Girl sighting October 1, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: escape, grrls, guillotine, mount, pressure
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The girl did actually come tonight. I was figuring she wasn’t, since it was already 7 and she wasn’t there, but she came a few minutes after; we were running late tonight, though, so it didn’t matter.
Before class, Brandon and I were goofing around on exercise balls. He tried flat-out jumping up on one; looked like a cartoon character: his feet bounced off and flew straight up, he fell to one side, bounced sideways on the ball again, and then hit the floor. Then we rolled for about fifteen minutes. I triangled myself once or twice; didn’t defend quite right when he tried for the double-armbar from guard. Wanted to work the floating from Tuesday, but only saw the top once. Mostly defending a slow set-up north/south kimura — he’d get the grip when I was still on my back, and then would try to pull me up and get his legs around, but that gave me too much space and time. Pointed that out afterward.
Small class; short warmup, though we repeated shrimping and single-legs a lot while Justin worked with the new girl. Both runs on squat jumps, though, and actually good jumps! On the second run, my legs even felt stronger than on the first. I think I was getting deeper and/or extending more. Or something.
Then to rolling. Justin put me with the new girl, but she doesn’t know anything at all yet. So I decided to just show her positions instead. After a few minutes of that, Justin looks over at me and asked what we were doing, then he switched with me and I went over to drill with Sundance. He had to have surgery on his finger (it’s been a long while ago now, too) for a tendon, and is out for another 4-6 weeks. Geez, and I spaz when I have to miss just 1 week. We worked a few armbars on his non-injured hand, and then he let me work D’Arce from half guard. He pointed out that once I suck their head in, I should let go of half guard and then sink my top hip. Practiced that a few times; he was tapping fast and said it was tight.
Justin continued working with the girl for the next round, so I got to roll with Buddy. Had some good things, like D’Arce defenses; triangled myself again, though. And then he caught some sneaky reverse triangle/double kimura thingy; even he said it was sneaky. Still on the bottom, though, or against his open guard.
Drilling was knee-elbow escape from mount. (I call this one the “scrape” version.) Bridge and get them down to your hips. Brace on one of their hips to turn to one side. The leg that’s closest to the ground stays flat; the other leg crosses over the bottom one and hooks on the outside of their leg on that side. Scrape their leg over your bottom leg so now their shin is on top of your bottom thigh. Use your bottom elbow for leverage on their knee while bringing the knee of the bottom leg under their leg and up to meet your elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Lock up half guard. Either start playing half guard or continue to full guard, which is what we did tonight. Elbow of the bottom arm leverages against their knee (now the opposite knee from before). Unlock the half guard and bring the bottom knee through to meet the bottom elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Circle that foot out and square up to guard.
I worked with the girl. Did it a couple of times on her so she could see it again and feel it and then let her work. Justin came around and helped walk her through it, too. Mostly just let her work.
More rolling. Started with the girl. Going super easy. Mostly just gently swept her and went to mount, then let her work the escape; when she got back to guard, broke the guard gently and did knee-through pass to mount again. After I’d passed a couple of times, she figured out the scissor sweep position all on her own (though she didn’t know what it was) to block my pass, so I’d move around for a different one and go back to mount. Afterward she was asking about the way I was always keeping some pressure somewhere on her while moving. (And I was using light pressure and only in a small place, like my forehead on her hip, and was keeping distance to make sure I wouldn’t accidentally hit her.)
Justin worked with her one more time while I went with the little 14 year old, so not much harder than the last round. Did tip him over, er, sweep him once and took mount; he started thrashing around. I finally clamped down on him and said, “We just drilled this.” “Oh. Right.” Little spazzy and needed some walking through it. He jumped away from guard and went for another no-chance guillotine. I came up in his guard at another point, and he was grabbing for arms and letting them go, half coming up for bump sweep then dropping down; I didn’t even have to defend anything because he was all over the place on his own. Afterwards, I told him that he needed to slow down when he rolled and to try to work the techniques that we drill in class, that they do work when you do them right and not when you try to rush through them. I also showed him the guillotine from guard, which I’d meant to do on Tuesday. He was very surprised that the correct position is from full guard; he’s tried it from every other position.
I was going to hang around to talk to the girl, but she went over to join Perry’s Krav class. (I do think she may have gotten the impression that jiu-jitsu is indeed the “gentle art” from working with just me and Justin. She mentioned something at one point about it being so much slower than she expected… So she may be back, but with expectations that aren’t going to be met for much longer. Hrrrmm…)
Spin-the-Wheel Pizza after. Brandon and I were both one space away from a free pizza; Justin and Guillaume both won zeppolis. My heros 
(But with two of them on the table, we couldn’t finish it all!)
Numb tongue! September 15, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: back mount, gi, guillotine, kimura
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This is why we wear a mouthguard, kids… Got hit in the face several times tonight; thought about putting in my mouthguard — I’ve been rolling without it since the last tournament — but never did. Then Big Jesse’s knee came up when my chin came down. Chipped one tooth, looks like I cracked another; teeth also feel out of alignment. Baby Orajel all over my tongue and lips right now. Might have managed to get some on my gums where I meant to.
Medium-sized class. I noticed tonight that my blue Koral top is kind of big on me — the sleeves near cover my hands even when I hold my arms out to the sides! So I might be trying to shrink that one a little…
Rolling to warmup. Tim paired with me a new white belt guy, but he had an HCK gi so I guessed it wasn’t his first time on the mat. We started, and that was confirmed — he knew what he was doing, and was actually trying to use techniques and not just muscle to work with me. Thanks, dude. Couldn’t sweep him for trying, though. Had guard a lot; under side control some, but could escape back to guard. Pulled a little half guard, but still couldn’t sweep. Had several looks at triangles, but always forgot to pull the arm across first (all were on the side where I forget). He tried a triangle from mount; I escaped out the back, though he dumped me back under side control easily. Heard later that he’s trained for the last 2 summers.
Then Tim let me roll with Justin. He caught lots — D’Arce & guillotine are all I remember right now, but I recall at least 3 others. Did defend a kneebar decently; he started to turn it into a heel hook, then seemed to remember that I don’t know those yet, so he lightly set it up (I do at least know what that looks like), paused, and then let go. He was working deep half guard sweeps that I couldn’t find an answer for. Nothing from me at all.
Then with Guillaume. Why am I so tired? Pooh. Then again, I wasn’t so hungry today and so didn’t eat much. Maybe that’s it… maybe I’m just being wimpy… Got to a Big Poppa choke early, but couldn’t stay in place; he got just one hand back under my shoulder and pried me off. Came up to knee on belly, then down to side control; tried a quick choke from there, but he was reaching around with his inside arm and pulling me off balance, so switched to north/south. Tried to set up the north/south kimura but couldn’t get him on his side; he was hugging me down, too, so stuck there for a bit. Finally got loose and to knee on belly on the other side; could keep him there, but couldn’t get anything set up. He finally rolled away from me. I got one hook in, but couldn’t get the other and couldn’t get my arms in because he was pulling them both away. Eventually got the second hook in; he was sitting on his butt, with his legs out in front, and his nose on his feet — and he stayed there the rest of the round, quite comfortable, while I tried to get a choke in.
On the wall for drills. Alligators, squat jumps, forward rolls, single legs, single leg/sprawl. The energy, there is none. Zero. Slow jog back. One run on squat jumps and single leg/sprawl. Still moving, but just barely.
One more round. Tim paired me with one of the kids. I can barely stand, and I’m sweating like crazy and can’t catch my breath, and this kid looks like he just walked in to class. It was quickly a wrestling match and a smash-me-flat game. This felt like an MMA round — I was punched and kicked and elbowed, generally all in the face, and elbowed so hard in the nose once that I had to stop. (Which, note, he did not apologize for.) I hunkered down and just defended through most of it, because Tim’s always on me to toughen up, but I do not want to roll with him again. I really think he’s trying to hurt me on purpose.
Drilling next. A half-guard sprawl pass similar to this one. After you sprawl back, instead of coming straight around to side control, this time come in and pinch on their lower legs. Now if you have room, shoot your back hand under their legs and grab on the other side. Pull their legs slightly backward as you walk around toward their head to side control. If you don’t have a lot of room there to get under, you can still keep your weight on their upper legs while you step over and move up to side control. You can also walk up their body to mount.
Drilled with Will, and we played with several of the variations.
One more round, and Tim put me with Big Jesse. Jesse wanted submissions. Kimuras, especially. Got them from several positions. A few armbars to mix it up, too. And a RNC that was more like The Rack — he’d gotten one hand just under the edge of my chin and was pulling up while his legs pulled down. I don’t seem to stretch far in that direction. A somewhere in there, the loud Pow! as his knee collided with my teeth. (Why is everyone beating me up tonight?! But there’s no feeling of malice from Jesse.) Took a minute or so to check it out, then went to get my mouthguard. This felt like a ridiculously long round.
So, mouthguard is going back to being my new old friend. I think it’s too big, which is part of the trouble, but it’s already a kids’ size! Pooh.
In which I did something right, and it worked! August 13, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: armbar, guard, guillotine, nogi, RNC, sweep
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Ugh, last minute meeting from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Does not like. But class isn’t until 7, so I still had plenty of time.
Small class, surprising for nogi. Maybe everyone comes on Wednesdays now. I’m still taking that and Fridays off. I think it’s already made some difference, at least for Thursdays and Saturdays — I don’t feel so much like collapsing in a heap before we even warmup. So, that’s good.
Little bit of warmup. Only did one run one the squat jumps because again I burned out my quads. Glutes and hammies not firing, tsk, tsk.
Partnered up to work armbar from guard next, I think. (Some fuzzies…) Worked with the little 14 year old. Justin had to come teach him how to do them since he hasn’t done them before. 10 a side per partner.
Then to rolling with the same partner. I was trying to stay on the bottom and let him to side control so I could work bridging, but he didn’t seem to like that plan and would instead try to leap in to mount. Did get one semi-decent bridge in there, though my hips were still collapsing on me. Again some work with my eyes closed. A few sweeps. He was getting to positions and then trying to pull or squeeze on something that didn’t do anything, so I’d just chill. If there was space, would move out. He got a head scissors at one point and had one arm extended, but he was finishing neither; I even left my arm out there. (I think that was this round, or maybe it was the last one.) Let him to mount a few times, but he wasn’t going for the armbar that Tim just taught him Tuesday, so I’d work on my knee/elbow escape.
Drilling scissor sweep next (I think). Took me a few moments of fiddling to figure out how to do it nogi; for some reason my brain was insisting on doing it like in gi and couldn’t figure out how to grab the collar. Doh. Worked with the kid again. Justin and Tim taught him how to do it.
Another roll, this time with Will. Didn’t feel like I was moving well, though that was mostly because he was tight on everything. Got in on his open guard and to half; got close to passing, but he hipped around and through. Had the thought of getting to his back once from under half-guard, but didn’t quite get all my limbs orgainzed and got flattened back out. Eh. Under mount and side control a lot.
Drilling next was the second armbar from a few months ago, except with climbing your legs up to get to their shoulders. Drilled with Will. Both our shoulders were creaking and crunching and being uncomfortable the whole time. Oh, and we did the Can Opener jingle. 
The one in guard would start as if doing a can opener and so had to sing the little…yeah, you probably had to be there. (We were in stitches, though.)
Then rolling again. Tim put me with a newer guy, though from what I’ve seen and heard, he seems as if he might have some experience (or has watched lots of YouTube…). I do remember this one. Anyway, he grabbed my wrists straight off and tried to pull me into his guard; I got a knee up, but he locked his guard up anyway. I worked to stretch backward against his feet, trying to make space to slip my arms for the double-under pass; he unwittingly obliged by dropping his guard. Got the arms under, hands clasped, and his hips sucked in; he doesn’t know the counter to the double-under that we’ve learned, though he was reaching around and trying to pull my ankles (had him stacked, was completely sprawled, and he could still reach my ankles). Had to fight to keep that stack. I think he’d finally had enough of his knees up his nose because he finally relaxed, and I managed to almost pass correctly — at the last moment he seemed to realize what I was doing and tried to push me off with his legs again, so I had to come up and around his knee, but did get around and to side control. Got the position, got the control; he locked his arms around me, so I started for the head-and-arm choke, but he picked me up and swept me.
Recovered guard, and then heard Scott’s voice in my head telling me to go for more bump sweeps. The guy was obliging again by sitting up and trying to break my guard. First two, he could base out the arm on the side I was going for and I couldn’t get him over; might not have also been getting my hips into it like I should. Third one, I knew he’d base again, so I went up, he did, and I switched my arm around to the guillotine. Got the shallower grip, which is all I tend to get since my arms are so short. Sat back, got my second hand in to grip, got the cheesecutter action going; legs extending, back arching, but arms and head staying in over his head mostly; hips even popped out a bit to the side to get it just a little deeper. — Felt as if I nearly had everything almost spot on. — He tried to pull my arm off, which seemed to trigger my hips to move out. He tried to hold on but finally had to tap. (Can I have just a teensy tiny squeal now? I did something right and it worked! I promise I hardly cracked a smile then, just moved to reset since we were about to get steamrolled by another pair, and kept right on going.)
He came out charging pretty good to start with. Had a moment of panic, of “oh, crap, why did I finish a submission on a guy I don’t even know?! Bad idea!” Under half guard for a while to start with; I may have had a sweep that got me to top half-guard, but I couldn’t pass and eventually got reversed. He was trying lots of elbow-in-throat moves. Grr. Bumped them off and tried to take his back off them, though didn’t get anywhere. He got to mount, and then he seemed to calm down a bit and was concentrating on ripping an arm up. I’ve had lots of practice on my little T-rex arms, though, so the rest of the round was us here. He did try to control my head with one arm, and I’d try to upa, but no luck. A few more attempts at elbow-in-throat, but I could bump it across or move him with my legs to take the pressure off; he didn’t try to grind it in like most guys do, but just kind of held it there with light pressure. Still no likey.
Straight to rolling for the last round. Tim started to put me with one of the bigger guys (not excited about this), but then switched him out with the little 14 year old. (He also mouthed to me, “He’s having a bad day,” so the kid wouldn’t see. Not so much in class, but from stuff that happened earlier in the day, so he’d been distracted and/or frustrated for most of the class.) So I decided to do my best to imitate Justin from my first few months: set him up for positions that he knows something from and let him work it. If it’s close enough, let him have it; if it’s not, move in to the space. Big mistakes, like reaching back to break my guard (he did that once), got caught and held for a moment, and then let him work out. (He did have a few moments of driving his elbow into my throat again, which I’d just bump across and start as if I would take his back or sweep him; he quit doing that at some point.) I’m not very good at this kind of rolling, though, probably since I’ve hardly ever have anyone to practice on.
He wanted to pull guard, so I was trying to set him up for any of the three moves we’d drilled today, but he was thinking about guillotines (when my head was down on his chest) or getting around to take my back, though he was lots of loose. I got back in his guard quite a bit, and he didn’t try any of those three. He did get a close-enough bump sweep, though, fairly early, but wasn’t anywhere close to the armbar from mount. I think I turtled; let him get to my back; he got his hooks in, had his weight on me, and then got his arms in right for the RNC. (Thin, strong little arms = tight choke!) Let him pass my guard to side control, and he got good shoulder pressure; I think I bridged a little just to let him work keeping control; I’d started with my leg up to block him, which I’d done in our first roll (and then would catch him in half guard when he’d try to jump over), but then put the leg down to see if he’d remember how to pass to mount. He did, too. He started fumbling around with my arms again and even muttered that he didn’t know what to do; I said, “Didn’t Tim teach you the armbar from here?” He said, “Yeah,” so I said, “So do it.” He did it fairly good, too, especially on keeping my arm tight to his chest. He got to another RNC and two more armbars from mount during the round (and a couple of attempts at both that were far too loose or sloppy).
Right at the end, I’d turtled again. He was shooting his arms under, and one hand caught me right in the side of the eyeball. It’s a little purpley now, so hopefully I’ll have a bit of shiner in the morning.
Adam set up a circuit after class — 10 medicine ball pushups/side (one hand on a medicine ball, pushup, switch sides), 10 sledgehammers/side, and 10 25-lb curls/side. Most of the guys jumped in. I thought it looked a little rough, so I got out the kettlebell instead. Did my 5 x 5 and was feeling pretty good. Decided I’d tack on 5 more… and then 5 more… and then I’d done 50. Oops! Felt a lot better on my form and everything, though, so that’s good.
Tournament: US Grappling Submission Only IV, nogi July 18, 2009
Posted by leslie in Tournaments.Tags: grrls, guillotine, pass, submission, takedowns, tournament, triangle, US Grappling
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USG’s Submission Only IV is a two-day event, with all nogi on Saturday and all gi on Sunday. Update: all results are posted on the NHBGear forums.
We drove up last night to Richmond. Even with leaving a little later than we’d planned, we still got there before the weigh-ins started!
Sundance (Clifton’s nickname — I dunno why I never caught on to calling him Sundance on my blog before; am silly girl) and Yoshi made weight. I made 125, only taking off my shoes! Erik, who trains with us during the school year but is back home in Richmond this summer, met us at Andrew’s academy and then took us on a wild drive around Richmond to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The food was good, but I didn’t want to eat too much unfamiliar food the night before a tournament. (Sundance’s girlfriend is Thai, however, so I may have to trade her some baklava for some of her cooking.)
The guys had talked to TKD Mike earlier in the week, who’s also back home in Richmond. They stayed with him last night, while I drove up to my aunt’s. Went to bed almost straight away. I was up and out of the house by 10 am. My aunt lives only about 15 minutes from the high school where the tournament was, but I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time. I don’t like to be late.
I think I heard someone say that there are about 150-200 competitors signed up for both days. Small group in the gym, though I preferred it to the noise that is NAGA.
Ran in to a couple of guys I knew — Enrique, who trains in Roanoke at Hybrid, and Fred, who used to train with Tim before he graduated and moved to NOVA. They were asking after everyone back home.
The gym was hot. Hot hot hot. And it smelled like a new car because of the new mats. The mats are nice, though they get very slippery when wet.
I started working on warming up, since I think that was a real problem last week at NAGA NC. (Wow, was that really just last weekend?) Very easy to warm up when it was that hot in there. I like it that way; I do better once I’m sweating good.
They had the referees meeting and then the Rules meeting. After the Rules meeting, Andrew said, “And we’ll get started as soon as I finish talking here.” I went to get my water and mouthpiece and then wandered over to see what mat my division was on — and then heard my name being called!
Scampered to mat #2, and the ref handed me the ankle bracelet. Out on the mat, quick rules review, handshake, and go! Meep! So fast!
She pulled guard, I think, and then started working her legs up for a triangle. I got both arms out, though, and started around her hips. She caught my head with her legs in a reverse triangle; my arms were out, but she was trying to pull the far one across my body for an armbar. Grabbed the far arm at the bicep with the other and worked to push it back; also worked my near knee across her lower stomach. Still stuck, but I thought to just chill and breath and let her wear her legs out. Finally felt some space and pulled my head out. Geez, she was squeezing hard! To side control, though she was wiggly. Fuzzy on the next bit: somehow she turned to turtle and I went to establish control, thinking to take her back, but she sat up and her neck was out so I grabbed the guillotine (remembered Justin’s advice on it, too!) instead and finished.
I think that match was about 2-3 minutes. Didn’t seem to be very long.
But then found out that we were the only 2 in our division, so that was it. So we got our medals right there (and had to give back the ankle straps — we both walked off with them!).
Talked to her later and found out that she was actually in the Novice division, but there wasn’t anyone else there so they moved her up with me. She’s been training for about 3 months, and at the last minute decided to enter just for fun. She said she figured that the worst that could happen was that she’d have to tap and that she does that all the time in class, anyway, so what’s the big deal? Heh, point.
Once my match was over, I wandered over toward the purple belt girls on mat #1. Sundance, his girlfriend, Yoshi, and TKD Mike all came in almost right after. They missed my match by less than 5 minutes, so I don’t have any pictures from it.
I had also signed up for the Beginner Absolute. But since there was no one else in my division, there wasn’t a match for me. I talked to Chrissy, and she gave me the choice of finding that girl again and asking her if she wanted to do the Absolute or of going against the only girl signed up for Intermediate Absolute. I said I’d move up for Intermediate.
That girl, Shannon, had just finished up a fast-paced, ~24-minute match in her weight in the Intermediate division. So they gave her a break first, which meant I got to watch the purple belts go. They were also fast and really good. I think theirs was the largest women’s division. We all stood there a while to watch them roll.
And I met Elyse! (I’ll have you know, you’re the first female purple belt I’ve met in person for reals.)
There was finally a break in the guys who had taken over Mat #2, so they called for me and Shannon. The guys got some pictures and video this time. Pictures and video coming when I get back home.
I initiated a takedown!! I’m happy with that. I did it! And it was the one Justin showed me and that we’d worked (well, I’d worked very little of) on Wednesday. She nearly guillotined me for it, but I did actually attempt a takedown. Made me happy. Anyway…
I don’t remember most of what happened. I got under side control — typical — and was having trouble getting out. Blergh. But was fighting for it; just couldn’t get anything done. (Watching the video now, I see why: she was keeping her hand cupped under my leg, which kept me from getting my hips out. Hmmm… I’ll have to start trying that. 
) She was threatening D’Arces, but I saw those and defended those. I was there for a while, though, a lot of her trying to run around to north/south and me chasing her to keep her away from it. After a long while of that, I somehow got to half-guard, maybe, or even back to full guard, and at some point I actually swept her and landed in mount with one of her arms slightly trapped under one leg. Almost started going nuts and getting in a hurry, but Sundance slowed me down and told me to work the position. Oh, right, I knew that… Worked on head control and then looking for where to go. Heard her corner tell her I was sliding up too high, so started trying to work back down. So slippery all around, though, and it wasn’t favoring me.
I ended in her half-guard at one point and saw the D’Arce for myself. Justin had just shown a few tips on D’Arces at the end of Wednesday’s class, so Sundance was feeding me the same tips that I was working through in my head. My legs started sliding back out from under me, though, and my fingers were slipping off my bicep. (Her corner was telling her my arms were tiring, which wasn’t true — I was just too sweaty and couldn’t keep a grip on my own arm!) Also with all the sliding around, I couldn’t quite get my weight on her the way I wanted to. It was close, though, and she said afterwards that it had been good and right but that she was just trying to hang on as long as she could. My hand finally slid all the way off and she was out.
I ended up turtling a few times to get away. Couldn’t reach her legs, though, because she’d immediately sprawl. Tried hitting the switch from under there once, though I don’t think I had enough intention behind it; didn’t quite get out and we started scrambling. I think that’s when I stuck my own neck out and got caught in the same guillotine I’d caught the first girl with! Doh. She got it deep, and my brain claimed it didn’t have a defense for that (liar!), so I tapped.
That match was over 12 minutes long. Wow. I was exhausted, and so was glad that that was my last match. I think I was done in less than an hour with both divisions.
Sundance and Yoshi finally got to go for their divisions. Sundance lost his first weight division match in ~10 seconds to an armbar, then won the 3rd-place match in ~20 seconds with the same armbar. Yoshi had only 1 other guy in his division, and he won (I think on a guillotine).
Sundance lost his first Beginner Absolute to an ankle lock, which we really don’t drill, not even the defense for. He fought it a little too long, though, and had to ice his ankle the rest of the day.
Yoshi had only entered the 1 division, thinking there would be a lot of people there like at NAGA last weekend. But since he’d only got the one guy, we talked him in to asking Chrissy if he could sign up for the Beginner Absolute so he could get at least one more match. She let him (thanks, Chrissy!), and he did awesome! His first match was against the largest guy in the division — I think someone said 205? Yoshi’s 149 — and took somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes, and he won! He started bouncing around when the guy tapped, he was so excited. He said later that winning that match felt better than winning 1st in anything. The guy was big and strong and technical, and Yoshi just hung with him and kept working and finally caught a triangle.
He lost the next match within just a few minutes, though the other guy crawled over to the warm-up mats and collapsed while Yoshi continued bouncing around. He’s not this hyped up in class! But he ended up in the 3rd-place match in Absolute. That took 24 minutes! Holy moly! And he was pressing and attacking and going the whole time. The other guy finally caught him, though; triangle, I think.
It was about 3 p.m. then. There were still a few more matches going on, but I think most of them were Absolutes and were probably finishing up shortly. We left, though, to get food. Yoshi had to leave after that; he has class Monday.
Sundance and I will head back tomorrow morning for gi…
