Sat. Class, June 25, 2011

Tech. 1 - Vince Open Pass.

I'm calling it that because Purple Vince showed it to us. An Open Guard Pass. I'm standing, and if I'm passing to the right, I'll attack his Left Leg (LL).

1. Get my Right Leg outside his LL, under and tight near his hip, butt.

2. Press into that leg, my shin to his, bend his leg. Control that leg, my left hand on his foot, other hand on the knee.

3. Switch leg, replace my right leg with left, but same pressure; move right leg near his armpit for a sec, then to knee on belly.

4. Drop my weight down on belly as I come down in Side Control.

Tech 2 - Chris Pass (after you break guard).

1. Passing Left - Left hand gets a grip on his Right Leg at the cuff; Right hand under his Left leg and grabs his belt.

2. Grip on cuff hand, pulls down, flattens his leg, staples leg to mat; drop hip and weight down on that leg.

3. Walk around to the left and to Side Control.

Position Drills - Stay on Mount / Mount Escapes.

I really love position drills -- Guard/pass Guard; Side Control/Escapes; Half Guard Pass/Escapes etc.

First Mount Session, I was on Bottom, and I slowly escaped once and reset and was halfway to another before time. Second time, I was on top of New White and was terrible. He bucked me and tossed me and escaped four or five times. I got a leeetle bit better each time, but not at all happy with my performance. Since we couldn't do subs, my Mount Maintenance totally sucked. In hindsight, I realized I need to swim my arms under his to counter his use of arms, or at least in real rolling I need to armbar him.

Taps: 3. Total: 148.

I'm getting real lazy and giving up Americanas, but they are muscling it a lot too.

Tues, June 14, 2011

Tech: Knee on Belly Escape - trapping his knee and toppling him over.

Tech series of Omoplatas - Triangle, to Omo, if he rolls out etc.

Taps: 3. Total 145.

Injuries: Left thumb sore, Right shoulder sore. Went to urgent care to get the thumb checked out, in case it's a fracture. X-rays negative. Just a sprain. Have to wear this splint for a week. Not sure exactly when I got either injury.

Sucks, I have to miss training this week. And next week, I'm back to work so the two-a-week training is not possible. It'll be once a week (Saturdays).

Thoughts on rolling: Too passive from the start. I'm sitting and they push me over, and I'm pretty much starting from Bottom Half-Guard. Must try to get a grip, or underhook and leg hook and try a Butterfly as I go down.

On learning a new technique:
I haven't really learned it unless I can pull it off during rolling, against a live resisting guy. That's my measure of success. For me the steps to success are:
1. I see it or read about, BUT forget about it during rolling; forget to even try it.
2. I try it during rolling. Get to step one or two, and forget the rest. So it FAILS.
3. Review, so I remember the rest of the steps.
4. Success, but only once in awhile or against lower belts only.
5. Success. Mastery.

That's why I keep reviewing the same stuff over and over again, ie Side Escapes, Mount Escapes, Bottom Half Guard. I'm at a different level for each position, each technique, but trying to get to step 5 in all of them.

Old School -- couldn't pull it off against heavy smashy White; and he did a good job of cross facing me and keeping me busy defending his choke attempts.

This is the breakdown for Old School (as I understand it):
1. Lockdown.
2. Whip up and get on my side.
3. LH (left hand) (assuming you have his right side, right leg locked down), gets underhook.
4. RH reaches under and grabs free foot (LL, left leg).
5. Get up on my knee, lean into him, and roll him over. (this is where I get confused as to whether to open up my lockdown or use it as leverage as I do the sweep.)

Tozi Pass - step 2, so need to review. I had my head on the wrong side, so I was not preventing the guy from moving with me, making it harder for me to break his guard.

Speaking of passing guard and breaking guard... my posture gets broken so easily and constantly, so I've been looking at guard passes where you start with your posture broken. Having limited success. Most people don't expect you to pass with your posture broken.

Sat. June 11, 2011

Tech: from Closed Guard: Armbar to Omoplata to Triangle.

Taps: 1. Total: 142.

Positional Drills: Back Escape - I did well, escaped three times against Blue. Back escapes review seems to have paid off. Did okay in Mount Escapes; sucked in Guard, got passed by new Brown easily several times. He just based back, had posture and I opened my legs to try a Bump Sweep and he passed with Single Under.

Rolling: with Higher White - in his guard most of the roll, defending armbar, chokes. He just had my posture broken and I couldn't do much but defend. At least I didn't tap.

Next up: Blue Ryan - good roll, defended okay and actually got his mount but I couldn't get the Roger cross choke and he escaped and eventually got me to tap. I'm pissed that I couldn't escape from the Back. I've never really able to escape. If I get close, he transitions to mount. I have to review that detail to prevent that.

Tues, June 7, 2011

Taps: 4. Total. 121.

Spider Pass review helped a leeetle bit. David Blue swept me again, twice, but not as easily as last time. I was able to remove one of his grips, just couldn't move on from there.

Review:
* Old School Sweep -- especially the finish. Was there three times or four, was able to pull it off only once. And might as well review Plan B while I'm at it.

* Back Escapes -- still can't pull it off. (sources: Saulo dvd, Robson and Sgt. Jones).

* Armbar Escapes -- Saulo bk and Hitchhiker.

I read a couple of interesting books: Succeed - about goals and how and why people achieve them or not; Art of Learning, by J. Waitzkin. I'll post my notes soon and how it relates to jj and life in general.

Thu, June 2, 2011

Tech 1: Half Guard Pass -- good details. very technical. like very much. Key: get him flat on his back via 1. Free knee against his armpit/above hip area; 2. big circle w/ trapped leg, that will flatten him; 3. Get underhook on that side; 4. my head on mat and against his head on other side as underhook; 4. my butt in air, get my trapped leg, knee just above his knee; 5. shift weight/hip to bring that knee to mat; 6. my free leg leg kicks his knee to get my last bit of trapped ankle out and into kesa getame.

Tech 2: Half Guard Choke from Top -- use his gi choke; good transfer to gripping gi details from Purple Vince.

Taps: 2. Total: 117. Both with Blue Izzy. Both kimuras, same thing from inside his guard.

Rolling with Blue David -- swept me both times with his Spider Guard. I did get him with Old School.

Need to Review: 1. Spider Guard Pass; 2. Guard Break - Purple Vince gave me some pointers ... hand on hip, other hand on chest; come up and swivel, then knee up and keep him close ... see also Robson's Break.

Tue, May 31, 2011

Tech: Mount Esc; Mount Esc to Butterfly.

Taps: 1. Total: 115.

Only rolled twice: once with lower White and another with Creaky Bones Chris Purple. Scary. The lower belts are improving and closing the gap. Had my hands full. He was very active in guard and took awhile to pass.

With Creaky Purple, got mount and KoB and some gi choke that I couldn't defend and tapped and now my throat is sore.