over. Can't train a couple weeks because I'm going out of town this weekend. Hopefully, my body will have recovered by then.

Class 10

Tech 1: Sweep from the knee - post up a lead knee in between his legs; cross collar grip, fall back; turn with the grips as I lift with the leg hook for the sweep.

Tech 2: Cross Collar choke from knee. Get the grip and change angle.

Rolling. Two taps: total to 35.

White gets me on an Kimura off side; Blue gets me on a freakin' Triangle. Come on. I posted up the wrong knee on the escape. I know the escape. I know the escape. Trapped side, that's the knee that goes up, twist and out. T for Triangle; T for Trapped. Remember it that way.

Last roll: with a lower White. He puts a lead knee up, and I realize he's going for that sweep from knee, but he's a bit hesitant; so I post my knee on outside of his and push with the cross collar grip and get the takedown (funny because I just learned it from Chris the Black who showed this as a sidebar to the Sweep from Knee - he said when you're first rolling and you try this takedown and it fails, then go for the between the knee sweep).

I get the takedown to side and use Roger Gracie's Side to Mount. He tried various escapes but I had good Mount maintenance and maintained my position. I attempted Cross Collar Choke and was going for the first deep grip on the left side but he defended. So I switched over to the side and got a deep grip with my left hand on his right side. Time ran out.

From there: I needed to lift him with that grip to adjust; get the second grip, get high mount and put my head down on mat way above him and finish the choke.

Need to work on: Guard -- 1. Get butt off the mat; 2. Break grips; 3. Crunch with legs to break posture; repeat til something opens up.

Guard -- get his arm across my center line; then to back -- review this. Also, there's a sweep here -- do i grab his pants at knee??

Making a little progress: taking them a little longer to pass my guard.

Sitting in Guard: Maintain Posture. Frame against his belt. If posture broken, work my way back up, little by little.

Side Escapes

Class 9

Class 9: Left elbow still sore, so I really was a wuss and tapped any time it got even remotely to being tapped. So three taps brings the total to: 33.

Tech 1: From Guard, trapping lead arm, control by going over his arm, my forearm into fold of his arm and grabbing his gi for control, then armbar.

Rolling: against Iz the Blue, I did really well passing, then patiently working the Half Guard (learned from Trumpet Dan and Roger Gracie): 1. got the cross face; 2. got the gi control with that arm; 3. couldn't quite kill the near arm; 4. head near the mat on other side for balance; 5. trapped leg up (but i really had trouble because he kept bringing this leg down, straightening it with his two legs); 6. other leg i tried to cross under his butt then fan it out under his armpit to kill that arm (for step 3).


Here's where I made a mistake: 1. I didn't keep my trapped leg up and I didn't walk it around to turn his hip and flatten him - that's when I should of crossed leg and fanned under his arm pit. Instead I let him straighten my trapped leg, then when I crossed for the fanning, I had that leg straight too, so he swept me that way. He said he was waiting to do that the whole time. But if I did the correct steps (which I forgot), I don't think he would have got the sweep. Oh well.

Work on: 1. Guard, guard, guard: that means Breaking Posture, breaking posture, breaking posture.

2. Passing Guard - Saulo opening guard and Roger Gracie Stand Up passing.

3. Side Escapes.

4. Half Guard Escapes.

5. Most importantly, RELAX and BREATHE. I wish the other guys could have that tattooed on their foreheads as a reminder. I constantly forget about them.

White with Two Stripes

Class 7 & 8: Sat(8th class). Hey, hey got my stripes. About half the people there got their stripes, but when he saw my faded, lost first stripe, Chris the Black gave me two. Whoo hoo. I'm now a White with two stripes. I'm not really about belts and stripes but it's still nice.

Tapped 3, 4 times in Class 7 and about that many on Class 8, although I did more Iso drills on Guard and only rolled about a couple of times.

That brings the tap total to 29.

Tech. 1: Arm trap, arm bar from the Guard.

1. Cross sleeve grip, pull across to center line and down to mat.

2. Trap that arm.

3. Climb on his shoulder and raise hips for the arm bar.

Very wicked. Not really expecting the arm bar from that position. Also, possibilities, possibilities: can do the Roger Gracie climb to the back, or even try the Jack sweep when his arm is across center line.

Funny, later on in class, I did tap to that exact same thing. I tried to defend by raising a knee to block his hip, but no go. It's not his hip swiveling motion but just raising it that finishes the submission. Might need to posture, then wriggle my arm out.

Closing Doors

Class #6: Super Bowl Sunday, so only two others guys: three Striped White, Purple and Brown Noel, the instructor.

Tech. 1 - Sweep (flower) from Guard, when the guy gets off one knee.

Tech. 2 - var. controlling the lead arm with a wrist lock, twisting then bring the leg over for the sweep.

Everyone was passing my guard like it was nothing. Pretty frustrating. Brown Noel explained the up and down nature of BJJ and the "closing door" theory. In the beginning, your guard and your defenses are like a bunch of open doors. As you get better, you'll be tightening up, closing more and more doors, until he can't get in or can't pass your guard.

Made me feel a little better. Still tapped about four or five times, bringing the tap total to 25.