Day 24: Survival Blues

I left work late and got to the gym around 7. There were only a few guys around; all the regulars were there.

No drilling, just sparring tonight. I drew Jack right off the bat. I played a bit at passing his open guard, working my hand under one leg to get the opposite ankle and try ing to collapse both legs for the pass. I had a small measure of success, but soon found myself swept and fighting off the choke. Jack is a crafty player and is always giving me something to worry about. When he has the mount I have tons of trouble working escapes because he constantly threatens the Ezekiel choke and forces me to defend it. If I get sloppy with my elbows defending the choke, that's an instant keylock or some other painful destination.

I shouldn't be discouraged about getting mauled by Jack. He's a very good blue belt who gives the purple belts a hard time, every time. Nevertheless, it's hard to get my mind in the right place, to drop the remnants of my ego and those useless concepts of "winning" and "losing". I'm trying. It's going to be a long road, and I hope that I've grown enough to enjoy the ride.

Day 23: Slippery When Wet

Nogi today. I went with a new long-sleeved rash guard to minimize my exposure to the mats, with drug-resistant staph causing all sorts of hysteria. Better safe than sorry, I suppose. Ringworm sucks too.

I got started with some informal drilling with Ian. We worked triangles, then some sweeps. I liked the hip bump sweep. Open your guard, then sit up (on an elbow if necessary) and get your same-side arm behind uke. Then bridge towards him and twist your torso to sweep. Finish in mount. We also worked the hook sweep from butterfly (including the leg-slide variant). We started to roll lightly (Ian's a little guy) but my nose started bleeding again. Damn you, dry, soot-filled air!

After staunching my flow, Damon and I lined up for a go. It was a pretty good one. I showed some mobility and even had a chance to work my new triangle escape-- and it worked! Later, Damon went for the D'Arce/Brabo grip when I was turtled. In response, I went for the Kimura try that Omar showed me but I couldn't get it to go. Eventually he nailed me with a Kimura of his own but I think I did a pretty good job.

At the end of the session Jack was game, so we rolled a bit. He triangled me several times, which sucked. However, I did manage to escape his side control (he probably let me) and get full guard. He broke my guard pretty quickly, but let me in on a good insight, one that I am slowly coming around to. He scooped my leg, which to him was an instant "signal" for triangle. Moves have signatures, templates perhaps, that demand their application. That is how we "flow with the go"; by reading the signals our opponent sends and the templates he cycles through. For example: uke in your open guard, one arm out = triangle. Hand flat on the mat = Kimura. You can short-circuit the decision making process, achieve "no mind," by using the template positions as triggers. I'll be on the lookout for more of these as my training progresses.

Day 22: Escape from Jitsu Island

Yesterday and today were similar, so I'll mash them up together.

We've been working controls from the spider guard, specifically the arm wrap. Get sleeve grips ("joysticks") with your knees inside uke's arms and your feet on his hips. Then you can escape your hips and wrap the arm you escaped away from. Return your hips and get that foot back on uke's hip. From there you can control the other arm with foot-on-bicep. You can bicep sweep from here, or go for the triangle.

If you lose control of the unwrapped arm, stay with it. Turn on your side and use your knee to keep uke from coming around. Recover to your knees, taking his arm with you. Then adjust your angle to go back to spider, or pull him in for full guard. If you're good you can roll for the omoplata, but I'm not, so I didn't.

Both days we worked on using and passing this guard. I had some mixed results. I caught Damon with the bicep sweep, which got me pretty stoked. Craig got his knee in between my legs and broke my grip, and it was downhill from there.

During Jack's daily ass-kicking, he showed me a neat escape from the triangle. Immediately after it gets slapped on, slam your body (and uke's leg) down on the mat to the side of the leg that is right on your ear. Then you can hop your legs over uke and twist out and escape. It sounds tough but it's not.

Day 20: This ain't Taylor. Taylor been shot.

I guess there was a case of the Mondays going around at school today. Sparse attendance, and no specific drill to work. Talk of the tournament was the order of the day. The rest of us were left with an open mat.

I rolled with Mark first. He pulled guard and I worked to pass. To his credit he baited me by opening his guard and nearly catching me in a triangle as I tried to slide my knee across his leg. I was able to work my other hand in an avoid the choke. Eventually I passed his guard got side control, and I remembered to drive my shoulder hard into his face to keep him uncomfortable and pinned. After some hard work I finished with the Americana.

We went again, and he wanted to work his top game, which was fine by me. I was looking forward to applying what I had learned from Larry, and I immediately controlled his sleeves and opened up my guard (scary!). I worked my leg up onto his bicep and got the sweep. Yes! Mark gave his approval. We re-set and worked a few more from my guard.

Jack brutalized me a bit, and as usual that's not worth writing much about. I'm getting better but am still helpless against him.

At the end of the session, I went once with Omar. From the start I got him with an armdrag and took his back. I tried to work a few chokes and also tried to get my hooks in, but couldn't. We ended up with me in front headlock with him turtled. As I worked for the Brabo choke, he sprawled and turned and got me in a Kimura. Dang. Slick, I had to hand it to him.

I'm making progress. Hitting the sweep against Mark and the armdrag against Omar were both confidence builders.

Day 19: Made of Jiujitium

So I missed a few training log entries. These things happen.

Saturdays are more sparsely attended at the gym, which is great, because there is some more teaching and personal attention. Roger taught class, with Kahlil, Jason and Jess at the tournament in Santa Cruz. After a good warmup, I worked the guard-sweep-armbar flow with Craig. He favors the hands-on-chest position for spinning to the armbar from mount. It pins uke to the floor, and simultaneously takes the weight off of your legs making it easy to spin to the armbar.

The goodies came when Roger heard us discussing options from a failed scissor sweep, such as when uke sees it coming and bases by splaying his knees out. You have several options here.

1. Shift your hips so that your trapping leg (the one flat on the floor) is trapping his knee in its new position. Then, scissor sweep!
2. Trap his other arm and sit up so you can get his belt. Use the leg with the knee in to sweep in the opposite direction you intended to go.
3. Transition to the stupid simple sweep. Mount with smugness.
4. Spin back for an armbar. Only works if you're good.

We then worked sweep training. I was partnered with Larry, a bull of a man, around 6'2", maybe 250. He is a great, patient teacher. So many little but important tips!

When uke has a grip on your cuff, grab his cuff and get your knee down on his wrist. He will release.

Axiom: never be flat on your back except in closed full guard. Larry uses this position for rest only.

Rod's sweep-- get double joysticks. Open guard, get feet on hips, their arms outside your knees. Walk your feet up their body and sit up. Then get one foot on the bicep, flatten and scissor the other as you bicep sweep.

For side control escapes, turn your body immediately, towards him (chest to chest)-- this makes space. Then get the knee in and recover guard.

If your right arm is in danger of being armbarred, and he already has the leg over your head, grasp your lapel with your right hand. Then work your left arm under the leg thats over your face, and bridge strong over his right (back) shoulder.

Great session. I gained confidence in not being afraid to open up my guard, improved my escapes, and learned some new sweeps while improving the ones I knew. It's nice to have fifty instructors instead of one.

Nice choke

Here's a cool video that was posted on the Sherdog MMA forums. In particular, check out the "loop choke" that the guy uses at about 1:30 remaining. That's something nice and sneaky that I'd like to add, along with the Ezekiel choke. I especially like the delayed reaction the opponent has to these chokes-- they don't even realize it's a choke until it's too late. Heh.

Day 16: Nogi Bear

Today was a pretty informal no-gi session that was nevertheless very productive. Jess, one of the few women currently at the school, was doing tournament training and had a fair portion of the mat and Kahlil's attentions. That left the rest of the class mainly to our own devices. Kahlil shooed me over to the other white belts for some drilling.

Bill, Bobby and I worked escapes, which seem to be in high demand at this stage of my training. Bill showed me a gem of an escape from mount. Extend your left leg and turn to your left side. Hook his right leg with your right heel, pulling it over your extended left which gives you half guard as you immediately turn onto your right side. You can then even try the overhook with your left arm, and after feinting right, with his pushback you can underhook his left leg with your right arm and sweep his to your left. Slick.

I rolled with Damon a few times after we drilled. I had some good rolls and felt very mobile without the gi. I missed the kimono's mystery, its bottomless array of sneaky sleeves and lapels, but I did not miss the friction or the bevy of points for my opponent to grab me. As Damon and I were sparring he threw me, and my knee smacked hard into Bill's head. It hurt my knee, and I was wearing kneepads, so his noggin must not have been feeling so good. He sat there, stunned, for a few minutes until Kahlil brought him an icepack. I felt bad.

I played some closed guard with Damon and felt reasonably comfortable. For a short time I was able to control his head and/or arms, but was unable (or afraid) to attempt any offense. As he opened my guard I thought about sweeping, but he just grabbed my leg and flipped me over. Boo.

When Damon and I finished Del invited me to go a few rounds. He has not been so friendly up to now, but I suspect it's just his reaction to n00bs. The dude is absolutely ripped, very big and very strong. He threw me around a little bit (as he later explained, I came in way too high), but I was able to work a little position (I got half guard from mount with the move Bill just showed me) but that's about it. He sank some RNCs on me with apparent relish, as well as hit a Kimura that I would rather not experience again. Perhaps I passed his hazing, as he came over and we chatted a bit after the roll and he seemed to loosen up.

I also took my nightly ass-beating at Jack's hands. Nothing new to report there.

I'm feeling frisky-- maybe I will try the Saturday session tomorrow as Booka needs to work.

Day 15: Tough guy golf

Great session today. I learned a whole lot, had some good rolls and some good laughs.

I drilled a single leg takedown with Damon first. Your grips are reversed- you have lapel-elbow, and he has your lapel where you have his elbow and vice versa. You want the leg near his lapel grip. Pull that arm to bring the leg forward, then dip your head into his shoulder. Release your grip on his elbow and push downward with your forearm and elbow into the crook of his arm. This exposes his leg. Shoot and take it, then sweep out the remaining foot for the takedown.

Omar then worked with me on a funky sweep from the spider guard based on the arm wrap. You have joysticks, his arms in. Turn onto your right side and dip your foot inside his arm, keeping your grip and hooking his back. Then get your other knee and shin up against his midsection, using a grip on his knee to turn away from the wrapped arm. Now, pull him onto your shin and sweep him over at 45 degrees. This is a tricky one.

I rolled with Omar, Jack, and Spencer. Omar is a good training partner. He is close to my size and skill level (slightly smaller and better, respectively) and he understands the technical aspects of the game so that we can interact on those terms very well. We had a good, long, semi-relaxed roll that ended up with me tapping to an armbar. Jack annihilated me again but also gave me some good pointers. I kept getting my arm trapped across his waist trying to pass guard, leading to an easy sweep. He showed me the merits of digging my elbow into the inner thigh and grabbing the skirt or belt as you attempt to pass. He also showed me another way of dealing with the butterfly guard: get into it real deep, then reach under one hook and grab the opposite ankle. Then you can smush his legs downward and pass.

Toes are feeling better. Still sore, still loving it. Nogi tomorrow.

Day 14: Luxurious

So I may have earned a nickname: Luxurious. At least, that's what it'll be if Damon has his way. We were rolling, and he was probably about to armbar me, but at the time he had his face near mine and got a dose of the beard. He said something about it, and I replied that my growth was "luxurious". There it is.

We drilled the bicep sweep from the spider guard. Get your feet on his hips, and get grips on both sleeves. Try to get your knees inside his arms. Break him down, then shoot a leg into the crook of his elbow, nice and high, keeping the grip on his sleeve. Move your hips to get your leg higher, so that you are on your opposite side, ready to come up on your opposite elbow. Drop your other leg off his hip flat on the mat as the sweep pivot. Then pull with your arms and sweep him over with your leg to finish in mount. You can also triangle from here-- the pushing pressure on his bicep will induce him to push back. Slip your foot off his bicep as he pushes back, trap the other arm as you push on the hip (your foot was already there!) to turn your torso and go right into the triangle.

I sparred with Luke, Damon, James, and Jack. Damon showed me a nifty pass of half guard. Inch the foot of your trapped leg towards his butt so your knee comes uo until you can slip it out. Simple. Jack was brutal-- he wanted to try some things Roger showed him, and I guess I make a good dummy since I struggle a lot but don't really know how to do anything. He held my head up off the mat, so that I couldn't bridge off of it. This shortens your lever arm to the base of your shoulders and makes your upa much, much less effective. This one is simple enough for me to give it a try in the next few sessions.

Man, I need to sleep a bit.

Day 13: Black and White

I took three days off to regain some strength and relieve some muscle soreness that I couldn't shake. Even so, my hips and shoulders were still sore, and my toes as well. Disappointing, sure, but not enough to keep me off the mat.

Roger was giving the instruction today. He's The Man, so everyone was intent on listening. He judged me to be too green to participate in the main drill today, so I worked the guard-scissors sweep-armbar flow with Bill for the drilling session of class. That's fine, since I need work on just about everything. Unfortunately, Bill is pretty frail and I couldn't work the sweep with as much snap as I would have liked.

Rod was kind enough to roll with me and it was pretty instructive. He showed me a second pass for the butterfly guard. Get your hips on top of both legs and pin them to the mat, and then you have a good chance of passing around the guard. Another simple tip was regarding having side control: keep your leg that's near his knee down and tight to his body so that he can't slip his knee in and recover guard. Rod is very very good, so he toyed with me for a good while, sweeping me this way and that. He's such a nice guy and is really the epitome of the "leave your ego at the door" ethos. I enjoyed the sparring session and I was grateful he took the time to show me some things.

The entire class halted when Roger kitted up and started to roll with Kahlil (that's the spelling, at least on the attendance sheet). Roger is so in control when he rolls that it seems like he is not expending any effort at all. He slips and slides his limbs to all of the right spots and magically appears in the dominant position. I guess that is what should be expected from the guy with a black belt so old it's gray and falling apart, and it's his third one, to boot! Great stuff. I'm glad I was there.

After Del and Rod broke the spell by starting to spar, I rolled with Mark, a young guy I hadn't met before. He's a white belt with about 8 months of experience, and, get this- he's 16. He's also strong, fast, and skilled, and handled me pretty easily. I worked what there is of my game and was able to pass his guard a few times (he recovered it pretty quickly- alas). I escaped a triangle attempt with the move that Jack showed me last week, and I finally fought my way to side control and was able to hit the Americana. I was more happy with my work during the roll on escaping and fighting for position rather than "winning".

Day 12: You're humping way too much, troop

The first drill was stopping the hook sweep for the advanced students. Us white belts learned the hook sweep for the first time. It's simple: from butterfly guard, trap his arm, and get the underhook with your opposite arm. Then fall sideways (towards his trapped arm, so he can't base) and use your butterfly hook to sweep him over. Finish in mount.

Our second drill was armbars from various positions. From knee on belly on his left, make space with your left hand. Snake your right under his armpit, and pull the arm up so that his shoulder comes up off the mat. Spin your head-side foot around his body, and take the leg you were kneeling with and leave it by his shoulder. Sit down and he taps. Also learned armbar from rear mount with opponent turtled. Get your right hook in. Go under his arm and get the wrist. Turn so that your left shin comes across the back of his neck and get your knee down to the ground. Pull the arm out straight, then come down onto your side and tuck your bottom leg under the arm for the armbar.

I sparred with Damon, Jack, and Ralil, and got schooled pretty completely. Tip that came from this session: turn into the choking elbow to stop a choke. Otherwise, you're choking yourself more. Which I did. Jack and Ralil have hellacious butterfly guards. To try to pass, control the pants inside the knees, get some distance, then slide around the guard. Easier said than done, at least with those two. To escape from the triangle, posture up and try to get an arm between the legs that are choking you.

Damn, this is hard.

Day 11: Half Half and Half

Rod taught the white belts yesterday, delivering a structured lesson plan and teaching us some interesting techniques. I'm writing this the day after training for the first time, and the moves are already cloudy, convincing me that I shouldn't continue this practice.

First was a nifty escape series from side control. Your opponent is on your left. You have the underhooks (easier said than done?). Turn your hips so you can hook his heel with yours. Upa, then hip escape, push on his other knee, and slide your knee in front, then around his back. Finally remove the hooked heel and recover full guard.

I got my first formal instruction on the half guard, which is great, since I find myself there a lot when I can't recover full guard, for whatever reason. It's important to stay on your side in the half guard, keeping your opponent's weight off of you. We worked on recovering full guard from here first.

Rod then had us do a drill starting with one person in side control. Top man must improve his position or get a submission, bottom man must attempt to recover guard. Whoever accomplishes their goal first stayed on, and a new person rotated in. I did pretty well against the other white belts, and stayed through a full round.

Sparring was with Thomas, whom I outweigh but who is strong, determined and tough. I was able to armlock him with an Americana, but he came back and armbarred me. He's quite good and I was pleased that I held my own.

I'm starting to wear down a bit. My toes are hurting pretty bad and my shoulders are very sore as well. Wednesday will be an off day, then I plan to train Thursday and take Friday, Saturday and Sunday off to rest.

Day 10: Get Some

Tough day at work: meetings, meetings, meetings. Planning to plan. So I was really looking forward to training, even though my toes are killing me.

The drill was escaping from knee-on-belly. Your opponent is on your right, with his right knee on your belly and left knee drawn back adjacent to your head. Grasp his belt with your left hand in the "monkey paw" grip-- it's important you don't get your thumb under his belt or you can be injured. Right hand on his left knee, keeping him from circling his leg around your head. To escape, upa, then hip escape, with pushing pressure on knee and belt so that he can't recover knee-on-belly. Then you can slip a leg in and recover half guard, or scissor your legs to get to your knees (plant the elbow) and try a takedown.

As a companion to this drill we also learned to get knee-on-belly from side control. Simple: do a push up with your hands on the opponent, then slip the knee on and get the head side leg back. Use the back leg to drive your knee into the opponent's gut. Hand control is lapel and belt. It's important to get the leg near the head back for a good base.

I rolled with Bill, an older, lanky, awkward dude. I manhandled him pretty easily, and I didn't learn very much. Got him with an Americana and hit the armbar from mount, which was nice.

Fernando later invited me for another set. I admire the hell out of the guy-- he has some serious guts and he never quits. Definitely qualities I would like to cultivate in myself, nascent as they are. We sparred freely for a while, and Fernando got the better of me with his speed as I avoided using brute strength for passing his guard and getting side control, where he is helpless. He armbarred me once when I got careless. We then decided to do some situational work, which I found very, very useful. I let him start in dominant positions and work his game while I tried to escape. We also worked some sweeps from guard with full resistance, which was great.

I can see that I'm improving, but obviously there's a long way to go. I'm going to continue working on basics, like my hip escapes. Hips, hips, hips.