No Gi with Ferret
We have continued to work our series that includes the arm bar, shoulder-lock, triangle and sweep. Ferret should be another sick set up this week that is more of our traditional set up, but with a small change. Instead of actually going to the back of the head with the right hand, you sell that you are going for it, then karate chop into your opponent's trapped arm. From there you take your left hand to the back of their head from this you can jump directly to arm bar or jump the shoulders. If both of those fail, you can then move in to the pendulum sweep. The move is slick. Ferret caught me good when he demonstrated it. I was impressed. As you can see it has been almost two weeks since I last trained. I am a half block away from GT at the new job and need to make time to get over there to train.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
11/2/08 #73.5
As you can see I didn't manage to get to class this week. Gotta love the new schedule, it ROCKS!
Did get Ferret to meet me on Sunday because I was asked to work. I know, right? If I have to drive to Tampa on Sunday, I might as well train. Ferret was nice enough to meet me on short notice.
Training started like last week with the shoulder jump. Ferret is trying to get me to make a more aggressive jump - bring my hips to my opponent and hang on, forcing them to deal with the weight plus the aggressive squeeze. He also showed me a new way to set it up, by using the right hand underneath or across the opposite arm. It is a different set up and thinks that it may allow for a little more success in the shoulder jump, so something I can try this week if my schedule will allow.
From there, we went back to guard passes. We keep working on this double elbow pass (for lack of better words) and that has lead to different variations of passes from our standard pass to a knee through pass that can bring you to knee on belly, our half guard pass, etc. Ferret is just trying to help me get my timing back, but also allow me to develop a stronger foundation with some of the basics.
Did get Ferret to meet me on Sunday because I was asked to work. I know, right? If I have to drive to Tampa on Sunday, I might as well train. Ferret was nice enough to meet me on short notice.
Training started like last week with the shoulder jump. Ferret is trying to get me to make a more aggressive jump - bring my hips to my opponent and hang on, forcing them to deal with the weight plus the aggressive squeeze. He also showed me a new way to set it up, by using the right hand underneath or across the opposite arm. It is a different set up and thinks that it may allow for a little more success in the shoulder jump, so something I can try this week if my schedule will allow.
From there, we went back to guard passes. We keep working on this double elbow pass (for lack of better words) and that has lead to different variations of passes from our standard pass to a knee through pass that can bring you to knee on belly, our half guard pass, etc. Ferret is just trying to help me get my timing back, but also allow me to develop a stronger foundation with some of the basics.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
10.26.08 #72.4
As you can see it has been a long time since I have posted, it has been a long time since I have trained. Almost two months. After switching jobs and adjusting to my new schedule, I am looking forward to get back to training. I don't think my new job will allow me the flexibility and freedom to be able to continue doing privates with Ferret. I still have 3 lessons left and will milk those over the next few months. I just hope I haven't forgotten everything in this two month hiatus.
Obviously, I was a bit rusty. We went back to reviewing basics - shoulder jump and guard pass. My timing is off and trying to remember moves when we review is tough. However, when we roll I feel more comfortable. My goal is to start training a few times per week again. Let's just see how the new boss handles me working a 14 hour day...
Obviously, I was a bit rusty. We went back to reviewing basics - shoulder jump and guard pass. My timing is off and trying to remember moves when we review is tough. However, when we roll I feel more comfortable. My goal is to start training a few times per week again. Let's just see how the new boss handles me working a 14 hour day...
Sunday, August 24, 2008
8.24.08 #71.3
About damn time. After going to California, I went to Alaska, then came home and was sick as hell. After trying to get over after almost two weeks, I thought I should go see a doctor. I found out I was very sick with some nasty virus. The doctor suggested that I sit out of jitsu for a 5 days or so, due to the contact. I didn't want to bring anything into GT. Tonight at 6pm, I will finally be training with Ferret. Leland is going to train with Midget. Tonight should be fun.
Tonight was great. We worked the over-hook series from guard. Ferret showed me a new twist. Instead of going for the razor, triangle, shoulder lock series. He showed me a series of gi moves. You feed the lapel into the hand with the over-hook and then trap the opponents opposite shoulder and feed the sleeve to the hand with the over hook. Trap the elbow with the knee and you take an arm bar. The variation from that was to put your hand opposite the over hook - thumb in - into the gi bring the arm back around to the over hook arm and take the gi choke. If your opponent fights it, you can clear the arm with the opposite leg, or if he fights it very hard, you can take the arm bar, or if he continues to fight it and you can't do either of those you go into the razor, triangle, shoulder lock series.
After a few reps of this, Ferret and I rolled for about 30 minutes. It was great to get back into the swing of things. I felt good and was smooth tonight. Ferret busted me in the eye and I about ripped his thumb off. So it didn't take long before we both got bruised and banged up again. I look forward to getting back to regular training.
Tonight was great. We worked the over-hook series from guard. Ferret showed me a new twist. Instead of going for the razor, triangle, shoulder lock series. He showed me a series of gi moves. You feed the lapel into the hand with the over-hook and then trap the opponents opposite shoulder and feed the sleeve to the hand with the over hook. Trap the elbow with the knee and you take an arm bar. The variation from that was to put your hand opposite the over hook - thumb in - into the gi bring the arm back around to the over hook arm and take the gi choke. If your opponent fights it, you can clear the arm with the opposite leg, or if he fights it very hard, you can take the arm bar, or if he continues to fight it and you can't do either of those you go into the razor, triangle, shoulder lock series.
After a few reps of this, Ferret and I rolled for about 30 minutes. It was great to get back into the swing of things. I felt good and was smooth tonight. Ferret busted me in the eye and I about ripped his thumb off. So it didn't take long before we both got bruised and banged up again. I look forward to getting back to regular training.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
7.21.08 #70
Huntington Beach Ultimate Training Center
I was unsure of the training schedule when I got out to Huntington Beach, so I got the gym at 5ish or so and some huge guy was not overly friendly. He managed to muster only a handful of words, most of which consisted of "twenty dollars" after I paid my twenty dollars I was free to do whatever I wanted in this very nice facility. Sub wrestling, as the class was called, didn't start until 6pm. So I had an hour to kill. I watched some of the kick boxing class and watched a few guys do some striking near the boxing ring about 5:45 I got into where I thought the class was going to take place and started warming up. About 10 minutes after 6 I begin wondering is this place on GT time too? Only to find out the grappling class is going on in one of the cages on the other side of the gym. So I hurry in to class.
Class starts out a little different from how we do things, at first I was a bit unsure how to go through some of the moves. However, by the end of class I was enjoying myself. The instructor, Brady Fink, showed us one offensive move, then the defensive move. So we started out with a series of offensive moves first, jump the shoulders into shoulder lock, arm bar, then triangle. Then he showed us the triangle defense from there we ran oomoplata, the other person ran a jump over move, then we ran an ankle lock. After running through these moves we worked take downs. One guy stands in the middle and stays in until someone is able to take him down and maintain control on the ground in a strong position. I only did one takedown, I actually tried one of my judo throws, which didn't work too well, but I tried. Then we locked up and I tried for my guillotine, we wrestled around on the ground before I was able to secure half-guard from the bottom and in this case it was considered a loss because my opponent had top position. At this point, my cab driver was there to pick me up for dinner and I was running very late! Glad to be back from Cali though, I wish I would have had more time to train, but work kept me busy.
I was unsure of the training schedule when I got out to Huntington Beach, so I got the gym at 5ish or so and some huge guy was not overly friendly. He managed to muster only a handful of words, most of which consisted of "twenty dollars" after I paid my twenty dollars I was free to do whatever I wanted in this very nice facility. Sub wrestling, as the class was called, didn't start until 6pm. So I had an hour to kill. I watched some of the kick boxing class and watched a few guys do some striking near the boxing ring about 5:45 I got into where I thought the class was going to take place and started warming up. About 10 minutes after 6 I begin wondering is this place on GT time too? Only to find out the grappling class is going on in one of the cages on the other side of the gym. So I hurry in to class.
Class starts out a little different from how we do things, at first I was a bit unsure how to go through some of the moves. However, by the end of class I was enjoying myself. The instructor, Brady Fink, showed us one offensive move, then the defensive move. So we started out with a series of offensive moves first, jump the shoulders into shoulder lock, arm bar, then triangle. Then he showed us the triangle defense from there we ran oomoplata, the other person ran a jump over move, then we ran an ankle lock. After running through these moves we worked take downs. One guy stands in the middle and stays in until someone is able to take him down and maintain control on the ground in a strong position. I only did one takedown, I actually tried one of my judo throws, which didn't work too well, but I tried. Then we locked up and I tried for my guillotine, we wrestled around on the ground before I was able to secure half-guard from the bottom and in this case it was considered a loss because my opponent had top position. At this point, my cab driver was there to pick me up for dinner and I was running very late! Glad to be back from Cali though, I wish I would have had more time to train, but work kept me busy.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
7.13.08 #69.2
Gi with Ferret
Tonight's main objective was two moves - darce choke and the bulldog. The darce choke, I thought I knew, but this intro is much more effective and takes the move to a much higher submission percentage. The trick when you go for the darce is to smash the head to the ground and to you. Then reach for the back of the neck. Once you get that, bring your knees out of the way, to clear the arm, go to the "rear naked" grip and drop the hips for the finish. The alternative off of that is the bulldog. Instead of gripping your hands "rear naked", you grab your wrist. Then you walk towards north/south and keep your opponent from going to his knees. Put your knees on his head, tightening the grip, then put your knee in his back and set your other leg out for base, drop your ribs and weight and lift up on the neck. I enjoyed the bulldog, definitely something I want to work on and add to my game. We also worked some defense against these moves, as well as, Ferret and Matt's 3 positions from side and a few escapes. Ferret and I rolled for about 15 minutes tonight too. It was a great class. Plus, I got to watch Jeremy and MM do some striking.
Tonight's main objective was two moves - darce choke and the bulldog. The darce choke, I thought I knew, but this intro is much more effective and takes the move to a much higher submission percentage. The trick when you go for the darce is to smash the head to the ground and to you. Then reach for the back of the neck. Once you get that, bring your knees out of the way, to clear the arm, go to the "rear naked" grip and drop the hips for the finish. The alternative off of that is the bulldog. Instead of gripping your hands "rear naked", you grab your wrist. Then you walk towards north/south and keep your opponent from going to his knees. Put your knees on his head, tightening the grip, then put your knee in his back and set your other leg out for base, drop your ribs and weight and lift up on the neck. I enjoyed the bulldog, definitely something I want to work on and add to my game. We also worked some defense against these moves, as well as, Ferret and Matt's 3 positions from side and a few escapes. Ferret and I rolled for about 15 minutes tonight too. It was a great class. Plus, I got to watch Jeremy and MM do some striking.
Monday, July 7, 2008
7.6.07 #68.1
Gi with Ferret
While I had class, Leland trained with Midget. Funny thing is, they were working on the same thing we were. Guard passes and loose guard. Tonight was a review of the things we have been working on the last few weeks. I made a dumb mistake from half-guard, for some reason I wasn't thinking clearly and tried a pass - facing the wrong direction. Ferret was giving me a hard time, but I had a total mental breakdown. So we reviewed the pass from half-guard, plus added to it. Tonight's class was good, even though I consistently get beaten by Ferret wrapping my gi around me. I was relaxed and it made its way through in to my jits. That is the biggest accomplishment to date, just relaxing and then exploding when I need to. I will continue to work on that and get better. I want to have that easy relaxed flow that Travis has then explode with power just like he does.
While I had class, Leland trained with Midget. Funny thing is, they were working on the same thing we were. Guard passes and loose guard. Tonight was a review of the things we have been working on the last few weeks. I made a dumb mistake from half-guard, for some reason I wasn't thinking clearly and tried a pass - facing the wrong direction. Ferret was giving me a hard time, but I had a total mental breakdown. So we reviewed the pass from half-guard, plus added to it. Tonight's class was good, even though I consistently get beaten by Ferret wrapping my gi around me. I was relaxed and it made its way through in to my jits. That is the biggest accomplishment to date, just relaxing and then exploding when I need to. I will continue to work on that and get better. I want to have that easy relaxed flow that Travis has then explode with power just like he does.
Friday, July 4, 2008
7.3.08 #67
Beginner with Rob
I warmed up with Cal for about 10 minutes before class started. He and I worked some arm bars from gift wrap. Then we worked some arm bars from knee-on-belly then turned that into kimura. Great stuff.
Rob started class tonight from the guard, but with an MMA feel. Similar to what we did on Tuesday, cobra grip, this time get the overhook with one hand and then with the other push your opponent's shoulder/chest area to create space, shrimp out and put the foot on the hip on the same side as the shoulder you pushed. From there take your other leg and put it across your opponent's neck. Make sure you foot on the hip knee is touching your foot behind the opponent's head. Use two hands with the triangle grip to lock your opponent down. From there you can throw punches or elbows if you are in a fight. Then if your opponent postures up in this position, you swich your feet and go for the triangle. Rob stressed you don't need to be in a hurry. You are much better off controlling the position. When you switch legs, make sure you get your other foot to the hip to keep your opponent from posturing up and again - triangle grip with the hands on the ankle to hold them as well. I worked with Wally and was able to get some good reps in tonight. From there, Rob had has drill for about 15 minutes.
Drill tonight was one down in OPEN guard, could not close your guard, objective sweep or submit. Man up just had to pass guard and get to side control. I passed all of my opponents, but on one attempt we got to a scamble and he took me down with a single leg to get the sweep. When I was down it took once or twice before I got in the groove. I swept original Mike, got two guillotines, swept 2 others and hit the arm drag nicely tonight, straight to back for the rear naked. I think I maybe am missing one or two others...
After that Rob called open mat, I had planned on going in the other room and relaxing for a bit and taking the wrestling class. However, Chad asked me to roll with him. Chad is a little bit bigger then I am and been training just over two years. We started out and I pushed him to try and pass but he was shrimping out going for attacks, I wasn't able to control his hips. I sat up and he pressed me, I tried for the arm drag and then settled in to butterfly guard. I then tried for the headsmash into my knee and was going to try the mma stand up Rob showed us Tuesday, but didn't get into position, but was able to push to half guard. From here we worked back and forth and it took me some time to get to side. As soon as I did I was facing away from him and went to Ferret's mount. I took mount, swept for the arm and missed it but I was mounted. I bugged the neck a few times, smashed the head and tried for gift wrap. I was able to maintain mount for a bit and try for some attacks, but no luck. I lost the position during a knee escape and backed off to side. From there Chad was trying to hip back in and went to turtle. I rolled him and took his back, but he was awful low on me, after some rear naked attempts he got loose and we had an akward scramble. I somehow ended up in his guard with one arm in and one out - not good. He tried to apply the triangle, but it was loose so I fought my way out of it. By this point wrestling class had started and we got kicked out. All in all a good night.
I warmed up with Cal for about 10 minutes before class started. He and I worked some arm bars from gift wrap. Then we worked some arm bars from knee-on-belly then turned that into kimura. Great stuff.
Rob started class tonight from the guard, but with an MMA feel. Similar to what we did on Tuesday, cobra grip, this time get the overhook with one hand and then with the other push your opponent's shoulder/chest area to create space, shrimp out and put the foot on the hip on the same side as the shoulder you pushed. From there take your other leg and put it across your opponent's neck. Make sure you foot on the hip knee is touching your foot behind the opponent's head. Use two hands with the triangle grip to lock your opponent down. From there you can throw punches or elbows if you are in a fight. Then if your opponent postures up in this position, you swich your feet and go for the triangle. Rob stressed you don't need to be in a hurry. You are much better off controlling the position. When you switch legs, make sure you get your other foot to the hip to keep your opponent from posturing up and again - triangle grip with the hands on the ankle to hold them as well. I worked with Wally and was able to get some good reps in tonight. From there, Rob had has drill for about 15 minutes.
Drill tonight was one down in OPEN guard, could not close your guard, objective sweep or submit. Man up just had to pass guard and get to side control. I passed all of my opponents, but on one attempt we got to a scamble and he took me down with a single leg to get the sweep. When I was down it took once or twice before I got in the groove. I swept original Mike, got two guillotines, swept 2 others and hit the arm drag nicely tonight, straight to back for the rear naked. I think I maybe am missing one or two others...
After that Rob called open mat, I had planned on going in the other room and relaxing for a bit and taking the wrestling class. However, Chad asked me to roll with him. Chad is a little bit bigger then I am and been training just over two years. We started out and I pushed him to try and pass but he was shrimping out going for attacks, I wasn't able to control his hips. I sat up and he pressed me, I tried for the arm drag and then settled in to butterfly guard. I then tried for the headsmash into my knee and was going to try the mma stand up Rob showed us Tuesday, but didn't get into position, but was able to push to half guard. From here we worked back and forth and it took me some time to get to side. As soon as I did I was facing away from him and went to Ferret's mount. I took mount, swept for the arm and missed it but I was mounted. I bugged the neck a few times, smashed the head and tried for gift wrap. I was able to maintain mount for a bit and try for some attacks, but no luck. I lost the position during a knee escape and backed off to side. From there Chad was trying to hip back in and went to turtle. I rolled him and took his back, but he was awful low on me, after some rear naked attempts he got loose and we had an akward scramble. I somehow ended up in his guard with one arm in and one out - not good. He tried to apply the triangle, but it was loose so I fought my way out of it. By this point wrestling class had started and we got kicked out. All in all a good night.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
7.1.08 #66
AM with Rob
Today's class was just what I needed for some offense from guard. Rob started class by showing us an MMA move that allows you to kick your opponent from your back. Put your opponent in guard, cobra grips (make sure your elbows are to your hips to keep your opponent from swimming his arms back in) and then put your feet on his hips. Swim out, apply pressure to his elbow and move down to his wrists. Shrimp out and kick your opponent with your heel in the sternum. Sweet move. From this we moved into the triangle choke. The set up was identical but the point that stuck with me was not to jump for the home run right off the bat. You know your opponent is going to posture up, so throw him into a shoulder jump and cross your legs. From there - SHAKE AND BAKE - throw your hips up as high into the air as you can and as you come down throw your feet to your head ***DON'T DO A CRUNCH*** Kick your feet back to break his posture, catch your ankle, other foot to the hip and finish. From there we went into another MMA move, from butterfly or guard, grab your opponents head, your elbow to you knee, post up and stand up as you apply pressure with your front foot to his hip. As you stand up bring the weight to his hip and press your hips into his head, then proceed to smash his face or take the mount. Great class today. I got to work with Dave and we got a bunch of good reps in.
After class, Wally let me work some of my open guard passes with him, I didn't do so well but I learned a few keys. Wally pointed out that when I do the butterfly pass, to really apply pressure to his waist and control his hips. Don't bother putting all of my weight on my head on the ground, apply the pressure to my shoulders at his waist. I look forward to working this more.
Today's class was just what I needed for some offense from guard. Rob started class by showing us an MMA move that allows you to kick your opponent from your back. Put your opponent in guard, cobra grips (make sure your elbows are to your hips to keep your opponent from swimming his arms back in) and then put your feet on his hips. Swim out, apply pressure to his elbow and move down to his wrists. Shrimp out and kick your opponent with your heel in the sternum. Sweet move. From this we moved into the triangle choke. The set up was identical but the point that stuck with me was not to jump for the home run right off the bat. You know your opponent is going to posture up, so throw him into a shoulder jump and cross your legs. From there - SHAKE AND BAKE - throw your hips up as high into the air as you can and as you come down throw your feet to your head ***DON'T DO A CRUNCH*** Kick your feet back to break his posture, catch your ankle, other foot to the hip and finish. From there we went into another MMA move, from butterfly or guard, grab your opponents head, your elbow to you knee, post up and stand up as you apply pressure with your front foot to his hip. As you stand up bring the weight to his hip and press your hips into his head, then proceed to smash his face or take the mount. Great class today. I got to work with Dave and we got a bunch of good reps in.
After class, Wally let me work some of my open guard passes with him, I didn't do so well but I learned a few keys. Wally pointed out that when I do the butterfly pass, to really apply pressure to his waist and control his hips. Don't bother putting all of my weight on my head on the ground, apply the pressure to my shoulders at his waist. I look forward to working this more.
Monday, June 30, 2008
6.29.08 #65.6
Gi with Ferret
Tonight's main objective was to work defense - open and loose guard. We didn't have any hard, fast rules I had to follow so it becomes just getting use to defending. One of the few rules that we covered was if your opponent gets an underhook on your leg, you have to push up on his elbow and get your foot back to his neck/shoulder. I spent 15 minutes defending my guard and then I went on the attack for 5 minutes, we did this for 50 minutes and spent the last 15 or 20 minutes rolling. It didn't take Ferret much to pass my guard when we went live. In fact, it didn't take Ferret too long to submit me tonight. More stuff to work on.
Tonight's main objective was to work defense - open and loose guard. We didn't have any hard, fast rules I had to follow so it becomes just getting use to defending. One of the few rules that we covered was if your opponent gets an underhook on your leg, you have to push up on his elbow and get your foot back to his neck/shoulder. I spent 15 minutes defending my guard and then I went on the attack for 5 minutes, we did this for 50 minutes and spent the last 15 or 20 minutes rolling. It didn't take Ferret much to pass my guard when we went live. In fact, it didn't take Ferret too long to submit me tonight. More stuff to work on.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
6.23.08
I changed up my training today. I started doing some swimming in the pool at the Y in the morning. Also, due to the summer, I am taking the boys to Karate on Monday nights, so I will be missing class at Gracie Tampa. Instead of wasting a night of training, I decided to take the kick boxing class at my kid's Karate school. It is by no means as technical as the striking classes at GT, but it should be good cardio for me and help me get into better shape.
Monday, June 23, 2008
6.22.08 #64.5
Gi with Ferret
Sunday was one of those training sessions that is going to be a foundation to elevate my game to a new level. Ferret wanted to teach more offensive tonight, but I wanted to go back and work on some basics - guard pass and guard defense. Except instead of focusing on closed guard and butterfly guard, I wanted to focus on passing the guys with very loose, open guards who play in-between and make things for you to pass very different. While at the same time, work on my open guard and get my legs better, get my defense better. It is hard to have any notes after a class like this, because we spent the whole time drilling and going through the motions. It was one of the toughest classes I have been through because we did not stop from the second we started. When I got tired, I went to the ground and worked my defense after a few minutes back up and trying to pass again.
The biggest thing in playing against these loose guards is to get my hips in and head back. After that you ride your opponent's legs and hips to allow you to close the distance and take away the space. From there you have two passes, the first is the knee around pass. You have to be real light on your feet and really "feel" your opponent having his hooks in, then just kick your knee around and pass. The second pass was the knee through pass. Here, you smash your opponent with your hips and keep the pressure on him, then just collapse a leg into his forcing your knee to the ground for the pass.
Over the next few weeks don't expect any fancy moves or notes, because we are going to drill this and work more on getting better.
Sunday was one of those training sessions that is going to be a foundation to elevate my game to a new level. Ferret wanted to teach more offensive tonight, but I wanted to go back and work on some basics - guard pass and guard defense. Except instead of focusing on closed guard and butterfly guard, I wanted to focus on passing the guys with very loose, open guards who play in-between and make things for you to pass very different. While at the same time, work on my open guard and get my legs better, get my defense better. It is hard to have any notes after a class like this, because we spent the whole time drilling and going through the motions. It was one of the toughest classes I have been through because we did not stop from the second we started. When I got tired, I went to the ground and worked my defense after a few minutes back up and trying to pass again.
The biggest thing in playing against these loose guards is to get my hips in and head back. After that you ride your opponent's legs and hips to allow you to close the distance and take away the space. From there you have two passes, the first is the knee around pass. You have to be real light on your feet and really "feel" your opponent having his hooks in, then just kick your knee around and pass. The second pass was the knee through pass. Here, you smash your opponent with your hips and keep the pressure on him, then just collapse a leg into his forcing your knee to the ground for the pass.
Over the next few weeks don't expect any fancy moves or notes, because we are going to drill this and work more on getting better.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
6.20.08
Open Mat
I am not going to count tonight as a training session. Not having anything scheduled on Friday makes a long trip over to GT for me... some nights open mat is packed, other nights not so much. It seems the summer months seem to slow down. I got there about 6:30 and there were only 4 guys rolling and Jeremy was working with Andrew on his stand up. I rolled for about 10 minutes with Rob, not THE Rob, but another Rob. 235 pounds or so, blue belt, Rob is really strong and powerful, especially his hips. His game has grown leaps and bounds since the last time I rolled with him. He was able to throw his sweep from guard and then go to mount and begin working s-mount arm bar. His position wasn't quite perfect on those, but pretty damn good. Before he just worked out of guard, triangle, arm-bar, etc. Once you passed his guard he was out of his comfort zone. Now, his guard is much, much better and harder to pass and his obviously more comfortable getting off his back.
After rolling for a few minutes we watched Jeremy's brother do some amazing jits. Then I went to the boxing class with Badger. Since it was Friday night, nobody was there. So I spent an hour or so of one on one time with Badger. We worked on my stance - which still isn't right. Then we worked on some left jabs, then moved to right cross. I worked into a solid 1-2 combo. From there we added the left hook and I fell apart. I need to work on the left hook. After 30 minutes or so of glove work, we moved over to a heavy bag to work on some kicks. We did right and left front kicks. Then things got sloppy. Right and left roundhouse kicks... needless to say my 7 year old son kicks harder with his left leg then I do. It was a fun class though, I am looking forward to going every Friday now. Badger was an amazing coach and showed lots of genuine concern and patience for me.
I am not going to count tonight as a training session. Not having anything scheduled on Friday makes a long trip over to GT for me... some nights open mat is packed, other nights not so much. It seems the summer months seem to slow down. I got there about 6:30 and there were only 4 guys rolling and Jeremy was working with Andrew on his stand up. I rolled for about 10 minutes with Rob, not THE Rob, but another Rob. 235 pounds or so, blue belt, Rob is really strong and powerful, especially his hips. His game has grown leaps and bounds since the last time I rolled with him. He was able to throw his sweep from guard and then go to mount and begin working s-mount arm bar. His position wasn't quite perfect on those, but pretty damn good. Before he just worked out of guard, triangle, arm-bar, etc. Once you passed his guard he was out of his comfort zone. Now, his guard is much, much better and harder to pass and his obviously more comfortable getting off his back.
After rolling for a few minutes we watched Jeremy's brother do some amazing jits. Then I went to the boxing class with Badger. Since it was Friday night, nobody was there. So I spent an hour or so of one on one time with Badger. We worked on my stance - which still isn't right. Then we worked on some left jabs, then moved to right cross. I worked into a solid 1-2 combo. From there we added the left hook and I fell apart. I need to work on the left hook. After 30 minutes or so of glove work, we moved over to a heavy bag to work on some kicks. We did right and left front kicks. Then things got sloppy. Right and left roundhouse kicks... needless to say my 7 year old son kicks harder with his left leg then I do. It was a fun class though, I am looking forward to going every Friday now. Badger was an amazing coach and showed lots of genuine concern and patience for me.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
6.17.08 #63
Advanced class with Rob
Tonight's class was 3 moves to take mount. It was a laid back, cool class, and it was something that I needed to review. Rob started off showing us a move from side to mount that I hadn't seen before - double under hook to mount. You smash your opponent's head with what-time-is-it and then move that under their arm to establish the double under hook. Then from there put your fist to the floor and do the patented Rob "smash the head" then take mount. The second move was the mount that Ferret taught me awhile ago and I thought I had down pat - not the case. I was putting my foot to much to the floor and not hooking with it enough and spinning off it. This is one of my favorite passes when I work out of half-guard into side. The third pass is one that won't be added into my game any time soon. You go to knee-on-belly, but with the wrong knee and the spin around your opponent, using your hand on his knee to push you and your knee to spin on. A little too "finesse" for me.
After the three moves, Joey suggested we drill. Great idea! I love when we drill. Rob put 4 guys down and we had to take side and work towards mount. The down man was to put us back into guard. I ran the drill about 6 times and wasn't able to take mount, but it was great work going against some of the better guys at GT. I went against 3 different body types and different levels from high blue to brown. It was a great class. On a side note, I took Leland to the kids class tonight and he got a little beat up. It was good to see him on the mat. I look forward to taking the boys to class with me on Wednesday nights.
Tonight's class was 3 moves to take mount. It was a laid back, cool class, and it was something that I needed to review. Rob started off showing us a move from side to mount that I hadn't seen before - double under hook to mount. You smash your opponent's head with what-time-is-it and then move that under their arm to establish the double under hook. Then from there put your fist to the floor and do the patented Rob "smash the head" then take mount. The second move was the mount that Ferret taught me awhile ago and I thought I had down pat - not the case. I was putting my foot to much to the floor and not hooking with it enough and spinning off it. This is one of my favorite passes when I work out of half-guard into side. The third pass is one that won't be added into my game any time soon. You go to knee-on-belly, but with the wrong knee and the spin around your opponent, using your hand on his knee to push you and your knee to spin on. A little too "finesse" for me.
After the three moves, Joey suggested we drill. Great idea! I love when we drill. Rob put 4 guys down and we had to take side and work towards mount. The down man was to put us back into guard. I ran the drill about 6 times and wasn't able to take mount, but it was great work going against some of the better guys at GT. I went against 3 different body types and different levels from high blue to brown. It was a great class. On a side note, I took Leland to the kids class tonight and he got a little beat up. It was good to see him on the mat. I look forward to taking the boys to class with me on Wednesday nights.
Monday, June 16, 2008
6.16.08 #62
Advanced Class with Joey & Beginner Class with Ferret
Tonight were two very contrasting classes. Joey taught 9 different neck crank variations in under an hour - it was impressive. I missed the first few moves and then didn't have a partner to work with until the last few moves. So not much sunk in tonight. The moves were vicious and painful, and of course we learned the "midget twister". Did I tell you I hate neck cranks?
In between the advanced and beginner class, I rolled with Original Mike. I took his back twice after going to mount and the second time I was able to finish with rear naked. The next roll, Mike was able to take control and take mount on me and I put him back into half guard before Ferret called us for class.
In Ferret's class, we learned only one move - triangle choke. Even after 15 or 16 months of training, I still can't do a triangle choke very well (and I thought I was able to defend them fairly well, more to this story in a second). We started with the very basics step and for an hour we went deeper and deeper into landing a good triangle. When open mat was called I asked Wally to roll. After a few minutes and several failed attempts at passing Wally's loose guard, I dropped back on my back, hoping to be able to sweep Wally and catch him during a transition. Wally easily passed my guard and took side, we bounced back and forth between side and half guard, with some minor sweeps on my part but nothing that I was able to mount any offense. After 10 minutes or so of back and forth grappling, Wally was able to catch me well in a transition, put his foot to my hip and sink the triangle choke. I know Wally has been training for a long time and is very good at the triangle, but it was pretty sad getting caught in the move of the night in front of about 20 on-lookers. After our roll, I asked Wally a few questions about my guard pass versus his open guard and Ferret came over and we talked about the roll and a few things I need to work on. I don't have any "medium" or "high" passes as Ferret put it. I feel more comfortable passing on the ground. I also tend to have issues passing guards of long limbed, flexible people and that is just something I need to get used to. Lots of things to work on after tonights training.
Tonight were two very contrasting classes. Joey taught 9 different neck crank variations in under an hour - it was impressive. I missed the first few moves and then didn't have a partner to work with until the last few moves. So not much sunk in tonight. The moves were vicious and painful, and of course we learned the "midget twister". Did I tell you I hate neck cranks?
In between the advanced and beginner class, I rolled with Original Mike. I took his back twice after going to mount and the second time I was able to finish with rear naked. The next roll, Mike was able to take control and take mount on me and I put him back into half guard before Ferret called us for class.
In Ferret's class, we learned only one move - triangle choke. Even after 15 or 16 months of training, I still can't do a triangle choke very well (and I thought I was able to defend them fairly well, more to this story in a second). We started with the very basics step and for an hour we went deeper and deeper into landing a good triangle. When open mat was called I asked Wally to roll. After a few minutes and several failed attempts at passing Wally's loose guard, I dropped back on my back, hoping to be able to sweep Wally and catch him during a transition. Wally easily passed my guard and took side, we bounced back and forth between side and half guard, with some minor sweeps on my part but nothing that I was able to mount any offense. After 10 minutes or so of back and forth grappling, Wally was able to catch me well in a transition, put his foot to my hip and sink the triangle choke. I know Wally has been training for a long time and is very good at the triangle, but it was pretty sad getting caught in the move of the night in front of about 20 on-lookers. After our roll, I asked Wally a few questions about my guard pass versus his open guard and Ferret came over and we talked about the roll and a few things I need to work on. I don't have any "medium" or "high" passes as Ferret put it. I feel more comfortable passing on the ground. I also tend to have issues passing guards of long limbed, flexible people and that is just something I need to get used to. Lots of things to work on after tonights training.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
6.15.08 #61.4
Gi with Ferret
We spent a good 30 to 40 minutes of just rolling tonight. The 15 or 20 minutes I spent learning tonight was a lot moves off of one set up. The move starts from guard, trapping your opponents arm and then feeding his gi collar into that hand, from there you have a myriad of submissions to work into - gi chokes, shoulder locks, oomoplata, triangle, the list goes on and on. We mainly worked two moves tonight, the gi choke and oomoplata. We plan to work this series a bit more over the next few weeks, so I can get more reps in and add this to my gi game. The set up can be used in no-gi too and is commonly used to set up triangle.
The reason we didn't review the throws from last week was I didn't want to re-injure my hip and sit out another week. We stayed away from those until the end of the lesson tonight. We did review the footwork for just a few minutes, I didn't want to throw my hip around too much. I won't be able to go to the Gi class Wednesday night this week due to work obligations - I am bummed.
We spent a good 30 to 40 minutes of just rolling tonight. The 15 or 20 minutes I spent learning tonight was a lot moves off of one set up. The move starts from guard, trapping your opponents arm and then feeding his gi collar into that hand, from there you have a myriad of submissions to work into - gi chokes, shoulder locks, oomoplata, triangle, the list goes on and on. We mainly worked two moves tonight, the gi choke and oomoplata. We plan to work this series a bit more over the next few weeks, so I can get more reps in and add this to my gi game. The set up can be used in no-gi too and is commonly used to set up triangle.
The reason we didn't review the throws from last week was I didn't want to re-injure my hip and sit out another week. We stayed away from those until the end of the lesson tonight. We did review the footwork for just a few minutes, I didn't want to throw my hip around too much. I won't be able to go to the Gi class Wednesday night this week due to work obligations - I am bummed.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
strained Piriformis
After training with Travis on Sunday, I got up Monday and ran three miles, Tuesday morning I got up and ran another three miles, but my hip was bothering me. I decided to go see Dr Jeff at Trinity Chiropractic and get adjusted and have him look at my hip too. Back and hip adjusted well, but then my hip pain got worse. Then on Wednesday when I woke up it was so bad, I could barely walk. We went out on the boat and I sat down most of the time and complained about my hip the whole time. When we came back in, I stopped at Dr. Jeff's office again. He had me do some movements and said I strained my piriformis muscle (see below). It was due to all of the reps of rotating my hips and turning in to do the hip tosses. Jeff suggests I take a week off, but after doing lots of therapy last night it felt great this morning. Instead of running this morning, I did 3 miles on the bike. I hope to be able to train Sunday night.
The piriformis muscle begins inside the pelvis. It connects to the sacrum, the triangular shaped bone that sits between the pelvic bones at the base of the spine. The connection of the sacrum to the pelvis bones forms the sacroiliac joint. There is one sacroiliac joint on the left and one on the right of the low back. The other end of the piriformis muscle connects by a tendon to the greater trochanter, the bump of bone on the top side of your hip.
The piriformis muscle is one of the external rotators of the hip and leg. This means that as the muscle works, it helps to turn the foot and leg outward. Problems in the
piriformis muscle can cause problems with the sciatic nerve. This is because the sciatic nerve runs under (and sometimes through) the piriformis muscle on its way out of the pelvis. The piriformis muscle can squeeze and irritate the sciatic nerve in this area, leading to the symptoms of sciatica.
The piriformis muscle begins inside the pelvis. It connects to the sacrum, the triangular shaped bone that sits between the pelvic bones at the base of the spine. The connection of the sacrum to the pelvis bones forms the sacroiliac joint. There is one sacroiliac joint on the left and one on the right of the low back. The other end of the piriformis muscle connects by a tendon to the greater trochanter, the bump of bone on the top side of your hip.
The piriformis muscle is one of the external rotators of the hip and leg. This means that as the muscle works, it helps to turn the foot and leg outward. Problems in the
piriformis muscle can cause problems with the sciatic nerve. This is because the sciatic nerve runs under (and sometimes through) the piriformis muscle on its way out of the pelvis. The piriformis muscle can squeeze and irritate the sciatic nerve in this area, leading to the symptoms of sciatica.
Monday, June 9, 2008
6.8.08 #60.3
Trained with Ferret and Travis
Travis was working with Ferret when I came in on loose guard, so when they started rolling, I joined in for 5 minute matches. Travis tapped me a few times, his jits is impressive. I rolled with him 3 or 4 times before we started our lesson for the night.
I learned some names of the throws tonight too! We started with the Ippon Seoinage - one arm shoulder throw. From there Travis showed me a variation by attacking around the neck instead of taking the other arm into your opponents armpit. When you come with the right hand, you punch behind your opponents head, hitting him with your bicep. This generates a more powerful hip throw, if you miss this move, you are going to lose your back. We repped this a few times and moved on. We reviewed Hane Goshi - the spring hip throw and Uchi Mata - the inner thigh throw, again getting in some good reps with my footwork. Travis said I need to relax and be more fluid, especially when working take downs. After 45 minutes of work with Travis on throws, I was beat. Travis threw me to the mat a lot, a few times with some serious force. I was relieved when Ferret took over for us to spend the last 15 minutes reviewing gi chokes. The biggest thing to take away from my time with Ferret, was the "second hand". You can't waste your time and effort and defending the first hand. You have to focus on the second hand and make sure that you are aware of it, the first hand can't choke you by itself.
Travis was working with Ferret when I came in on loose guard, so when they started rolling, I joined in for 5 minute matches. Travis tapped me a few times, his jits is impressive. I rolled with him 3 or 4 times before we started our lesson for the night.
I learned some names of the throws tonight too! We started with the Ippon Seoinage - one arm shoulder throw. From there Travis showed me a variation by attacking around the neck instead of taking the other arm into your opponents armpit. When you come with the right hand, you punch behind your opponents head, hitting him with your bicep. This generates a more powerful hip throw, if you miss this move, you are going to lose your back. We repped this a few times and moved on. We reviewed Hane Goshi - the spring hip throw and Uchi Mata - the inner thigh throw, again getting in some good reps with my footwork. Travis said I need to relax and be more fluid, especially when working take downs. After 45 minutes of work with Travis on throws, I was beat. Travis threw me to the mat a lot, a few times with some serious force. I was relieved when Ferret took over for us to spend the last 15 minutes reviewing gi chokes. The biggest thing to take away from my time with Ferret, was the "second hand". You can't waste your time and effort and defending the first hand. You have to focus on the second hand and make sure that you are aware of it, the first hand can't choke you by itself.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
6.4.08 #59
Gi with Joey
Went to the advanced class tonight, but rushed out of there due to a work engagement. I can't say I had much focus on class while I was there. Joey showed us a few more sweeps out of the butterfly guard. The first was the standard butterfly guard sweep, but instead of holding the arm to prevent your opponent from bracing your wrapped the bottom of their gi around their elbow and trapped the arm to do the sweep. The second move was a little bit tougher, you picked your opponent up and then went into a bit of an x-guard to sweep the opponent into a heel lock or ankle lock. The last move was a butterfly position choke where you grabbed the lapel with your hand that has under hook, your hand that has over hook you find the bunched up material of the gi on the back of the neck and then go to a what time is it grip for the choke.
After that we paired up and rolled for 6 minutes. I was paired up with Jeff, a solid blue belt that tips the scales at 235 pounds. He was able to catch me with last weeks move, the arm bar against the turtle at about the 4 minute mark or so and then wasn't able to catch me again. I was not able to do much against him, his jits is pretty solid and is a bit stronger and a 30 to 40 pounds heavier then I am. I do hope to spend some time working with him, because I think that is better for my bjj then rolling with some of the smaller guys.
Went to the advanced class tonight, but rushed out of there due to a work engagement. I can't say I had much focus on class while I was there. Joey showed us a few more sweeps out of the butterfly guard. The first was the standard butterfly guard sweep, but instead of holding the arm to prevent your opponent from bracing your wrapped the bottom of their gi around their elbow and trapped the arm to do the sweep. The second move was a little bit tougher, you picked your opponent up and then went into a bit of an x-guard to sweep the opponent into a heel lock or ankle lock. The last move was a butterfly position choke where you grabbed the lapel with your hand that has under hook, your hand that has over hook you find the bunched up material of the gi on the back of the neck and then go to a what time is it grip for the choke.
After that we paired up and rolled for 6 minutes. I was paired up with Jeff, a solid blue belt that tips the scales at 235 pounds. He was able to catch me with last weeks move, the arm bar against the turtle at about the 4 minute mark or so and then wasn't able to catch me again. I was not able to do much against him, his jits is pretty solid and is a bit stronger and a 30 to 40 pounds heavier then I am. I do hope to spend some time working with him, because I think that is better for my bjj then rolling with some of the smaller guys.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
6.1.08 #58.2
Gi with Ferret
Tonight we reviewed the arm bar against the turtle Joey showed us Wednesday, then we spent about 20 minutes working take downs. I like the throws Ferret showed me and we are going to keep practicing them. I want the throws to become second nature. I need to spend more time working on my foot work, but its coming along and I am starting to get better with the hip toss. After that we spent the rest of the class rolling and reviewing the roll. Ferret caught me three or four times tonight in about 45 minutes and I made him work. I caught a few sweeps and got myself in some good offensive positions. I wasn't able to run any of the chokes I was having a hard time getting my hands in, I did try a few arm bars but with no luck. Because I wasn't able to get the chokes to work, Ferret showed me how to use the back of the gi and wrap it around your opponents neck and use that with a thumb in grip instead of getting inside the gi, it seemed to work pretty well. That is one more thing for me to work on.
Tonight we reviewed the arm bar against the turtle Joey showed us Wednesday, then we spent about 20 minutes working take downs. I like the throws Ferret showed me and we are going to keep practicing them. I want the throws to become second nature. I need to spend more time working on my foot work, but its coming along and I am starting to get better with the hip toss. After that we spent the rest of the class rolling and reviewing the roll. Ferret caught me three or four times tonight in about 45 minutes and I made him work. I caught a few sweeps and got myself in some good offensive positions. I wasn't able to run any of the chokes I was having a hard time getting my hands in, I did try a few arm bars but with no luck. Because I wasn't able to get the chokes to work, Ferret showed me how to use the back of the gi and wrap it around your opponents neck and use that with a thumb in grip instead of getting inside the gi, it seemed to work pretty well. That is one more thing for me to work on.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
5.28.08 #57
Gi with Joey
Tonight Joey threw 4 moves at us. The first being a sweet armbar against a turtle opponent - can be used in no gi too. You pry the arm open, stick in the hook and then put your knee to the floor by their ear with your other leg, straighten your hook leg and take an armbar. Nice move.
The other three moves that we worked on were variations for the butterfly sweep. I can't recall them now very well. One was if your opponent posts out with his off leg, you push the leg and take the sweep, another was if your opponent posts with his off hand behind your head, you push your head around, switch your hips and go to a half-guard position and collapse the knee and ankle with your arm and take the sweep. I can' for the life of me remember the third move.
Then Joey put 6 people on the floor and had us take turtle position, our opponents took side and they were suppose to submit us. Our job on the bottom was to put our opponent back into some sort of guard. I did pretty well on the bottom, I was able to defend myself basically the entire time. Then when I went to top position (which I only did once) I ended up in guard, so not very well on the offense tonight.
Tonight Joey threw 4 moves at us. The first being a sweet armbar against a turtle opponent - can be used in no gi too. You pry the arm open, stick in the hook and then put your knee to the floor by their ear with your other leg, straighten your hook leg and take an armbar. Nice move.
The other three moves that we worked on were variations for the butterfly sweep. I can't recall them now very well. One was if your opponent posts out with his off leg, you push the leg and take the sweep, another was if your opponent posts with his off hand behind your head, you push your head around, switch your hips and go to a half-guard position and collapse the knee and ankle with your arm and take the sweep. I can' for the life of me remember the third move.
Then Joey put 6 people on the floor and had us take turtle position, our opponents took side and they were suppose to submit us. Our job on the bottom was to put our opponent back into some sort of guard. I did pretty well on the bottom, I was able to defend myself basically the entire time. Then when I went to top position (which I only did once) I ended up in guard, so not very well on the offense tonight.
Monday, May 26, 2008
5.26.08 #56.1
Gi with Ferret
We started with some gi chokes and a 5 minute warm up roll just to break a sweat before we got into the throws and tosses. I then went into reps of each of the two throws from last night. I still need to work on my footwork more, but I have a better understanding of it now. More practice, more practice. Then Ferret showed me two hip tosses. The first one could be a set up off the arm drag, you throw your arm just like you are going for the arm drag, turn your feet into your opponent, drop to your knees and toss him over. This is the exact throw that Mauricio did to me down in Deerfield. So it was great to be on the other side of it. I liked this throw the best out of all the throws we did. Ferret was quick to point out if this throw goes wrong, your opponent is on your back. Then we went in to a basic hip toss, the movements are the same but the timing and making sure my hips are square to my opponents is going to take lots of work. I have a hard time throwing my arm behind my opponent and turning my hips, I am not very flexible. I probably did 20 reps of just the footwork tonight and still didn't do the hip movement right. So this is something I plan to work on for the rest of the year, a few reps each class with Ferret.
After Ferret got me worn out from the throws, we decided it was time to roll. Tonight Ferret promised he would turn up the offense and he held his end of the bargain. Ferret refused to attack from the start, instead allowing me to attack and Ferret going for the sweep. Once Ferret swept me the attacks were on. He went after arm bars and I was able to turtle and defend myself well. The only thing Ferret was able to pull on me was that wrap the gi around my arm deal and cut of my circulation and my arm movement, pretty hard to stop the attacks at that point. So after a few taps and some blood loss, we called it a session.
We started with some gi chokes and a 5 minute warm up roll just to break a sweat before we got into the throws and tosses. I then went into reps of each of the two throws from last night. I still need to work on my footwork more, but I have a better understanding of it now. More practice, more practice. Then Ferret showed me two hip tosses. The first one could be a set up off the arm drag, you throw your arm just like you are going for the arm drag, turn your feet into your opponent, drop to your knees and toss him over. This is the exact throw that Mauricio did to me down in Deerfield. So it was great to be on the other side of it. I liked this throw the best out of all the throws we did. Ferret was quick to point out if this throw goes wrong, your opponent is on your back. Then we went in to a basic hip toss, the movements are the same but the timing and making sure my hips are square to my opponents is going to take lots of work. I have a hard time throwing my arm behind my opponent and turning my hips, I am not very flexible. I probably did 20 reps of just the footwork tonight and still didn't do the hip movement right. So this is something I plan to work on for the rest of the year, a few reps each class with Ferret.
After Ferret got me worn out from the throws, we decided it was time to roll. Tonight Ferret promised he would turn up the offense and he held his end of the bargain. Ferret refused to attack from the start, instead allowing me to attack and Ferret going for the sweep. Once Ferret swept me the attacks were on. He went after arm bars and I was able to turtle and defend myself well. The only thing Ferret was able to pull on me was that wrap the gi around my arm deal and cut of my circulation and my arm movement, pretty hard to stop the attacks at that point. So after a few taps and some blood loss, we called it a session.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
5.25.08 #55
Gi with Ferret
Tonight we started with the review of the gi cross choke and Ferret showed me some different variations most with the thumb in instead of the palm in. Take mount, put the thumb in with the right, hand to the floor, press the forearm against your opponents neck, base out to the same side of the hand in the gi, reach back across with your left hand and choke out your opponent grabbing underneath the gi and get the choke. Another variation off of this, is when you are based out to the left, with the right hand in, you slide around your opponents head, come back and smash the head with the left elbow and get the choke. Both very nice setups off of the gi cross choke, with a different hand grip.
Then we moved to throws. Ferret showed me several different throws and trips tonight, but I rep'd two, both judo throws. We worked on my foot work and I need to work on bending down and getting my leg high into the air with the throw. You have to control your opponents wrist and that is where a lot of the power for the throw comes from. The second throw was based off of the first and instead of a forward through, when you kicked your leg back, you spin and hook your opponent with that leg and throw them to the ground and land on top of them. This was more forceful throw then the first. Next week, we will rep both of these throws as well as learn a hip toss.
We finished tonight with what worked out to be two twelve minute rounds. The first round, I was very proud of myself, I was able to run several moves that we have learned over the last few gi classes. I was able to pass Ferret's guard and take control of the first match. I tried to get the clock choke and several other moves when Ferret turtled. Ferret got into my guard and stood up, I tried for the arm bar, he pulled out, I tried for the oomoplata sweep (it wasn't pretty) but I was able to eventually get back on Ferret's side and take mount again. When Ferret worked out of that, I gave up due to exhaustion. The second twelve minutes, Ferret turned up the heat. I was able to defend all of Ferret's insane gi attacks and chokes. He had my left arm so caught up in my gi, I couldn't move it. One move, lead to another move and then finally I was sprawled on top of Ferret and he had two finishes he could of taken and I tapped to the heel hook.
I am happy with my gi game and I am shocked to say this, I am enjoying rolling in gi and learning more gi moves. If I get a chance to do another tournament, I think I will enter in gi too!
Tonight we started with the review of the gi cross choke and Ferret showed me some different variations most with the thumb in instead of the palm in. Take mount, put the thumb in with the right, hand to the floor, press the forearm against your opponents neck, base out to the same side of the hand in the gi, reach back across with your left hand and choke out your opponent grabbing underneath the gi and get the choke. Another variation off of this, is when you are based out to the left, with the right hand in, you slide around your opponents head, come back and smash the head with the left elbow and get the choke. Both very nice setups off of the gi cross choke, with a different hand grip.
Then we moved to throws. Ferret showed me several different throws and trips tonight, but I rep'd two, both judo throws. We worked on my foot work and I need to work on bending down and getting my leg high into the air with the throw. You have to control your opponents wrist and that is where a lot of the power for the throw comes from. The second throw was based off of the first and instead of a forward through, when you kicked your leg back, you spin and hook your opponent with that leg and throw them to the ground and land on top of them. This was more forceful throw then the first. Next week, we will rep both of these throws as well as learn a hip toss.
We finished tonight with what worked out to be two twelve minute rounds. The first round, I was very proud of myself, I was able to run several moves that we have learned over the last few gi classes. I was able to pass Ferret's guard and take control of the first match. I tried to get the clock choke and several other moves when Ferret turtled. Ferret got into my guard and stood up, I tried for the arm bar, he pulled out, I tried for the oomoplata sweep (it wasn't pretty) but I was able to eventually get back on Ferret's side and take mount again. When Ferret worked out of that, I gave up due to exhaustion. The second twelve minutes, Ferret turned up the heat. I was able to defend all of Ferret's insane gi attacks and chokes. He had my left arm so caught up in my gi, I couldn't move it. One move, lead to another move and then finally I was sprawled on top of Ferret and he had two finishes he could of taken and I tapped to the heel hook.
I am happy with my gi game and I am shocked to say this, I am enjoying rolling in gi and learning more gi moves. If I get a chance to do another tournament, I think I will enter in gi too!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
5.21.08 #54
Gi Class with Joey
Joey threw some moves at us tonight, I don't think any of it is going to stick. I am trying to go through the moves in my mind and I can't really walk myself through any of them. We warmed up with some neat moves though. We warmed up with if your opponent stands up to pass your guard (with bad posture) jumping to arm guard and then if he pulled out of the arm guard go for an oomoplata sweep. The last bit of class Joey paired us up for a six minute round of rolling.
Joey took my partner, Cal, and gave him to Monstah and paired me up with Dee. I didn't think it was a very fair match up, this time I was the "big guy" and it sucks being the little guy - I know. Joey told me to make sure I submit the white belt - not a very fair match up for an undersized white belt. Dee put up a good fight, but my size was hard for him to deal with I took mount and kept it. I tried to work the gi cross choke and was having a hard time sinking the second hand, but I kept at it. In fact, I have a nice blister from rubbing my right hand raw trying to get in deep into his collar. Since Dee was defending the choke so strong, I took the s mount arm bar for the sub. We started our second roll and Dee did a nice job of keeping me in half guard, I smashed for a bit and passed and Dee was again defending well and put me back into half guard. I was committed this time to getting the cross choke. I went back at him once I mounted, Dee again was stuffing the choke. I went for the arm bar attack again and Dee defended but I was able to get the triangle mount and finished with the triangle choke just before Joey called time. I thought the way Joey ended class was great - I enjoyed the timed match.
Joey threw some moves at us tonight, I don't think any of it is going to stick. I am trying to go through the moves in my mind and I can't really walk myself through any of them. We warmed up with some neat moves though. We warmed up with if your opponent stands up to pass your guard (with bad posture) jumping to arm guard and then if he pulled out of the arm guard go for an oomoplata sweep. The last bit of class Joey paired us up for a six minute round of rolling.
Joey took my partner, Cal, and gave him to Monstah and paired me up with Dee. I didn't think it was a very fair match up, this time I was the "big guy" and it sucks being the little guy - I know. Joey told me to make sure I submit the white belt - not a very fair match up for an undersized white belt. Dee put up a good fight, but my size was hard for him to deal with I took mount and kept it. I tried to work the gi cross choke and was having a hard time sinking the second hand, but I kept at it. In fact, I have a nice blister from rubbing my right hand raw trying to get in deep into his collar. Since Dee was defending the choke so strong, I took the s mount arm bar for the sub. We started our second roll and Dee did a nice job of keeping me in half guard, I smashed for a bit and passed and Dee was again defending well and put me back into half guard. I was committed this time to getting the cross choke. I went back at him once I mounted, Dee again was stuffing the choke. I went for the arm bar attack again and Dee defended but I was able to get the triangle mount and finished with the triangle choke just before Joey called time. I thought the way Joey ended class was great - I enjoyed the timed match.
Monday, May 19, 2008
5.19.08 #53
Beginner Class with Rob
Tonight we worked out of guard, we started with a modified pendulum sweep. From there we used the move to take back. Then the third move of the night was the same set up going to razor.
I rolled for about 15 minutes tonight. There were a lot of new faces. I got some good work in, tried to run the s mount arm bar several times, it was about 5 or 6 tries before I finally caught it. I also tried a few other moves tonight. I tried to run the move of the night (it was my goofy side) so it didn't go so well. I also tried some arm bars and a triangle choke from guard before I went back to top position and took an arm triangle. The third roll, I started with an arm drag that I missed, and went into guard, again I went for a triangle choke and missed, putting my opponent (Paul) going towards side control, I put him back in guard and set up for another triangle attempt this time trapping his right arm with my left and going for the choke, this time I missed and he took half guard. I then went for the arm bar set up that Bamboo showed me a few weeks ago, problem was I got flattened out and Paul had my arm. Needless to say it ended badly. I was submitted via Americana.
Tonight we worked out of guard, we started with a modified pendulum sweep. From there we used the move to take back. Then the third move of the night was the same set up going to razor.
I rolled for about 15 minutes tonight. There were a lot of new faces. I got some good work in, tried to run the s mount arm bar several times, it was about 5 or 6 tries before I finally caught it. I also tried a few other moves tonight. I tried to run the move of the night (it was my goofy side) so it didn't go so well. I also tried some arm bars and a triangle choke from guard before I went back to top position and took an arm triangle. The third roll, I started with an arm drag that I missed, and went into guard, again I went for a triangle choke and missed, putting my opponent (Paul) going towards side control, I put him back in guard and set up for another triangle attempt this time trapping his right arm with my left and going for the choke, this time I missed and he took half guard. I then went for the arm bar set up that Bamboo showed me a few weeks ago, problem was I got flattened out and Paul had my arm. Needless to say it ended badly. I was submitted via Americana.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
5.18.08 #52
Gi with Ferret
We reviewed the gi chokes from the knees and from butterfly from two weeks ago, then spent most of the hour covering cross choke and then the arm bar. Rob called it the greatest one - two punch in gi jiu jitsu. Then we spent a little time on the clock choke. Needless to say Ferret choked me to death tonight.
Getting the hand in deep is key, but more importantly then that, you have to have the blade of your wrist against your opponents neck. We spent some tome on that and getting the grip right. I worked both the left and right hand. I can't get over how tough holding the gi is on the hands.
Somethinge else I realized while I was rolling with Ferret (but totally off the subject) is I am getting a good hand shake grip from my back, but I am missing grabbing the head which I believe is creating some issues with me jumping the shoulder into arm bars and triangle chokes. This is something I am going to try and be more aware this week while I am working and rolling.
We reviewed the gi chokes from the knees and from butterfly from two weeks ago, then spent most of the hour covering cross choke and then the arm bar. Rob called it the greatest one - two punch in gi jiu jitsu. Then we spent a little time on the clock choke. Needless to say Ferret choked me to death tonight.
Getting the hand in deep is key, but more importantly then that, you have to have the blade of your wrist against your opponents neck. We spent some tome on that and getting the grip right. I worked both the left and right hand. I can't get over how tough holding the gi is on the hands.
Somethinge else I realized while I was rolling with Ferret (but totally off the subject) is I am getting a good hand shake grip from my back, but I am missing grabbing the head which I believe is creating some issues with me jumping the shoulder into arm bars and triangle chokes. This is something I am going to try and be more aware this week while I am working and rolling.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
5.14.08 #50 & #51
AM Class with Bamboo
I celebrated my 50th class since getting my blue belt by going to the gym this morning to start my day and kicked my own ass with a good leg work out. From there I went to watch Bamboo and Butter cup spare. Bamboo was sore, so I watched Butter work out - pretty damn impressive. From there, my class went down hill.
Today Bamboo showed us two moves from side. Bamboo started with making sure we are in a good position in side control, not up too high, one leg sprawled and the other leg with knee it at your opponents hip. Then we did the step over (after clearing the under-hook if necessary) from there you can take the razor or go for the Americana. If you go for the Americana, you need to go back into side control for better position. After that move, Bamboo showed us the arm bar from side control where you spin around your opponent at this point in class, Bamboo was nice enough to pair me up with someone that made Marcus Jones look little. My partner was now about 6'5" or 6'6" and 360 pounds of lovin'. I rolled through the arm bar with him a few times and when Bamboo called open mat, watched for a few minutes then I came home to go swimming with my baby girl.
PM Gi class with Rob
Since my morning class didn't go so well, I figured I would go to the evening class tonight too. We started class with the review of the butterfly choke from last week. What I missed was you need to be sitting on your hip more then in butterfly, so after reviewing this tonight and the work I did Sunday with Ferret, I think I understand this choke pretty well. They key with this move is you have to be patient before you try the choke. Once your opponent drops his eyes down or his head down, you can take the choke.
Then from there we moved to mount. Tonight we did the cross choke. The object is to mount the opponent and grip his collar with your right hand. Use the left hand to grab the other side of the collar and work your hand down to the ground. Drop your hips down onto your opponent and pull your elbows tight towards your stomach. Finish the choke. Then off of this move, you go to the s mount arm bar. The key to this move is you have to have the choke as a weapon. If your opponent defends the choke, you keep your right hand on your opponents collar and then do the s mount arm bar for the tap.
Tonight's class wasn't so well for me either, again I got paired up with the largest guy in class. I must have a strange opinion of what I look like, because I have no business rolling with 300 pound guys. My effin ribs are killing me now from having some huge guy do s mount arm bars on my chest. I owe Ferret a great big thank you for hurting my ribs back in September. The damn things don't want to heal.
I celebrated my 50th class since getting my blue belt by going to the gym this morning to start my day and kicked my own ass with a good leg work out. From there I went to watch Bamboo and Butter cup spare. Bamboo was sore, so I watched Butter work out - pretty damn impressive. From there, my class went down hill.
Today Bamboo showed us two moves from side. Bamboo started with making sure we are in a good position in side control, not up too high, one leg sprawled and the other leg with knee it at your opponents hip. Then we did the step over (after clearing the under-hook if necessary) from there you can take the razor or go for the Americana. If you go for the Americana, you need to go back into side control for better position. After that move, Bamboo showed us the arm bar from side control where you spin around your opponent at this point in class, Bamboo was nice enough to pair me up with someone that made Marcus Jones look little. My partner was now about 6'5" or 6'6" and 360 pounds of lovin'. I rolled through the arm bar with him a few times and when Bamboo called open mat, watched for a few minutes then I came home to go swimming with my baby girl.
PM Gi class with Rob
Since my morning class didn't go so well, I figured I would go to the evening class tonight too. We started class with the review of the butterfly choke from last week. What I missed was you need to be sitting on your hip more then in butterfly, so after reviewing this tonight and the work I did Sunday with Ferret, I think I understand this choke pretty well. They key with this move is you have to be patient before you try the choke. Once your opponent drops his eyes down or his head down, you can take the choke.
Then from there we moved to mount. Tonight we did the cross choke. The object is to mount the opponent and grip his collar with your right hand. Use the left hand to grab the other side of the collar and work your hand down to the ground. Drop your hips down onto your opponent and pull your elbows tight towards your stomach. Finish the choke. Then off of this move, you go to the s mount arm bar. The key to this move is you have to have the choke as a weapon. If your opponent defends the choke, you keep your right hand on your opponents collar and then do the s mount arm bar for the tap.
Tonight's class wasn't so well for me either, again I got paired up with the largest guy in class. I must have a strange opinion of what I look like, because I have no business rolling with 300 pound guys. My effin ribs are killing me now from having some huge guy do s mount arm bars on my chest. I owe Ferret a great big thank you for hurting my ribs back in September. The damn things don't want to heal.
Monday, May 12, 2008
5.11.08 #49
My Sunday morning got started a little earlier then usual today with the I love MILF's, I mean "I love Mothers" Day 5k and Fun Run. We got the whole family out there to do the run, I joined Teresa and Leland at the 3/4 mile mark and only expected to join them for 3/4 of a mile but due to the layout of the track I ran the rest of the 5K. After that, I went on to DOMINATE the Fun Run. Because beating children at running seems to be the only thing I can win at!
I slept away most of the afternoon as the kids played in the pool. I finally got up and met Ferret at GT for our 6 o'clock session.
We reviewed the Gi chokes from Rob's Wednesday gi class. I have a much better understanding of the choke from the knees, the choke from the butterfly guard still a little shaky. From there we moved to half guard and reviewed the arm bar that Rob has been working lately. The biggest key to the move was creating the space BEFORE initiating the arm bar. By creating the space it allows me to get my knees and hips in place to do the arm bar. This rule applies for all of the half guard moves and I am a bit shocked that it has taken me this long to "get it". Now I am anxious to get in class and roll and use some of my half guard game to get some sweeps and possibly the new arm bar submission. I guess we will find out how I do Monday night.
I slept away most of the afternoon as the kids played in the pool. I finally got up and met Ferret at GT for our 6 o'clock session.
We reviewed the Gi chokes from Rob's Wednesday gi class. I have a much better understanding of the choke from the knees, the choke from the butterfly guard still a little shaky. From there we moved to half guard and reviewed the arm bar that Rob has been working lately. The biggest key to the move was creating the space BEFORE initiating the arm bar. By creating the space it allows me to get my knees and hips in place to do the arm bar. This rule applies for all of the half guard moves and I am a bit shocked that it has taken me this long to "get it". Now I am anxious to get in class and roll and use some of my half guard game to get some sweeps and possibly the new arm bar submission. I guess we will find out how I do Monday night.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
5.9.08 #48
Rolled with Butter
Butter joined me at open mat tonight and we spent an hour or so rolling. Before Butter came I rolled with Marcos Flores of WFC grappling fame. Marcos was able to heel lock me a few minutes in, Marcos used his quickness and agility to get the best of me. When Butter showed up we reviewed what we did on Thursday. I also worked on passing his guard and getting side control. Butter spent most of the day in top position - like usual. We also worked attacks from the guard. Again, the biggest thing for me to work on is my hip movement. Two other things I need to take away from todays training is I need to relax and be more fluid with my movements.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
5.8.08 #47
Trained with Butter
Today was one of the more fun days training. Jeremy and I didn't spend a lot of time today going 100%, we worked more on side control escape, side attacks and I learned a 2v1 sweep. My main goal today was to work on getting my hands into a better spot when I give up side control and we focused on that for about 15 or 20 minutes. Jeremy also spoke to me about being prepared when my opponent is passing me. We worked on defending the pass by shoving my hands into the armpit and creating space when my opponent stuffs my feet - preventing the pass before it happens. If that fails, then get my hand and arm ready to get the under hook and defeat the pass before it happens. Then after spending a few minutes on this we went back to working side defense and I took some turns on side offense and we just transitioned back and forth. Then Jeremy showed me the 2v1 sweep - grab my opponents opposite arm from the 2v1 side, get perpendicular, rock my opponent up on to my leg and sweep them over. After repping this a few times we went back into the transition from side control to escape to 2v1 to escape and so on. Then Jeremy started from my guard and worked on passing to side and I tried to defend. We spent 10 minutes or so going through this and Jeremy let me work triangle chokes and arm bars - even though he escaped most of my attempts, it was good work. Then we spent the last 5 minutes rolling. Jeremy was pretty exhausted since he had trained all day, so he didn't come at me anywhere close to last time we rolled. That was fine with me, I was pretty bruised up from last night and I didn't even train that hard. I guess I am getting soft in my old age. Today was an awesome day training. I knew today was going to be a good day when all of the studs from GT's fight team was in the house training. As we started to warm up Andrew Parker came in, then Bamboo and Shane, finally, No Regard joined the training party. I watched those guys train for a few minutes before I left and those guys train at an amazing level.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
5.7.08 #46
Gi with Rob
Tonight was gi night at GT and Rob taught the class. Rob showed his favorite gi chokes with two easy set ups. I am bit sketchy on the details now, but it is something I will work on again Sunday with Ferret. I trained with Doug tonight, who is always helpful, and he made sure I was doing the movements right. I didn't roll after class my back was a bit sore and tight from the gym this morning.
I am slowly working back into bjj shape after goofing off for the last few weeks.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
5.4.08 #45
Trained with Ferret
The focus today was working on defense against side control. I have been putting my hands and arms in bad places lately, giving up easy submissions to my opponent. Ferret showed me to make sure my close hand is on my opponent's hip and my far hand should try to get underhook and get my opponent high on me to escape. If my opponent goes low and traps my arm, if I stay on my back I will get submitted. So I have to get to my side and try to work my far arm back in, frame my opponent off of me and try to hip back in. Doing this however, should cause my opponent to work north-south and go for my now up arm. Which leads in to a few different options. The main thing I need to take away from tonight is to make sure that if my far arm gets trapped, I have to get to my side to prevent being submitted. Then to talk about when I am attacking from side, if I lose the underhook then I need to get my body and head toward my opponent's hip and control his arm and then work north-south if he goes to his side and if not go for the sub!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
5.1.08 #44
AM Class with Rob
Today we talked about attacks from the mount. The first we worked on was the triangle from mount. Rob made it very clear that we were not to lock our legs. If your opponent goes nuts and somehow manages to turn into you, you can blow out your knee or your ankle. So get high on your opponent and make sure there is no space when you put your knee through. I then spent a few minutes on our s-mount arm bar and Rob went on to talk about the omoplata if the s-mount attack goes bad. If your opponent gets their elbow to the floor, let them escape. Before you do that you need to place your off hand to their elbow and as they explode out you roll your hips out and take the omoplata. The omoplata not being a very high percentage finishing move then allows you set up the triangle choke, american, wrist lock, ankle lock, whatever your opponent gives you.
When Rob called open mat, I found Butter. Who was nice enough to beat my ass solid for 10 minutes. I was not happy with the way I rolled and Butter went out me tough. It was his first bjj since being gone a month. You couldn't tell he hadn't rolled in awhile. I came home with a bruised ego today.
Friday, April 25, 2008
4.25.08 #43
Trained with Bamboo
We spent the first 15 minutes tonight talking about ankle locks and heel hooks. We looked at set-ups and defenses. The set-ups all came from the same way - our standard guard pass, knife the knee through, other leg to your opponents hip and then fall back in to the ankle lock. The success comes from being down on your opponents heel, so if you don't get the tap, scoot further down.
We also reviewed guard passing again (I don't think you can ever have enough review and discussion on this) and we talked about the defense of half-guard. Bamboo also pointed out a few things that Ferret has discussed with me. 1. I flare my elbows out too much, in half-guard, while passing, I need to work on keeping my elbows glued to my ribs for better defense. 2. I need to work on my base, I did better on mount tonight, but on side whenever my hips get in the air, I am going to get rolled. I have to have a better base - sprawl the legs!!!! Those are some things I am going to try and work on.
We spent most of the hour free rolling tonight, Bamboo had me work on all of my attacks and my defense. I didn't see some of the moves he was setting me up with, but I thought it was good work. My cardio was not anywhere near where it should be, I have been a real slack ass lately about my training. Just like right now, I am going to go to bed, I am beat. I will clean this up tomorrow. Good night
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
4.23.08 #42
Trained with Bamboo
Before we think I am a total slack ass for not training for two weeks, I want you to know I was on vacation. Yes, I was lazy and didn't train but I did go snowboarding for a week and drinking in Orlando with my wife for a week. But today, we got back to work.
The lesson today was to sprawl the leg!
We reviewed the last few lessons today - attacks from the guard, attacks from the mount and guard passing. Plus, we went over a few different things from half guard and more arm drag talk. Arm drag is my favorite! The two big things I took away from today was to make sure I sprawl the leg and give myself a solid base whether it is side or mount, I need to keep myself in attack position. All the while, I need to expect my opponent to try to get back into a better position - so be prepared. Then the other idea to take away, was the exact opposite. When my opponent is putting me into a bad position, I need to be prepared to escape and make the move!
Saturday, April 5, 2008
4.5.08 #41
Trained with Bamboo and Shane
Actually, I get beat up by Shane, but we will stick with the theme of I trained with him. Today our focus was attacks from the guard. Bamboo showed me to clear the arm by pushing on the bicep and then grabbing the tricep/elbow and pushing with my knee to put pressure on the bicep - this move is done AFTER grabbing the head and bringing my opponent down in to me. A key part of the move was keeping my elbow glued to my hip. Due a crunch to secure the elbow to the hip to take away the space and stop my opponent from working back in to me and creating space. Then once I have the hand on the head, the elbow to my hip, my knee to my opponents bicep and my arm on his elbow, I can hit him with the opposite leg. From that move I have now created several opportunites, first omoplata, then triangle choke and finally, the arm bar. After reviewing the moves a few times each, I rolled with Shane for 15 or 20 minutes.
Actually, I get beat up by Shane, but we will stick with the theme of I trained with him. Today our focus was attacks from the guard. Bamboo showed me to clear the arm by pushing on the bicep and then grabbing the tricep/elbow and pushing with my knee to put pressure on the bicep - this move is done AFTER grabbing the head and bringing my opponent down in to me. A key part of the move was keeping my elbow glued to my hip. Due a crunch to secure the elbow to the hip to take away the space and stop my opponent from working back in to me and creating space. Then once I have the hand on the head, the elbow to my hip, my knee to my opponents bicep and my arm on his elbow, I can hit him with the opposite leg. From that move I have now created several opportunites, first omoplata, then triangle choke and finally, the arm bar. After reviewing the moves a few times each, I rolled with Shane for 15 or 20 minutes.
Rolling with Shane was interesting to say the least, Shane is big, strong and has solid jiu-jitsu. He submitted me several times and Bamboo gave me a few things to work on. I have to make sure that when I have my opponent on me in side control I have to get my arms in the correct defensive spot. Again, underhook with my elbow to my hip and then my other arm to my opponents hip again with my elbow on my hip. I have to maintain this position to play stronger defense. The other thing I have to work on is when I get to side position is to hunt the underhook and don't do anything before I get the underhook. Finally, I need to make sure when I go to headpressure from side control, I have to release my hands and apply pressure by turning the head and get my shoulder up in the air to apply more pressure and have a free hand to do what I need to do.
4.4.08 #40
Trained with Bamboo
We worked on passing open guard. Two simple rules to live by when passing:
1. Take away ALL space
2. Put your head on the ground
We worked on passing open guard. Two simple rules to live by when passing:
1. Take away ALL space
2. Put your head on the ground
From that Bamboo showed me several different ways to pass guard. Of course they all started with taking away all of my opponents space. Second, I had to get my head on the ground. Then the variations kicked in. Once in that position, I can use my hand to hold my opponents leg and then hop over his guard. Or I can use my shoulder to push his leg in to got 2v1 and then pass. Or if my opponent is giving my pressure, pushing me back with his legs, I can pop his legs with my bicep and hop over.
Bamboo showed me two other passes. The knee through pass, very simple pass but can be defended with the opponent keeping their foot hooked into yours and as you pass, you get swept. The other pass I learned was for when the opponent has both feet on my hips or one on my hip and one to the outside of my leg. Push the foot off the hip, hold it down and then shoot my opposite arm to the outside of my opponents hip, through his legs. Then from there I slide into 2v1, only this time my outside leg is way outside of my opponents leg and it makes for a very simple pass.
The third, not so concrete rule that we discussed today was passing to the same side your head was on. The idea behind this rule was to prevent you from being swept when you took side mount across your opponents body. If you don't pass to the same side as your head, when you get to side position you must sprawl to prevent from being swept. If you are ready to defend the sweep, then the third rule goes away. For the time being, I am going to try to work with all three rules.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
4.2.08 #39
Trained with Bamboo
I could tell I was away from BJJ for awhile, I was not on my game today. It doesn't help that Bamboo's jiu-jitsu is head and shoulders above mine. We rolled for ten minutes or so today and I don't think Bamboo even worked up a sweat submitting me at will from his back, from the mount, taking my back.
The focal point of my training today was to work on maintaining mount. Bamboo showed me how to apply head pressure and base out. We always discussed ways for me to keep my weight off of my opponent and to look for the upa and the knee escape and be ready for them. The mount training worked its way into submissions from the mount. Bamboo also showed me a great way of getting the arms up. Bring my chest to their arm, the arm only needs to be up a little bit and then smash the head. It was a great set up for gift wrap. We also looked at the arm bar from mount. I am looking forward to training more with Bamboo and spending more time focusing on just one or two moves so I can add them to my game.
I could tell I was away from BJJ for awhile, I was not on my game today. It doesn't help that Bamboo's jiu-jitsu is head and shoulders above mine. We rolled for ten minutes or so today and I don't think Bamboo even worked up a sweat submitting me at will from his back, from the mount, taking my back.
The focal point of my training today was to work on maintaining mount. Bamboo showed me how to apply head pressure and base out. We always discussed ways for me to keep my weight off of my opponent and to look for the upa and the knee escape and be ready for them. The mount training worked its way into submissions from the mount. Bamboo also showed me a great way of getting the arms up. Bring my chest to their arm, the arm only needs to be up a little bit and then smash the head. It was a great set up for gift wrap. We also looked at the arm bar from mount. I am looking forward to training more with Bamboo and spending more time focusing on just one or two moves so I can add them to my game.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
3.22.08
WFC Grappling Tournament
I weighed in today at 198 and competed in the beginner (less then 2 years) no gi division. There were five competitors total and three of them, myself included were from Gracie Tampa. My first opponent was from David's school in Pinellas Park and he actually dropped down from the next weight class up, because he had nobody to compete with. He was a little bit bigger and stronger then myself. When we started the match, I thought I was in trouble, I tried to trip him and he almost took my back, I fought back into his guard, but took side control. After sitting on side and not being able to mount an attack, I tried to run my progression of knee on belly to one of the chokes, I couldn't get tight on him. I went back to side and then quickly mounted. No sooner did I mount, I got upa'd. So now I was on my back, with him in my guard. I tried some attacks but he wasn't passing my guard easily, I put him in half-guard and worked on a sweep, I fought back to a neutral position. Both of us were on our knees and I sunk in the guillotine, deep and tight. I was able to finish from my knees. The next two matches I forfeitted since they were against guys from Gracie Tampa. We ended up taking first and third in my division. Sadly, I didn't come up with the hardwear.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
3.17.08 #38 St. Patty's Day
Trained with Mauricio Villardo
I trained with Mauricio while I was down in Boca Raton, work wasn't about to keep me from getting some time on the mat. There are bjj schools all over the place down here. So I went to train with Mauricio Villardo, a Royler Gracie black belt. We went through arm bars, step over to razor, then a shoulder lock or americana, finally we discussed arm triangles.
I picked up a couple of new things today, including some real basics. We discussed dropping the weight more from side control. Mauricio suggested that I get my head further across my opponent and glue my chest on his. I thought I had been doing this, but in reality, my head was on my opponents chest and most of my weight was on my knees. I have to get the weight off of my knees and on my opponent. He also told me to keep my knee into my opponenet, to prevent the hip escape. This knee isn't to support any weight, but to get in the way. The arm bar Mauricio showed me was going for the opposite arm (instead of the close arm on the karate chop set up), trapping the arm in the crook of the neck with the right hand. Getting your left knee to your opponents head and then stepping over and putting your left foot into the lower side of the armpit. Basically, this move is opposite of everything with the arm bar I learned last week. The step over that he showed me was a review of the move we do at GT. The triangle choke he showed me was much easier to finish then what I had learned previously. Mauricio finishes the triangle choke from his knees and finishes with more head pressure then body turn. The key was to get your arm through under the neck, but get your hand to your ear and get your head on the ground and then apply pressure for the finish. I would love to redo this class and get some reps in to sink both of these moves in.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
3.16.08 #37
Trained with Ferret
Tonight we hit on the arm triangle from the side and from the mount. It was more of a review, I have seen the arm triangle multiple times in classes, as well as in my privates. I just don't "feel" the move, I don't get the sensation of submitting my opponent. I also turn my head away from them, so I can't see them either. I find it a very difficult move to finish. I am going to try and work it as a roll a little this week. Since I am heading to south Florida tomorrow, I am not going to be on my regular training schedule. I do plan on trying to get some training in while I am down there. I am not as prepared as I would like to be for the tournament coming up next Saturday. Wish me luck.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
3.9.08 #36
Trained with Ferret and Lloyd
Tonight we reviewed the arm bar that I have been working all week. We started with the guard pass and reviewed the baseball choke, the neck crank and the arm bar. There are two keys that I picked up tonight that were huge in the success of the move. First, the step over. If I can get my ankle to my opponents throat or to his arm pit, the success rate is much higher. So now with the step over I have a focal point, I am looking to put the ankle to his throat and make him miserable. Second, the off leg needs to be kicked in to the opponents head, combine this with the figure four grip and this move is going to be a high percentage finish for me.
After getting some reps in on the progression, I rollled with Lloyd. Lloyd's game has gotten much better, but that didn't keep me from getting my work in. I tried to run the arm bar as often as i could, but of course he was defending it solid. I caught him two or three times with it. I also was able to take his back several times which lead to my go to move, RNC. Then after working through tonight's progression, I decided to move to the arm drag. I caught him twice, both times ending with me taking his back and finishing with rear naked. Then I went back into the progression to get some more reps. Ferret suggested that I begin to work the arm triangle into my moves because I am getting that position a lot out of gift wrap. So that is what will be working this week.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
3.7.08 #35
VIP Karate
I took my boys to karate tonight and after their class a few of the instructors were laying out the grappling mats. I teased, "Can I roll with you guys?" The head instructor responds, "Sure, we are family, come on." I was dressed in jeans and was thinking to myself, now what. My boys were telling me, "Go daddy, go change." I knew I had my gi in the car, but not my belt, so I made a quick change. I put on my gi pants and wore a t-shirt while everyone else trained in gi.
We spent most of the 45 minute session doing drills and cardio work, it was a good sweat. I don't think I had ever done any of those drills before, a couple of them I was familiar with from some of my bjj books. I did my best to keep up with everyone, but I was definetly odd man out with the drills. The last few minutes of the class we went to free roll. I got an opportunity to roll with each of the three instructors. We had thiry seconds to submit our opponent via arm bar and arm bar only. I caught Nate with two arm bars from side-mount, I caught Josh from arm bar from mount, then with Matt we just played king of the ring for 30 seconds. I lost. It was nice to spend time on the mat with these guys.
Friday, March 7, 2008
3.6.08
Royce Gracie
Tonight was the Royce Gracie Seminar - Gracie Tampa was packed. My oldest son begged me to bring him. Even Marcus Jones was excited to meet the man who brought BJJ to the spotlight. It was easy to see why Gracie Jiu Jitsu became so studied. Royce is not an imposing man, after meeting him it was hard to believe that this soft spoken Brazilian is such a dominant force in MMA. It is a tribute to the Gracie family, that they can train and understand ground fighting so well, that Royce could go out and defeat men twice his size. It was an honor to watch him teach and I am thankful that I am able to train and learn from one his first black belts in America, Hobby K.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
3.6.08 #34
Trained with Butter
I started today's training with a five minute warm up on the bike at 50 rpm. Then we moved to a ten minute high-intensity session that consisted of taking the bike to 80 rpm for one minute, then resting for 30 seconds. The last minute or two I had a tough time keeping the bike going at the 80 rpm. Marcus Jones did the same workout yesterday, except he went for 27 minutes. And I thought I was going to play D-I football - hahahaha.
After our time on the bike we spent a few minutes stretching and then went to some ground work. We reviewed the arm bars from this week, which I think my movements are getting better and my timing is coming along. We talked about defense a little bit, BC showed me why he was taking my back and how to work my way out of it. We finished with taking the back from turtle position and going to rear naked choke. Bamboo spent a few minutes with us when we finished and talked about hand placement for the harness and some different ways to sink your hooks in from the back.
3.5.08 #33
Rolled with Ferret
There was no key move or transition to take away from this hour. Today's lesson was simple - let's roll. Ferret and I beat each other up for an hour. It was a fun, no stress time on the mat. I was able to catch Ferret via rear naked choke which was the highlight of the session. He was nice enough to beat me up pretty good for it. All in all, I think we both enjoyed the time today.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
3.4.08 #32
Training with Buttercup
In typical BC fashion, I got my ass kicked today. I was not happy with my performance during our cardio work. I warmed up with an easy five minute ride on the bike as butter set up my stations. Today we did:
pull ups
push ups
thrusters
curls to press
ab roller
10 reps at each station, two - five minute rounds. By my second rotation during the first five minutes, I was sucking wind pretty bad. I only did 5 reps on the curls to press and asked butter to drop the weight at the break. I still couldn't do more then 5 reps at that station in the second five minutes. After our station work, we threw the medicine ball around for a few hundred reps and then moved to jits!
We started on the ground for a few minutes today to warm up. Butter let me work through a lot of my progressions I worked on this week. I was able to get good work in on both the baseball choke and the arm bar from the karate-chop set up. I also worked the s mount arm bar and the arm bar moved that Rob taught last night. After about 15 minutes of this, we moved to take downs. I am still having problems putting my head in bad places during the take down. I am also getting the take down, but allowing butter to be in a much better position on the ground. I am having to work out of triangles, arm bars and even losing my back. Obviously, I have some holes in my take downs as well. I plan on rolling with Ferret tomorrow afternoon for 30 to 45 minutes to get some reps in and then I will be spending more time on my take downs Sunday night. After missing some much work from being sick over the last week or so, I feel that I am on pace for the tournament. I still have about two and half weeks to refine some of my moves and transitions. My biggest and final concern is what my weight is going to be at. I weight in right now at about 198, I don't want to compete at 205, but if I don't get down to 189, I will be stuck in the 205s...
Monday, March 3, 2008
3.3.08 #31
Advanced class with Rob
I don't usually go to the advanced class, but I would like to start going on Mondays so I can make it home in time for dinner (and the beginner class on Monday nights are packed). Strolling into class late I wasn't sure what to expect, Rob had us start by drilling. Guy on bottom could not escape, only defend. Guy on top took mount. I was paired up with Ferret. I wasn't able to do anything for my 5 minutes on top, but it was good experience to at least apply head pressure and try. After 5 minutes we switched and Ferret took mount. This was not fun. Ferret immediately went in to his patened move of suffocation - which I hate. I was able to wait him out and fight for some breathes then Ferret went into baseball choke and ezekiel chokes and I did everything I could to keep from tapping. I was so happy when Rob called for a stop and partner switch. I moved over to Justin P. That was not any rest let me tell you. I spent my 5 minutes bugging him as best I could but couldn't get anywhere. I was pretty tired by the time we switched, but I don't think it mattered much. I was tapping to Justin's s mount arm bar within the first minute, so I was back on top for the remainder of the 5 minutes. I was able to pry Justin's arm up once or twice but couldn't really do anything. I was trying to run the karate-chop grip to arm bar last night. Justin was nice enough to show an arm bar from gift wrap which ended our drilling time.
Rob's move of the night was a different set up for the arm bar. This arm bar move was designed for someone who maybe a little stronger and/or bigger then you are. You smashed the head with the left arm under your opponents head and use your right arm to base out. As you move your arm out you use that momentum to pick your opponents head up off the ground and then swing your right leg out straight. The key to this move is you can't sit here for very long at all, you are extremely vunerable to hip escape to your right side at this point. So as soon as your opponents head is off the ground, put your right hand in position on the head, curl your right foot around (like s mount arm bar) and then turn your left hand over your opponents head with your forearm touching his forehead and then bring your left hip into him and inch around until your left knee is passed his head. At this point step over, move your right hand, keep your left hand pulling your opponent tight into you avoiding any space as you go for the arm bar. Slice your right hand across the inside of your opponents elbow lay back and then remove your right hand - arm bar.
After a couple of other different chokes and set ups, Rob called open mat. Tonight, I rolled with Matt for about 5 minutes. I did better with him then I did last time. I have a hard time dealing with his strength. I tapped a couple of minutes in to a knee bar from side control. I tapped a second time to a lat choke. I wasn't able to maintain any good positions with him tonight. He dominated the entire 5 minutes. I was never able to establish side control or pass his guard very clean. So lots of things to work on this week.
3.2.08 #30
Trained with Ferret
All in all, it was a good transition. You can work the karate-chop grip in several different ways, from knee on belly, from transitioning around your opponent. I will try to run it tonight at class.
Last night was the first time I have trained with Ferret in awhile. Lloyd came by and spent some time working with us as well (even though he couldn't roll because he didn't tap last week and hurt his shoulder). The focus of last night was submissions from side.
We worked on passing to half guard, then moving from half to side. To gain control on the side, the key was to put your arm under your opponents head to control his head. Once we maintained the side position, our opponents arm position would determine our next move. If the opponents arm is pinned underneath our body, we would go to baseball choke. If the opponents arm is inside to defend his neck, we can transition to karate-chop grip in the arm pit and force the opponent to his side. The key to this move is having your south knee (away from the opponent's head) in their back, to prevent them from rolling out of the move. Place your north leg over the opponent's head, take his arm with a figure-four grip (like you are taking Kimura). The figure-four grip prevents your opponenet from hitch-hiking out. Pull your knees together and take the armbar.
All in all, it was a good transition. You can work the karate-chop grip in several different ways, from knee on belly, from transitioning around your opponent. I will try to run it tonight at class.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
2.19.08 #29
Trained with Buttercup
Back to circuit training with butter to prepare me for the WFC tournament that Sun Scion is sponsoring on March 22. Today we did two 5 minute circuits that kicked my ass. They consisted of:
shoulder raises (front and side 10Xs each)
bear crawl - up and back
push ups - 10
squats - 50
lunges - up and back
flutter kicks
After that we spent about 30 minutes working takedowns. I had a few problems and outweigh butter by 30 pounds or so. I have issues with my wrestling transitions, as well as, dropping my head into bad positions. I also need to work on exploding closer to my opponent. It was good work today, even though I wasn't completely motivated. I have 4.5 weeks to prepare. I plan on getting much better with my cardio and my takedowns!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
2.13.08 #28
Wednesday Gi with Joey
Tonight was an old school bjj class. We spent 40 minutes doing drills - forward rolls, break falls, shrimps and shrimp with a partner. Me and those shoulder roll drills do not get along. I am still spinning from those rolls, I feel like I have been on the tea cup ride for the last hour. After our 40 minute of drills, Joey showed us an arm bar from side control. Slip the opponents arm under and through your leg, secure the arm, make sure you have overhook on the far side and keep your hips on the ground - so you can't be swept. Swim your leg over the head, smash the head, bring the other leg and take the arm to the chest, arm bar. After that, we got 10 minutes worth of open mat. I rolled with Brian (two stripe white belt). Brian was a good roll, I got to work on some positions and submissions. I tried the move of the night twice tonight, but without finishing either time. All in all, a good night of class.
We signed on to be the title sponsor the WFC's BJJ Tournament March 22 at the USF Sun Dome. So myself, Mike C, and Lloyd will all be entering that. So looking forward to committing hard to my training and my diet during the upcoming weeks in preparation for the tournament.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
2.8.08 #27.5
I went and watched class at Gracie Tampa South - thanks to my friend, Mr. Ringworm. Ferret taught half-guard sweeps. Watching class is not near as much fun as participating. Hopefully, my ringworm will have cleared up enough for me to go to class and actually roll on Monday.
2.6.08 #27
Joey taught class and we worked attacks from the mount. It was a good class for reps. We did 10 reps each side working s mount arm bar. Then we did 5 reps each side working americana. We finished with 5 reps each side for the guillotine. After that we drilled for a few minutes. I went 3 times on the bottom and the object was to sweep or put your opponent back in guard, I swept my first two opponents and the third I put into half guard. My two attempts on top, were short lived. I was not too happy with my attacks - like usual.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
2.1.08 #26
Buttercup invited me to work with him during open mat at GT on Friday night. We got started about 6:40 or so and spent more then an hour on the mat. It was a good night of rolling, for Butter. I outweigh him by twenty-five pounds and still can't answer his offensive explosiveness or deal with his stingy defense. I wasn't disappointed with my time on the mat, I feel like I had some little wins throughout our rolls. I was able to explode out of Butter's side control a few times, not always going back to neutral, but I am still working on the escape. I think it is coming along nicely. I was also very happy with a few sweeps I had from bottom half-guard. I was able to take mount a few times and even maintain long enough to bug Butter's neck - not being able to mount any real attacks was a bit of a disappointment. The closest attack I had all night was a gift wrap to back, which Butter quickly worked out of and thirty seconds later was able to get his last submission of the night. The key point to take away from last night is still relax. I am still too tense, too strong and get spastic trying to work into submisions at points. I am going to have to continue to work on pace and relaxing while still working.
It was great to be back on the mat after being out almost ten days, due to month end at work. Adjusting to my new schedule at work next week is going to continue to stand in the way of regular training, but I am going to figure out a solution.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
1.23.08 #25
Went to Rob's AM class today. We covered sweeps and attacks against the "knee in pass" while in guard. The key was to ride up the knee to the opponents hip. Then you have to get your foot to the opponents hip to be able to control and keep him from being able to track your movements. Along with that, you have to run your hand inside to control the knee. Next step is to triangle choke the armpit with the other leg. From there you are set up to sweep, arm bar or triangle choke, plus a plethora of other options are available to you depending on what your opponent gives you.
After class I spent an hour with Buttercup. We drilled arm drags and scissor sweep. We rolled for 15 minutes and then worked 15 minutes of stand up. All in all today was a good day on the mat. After training, we went to Cherry's for lunch. Nothing like spending two hours training and washing it down with a Texas burger and a beer!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Training Goals for 2008
I want to catch everyone up with my training to date. I started training at Gracie Tampa a year ago. I have spent most of that time training with Ferret – a brown belt under Rob Kahn. I received my blue belt from Rob on November 7, 2007. I have only competed in one BJJ tournament. That was the Disney Tournament this last year and I ended up only having one match against someone who outweighed me by fifty pounds. I lost on points. In 2008, I plan to attend as many NAGA tournaments as my work schedule allows, I know I am already unable to attend the March tournament. My tournament schedule is not a huge priority for me in 2008. I do have some goals that I would like to work on this year
- Master 2 takedowns – Baiana and outside trip
- Master 1 throw – offensive hip throw
- I want to get better on my attacks from the bottom – triangle choke, arm bar
- Continue to focus and get better with my arm drag
- I want to spend more time training in gi and learn some gi chokes – Amassa Pao, under arm collar choke and the sliding collar choke
Due to some issues at work I am not training as regular as I would like. My goal is to continue to try to fit in four lessons per week, training with both Ferret and Buttercup. I look forward to a successful year on the mat!
Introduction
After reading my wife’s running blog that she was using as a running journal, I was jealous. I had been using a 5 subject spiral – the kind I hated using in high school - to keep a record of what was going on with my training at Gracie Tampa. Not to mention, when my daughter gets a hold of my training log she can do more damage then Godzilla attacking Tokyo. It’s amazing how destructive a two year old little girl can be. I can’t wait until Midget will start training that little girl and put her destructive power towards something more constructive.
I will update my blog as often as I train. I doubt my blog will be very exciting, nothing that would compete with Ryan Hall or Matt Arroyo’s blogs. I just want to have a way to keep a better record of what I am working on and doing with my time on the mat.
I will update my blog as often as I train. I doubt my blog will be very exciting, nothing that would compete with Ryan Hall or Matt Arroyo’s blogs. I just want to have a way to keep a better record of what I am working on and doing with my time on the mat.
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