Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Off night

Tonight I had an off night. Not a bad night, just...off.

We started with doing armbar and triangle drills. Nothing too hard, but it definitely helps with transitions. We had a new person come in. She's a cop with Paul and Nick. She seems cool.

We then drilled a "cobra choke", which is kind of an ezekiel/arm triangle hybrid. After than we drilled a transition to armbar from that transition.

My bad night started with positional rolling. I just sucked at everything I tried. That carried on into my rolls. I also got a nosebleed during one roll. It wasn't serious, but I sat out part of it. Then in another roll, Paul's bandage fell off. He just had an infection drained, so he stopped to redress it. Anyways I was just having trouble with everything I tried tonight.




Sunday, August 25, 2013

Class 8/24/13

I always enjoy training on Saturdays. There are never many people, and you really get to cut loose.

Yesterday we started out learning the baseball bat choke, from several different set ups. It is an excellent and versatile choke that has applications from many positions. We also learned a few side control defense moves. Those are always good.

We started doing side control positional drills, with one man in the middle. Once you got out of side control, next person was up. I learned how dangerous a position side control can be. I actually prefer to be mounted, I think. Especially when somebody has like 100 lbs on you. Good training.

Afterwards we did a few rounds of sparring. I started off sparring paul, our purple belt beginner's instructor. He's a badass, even though he's small. I had a good roll with him, and he focused on setting me up for a couple submissions. It was awesome.

My next roll was against Curt, our big guy. He's roughly my skill level. When I'm on m game, I can handle him pretty well. When I'm not, he man handles me. The roll started off that way, he tapped me out like three times in three minutes. Finally, I was able to take his back and I got hold of his collar. He tried to roll out, but I popped my knee into his back and rode him down to the ground. It was definitely on of my most dramatic chokes ever.

Finally rolled against Justin, a wiry cage fighter blue belt. He tapped me out a couple times, but towards the end I was able to get him in the baseball bat choke we'd just learned. At first I thought he gave it to me, but I think I actually got him. This is kind of a big deal for me, because it marks progress for me...and its the first time I've ever gotten him in anything.

On another note, I haven't been training as much. Things keep coming up. I promised my niece I'd go to as many of her basketball games as possible. Then my truck blew up on the way home from work on Wednesday. Luckily, I was able to get a new car, but it kind of messed with my training schedule for a couple days.

 I have a friend who is interested in training with me. He's a judo black belt, so I can learn a lot from him.

I'm hoping to start doing three session a week, but we'll have to see how that goes. When I have classes like yesterday's it reinvigorates me, but the grind of the week sometimes robs me of that enthusiasm.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Bad Work Days Make For Good Jiu Jitsu Nights

I had the worst day at work. I can't talk about a lot of it, but it consisted in dealing with a guy who is a such a tool that I call his office "The Tool Shed"

So, I decided "I must go to class tonight", because I was so frustrated. It was a good call. We started off doing a halfguard pass, and chaining it into two crossface submissions. We did this on friday too, but its good to drill things over and over.

When we opened up for class, I rolled with Paul right away. He's a brand new purple, and it was well earned. He actually skipped his fourth stripe...which was all good. He trains six days a week, and dominates competitions. Anyways, I'm proud to say that I didn't tap to him. He only works maybe two subs, but I defended them. I am pleased.

Second rolls was with Curtis, the big white belt. He uses his size well, and he spent the whole time on top of me. I escaped to guard a few times, but I couldn't sweep him. He had me in an americana once, but I wiggled out. I actually had him trapped in half guard for like two full minutes.

Then I rolled against Rodney, he's older and tough as a boot heel. He's a two or three stripe white (he doesn't wear them), who is actually as good as most blues. He trained no-gi in the past, and Paul said he's almost ready for his blue. Anyways, Im happy to say that he didn't catch me in anything either. In fact, I caught him in an omoplata.

Once again, the omoplata has become my go to move. I love it, and I find myself pulling it off more than any choke or submission I know. I don't know why, its just something I adapted to fairly quickly.

I'm proud to say I went through the whole night without being submitted. Its obvious paul wasn't trying too hard for submissions, but the other two were. This is the first night I've actually not tapped out to anybody...it is a good feeling.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Back in Black

Get it? My gi is black :D

Anyways, Friday was my first class back in a couple weeks. I'm feeling much better, and going to class has seemed to help me. I followed up by going to the beginners class on Saturday. It was very good.

I'm not going to go into details about my rolls, because they're nothing special. I'm just glad to be back.