Day 35: Progress

I was excited for training today. I had been visualizing in my idle minutes today, thinking of triangles, of the satisfying thwack of my thigh against an unprotected neck and the dovetail of my foot into the back of its companion knee. The focus at class today...armbars.

Nevertheless, after an uncharacteristic cardio warmup, we went into drilling the armbar from mount. I worked with some heavyweights, Jason (350+) and Mario (230). Since we had just worked it on Saturday (Roger had Larry and I do 50 reps each), I was feeling pretty good about the move. Even so, Jason and Mario helped me sharpen my technique by having me concentrate on getting uke on his side when pulling the attacked arm from the shoulder.

Subsequent to drilling, we worked some positional sparring from the mount. I was able to work my arm trap upa escape successfully a few times, even against Craig. My attacks were less successful.

In free sparring, I worked with Mario on his preparations for the Machado tournament next weekend. He has short legs so can't easily play closed guard; I suggested he try an open guard, specifically, spider guard. We started from there and had some spirited rolls. I took advantage of some of Mario's mistakes and was able to apply the armbar from mount a few times. My confidence was high and I also had the moxie to try the triangle from mount twice. I couldn't lock it in (damn visualization!) but with Jack's sideline coaching I was able to transition to the armbar. I didn't get that either, but using a submission chain was a first! I even had a chance to go for an omoplata which I ended up turning into an armbar later on.

Rolling with Mario was a big confidence boost. I had been forgetting, in the midst of rolling with vastly superior opponents, what it was like to roll with someone who is just starting out. And I realized that I am just starting out, in one of the hardest sports around. And I've come a long way in a short amount of time.

Huzzah huzzah, Foos, there's still a long way to go.