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Emily Kwok seminar, 10-31-09 November 1, 2009

Posted by leslie in Seminars.
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So, I did in fact get my butt in gear and to Philly for Emily Kwok’s seminar on Halloween. (Well, to Richmond (3hrs) on Friday, and to Philly (5hrs) on Saturday.)

I also got lost 3 times on the way to Philly, so arrived a little late (though they weren’t started yet). And then on the way home, while following Tori out of the city, I had my first ever car accident when some idiot driver stopped on the On ramp, which caused the car behind him to slam on his brakes, which caused Tori to slam on her brakes, which caused me to slam on my brakes, which wasn’t done quite quickly enough — and wasn’t helped by the wet roads — and I rear-ended her. Her little Honda came out better than my SUV and just had a little dent. We pulled over on the teensy-tiny shoulder, noticed that my car was spewing red fluid all over the road, decided that was probably a bad sign, and started the round of calling parents, insurance, tow trucks, and police. The tow truck driver said red fluid was probably transmission fluid. So my car is currently sitting at a dealership somewhere in Philly. Sad.

Tori offered me a ride back to to her home in Maryland, near D.C., and graciously put me up for the night and fed me breakfast. We didn’t get to her place until about 2:30 a.m. Thank goodness for Daylight Savings Time — an hour of extra sleep! We did get to talk a lot on the way back (2.5 hours!). My sister lives in D.C., so she came over in the morning and picked me up; we drove to meet our parents, who brought me back here. (I do have a great family, too.)

Tori and I have decided, however, that next time we’re going to carpool on purpose.

There were about 20 girls there. Anne (“E”) came from Ontario (I think), but actually had a shorter total drive than I did. But Jessica wins — she flew in from Omaha, Nebraska, just for the seminar! (That’s half the country!) There was also a girl there for her very first day of jiu-jitsu ever. Very good beginning.

When I got there, there was a girl who looked familiar; when we all introduced ourselves in the beginning, even her name was familiar. We talked during the break, and she was who I thought — Shannon had trained with me back in the first few months that I did jiu-jitsu. But she’d moved back home to the other side of the state. (Shannon is on the left in the front row.)

Emily wrote up a set of notes for us, which is really helpful now that I’m trying to remember (especially since jiu-jitsu was pretty much knocked out of my head for the last while).

First we worked on securing side control and north/south, just working through different hand/arm positions. Emily also mentioned not to commit too much to a grip if you don’t really have control with it, else when they move they’ll trap your hand or arm without even meaning to. (Happens to me a lot, so…) Side control: knee/elbow, knee/elbow (both elbows down by their ribs toward the ground and pinching in toward your knees); top hand under head, bottom hand under far arm, palm to palm, shoulder pressure; then top hand under head, shoulder pressure, bottom hand on near hip. North/south, all gripping the belt and pinching the elbows back: over/over; under/under; over/under. We drilled these briefly with our partners, moving between the three control positions for each position.

Then a hip movement drill. (I think they did this at the Women’s Grappling Camp in August?) Start in side control. Sit through to front scarf hold. Back to side control. Sit through to backward scarf hold. Leg over to mount. Walk hands around to the side you were just on, and dismount to the other side, through reverse scarf hold to side control. Sit through to front scarf hold. Turn your hips over to come up to north/south. Walk around just a little toward the other side, then sit through to front scarf hold. We drilled that with our partners for a while.

I had never seen dismount actually explained and so found that the best part of that drill. :P To dismount: first walk your hands to the same side. Then stretch the leg on the other side out and drop that hip to the mat. Open your hips to bring your leg over; now you’re in reverse scarf hold. Come up to side control.

Then two submissions. North/south to shoulder lock: First pinch your elbow in on one side, sliding the arm up until your hand meets the fabric along their torso; grab. Now, similar to the end of the previous drill, sit through from north/south to the side you’ve trapped, but this time, to reverse scarf hold (so post out on one leg and swing the other through the hole, with this leg going straight along their body). Your hips should point to the ceiling and you should still have their arm tight. Take your inside leg over and then down between their legs. Arch your hips up (not toward them, which is the tendency) to finish the shoulder lock.

Scarf hold to armbar: From side control, sit through to scarf hold. Slide your hand up to their wrist, then sneak your inside knee over their bicep, then sneak your whole leg over. Keep control of their wrist. Pinch their arm between your legs, being sure that their elbow stays above your legs. Good control position here (and they think “What in the world is she doing? She’s got nothing.” Ha!). Secure that trapped arm however you like your armbars, then push off them and spin your feet over their face to assume the armbar position. Feels a little weird, and so needs some practice, but a nice unexpected armbar setup.

One more control/position drill, this time when wanting to come up to knee-on-belly or when someone tries to push in to you from under side control. Emily talked about finding the “points” on your partner’s body that you can use to control their entire body. So, to get up to knee-on-belly, put one hand on their near shoulder and one on their far hip. Drop your weight through your hands as you pop up. Then, when you have side control and they’re trying to turn in, instead of trying to wrestle them in place, place one hand on their far shoulder and one on their far hip. As before, drop your weight through your hands.

Then king-of-the-hill sparring. Six or seven ladies (the highest belts — one brown, a few purples, and then blues) started out there and could sweep or submit. Those of us going out started in side control and had to mount or submit.

We took a short break and then came back for the second half of the seminar.

Emily started by talking about how to train: training with the right partners and having a plan/focus when you train to get better faster/more steadily. One suggestion that came up (from Jessica) was to train without arms, since our upper bodies aren’t comparable to the guys’ (and Jessica was actually bigger and stronger than most of the rest of us, and she said the guys still overpower her all the time). Emily also said that you’re only as good as your biggest weakness, so work on your weaknesses.

Then she talked a bit about visualization: how, if you want to float on someone, imagine that you’re a feather or a cloud, or if you want to be heavy, imagine that you’re a tree or a rock. Or if you’re trying to keep someone in close, imagine that you’re a vacuum cleaner. :P

Then back to drilling. Open and spider guard. Started with an individual drill, in Sit-up Guard (never knew it had a name), and then just moving around as she called out commands: “Forward,” “Backward,” “Left,” “Turn right,” etc. Then with a partner — one partner working the Sit-up Guard (with either a quick cross lapel choke or a sliding/clock choke, though from the front), and the other attempting to pass.

Next drill was using your feet to re-guard. Partner started standing in side control; reach your outside foot to their farther hip (toward your head); use that to turn back to square. That on both sides. Then partner stood in north/south; cross your legs and swing them over your head; get your feet on the outsides of their legs; then push off their legs to uncross yours and swing back to square.

Next drill was switching between positionings for the hook sweep and sickle sweep. (I actually didn’t know either of these coming in.) Start on your back, with your partner standing in front of you. One foot on their hip, the other behind their knee. Keep the foot on the hip; turn to the other side, dropping the foot from behind their knee to behind their opposite heel and grabbing the outside of the other ankle with your hand. Back to foot on hip, foot behind knee. Switch feet. Do the same thing on the other side.

Then we actually did the sweeps. Hook Sweep: One foot on their hip, the other behind their knee. Get sleeve control on the same side on which your foot is behind the knee. With the other hand, grab behind the ankle on the other side. Push on their hip, pull on their knee. Follow their momentum over to top half guard.

Sickle Sweep: One foot on their hip, the other behind their knee. Get sleeve control on the same side as the foot on the hip. Keep the foot on the hip; turn to the other side, dropping the foot from behind their knee to behind their opposite heel and grabbing the outside of the other ankle with your hand. Push on their hip while sweeping through with the bottom leg. Follow their momentum over to top half guard or side control.

Next we played with Spider Guard. Emily talked about never letting your four points of control — both hands and both feet — be in the same plane at the same time, else it’s too easy to break through. It’s like playing with a marionette — keep him moving.

First we just played Spider Guard with our partners. Then we worked an outside-in sweep: push one arm/hip point away. Pull the other leg out and wrap it over their arm and under to hook their triceps with your foot. Pull that leg in to collapse them. Move the other leg down, putting your ankle in front of their ankle, at the same time that you drop the other hand either under their leg or to the outside of their leg to grab the fabric. Drive your legs to the far side to sweep them, coming up to knee-on-belly.

We finished with a quick re-guard from a single spider guard hook (one sleeve/same leg) (for when the sneaky fast guys think they’ve passed), and then a simple palm-smacking duh! actual pass for when someone has a single spider guard control (one sleeve/same leg)… which I’m not going to mention yet because I think this one, more than anything else at the seminar, is what most girls are taking home to spring on their training partners. I’ll tell you after I get it multiple times in class this week.

Then we did a few more rounds of king-of-the-hill sparring followed by 3 three-minute rounds of full sparring. I got to spar with Liz (orange gi), Anne, and Shannon.

Dinner afterward, at an Italian restaurant a few blocks away, then followed Tori until I rear-ended her car. But she took me home with her and fed me. Definitely worth going.

Also, check out BJJEdge. They were recording parts of the seminar and said they would post some later.

Oh, right. I had to wash my belt. It reeked after being trapped in my bag for so long. Sadness.

Not yet. But class was a smoker! October 23, 2009

Posted by leslie in Training Log.
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So, Tim has been home all week recuperating from something. I finally found that out tonight. We will have this talk eventually…

Nicole, the girl who got knocked out by the Cannonball Kid, was back tonight, but at Krav Maga and not jiu-jitsu. She seems to be okay. Several of us stuck around to watch their class so we could talk with her afterward (and so several of the guys could flirt with her. :P ). I didn’t get to talk to her (*snort*), but I talked to the two other girls who were doing the class and who have also been doing some of the kickboxing classes. They said the Cannonball Kid has called them names and has hit them too hard, too — but, oh, he’s such a cute little kid!, they said. (I wonder if he knows they think that way about him… Anywho…) They said they’ve thought about trying jiu-jitsu, but their two fears are that 1) they won’t make it through the warmup and 2) he will tease them for it. I told them not to worry about it, that I didn’t make it through my first night, either, and that if he teases them I’ve got lots of guys who will choke him out. At which the guys perked up, so I explained, and they said, “Oh yeah, not a problem.”

I think when nearly everyone in an academy would love to knock the snot out of a particular person, that something should probably be done… maybe non-violently first, to let him know that he is, in fact, the problem.

I ate more carbs today. I try to eat low-carb, mostly fruits and veggies; today was Mexican at lunch, half a sweet potato around 3pm, and 3 scoops of CarboMax in my protein shake (~50 g carbs just there). Thank goodness I did.

Good group of guys tonight. No newbies, no knuckleheads. Just a group that works hard. Good.

Justin took a page out of Tim’s pre-tournament handbook. O. M. G. Not even sure I can remember everything.

Warmup. Jogging, high knees, butt kicks, side-to-side, bear crawls (2 laps! ugh). Stop where you’re at: jumping jacks, situps, triangle situps with guard pass, squat jumps. Mountain climbers between sets of pushups, 10, 5, 10. Was on my knees after the first set.

Then on the wall. Single line, starting at one corner. Go up the one side, across the top, and down the other side, back to the wall. Alligators (!), backwards bear crawls, forward rolls (I only rolled the two sides — too dizzy!), duck walks, lunges. Maybe something else near the beginning. Actually feeling pretty good until the duck walks and lunges. Quads burning! (But everyone else was equally demolished.)

Are we done? We’re not done. Rolling. Now? Pooh.

Started with Will. Sat down and had to shake my legs out; they didn’t want to move! Um… No idea, really. Seem to recall being stuck at the end of his open guard a lot (what else is new?). Trying to use Scott’s advice and get inside as if after a guard break. Not so much luck; he used lots of hooks. Swept lots. Under side control, turn to my side, top elbow in to defend the D’Arce. Want single leg, can’t reach legs. Pfft. Did get one, though he wedged in for the D’Arce as I did; I took him over, but he pulled me in. Don’t remember if he finished it or if he let me escape. Tapping lots all night, though. Right now trying not to “just fight” a tap; if I have a defense, try it; if not, eh, whatever, just tap. No big deal. (And it’s funny how suddenly it really does become eh, no biggie.) The rest of the round, I have no clue.

Twenty pushups. Now we know for sure what kind of night this is.

Guillaume: Rolled with him later, too, so fuzzy (and brain still tired). Got his back at one point, got him flattened, and got the choke. He tapped with just his thumb; if I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have known. Advised him to tap more obviously. Oh, goodness, oxygen needed. Later got mount and could hold it pretty well (thanks to having what I needed to do spelled out by Meg and Penny Thomas). Trying for an americano — and, in my opinion, not doing too shabby a job getting his elbows to pop out and then pinning the arm with my entire body while my arms went to work. He could press his arm out, though, so we finished the rest of the round like that.

Partner drill — one partner stands to start. Other partner shoots/crawls through their legs, then turns. First partner bends over at the waist (and tucks their head!). Second partner then plants hands on first partner’s back and bounds over. 10 each.

Justin: Wanted to try to match his recent fast pace. Had trouble getting anything started from the knees, though, as he’d hand fight if I was hand fighting and defend if I tried to sweep or pass. So really had to wait on him to initiate something, either pulling me in to butterfly or coming in and taking me over. Caught several times, though don’t remember. Did, though, tap early since I didn’t want to hear any more pianos! I think I had a few escapes and defenses that were somewhat okay, though mostly I was defending under side control and knee on belly (ack, knee on belly! Ribs still bruised.) He wasn’t going quite as fast as he had been the last few times, either because he was a bit tired (after practice conditioning last night was apparently brutal, plus he was doing everything with us) or because he was just playing. Some decent posturing up in his guard, though immediately swept with pendulum sweeps. Right to my side, though, and working knee/elbow escapes, not that he stays still long enough for it to work.

20 squat jumps. Was slow. Quads/hips so tired. Was last. But finished.

Sundance: Really starting to get tired now. Justin calls out for all of us to keep pushing, keep going. Oh. Okay. I do it. Don’t remember much except that we actually rolled in to the wall at one point. He caught several things; I tapped early.

20 pushups, 20 situps, 20 squats. Was not last. Could finally see that the guys are gasping and having trouble, too.

Done yet? Not done yet.

Will again: He let me pass his open guard and half guard several times. Once, though, he worked near my back and caught a reverse armbar and nearly had an omoplata later. Got to work knee on belly, though he did the escape from Saturday; tried catching the guillotine off that, but always lost his head. Hmm. He let me transition for a while between side control, north/south, other side control, and knee on belly — a bit stuttering, but moving. But surprised myself too much and didn’t know what to do. Caught his far elbow flaring and wanted the spinning armbar, but he sat up in to me. Tried to get to his back; actually had both hooks at one point but couldn’t pull myself around. Tried to change it up to a triangle, since I still had that arm, but couldn’t work out which foot goes where. He finally escaped and I ended up under side control again. I might have actually made him work a bit there, though. Kept trying to get to X-guard with everyone, but no one really wanted that and moved far away.

Something in there, I think, but don’t remember what.

Guillaume again: Surprising myself with a guard pass right off and lots of transitions. Eventually took his back with the technique Buddy and I worked a little while ago. Couldn’t get the choke because he was peeling my arms off. Tried switching to the armbar, but didn’t do something right with my legs and got the bottom one trapped. Pooh. Took mount instead. He did the knee/elbow escape and got to half guard. I passed his half guard! Had his far-side arm near kimura’d, since he’d handed it to me like that, and pressure in his throat to help with that one. Then tried to finish that kimura, actually trapping the near arm correctly first; he could still lift me with it, though, so switched to knee on belly. Far elbow flared, so went for the spinning armbar. He grabbed his hands. Went for the Oh dearie me triangle (where you “mess up” the armbar to get them to sit up into the triangle), but he wouldn’t sit up. Finally shifted to mount and got that triangle locked up. That thing was deep, and it was tight, and he didn’t tap. Pulled him over (hmm, on second thought, sitting on his face was probably the better choice… gravity on my side), and tried to finish there. (Just remembered, I’ve been pointing out getting the angle to guys, and I probably could’ve had a better angle — although, that thing was tight.) Still no tapping… Ah, okay, there it is. When I let go, his face was purple! He said after class that he’d been trying to see how long he could hold out before he passed out. (Had a talk with him about that.) I think I got back to mount to finish off the round.

On the wall. Nearly crawling, but I got there. Partner up. 5 lifts, then carry down; 5 lifts, then carry back. Partnering up went a little odd, and it was going to be me and Big Tom… Um, that’s not gonna work (5′2″, 125lbs with 6′2″, 220lbs. Yeah, no.) Justin switched us around a bit; I got to work with him. Getting dizzy on that last set of lifts, but managed to catch my breath, clear my vision, and get them done.

Almost there. 3 trips each of single legs and then single leg/sprawl and then done. So. Slow. So. Tired. Everyone else finished. Big Tom and I did the last two runs together, slapped hands, and immediately eased down to the mat. Ow.

After class, Justin and Will wanted more punishment and did pyramided kettlebell swings. Then everyone sat around to wait for the Krav class to end to check on Nicole.

That’s when Guillaume told me he’d been trying to hold on as long as possible in that triangle. (He wasn’t trying to escape, just to hold on.) I said that that wasn’t very smart and that I did not want to choke him out, that I would feel very badly about it. I said that it’s okay to work escapes when you’re rolling with someone who you know won’t try to hurt you for it, but don’t just try to hold on and see how long you can last.

Also talked a bit with one of the other guys, who was asking me how long I’d been training and when I’d gotten my blue belt. (The natives are getting restless… Most guys under Tim get their blue in a year; a year and half, like me, is getting toward the long end, though there is currently one guy who’s trained at least a few months longer than me and is still white.) He said he “can’t wait” to get his blue. He’s a smaller guy, so I just laughed and told him how, yeah, it’s great and all, but then everyone starts smashing you as hard as they can because they want to prove that they can beat you so they should get theirs, too. Reminded him that you usually get your blue belt as soon as you quit worrying about it and just focus on technique and rolling. (This guy, last I rolled with him, was starting to show some good technique. So if he keeps that up, I think he won’t be too far off. I’ve been meaning to roll with him, too, to check on him. Will have to do that soon.)

Ran across this article yesterday from Scientific American. What I got from it is: you learn better when you try but get it wrong (and then, of course, get the right answer), rather than just memorizing the right answers. You know, I remember studying in college and taking the practice tests; on the real test, I always seemed to do better with the questions I’d gotten wrong and had to correct on the practice tests. Hmm… Something to that… Of course, they did this with book learning and not with jiu-jitsu, but still.

Have had some free time at work (!) the last few days and so gave a piece of my mind a new home. Usual ramblings, this time on being a woman and training. Comments, insights, violent disagreements — all welcome.

I met a girl at Open Mat September 25, 2009

Posted by leslie in Training Log.
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Will and I met at 4 today to roll so he could do the kickboxing class at 5. I was a little late because my manager kept saying, “Oh, one more thing!” Aaaa! Started with 7 minutes to warm up, then 10 minutes, and then 15. Between rounds, we’d review a position or strategy. Very useful Open Mat.

Saw one reason I’m getting D’Arced so often: under side control, I’m reaching for the far leg to sweep and opening up the space under my top arm. Aha. I had to get D’Arced to figure that one out.

Found how he’s been getting to my back: if I turn away from him under side control, he kimura-grips my top arm and works his legs around for the armbar. My usual defense is to tuck my head closer to my arm and bring my top knee up to my arm, effectively turtling on my side and preventing his legs from getting in place. He then pulls me back and over and takes my back. Figured that out finally, but got armbarred anyway.

During one break, he mentioned that when I turn on my side under side control — and that even when he actually tries to muscle things in there — he has a hard time with it. So he said to keep doing it. Later, I wanted to work bridging from under side control, and he came back to how I’m turning now (which I said was in response to not being able to bridge well) and said that Justin had told him a while back to not even let them get you to where you have to bridge, that your chances of getting out decrease significantly from there. So we’re back to advocating the current turning-in idea.

We also discussed my single-under passes. He said that once I had his leg, it felt to him as if I had the pass whenever I wanted it but that I just wasn’t taking it. I said I felt blocked, that he was constantly squaring up his hips and sitting up and that the weight of his leg was preventing me from getting around. He suggested 1) going for it more aggressively, that I’m getting in there and controlling the leg but just not finishing and 2) if I really am blocked coming around the outside, to go to the inside instead.

We also worked on my scissor sweep because, anytime I try it, the guys sprawl and hug my legs together and then pass to side control. (Will does this to me every time, too.) He showed me something Justin had shown him, to get an overhook on one arm and use that to keep their posture down and then to sweep them to the other side. That prevents them from getting their arms around your legs to counter. (That overhook would also make transitioning to the pendulum sweep easier in nogi. Ahhh…)

And we worked the triangle off the failed scissor sweep — if they post out with the arm you’re not overhooking before you can grab it, frame off their arm with your hand and then bring your knee through the hole under their arm. Then right to triangle. Still has some kinks, though.

Overall, had a few sweeps, mostly elevator-esque because that’s what we’ve been doing all week. In the third round, did have that single-leg pass that we’d talked over earlier, and one where I turned to the inside. Got to mount, even, right at the end of that round.

While we were working, Perry was giving a private kickboxing lesson to a girl. When she and we were both finished, Perry said something to her about coming to try the jiu-jitsu classes. She said she wasn’t sure, that it looked intimidating, so Will and I started talking to her about it. (And this is the “wants to do all the classes” girl and the one Yoshi said was “smokin’ hot.”)

I think we convinced her to try class on Thursday. She said she has a friend, a guy, who trains down in Roanoke (at Hybrid, I’m guessing, since there’s nowhere else there to train) but is a student at Tech, who she may talk in to coming with her. She said her friend told her that “once you go down, you won’t come back up” (i.e., once you start training grappling, you won’t want to strike).

And Perry said if she starts training ground, then she has to talk me in to training standup again. Oi!!

Headaches & Toothaches September 24, 2009

Posted by leslie in Training Log.
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I went to the dentist today after work. Ugh, the waiting room is the worst — I had to wait for an hour and listen to drills and other noises, and my imagination was coming up with all sorts of terrible things! Thankfully, though, the dentist said my teeth would be fine, and he sanded down the rough edges (but the sander is not a fun thing to have in your mouth — it smokes!). I also had him look at another tooth injury, unrelated to last week; he sanded that down, too. Now my mouth feels all weird, and my tongue doesn’t have anything to play with in there.

I’m going back next week for a routine cleaning, and he’ll take an impression of my teeth for a custom mouthpiece then. (You’re off the hook so far, Tom — no pain yet. I’ll hold off a final verdict until we see if I have any cavities. :/ )

Also, my head has been hurting since last week. Mostly it’s a low-level buzz-type of headache (though at the game on Saturday, amidst all the screaming fans — and some screaming of my own — it cranked up to skull-splitting intensity). Now the headache has a nausea rider, which is making getting through the work day difficult. Had to take a half-day from work yesterday to sleep. Feel more rested, but still have the headache/nausea. Bleh. I feel perfectly fine during class, though, not even dizzy or nauseated.

Oddly, chewing gum makes it all feel better for a little while. So I’ve been chewing lots of gum.

Reading this post and also thinking about my own recent observations that my game seems to be a game of patience and opportunity.

Tim was at class last night and apparently slaughtered them. Justin was betting that few, if any, of the guys from last night would show up; I think in the end, 2 or 3 of them did.

Similar size to how Thursdays have been, with 2 new guys and few knuckleheads. Warmup, eh. I should be getting acclimated to this, shouldn’t I? And yet I often feel as if this is the first time through in a long while. I didn’t get to have my normal pre-class shake, but really, missing that once in a while shouldn’t throw me off so much, should it? Pleh.

Thankfully, nothing after the forward/backwards rolls.

Then to rolling. With Guillaume first. (Will was being sicced on new guys.) Wanting elevator sweep, but he wasn’t having it; although, he’d back up and put his legs in front, and then I had an easy pass through to mount. … Drat, rolled with him twice, and everything’s blurring together. Caught an armbar on each side (first one was horrendous technique, but he hardly tried to escape so I had time to fix it). Got to his back once, but couldn’t solidify the position; he turned over there and I had one of the armbars. I think I fought to top for most of this round.

Then with Will. Gah, the open guard is my nemesis right now! I finally got in only to triangle myself. Doh. Then fending off D’Arces and defending my back. I can’t remember right now how he got to my back, but he was there at least twice and he got there the same way each time. Need to work that out, and then start defending before he gets me around. Not from turtle, is all I remember.

To drilling. Elevator sweep again. Then a counter for a counter to the sweep. When you scoot in for the underhook, the guy is probably going to smartly pummel for his own underhook on that side and start working his head under your chin. Whizzer tight over his underhooked arm. With your free arm, as usual, scoop his posted arm in, grabbing the wrist. Pull his wrist in toward your whizzered hand, and then use that hand to grab your own wrist. Push his wrist down between his legs while lifting with the hook and rolling over your shoulder (as usual). Come up in mount with his arm still trapped. Triangle or armbar to finish.

Worked with Joe, who hadn’t been in this week until last night (and there wasn’t any drilling last night), so worked on teaching it to him. (Hey, I can say things now to my partner during drilling and not get yelled at! Bonus!)

More rolling. Same partner. Joe knows wrestling, so starting from the knees is all wrestling. I can’t get control of my neck and head back enough to do anything; he just bends my forehead to the mat. Once I could finally get down to my side, though, I could move better. Even had a few sweeps, and got around to side control a couple of times, though couldn’t hold it. (Something I’d been thinking about since rolling with Yoshi a while ago — when I was trying to get around that last bit to side control, he was posting off my near hip so I had no control of my hip. I realized later I should instead use his posting to isolate his arm more, and then turn in with the other hip to scarf hold. Remembered that and did that here with Joe, and it worked!) He nearly armbarred me from the top with my arm stretched straight out on the mat! Didn’t think that was possible, but I suppose it’s something to watch for…

One more round, with Guillaume again. Right off, I went for an elevator sweep. This time, he posted up the leg I was aiming for, so I tried to dive under him and come out the back (Adam was coaching me from the sidelines during most of this roll, and also called this out right as I saw it, too), except my shoulder went in funky and then he dropped his weight and something hurt, so I yelped and we stopped. Seemed fine; it just got turned funny. A few seconds to wiggle it all around, and then back at it.

Wanted elevator sweeps again; he’d sit back, so I’d come up and over to mount. Not holding it well this time, though; often pushed back down to half guard. So tried to work my shoulder pressure; need to work on the angles, though, because I don’t think I was getting to his chin and/or was leaving my weight on my forearm/elbow. (Meant to ask him, but forgot.) At one point, I even pulled my arm entirely out and tried to post just with my shoulder; that was when he was trying to guillotine me, too, so I was definitely working for the von Flue there. His legs finally did loosen enough to pass, so possibly I was getting something up there. Had one pass — it’s a single-leg pass, I suppose (the only thing I can find in my books is a defense for it in Jiu-Jitsu University in 17-1) (I thought I’d learned it in class but can’t find it in my techniques), and it’s what I often refer to as a pressure or patience pass — and instead of stopping at side control, where I usually get stymied, spun through clear to north/south. Tried for the kimura. Got the arm up but couldn’t control it; he was pulling and pushing me around with that arm. Somehow we rolled through several other positions, and I somehow kept that kimura grip, though couldn’t quite finish it before he’d roll us over again. Adam kept telling me to drop my weight on my left hip, but that didn’t make any sense with the position we were in. Time ran out right then, though, so he showed me what he’d meant, and it had involved rolling along Guillaume’s chest to turn my left hip over and back down in to him. Ah! Not at all what my brain had come up, so no wonder I couldn’t figure it out.

Spin-the-wheel pizza after. I was one space away from a free 14″ pizza! (Although, knowing these guys, they’d probably try to make me eat the whole thing.)

Meeting Will for Open Mat tomorrow. No class scheduled for Saturday. (I’ll talk to Will tomorrow; if it’s not too far for him to come on Saturday, maybe we’ll go in then again.) And my friend called me while we were at dinner, and I’m meeting her on Monday for dinner, so no class for me until Tuesday.

No news is good news? September 17, 2009

Posted by leslie in Training Log.
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Can’t use my front teeth — any pressure on that top part hurts! So I’m having to cut my food smaller and slide it in on the side so I don’t accidentally bop the tooth. Although, I can’t completely chew my food because I sometimes knock in to it with the top teeth, so I’m swallowing my foot more whole. Liquid diet, here I come. *le sigh* Also, my nose is bruised all around the bridge. Very tender.

The little 14-year-old kid’s dad asked me before class how my tooth and nose were. He’d seen both hits. Said he was glad my nose wasn’t broken; he’d been a bit worried. As for my tooth, he had heard my teeth snap together from the other side of the mat and had sent Tim over to check on me.

I’m really starting to enjoy Thursday nogi nights — small class size and not too many knuckleheads. One new guy. (Apparently Wednesdays are huge classes with lots of knuckleheads.)

Short warmup. Only one run on squat jumps, but pushed through all the rest. Slow, but finished.

Then to hand-fighting for double unders. First with the little 14 year old. He’s a wrestler, and he was going pretty hard, so I turned it up to match him. This is more his element. Then with Guillaume. I did hit an armdrag to get his back a couple of times until he figured out what I was doing. Then with Will, who’d had to come in late and so was fresh here. My arms were tired.

After class, I noticed that my neck was hurting from all the clinching.

Then to drilling. Armbar from guard. Worked with Will. As we were drilling, Justin came around and stood over us and watched for a minute or so, and then walked off. We looked at each other, and Will said, “I guess no news is good news?” I agreed and said that’s usually how I interpret it, too. (Although, with the knucklesheads, no news means “you’re hopeless.” But when I mess up, they’re always quick to tell me.) We both got a “Very good” on his second or third lap around the class. (Good news is good news, too. ;) )

I made a comment near the end of drilling that I wished I could do it like this when I rolled. And then Will said that that’s probably hard for me because most of the guys just go Incredible Hulk on me. Then when we starting rolling, he tried to pretend he was hitting Hulk rage. Didn’t turn green, though.

On to rolling. With Will first. Trying to pass his open guard. Bleh. That might’ve been most of the round. He got a triangle at one point. I tried what I’ve been trying — overhooking the leg with the arm that’s trapped. Even grabbed it with the other hand from the bottom, but couldn’t quite keep control of my elbow; he was doing a good job with his hips and that leg of pushing my shoulder and getting the space. Justin called out for him to do an omoplata; I tried to set up the nonoplata but he had too much pressure on my arm, and then tried to walk around before he sat up, but he caught my hip and then came up. Then he got control of my free arm, and I was done. Good, though. Then back to trying to pass his open guard. Pfffffffffft.

Next with Guillaume. Felt as if I was transitioning well. He tried to stuff me into an armbar or triangle from guard; we stayed in the triangle for a while. He even asked me after class what he’d needed to do/was it tight, but I couldn’t remember; I might have had the other hand in. (I finally really need to remember something that happened during a roll, and I can’t! I suppose now I have to start paying attention to that sort of thing.) I got near side control and knee-on-belly several times, but he was bumping and pulling in knees and elbows, and I could never quite consolidate the positions. Did transition to north/south once and tried the kimura, but his shoulders are still too flexible. Did remember (!!) the kimura off the kimura, but messed it up and lost control of the arm and then lost him. Did catch a half-spinning armbar from north/south (instead of from knee-on-belly/side control), though he caught hold of his arm. Tried Mark’s suggestion from Monday, but I didn’t get my feet quite right; instead of sitting up into a triangle, he sat up into the end of an armbar from guard — and I saw it and snapped it up. North/south again later, this time on his even more flexible shoulder; I had my kimura grip backwards, so I was pulling his arm instead of pushing it across (maybe that’s what I was doing wrong on Monday, too); once I fixed the grip and transitioned around to his front just a smidge, though, it was right there.

Afterward, I thanked him for not trying to “get revenge” on me if I catch him in something and explained that most of the guys would. He just smiles, acknowledges that he got caught, and then continues to roll at the same speed, maybe a smidge more intense, but never trying to tear my limbs off. He said for me, he would work very hard this next week on trying to get mean. Silly boys.

Last round with Justin. I got my butt kicked royally. Whohoo! It’s not that I mind being submitted in class, because I certainly don’t (I’m a big believer in teaching someone what not to do by submitting them when they screw up); it’s only that I’d rather it be with something that I can eventually learn to defeat through technique. And there were plenty of those: D’Arce, anaconda, 2 armbars, heel hook (set in very slowly, and he made sure I could see what he was doing), kneebar, Twister, and at least 2 others, probably more. Long round, too, because he was also the timekeeper. I kept trying the elevator sweep from butterfly, since he was letting me start there, but he’d just float on my hook and maybe do a headstand before passing. (After class, I asked him where I was messing it up, and he said I wasn’t; he was just defending. But he did review it with me and show me how to use the underhook to pull them down and sideways [not on top of you].) I caught several half-guards, though couldn’t sweep him; usually was immediately defending D’Arces, and then he’d pass to side control. Did even catch the deep half-guard he’d worked on me Tuesday when he was trying to get fancy with something, but he knew the counters better than I could vaguely remember the one sweep (Homer Simpson, I think) that he & Yoshi had played with before class Tuesday. Even defended my back decently for a while until he’d completely set up the Twister (and it came just when I thought I’d figured a way out. Doh!) One armbar came after I’d defended several other armbars; he finally spun and caught an arm that had gotten out of position.

And then afterwards he said I was rolling really good. Squee! And he has definitely picked up the pace and intensity with me, which is further proof. Double squee! Good news is good news. :P

After class, Spin-the-Wheel pizza. I totally forgot about my teeth and so tagged right along. I won a cookie, and they had to cook my pizza, so I started nibbling on the cookie. Guillaume laughed at me for breaking the cookie off in little pieces, asking if I was trying to not eat too much before my pizza came. I told him about my tooth and how I can’t bite down with the front teeth. Then I got a bit of ribbing from Justin for not wearing my mouthguard (*snort* like he’s one to talk — he doesn’t wear one, either), and then even more teasing when I had to cut my pizza into itsy bitsy bites. Geez, pizza takes forever to eat that way…

Girl Sighting

The girl who wants to do everything finally did show up last night, though she only did Perry’s kickboxing class. Perry has a couple of other college girls in there who are giggly (and I really want to punch them sometimes), but he said this girl really worked hard and didn’t giggle.

So after class tonight, Yoshi was telling someone that the guy had missed it last night, that there was a “smokin’ hot girl” in Perry’s class. I commented that that was probably the girl who has said she wants to do jiu-jitsu, to which Yoshi responds, “Awesome — we’ll have a hot girl in jiu-jitsu!”

I pretended to be offended. “Hey now! Wanna amend that statement?” Yoshi: “Huh? Wha…?” The guys standing around with him were a little quicker to catch on and started laughing with me. He still stood there looking around saying “Huh?” until I pointed at myself. “Oh!! Right. Um, so, um, we’ll have another girl in jiu-jitsu…?” “Oo, burn!” Mock kickboxing battle ensued. Yoshi surrendered when I feinted a kick to head level. (That always unnerves them.)

There were a few more side comments that they didn’t think I heard about how “hot” this girl is, and this from several of them who were there last night. So apparently she is. I guess we’ll see how that goes…