If I had a time machine, I would… October 8, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: frustration, grrls, half guard, nogi
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…go back somewhere quiet and take a nap. And then come back here and keep going.
The topic came up at work as part of a multi-tasking discussion. And my first response was “I need more sleep,” which probably says a lot about how tired I am right now. Hmmm…
Once I got to class, though, I changed my answer. If I had a time machine, I would go back to last night’s class and wait through half the kickboxing class to when they were doing light sparring on the mat, and then when the idiot kid who doesn’t want to lose to a girl throws a spinning heel kick and hits the new BJJ girl in the head on her second night of kickboxing with the regular class, I would have separated his head from his body.
Justin and Brandon were there. Said she went out cold. When she came to, she was hyperventilating and crying. Took a while to get her calmed down and taken care of. Had a lump on her jaw where he hit her. She didn’t come back tonight.
It’s a good thing I don’t have a time machine.
He was thoroughly chewed out by the assistant instructor, was worked over good by one or two of the good kickboxers, and will probably get both from Perry next week; his football coach has been told (the assistant instructor’s wife is a teacher at his school) and was not happy; and nearly all the BJJ guys know and are not happy. (Several warmed up before class by knocking the snot out of the heavy bags, which they don’t normally do.)
Oooo, makes me so mad!
(I suppose a time machine would also allow me to step in and stop her from getting kicked in the first place, which might be a better scenario all around.)
Tech (maybe Radford, too) is on break starting tomorrow, so most everyone probably left today. Small class, though several came in at or after the start of class, so we ended up with more than we thought we’d have. Short and easy warmup, though I was once again exhausted so quickly. Only one run on squat jumps (lost my squat jump mojo, pooh) and on forward/backward rolls.
Rolling. With Will. Couldn’t pass his open guard. Then under side control and half guard and completely ineffective on everything. Then with Adam. Didn’t matter what I’d try, but he’d do something — no clue — and catch a neck crank. Oww. Then went with Guillaume for a round. During and afterward, he asked if I was okay, said he expected to have to work a lot harder than that while rolling with me. Trying to cheer me up. So tired I thought I’d break down crying on the mat, and for no reason that I know of except that I’m tired.
Drilling. Standard guard break and pass first.
Then this other thing. It made perfect sense when Justin showed it — start like a half guard, with one hook in, but sitting up and going as if you’re doing the elevator sweep. When they whizzer, bring your hand in front of their chest, grab their whizzered wrist, and chicken-wing down on it. Now shoot like you’re going Old School, continuing the roll to bring them across and over. Pass to side control. — but I absolutely could not get my body to do it. My brain knew what was going on but just could not get anything down to my body. Adam even tried showing it to me several more times, and I just could not do it. Nearly cried again.
More rolling. An odd number, and both Justin and Adam were going to roll, so I went to sit out, but then Adam waved me in to roll with his partner. One of the “MMA guys.” One of the ones I avoid. No, really, I’ll sit. I’m tired and moody and cranky– Oh, fine, fine. Could not get off my back again, holding on with half guard or hooks. At one point, he tried to fling his legs up and over to the other side; I caught half guard. He laughed and said that he wanted to try it, that Tim always tells him not to try to jump like that; I said that well, that’s why. His arms are more than long enough to wrap around me in any position, so often he’d just bear-hug and squeeze. When I didn’t tap (because it didn’t do anything), he’d laugh and say that he had no idea what he was doing. Yeah, I noticed.
While I was rolling with this guy, a new wrestling guy was trying to bum-rush Justin. Last night, this guy rolled with Tim and started throwing elbows; caught Tim in the eye, lots of bleeding then, lots of bruising today. Tonight, I heard this guy choking a lot as he tried to outlast submissions.
Next round, this guy comes after me. I tried to get out again, but Adam sent me right back in. *pout* I no likey youse guys no more. He was slower at first with me than he had been with Justin, but he got frustrated very quickly when he couldn’t pass my half guard or, when he finally did after slamming me around, when I’d recover to half guard or butterfly, and then he started trying to slam me around even more. I guess he was trying some wrestling holds on me, because he’d pretzel me around pretty good and then squeeze, but none of it was ever threatening at all. Sit there a moment to find the open side and then pop out, easy peasy. Wish I’d had energy to sweep him or even submit him, but was just floppy. Wanted to try the sweep from tonight, if my brain could work it out, but he must have heard that elbow-in-throat is the way to go. Meh.
Also, I’ve ripped off a good portion of my left big toe nail (ouch); the middle toe on my right foot is doing funky things; my back hurts (I know, that’s bad); my ribs hurt from the floppy guys; and I have more bruises than usual everywhere. The smart, intelligent, and sane response would be to take a break. Instead, while I’m not going to Open Mat tomorrow (might not be anyone there anyway), I am going in early on Saturday.
Rawr and Grrr. Oh, and Swine Flu. October 6, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: gi, choke, escape, half guard, cooties, Brabo
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Sometimes I wish I knew how a day of class would end so I could be prepared. (Not that I wouldn’t go, but at least I’d be better prepared. Don’t like getting caught off guard.)
There early, though nothing much going on. Played around on the Swiss ball. Noticed my lower back was hurting, probably from trying to stand a while at work. (Got tired of sitting. Desk ain’t made for standing, though.) Never could get that worked out.
Medium-size class. Warmup. Knee-to-chest jumps between nearly every drill down the mat. Um, yeah, so done after one set of those. Evilness.
To rolling. I was the odd one out and so was going to sit, but then Sundance said he’d roll lightly with me… except he can’t use his left hand… and I can’t hit it at all… so then I couldn’t do anything, not even defend, because he kept reflexively bringing his left hand in to the mix. And if I swept him toward that side, which was the open side, he might land on his hand, so couldn’t do that. And his “light” was toward the end of my “intense.” So, yeah. Also still winded and bleh from the warmup, which didn’t help.
Grabbed Guillaume for the next round. Kept trying the escape Buddy and I worked last night, only to find that I didn’t even have to escape because he wasn’t even trying to hold my legs. Erm, okay. Took his back; eventually set up a choke that Justin showed briefly after class on Saturday. But mostly just flopping under half guard; so tired. I’d sweep him, and then couldn’t come up for the position. Body didn’t want to respond, and brain even wanted out. Great.
Drilling was a gi Brabo/D’Arce that we did a long while ago.
First variation was using your own gi: from top half guard, pull out your lapel that’s toward their far side (same side as the leg that’s trapped). Pull it as far out and as far up (so you nearly take it over your own head) to get as much length as possible. Now feed it under their far shoulder and to your other hand. As you pull it through, pull them up on their side. Slide your top hand under your own gi fabric, which is now pulled around their shoulder and head, and shoot your arm through to grab the corner of the lapel from your other hand. The now free hand cross-faces and grips in the fabric around the other side of their face to finish the choke. If they bring their top arm in front of your shoulder to block the choke, pull up on the lapel you fed through and push down and in on their arm to trap it against their neck; if they’re not tapping already, drop your weight on that arm to finish.
Second variation was using their gi: pull out their lapel on the far side of their body. Now feed it the same way. This actually felt tighter when applied to you, I think because your own gi lifted your trapped shoulder.
Drilled with Will. Four chokes per person per side — your gi; your gi, arm in front; their gi; their gi, arm in front. Then sit and cough before switching sides.
One last roll. Tim was pairing everyone up. He put me with one of the guys I avoid. Not excited. Guy usually plays full-on steamroller; tonight, though, he wouldn’t engage at all. If I didn’t have him tightly controlled, he’d stand up and walk to a spot 5 feet away and sit down again. And no, no one was going to run in to us and we weren’t near the wall or the edge of the mat. He’d just… get up, walk off. He did hit steamroller mode a few times, after I had a few sweeps (even got to mount twice) and after I nearly caught a cross-collar choke. In one steamroller session, he tried to wrestle out an armbar from guard. I did actually defend that right and got my arm out (thank you, Jiu-jitsu University!), which of course prolonged the steamroller time as he tried to “get even.” Oh, grow up. Long roll, too. Bored and annoyed. But then that was the end of class. Hmph.
We found out tonight that the little 14-year-old kid and his younger brother both have swine flu. Oh, fabulous. And there’s a report of 500+ cases at VT, where most of the guys are students. Fantabulous. So, probably everyone at the school has it, even if most of us aren’t showing symptoms yet. Just terrific…
Class today September 12, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: gi, half guard, sweep
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Small class. Starting rolling. With Adam first and then Big Tommy. Again feeling as if I know what’s going on most of the time, which is cool.
Tried to triangle myself multiple times against Adam, though it was after several other escapes and transitions that I’d finally drop myself in there, unlike my usual right-off-the-bat. Did do the counter we learned a counter for, though again kept my weight on the arm I’d whizzered, so eventually was able to work out of the triangle. Tried coming around or out the back several times; usually he’d counter, though once he caught a kneebar. I was doing my best to not let him set up any D’Arces 
, though he didn’t seem to be trying for them much.
Couldn’t do so much against Tommy. Mostly under half guard; under some side control, but I was able to get a knee on Tommy (completely unable to bridge against him) and to half guard. Tommy went for that far side kimura that he likes, again without trapping the near arm first, so I figured I’d just turn away from him and turtle as usual — but someone had shown him how to bait that and then take a transition to a near-side armbar as they start to turn away. Very nice!
Then some drilling with half-guard. Old School, Plan B, and taking the back (if they don’t whizzer on Plan B). Justin also showed me a variation on Plan B, since I was having trouble getting Will over — get the inside knee up inside their posted leg and use it like an elevator sweep to help take them over. Ooo…
Ended with two rounds of positional rolling. One started in Old School (almost about to actually sweep). Goal on top was to flatten them out; goal on the bottom was to sweep or get back to guard. I’d drilled with Will and so worked with him here. I couldn’t get him flattened back out from the top, and only get to guard once from the bottom. Tried pulling my arm out to switch sweeps, but he had it pinched down.
Now for a nice long afternoon of football…
Blood + Sweat + Tears = Blue September 8, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: Barbie, belts, DArce, escape, gi, grrls, half guard, strength, sweep, technique
19 comments
I got my blue belt tonight.
Not expecting it. Even commented to myself during my first two rolls that, yeah, no chance of that tonight — caught every which way, couldn’t control positions, couldn’t pass. Third roll I was excited to roll with Buddy #1, who was gone all summer. I hadn’t rolled with him yet and wanted to because I knew he’d tell me if I’d improved.
I could tell we were near the end of the round. Suddenly, I hear Tim’s “someone’s getting promoted!” yell. I started to turn to see who it is, half-expecting it to be Buddy (to purple), and instead I am getting hit with something. What the–? Who the–? … … No. Way. … … Way! Stunned, in shock, unable to speak or form coherent thoughts.
There was suddenly a crowd of guys congratulating me. Tim gave us a water break, so I finally got to tie it on, and then class continued. Kept having to force my brain off it’s “I got my blue belt!” track to pay attention to the rest of class.
Tim talked to me a bit after class and said that there were a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in making that belt. He said that it says a lot about me that I come in every week and work against guys who are all bigger and stronger than me, but that I keep coming and keep working. And he said that he’s been harder on me these last few months especially on purpose because he saw I was getting close and because I have to continue working with these bigger and stronger guys. He said for a girl to get a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, rolling only against the guys like I have been, is hard to get, and since I’m his first female blue belt, he wanted to make sure the standard was set high. He also said my technique is getting really good (which is the part I really wanted to hear).
Buddy chimed in then and said that while we were rolling, he’d started wondering when I would get my blue belt. And then there it was.
Last summer, Tim told me that I would be more proud of getting my BJJ blue belt than of getting my TKD black belt. Well, he’s right. For my black belt, I had to get through a six-hour test. For my blue belt, I’ve been in one long 17-month test.
Not that I’m suddenly frustration-free. But now I have tangible proof that I’m doing well.
Apparently there was class last night — Justin got back in town and came to teach. But my family was having a small cookout anyway, so I’m glad I didn’t know about class and stayed home instead.
And I’m sore! Little Cindy kicked my butt. My biceps, lats, traps, and hamstrings are stiff and cranky. I had to take a long walk at lunch so I could sit through the rest of the day. … So of course I want to meet all of Cindy’s friends.
Tonight, we started with rolling to warmup. Started with Will. He wasn’t playing so much spider guard with his open guard, so I was able to get in better. Still reversed easily, though, and under half guard and side control a fair bit. I think I had a sweep or two, and he let me get to guard a few times, but I’m not doing well attacking there; he has everything tight. He had a few triangle set-ups from the moments when he did play spider guard, but he let me work out of them. Oh, and I remembered that knee-on-belly exists! But of course, we learned a counter to it on Saturday… Doh.
Then rolled with a guy who was hurt before class, so I was trying to avoid his injury. But it seemed at times as if he wasn’t hurt at all — the injured part was used extensively. Couldn’t keep my base for anything; swept to under side control and mount a lot. Did catch at lots of half guard as he tried to pass every which way. He pulled me in to one triangle from spider guard; I defended for a while but eventually lost the tug-of-war over my arm. Later — I think it was still this roll, or it was later with Yoshi — he tried the Peruvian necktie, but left it loose; I actually rolled out and started to escape, but he locked in a D’Arce (Yoshi had one, too, which is why I’m confuzzled). Defended for a while, tried escaping for a while, but finally started on the way to Blackout Land, so tapped.
These two rounds I was thinking, “Well, you know who’s still a looong way off from her blue belt.”
Another roll, and Buddy asked to roll with me since we hadn’t gotten to since he’d come back. All I was thinking about was getting to roll with Buddy, a blue belt, and find out if I’d improved since he left. Lots of trouble against his open guard — even more sinister than Will’s — and again easily swept and under side control and half guard. Again could catch the half guard from lots of positions, but couldn’t get the sweeps after to work. I think I did have one almost sweep that required a lot of effort to get on top after; not even sure I made it. I was trying to push the pace some because I know Buddy won’t hurt me.
And then at the end of that, I heard Tim yell, and I got whipped quite thoroughly with a new belt.
A short break for water and so I could tie my belt on (it’s so stiff!), and then back to rolling. Oh goodness. So tired. Besides trusting Buddy to play with me and not hurt me, I’d also figured that it was the last roll before technique, so I knew I’d get a break after and so could push a little more. But, no, more rolling. I want oxygen…
With Guillaume. He teased me that I would try to crush him now. I joked back that the belt only came with about 10 seconds of superpowers. … … I think I jinxed it: I had about only 10 seconds of superpowers, and then I was back to being exhausted. He let me around to his back straight off, but I couldn’t get my second hook in or my arm around his neck or my fingers in his lapel. I ended up on top, and actually managed to hold it in some form for most of the round. Remembered knee-on-belly. Tried for the baseball choke, but couldn’t quite work out my hands; tried for a D’Arce, but couldn’t hang on; tried for the north/south kimura, but he’d defend by grabbing his pants; tried the Big Poppa, but couldn’t hold it long enough (also think I wasn’t quite under his chin). Justin was trying to help me out from the sidelines by telling me where to go next, and I was transitioning, which I was happy about, but I couldn’t quite catch anything. Went to knee-on-belly again, though he rolled on his side facing away from me; tried for a gi choke from there, but again couldn’t quite get under his chin. Finally posted one hand on his head and came around for an armbar there, which worked.
Last roll with Yoshi. He pretended to be scared of the belt’s superpowers, but I told him that Guillaume had already used them all up and it was just an ordinary belt now. Very similar to those first two rounds — swept a lot, under side control and half guard a lot, grabbing half guard a lot. A few near sweeps; maybe one that I did manage to follow up on and get to top, though he quickly reversed it. Turtled lots and tried for the single leg from there, but couldn’t hold on when he sprawled. Tried the switch to escape several times, but couldn’t quite get through. (I suppose the reassuring part was that I wasn’t getting upset that I was a blue belt now and was getting my butt beat by a white belt. Not even sure it had quite sunk in at that point. Not that I want to get upset; I don’t. Anyway…) He also got a D’Arce eventually. Same as earlier: I could defend and move and try to escape for a while, but he finally got his weight right and finished it. This seemed like the round that would never end, partly because Tim was the timekeeper but he was also rolling.
Finally to drilling, now that there were about 15 minutes left in class. From butterfly, to take their back. You’re in butterfly. The guy will likely attack by grabbing near the hem of your pant legs and putting his weight down on his hands to stop your feet. Reach your hands around behind both elbows. Pull his elbows forward and in (as if trying to make his elbows touch in front of his head), while kicking one of his knees back. He falls forward and slightly to one side. Hip out further to your now open side, getting your knee past his knee but keeping that foot in as a hook. Now come up to control his back with an over/under grip.
Worked with the little 14 year old.
Then, even though we were past time for class, Tim sent us on the wall for some drills. Alligators, single legs, single leg/sprawl, then squat jump down/bear crawl back. I was almost through my last trip down on squat jumps when he called out that we were done, but I finished anyway. Ow.
