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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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...

 

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

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.