Class Oct. 29, 2011

Taps: 7. Total: 250.

Tech. 1 -- Butterfly into a Omo-like Lock
1. Cross collar grip with left hand, right hand behind for post.
2. Right hand comes up and under hooks, grips just under elbow of his left hand; left hand comes over his elbow and gable grip.
3. Both legs on his hips on both sides; pull his arm down to the left; right hand on my left bicep, trapping his elbow; right hand comes over his hand, other side of his hand.
4. Squeeze knees together, angle for the wrist/elbow lock.

Tech. 2 - Butterfly into Brabo-like choke.
1. Right hand cross collar grip; pull like I'm going for an arm drag, and his head comes down low...
2. Get my left hand deep, deep under his neck, come out way out on far side.
3. Right elbow comes down on top of his neck, push down and put on my other bicep, like RNC.
4. Right foot hook in and flip him over, his head against my belly and finish choke.
(Couldn't quite get the RNC grip locked in before the flip, and the Blue I was drilling with couldn't either.)

Last class was a depressing Four Steps Back, but this class was a better one -- half step forward. I'm just asking for a little progress, that's all.

Saulo Guard Break
It works! I just can't give up on it so quickly. I need to establish all my grips and keep at it. If they break my posture, then go back to step 1: get posture; 2. left high grip; 3. right grip; 4. Step out, circle step; 5. Arch, and put my butt into it.

It worked pretty well for me. Opened their guard and passed more often than not. But had a lazy habit of settling into Half Guard instead of the immediate Pass. At least, got to work on my Half Guard Pass, which I did the Webber Pass (Reverse Butt) fairly well.

London Sweep -- couldn't quite pull it off, and I know why. Didn't pinch and trap his knee, so when I bumped, he was able to widen his knee and base out. It will come soon.

Belt is White, but Ego is Blue, Purple and Bruised

Taps: 8. Total: 243. Two of those taps were to a lower belt. Now I get some of my own medicine. I've never tapped a higher belt, but I've come close, and I've given them a hard time usually. And I would puff up with pride and feel all good about myself. Now I know how it feels. I've tapped to a lower belt before, but twice in one roll?? And to a no stripe White? Man, it shouldn't bother me, but it did for a bit. But I need to keep putting myself in those situations so I keep working on them, no matter what the color of their belt.

The one bright spot was that I got One Kesa Escape off my 100 project.

Tech. -- Black Chris showed some series and combos (all Guard Attacks) and he went really fast. Hope I got them all.

Tech. 1 -- Arm bar/Omoplata/Triangle.
1. Double sleeve/wrist control, attack right arm for arm bar.
2. He pulls arm out, Omo the left arm.
3. He postures out of that, swing back with him for Triangle.

Tech 2 -- Flower Sweep/Triangle/Sweep.
1. Cross sleeve grip, left on his left. Right hand grips pants at his knee; right leg swings under his armpit for the sweep.
2. He bases out with is right hand on mat, swing around for the Triangle.
3. He postures up, swing my clamped legs left, then right for the Sweep.

Work On:
1. Triangle defense: tried the R. Hall defense but can't quite get it to work. Might just stick with the Robson.
2. RNC defense.
3. Back Escapes.

Also, had a problem securing Half Guard, where I'm almost there, and he pushes my free forward knee with his hand, and tries to re-Guard or really prevents me from settling into Half. I tried lifting his hand with my hand, but it was just hand strength vs. hand strength. Possible solution: 1. flatten him; 2. drive the trapped knee through.

Class Thu, Oct. 20, 2011

Taps: 4. Total. 235.

Tech. 1 - Basic Cross Choke from Mount.
1. Use other hand to open up the collar.

Tech. 2 - Defends that choke, into Arm Bar.
1. Go to S Mount, using my leg/knee to get arm over his head and trap.
2. Figure four, kimura grip and swing leg over for the arm bar.

Tech 3 - He links arms, then Hitchhike escapes.
1. Angle to his head that back should break the grip, but the he Hitchhikes away.
2. Get my leg over his back and scoot next to him for the Omoplata.

Kesa Kesa Kesa. Kesa Getame Escapes!!! I'm stuck under it way too much. I'm going to focus on this until I get a solid escape. Also, a couple of solid Side Control. I'm going to give it the 100 rep project treatment. I'm hanging out too much under Side. First, I need to hip out as he's passing, and not let him get settled in Side.

White Edgar is actually a three stripe and he's pretty close to me. He gets good grips on my pants in Open Guard, and I did a better job circling my legs to counter that, but I really need to Sit the Hell Up, and not be on my back.

Also, I got Mount a couple of times and he easily pushed me off. I need to get low and SWIM inside his arms and look for the arm bar. He got me with a RNC and I should review that defense, too. Overall, at least I did a better job breathing than last time.

Thoughts on Timing.
There's lots of talk of timing in BJJ, and my 2 cents is that it's all connected to Resistance, the other guy's Pressure and Balance. The timing of a move, especially escapes, defends on me feeling where his weight is, where is balance is, and using his momentum, his energy.

Plateau, General Malaise and BJJ Relationship

I thought I was burning out but I think I've kinda of got a handle of my feelings about training and jj. The first year, starting from last August was very sporadic and the second year, starting from this January was pretty consistent and all-consuming and I'm beginning to think of it as the Dating Phase.

I'm now entering the Steady Girlfriend Phase. Things are not all shiny and new, but it's starting to get a little serious.

Class Tue, Oct. 18, 2011

Taps: 3. Total 231.


Tech. 1: Scissor Sweep fail to armbar
1. Push top leg through, swing leg over for the armbar.

Funny, I was just reading about this very technique over at the Side Control blog yesterday.

For something different, we just rolled the whole time. An entire hour and a half of Open Mat. I rolled about four times. I'm a little annoyed I forgot to breathe during my second roll with Edgar the Two Stripe White.
Started with Brown Mike, Blue Ryan, Blue Dave? White Edgar, another Blue, Blue Peter, Edgar again. Did I really roll seven times? I think they were all three minute rounds. I was going to roll with everyone, but I'll try to get the ones I missed on Thursday.

White Edgar seeks me out and likes to roll with me because I'm his yardstick to measure his progress. And he can try a few things on me, not necesarily tap me but at least he can try. And he can see where he needs to tighten his technique, i.e. he had me in a triangle and couldn't finish. Some of the Blues have trouble with my triangle defense. He's getting better and better, and has a slick Guard replacement from Half Guard. Quite annoying that when I manage to get top Half Guard, he'll slip right back into Guard.And he kept me in Side Control pretty well by grabbing my near pants leg, preventing me from bridging or turning into or away from him. Need to look into that.

One other problem to solve: Wrestler's Sit Out. I can pull it off but I end in a scramble and I haven't been able to come out on top.

Class, Sat. Oct. 15, 2011

Can't lie. Feeling a bit blah. Maybe hit a little plateau or something. Not feeling as much passion as I used to. Maybe a tad burned out.

Taps: 3. Total: 228.

Tech. 1 - Mount Armbar
1. S-Mount, and as he tries to push that leg down and get Half Guard, I grab that sleeve.
2. S-Mount leg wraps under his head
3. Lean forward a little and swing my other leg over his face for arm bar.

Tech 2 - Mount / he links arms to counter armbar
1. Put my bottom leg through his linked arms.
2. Top leg over his head, releases his head, gives him space to come up.
3. Right into Triangle.

Rolling with Purple Steve: Got into top Half Guard pretty easy. He got lockdown. I swung my leg out of it and he got it back, so I tried the Butt Compressor. Didn't work. He tried the Shark Half Guard Sweep. Didn't work because he did it to me last week and showed me how to do it. My Half was tight so he let me get Side Control so he could Harpoon Sweep me. Damn.

Class, Sun. Oct. 8, 2011

Taps: 2. Total: 225.

Brown Joelle teaches the Sunday class. Great, great class.

Tech. 1 -- Counter to Double Under Pass.
1. Before he links arms and lifts and scoot, shrimp back to create space and make legs, hips heavy.
2. Double sleeve control as I both legs back under his arms and on his hips to "brake"/stop him from getting closer.
3. Flare out my knees.

Positional Drill for above: Person starts in top Guard, double under and tries to pass, while bottom guy defends using above technique.

Then Shark Tank from Standing Up. Wow. First time in practicing my stand up game. Person in middle goes for 1 minute, then takes on a fresh guy who takes over the ending position of the last guy. Three guys, three minutes.

Then on to free training.

I don't know if it was intentional but it was a well-structured class that covered Matt Thornton's 3 I's (Introduction, Isolation and Integration) method.

Class Thu, Oct 6, 2011

Taps: 14. Purple Iz got me with a Side Control choke where he steps over my head; Black Chris got me about 10 times and all real slow, flow roll, catch and release subs; KC Blue - first time I've rolled with him, muscled a lot of stuff, got me with armbar from Guard, keylock, belly down arm bar.

Really liked rolling with Black Chris because it was kind of mellow and I could see and feel the high level of BJJ.

Tech 1 - Standing Guard Break/Pass -- it's T. Dan's/Roger's Standing Pass.

Good timing because there's a couple of key details I was forgetting: 1. When I stand, I need to pull up on his sleeve and stack him on his neck and be head to head to him. 2. When I go single leg under, drop weight down right away, then get collar grip.

Tech. 2 - Continuation of Standing Pass - into Side Control then Keylock.

1. in SC: under neck and arm control; he tries to put arm against my neck, since I have on hand under already, use other to grab at wrist and put to mat and figure four.

2. Key: my under hand pulls down and up.

3. Emily Kwok tip: top hand on wrist does a twist a la motorcycle rev twist down towards mat, makes the sub tight.

Bonus Tech: More Self-Defense than BJJ: if guy his chokes you inside your Guard/Double Armbar.

1. My right hand over his right elbow; left hand over his left elbow and lock it down.

2. Swing legs high over his shoulders and get high Guard.

3. Close Guard if I can; pinch knees in together to lock in his head and his arms; lift hips for Double Armbar.

Need to Review:

1. Side ESC

2. Kesa ESC

3. Armbar from Guard counters - esp. RNC grab.

Keep in Mind and Practice:

1. Saulo's Scissor Var.

2. Xande Sweep.

3. Robson Loop Choke

Class Tue, Oct. 4, 2011

Taps: 2 (Arm bar, rolled into a Triangle; Arm Triangle with my finger being caught and crushed). Total: 209.

Tech. 1: Side Control, switch, kind of Reverse Kesa with butt against his head.

1. Standard Control, linked hands under his head. Near arm pressures, turns his head. Unlink heads.

2. Far hand on near side, prevent hip from turning in.

3. Near hand goes to other side of his body, under his far arm, as I switch base/hips to Reverse Kesa, and scoot back against his head and trap both his arms, one with my arm, other on the far side of my hip/butt.

4. Swing leg over into Mount.

Tech 2: Reverse Kesa to far side Arm bar.

1. Figure four his far arm.

2. Pull him up toward me and onto his side, threatening a Kimura or Americana.

3. Step over his head, pivot and sit down for armbar.

Defenses: My defenses are so-so, kind of sloppy because they don't work so well against solid Purples. Must tighten them up.

Extra Credit:

I. Counter to Single Leg Takedown -- trapped leg onto his shoulder, push his head away and roll on that same hand, taking his hand that was on the single leg into an Omoplata.

II. Shark Mike's Sick Half Guard Sweep.

a. Top guy gets the underhook and flattens me out. I trap that arm with the overhook.

b. Switch trapping his legs from inside to outside.

c. Inside leg bridges into the underhook side and sweet sweep.

Class Sun, Oct. 2, 2011

Taps: 2 (Guillotine, Bruised rib from inside Guard). Total: 207.

Brown Joelle, who teaches the Sunday class, just gave away my whole Guard game plan during the techniques session of the class.

From Guard: Hip Bump Sweep to Guillotine to Kimura.

Need to Review:

1. Guillotine Defense. (Kesting)

2. Saulo's Scissor Sweep Var. (Rev. 2)

3. Xande Sweep (Lovato jr.)

4. Marcelo's N/S choke.