From Craptacular to Spectacular

So after that one crappy class I took a look at the way I was approaching rolling and decided to make some changes. My previous strategy took a big page from the school of "The best defense is a good offense" and I spent my time throwing constant submission and sweep attempts at my opponents to keep them from mounting a defense. That has worked fine for me as long as the level of competition I was working against couldn't capitalize on my failed attacks to pass my guard and punish me for them. That's no longer the case for most of the guys at the gym. We now have a solid crop of Blue Belts and a big handful of White Belts who will probably be promoted this year. So my sub attempts have been leaving me open to getting passed and they are now taking advantage of those openings. With this in mind I resolved to slow my game down a little and commit more to each attack.
That has worked great. I now spend a little more time setting up each attack, and about twice as much time working it before giving up and moving to something else. I've been able to re-establish dominance over a couple of whitebelts that were starting to catch me and I even managed to sweep and armbar my buddy Johnny (Who is a monster) for the first time in over a year. In addition everything has felt better and more secure. I don't feel rushed when I'm on top, I just relax and work, as long as I'm on top there's no hurry.
I still like to play an aggressive style, I've just relaxed it back a step to increase the success percentage of my attacks.

Class has been a lot of X-Guard stuff. I like X-Guard, but my biggest problem is establishing the X-Guard. I *know* a lot of ways to get to the X-Guard, but I haven't really been able to put them into practice yet. I plan on continuing to work on it though and hopefully be able to use it with confidence by June.

And next up, the move that I got Johnny with Friday I also hit Sunday, since I hit it Friday pretty much as a fluke I thought that since I got it again on Sunday there might be something to it, so I made a quick reference video of what I'm doing:


It's pretty easy, your opponent is passing your halfguard so to block him you reach out and grab his wrist, then swim your arm under his head and reach over the shoulder for a Kimura grip. Now you give up half guard and let them pass. Continue to put pressure on the Kimura trying the normal Kimura sweep from the bottom of side to force them to North/South. When they do that move your hips out and come up to your knees on the other side, again continuing to maintain pressure on the Kimura. Then just sit back and force them down into the armbar. I'm pretty sure there are some other options from here as well, I just haven't had a chance to explore the space yet.

Triangle Chokes and whatnot

So Last friday was a craptacular class for me. Nothing was working right, I was getting my ass kicked and didn't feel like I learned anything except that I'm weak. Sunday's class was a completely different story. It was No-Gi and we worked on armdrags to the bag and some butterfly sweeps. I need to be more authoritative with my armdrag grip and not worry so much about moving my opponent or even myself, just establish the grip and work for one of the many many many sweeps or attacks that you can do with it.
Rolling was fun, locked in a bunch of triangle chokes, including finishing one when I was stacked so far over that my knee was braced on my forehead. Also hit armbars, an RNC, a gogoplata, an anaconda choke, and several other triangles. It was a solid night for me.

I'm sore as HELL today as well, started a new training regime over the weekend and it is a killer. Hopefully I'll see my strength go up before the next NAGA.

Weightliftin, whoot.

Personal best on the bench.
117.5 x5
137.5 x1
137.5 x1
153.5 x1 (PB)
137.5 x3

I felt really good about that. Verra happy.
Deadlifts not so great, but I did pull 250.

Jits tomorrow, not sure what I'm gonna work on right now.

Cardio is BAAAAACK!

No-Gi last night was fantastic. My cardio was back 1000%. I never even felt winded the entire class.
We started up with our normal warmup, then drilled knee to elbow escapes from mount to half guard to guard, then scissor sweep, then the other person escapes, and so on. The technique portion of the class was on sweep counters and guard breaking. Started out with countering the scissor sweep by sitting back and down hard, then scooping under the top leg and grabbing the bottom, then pulling up on the opponents arm sprawling out, digging your head into their bottom rib and walking around their legs. Important detail is to keep shoulder pressure down really tight on their top leg to keep their hips immobile and stop them from spinning under you to regain guard.
Next we did can-opener and can-opener counters. People who can-opener me are annoying and deserve to be armbarred. So I practiced double armbar and regular armbar counters to the canopener as well as the comedy monkey flip option.
Finally was a counter to the gift wrap sweep. When your opponent scoops under your leg to load you up, you sit back hard and trap the arm. Next you feed your arm around the back of their head like you are going to try a guillotine, then you clasp your hands together and sort of roll sideways to put pressure on the neck. As neck cranks go I found it mildly unpleasant, but difficult for my opponent or me to finish since we were both flexible enough to brace our heads against our knees to help block some of the torque. Took a while to get the angle just right to make it work.

After that we rolled from full guard for a few rounds. I threw out a few heel hooks, but mostly tried to work on breaking guard and passing.

During live rolling I was grouped with Sean and Ankhor, Sean is huge, Ankhor is freakishly strong and flexible. I armbarred and triangled Sean a few times, Ankhor managed to fight off a super tight triangle. But for the most part I made both of them play defense the entire time with my continuous array of attacks. I'm still finding that the best defense is a good offense. I spent a lot of time coaching Sean and by the end of the night he was getting past our guards, though he wasn't really able to secure the position yet. He's making good progress though and I have high hopes for his performance at NAGA in July.

Definitely a great class, I felt great during and after. Tonight I'll be lifting weights, trying 270 for reps on the deadlift and gonna give 153.5 a shot on the bench press.

Attacks from the Back part 2

The kimura from the back worked quite well for me twice once time ran out in the round before I could finish it, but the second time I was able to pop the arm free and finish. I also have finally tuned my Gi Triangles and was able to hit and finish several.
I also found a new usage for my old bicep splicer from guard as I was able to use it to setup a giftwrap sweep several times.
My cardio was back as well. Did the Crossfit WOD before class, had time to do a total of 21 handstand pushups and 21 pullups.
Then I tore through all of the lightweights for the entire class. Felt good to be back on point.

Attacks from the Back

I have been thinking about my range of attacks from the back recently and determined that they are woefully deficient. I have 2 chokes and an armbar, and the comedy triangle option that I rarely get. To that end I've decided I need to pick up some more attacks that I can combo with to open up more opportunities.
One option I'm looking at is transitioning to a Kimura since most of the time I have half of the grip established already and it's not something people normally look at defending against when you are on their back, however it does involve giving up the position in order to switch to head mount or side control to finish it, or to the crucifix. I've been told I shouldn't give up position to go for the sub, but I feel like moving from one dominant position to another isn't so bad. Plus I feel like threatening the Kimura will open up my single cross collar choke option more.

I can also see the possibility of using that grip to hit armbars, and even using that grip plus some slick transitioning to hit a triangle choke. My intent is to try tonight and hopefully film some of it for review later. I will post further once I've tested it out.

NAGA Vids As Promised

So, here are the links to my vids from NAGA. I was overall disappointed with my performance. Cardio was bad, which killed me. But the competition was strong, so I'm not too upset with it. The team did great though. We're still waiting to hear back on the Team rankings.

No-Gi - Intermediate Flyweight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecZ-SPBDrEg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLAHMCrw8ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njcNCKlsrCA

Gi - Blue Belt Flyweight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX00mUir5ms

Hoping to get my cardio back up and do better in July.

NAGA Feb27, 2010

So, long story short NAGA sucked.
I was sick leading up to it and hadn't recovered by the day of. I won my first match on points while trying to rest as much as possible. Lost my second by getting triangled after making a STUPID mistake. Was up by 4, had control of my opponent with a knee slicer and his back, no way he could escape if I just held it there. Gave up the leg to try to transition to his back for a choke. FOR NO GOOD REAOSN. I could have just sat there and won.
Went on to lose my next No-Gi match and my first Gi match. Dude who beat me in no-gi got 1st, dude who beat me in Gi got 2nd. I'm pissed about it all.
Videos will be up by the end of the week.

Back weightlifting today. 143.5, 5x5 on the squats, 117.5 , 5x5 on the bench.

Dealing With Wrestlers

So I got paired up with Johnny and Christian tonight which meant I was rolling with two of the best wrestlers we have at class, quite possibly the two best wrestlers period. Christian outweighs me by about 25lbs, maybe 35. Johnny is running around about 50lbs heavier than I am.
I spent the entire time working on keeping them from passing my guard while trying to stay aggressivee. Threw a triangle at Christian, threw a Kimura at Johnny, wasn't able to finish either. Managed to sweep Christian once, wasn't really able to disrupt Jonny's base. Got kimuraed by both guys.
However both of them had to work like MAD to get past my guard, which is all I was really looking to do.

First Post of 2010

Ok, so I'm a little late getting some posts up for 2010. I've been hitting class pretty regularly and continuing to get better each time. I've had continued success with the Saddle and with my Shinbar thing and my transitions, passes, and sweeps are all improving apace.
My latest favorite toy is a Braulio Estima position called Leg Hook Guard or Hook Guard which includes an option for a very slick Omoplata and a great sweep. I just started using it last week and have been going nuts with it. The fun part about it is that if you can get the sleeve grip and hook your leg over the arm and shove it down there's pretty much nothing your opponent can do to stop you from either hitting the sweep or the omo attempt.
I still have trouble finishing the sweep and ending up on top every time, but that was much improved last night over my previous attempts with it. I think part of my problem is that I need to get a big fist full of Gi to help me keep my opponent on the ground while I transition. I'll be using it more tomorrow and see how things go.

Aside from my gimmicky hilarity last night we worked on sweeps against standing opponents using a sickle sweep and a hook sweep.
With your opponent standing and your feet on their hips you need to end up with a sleeve grip and an ankle grip. It can be same side or cross side sleeve grip, doesn't matter.
From there you put one foot in your opponents stomach and then depending on which way they are moving you grab one of their ankles. With this grip you need to really be pulling their sleeve and pushing out with your foot that is in their stomach to stretch them out and make it hard for them to pass. Once you get the sleeve and the ankle grip you user your bottom leg (the one that is not pushing on your opponents stomach) and sweep your opponents free leg either by hooking with the top of your foot or by blocking it with your calf. A quick shove in the stomach while you pull the ankle and block the other leg and your opponent goes over backwards. Keep your sleeve grip and use their momentum to bring you up into at least halfguard, preferably side control.

Or use it like I do as an opportunity to transition to the Saddle.

Weightlifting has been swapped around a little again. Switched off of the 5x5 to do a pyramid. Tonight I'll be hitting 123.5x6, 127.5x4, 133.5x2, 137.5x1, and then 123.5x6 again. If that works out well for me I'll be going for 127.5x6, 133.5x4, 137.5x2, 143.5 x1, and then 127.5x6 again. That would mark the first time I've been over my bodyweight on the bench press in almost a decade.

Looking forward to it.

Shin-in-Throat Armbar *UPDATED*

I promised awesomeness regarding this technique tonight, but it will be delayed. I shall include pics and/or video as recompense for my lateness.

*UPDATE*

Ok, so I previously talked about this technique over on Bullshido trying to determine whether it was a viable technique or just something that was working on total noobs. Wednesday night I pretty much answered that question by tapping our senior blue belt who outweighs me by 70ish lbs with it. He was unable to pressure up against it because of my shin pushing on this throat, was unable to push my leg off of his head because it was secured on his neck, and was unable to pry my foot off with his other arm because my other leg was able to push against his elbow. Pushing with my shin allowed me to force him to release his defensive grip on the armbar to try to relieve the pressure on his throat, which allowed me to isolate the arm and finish the armbar.

I included this technique on my recent mindmap as an attack from mount and from guard. I was asked if it should be linked to the Omoplata because it is applied from an Omoplata setup. The answer to that is that it CAN be linked to the omoplata, but I rarely hit it from there. I most often hit this technique from guard only if my opponent postures up while I have their arm and am trying for a traditional armbar.
More commonly I hit this from the top. I go to the traditional armbar and then immediately rotate my hips and wedge my shin into the throat. I find it gives me more control and allows me to put more pressure on large opponents that normally are able to resist my armbar attempts via brute strength.
The pressure you can put on the throat is enough to cause SERIOUS discomfort because the shin is driving UP towards the top of their head as well as down towards the floor. The pressure ends up being applied to the area of the throat JUST under the jaw, if you press against that with your hand a little you'll see why it's so effective.
I've had a couple of people try to defend by reaching up and grabbing my foot to peel it off their neck. To stop that I use my other foot and stick it in their elbow and push away. This also keeps them from turning up into me to try to hide their elbow and escape.
If your opponent is strong enough they may still be able to sit up, if that happens don't worry. Just keep your leg extended and apply pressure on the arm across your thigh for the tap.
A note of caution, your leg is assisting this technique, so it applies more pressure than just pulling with your arms. People are likely to tap before you think they should.

This technique is great if you are a smaller, weaker guy who has a hard time breaking the hulk smash grip of your larger opponents when they are defending the armbar. If you are generally able to get to the armbar position, but can't finish it before your opponent escapes this is for you.
Step 1. Get to your basic armbar position from mount so that you are on top. I hit this from scrambles a lot when people stiff arm me to keep me from passing.
Step 2. Scoop your opponents arm with your arm that is closest to their feet.
Step 3. Turn slightly up on your side facing the opponents head and post up on your elbow.
Step 4. Rotate your foot so that your toes are pointing at your opponents ear. The closer to that exact angle you can get, the better.
Step 5. Open your hips and push your shin into your opponents throat.
Step 6. Start your grip breaking. Put your other foot on your opponents elbow or bicept and push, you should be able to angle the push so that it puts more pressure on your opponents throat. If this fails go to step 6a.
Step 6a. If you can't break the opponents grip and they haven't released it to attempt to defend the throat yet then take the flat of your foot and place it on the heel of the leg that is pressing against their throat. PUSH DOWN. This might tap your opponent here, but it will definitely make them release their arm.
Step 7. Now that the grip is broken use your other arm to hook their arm at the wrist and place your other leg against their elbow to keep them from regaining their defensive grip. Slowly work the arm straight against your bottom thigh.
Step 8. Remove your foot from their elbow/bicep and place it on the ground near their armpit. Use it to arch your hips up off the ground while you push the arm down for the tap. Alternately now that you have the arm extended you can switch to a more traditional armbar position for the finish.

Now, if you find that for whatever reason you just CAN NOT make them let go, no matter how much you mess with their throat you can scoop their elbow with your other arm, the one near their legs, and post up onto your hand. Work your way up to the mounted Gogoplata position and finish from there. I've yet to find anyone I couldn't get to release their grip with the shin in throat method though.

Illustrative pictures will be posted when I can get some taken.

I Am Awesome

Last nights class we warmed up and then I ran the stretching for the class, flashbacks to TKD there. After that Casey showed a couple of solid halfguard passes. The one I always use and one other that I like, but am not as good at.
The first on is the standard one where you walk your foot up to their but, pop their leg off of your knee and push through to mount.
The second one is if they get the underhook and you can't re-pummel. You switch to a headlock grip and then back step over them, use your hand to block their hip to keep them from following you over, and then shrimp your hips away and take side control. I found that this one, which I don't use that much, flows very well into the Von Flue choke, so I've resolved to try to use it more.
We then did a third one which is favored by one of our senior blue belts, Coe, which involves jaw crushing and hip switching to push your knee through and take side control.

After that we did some halfguard rolling, top guy has to pass or sub, bottom guy has to sweep, reguard, or sub.
My friend Will who just recently started there did pretty well, he managed to reguard a few times against me, and was very difficult to sweep. His balance and weight management have gotten really good in just the last couple of weeks.
After that we rolled, Casey paired us up. I rolled with JC first and played catch and release for the most part, just being relaxed and casual about it.
After that I rolled with Brian who is a super athletic guy from the MT class whom I generally can control, but have trouble submitting. I've solved that problem and subbed him with my shin-in-throat armbar and with a kimura which I grabbed from long range halfguard and used to sweep him over, took head-mount, and finished. I was quite proud of that one.
Next I rolled with Coe who has been my nemesis since I started doing Gi. We battled back and forth a bit and I threw the saddle on him and got his base disrupted and had him stretched out good. He tried to hide his foot from me and I grabbed it and hit him with a toe hold for the tap.
He then crushified me with his mighty girth and choked me with something a couple of times before I managed to get him in the saddle again and went for outside heel hook, he moved his leg I went for the straight footlock, he moved his leg again and I got the inside heel hook for the tap.

I'm psyched about that as I have been totally unable to catch him or finish him in anything really. I have to give props to Zapruder for introducing me to the saddle and helping me add it to my game. It really gives me a ton of options from guard when I just can't get past the legs.

Finally I rolled with Judo for a bonus round and tapped him a few times, he managed to snatch a guillotine on me and catch me in guard before I could get around it, giving him the tap on that one. He's really explosive all of the time, half the time he just tries to jump into mount on me and I snatch halfguard and work from there. He also has great posture and good pressure. He's fun to work with.

I'm feeling great about my technique going into NAGA, my no-gi game is stronger than ever now and my Gi game is progressing rapidly. My bench press is back to 117 and I'll be trying for 123 tonight. Overhead press is at 87 and I'll be back to trying 93 on Thursday. Squats and deadlift are at 153 and I'm happy with that for the moment.

Refining My Game

Weightlifting is going pretty well, did 113 again on the bench Saturday because I was out late watching the fights and was already tired. Went ahead with 153 on the squats though and they felt good.
Jiujitsu last night we worked on takedowns, which I hate. I got one decent body lock takedown and got taken down a bunch of times. The guy who kept taking me down I ended up getting one time via trickery. I threw out a sloppy single leg, let him sprawl on me and grab a body lock, then I sat out and took his back for the "Takedown". Yeah, I know, Lame.

After that we played with star sweep variations which I like, had some fun with that. Then we rolled. I didn't realize it until much later, but I was really casual the entire class and still no one came close to putting me in danger. I also noticed that I'm constantly attacking. I rarely get defensive. Even when I'm defending a position I'm looking for a way to attack, I think that mentality helps me a lot.
I've also stopped my technique acquisition phase. I found myself thinking, "I need something new and esoteric to play with!" and then I thought about that statement for a minute and realized I was falling into the "BJJ is my Pokemon" trap discussed on Bullshido previously. I have plenty of techniques, usually 3-5 options from any giving position, and I need to be refining them. I've already been working to refine my guard passing and improve it, so now I'm approaching the rest of my game with the same kind of attitude. I plan on using the same handful of techniques over and over and over for the next few months to try to be unstoppable with those few techniques. I feel like that will be a better use of my time than learning new ways to setup the Gogoplata.

One place I'm still having trouble is avoiding the Kimura when I'm on halfguard bottom vs one particular guy. I experimented with a flexibility based escape, but found that I couldn't hook my leg up properly unless I could get my other hand out from under his body to work. I think I just need to change my halfguard style against him and stop going for underhooks. We'll see how that works out.

Oh, and because I want to make this a somewhat more technical blog:

Star Sweep and Variations:

When someone stands up in your guard the normal sweep is to brace on your shoulders, underhook both legs, break your guard, bring your knees together and push with your legs. Resulting your opponent falling over and you riding the momentum up to mount.
Well if your opponent stands up with one foot back, preventing you from hooking both legs you can switch to the Star Sweep. Underhook the nearest leg, put your other hand flat on the mat near your head, palm down, finger tips pointed down towards your shoulder (Like you are going to do a hand stand). Now push your hips up and load your weight onto your opponents leg/knee, causing them to lose their balance and fall. Again you ride their momentum up to mount.
If for some reason they aren't falling with your weight on their knee you continue the spin by kicking off with the leg opposite your opponents trapped leg and dropping into the turtle with their leg trapped under your arm. Now drive your weight back to put pressure on their knee and bring them to the ground, or stand up with the leg and do a single leg takedown.
KEEP THE LEG while you move to side control and establish your position.

Weight lifting again tonight, Jits on Wednesday.

Back to weightlifting and conditioning

Last night was my second night back lifting, I lost a little bit of progress but not too much. I had to drop my bench press back down to 113 and my overhead to 83. My squats and deadlift were already well under my previous lifts so I was able to continue increasing them. The squats are actually starting to feel heavy at 147.5. If I can avoid injury and everything goes pretty steadily I'll hit my body weight on the benchpress for 5x5 sometime in february, just in time for NAGA.

Speaking of NAGA we started conditioning at the end of class to prep for NAGA last week. Starting out with just 5 minutes of P90X style conditioning and gradually increasing to a 15 minute workout. I always try to get someone to roll with me for 5 minutes after the conditioning so I get a chance to try to work completely exhausted. Worked out well for me, went 5 minutes with the Judo guy that recently joined us and did quite well despite the total and complete exhaustion I felt. It was great.

My most recent technique issue has been getting out of/away from kimuras from halfguard and side control. Mostly halfguard since I can usually snag a leg and rarely end up in side. The guy doing it to me is hugely stronger than I am, so I've been working on finding something to counteract that. My most recent thought is to use my flexibility to counter his strength by kicking my outside leg up through his top arm, putting my shin in the crook of his elbow and using that to break the grip and turn it into a bicep slicer. I'll get my first chance to try that out tonight and we'll see how it goes.

Other than that I'm doin great, the Saddle has become a staple technique for me used as a sweep to get on top, used for setting up subs, and used to help me pass guard. It hasn't taken over my entire game, it's just become a very useful tool that integrates well in the rest of my style.

Heel Hooks and Gogoplatas and Von Flue Chokes, Oh My!

So I couldn't find my NAGA shorts for No-Gi night so I grabbed my competition Gi pants (The highly recognizable blue ones from all of my videos) which meant to keep my mental association consistent I had a "No Mercy" night and instead of letting people work on stuff and being all nice and whatnot I warned everyone and then went on a rampage.
The result was a bunch of heelhooks and gogoplatas alongside the normal complement of triangles and straight armbars and a solid Von Flue choke. All against guys 30-40lbs heavier than I am. It was hilariously brutal.
To add something slightly more technical to my blog I'm working on a takedown that is flashy and workable. Step one is to pull flying guard without breaking your opponent down so that they stay standing and you end up with your legs around them. Then you drop backwards and underhook a leg, brace your other arm on the ground release your legs and kick around so that you end up turtled next to your opponent with their leg secure uner your arm. Now stand up with the single leg and finish the takedown. I'll be practicing it Wednesday and might have video of it depending on how things go.

Progress has been excellent for me almost everywhere. My only real issue comes from guys who are 30+ lbs heavier than I am with similar experience levels. Which is reasonable.
Restarting Stronglifts 5x5 AGAIN tonight using 85lbs on the bench, sticking with 140 on the squats. Started conditioning for NAGA already, that gives me almost 3 full months to get ready for my first tournament as a blue belt. The goal is still to go undefeated. I'll see how that works out for me.

Cobrinha is awesome.

So I picked up a copy of Cobrinha's DVDs a few days ago, and while 90% of the material is a bit beyond me right now the first DVD has some great stuff from full guard w/ the overhook that fits right in with my regular game as well as having some great butterfly stuff that works for me. I'm still watching it over and over trying to get a solid mental framework so I can practice working some of the techniques.
Class is going well, Operation Blue Belt is still a success, I'm getting tapped by Casey, Johnny, Coe and Kyle, not really anyone else coming close. I've got to get through the damn holiday season and then really crank down on my cardio to get ready for NAGA in February. I also have to get my weight lifting routine back because it has completely gone to shit. I think I'll have to just start at 87lbs again and work my way up from there. I also need to add protein powder to my chocolate milk and eat more. I really want to be back up close to 150 so I can cut to 139 again. I felt really strong last time I did that and I think it helped.

I've been improving my guard passing and working on keeping pressure on people. I've been using the Von Flue choke from side control as a means of control, putting a lot of pressure on people to hold them down. It's helped me think more about staying super heavy on everyone. Other than that still working on sweeps and passes.

Thoughts aAbout Levers

This post is going to be a bit rambling as I try to capture some thoughts I've had recently, so bear with me.

I was talking to some new guys at class and trying to think of things that were kind of over arching concepts they should keep in mind during class. It got me thinking about simple machines, levers, wheels, screws, that kind of thing. The lever gets a lot of credit in jiujitsu, but the wheel and the screw are big players as well as far as motion goes. As an example my strategy when dealing with very large people is to act as a wheel, or more specifically a marble. I make myself into a tight ball under them and roll myself around until I can pop out from under them. Screws make an appearance in many grip breaking techs and in finishing of subs like ankle locks and even the kimura. Thinking about simple machines when you are looking at your technique is a good way to get inside the fundamental mechanics of the move.

Concentrating on simple things like maintaining shoulder pressure and using my entire body to move people has really started to make a lot of things work for me that didn't before. My guard passing is getting better every time as are my sweeps.
I still feel a little weak with the subs sometimes though. I can get to the triangle or the armbar almost at will on some people, and just can't finish it. I'm not as frustrated about that as I used to be and am comfortable just bailing to a different sub or moving to a sweep continuously until I hit something. That means I'm spending a lot of time out positioning the bigger guys and not so much time finishing them.

Most importantly I feel like a lot of things are becoming natural and instinctive for me, like keeping pressure on when I'm passing guard and scooping up the legs for the under pass when the opportunity is there. Everything just seems to be fitting together really nicely and for once my ability to perform is outstripping my ability to explain. Usually I think through whatever I'm doing step by step as I do it and can easily break it down for other people. But several times tonight I just did something and had no idea how really. I just did it because it was "Right".
I want more of that.

I'm also holding off the wrestlers a hell of a lot better now than I used to. My open guard is... well... like I alluded to previously you need Elephants to get past my guard..

Lifting Restart and Operation Blue Belt

So after recovering from shoulder, back, and knee injuries (All minor, but annoying when combined) I restarted lifting a couple of days ago.
My bench press I dropped down to 107 5x5 again, and did a set of 5x5 squats w/ 107. Tonight I did 2 sets of 5 w/ 107 on the squats, then kicked it up to 143 for the next 3x5. So I'll be doing 5x5 w/ 143 lbs ATG, which is my bodyweight. So not too shabby. Overhead press I dropped back to 87.5 3x3 to rebuild. Deadlift I bumped up to 143 as well. I think I can still make bodyweight benchpress by the end of december, but we'll see.

Operation Blue Belt is going well. Still haven't been tapped by any of the whitebelts except Vinni, who doesn't count because he should have been a blue long since. And I'm stalemating or beating most of the other Blues. My tournament schedule for next year is gonna be awesome with 3 NAGA events, the Miami Open, and at least 2 Lutadore events. I'm looking to bring home a lot of gold medals.

Operation Blue Belt, Day 1

So I'm officially an Alliance Blue Belt now under Jacare.
The test went pretty smoothly, we attended the normal saturday class at Alliance, worked a slick open guard pass, did some open guard rolling drills where I swept a black belt much to my satisfaction but got totally ownaged by most of the blues and purples. After that I got to roll with one of the other blue belts whom I ran a clinic on. He seemed really nervous or dehydrated or something though, his hands were really shakey...
After that the folk who were testing were pulled aside and Jacare ran the heavier guys through their techniques while Cobrinha (Who is awesome and very friendly) ran us lighter guys through our stuff. We just went down the list demonstrating the techniques on each other. I got a couple of "very nice" compliments from Cobrinha and it was all a lot easier than I thought it would be. I didn't blank on anything and ended up with a Blue Belt. Hurray!

That was Saturday, today was my first class as a blue and it was No Gi, so I didn't get to wear it. But with that in mind my goal is not to let any white belts tap me for a while. That doesn't mean being stupid and refusing to tap when some white belt as an armbar fully extended. It means I'm going to roll calm and careful and not get into positions like that. I did a good job of that today making even Casey work to get past my guard and sub me. I even managed to pass his guard once.
Rolled with Vinni as well who should have tested with us for blue and can legitimately be called a blue belt. He's also one of our Ammy fighters. I climbed all over him with sub attempts, and swept him a couple of times. I felt really good about the roll with him as well.

I also rolled a with a new kid who is here for like his second day I think... I ran a clinic on him just to demonstrate how cool JiuJitsu is, then taught him how to properly open guard and told him to work exclusively on that for a while.

It was a good day.

BLUE BELT COUNTDOWN!

So I haven't updated because of a combination of work business, shoulder and knee injury, and working on getting ready for my upcoming Blue Belt test.

Haven't done any weight lifting in a couple of weeks and had to skip a couple of BJJ classes because of some shoulder and knee injuries. They are cleared up and tonight we are reviewing everything we'll need for the guys testing for blue this saturday.
If possible I will video my test and put it up here for folks to check out.

Fun With Leglocks

Armed with my newfound Leglock knowledge I've been playing with The Saddle and heelhooks and kneebars along with my more open and sweep heavy guard. Wednesday night I got a chance to try my game out against our resident hyper flexible leglock specialist.
But first, we did some spider guard work and a takedown which was a staple from my TKD days, but is illegal in every grappling tournament of been to. The flying scissor takedown. I had a blast with it for a while, then we moved into drilling starting with sleeve grips and either feet on hips or feet on biceps. I started with feet on hips pretty much every time so I could start playing my normal open guard game. There was much sweeping and the occasional sub. I had fun. Anthony managed to wriggle out and escape from me a couple of times and I think he managed to get past my guard once, not sure on that one.
After that we got to roll, I did a 7ish minute round with one of the newer guys and worked him over a bit, tried to let him work some stuff. Then I got a 10 minute round with Mark our resident leg lock addict. With my newfound outlook on leglocks and how to use my feet and protect them as well as how to attack my opponent we spent nine minutes and about thirty seconds going back and forth. I swept him a bunch of times and out positioned him. He kept going for heel hooks, knee bars, etc... but I was able to defend them all fairly easily. Then with about 30 seconds left to go I set up the Saddle, caught him in it, and heel hooked him.

I'm loving the way my new game feels and flows. Props to Zapruder for this step in my development.

Rolling Kneebars, I has them

Sunday night we worked on stuff from the turtle, both attacking and defending. First was working on the fatboy roll, which I love and use all the time. The second was an armbar counter to the fatboy attempt, which I hated, the third was a rolling kneebar when your opponent is beside you with the harness. At first I thought the kneebar was a little gimmicky, then I reflexively hit it rolling and it worked great. So now I've added it into my arsenal. I also hit a pair of Kimura's from the turtle, which was just silly, but I was happy with them.
I think I'll have no problem with my blue belt test now. Weight lifting is going well, I need to keep hitting the conditioning that Coe is doing after the regular class. I skipped out on it Sunday.

Tryin to Catch the Blues

So post NAGA I'm concentrating on the stuff it will take to get my Blue belt in October. To that end I have abandoned closed guard entirely in favor of a sweep heavy open guard game. It was working out ok for me except against Ian who just completely wrecks my game. Something about the combination of his style and athleticism shuts down my normal methods and I have yet to come up with a way to handle him that doesn't involve me going full out 100% intensity. And even that just evens us up. So I have resolved to roll with him at every opportunity in order to sharpen my game up.
Other than that I feel solid about testing for blue in October and fairly confident that after a year at Blue I'll be ready to make a run at my Purple belt.

NAGA Georgia, Sept 2009 - The Aftermath

Videos are now up from NAGA the links are below:
No-Gi Match 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtf5iKr4ptE
No-Gi Match 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNHLCp4UHcg
No-Gi Match 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL1ylx33fdc

Gi Match 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZxENdlFzmI
Gi Match 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vNRO4yMCXM

Before this tournament I had a record of 8 wins and 8 losses. With 3 wins in this tournament and only 2 losses I move to 11/10, YAY! I have a winning record now! Hopefully I will continue to grow that W column in the next few events.
Highlight of the day was my Gogoplata victory in my third No-Gi match. I even got some props from the tournament director for that one.
Now back into training to get ready for my blue Belt test next month. Weight lifting starts back up tonight and now I can EEEAAAATT again! This was the first tournament I have cut weight for, I dropped from 147 to 139.5 over the course of 7 days. A fairly gradual cut, but I'm not used to not being able to eat everything within my reach, so I was a little grumpy. Now I'll be trying to hit 155 via weightlifting before May next year which is the next NAGA event I'll be attending.

Pilgrim's Progress

So, I'm rejoicing for two reasons, first is that I got my first legit tap on a blue belt last friday. A new blue belt from San Diego started up with us and I got to roll with him some. I caught him with a kick over armbar from omoplata attempt in Gi. He triangled me in No-Gi after FLINGING my omoplata attempt off. I had expected him to posture and toss me a bit and was ready to hit a triangle myself, but he tossed me so far that I ended up with no way to recover. A quick scramble put me in his guard where he went for rubber guard, I carefully stacked him and then postured up when he broke back to full guard. He got a hand on my wrist and was exerting very steady pressure, I tried to pop it free and he snagged it down and caught the triangle. I felt like I was pretty much dead even with him, and he outweighs me about about 20lbs and is in incredible shape. Dude is a marine and he runs and bikes every day. Definitely in better shape than I am.
Second is that I passed my instructors guard legitimately. He went for a collar choke which I defended well and used the opportunity to get to side control. He wasn't going 100% (Black belt with 60lbs on me, he could just throw me off of him) but he wasn't letting me get it. So I feel really good about it.
I'm on rest week for NAGA now, light work, no grappling, watching videos to get me all keyed up. Videos from NAGA will be up Monday night.

NAGA Prep

So, Friday we started really getting ready for NAGA, did some gi choke work from side control, working on a baseball bat choke that combos well with the arm triangle I use. I was dehydrated and exhausted by the time class started due to work issues, but I remember doing about 1.5 hours of class, some drills, and some rolling, then 15 minutes of conditioning. Then I did a couple of bonus rounds, one Gi and one No-Gi.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtomJpvzrs0
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lcxUxeP9vU

I picked these guys because they are both in good shape, both skilled, and both guys that I usually have an edge over when we're both fresh. With me tired they really exposed some weaknesses I had. I also threw in a heelhook from the Saddle for Zapruder. All of us are competing at NAGA, so the more mat time we get the better.

Tonight was more of the same, but we did Guillotine and RNC escapes at the beginning of class. The guillotine escape involved armover the shoulder, then working to the side and kind of sweeping the opponents legs out from under them and taking side control. I had a thought "could I scoop him up WWE style and drop him in side control?" and the answers was a resoundingly awesome YES.
After that, some rolling. I rolled with the whitebelt who caught me with a kimura last time, I was in competition mode, so he got subbed a lot, mercilessly. After that I rolled with Courtney, threw her around and subbed her bunch. Then more conditioning, then I did a bonus round with Coe who CRUSHIFIED me and spent a large portion of the time working a guillotine on me which I finally had to tap to. A good night though, working my conditioning should pay off I hope.

Energy Legs!

In preperation for class today I took 2 aspirin and this thing called a Stress Tab. The stress tab has like 100mg of caffeine and a billion tons of B12 and B6 and stuff. The consequence was that I was PACKED FULL of energy the entire class. We did some side control escape drills to start off with, then I broke off to help the Noobs work on Americana and Kimuras, Both Jenn and Courtney caught on pretty quick to both of those, but the straight armbar we were doing was a little more complicated and they had a harder time with that.
For drilling we started under side control and had to escape while the guy on top had to sub. I starte with Ankor on top and eventually swept him and escaped, then I rolled with Coe, started out on top and held him there for a while before he finally go a hand in my armpit and a fistful of gi and stiff armed me over. After that I rolled with... asian dude whose name I can't remember, I started on the bottom and got a little too lazy, he got mount and americanad me.
After that we rolled, I started with Ankor in Gi and we did some back and forth, I was trying to be super aggressive and so gave up sacrificed some defense, we tapped each other a few times. After that I rolled w/ one of the new guys. I threw him around and subbed him a bunch, he was enjoying it. After that I did a round of No-Gi with Ankor, got the Crucifix Kimura a couple of times, a triangle from the back, a standard Kimura, and an armbar as I recall. He got me with a freakin body triangle from the back and I think a kimura, and possibly a straight armbar... A good roll for both of us.
Next up I rolled with Courtney for a few minutes and threw her around and subbed her a bunch, then the same with Chad.

All in all a good class and I still felt packed with energy afterwards, even now! I'm going to start taking those stress tab thing before class every time I think.... And for sure before NAGA.

Be my Butterfly

We played with butterfly guards and butterfly transitions to X-guard today and I got some practice lifting 250lb people up in the air, which I need. After that we did some drilling, I swept a bunch of folk including this one kid who is the kind of wrestler that clamps down on your head and just sits there right now. He locked down onto my head and wouldn't let go forever, eventually I managed to get enough space to omoplata sweep him and take side control.

After some butterfly drilling we rolled and the kid who called me out a week or so ago passed to side control and managed to americana me, which he was very happy with. I won't be letting that happen again. My goal tonight was to play with the crucifix and I got to do that quite a bit on a couple of people, I was able to transition to it and get the kimura, I had trouble with the hell strangle because I kept needing both arms on theirs to maintain the position, I think I'll want to transition to scooping the arm behind my "top" arm and hooking it there in the future. I tried to take the RNC from there once, but couldn't get the right leverage so I had to give it up. It worked pretty well as an option from the back for me though.

My final roll was against one of the college wrestlers in the class who is built like a 55 gallon drum full of bricks. It's like trying to grapple with a very acrobatic bowling ball. I was able to sweep him a couple of times though from half guard when he tried to darce/choke me. I was able to defend against his RNC and avoid several other subs, but he pretty much ran me over.

A good class, somehow I dropped 3.5 lbs in the last 2 days though, weighed in at 141.5 this morning. That means I should be able to cut to 139 for NAGA without any trouble.

Flying Sidekick

This is the video from my midterm for 2nd degree TKD blackbelt, I left TKD shortly after this was filmed. I'm breaking 2 boards with the flying sidekick and then 2 boards with an upset knifehand strike.



If you watch the video and pause it at the 15 second mark you can see that I should have had my non-kicking leg tucked up a little tighter. Also, the distance I ran was more for visual effect than out of necessity, I've done the same break with only 2-3 steps.

Competition Videos

I dug through all of my video links and have pulled them out in chronological order for anyone interested in checking them out:

First ever grappling match 2007
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1071241798571137899

Later that year, NAGA
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3548201218593477837
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2224045126269133779
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-788920203550747355
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-415686111276980243

2008 NAGA
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2070345299862448585

2008 Casca Grossa
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3123214915948448823
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-99204263708741123

2009
No-Gi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYt45pKaZ48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLJYsRQJeBg

Gi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI8k3-OSEA4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egkJMfABa_Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKKytXmraDA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mmcB5530hA

Not all of my matches got video taped, my second match at that very first Casca Grossa was missed, I lost via armbar about 90 seconds in.
My First match at the 2008 NAGA was missed, which was very disappointed because I got A HUGE takedown at the beginning and just dominated the guy from start to finish.

I think those are the only two that have been missed. Other than that every single match in my competitive career to this point is recorded and on the internet for everyone to see.

My Guard, It Is Impassable, Unless You Have Elephants

I was on a roll again today, we worked on some attacks against the turtle using the clock choke, as well as counters to the clock choke. The primary counter was actually the "Fat Boy Roll" that I use from wrestling already, so that was good since I'm already good at that. Also learned how to properly apply the clock choke, whoot. Another Gi sub in my arsenal now.
After that we did some drills from turtle, hijinks ensued, then time to roll.
I started out rolling with a guy who was new to class, he was somewhere around 6 feet tall and maybe 180 lbs, and apparently had wrestled for a while. I have no idea how long. He was completely unable to pass my guard, but was very very active. He fought off a tight triangle for a while, constantly worked to get by my guard, but eventually was swept and mounted. I hung out in mount until time ran out since by then there were only 30 seconds or so left and I was tired.
After that I rolled with one of th guys whose name I constantly forget, he actually called me out this time which was fun. I arm-barred him, RNCed him, swept him a few times and generally had my way with him. He's learning though.
After that I rolled with another guy whose name I can never remember but who is another 190ish lb guy who is very strong and active. He was also unable to pass my guard and I eventually swept and mounted him also.
I practiced getting collar grips and breaking him down into my guard over and over and over again as well as working on holding him down. Next step will be to work on feeding the different collar chokes from there.

All in all, a good night, though my lack of sleep lat night hurt my endurance and left me too tired for a bonus round.

Ugh, ate a brick...

So I had a big bowl of spaghetti and meatballs friday before class, not the most brilliant idea.
Felt like I was grappling with a bowling ball in my gut.

We warmed up with takedowns and sprawls, then worked on guard passing and did guard passing drills, I did ok...

After that we rolled, I rolled with a very athletic 180ish pound guy who is VERY intense. Forces me to go 100% against him. I subbed him with a heel hook then held him in my guard for a while because I felt like crap.
After that I rolled with JC who is lanky and my same weight, but like 6'2". I damn near fell asleep while rolling with him and he ezekieled me.
After that I got a bit of a second wind and rolled with one of the much newer guys, swept and subbed him a bunch. Then rolled with one of our ammy MMA fighters for a while. Heel hooked him, and he returned the favor.
Finally I rolled with my resident blue belt nemesis, but by that point my left arm was numb and I was barely awake and he crushed me in dominant fashion.

All in all, not my best day at class. I shall strive to avoid consuming heavy meals right before class in the future.

BJJ, It's like a Magic Trick

So the tips I got from Zapruder are continuing to pay off in a big way. Wednesday I pretty much ran a clinic on everyone under 180lbs in the gym. Sweeps were on point, subs were happening, finally hit a triangle in Gi. Even rolled with one of our Ammy fighters and passed his guard and stayed on top of him for most of the roll. Went for the "Saddle" heel hook and couldn't secure it and he ended up on top in halfguard, where we stalemated.
After that I did a No Gi bonus round with a kid that just started Jits but has been doing Muy Thai for a while. RNC and Triangle+Armbar for the win. I was never really in any danger of being subbed by anyone except for Ankhor who landed a super tight triangle that took me forever to fight out of. Eventually he was just too exhausted to keep it locked on and had to let go.
Over all I feel really good about my Jits and I think I have a shot at a solid performance against the blue belts at NAGA. If everything goes well I'll take 1st and feel ready to take a stab at Purple belt.

Noobs and Collar Chokes

So I brought a fleet of noobs (Well, 3 today, probably a couple more next Sunday) up to Casey's to join the crew. The roster included my fiance Jenn, our friend Chad, and our other friend Courtney. Now, Chad and Courtney represent completely opposite ends of the human spectrum, Chad is 270lbs, farmboy strong, monster huge dude. Courtney is 120 and built like a leprechaun, so we had a great time with that.
I paired up with Jenn to work collar chokes, kimura's, and arm triangles. Chad worked with the purple belt, Darnel, and courtney paired up with Falsto to work. Pretty basic stuff, Jenn caught on right away and enjoyed making my eyes bug way out with a couple of deep collar chokes.
After that I did some rolling with Jenn and Courtney having them start in my guard and work to pass and so on. After sweeping them a few times I showed them how to posture and break guard to pass. We worked on that for a bit then the two of them worked together. Courtney is a little spastic, and very energetic, Jenn is a lot more methodical. Both of them were catching on quick though.
While this was going on Chad had been fed to the lions on the other side of the class. He was working with Darnel which at least meant he got a lot of good advice.
After that we split up to roll, I rolled with Chad first which was a blast. I was able to apply all of the stuff that Zapruder and I had been talking about and kept him in the air and off balance the entire time. I swept him and subbed him about every 30 seconds for 7 minutes. Which he thought was awesome.
After that I called out Coe for the obligatory blue belt ass whipping. He was showing a little less mercy this time after I asked him if he scuffed his knuckles punching old ladies... I made him work for the pass and tossed off a few more remarks about a failed collar choke before he got a good grip and throttled me. I was briefly able to pass his guard, but before I could lock side down he got a hand in my armpit and pushed me off, I spun to his back but couldn't lock that in either before he dumped me back down and I had him in my guard again. A couple of times I had to tap to the CRUSHING WEIGHT of knee on ribs, but a fun time indeed!
Last I got a bonus round with Darnel. Up until tonight he had actually not subbed me rolling. First up he managed to get me with a goofy wristlock while I was defending the americana, it wasn't even the normal knuckles on the ground wristlock either. I think he got me with something else as well then I tried to 50/50 sweep him so I could get a heel hook. His base was just too good and he slowly crushed through my guard and armbarred me though.

Still feeling REALLY good about my skills now. I'm not having anywhere near the kind of problems with WEIGHT that I used to. Coe and Darnel are still destroying me, but not as much with weight as with superior skill in using that weight. The less experienced heavy guys are far less of a problem now.

A New Era

So it's been 6 months since my last update. A lot has happened in that time. For one thing the blog is going public again.

Early this year due to work scheduling issues and financial concerns I had to stop attending HCG. It sucked and I was out completely for almost two months. Luckily I found out in March that Casey Baynes from Alliance in Atlanta was sharing space with one of my old TKD schools and teaching Jits 3 days a week. The class times were a better fit for my work schedule and the classes were less expensive. It's mostly a Gi class, but that's fine. HCG is still the best MMA gym outside of Atlanta, and a good argument can be made that they are the best MMA gym in the state, but my focus has never really been on MMA so I was never using those resources to their full potential anyways.

So for the last 4 months I've been doing Jits with Casey and the guys there. I competed in the white belt Gi division at NAGA and got 2nd, I took 3rd in Intermediate No-Gi. I've been progressing nicely and now really feel like I'm ready for my blue belt test which should be coming up in October.
In september I'm going to compete at NAGA again, this time as a blue belt in Gi just to test the waters.

Most recently I've been working on collar chokes and balling up under huge guys trying to crush me and last night I had an epiphany. A bunch of stuff that Zapruder from bullshido had been telling me clicked together and I was able to keep a 220lb white belt suspended in the air for most of a 7 minute round. I really feel good about it and I'm confident I'll easily pass my blue belt test. After that I think I can wait a year and probably get my purple belt next summer.

Now that the blog is public again I'll try to post up some videos from class when I have them. I'm picking up a 4gb memory stick for the camera next month, which should let me record the entire class if I want to, but mostly I'll just be posting me rolling with various folks so I can get some comments on it.

Now time to clean the house, exercise the horses, and go for a trail ride.

Wrecking Machine!

So Friday at Open Mats I showed up early and got warmed up a bit, then grabbed a guy that I had last rolled with before christmas and rolled light to warm up. He's got MAYBE 6 months but is gorilla strong. I passed his guard and worked on him a bit, he regained guard, and I tried to bait the triangle to pass again, which had worked GREAT 2 months ago. Well, he's since learned how to lock it in and caught me. I fought it for about a minute but he was having none of that and cinched it in for the tap. I saw him hit 2 or 3 other people with the Triangle over the course of the evening, he's gotten pretty slick at it.
Other than that, I did not get tapped, I spent a total of maybe 2 minutes in an inferior position all night. And I finally started finishing people. STRONG people. I got 3 RNCs, an Arm Triangle (From guard no less), an Arm Bar, a Bicep Splicer, an Omoplata, and I think I got a triangle in somewhere, but can't remember.
Even the one guy I didn't finish I spent a lot of time in mount on. I certainly was positionally dominant. I mostly just glad that I'm starting to get the subs successfully.

After that I went down to meet the guys to workout and they had brought a ton of people to play with us. We had 7 other people there which was awesome. One of them was a 260lb guy who was rediculous strong that I subbed twice with a straight armbar that I've been calling the KoalaBar because you wrap your entire body around their arm and drive the blade of your forearm into their elbow and you're attacking the "wrong" side for a regular armbar. I've been working on it and hit someone with it at the last monday class, but it's still not 100% reliable for me.

Anyways, I'm awesome. I feel awesome about my Jits. I feel like I have a real chance at NAGA even though I'm moving to Intermediate.

A New year, time to update!

SO, my Jits goals for the year are to get my Blue Belt, which I hope isn't far away since I can hang with most of the other blues already, though just barely. And to place in the intermediate division at NAGA.
My weightlifting goals are to get my Deadlift up to 300. My bench press to 200, and my squats back to 400.

My guard passing has gotten way way way way better. A few things came together that really made the whole process click for me. Pinning the leg with my instep instead of my shin, keeping my upper body tight, getting the farside underhook... It all just kind of came into focus right before the end of last year and now I'm passing a lot more guards than I was before. My biggest problem remains opening the guard against the stronger guys, but that's getting better too.
My sweeps are pretty slick, the z-guard scissor sweep, the basic situp sweep, and my giftwrap sweep have been money for me still and are just getting better and better.
I've gotten better about not waiting for the EXACT PERFECT setup to try subs, which means I get reversed more often, but I'm also finishing people more. I had a couple of weeks of rampaging through people with a bicep splicer from guard before everyone caught on and started shutting it down. I'm a million times better at finishing arm bars than I was 3 months ago, the same for kimuras.
All in all my whole game is really solidifying. I just need to put in the time to keep improving. I've been hitting 2-3 times a week at HCG and my 2 hour friday gig almost every week. I just took a week and a half off because I'm switching back to polyphasic sleep (Which explains why I'm awake at 2:20am doing deadlifts on a Wednesday) and needed a few days to adjust.

I'm up to 144lbs now though, so actually gonna have to try to cut 5 lbs for NAGA.... Should be doable.

Gonna go see if I can hit a personal best on overhead press tonight too...

Rubber Guard, Fo Realz

We've been doing rubber guard stuff the last few weeks which I love. First couple of weeks was just breaking down to Mission Control, getting to New York, Chill Dog, getting the Pump. Today we got to the fun stuff (for me) omoplata time. Since I have so much trouble actually finishing the OMo on people I was happy to see this stuff.

Ways to get the Omo:
Jiu-Claw: Extend the legs and squeeze on the arm, keep the body rigid. When opponent postures up spike them back down and use the momentum to sit up and move from seatbelt on legs to seatbelt on waist.
Seatbelt: Keep the legs wrapped TIGHT. Both legs. Gumby can take mount and triangle you if you only get the near leg, even if you still have his arm trapped.

What to do if you can't get the Omo:
Side Control: When opponent rolls block the leg to slow them and maintain control, tuck the elbow in and drop in to side control.
Triangle: If opponent postures and turns back into you just open the Jiu-Claw and let them drop right into it. Easy as it can be.
Sweep: Underhook the leg instead of seatbelt, extend the arm out, when they try to jump, roll with it and take sidecontrol.

After drilling those for a while we got to roll, I rolled with tall-skinny-blonde-kid whose name I can't remember and swept him about, mounted him, and triangled him. He's getting better, but I still have way stronger wrestling than he does. And I use my short stumpy legs to make space and trap him with sneaky triangles.
After that I rolled with some huge guy who was really good, he was nice to me, let me work stuff without crushing me. I omoed him and got to side control. Everything else was me fighting to not get Darced as usual. After that rolled with another huge guy who was very good. Again he was nice and let me work. I almost managed to Z-guard sweep him, was able to fly him around a bit with it which was cool. He kneebarred me eventually, but it was a fun roll.
At this point I moved away from the behemoths and rolled with Gumby (Mark). As always he's one of my favorite people to roll with. This time I went straight for the rubber guard Omo hoping to just use it to sweep him to side control and try to set up the same armbar from the back when he eventually escaped. I put on the omo and tried to seatbelt the legs, but I missed his far leg. He stepped it backwards over me, turned and mounted me while I still had his arm. He escaped the Omo by putting me in a mounted triangle. He locked it on and I tapped. Craziness. I love rolling with him. After that we went back and forth a little until time ran out. Then I jumped in with Kegan. I've never been able to tap him even when I've locked in triangles and squeezed and pulled and everything, so I thought I would try something knew. So right off I start setting it up, I fake a triangle attempt and then switch to a bicep splicer when he defends it. I cranked down as hard as I could and got nothing. He eventually passed my exhausted guard and got side control, but he was in Kesa and wasn't careful with his hips, so I bridged, loaded him up and rolled him over. I tried for mount and was sloppy, my hips got too far forward and he dumped me back over. Then he Darce'd me from an odd angle that I couldn't figure out how to defend. Very fun roll.
Finally I rolled with a guy I've rolled with previously, he's only been in the Monday classes a couple of months I think. I worked on some combos and had some fun. Went for a situp sweep, he tucked his arm, I pushed his elbow down and kicked my leg around for a triangle, he locked his hands together, I attacked the opposite arm and swung over for the bicep splicer. Quick tap. After that I triangled him, then rolled back and let him get to side control. He went for an armbar with an odd setup, but I was able to block him from getting his leg over my face. I sat up into it and he tried to turn it into a belly down armbar but was too loose on my arm and I hitchhikered out of it and took side control.

All in all I have a pretty firm idea of where I am technique wise. I'm moving up the hierarchy a little and I think with continued regular class attendance I'll continue to move up. I doubt I'll ever catch Ralph and his fanatical devotion but I think I can get back to where I give him trouble if I can combine my improving skill with some improving fitness.

Eddie Bravo Extravaganza

We jut finished up several weeks of Lockdown + Whip Up + Dogfight stuff. It helped refine my half guard game a lot since I've been using the Lockdown from day one, but have had a hard time getting the whip up and the various sweeps. Actually getting to drill them a few times with people has already upped my percentage on old school quite a bit already. I still have a hard time whipping up because people are just so heavy, but I'm getting better at that too. For the moment I just whip up as hard as I can and get to my side, then fight the Darce while I work old school. Seems to be doing OK against everyone who doesn't have monster Darce chokes.

We started Rubber Guard last night, which I love. I've played it on and off since I started BJJ because Eddie's "Mastering the Rubber Guard" was the first BJJ book I got. Not because I knew anything about it, but because it was the best written and illustrated out of all of the books I looked at. I can already move through the Misson Control -> New York -> Chill Dog -> KungFu Move -> Omoplata sequence pretty quick. But then I get stuck fighting to finish the Omo while people try to jump over me, so I generally turn it into a sweep and take side control instead.

My biggest problem is when I can't get their hand to the mat. I usually lock the arm up, switch back to full guard and use the armcrush+pendulum sweep. Has worked a couple of times.

Rolling last night we split into weight classes (FUCKING JOY!!! No 200lbers crushing my head!) I had Gumby, Thomas, someone whose name I should remember, but I don't, and some dude who was just balls OUT the entire time. I rolled with ballsout guy first and immediately hit him with an armbar and swept him over. Didn't have the power to break his grip in time to finish it, so ended up back in guard. From there It was all defensive. Escaped a bunch of stuff for a while then got sloppy and got ankle locked and had to tap. Took a break then rolled with Gumby, we had a blast. I swept him, he contorted himself onto my back, I rolled out of it, etc... etc.. Fun times. After I rolled w/ the guy whose name I should remember. We also went back and forth a lot until we both ended up going for ankle locks and defending them. Ended up with our legs tied up in the last 10 seconds or so of the round.
After that I rolled with Thomas. He likes to guard pass by just pressuring down and walking to the head. Well that plays right into my favorite sweep so I had him mounted within the first 20 seconds or so of the round. He shoved right out of it of course and we battled back and forth, I almost caught him with a triangle, and almost caught him with an armbar, but he is incredibly strong so I was never able to do more than get to the lock before he escaped it. Once he got to half guard I curled up and let him go for the Darce so I could work Old School, swept him a couple of times and got Side Control. I spent a lot of time fighting off Americana's from half guard and he finally subbed me with a partial RNC, he actually had to turn my head far enough to press my mouth into his shoulder and cut off my breathing.
So positionally I'm still doin pretty good. I just want to be stronger. On that front HCG is expanding, taking over the entire building and putting in some more weightlifting equipment. Even with the extra lifting stuff it should almost double the mat space. My plan is to go down there early on Tuesday and Thursday to lift in addition to going to class.

Finally updating

I've been slacking on this blog since I started work on www.techemperor.com. We went to NAGA again and Johnny moved up to the Intermediate division, he took 3rd, finally got beat by someone. Guy was essentially Johnny in another year. Hugely strong, big wrestling background, way more BJJ experience. So that gave him some stuff to work on. He finally got a job, so once he gets settled in there we're gonna see if his schedule will work to get him up to HCG somehow. Ronnie was in a HUGE novice division and took 3rd, got beat on points by a guy who was gigantic. But he wonhis other 3 matches all by sub. So we were happy. I got kneebarred in the first round of my division by the guy who took 1st.
My shoulder is 100% better now and I've managed to get to class twice a week for the last few weeks and I think I'll be able to keep it up. I'm still screwing around with different workout things. I've started running again (which I hate) and started getting back to my lifting. My roommate moves out in 2 months and I'll have a weightroom with a decent bench and everything. That might help with my lifting progress.

On the BJJ front we just wrapped up a month of 10th Planet style Half-Guard work using the lockdown. I was pretty comfortable with this since one of the first things I got when I started BJJ was Eddie's Jiujitsu Unleased book, and then the Mastering the Rubber Guard book. So I was pretty familiar with the idea behind all of this stuff anyways. I still have two big problems working in halfguard, the first is when I'm just not strong enough to get the whip up and end up just trying to worm my way down and make something work. The second is when I go for the Old School and immediately get Darce'd. I know why it happens, I just need to practice it more. If I can make it up to dogfight I do just fine though.
I've started playing Z-Guard all the time because I got tired of having my knees gouged by peoples elbows. I really just have two sweeps from there and know nothing else right now. Been looking for videos or books or something to get an idea of what other options I have . More and more frequently I find myself getting guys like Ralph and Patrick into places where if I had the strength I could sub them, either I need to find ways to get my whole body involved without exhausting myself or I just need to get stronger. Probably some of both.

I've been nailing the basic hipbump sweep all over the place and have managed to hit a couple of armbars from mount, but only on guys who are less experienced than I am.

I need to figure to figure out a way to stop Patrick from escaping my triangles by stepping over my face and falling down. I get stuck stretched out and can't bring any pressure to bear on him.

My guard passing has gotten better, mostly by virtue of me baiting armbars/triangles and then slipping out of them. Dangerous, but easier than fighting against people trying to crush me with their legs.

The better my techinque gets, the smoother my transitions get, and the more often I end up with superior position on people the more frustrated I get with my inability to finish people. I just need to be stronger.

Shoulder injuries, crossfit, weightlifting

I found out right before Casca Grossa that I've been running around with my shoulder partially dislocated, got that fixed and did ok at CG. Took 2nd. My boy Johnny destroyed his division again despite the weightclasses being changed at the last second. He was down to 195lbs expecting to be in the 199 division. They changed it up though and he was in the 190-215lb division. The other guy I took got 3rd, which was great since it's his first ever grappling tournament.
I'm still working out with them on Fridays, but my actual BJJ is going to be sporadic because once again my downfall was not a lack of skill or technique, but a lack of strength and endurance. So I'm continuing with my lifting and starting Crossfit this friday. For the next few months my emphasis is going to be on conditioning and strength training instead of Jiujitsu. Hopefully my friday workouts and my general screwing around will be enough to keep me from losing too much skill in the mean time.
I added deadlifts in to my lifting also, and everything is still sitting at 95 lbs. Getting 5x5 reps of overhead press w/ 95 has proven to be difficult with my shoulder healing, but it's mostly there now, so I'm going to give it a try again tonight.

Twice in one week? OMFGWTFBBQ!

Yeah, so made it to class again today. It was my favorite kind of class, all rolling. I rolled w/ Patrick and got less murdered today. I took his back and rolled for an armbar, but I broke his grip with the wrong foot (The one by his head) and he rolled up and out of it. Other than that, I didn't really get any opportunities to finish him. Though I did find that EVERYONE is too strong for me to Kimura from guard off of a failed situp sweep. Then I rolled with.... dude whose name I forget who doesn't seem to ever tap to anything. Triangled him twice and tried to "Teepee" him, but couldn't get it tight enough. Then I caught him in an Omoplata, but he drug me around and I couldn't lock it in, so I turned it into an Omegaplata (Omoplata locked in, extend the top leg across the throat like a Gogplata and reach up and grab your foot.) but couldn't get enough pressure to tap him with that either. He kept trying to Darce me from halfguard, but he wasn't getting his weight on top of me enough so I was able to sit out, posture up and spin, I pushed him over and took side control twice. As well as sweep him a few times and end up in mount. Which was like trying to stay on a freaking crazed bull.
After that me and Gumby rolled, which was a blast as usual. He's not as heavy as the other guys and not insanely stronger than me. He's also only a little more flexible than I am, which makes for some crazy shit. We ended up with some crazy double leg lock on each other, when spinning out of that I ended up with an ankle lock, which we then rolled out of and I ended up with side control. I even managed to get an arm triangle, but he peeled me off with his feet. All kinds of good positional stuff. Tons of fun. Unfortunately I have shit to do every day next week and won't be able to make any classes. I might not even be able to lift, which would blow. But we shall see.

Ugh. Going in Reverse sucks...

It could have been worse. That's about all I can say. Missing an entire month of class I came back and could feel how much ground I had lost. Guys that I could beat were holding their own against me, guys I could stalemate were smashing me. I really have to find a way to make it to class more often.
During the first part of class we worked Open Guard and I got to play with my butterfly guard a bit which worked reasonably well. I'm getting better at it, but I still feel like I don't have enough leg strength to make it work against people 30+ lbs heavier than I am. I was able to pass a few peoples open guard and generally just got to work on my passing which has improved a lot even with the backsliding.
After that we worked on "popcorn" which is using small explosive movements chained together to escape from a tight hold. I'm not particularly good at it making a whole bunch of movements, but I never seemed to need more than 3 or so to get a knee wedged in.
After that we went live and I rolled w/ Gumby which was a blast. We ended up in some strange positions and generally just had a good time. I was mostly able to defend against everyone and even ended up with mount on a couple of people, an omoplata that I just couldn't finish and a gogoplata that the guy just wouldn't tap to, I think it was the same guy in two different rolls actually... Then I rolled w/ Ralph and that boy has gotten slicker than shit. He's half asleep and choking me silly now. I can't wait to see his first Ammy fight coming up. I expect him to steamroll his opponent in short order.
Lifting weights tonight, then class on Thursday. Meeting Johnny and some of the guys on Friday to work on my wrestling too.

At least I'm making one class in June....

So after missing almost the entire month of June I'm going to class tonight for the two hour monday class. I've had a hell of a month at work but I made a lot of money off of it, so I can't complain too much.
I've been able to start lifting weights again and worked out with Johnny a few times. He's dropped 40lbs since we started working out together and is now at 195lbs. He's planning on staying there until after Casca Grossa on the 19th, then dropping down to 185 as his final weight. Considering how he manhandled the guys at 225 I can't imagine what kind of path of destruction he's going to wreak at 185.
Working with him has kept me from completely deteriorating during my down time, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to class. Follow up post later tonight.

Attacks from the top of Side Control

I made it to the Monday and Thursday classes this week, whoot.
We've been working attacks from the top of Side Control all week, which is something I need a lot of practice with.
Adam laid out a five point guide for it:
1. Control the Upper body
2. Control the Hips
3. Kill the near arm
4. Attack the far arm
5. Stay mobile (I think this was the 5th one...)

I can do 1, 2, and 3 pretty damn well. I was able to hold down pretty much everyone I could get side control on. However the second I start attacking the farm arm I either free up their hips or their head and they escape. I need to figure out how to attack that arm without losing pressure.

Monday rolling was all from halfguard, I was making my sweeps work pretty well and even escaped from George when he got sloppy armbarring me.
Today we went live for the last 20 minutes of class, which is always fun. I rolled w/ Ralph for a while and we scrambled back and forth w/ sweeps and escapes. He triangled me and his legs are too short for Mikey's ankle lock escape to work, so I tapped. He also arm triangled me very very smoothly and RNCed me. I armbarred him, couldn't finish it, so did the foot across the forearm deal which he tapped to. I then found out that bicep splicers are frowned upon in the gym and so will no longer be using them.
I then rolled with some tall guy with a bunch of tattoos on his right arm. No idea what his name was, but he was pretty good. I defended well but he was able to Kimura me once and RNC me once as I recall. The mats were really slippery so mobility was pretty hard. Was some good rolls though.

NAGA Wrapup

I've been too lazy to update the blog, but I've finally gotten motivated to do it.
Our trip to NAGA was awesome. Johnny destroyed his division and took 1st place. I absolutely dominated my first opponent, got double underhooks standing and secure a nice bodylock, then picked him up and slammed the crap out of him. He fought his way back to standing and I tripped him down and landed in his guard. From there I postured up and dug my hands into the space under his lower ribs and let him wear himself out a bit, then I passed his guard, ended up in mount, got the "Who's Your Daddy?" choke but couldn't finish it, rolled back and put a triangle on him couldn't finish it, swept him and sat on the mounted triangle, still couldn't finish it. The guy was seriously game. I crushed him on points and looked good doing it.
After that match I couldn't even muster the strength to open my water bottle my grip was so blown. My cardio was fine, I wasn't really TIRED and my legs were fine, but my forearms were gone. My second match I need not describe since I got video of it, but I lost 6 to 3. Still had some good sweeps and escapes, but in the end he just had more strength/energy than I did.
The other guy who went with us, Ronnie, had his match at the same time Johnny had his finals match, I was busy coaching Johnny and didn't even know Ronnie was on the mats, so he lost on points basically because he had no direction. I'm proud of him though, it's the first competition of any kind he's ever been to.
Ronnie is now heading off for 3 months of Army Training, and Johnny is about to graduate with his Accounting degree. As soon as he gets employment he's coming up to Hardcore to sign up, he's also dropping down to 200, he's gonna be a monster at that weight.

I took a week off from class after NAGA while I tried to get my nutrition in order. I'm eatting better and have almost fixed my iron deficiency which was giving me problems previously. I'm also spend more time working on the Rower since my cardio is still crappy and I'm working on grip training.
I'm heading to class tonight for the two hour monday class. I'm going to try to roll 100% the entire time if I can.

Oh, Videos are:
My second match: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2070345299862448585&hl=en
Johnny's first match: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5683987099192848018&hl=en
Johnny's Second Match: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4403537939271475905&hl=en
Johnny's Third Match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcrpHw2mzis
Ronnie's Match: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4667472277371957823&hl=en

I'm too lazy to make them all links right now.

Wait... why am I driving home? Did class end...oooh...

So, awesome day for me at class yesterday. Another day heavy with rolling. First up I got to roll w/ Chad, who is one of the instructors and just plain awesome. We were going light, so he didn't murder me completely. For the first 15 minutes I was actually able to fend him off, caught an achilles lock and even managed to pass his guard to side control for a few seconds. We took a break for a couple of minutes and then started again. I managed to surprise him and get mount, ok well, what really happened was I surprised him, was going to get mount, then thought "No way is this going to work on Chad." and bailed to guard. He told me I should have kept going and gave me mount anyways. So semi legit. It lasted for all of 4 seconds, but still. I managed to pass to side control again after he showed me what I was doing wrong with my weight, gotta remember to keep my hips DOWN when I'm pinning the leg to pass. I got flipped over like a dozen times before Chad showed wtf I was doing wrong. After that it was straight to Kimura town from under side control about a dozen times. I would push him up to escape, but I wasn't getting my shoulders and head up, so he would just step over to headmount and take my arm. I need to remember to get up OFF the mat if I'm going to put my hands in his armpit and push. I also need to keep constant pressure on it.

After the 20th or so kimura in a row we took a break and I moved over to the other side of the room to roll w/ "anyone who is not chad" for a little while. I ended up with TJ who I've rolled with before, but who is NOT the person I kept thinking he was. TJ != to super flexible guy who takes my back from the bottom of north south, side control, etc...
He's been doing this about the same amount of time as I have, but is a little stronger. He had essentially no defense against the situp sweep, so I hit it relentlessly. He was good at getting out from under mount though and even when I could hold it I wasn't able to isolate an arm to finish him.
When he did pass my guard I frequently tied him up in half guard until he pushed all of his weight up onto me, then swept him over to side control. One of those times he reguarded and caught me in a triangle, which I defended for a while before he finally pulled my head down to get the tap. A little while after that he managed to pass to side control with a VERY tight arm triangle. As I was thinking "This is really tight, don't think I can fight out of it, I should tap..." I suddenly was driving home. I began to think, "Wait, why am I driving home? Did class end...?" Then I woke up on the mat. That's the first time I've been choked out.
No ill effects though, we went back to rolling and I continued to sweep him mercilessly and eventually caught him in a triangle and was able to finish it.

His sub defense is really good, but he has absolutely no defense against that situp sweep.

So, fun times. More or less held my own against Chad, got choked out by TJ. Funtimes.

I love JOOJITZU!

I made it to the monday 2 hour class yesterday. Adam is recovering from a nasty fever he got over the weekend so Rory was teaching today. We started out playing some open guard practicing passing, which I desperately need. I figured out a better way to open the guard using the bottom of the ribs to push up which helped, but I'm still having a hard time pinning a leg down without just getting shoved over. I did hit a cartwheel pass, which was fun. After that Rory answered questions from people about any problems they were having with passing or stopping the pass. The guy I had been rolling with asked about avoiding getting pulled into halfguard and Rory showed him how to hide the leg that is in the ground and use it to pin down the leg you are passing over so that your opponent never gets an opportunity to grab it. We rolled for a couple of minutes with that in mind and he did a lot better at not letting me pull halfguard while he was passing. Another round of questions about what to do if your opponent is shoving your head to the side and stuffing your pass attempts and what to do if you are in combat base but can't get tight enough to pass.
Answers: Get higher on their body to make it harder form them to push the head, make sure you block their hips with your elbows to kill their leverage. If you can't get tight from combat base stand up and do a standing pass (I like the cartwheel from there.).

We then rolled live starting from guard. Top man had to pass, bottom man had to sweep or submit while stopping the pass. I had fun working rubber guard and trying to nail the Omo/Gog/Triangle combo.
I was able to hit a very nice Omoplata when my opponent stuffed my leg and tried to pass over it, I hooked his far leg and slapped on the Omo anyways, he couldn't roll out of it and I tapped him. After that I rolled with a few more people and did fairly well. My halfguard/lockdown is really tight and I was giving people fits trying to pass. I do keep getting stuck in Darce attempts while trying to go out the back or hit Old school from halfguard though. I think a big part of the problem is that I'm being too lazy with my underhook from halfguard and leaving too much space. I need to work on that. The good part is I've gotten so good at defending the Darce that I can sit in it for 5 minutes without being in much danger.

11 more days to NAGA. I'ma win my division this time.

1 class a week, better than nothing....

I made it to class on Thursday and it was a "Brazil Night" just pair up and roll. I rolled w/ Ralph and a guy whose name I keep forgetting, but his older brother works for one of my clients. Anyways, This guy usually wrecks me in short order, but I held him off and was nailing my sweeps like mad. He caught me in one heel hook when I escaped an armbar attempt, and I had him locked into a triangle, but he's really really really good at riding those out, so instead of fighting like a mad man and maybe getting it I was content to get it locked in and then let it go. I also managed to spend like 5 minutes in mount before finally getting frustrated and throwing a sloppy armbar attempt which was easily countered.
Ralph was rollin' light be not letting me hit anything and again my sweeps were on point. He caught me with an armbar, I caught him with a achilles lock, he caught me with an RNC, I caught him with a modifed triangle. I was actually really proud of the triangle modification I used.
I locked on the triangle, then when he tried to posture up I put my right arm behind his head and locked in a good grip on my left arm and pulled him down. When he went for the dive bomber escape to my right (the correct direction and everything) I was able to use the my arms to trap him in a version of the triangle that used my forearm on one side and my leg on the other to finish.
After a bit of a break me and Ralph picked at each other a bit and he said he was gonna choke me out this time, I bet him he couldn't and we got started, after a brief flurry we had to move to the other side of the gym, after the restart he ended up taking my back, but couldn't finish me before we had to stop. Moral victory for me.
I'm psyched about NAGA, my two friends that I workout with on Friday's have decided to go compete just to see what it's like, they'll be in the novice division. I expect Johnny to do REALLY well, but I'm not so sure about Ronny, he has no competition experience at all really and I expect him to adrenaline dump in his first match and gas out, but his cardio is ungodly, so he might be able to fight his way through it.

Fun times!

I ended up being a little late to class and missed the warmup drills, but I then we started rolling. Standard deal, 6 groups of 2 with 2-3 people rotating in as people got subbed. It's been a while so I mostly remember a lot of getting mauled by Ralph's smooth setups. Was generally just fun, I don't remember many specifics but things seemed to be working pretty good. I did manage to armbar a guy. I think he was only 180ish but it took every bit of strength I could get to straighten his arm out. I also made some of the halfguard escapes and side control escapes from the last class work, which made me feel good. I'll be back in class tommorow and hopefully we'll work guard passing. That's still the worst part of my game by a good margin.

More half-guard of DOOM

I made it to a two hour class on Monday, which was awesome. Did some cross side escapes, a couple I had never worked before and FINALLY the one with the hand in the armpit that everyone kept using on me. I really like that one and I want to work on it some more. Also did some mount escapes, the same ones I'm familiar with, though I learned a couple of new tricks about the elbow-knee escape to help me with the larger people.
Unfortunately after working all of those non-halfguard related escapes we spent the next hour rolling live from halfguard. I did a million times better this time. I was able to avoid the darce by posturing "Up", instead of crunching my head down while going for the leg. I even got a couple of sweeps and managed to pass a couple of times. Rolled a little with Ralph and he's now lightyears beyond me, that boys work ethic is incomparable. I hope he goes to NAGA in May, he'll almost certainly win the beginners division this time.
I rediscovered that my half-guard top game blows chunks. If I work really really really hard I can hold my opponent down and do nothing. As soon as I make a pass attempt though it seems like I'm just getting tossed off and swept. I need to find a pass that works better for me than sitting out towards their feet and trying to work my leg free. I just don't seem to be able to quite pull it off. I guess maybe I could just practice that one a lot.....
I still feel like working with Johnny (235lb 4 year wrestler) has really helped my basics, keeping calm while being crushed and working out from under bigger guys. His top game is so strong and he's so explosive that I can almost never submit him, but I've managed to sweep him a few times and take his back. It's also helping me figure out what I can do vs stronger guys reliabley, which is a huge help. I'm hoping to make it to NAGA on May 10th, I'm also hoping to make Monday and Thursday classes every week until then. *fingers crossed*

Flying Omoplata FTW.

So with much joy and happiness I returned to class last night. It was a small class because everyone was downtown watching UFN and TUF which I will address in a bit. I did some light rolling with TJ who is super crazy flexible and fun to roll with, we went slow with half hearted submission attempts and it was a good way for me to get warmed up after being gone for a while. After that we did some basics, Arm Triangle from mount and Americana-Kimura-Armbar combo with a new variation on the armbar that I hadn't seen before. Instead of moving to the straight armbar when your opponent straightens out of the american attempt you scoop the arm up and spin to an armbar. A good refresher after being gone and a new nuance to a familiar technique. After that we got to roll, I took at easy at first because I didn't want to totally gas myself, I didn't try to force anything, just looked for subs where they might appear and spent my time defending. Frist roll was against a larger guy with curly hair whose name I can not remember. I ended up defending a bunch of americana attempts and holding him in my guard, I dropped a couple of triangles on him but he was able to posture up and power out each time. At some point he was able to pass my guard a few times, but nobody got subbed. After that I rolled with a wrestler, same kind of deal he would pass my guard, I would reguard, etc... He tried an armbar and I hitch-hikered out of it and passed to side, but he just shoved me off. Again, no subs. Just some fun. Then I rolled with a tall blond kid who I've rolled with before and whose name I also don't remember because I suck with names. He's got way less experience than I do and his long limbs are easy to trap. He's gotten a lot better though and was able to catch me in a guillotine, but not finish it. Then we rolled again and I threw a flying omoplata on him, which was sweet. After that I took a break for a few minutes and then rolled with the wrestler again. This time I wasn't worried about getting tired since it was the last few minutes of class, so I went more or less full out. After some gripfighting I pulled guard with an overhook and started working my omoplata/triangle combo. As he defended the triangle I pulled my foot over to go for the omo, he centered back up on me so I locked my hands on his head and wedged my shin into his throat for the Gogoplata, he managed to rip his arm free so I threw my leg over his head for the Triangle. After some fighting I got his hand out and had it cinched in, he swept himself trying to escape and I tightened the triangle up some more in mount before rolling back and to the side to finish it.

All in all I felt really good coming back. My time working out with my friends on fridays kept me from getting too rusty, and the fact that one of them is a 220lb wrestling standout has helped my game a lot against the bigger, more explosive wrestlers. I'm looking forward to class today as well.

I've also been reading Mastering the Twister and Mastering the Rubber Guard and watching Eddie Bravo vids. My Rubber Guard is a little stronger now than it was and I get the Omo a little more often, and it combos well with my current Omo/Gogo/Triangle combo that I'm favoring. It's no substitute for the solid basics, but it gives me some fun tricks to try.

Now on to UFN. I got home just in time to watch Bullshido poster boy Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon take on Kenny "I'm a raging Douchebag" Florian. In the early moments of the first round Lauzon ended up in Florian's guard and Florian proceded to spike him repeatedly in the back of the head with his elbow. J-Lau was bleeding profusely from the back of the head and got a minute or two to recover, he didn't seem to use much of his recovery time and jumped right back into the fight. He was actually able to take Florian down repeatedly and made several attempts to finish with heel hooks in the first round, unfortunately Florian, despite his douchebaggery, has mad JiuJitsu skillz and was able to fight him off every time. In the second round Florian finally got a takedown and was able to pass Joe's guard, after a brief struggle he got mount and started working Joe over. Joe gave it a good effort but just couldn't shake Florian off of mount and eventually the ref called it. Joe didn't look hurt and probably could have continued to defend until Florian punched himself into exhaustion, but that might have taken 20 minutes. A Good showing by both guys, it elevates Florian to the status of title contender with maybe one more win between him and a title shot. And the great showing against a BJJ blackbelt actually helped J-Lau's rep a little in my opinion, not as good as a win would have, but not bad either.

Transportation problems, I has them.

So a combination of work, transportation problems, and generaly insanity has kept me from class for the last month. It sucked hardcore. However I will be back training on Tuesday and Thursday this week, and back permanently towards the end of April when everything is all fixed up. I've been trying to stay in shape during the down time, but I'm fairly sure I'll gas in the first 20 minutes I'm back.... Ah well. I'm looking forward to being back on the mats!