10/23/2013

Sorry I haven't written in a bit. Judging by my page views, I have a few readers that I'm disappointing by not saying anything. I'm still training, I just haven't had a lot of time to write. There has been a lot of drama at work, and I've been very busy with school. Even now, I'm only writing because I'm procrastinating on an essay assignment. Actually, i'm waiting for Office to load on this computer. I have a full version on my old laptop, but I don't move it out of my office. Right now, I'm sitting with my one year old daughter, and I don't like her playing in there. Anyways, last week I trained twice and went to a tournament. I'm starting to noticeably improve my skills by focusing on things I'm weak at. It helps that I've been rolling a lot with a 2nd degree black belt. Last week, he told me that I'm starting to move really well, but my balance is my biggest weakness. That makes sense, because I have trouble maintaining dominant positions. I didn't participate in the tournament I went to, I was just there for support. It was a small, local event. We had two guys enter...and a whopping five people showed up. One was a big guy from our sister academy. Anyways, they organized it so everybody got at least three matches, but still split it into two divisions. One of our guys one the small division, and our sister academy guy won the big guy division. I think i'm going to try the next local tournament, now that I have an understanding of how it all works. Tonight was my first night this week. I intended on going last night, but I got stuck doing homework. Our black belt instructor really likes to do practical drills that emphasize the self-defense aspect of BJJ. I really enjoy this, because it adds a bit of gravitas to our training, and helps you understand that this isn't just a sport. We had a lot of white belts (a couple of new guys!) in class tonight, so I wasn't constantly getting man handled. I got man handled a little, but not nearly as bad as usual. I credit one thing for this: I ate a snack before class. I usually don't eat, but I was a bit hungry when I got home. I also drank a lot of water. From now on, I'm eating a snack and drinking lots of water every day I go train. So my first roll was with our black belt, and I got a lot of good info out of it. He's playful when he rolls, and lets you work. He let me get him in a cross-collar choke, and when he tapped he said "good, I was checking to make sure your elbows were in...if they weren't I was gonna fuck you up!" I also noticed that I was better with my balance tonight. I rolled with both of our new guys too. One needs a serious talk about hygiene. When I rolled with him, I kinda just let him work. I don't like to "coach", since I'm a white belt too...but I've also been training nine months. He kept trying to attack my neck while in my guard, so I just told him that if he keeps doing that he's gonna get armbarred. Then I armbarred him. lol. The other "new" guy, is actually a super heavyweight that trained for a year at our sister academy. The dude is huge. I made a mistake by trying to play closed guard against him....but my lets couldn't lock around him. By the time I was able to transition to an open guard, he'd already smashed me and went to cross-side. I have to point out that this guy had the heaviest side control I've ever felt in my life. He literally just sat on my chest for two minutes until I purposely offered up my arm for him to attack...I didn't want to have to tap from side control :P (Is that bad?) Somehow, after we reset, I was able to get him in triple threat and transition to mount. He was so big that my knees didn't touch the mat. I think he was too tired, because he could have easily bucked me off. I was able to sink an americana right as the buzzer sounded. My other rolls were pretty good too. I went with the guy who won the tournament this weekend, and he let me do a bit of work too. He caught me in an omoplata that I was able to defend by framing up. Then I somehow got an omoplata on him. The thing I'm most proud of is that I was able to stay mobile and counter all his guard pass attempts. I even got a knee shield sweep. So, tonight I learned that food is important and that mobility is a good thing to have. I plan on going back tomorrow, however I'm hesitant. There is a purple spaz that likes to come Thursdays, and last week he hurt my ankle and ribs (he's 60 lbs heavier than me, and likes to very aggressively go Knee-on-wherever it lands). I'm not letting that deter me though, because as fucked up as it is, he actually really tests my defense. Anyways, I'm off to do homework. Peace out.

Friday and Monday

I've been getting a little more consistent with training recently, and its shown a lot.

An yways, Friday was a decent night. We had a guest instructor, a brown belt from frankfort. He's a huge dude, but always passes on good information. He showed up a guard pass where you stand up into combat base to break. Good stuff.

We got into rolling, and I went with him. This dude is seriously build like the Thing from fantastic four. It was painful just to have him in side control. I couldn't fit my legs around him in guard. He's not fat at all.

He did bring an "ultra heavyweight" white belt with him. This dude is going to roll in the IBJJF Open in Chicago. He's really good, and wrestled in high school and college. Needless to say, he fucked me up the whole night.

Anyways, as a whole, the night was ok. I didn't do overly well, but I didn't do horrible.

Today, however, I felt really good. We drilled takedowns and a sweep. The sweep was actually really easy. We then got in a lot of good rolling.

My first roll was with Curt. I chose him to go with first because if I get tired out, I can't handle him. I got him in something really slick. I took his back, but he shook me off and landed in turtle. When we landed, I was able to isolate his arm away from him and caught him in a shoulder lock/arm bar thing. The point was, when he was in turtle, he didn't have his arm in. I was just shocked I could see it.

My next roll was with the beginner instructor, Paul. He's our purple belt. Anyways, he caught me with an arm bar...but I got one on him too (i'm sure he gave me the set up, because it was something we drilled a few weeks ago). I had him in side control, and then I was able to pummel my arm under his outside arm, then rotate into the arm bar. He defended, but I remember to use the grip break I learned when we drilled this move. DRILLS WORK.

I rolled with Heath, a strong blue belt. He took my back early, but I defended for a long time. He got me in an arm bar, but I got him in a choke that I would have finished if the timer hadn't buzzed right as I sunk it in. It was a baseball bat choke. Again, something I drilled recently.

My final roll was with Rodney, super flexible no-gi dude. He'll be a blue belt soon. Anyways, I got him in a kimura. I got him set up for it, but didn't really know how to finish, so she showed me the positioning.

I watched him roll with a blue belt that comes in, and he actually demolished the blue belt (3 stripe!) fairly easily. He's pretty good and highly flexible. They were rolling no-gi, which is definitely his strong suit. I know he was taking it easy on him.

Tonight I was definitely much better than I have been in a couple weeks. Its odd how I have off nights and on nights like that.

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.

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.

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.

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.

GREGO SMASH!

Tonight was an exceedingly good night at class.

All week I've felt like shit. I've been exhausted all week, and tuesday I didn't even go to class. Today at work, I was nearly catatonic, and decided that I probably wouldn't make it in. However, when I was driving home, I told myself to not be a whiny bitch and MAN THE FUCK UP.

So I did, and I"m glad.

I got to class, still feeling like hammered shit and got winded on our normal warm ups. I was thinking right away that I'd have a bad night. However, once we got into class, focusing on the techniques allowed me to put my fatigue and self-doubt out of my mind.

We started off doing a takedown (I don't know what its called) where you basically just grab the guy's arm from the clinch and fall back. We continued that into an arm bar, and then we started working and turtle chokes from the scramble.

When we started rolling, I was completely in the mood for jiu jitsu. I started off with Curtis, the big guy. We are fairly evenly matched, because his size and strength far outstrip my own, but I defend well. He couldn't get anything on me, and I was able to lock him down in half guard indefinitely.  My next round was with Rodney, an experienced white belt who used to do cage fighting.

Apparently, he's double jointed. I caught him in an omoplata. A DEEP omoplata that I couldn't finish as a submission, so I just rolled him over and took his arm. At this point his right arm is trapped under his back and I have his left in Americana. He wouldn't tap. He said "yeah it hurt, but I'm double jointed."

He didn't get me in anything though.

My next round was with Ken, who just got made a three stripe blue belt. He's good, and he complimented my "awareness" because I attacked his arm on a transition. He fought out, but he was still happy with my performance.

I rolled with Curtis again, and we had a really good match with a lot of back and forth. He mounted me, and I couldn't get him off. So I just waited and defended. He want to transition to an armbar and I escaped. Again, we couldn't tap each other.

My last roll was with Paul, who's probably our best competitor and very, very good. I like rolling with him because when he catches me with something, he lets me fight and try to escape, then he walks me through what I did. He submitted me twice. However, the second time we rolled, I got him in an omoplata from guard! I'm starting to love omoplata . He told me that he though he could escape it, so he let me continue on with it...but I caught it too deep. I've found that the key is to shoot the hips up and get my crotch as deep in their armpit as I can. Then I rotate my hips back and pull down. After that, its just a matter of keeping them flat.

I'm very proud of my performance tonight. I think its the first time I've ever gotten a remotely resisted tap against somebody as good as Paul. Nights like tonight keep my motivation up and keep me going.

Getting kinda serious

So, tonight we had evaluations.

We started off doing positional sparring. Basically Brian, the black belt that we're affiliated under, just wanted to see how we moved. Then we opened it up to live sparring and we did three rounds.

I got thoroughly whooped by everybody I rolled with, but they were all more experienced. I wasn't really happy with my performance, but I'll do better next time.

At the end, we all lined up. I ended up getting a stripe on my white belt! Honestly, I kinda figured I would, but i"m still happy. Its good to have some positive affirmation in your life.

Lots of stripes all around, even Joe got a stripe on his brown belt.

As expected, Adam got promoted to purple belt. I'm really happy for him, and I really got to see him cut loose against another purple belt (one who accompanied Brian). He is better than I thought we was.

Anyways, I'm so tired that I don't feel like writing much. I'm happy though :)

Exhaustion

So, on Thursday, we have Professor Brian Jones coming in to do evaluations. I've never met Brian, but I hear he's awesome. He's a Carlson Jr. black belt, and he holds dan rank in Judo as well. We're affiliated to his school, since we when our school was started we didn't have a black belt instructor. Now we have Darrin, also a Carlson Jr black belt (though, he got his brown from Sr.), he doesn't want to step in on Brian's business. He just wants to train.

Tonight Joe, our brown belt instructor, was out again. I think he's got some family stuff he's dealing with. So Paul decided we should just roll to get ready for evaluations. Thats what we did.

For an hour.

I won't lie, I had a blast. I did really well at defending tonight. I think Adam is the only one who submitted me tonight. I hope he gets his purple on Thursday. He's been at four-stripes on his blue for over a year now. In our school, Joe can give stripes, but Brian does the belt tests. Brian usually tests at his school in Frankfort, which Adam can't go to.

Anyways, as the only white belt in the class tonight, I was subjected to an onslaught of blue belt fury. I got complimented several times for my defense. I almost got Ken in an ezekiel. He told me if I would have just waited a few more seconds, I would have got him with it. As it was, he was able to get his chin down and defend it.

Heath also complimented my guard. He couldn't pass it. I actually ended up giving up the guard, because I wanted to try a sweep (it didn't work.)

I'm tired as hell now. I'm sore too. Adam is a big guy, and he like side control...so my ribs hurt.

Overall though, I'm happy.

Cauliflower Ear?

Decent class tonight. We started off with doing our warm ups, with Darrin teaching mount escapes. We had a decent class size, though we had a small kid in class. He's only 8 or 9, and I don't want to roll with him. I'm not trying to be snobby, I just don't want to hurt a kid with my newbery.

Anyways, I started rolling with Nick. He's a pretty good white belt. Nothing special there, I just worked on my defenses, which was my goal for the rest of the night. I went with Ken next. When I rolled with him, he kneed the hell out of my ear. Its purple and swollen right now. I'm going to get it drained tomorrow if it looks bad. Suprisingly, it doesn't look really puffy.

Went with Adam, Justin, and Heath as well. Again, I just focused on not tapping and was mostly successful. I had to tap a few times, but that is to be expected. I was able to get one submission because heath tried to take my back. When he went for it, I rolled into turtle with him still on my back. The way we landed, his feet were locked together on my pelvis. I just drove my hips down, and he tapped. I can't really take too much credit, because we kinda just fell into it. Still, pretty cool.

My ear is hurting like a bastard though. I'm going to invest in some headgear.

Regression

Today I was back in class. For some reason, it was a small one. Only myself, curtis, Adam and Andrew were there. Adam is very keen on getting in as much practice as he can, because he's testing for purple next week. I wish him the best.

I came in 15 minutes late because of a dental appointment. On the positive side, no cavities.

Anyways, we went over rear mount escapes. The scoop and the bridge escape were the orders of business. We went over it a few times each, then rolled.

I'm not a big fan of the way Andrew rolls. In my mind, he's unnecessarily rough. I mainly roll with blue belts, and while he definitely has skill, he likes to crank. For example, when he transitions to knee on belly/chest, he likes to jump up and drive down. It was pretty painful, and I've never seen a blue belt do that before. I thought it might be in response to something I did (spazzing?) but Curtis told me that he nearly killed him too. I was pretty sure I wasn't spazzing, because at the time I was mainly defending, and focusing on keeping my arms in.

When I rolled with Curtis, a fellow no-stripe white belt, he was really able to use his size to school the hell out of me. He submitted me two or three times and I wasn't able to get anything on him. He works really hard, and trains five days a week. It absolutely makes sense that he is out-performing me. I wish I could commit to that much training.

I just felt like I regressed today. I hear that is fairly common, but it still is not very encouraging. My ribs and breastbone are sore from Andrew's attacks. I am going to focus on training more regularly. This hit an miss training has to stop...but real life keeps getting in my way.

Decent

Last night's class was small.

Darrin, our black belt, teach on Thursdays and Fridays now. His work schedule became a bit more stable for the time being, which is awesome for us. I honestly expected last night to be crowded, because of how packed it was thursday. There was only four of us though, five with Darrin.

We worked mount escapes, then rolled.

I started off rolling against Adam, who is a very good 4-stripe blue belt. He tapped me like six times...which is better than usual. I went against a new blue belt to our school as well. I can't remember his name, but he's a 4-strip blue. He wasn't able to submit me...but I don't know if he was actually trying. I did have some pretty decent defense going.

My third roll was with Curtis, whom is much larger than me. He's so big that I can't close my guard around him very well, so he passes pretty easily. He's only been coming for a month, but he's a cop and has trained in the past. Plus, he has been going, literally, every night we have class. I really admire his dedication. He serves in the police with Paul, who also comes everyday.

Anyways, I had some decent defense against him. I was able to pull off a cross collar choke against him. This is the first time I've been able to get it to work with a resisting opponent. He wasn't able to submit me, which makes me happy. He's so much stronger and larger than me, that its a testament to the effectiveness of jiu jitsu that he wasn't able to man handle me.

My final roll was with Darrin. He kinda just toyed around with me, and let me work on some of the stuff we'd been doing in class. Its always fun to roll with him, because he's so playful. I tried an omoplata against him, but I hit it too shallow.

Anyways, it was a decent night. It wasn't my best crappling, but it wasn't the worst.

Big Crowd

Tonight we had a lot of people. A lot of new faces, and a couple that I haven't seen in a couple of months. Mats were very crowded...i'm actually surprised nobody went crashing into each other.

We worked on mount escapes. Nothing major, just good basic skills to have. I really wish I had time to train more.

I did a few sparring matches, starting with Curtis. He's a large cop. I can barely close my guard on him. We had a good match, he choked me with an ezekiel, but I caught him with an Americana. I rolled with a "new guy" named Curtis. I was surprised at how poorly I was doing against him, until he told me that he has a few years of experience at a no-gi school, and has been going to this one on an off for a few years. He's still only a white belt because he primarily no-gi.

I also rolled with Heath, he didn't get me in anything, but I didn't get him. Then I rolled with Adam, and he was bustin' me out every couple of seconds, it seemed.

Overall, I had a decent night. Not good, but not horrible. I managed to catch a few omoplata attempts...which surprised me. I wasn't able to lock any in, well except one on Rodney...but he was saved by the bell. So far, Omoplata has been one of my more successful moves. I even almost landed one on Adam...but he's big and was able to push his way out.

It Ain't the Years, Its the Mileage

So, I had an absolutely wonderful class tonight.

We didn't do any drills or anything, we just straight up rolled for an hour and a half. I gassed out after about 45 minutes, but stayed in the mix because you have to know how to keep going when you're tired. Doing this helped me figure out some ways to save some energy, and I found that even after rolling, I got a second wind a few minutes later.

I did some stuff that impressed my sparring partners alot, including our coach. He let me get him in half guard, and I caught him in a straight arm bar from there. He told me he was surprised by that, but that I should have had control of his arm more. He could have gotten out of it, but he was just happy that I locked something in. It was kind of a big moment for me :D

When rolling with Ken, I took him by surprise by nearly catching him in an arm bar. He barely escaped, and actually stopped our roll to tell me how awesome my transition was.

Days like this is why I keep going back to BJJ. Even if I have a bad day, as long as I have one of these every now and again, I'm happy. Its fun.

The bad part though...
I somehow pulled my neck. I must be getting old, because I wasn't an any head holds or anything. In fact, I didn't feel anything until I stood up after working scarf hold on Joe. As soon as I did, I felt it. I sparred lightly after that, and then sat the remaining round on the sidelines. I'm icing/resting and medicating right now, but it hurts like a bitch.

My wife tells me I'm just getting old....I'm only 27.
It must be the mileage.

Back in Action

I've been slacking this week, and tonight is the only night I've actually gone to BJJ.

Honestly, I've been feeling like crap. My CFS flared up, and I haven't been up to doing much at all. Today I still felt shitty, but doing slightly better. So, I forced myself into going, and I'm glad I did. I'm ungodly tired right now, but during class I was feeling better.

We  started off doing guard pass drills, and I partnered with Heath, a no stripe blue belt. He's a good partner for me, because he's not too much beyond me. He knows enough to help me out, but during live drills, he has trouble submitting me. I can't get anything on him either, but the fact that I'm holding out against a blue belt does wonders for my confidence.

I'm the type that feeds on positive reinforcement. If I can see I'm doing well, I start doing better. So, when I roll against somebody that is really good and I feel like I 'm flubbing up...well, I get worse. I have a history of not doing well under pressure. I remember when I was in middle school I won my county's geography bee. I was excited to go to state, but when I got there, I was so nervous that my nose started bleeding and I completely didn't get a single question right. Anyways, the point is, I suck under pressure.

Anyways, I was glad to be back. I did three rounds of live rolling with Heath, Ken, and Paul. Nothing much to say, except that I am doing a lot better defensively. Paul is really good and can create holes in my game, but Heath and Ken couldn't get anything on me. I'm just happy to see progress.

Friday

I know I'm a few days late with this training log, but I've been busy.

Anyways, it was storming friday night, so when I went to class I wasn't suprised to find a low turn out. In fact, only myself and Adam had shown up. Adam is a really good practitioner, and by rights should be a purple belt. He's been a 4-stripe blue belt for over a year, and just hasn't tested because the tests are performed in another city. Supposedly, Brian Jones, our head black belt dude out of Valhalla, is going to be coming in to evaluate people in June or July, so he's hopeful.

Anyways, we were the only two that showed up, so I essentially got a private lesson. He showed me some sweeps from butterfly guard for about 20 minutes, and then we rolled for nearly an hour. I was showing definite improvements in my defensive technique, and Adam was quick to point it out. I credit most of this to Ribiero's Jiu Jitsu University, because we haven't actually covered any in the short time I've been going to class. I was really getting the hang of defending my neck.

I did a lot better on Friday than I did on Thursday, so I'm happy. I'm grateful to Adam for taking the time to work with me. He didn't get anything out of it, and could have easily just left and went home when nobody else showed up. He's a good dude.

Off Night

Tonight we did more of the transitionary stuff from the guard. Armbars and what not. It was more of a review.

I was having a really off night, submitting to crap I shouldn't have. I wasn't nearly as good as I was on Tuesday. I'm going back tomorrow for open mat to see if I can work some of this out.

Another good night

It was another excellent night. Joe wasn't able to make it, so Bobby, the Children's instructor, ran the class. Started out with the standard warm up and drills, then we went into scarf hold submissions and escapes. We went over the bow and arrow and a straight arm lock from the position. Good stuff.

After that, we went into escapes. The first was s-gripping the back, hipping up and driving them over. The other was creating space and driving your shoulder towards the mat.

Anyways, we rolled a bit at the end of class. My first roll was with Ken, an Irish blue belt. He's a super cool guy. Anyways, to my surprise, I instinctively pulled the scarfhold escape during our roll. It completely caught Ken by surprise, and we had a good laugh.

Then I rolled with Hayden, the 14 year old kid. he's really good at defense, and I couldn't get any submissions in. I did, however, stay on top nearly the whole time. He is, of course, like 70 lbs lighter than me.

My final roll was with a new girl named Alex. She is coming to us from a no-gi school here in tow, where she's gone for three years or so.(we've been getting a lot of students from there). Anyways, rolling with her was interesting because she's not as aggressive as Amber, but she's pretty good at defense as well. Anyways, during the roll, I caught her in an Omplata. This is the first time I've submitted somebody for real!

I know submissions don't really matter, and that she's a new student. I don't view it as a victory over her or anything, I just am happy that my training is paying off! Joe showed me the Omplata for the first time a week ago, and I didn't even set her up or anything...I just saw a hole and took it!

Anyways I'm just excited that I had a good night with good rolls. Every time I roll, I try to learn something.

Really good night.

Well, I arrived at class tonight to find out that the power was out. Apparently, the church we borrow the space from just changed ownership, so the utilities weren't transferred over. It was no big deal, as it was a beautiful day. We just opened the doors, so we had enough light to train by. It wasn't hot out either, so we didn't really need the fans going.

There were only four students. Two blue belts (Adam is testing for purple in June, I think) and a two or three stripe white belt.  Of course, our main instructor (the brown belt) was there. Joe informed me that I really needed to work transitions, since we've never gone over them since I've been in class. He dedicated most of the hour completely to me. I felt really honored that Joe would do that for me, since there were other students there. He kinda just said "you guys go roll over there, I'm gonna work with greg." We just drilled moving between positions. From mount, to knee on belly, to side control, to scarf hold, reverse scarf hold, back to mount. Joe told me to visualize this when I got the chance.

The last ten minutes of class, I rolled with a couple blue belts. I focused on just moving between positions. Adam is a good partner to roll with. He let me stay on top the whole time, and would only gain the dominant position whenever I fucked up.

Which was often.

Still, it was a good experience. I train with a bunch of great people

Walkin' on Sunshine

I'm in an amazing mood this morning, that may or may not have anything to do with BJJ. My dog woke me up at 4:30am, and I was like "screw it, I'm up". I'm in a good mood and feel great. This is such a rare occasion, because of my chronic fatigue syndrome. I'm taking advantage of it today. I can't go do BJJ tonight, because its my best friend's last night in town and I have to take him to dinner.

Anyways, last night's class was pretty cool. We did more transitioning from guard positions. We practiced the armbar from guard again, and then we did a pretty cool sit up transition. I don't know what its called, but bascially if your armbar fails, you're still in a position to move. I really like the aggressive focus our school has. I think aggression is something that some BJJ schools lack, from some of the videos I've seen on youtube and around the net. That isn't a bad thing, I just personally like agression.

One of our guys, the big dude that crushes me everytime we roll, got a stripe last night. It was good to see. However, I prefer to roll with his 15 year old son. The kid is very technical, but not very large. This makes him a good partner because if you screw up, he's going to catch you. His dad just kinda crushes me into submission. The kid got his third stripe on his white belt a few weeks ago, after he won his division in NAGA. I'm always happy to see team mates get promoted, even if its just a stripe.

The best part of the night is Darrin, our black belt instructor, asked me if I wanted to stay behind and roll a bit after we bowed out of class. Darrin is, quite literally, the only blackbelt in our town. Because of his work schedule, he can only come two days a week. He is a very good instructor, and roughly the same size as me. He walked me through several chokes as we rolled, including the cross collar choke. We are lucky to have Darrin, as well as Joe (our brown belt instructor).

I'm still trying to find a bit more about Darrin's lineage. I know that he was promoted to at least Blue belt by Carlson Gracie Sr. He's has often talked about the late Grandmaster with reverence. I know he got his blackbelt from Carlson Jr., who he refers to as a "beast." I don't know who he got his purple and brown belts from.

So, I'm going to get off here and go back to work. Have a great day!