Friday, August 30, 2013

Atlanta Open - 2013

I've been hugely busy at my day job with a new client project, so training has been sporadic, but I will be dropping in at the Atlanta Open to cheer on my guys from Megalodon who are competing as well as the crew from Team ROC that is coming down from NC.

Anyone who is also going to be there, I will be wearing a blue 'Shut Up And Fight' Megalodon MMA t-shirt, I have really long hair and glasses. I'll be hanging around wherever the purple belts are competing for the most part. Drop by and say hello, or punch me in the mouth, or whatever.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Ian McPherson Visit!

I've been hitting class, but not writing about it, which is a bad habit I know.

I have NOT been lifting any weights or anything like that which is bad and I should be, but I'm still inherently lazy. However I have continued to be solid and assertive and force my game and it's getting more cohesive. I'm getting better about standing to execute my passes and not always trying only for the kneecut/teleport pass.

So, last night we had an awesome treat, Ian McPherson came down to teach class and train with us. He taught 5 back control techniques for taking the back from turtle and finishing. I have all five of them on video, but they are only available to students from the gym, so too bad.

I will say that the biggest thing I took away from the class was the basic back control position that he uses. He has his rear knee jammed into his opponents ribs, and his front knee (the one nearest the opponents head) posted back as if in knee on belly. That combined with the seatbelt grip gives amazing back control and mobility. You have the constant option of just ramming your opponent over with your knee pressure and taking side control or KoB, and your weight distribution stops them from rolling away from you without giving up position. It's awesome.

All of the back takes feed almost directly into collar chokes, which brings me to the next thing that I learned which was way stupidly simple compared to what I THOUGHT it was. The double collar choke from the back. I always thought there must be some kind of trick that I was missing. I was CERTAIN that it wasn't as simple as it looked, but I was completely wrong. You just grab the collar, then you grab the lapel with the other hand, and you pull and they tap. It was just mind blowing.

After that I got to roll with Ian, which also was awesome. He did the great blackbelt thing where he would let me work with just enough resistence for me to feel whether what I was doing was correct or not, and even let me succeed to a point, and then just magically sweep and submit me.

He'll be competing at the Atlanta Open at the end of this month and I'll be there spectating and taking video of our guys, so come out and watch!