Gotta make this quick November 12, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: guard, kimura, nogi, pass, sweep, triangle
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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.
Needs a title November 7, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: circuit, triangle, choke, nogi, omoplata, CrossFit
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Came in early to watch the guys spar. Adam, the guy from RAM, was back today and brought a teammate, Caleb, who has a fight in two weeks. So the guys rotated through light rounds with him. Then since they were there, and everyone was dressed out nogi to spar, class ended up being nogi, as well. The one day I don’t bring shorts… *sigh*
Short but intense warmup. Tim pretended to forget about us while we were doing duck walks around the mat. Ooo, not funny. Then some partner stuff — shoot/leapfrog followed by jump-overs (partner on hands and knees, put hands on their shoulder blades, jump from side to side).
Drilling, a choke from the back.
Then rolling, with arbitrary round lengths. I think most were about 10 minutes.
Started with Steve. Right off, he caught a triangle. I must’ve fallen asleep or something; totally didn’t even see it coming. Had a few sweeps in there and got to the top a few times, though couldn’t pass his half guard and would get swept.
Then Justin, and I felt so slow and dumb. I could see most of it coming, but couldn’t do a thing about it. Omoplata, twister, D’Arce (probably, though not sure), and many more. I might have escaped my hips right once and come around to the open side once instead of battering at his defense, but that was all.
Yoshi last, and more D’Arces. I guess I need to ask someone to look at my defense there, because I really thought I was doing it right. Might have had half a pass at one point. Felt like I was always half a step behind again.
On the wall for single legs and alligators. (Maybe one more? Don’t remember.) Then circled up for sit-ups to finish it out.
Big Jesse wanted to do some APC, a version of mini-Cindy. Me, Will, and Justin joined him. 3 pullups, 6 pushups, 9 kettlebells swings, 5 minutes x 3 (1 min break), for rounds. (We just got a new set of kettlebells, so there are a bunch of 20-lbs ones. I used one of those. Justin used the 52+-lb one.) I lost track of rounds real fast, though I know I was going slow. Might have had 5 rounds per 5 min segment, but maybe even less by the last one. I was very tired very quickly.
I’ll trade you a submission for an escape November 6, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: DArce, flow, nogi, Open Mat
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Sometimes I read the “search engine terms” that WordPress gives me — a list of things people searched for and then clicked on a link to me from — and I wonder 1) who was looking for that, 2) how’d it direct to me, and 3) what else did they find?!
Not too many of us there today, and the first four were already paired up and going when I got there. So I just warmed up and stretched until Buddy #1 got there and was ready to go. Got to roll with him twice (really, once with a ~5 min break in the middle), and both times for a good long while, maybe 45 minutes total. We played! Fast-paced and fun. I had some good escapes and passes in there, and some good moments of getting to top and even sprawling well. Also got caught in a lot of D’Arces, among other things (triangles, arm triangles, a RNC). But he said at one point that he’d just really gotten the D’Arce down and so was taking every opportunity to work it.
I was still underneath a lot, but I was really, really working my escapes, mostly turning in for the single leg, which he was giving up for the chance at the D’Arce. He turtled for me several times; I kept trying to work the Peruvian necktie, I don’t know why, but never really had it well enough to try to finish. Should ought to have tried to take his back, but didn’t think of it. And I even had a couple of pretty good elevator sweeps, though he wasn’t defending them too hard. Oo, and I fixed a hole in my basic guard passes that I’d noticed the other night, finally getting my head in the right place. Lots of little things that I was very happy with.
Also worked the von Flue guillotine defense. He caught that guillotine tight, though his guard wasn’t quite closed, so I thought, Well, I can at least practice the defense for a second or two until he finishes it. I could get my arm around to his back, but my shoulder was nowhere near his neck: my elbow was just over his shoulder; but I went through the motions anyway. And then he let me out and we went on until he caught me in something else. When we reset, he said that had been a good guillotine defense; I asked if it had really worked, because I was so far away from his neck that it seemed as if I had no pressure. He said that yes, that all that pressure had been in one spot on his chest and had kept him from being able to finish. (Unspoken: without resorting to extra strength.) So, add that back in the arsenal. I’d set it aside for cases in which my shoulder would reach their neck, but now it appears to work without that. Not that I’m gonna go around looking for guillotines to stick my neck into to practice…
Just a really fun “this is why I do jiu-jitsu” kind of day. Yay!
I’m watching my weight November 5, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: back mount, escape, flow, nogi, RNC
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and it’s going up, and up, and up… 
Currently, I’m out of my weight class. Usually I’m toward the middle or low end. I’m at nearly the same weight I was when I started jiu-jitsu, and it’s not that I put back on muscle. Part is just water retention from all the chicken noodle sodium soup last week when I was sick. And Thanksgiving is between me and Sub Only VI. And my manager’s wife bakes. A lot. And sends it to work. And we’re going out to eat a lot since we have remote workers in the office the last three weeks.
Oh dear.
So… I guess I need to cut hard for Thanksgiving 
so I can not worry too much, and then Sub Only VI the following week. (And then US Grappling is switching to IBBJF weight classes next year, so I’ll have to aim even lower.)
New guys are just silly. What is it, some ego thing? Why the need to “prove” that you know jiu-jitsu? You don’t; you’ve never been on the mat before. So why this need to “impress” everyone? All you end up doing is ticking everyone off because you’re being rude and intentionally trying to injure people, and so they’ll stop rolling nice and introduce you to the not-so-gentle side of the gentle art.
I just don’t understand.
Medium size class. One visiting guy (salesman, I think, so he travels a lot; he’s been here before. Brown belt in judo apparently, and Tim said after class that he’d be a blue belt if he could ever stay anywhere long enough to get it awarded). One idiot new guy.
Warmup. *le sigh* What is wrong with me? I can’t breathe. There were knee-to-chest jumps. And then burpees. (Hmm, that might explain it.) So slow. Missed many reps on down the mat drills.
To rolling. Big Jesse first. I think I did something right that I was happy about, but I forgot what it was. Pooh. Felt as if I was moving okay. Was trying to stay on top when we started, though once I get under him it’s tough to get out. Not only is he much bigger, but he’s also good and tight.
Then Steve, who I’ve been meaning to roll with for a few weeks. The last time we rolled, I was surprised at how good his technique had become, and I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. He’s closer to my size (I think, though I’m terrible with guessing) so it would be great if I could get a good training partner. And it was no fluke — technique, no muscling, hurray! … Well, rats, I know I was thinking during my rolls tonight, and I was acting and reacting and I knew what I was doing… but I can’t remember any of it now. Oh, well. At least I know I have a good training partner. (He did bellyflop on my ribs once, which knocked the wind out of me for a moment, though he paused and apologized and let me catch my breath. Then right back to it. I appreciate a partner who is paying enough attention to know he just potentially hurt me and who pauses to check instead of taking advantage of the moment and ripping off my arm.)
Then we did some positional rolling. Justin had been talking to Tim before class and saying that he’s started letting guys take his back so he can work escaping from there, since no one can get there unless he lets them, and he was now remembering how hard it is to defend and escape from there. So we worked that. One partner sat up; the other put both hooks in and started over/under (seatbelt grip, maybe? I dunno the name). In front had to defend/escape; on the back, to submit.
Worked with Steve, Yoshi, and Adam. I managed one escape over all 3 rounds. Got caught multiple times with everyone, and never managed a submission of my own; they got away lots.
More rolling. Started with Jesse again. And remember nothing. Again. I think I had some moments where my hips moved well. And again fighting to top and to maintain it, though it was shortlived. Oh, and I hit several single-under passes! All night long! And only one ended in a triangle (here, against Jesse).
Then got stuck with the guy who injured my ribs. Fabulous. But he was focused on trying to get X-guard from all the wrong ways, so it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been, and I did get several passes and to top for a good portion of the round. I thought at first he was trying some 50/50 variation or maybe some funky Eddie Bravo stuff (this guy loves to watch stuff on the interwebs and then come try it out even though he still doesn’t have basic jiu-jitsu down); I had no idea what it was, but my knee and ankle wanted no part of it. He was trying to set it up with me in Sitting-Up Guard and him on his butt. Nothing doing. He laughed after he failed many times and told me what he was doing; I pointed out that his legs were backwards and that he probably needed to enter it from half guard, but he didn’t bother to change them.
Last roll with Steve again. Very similar to before. He doesn’t try to kill me if I get a sweep or a position. Huzzah! In a scramble, this time he elbowed me in the face; apology again; I said I was alright, but thanks for checking. (Must reinforce good behavior.) Quite an active round, too, and we were both escaping well. He also doesn’t Hulk out on me and actually does the proper escape. I think I might have managed to maintain top position for the majority of the round. Wowzer.
On the wall for single legs and alligators. Then circled up for running in place, with random sprawls and single legs as Tim called them out. Getting… tired… legs… so… heavy…
There was a lot of gurgling going on all night — no one seemed to want to tap to anyone. Even in the positional rolling, lots of guys holding their breath to avoid having to tap.
Pout: My car won’t be ready until next Tuesday or Wednesday.
On the bright side, that Charger is rather fun to drive.
Funny story, passed on from work (not us or any of our clients): So every time Company A started the system, there would be a couple of error messages about one particular component of the system. So they contacted the makers of that component and asked them to take a look. Company B came back and said they fixed the problem. So then when Company A started the system, hurray, no error messages. Except… it still didn’t work. Hmm. So Company A checks some more and finds out that the problem with the component is still there… Company B just removed the error messages…
*headdesk*
The Talk October 23, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: nogi, Open Mat
2 comments
Talked to Tim tonight after Open Mat. Everything I meant to say went immediately out the window. So typical — spend nearly a week working out what I need to say, choke out one sentence, and then veer off from there.
Conclusion: we’re both misinterpreting each other and we’re both frustrated with each other. What he meant to be encouraging and motivational is coming across as discouraging and disheartening to me. (He said he’d work on it.) On the other hand, he says he gets frustrated with me when I seem to not be rolling as well as he knows I can. (I said I’d work on it.) I told him that I’m scared of some of the guys, that they flip out when I go for anything and that they hurt me, which is why I don’t do much when I roll with them. And that with a lot of the other guys, I get frustrated when nothing seems to work. He said he’d take care of me — won’t babysit me (which I said I certainly don’t want, either!), but will certainly keep a better eye on me and who I roll with and how they’re rolling. Of course, we both agreed that the tears are not welcome.
I also mentioned that the two girls from the Krav class might try jiu-jitsu. He rolled his eyes and said he can’t stand the giggling. I promised to choke them out if they giggle too much.
So, feel much better. Have a lot more than I want to say, a lot more I want to talk to him about. But this was a good start. I feel much more confident in him as my coach and in my own abilities. (He said that I’d earned that belt with my own hard work. Also, that I’m one of the hardest-working students in there.) I have a new resolution to talk to him more often about how I’m doing in class and ask what I need to be working on. (Doing so in the first place would’ve prevented a lot of issues. This is what it devolves to when you just want to be non-confrontational. But, hey, someone’s gotta be the one to do it all wrong and tell you what not to do. You’re welcome . — Now I just have to deal with the feeling that I’m intruding/interrupting/unwanted when I talk to him. Gah. So many issues. Thanks a lot, jiu-jitsu, for making me confront them. Pfft.).
I am destroyed from last night. Sore everywhere. Stiff. O. M. G. I was tempted to say last night was slightly easier than the legendary session we had a long while back, but then I woke up this morning. … It’s close.
Apparently quite a few other guys were sore, too, and so didn’t come to Open Mat today. I went to loosen up some and in hopes that Tim would be there so I could talk to him. When I got there, Tim, Jesse, Will, and Guillaume were already on the mat. Tim wanted to go hard for 30 minutes straight, so Will and Jesse switched off every 5 minutes with him.
I rolled a few times with Guillaume. First round, just wanted to be quick. Second round, really wanted to work out from under side control, but he wanted to sit in my half-guard, so it turned back in to the same as the first round. Third round, wanted to work X-guard and/or sweeps from half guard; got some, including one sweep where I somehow launched him over my head. Overall, getting some sweeps and passes the way I wanted to; got the proper angle on the triangle, finally, though he still waited to tap until his face was purple.
After Tim, Jesse, and Will recovered, they worked a few rounds of ground ‘n’ pound.
Geez, guys, I thought that “Women: Training” page would just be a little “mkay, that’s nice,” but apparently it’s hit some kind of nerve — nearly 600 hits so far today! *blink* *blink* (And here I thought I was kind of crazy for writing it.) I’m as speechless as an obsessive-compulsive and verbose writer can be
