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!

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.