Day 66: Back from the Dead

I took an unplanned break from this training log due to a computing outage, but now I'm back in business. It's a very nicely spec'ed HP, and after some fighting with the Windows boot manager, I've got Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon dual-booting with Vista and sharing an NTFS partition. Right now I am using Linux as my primary OS, and so far I'm able to do everything I want to do except rip CDs to a somewhat obsessive 320 kbps VBR.

Geekery aside, I have been training very hard and it has been showing up in my game. I've finally got a sweep that I can work with some confidence, and that has made me a much more dynamic grappler. It's more or less the pendulum sweep, but I find it more effective to keep my foot on the hip rather than swinging it outward for momentum. As long as I pull the arm I am controlling as I kick my near leg into my opponent's armpit, it works and I feel like I stay in better control than the variant in the video. For right now this is tying together with armbars from guard for a nice two move combination.

Along with the sweep, my guard game has also been coming along. I took Stephan Kesting's advice about starting from the knees by going right into a sweep, and that has been working pretty well. As Stephan notes in his article, even if you miss on the sweep, in all likelihood you still have guard. Once I have established closed guard I'll work my armbar-sweep game like it's goin' out of style.

Another move I have been working on from closed guard is the omoplata. We have had some classes focusing on the technique and how to counter it, and that has given me some confidence to work it in to my game. It's important to remember to push off the opposite hip, control the wrist of the trapped arm, and get the belt or armpit controlled as you sit up. If uke rolls you can roll with him (stay in front!) while controlling the wrist. Aesopian filmed a cool omoplata tutorial with Leo Kirby that is an impressive drink from the firehose and gave me some things to think about. I haven't finished an omoplata, but as the video demonstrates, it is as much of a sweep as it is a submission.

I am still having a great time training, and it has been good to me. I weighed in at an even 200 in my gi last week, which means I am about 195 pounds. I walked in on my first day at about 220. Twenty-five pounds in less than five months. Not bad. Once I get some more of the padding around my midsection excised, I may consider competing.