Day 26: Sometimes you eat the bar

I took a few days off for a restorative journey into King's Canyon national park with a few comrades over the weekend. Much grandeur was observed and much fun was had.

Back at home, there was training to do. I felt very fresh and ready to work as I arrived, and after a very quick warm-up I dove right into a circuit training session focused on passing the open guard. From the top I did pretty well, avoiding getting my sleeves gripped and trying to control both of my opponent's pants cuffs with one hand by reaching under one leg to grab the opposite cuff. From the bottom I did not do as well. I allowed my opponents to get sleeve grips and was slow in tracking their movements and I found myself in side control often. Not surprisingly, my bottom game still trails my top game.

Rod stepped in for Kahlil and taught an excellent series of moves from the "baseball slide" open guard pass. Uke is sitting up, legs wide and arms extended to defend, while you are standing. Get his right sleeve with your left hand, and get a thumb-out deep grip inside his collar with your right hand. Aim to grab the label of his gi. Step deep between his legs with your right leg, and pull the grips toward you as you slide your right knee over his right leg. Pass to side control, where you should have your right collar grip deep. Now reach for his lapel or shoulder with your left hand as close as you can to your right hand, and drop your elbows and squeeze for a nasty modified baseball-bat choke. Alternately, if he defends the choke, push, then pull the defending arm across his body and drop your weight down on it as you squeeze the collar grip for another choke.

After we finished working the drill, "little" Larry showed me the bow-and-arrow choke, which is, in the parlance of Aesopian, totally awesome.

Finally I had a chance to roll with Omar, who is one of my favorite training partners at the moment. He Kimura'ed me twice, though I did work hard for a sweep escape from kesa gatame. I worked some half guard specifically and Omar had some good pointers. Since you must keep your elbows in to guard against armlocks, use your legs to create your mobility. Get on your side. Push your opponent away. Shrimp to guard.

Overall, a very good session that found me recharged, rejuvenated, and ready to improve.