Gotta make this quick November 12, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: guard, kimura, nogi, pass, sweep, triangle
3 comments
Still got some packing to do. Tried to pack my jiu-jitsu bag last night, and then realized I needed it for tonight. Doh. And I’m trying to resist getting out a suitcase, but I may have to, especially with two gis.
I had to say goodbye to this guy:
No one was there to teach by 7 p.m. Big Tom asked the group of us who was going to teach if no one showed. We pointed out that he’s the ranking belt. He backed away slowly. He did get us started jogging, and then Tim came in.
Easy peasy warmup, and I could hardly do it. Legs were like lead. No get up and go. Pathetic. After squat jumps and alligators and shrimping, we did 30 knees-to-chest jumps and 30 burpees. I was so slow. But Tim wasn’t feeling like going too hard tonight, so he let everyone rest while I finished. (Hey, I always said I’d finish, even if I was slow.) Quads felt like cement blocks. Grr.
Rolling, nice and easy, good jiu-jitsu. First with the guy who doesn’t bathe. I absolutely refuse to go to the bottom. Looked to pass his open guard and to shed his hooks. Did eventually get around into his half guard, though couldn’t hold my breath long enough to dive my head in and do anything decent. Look, there’s funky smells, and then there’s funky smells. And I have a very easily tripped gag reflex. Legs were still weary and heavy.
Guillaume next. More nice ‘n’ easy. Legs finally loosened up some, and hips decided to work. He was dropping himself in to triangles all night. I caught one, I think, since it was so obvious. Otherwise worked around positions, some controlling, some just moving. Actually thought about several things that I wanted to work on, like switching out from under turtle, so practiced those things several times.
Big Tom next, and hips were still awake. Wanted to try several things on him, like the dive-under pass from butterfly from a while back (which, for some reason, I remembered today and have been looking forward to trying all day long. And which I can’t find right now. Meh.). But that doesn’t work so well on Tommy — his base is big and wide, and my arms are little. So went back to shrimping around a lot. He caught and went to finish an armbar, but then let it go right before I was going to tap; I pointed out that he’s supposed to wait for me to tap (I need the practice!); he said he’d seen me about to and so just let go. Silly man. We also traded knee bumps to the face, though we were going slow and controlled so they were just funny, especially when we started counting and trying to keep them even.
Then Tim had us partner up and just work guard break & pass. Any break/pass we wanted, 10x per side. I worked with Guillaume. We only got through the basic knee up pass each. Sometime during drilling, Tim had to leave because he wasn’t feeling well. He told us to finish up drilling and then roll once more: no head hunting, just nice clean jiu-jitsu. And then called out a guy who’d been cranking submissions earlier in the night. The guy just always laughs, as if it’s funny that he doesn’t follow instructions and doesn’t know what he’s doing. *shakes head* Guillaume and I finished up; most of the boys devolved into rolling very quickly.
We eventually joined them. He was falling in to triangles again. I was working for a few other particular things that I wanted to try. (I was reading “How to Roll” on Cane Prevost’s blog earlier today, and so I started classifying guys. Guillaume is a “Been Around” guy — he’s relaxed, and he knows what to do; his timing and leverage are just off a little still. So I can work a lot of things on him, and he’ll react appropriately but just not quite enough yet.) Did get the dive-under pass that I wanted on Tommy. Worked toward a reverse triangle with kimura (similar to what slidey’s class was working the other night); he had that defended, but he dropped in to several other positions from which I remembered something, so worked with what he was giving me. Oh, and I had a wonderful something-I-thought-about-worked moment: I’d gone for the single leg but ended up with my head on the outside of his leg and him bracing off, so no way to get my head back inside. I’d been pondering some of the wrestling that Big John has shown and came up with a “chase the sock” idea for that very position. And it worked!
I pointed out a few things I’d noticed and finally remembered to mention turtling tighter, which I’ve been meaning to tell him for a couple of weeks.
Had to bolt at 8; my mom had to come and give me a ride home since I’m currently carless. But we’re off early tomorrow to get it back. Let the wild & crazy adventures begin.
Too early, too late September 29, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: choke, flow, gi, guard, kimura, pass, sweep
2 comments
August Moon Festival last night and sushi for lunch. Oh, yum!
Tried to go visit my brother at work before class, which I usually do, but traffic out that way wasn’t moving at all, so I turned around and headed over to the academy. (The two are only about a half mile or so apart.) Sat in my car for about half an hour studying Jiu-jitsu University before going in. Still really early, though. Tim and Buddy finally got there and started rolling. I think Buddy is not too much longer for the blue belt.
Small class. Rolling to warm up. With Guillaume to start. He’s wise to my elevator sweep opening now and wise to the guard pass he was leaving himself open to, so we circled around on our knees and butts for a while. I finally got a hook or two in and moved between butterfly and half guard. I was working on getting deep while he wanted to flatten me out. I finally did sweep him and landed in top half guard and started working to pass. He started trying to kimura my arm nearest his head; I’ve had guys trying this a lot on me lately, though usually I just drive in more until they can’t hold that grip. But I’d read somewhere (which I can’t find again) about locking up my own kimura grip there (because, as Justin says, when he has a kimura grip, I have a kimura grip) and rotating to look toward his hips to finish my own kimura. I’ve been trying to catch that from top half for a while, but most guys just pull their arms out when they realize I’m attacking. Somehow, though, I kept control of this one and even finished it. (The technique! It worked! Or, pulling from Stephan Kesting’s latest “Grappling Tips” newsletter, the concept — you kimura, me kimura — it worked!) I was excited about that one.
Somehow I ended up in side control. Usually we do side control with our knees in; this time, though, I was going between knees in and sprawled and even scarf-ish hold (no arm control, though), just trying to keep pressure on him. Seemed to work well; I was there for a while. Tried looking for the far-side kimura or spinning armbar, but he was keeping his elbow in; tried posting up to knee-on-belly, but he had that defended. Finally started pulling at his lapels while still poking around for the armbars and knee-on-belly; even remembered that I also have lapels and pulled them out to distract him. Got his lapel under his chin and across, like in this choke, and finally got my shin up behind his head, but my grip fatigued quickly and I couldn’t hold on long enough to finish it. He finally rolled in to me and I half-took his back, but then time ran out on us. He said afterward that the choke had been tight and he’d been about to tap when I’d had to let go.
Next with Will. Very much trying to remember what we worked on Friday. Of course, he remembered, too, and was blocking me a lot. Got his leg a few times for that single-leg pass, but still couldn’t quite get around — and totally forgot about going inside. Went for the scissor sweep, trapping one arm first, but he pulled his arm out and still trapped my legs. He was trying hard (and succeeding) to keep me from turning to my side under side control. Did grab two single-leg sweeps, though not much past there. On the outside of his open guard a lot, so my goal was to pin one of those legs to the mat and then work my way in. Also worked on keeping pressure with my hips. At some point, he turtled but I got my knee in and over/under grip. Went for the Peruvian necktie. Fell more backwards than sideways and didn’t feel as if my arms were really in there right. Tried to see if I could figure out what was wrong but couldn’t, so eventually let it go and went back to guard. Will stopped and asked why I’d let it go; I said I didn’t have it (and I don’t want to be the idiot who just holds and squeezes); but he said he’d been about to tap when I let it go. Ack. Second one too early today.
Last roll, with the little kid. I think it was something I’d read in Jiu-Jitsu University that started it, but I wasn’t just trying to stay underneath on him. (But I still feel as if I’m easily tossing him around!) He’s a wrestler, so most rounds start with him trying to force your head to the mat. And he is trying to muscle you around as hard as he can… and it just doesn’t work. Very little effort to resist that, and I feel kind of bad for not letting him “win”, but then, on the other hand, when he finally does get his growth spurt and is 200 lbs, I don’t want him to have the bad habit of tossing me around the mat… So I don’t let him win when tries to muscle me. He also tries guillotines for no reason at all and from lots of positions. Anyway, he tried to wrestle me down from starting; I finally got a hook in and went to half guard. I think he tried a guillotine, so I swept him and landed in mount. He started flailing around; bridging strongly, but not following it up, and also trying to armbar me. (Interesting.) Finally I clamped down a little tighter to hold him still and asked him if he’d been in class last night. (Justin had mentioned he’d taught knee-elbow escape from mount last night). Kid said yes, so I told him to do the knee-elbow escape. Oh, look, it works, imagine that. Another little wrestle-down to half-guard. This time he passed decently to mount and then tried ramming his elbow into my throat again. Ahem. Bumped the arm across and bridged over into his guard. Played at breaking the guard to let him try a bump sweep, though he went for a guillotine again and immediately shot his hips away. Then time was up.
Afterwards, I pointed out that he should use the techniques that he knows when he’s rolling. When you know a mount escape and are under mount, use the escape you know. Also pointed out that he throws that arm around for the guillotine a lot, but the rest of his body isn’t in position, which is why he isn’t finishing it. No time to show him the right position, though.
Drilling was a little different: we worked on floating around when our opponent tried to roll away from being turtled. Idea was to get around to side control while surfing on your partner as they rolled. Worked from slightly different positions and grips. Partner was trying to grab the far-side arm and roll under and come up to side control themselves, while you had to be aware of that far-side arm and keep it safe and then start moving as soon as they did. Worked with Will. Could do it decently some times; most times, though, Tim said I was late. Letting submissions go too early; moving too late. Ack. Some of those were obvious, when Will’s roll would sweep me over. Wipeout. Also, my body seemed to work best when turning clockwise (I think) — right side worked best turning around his head, left side worked best turning around his legs. Silliness. (Still, I was doing some of this earlier with Guillaume, so I’ll keep trying it.)
Then Tim sent us all over to grab an exercise ball and we did a few drills with them.
First drill was a guard pass drill. Start with the ball in front of you. Use your hands to slide it slightly to one side while stepping up and in front of the ball with your feet, front knee driving forward as if going for knee-on-belly. I finally got the brilliant idea to use a line on the mat as my imaginary partner; I’d start with my feet on the line behind the ball, move the ball just slightly to the side, and step up in front of the ball and along the line. The hips got a good workout with this one.
Second drill was to kneel on the ball, no hands. I don’t know that I ever got both hands up at the same time. And that’s a lot harder than it seems! I was dripping sweat by the end of that.
Last drill was to sit on the ball, feet straight out in front. Yeah, also hard. I fell off a lot more on this one, though, and we didn’t do it as long, either.
Lingered after to watch Justin and Buddy drill straight ankle locks (ooh, I can start learning and using those now, too!). Then was Buddy’s grappling dummy for something he was working on. Should’ve done some after-practice conditioning, but I just sat around instead.
No news is good news? September 17, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: armbar, butterfly, DArce, grrls, kimura, kneebar, nogi, omoplata
4 comments
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. 
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…
