(11/3/09 5:00pm) Fitness Kickboxing
(11/3/09 6:00pm) BJJ
Kickboxing:
Renee taught the class again tonight. And again, the "warm-ups" were rough. We started off with what I think were 50 squats before we started jogging. The warm-up period is always difficult and leaves me doubting that I will be able to push thru and finish. Particularly when we do sprints down the long sides with shuffles around the short ends. That little delight feels like it lasts for an hour and a half but I am willing to bet it is only like two minutes.
We worked some different combinations on the heavy bags tonight, which was a nice change. Over the past few weeks my left hook has been getting pretty strong and tonight we worked hooks on both sides and now my right seems to be catching up.
The end of the class was pretty mild as compared to normal. The ab work, though a lot of reps, was not too extreme and only included a handful of the normal torturous exercises. At the conclusion I went to the locker room to change and get ready for Jits.
BJJ
I hit the mats just as the warm ups were hitting the to-the-wall and back phase. I looked around, saw Dr. Evil but someone was conspicuously missing. Where the hell is Neil. Ok enough of a jab at him for not showing up. I hope the Big Mac was worth it buddy!
We drilled a spider-guard pass. For this one, we gripped the pants, on the inside, shook off their foot-to-biceps control one arm at a time. You then drive one leg to the ground, never letting it go till you obtain stable side control. With the other hand you shoot under the free leg, drive your head to their thigh and reach back grabbing the belt to prevent escape. You then walk around, passing the trapt leg and establish side control. This was pretty nifty and I actually pulled it off twice in rolling. That is great for me because I typically suck at getting past spider.
Rolling:
My first round was with Paul, a big guy tipping the scales at 240+. Big, strong guy. I did pretty well against him. To my surprise, I was able to negate a lot of his strength. I even got to mount and threatened a choke by the end of the round.
Second round was with Dr. Evil. As always we had a see-saw battle. The first half I was in control and even caught him with a wrist lock from on top in side control. But then, I started to gas. As he later pointed out to me, this was like minute 116 of training for me so it is understandable. We finished out the round with him taking my back.
Third round was with Sarge (Ruben). Traditionally Sarge would always take my back right off the bat. This time though I did pretty well with my wrestling and even managed to win an exchange. Sarge is very strong and surviving his constant onslaught felt good.
Fourth was with Ian, our resident phenom. He would instantly trip me up with his slick spider-guard entries and I would be on defense from the start. He choked me from various positions in many different ways. At the end of the round he said something that I am going to try to remember. He said that when being attacked, you need to respond right away; when attacking, you can take your time and wait for openings. On defense I tend to wait for small mistakes or opportunities and sometimes I get too patient till I don't have anywhere to go any longer. So thanks for the advice Ian.
Fifth round was back with Paul. I was doing well again till I missed on a guard pass, got caught in an oma plata sweep attempt and rolled into the wall. Once trapt I was pretty well stacked and with his weight bearing down, I felt something in my left ribs pop. I verbally tapped and sat out the rest of that round (about a minute). The rib is just fine now, but at the time it really took my breath away.
Great night of training. I seemed to hold up pretty well with the double work-out. Just need to keep it going.
Showing posts with label Dr. Evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Evil. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
It's Been a While, I'll Have a Double
(10/28/09 5:00pm) Fitness Kickboxing
(10/28/09 6:00pm) BJJ
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been attending a number of kickboxing classes and had not posted anything about them. Well, last nights (as well as Monday's) are worth reporting on. Monday (10/26/09) Renee was at the helm. Normally when Renee runs a class, it is safe to assume that first; it is going to be brutal and second it is going to be different than we are used to.
Well, he did not deviate from his normal form in either of these sessions. I have thrown the term "destroyed" around before and I truly feel like I have not done it justice after going thru these two workouts. The warm-ups were harder than a typical entire session. We kept a relentless pace and he made us perform sooo many reps of sooo many different exercises. Every part of by body hurts. Here is a brief example, when we were at the "cool down" phase of the workout; the section wherein we decimate our abs, there were 12 of us in the class. Renee would count off 10 reps for us then pass the counting to the person on the end. Once done the next person counts off 10 and so on, and so on. Yes, that is 130 reps of each ab exercise in rapid succession. Here is a list of what I can remember:
- Crunches 130
- Planks 130 (counting)
- Planks with Right Leg up 130 (counting)
- Planks with Left Leg up 130 (counting)
- Side Planks 130 (counting)
- Ceiling Touches 130
- Knee Slides 130
- Long Arm Crunches 130
- Raised Leg Toe Touches 130
- Obliques 130
- Flutter Kicks 70
- And many, many more!
Basically total devastation twice this week. Looking forward to doing it again tonight!
BJJ
It had been a long time since I have been on the mats. But since I got thru two brutal cardio sessions with no chest pain, I figured it would be safe. I took my sweet time putting away my gloves and wraps before changing into my gi. I made sure that the BJJ warm-ups were done before joining the class. It quickly became a bit of a nostalgic night as myself, Tank, Kemo, Fritz, Dr. Evil, both Alex's and Neil were all on the mats. It felt like old times. I drilled technique with Neil and the Doc worked in with us until Tank hit the mats.
We worked on spider guard passes. Particularly we learned the "bullfighter" or "matador" pass. Where, controlling the knees you fake out your intentions by moving their knees either side before exploding around to one side, dropping your near shoulder into their chest. Fritz also showed us a number of ways to pass if they are defending. Including a nifty knee on belly kinda version.
For the rolling portion we did the Submit, Sweep or Pass drills. This was my first bit of "rolling" in quite a while so while I never did get a pass, I had a few shining moments in that black sea of frustration. On my go with Kemo I actually broke his guard, almost passed, got swept but kept him from establishing position, shot for a single, he took my back, I rolled him off and almost drove to side control before he was able to sweep me. All the while I could hear Fritz coaching me and that was awesome. Knowing he was watching and wanting me to achieve means a lot.
My other moment was with Iron Man. I got out of his guard and found myself in his spider, just as we had drilled. I knew he was expecting the Matador so I faked it and tried that Sakuraba style Cartwheel pass. I didn't quite make it and ended up right where I started but at least I got a good laugh from the sidelines. Ian was laughing his ass off and that made me laugh a bit too. I said "at least I tried it huh?". At that moment class was over and we did the cool down. Good times.
Bottom line, I am back in action. No chest pain to report on either Monday or last night. So I will keep charging on and getting better.BTW: I am so very, very, very sore today.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Slacker!!!
So I'm finally back in action and here I am not updating this blog. Shame on me. Perhaps I need more stuff to complain about in order to make me write. Or perhaps I have just been too darn busy letting life get in the way again. Or maybe, when I have time to write, I use it for catching up on rest instead.
Whatever the reason, here I am. Writing now and that is what matters. What do I have to say? Since my last post I have done quite a bit and some of it is even Jiu Jitsu related. Some of it is just the same ol' stuff, some of it is…..the MUNDIALS!!!
I know I have missed the appropriate window for reporting on the Mundials and by now everyone knows what I do, Roger is a cyborg. I attended both Saturday and Sunday during which time I ran around snapping photos for that friend to us all, Caleb from The Fightworks Podcast. Upon arrival he dispatched me with the still camera and Bruce with the video camera and off we went. Despite some technical difficulties, I was still able to get some great shots. One of my photos that made the website was the culmination of semi-strategic positioning and a whole bunch of luck. On Sunday Dr. Evil and I were sitting among the boisterous Alliance team and when Sergio Moraes beat "Finfou" and leapt up into the Alliance camp, froze time, and allowed me to snap this shot.
The photo appeared on the FWPC and I'm just glad that I was able to help Caleb out and give him a decent shot. Yes, that bald head at the bottom is Fabio Gurgel.
On Sunday morning there was also the chance to get together with Caleb and other members of The Mighty 600,000. We had a great time sitting around, talking Jiu Jitsu and pretty much expecting Roger to win it all, as he did. I am happy to announce that my good friend Dr. Evil was able to make it down. Here is a shot of us, with Caleb, at the coffee get together before Sunday's action.
Dr. Evil is the one on the left who looks like Dr. Evil, I'm in the center and Caleb is on the right. Good times guys, thanks a lot. Stay tuned, more Jiu Jitsu content to come. I'm finally back to the mats and anxious to make improvements and let everyone know how its going!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
All Tested for Now
Getting Testy:
The MRI is done, and it shows what we had feared. Damage. Permanent damage. Enough for the Neurologist to definitely classify at least one of the attacks I've had as a stroke rather than a simpler TIA. The Cat Scan I had pretty much said the same thing but the MRI shows the newly empty sections in glorious, cavernous detail. The good news is that the scan showed no signs of a clot, tumor or other unwanted bit of nastiness. In fact, my "right cerebellum is unremarkable", so there's that.
So, what this means. My neurologist is obviously concerned that I am not just suffering from Migraine Induced TIA as has been the assumption we have been running under since September 2006. His reasons for doubting that diagnosis now is because with Migraine TIA's, it happens predominantly in Women and there is no damage. Well, I am not a woman, and there is definitely some damage.
That is why he is having me see a Cardiologist. It will be up to the Cardio Doc, to rule out any circulatory issues (clots and such) as well as to look at the possibility of a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). A VSD is basically a problem with the tissue that divides the ventricles of the heart and because of the complications, can cause stroke.
The Cardio Doc, took about another gallon of blood to test for another billion conditions that can cause stroke. Then he performed an Echocardiogram and some ultrasounds of my Carotids and various other spots. Hopefully they find nothing, but at the same time I kind of hope someone finds something. I desperately want some answers.
I will see the Cardiologist again in about a week for all of his results and then the Neurologist again the following week. So, until then I'm supposed to be the patient patient, plod along and wait. One bit of good news I received from my neurologist the last time I saw him was regarding my arm. I asked him what the prognosis of getting normal function back and he said "your young enough, it should come back eventually". No time frame, no promise. But some hope.
I'll give them another couple of weeks before I hound them again with questions of beginning BJJ again. But I will not wait to begin trying to rebuild function in my arm. I saw my 8 year old niece last night and I had not realized how much strength I had lost until she asked me to pick her up when we were playing. It was terrible feeling like I was limited. I have to believe that working on this arm will help rebuild those damaged pathways.
UFC Fight Night:
So Dr. Evil and his son came over to watch the fights last night. It was good to see him. We have not spoken much since I've been out of the gym. We watched the fights, traded stories about the gym and even had a spontaneous light roll on the living room floor afterword. I suspect its always kind of like that isn't it. You get BJJ guys together and inevitably, somehow, a roll will begin for no good reason.
It was funny. And again, painfully obvious that my arm is junk in its current state. A big thanks to Dr. Evil (enough Doctors already) for giving me a couple minutes of BJJ during this ordeal. Thanks to everyone for their support.
The MRI is done, and it shows what we had feared. Damage. Permanent damage. Enough for the Neurologist to definitely classify at least one of the attacks I've had as a stroke rather than a simpler TIA. The Cat Scan I had pretty much said the same thing but the MRI shows the newly empty sections in glorious, cavernous detail. The good news is that the scan showed no signs of a clot, tumor or other unwanted bit of nastiness. In fact, my "right cerebellum is unremarkable", so there's that.
So, what this means. My neurologist is obviously concerned that I am not just suffering from Migraine Induced TIA as has been the assumption we have been running under since September 2006. His reasons for doubting that diagnosis now is because with Migraine TIA's, it happens predominantly in Women and there is no damage. Well, I am not a woman, and there is definitely some damage.
That is why he is having me see a Cardiologist. It will be up to the Cardio Doc, to rule out any circulatory issues (clots and such) as well as to look at the possibility of a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). A VSD is basically a problem with the tissue that divides the ventricles of the heart and because of the complications, can cause stroke.
The Cardio Doc, took about another gallon of blood to test for another billion conditions that can cause stroke. Then he performed an Echocardiogram and some ultrasounds of my Carotids and various other spots. Hopefully they find nothing, but at the same time I kind of hope someone finds something. I desperately want some answers.
I will see the Cardiologist again in about a week for all of his results and then the Neurologist again the following week. So, until then I'm supposed to be the patient patient, plod along and wait. One bit of good news I received from my neurologist the last time I saw him was regarding my arm. I asked him what the prognosis of getting normal function back and he said "your young enough, it should come back eventually". No time frame, no promise. But some hope.
I'll give them another couple of weeks before I hound them again with questions of beginning BJJ again. But I will not wait to begin trying to rebuild function in my arm. I saw my 8 year old niece last night and I had not realized how much strength I had lost until she asked me to pick her up when we were playing. It was terrible feeling like I was limited. I have to believe that working on this arm will help rebuild those damaged pathways.
UFC Fight Night:
So Dr. Evil and his son came over to watch the fights last night. It was good to see him. We have not spoken much since I've been out of the gym. We watched the fights, traded stories about the gym and even had a spontaneous light roll on the living room floor afterword. I suspect its always kind of like that isn't it. You get BJJ guys together and inevitably, somehow, a roll will begin for no good reason.
It was funny. And again, painfully obvious that my arm is junk in its current state. A big thanks to Dr. Evil (enough Doctors already) for giving me a couple minutes of BJJ during this ordeal. Thanks to everyone for their support.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Structured Saturday???
BJJ (1/10/2009 11:00AM)
So what was strange about this Saturday morning at the gym? Virtually everything, that's what. Normally when me and my fellow compatriots meet up for an hour or two of mat time, its the standard open mat format. But as I often say, the only constant is change.
To go along with the new year, the gym has now instituted a new schedule, which I am largely in favor of. It makes my life considerably easier. One thing that is very interesting is the addition of a Saturday morning (11:00AM) BJJ class. This class is then followed immediately by a nogi BJJ for MMA class at noon and then open mat begins at 1:00PM and runs thru three.
This is a drastic departure from the past schedule. You see, previously there was a 10:00 nogi class and then it was open mat afterward. That's it. Nothing else. Being one who has yet to feel comfortable enough yet in the gi to venture out of it for additional training, Saturdays to me were strictly for open mat. And that was fine. But now there was a choice. There is a gi class to partake in BEFORE the open mat, how perfect is that? So with a bit of gumption, Neil, Dr. Evil and I decided that we would meet up for that gi class, recover during the nogi portion and then hit the open mat. Sounds good right?
Warm-ups:
We began the warm-ups as normal felt like any other class. But once we passed the "easy" portion and hit the wall for the back and forth section, things got ugly. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, the work out just didn't stop. Whenever we thought we were on the last exercise, there was one more waiting. And each time Kazeka and Fritz along with a crowd of onlookers laughing at our obvious pain from just off the mats. It seemed to be a "lets see just how much we can give them" kind of day. That's good every now and then, I guess today was the now.
Drills:
Today's drills were focused on Knee-on-Belly (KOB for the rest of this post). We worked on getting to KOB from side control properly. We also worked on getting the right posture once KOB is obtained. I was drilling with Dr. Evil and Chris who is a yellow and white belt kid (I'd guess 12ish) with amazing skill. His dad is Matt, one of the gym's Blue Belts and a great guy. Chris takes the adult classes with us all the time and rolls with all of us despite being only 3/4 our size.
Once we worked thru properly getting to the KOB position we worked on an armbar that is predicated on your opponent attempting to defend. There was one thing I really liked about this move and a couple of things that bothered me. First off, its a great armbar. The angles are there and it's easy to transition to. I had difficulty smoothly sweeping around the back and kept stutter stepping, but that's easily corrected.
What I didn't like was the fact that it was a countering attack. I need more of those but I also need some more purely offensive moves. I suppose that I could dig in for it but it seems to defeat the purpose and would probably rush things and ruin it. The next move was a Kimura from the same set-up that comes about when the armbar fails because the opponent defends. Again, offense predicated on defense from an overwhelmingly offensive position, but hey its a slick move so I'll put it in my bag of tricks.
Rolling:
That was four rounds we did. Four, Five minute rounds. Since I work in finance I was able to do some calculations and I know that we rolled for 30 minutes!!! I know what your saying. Four times five is only twenty, how do you get to 30? Well, I'm sure that our gym is not the only one that forgets to look at the stopwatch while rolling. I know that it was 11:50 when we started and 12:20 when we ended, so somewhere in time ten extra minutes sank in. We certainly didn't rest for ten minutes.
Open Mat:
Yeah, that idea was out the widow. After the warm-up and the four rounds of sparring, we had nothing left. So, Saturday's might look a bit different from now on. Stay Tuned.
So what was strange about this Saturday morning at the gym? Virtually everything, that's what. Normally when me and my fellow compatriots meet up for an hour or two of mat time, its the standard open mat format. But as I often say, the only constant is change.
To go along with the new year, the gym has now instituted a new schedule, which I am largely in favor of. It makes my life considerably easier. One thing that is very interesting is the addition of a Saturday morning (11:00AM) BJJ class. This class is then followed immediately by a nogi BJJ for MMA class at noon and then open mat begins at 1:00PM and runs thru three.
This is a drastic departure from the past schedule. You see, previously there was a 10:00 nogi class and then it was open mat afterward. That's it. Nothing else. Being one who has yet to feel comfortable enough yet in the gi to venture out of it for additional training, Saturdays to me were strictly for open mat. And that was fine. But now there was a choice. There is a gi class to partake in BEFORE the open mat, how perfect is that? So with a bit of gumption, Neil, Dr. Evil and I decided that we would meet up for that gi class, recover during the nogi portion and then hit the open mat. Sounds good right?
Warm-ups:
We began the warm-ups as normal felt like any other class. But once we passed the "easy" portion and hit the wall for the back and forth section, things got ugly. We didn't do anything out of the ordinary, the work out just didn't stop. Whenever we thought we were on the last exercise, there was one more waiting. And each time Kazeka and Fritz along with a crowd of onlookers laughing at our obvious pain from just off the mats. It seemed to be a "lets see just how much we can give them" kind of day. That's good every now and then, I guess today was the now.
Drills:
Today's drills were focused on Knee-on-Belly (KOB for the rest of this post). We worked on getting to KOB from side control properly. We also worked on getting the right posture once KOB is obtained. I was drilling with Dr. Evil and Chris who is a yellow and white belt kid (I'd guess 12ish) with amazing skill. His dad is Matt, one of the gym's Blue Belts and a great guy. Chris takes the adult classes with us all the time and rolls with all of us despite being only 3/4 our size.
Once we worked thru properly getting to the KOB position we worked on an armbar that is predicated on your opponent attempting to defend. There was one thing I really liked about this move and a couple of things that bothered me. First off, its a great armbar. The angles are there and it's easy to transition to. I had difficulty smoothly sweeping around the back and kept stutter stepping, but that's easily corrected.
What I didn't like was the fact that it was a countering attack. I need more of those but I also need some more purely offensive moves. I suppose that I could dig in for it but it seems to defeat the purpose and would probably rush things and ruin it. The next move was a Kimura from the same set-up that comes about when the armbar fails because the opponent defends. Again, offense predicated on defense from an overwhelmingly offensive position, but hey its a slick move so I'll put it in my bag of tricks.
Rolling:
I started off against Dr. Evil. As always it was a great battle. One day I need to get one of our rolls on video. If nothing else it will shatter my image of what we look like for the reality of the situation. Insert image of toddlers fighting over cake here. We are always changing leads, barely missing submissions, escaping, gaining positions; just very evenly matched. Always a learning experience and always a lot of fun. Stalemate.
My next round was with Chris, yes the kid. There is a heap of stress. On one hand, you don't want to hurt the kid, your friends son. On the other hand you don't want to get owned by a little kid who doesn't weight 100 lbs. or isn't near legal shaving age yet. This kid is awesome. What he lacks in strength he makes up for in technique and skill. He's quick, has amazing hips and his BJJ mind is always going. I managed to pull off an armbar on him and I felt so lucky. He was formidable to say the least.
Next up was Alex. I hadn't seen him since the "My Epic Night" post. He's a great guy and like many of us, life had kept him out of the gym for a while for a while so its good to have him back. When I got him he was already wiped out. He told me that he had nothing left so I told him that I'd just pull guard because I could use some work from there anyway. Alex outweighs me by quite a bit, he's probably walking around at about 220 or so and I'm holding at 163. So I had a big, tired guy in my guard. I was working to push the pace but he really was tired and postured up. Eventually I went for a sit-up sweep, didn't get it because he has an awesome base, he pushed me back down so I hipped out and managed to catch the Oma Plata. He rolled out of it, I rolled with him, hit it again, caught his hips and finished it.
Fritz then said: CHANGE PARTNERS ONE MORE ROUND!!!
So, this guy named Mark who is also considerably larger than me basically called me out. He came crawling over, and picked me. Now, the last couple of times we've gone he's pretty much had my number. He's got size and strength to his advantage but he's also pretty skilled. We were all exhausted and it almost felt like he was coming to me for an easy ending to the day. That made me kind of mad. I was so happy to disappoint. I really went after it with him. Even though I had nothing left, I dug deeper and refused to give in. We traded positions and had a very EVEN match. I know that caught him off guard. When the match ended with me in his guard, standing and working for a pass, I knew that his opinion of me had changed.That was four rounds we did. Four, Five minute rounds. Since I work in finance I was able to do some calculations and I know that we rolled for 30 minutes!!! I know what your saying. Four times five is only twenty, how do you get to 30? Well, I'm sure that our gym is not the only one that forgets to look at the stopwatch while rolling. I know that it was 11:50 when we started and 12:20 when we ended, so somewhere in time ten extra minutes sank in. We certainly didn't rest for ten minutes.
Open Mat:
Yeah, that idea was out the widow. After the warm-up and the four rounds of sparring, we had nothing left. So, Saturday's might look a bit different from now on. Stay Tuned.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Keeping Consistent; Meeting Zeek
BJJ (1/7/09 6:00PM)
Tonight was a continuation of the Butterfly Guard sweep we worked on Monday night. Its funny how Kazeka can teach the same move in very different ways each time emphasising very different, yet important, things. Much of the way he taught the technique tonight was quite different from how he taught it on Monday, and for that matter how he taught it a couple of months ago.
Tonight he showed how getting to Butterfly resembles going for a scissor sweep. Or a failed scissor can be an opening for it. I got the point. He needed an example for folks to help illustrate the necessity of hip escaping in order to make space to get into proper position.
I was paired up with Dr. Evil, oddly, he had never seen this sweep nor had he seen anything from this guard. That is really funny. It shows how fickle BJJ schools can be at times. Not that I am in favor of a strict curriculum 100% of the time, but to reach Blue Belt without having seen something that I have seen twice since I have been there illustrates the hit or miss nature of instruction at some schools. It also demonstrates why consistency in attendance is so important.
Specific Drills:
We did the standard Passing / Defense of the guard. I started on the wall and my first opponent was Dr. Evil on his back. I was able to pass with a double under (first time ever I've used it). Kazeka gave the Doc a bit of a tongue lashing for allowing me to pass his guard. So I felt a bit bad for that but I felt good to have a pass.
My turn to defend ended almost as quickly as it began. I had some pretty decent hip movement but to no avail, I opened my guard began looking for opportunities but got too loose and gave up the pass. The rest of the drills saw me getting swept each time. I got caught in the sit-up sweep twice tonight. I should pull that one out and try it live more often, it seems to work for other people.
Rolling:
My only real roll tonight was with Dr. Evil. "Big" Mike wanted to roll but called me just after the Doc had so I gave him a rain check for another time. I like rolling with Mike because he is so big and so strong that I am forced to be quick and forced to use technique in order to just survive. The last time I rolled with him I had ah Epiphany about head and hip control and my scrambles have been exponentially better ever since.
The Dr. and I started from the knees. He began to pressure into me so I sloppily tried to pull him into a guillotine choke. He avoided perfectly and pressed into side control. I landed on my side, shrimped my hips out and managed to get to half-guard. Facing the outside. I immediately switched my hips, faced the inside and began to fight for grips while getting to the deep half guard.
He kept trying to flatten me out but I was able to persist in staying on my side, scooting my hips out and I got the under hook. At one point I actually realized that I was in the correct half-guard position!!! I had a deep under hook, I was blocking his other hand and there was nothing stopping me from taking his back. So I started to go. He sensed this as well and the scramble began. I was in a superior position and ended up in side control.
I mentioned before that side control is probably my best position. I was able to get there and get my shoulder pressure established but he was quick and got me to half guard, trapping my right leg. I increased the shoulder pressure while I worked to free my leg. During that time I snaked my left arm under his neck and was able to grab his opposite shoulder. I began to exert so much pressure that he eventually gave up the mount to get me out of side control. I already had the grip around the back of the neck I started to go for and became obsessed with the Ezekiel. Even though I had many other options in front of me, I was fixated on that Ezekiel. When I finally had it locked in, the Doc was finally able to upa me over after numerous attempts. And then the dreaded "TEMPO" was called.
All in all, a great roll for me. I felt really good about it. I still need to work on my guard passing and my mount retention though this time we held it for quite a while.
Tonight was a continuation of the Butterfly Guard sweep we worked on Monday night. Its funny how Kazeka can teach the same move in very different ways each time emphasising very different, yet important, things. Much of the way he taught the technique tonight was quite different from how he taught it on Monday, and for that matter how he taught it a couple of months ago.
Tonight he showed how getting to Butterfly resembles going for a scissor sweep. Or a failed scissor can be an opening for it. I got the point. He needed an example for folks to help illustrate the necessity of hip escaping in order to make space to get into proper position.
I was paired up with Dr. Evil, oddly, he had never seen this sweep nor had he seen anything from this guard. That is really funny. It shows how fickle BJJ schools can be at times. Not that I am in favor of a strict curriculum 100% of the time, but to reach Blue Belt without having seen something that I have seen twice since I have been there illustrates the hit or miss nature of instruction at some schools. It also demonstrates why consistency in attendance is so important.
Specific Drills:
We did the standard Passing / Defense of the guard. I started on the wall and my first opponent was Dr. Evil on his back. I was able to pass with a double under (first time ever I've used it). Kazeka gave the Doc a bit of a tongue lashing for allowing me to pass his guard. So I felt a bit bad for that but I felt good to have a pass.
My turn to defend ended almost as quickly as it began. I had some pretty decent hip movement but to no avail, I opened my guard began looking for opportunities but got too loose and gave up the pass. The rest of the drills saw me getting swept each time. I got caught in the sit-up sweep twice tonight. I should pull that one out and try it live more often, it seems to work for other people.
Rolling:
My only real roll tonight was with Dr. Evil. "Big" Mike wanted to roll but called me just after the Doc had so I gave him a rain check for another time. I like rolling with Mike because he is so big and so strong that I am forced to be quick and forced to use technique in order to just survive. The last time I rolled with him I had ah Epiphany about head and hip control and my scrambles have been exponentially better ever since.
The Dr. and I started from the knees. He began to pressure into me so I sloppily tried to pull him into a guillotine choke. He avoided perfectly and pressed into side control. I landed on my side, shrimped my hips out and managed to get to half-guard. Facing the outside. I immediately switched my hips, faced the inside and began to fight for grips while getting to the deep half guard.
He kept trying to flatten me out but I was able to persist in staying on my side, scooting my hips out and I got the under hook. At one point I actually realized that I was in the correct half-guard position!!! I had a deep under hook, I was blocking his other hand and there was nothing stopping me from taking his back. So I started to go. He sensed this as well and the scramble began. I was in a superior position and ended up in side control.
I mentioned before that side control is probably my best position. I was able to get there and get my shoulder pressure established but he was quick and got me to half guard, trapping my right leg. I increased the shoulder pressure while I worked to free my leg. During that time I snaked my left arm under his neck and was able to grab his opposite shoulder. I began to exert so much pressure that he eventually gave up the mount to get me out of side control. I already had the grip around the back of the neck I started to go for and became obsessed with the Ezekiel. Even though I had many other options in front of me, I was fixated on that Ezekiel. When I finally had it locked in, the Doc was finally able to upa me over after numerous attempts. And then the dreaded "TEMPO" was called.
All in all, a great roll for me. I felt really good about it. I still need to work on my guard passing and my mount retention though this time we held it for quite a while.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Good Morning Wrist Lock, Hello Oma Plata
Open Mat (1/3/2009 10:00am)
The Doc and I met up for Open Mat. Neil wasn't able to come because his wife is under the weather and in his words he's "playing Mr. Mom". Hopefully she doesn't read this, actually I could use the readership....Neil, sign her up.
Dr. Evil and I met up, did a ridiculously long warm-up and started in on technique drills. We did the same drill as described on 12/22/08.
Armbar/Armbar Defense to Side Control/ Side Control Escape to Takedown/ Side Control Escape to full Guard/ Repeat
We did this drill till we both got tired and our technique began to suffer. Then we moved on to another submission series flow drill from the guard.
Armbar
Back to Guard
Triangle
Back to Guard
Oma Plata
Repeat, attacking the other arm
While doing this we were having trouble rationalizing the way that we were setting up the triangle. It seemed like we were leaving way too big a hole to allow for an easy guard pass. We knew something was wrong. We made a mental note to ask Kazeka how we were messing it up. To keep going, I showed the Dr. a setup that I learned from the Ryan Hall triangle e-mails I've been getting wherein you set up almost like a scissor sweep, trapping an arm, but launch a triangle instead. So we incorporated that into the drill.
Again, we did this for quite a while until we began to break down in stamina and technique. Then we opted for a "light" roll. Amazingly, we kept it pretty light for once. We started from the knees and as always we are pretty evenly matched. Its strange. I can have so much trouble with non-experienced white belts but I hold my own with the Doc. Likewise, he can plow thru so many folks but he struggles with me and my lowly single stripe. Pretty strange, alternate universe kinda stuff.
The only tap was on our first roll when he got mount and I wasn't quite fast enough in escaping. He caught me in an Americana. I tapped mostly from gassing but he had a legitimate lock. The next roll went for like 10 minutes non-stop. Back and forth. I half-way got his back, he mounted, I escaped. A real see saw battle. We finally ended with me on top in side control fishing one hand into his lapel and wrapping the other around an arm. At which point he called TEMPO, and I agreed, even though I was the closest I had been all day to a good submission.
At the end Kazeka was at the side of the mat and we asked him to show us what we were doing wrong with the triangle, its now clear as day. Here was my one submission of the day. While we were showing Kazeka what we were doing wrong, he received a phone call so he was half watching us half talking on the phone. At which point, the Doc and I began to monkey around. He was in my guard and started trying to pass. I started breaking his posture, fishing for an arm, he resisted....and there it was. The perfect opportunity to pull off the wrist lock Kazeka had just taught us on New Years Eve. I locked it in and Dr. Evil Tapped. Kazeka started laughing, which made me laugh (didn't mean to) and he described what just happened to the person on the phone. It was my own little play by play.
Kazeka asked me "did you just use that wrist lock I showed you last week?", I told him I did and he was so amused. At least I finally did something good in front of him, the only bad thing was that it was at the Dr.'s expense. Needless to say I like this wrist lock. And doing those drills I also have formed a love of the Oma Plata. I half pulled one off in live rolling, got to the sweep any way, and I had one the other day. I'm going to have to play with that one a bit more regularly. I think I have good enough hip movement to make it work.
The Doc and I met up for Open Mat. Neil wasn't able to come because his wife is under the weather and in his words he's "playing Mr. Mom". Hopefully she doesn't read this, actually I could use the readership....Neil, sign her up.
Dr. Evil and I met up, did a ridiculously long warm-up and started in on technique drills. We did the same drill as described on 12/22/08.
Armbar/Armbar Defense to Side Control/ Side Control Escape to Takedown/ Side Control Escape to full Guard/ Repeat
We did this drill till we both got tired and our technique began to suffer. Then we moved on to another submission series flow drill from the guard.
Armbar
Back to Guard
Triangle
Back to Guard
Oma Plata
Repeat, attacking the other arm
While doing this we were having trouble rationalizing the way that we were setting up the triangle. It seemed like we were leaving way too big a hole to allow for an easy guard pass. We knew something was wrong. We made a mental note to ask Kazeka how we were messing it up. To keep going, I showed the Dr. a setup that I learned from the Ryan Hall triangle e-mails I've been getting wherein you set up almost like a scissor sweep, trapping an arm, but launch a triangle instead. So we incorporated that into the drill.
Again, we did this for quite a while until we began to break down in stamina and technique. Then we opted for a "light" roll. Amazingly, we kept it pretty light for once. We started from the knees and as always we are pretty evenly matched. Its strange. I can have so much trouble with non-experienced white belts but I hold my own with the Doc. Likewise, he can plow thru so many folks but he struggles with me and my lowly single stripe. Pretty strange, alternate universe kinda stuff.
The only tap was on our first roll when he got mount and I wasn't quite fast enough in escaping. He caught me in an Americana. I tapped mostly from gassing but he had a legitimate lock. The next roll went for like 10 minutes non-stop. Back and forth. I half-way got his back, he mounted, I escaped. A real see saw battle. We finally ended with me on top in side control fishing one hand into his lapel and wrapping the other around an arm. At which point he called TEMPO, and I agreed, even though I was the closest I had been all day to a good submission.
At the end Kazeka was at the side of the mat and we asked him to show us what we were doing wrong with the triangle, its now clear as day. Here was my one submission of the day. While we were showing Kazeka what we were doing wrong, he received a phone call so he was half watching us half talking on the phone. At which point, the Doc and I began to monkey around. He was in my guard and started trying to pass. I started breaking his posture, fishing for an arm, he resisted....and there it was. The perfect opportunity to pull off the wrist lock Kazeka had just taught us on New Years Eve. I locked it in and Dr. Evil Tapped. Kazeka started laughing, which made me laugh (didn't mean to) and he described what just happened to the person on the phone. It was my own little play by play.
Kazeka asked me "did you just use that wrist lock I showed you last week?", I told him I did and he was so amused. At least I finally did something good in front of him, the only bad thing was that it was at the Dr.'s expense. Needless to say I like this wrist lock. And doing those drills I also have formed a love of the Oma Plata. I half pulled one off in live rolling, got to the sweep any way, and I had one the other day. I'm going to have to play with that one a bit more regularly. I think I have good enough hip movement to make it work.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Thawed Out but Still Dripping
Open Mat (12/20/08 12:00pm)
Dr. Evil agreed to meet me for open mat today. I really needed it. Unfortunately Neil couldn't be there because he had to attend a funeral. Sorry buddy, I'm thinking about you.
The Doc was wiped out from no gi prior to open mat and I am still fighting off the remnants of this cold. The congestion is suffocating me and the runny nose is irritating so after a few minutes it feels like we've been working for hours. That put us on pretty even footing for the session.
My goal was to work on my sweeps from the guard. Specifically, countering when an opponent attempts to pass. We began by warming up and reviewing the basics: Scissor, Pendulum, Sit-up, and the Doc showed me one that he always catches me in which is a variation of the pendulum.
The drills went well, we were both a bit drained for our own reasons. Toward the end of the session I asked the doc to just start trying to pass me and I would work to attempt sweeps, retain guard or submit. Basically, I wanted to be able to put some of these techniques to use in a "live" environment. Surprisingly, it went very well. Even when I didn't get the sweep I was able to come out on top in the scrambles that ensued. I remembered the Kimura option when your opponent defends the sit-up by posting forward, and I actually pulled it off!
Dennis, a strong blue belt showed us a vicious choke to pull off starting from the knees, standing or in a scramble. I don't even know how to explain it, and no one had a name for it, but this thing was brutal. Basically it involves snatching the head, shooting your own head and arm under, rolling yourself and your opponent over and ending up with a heck of a choke that resembles a clock-choke. We worked on this for about 15 minutes or so, until we were both hurt in one way or another, then went back to sweeps.
We were probably going at 80% or so, not for lack of trying, he was exhausted and I congested. Hopefully by Monday, I'll have lungs as clear as my mind and a body as strong as my willpower. Hey, I was pretty sick, I have to hope for small advances.
I think my next post will focus on my "GOALS" for 2009. I don't make resolutions, I have a systematic method for goal setting, so look for that to come. I'll be counting on all of you to help keep me accountable for attaining them.
Dr. Evil agreed to meet me for open mat today. I really needed it. Unfortunately Neil couldn't be there because he had to attend a funeral. Sorry buddy, I'm thinking about you.
The Doc was wiped out from no gi prior to open mat and I am still fighting off the remnants of this cold. The congestion is suffocating me and the runny nose is irritating so after a few minutes it feels like we've been working for hours. That put us on pretty even footing for the session.
My goal was to work on my sweeps from the guard. Specifically, countering when an opponent attempts to pass. We began by warming up and reviewing the basics: Scissor, Pendulum, Sit-up, and the Doc showed me one that he always catches me in which is a variation of the pendulum.
The drills went well, we were both a bit drained for our own reasons. Toward the end of the session I asked the doc to just start trying to pass me and I would work to attempt sweeps, retain guard or submit. Basically, I wanted to be able to put some of these techniques to use in a "live" environment. Surprisingly, it went very well. Even when I didn't get the sweep I was able to come out on top in the scrambles that ensued. I remembered the Kimura option when your opponent defends the sit-up by posting forward, and I actually pulled it off!
Dennis, a strong blue belt showed us a vicious choke to pull off starting from the knees, standing or in a scramble. I don't even know how to explain it, and no one had a name for it, but this thing was brutal. Basically it involves snatching the head, shooting your own head and arm under, rolling yourself and your opponent over and ending up with a heck of a choke that resembles a clock-choke. We worked on this for about 15 minutes or so, until we were both hurt in one way or another, then went back to sweeps.
We were probably going at 80% or so, not for lack of trying, he was exhausted and I congested. Hopefully by Monday, I'll have lungs as clear as my mind and a body as strong as my willpower. Hey, I was pretty sick, I have to hope for small advances.
I think my next post will focus on my "GOALS" for 2009. I don't make resolutions, I have a systematic method for goal setting, so look for that to come. I'll be counting on all of you to help keep me accountable for attaining them.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Rolling with Metallica
OK, so this post isn't as epic as the teaser title sounds but hey it was a great time. Read on and somewhere toward the end I will try to weave some BJJ relevance into my story.
So at some point during the week, I get this text message from Dr. Evil which basically read "My kid wont be able to go to the Metallica concert with me on Friday night, do you want to go?". It took all of 45 seconds for that to process thru my internal mental computer.
Being a lifelong metalhead, its a shameful admission that I must make here to explain why this is such a big deal. I have never seen Metallica in concert before. I survived Jr. High and High School buried deeply in Master of Puppets and And Justice for All. Being a fan for so long and never seeing the band in concert when I live this close to LA is inexcusable. And today, while I have probably the most eclectic musical taste of anyone I know, I still consider myself a huge fan even after that dark time of disappointment called the 90's and early 0's in which the boys in the band gave us nothing worth listening to.
Now, how is this BJJ relevant? Why does it belong in my blog? Well, first off I think that of any this was a good reason to miss training on a Friday night. Secondly, how often do we really get to know the folks we roll with away from the mats? I know many of you out there might have a different experience than I do, but for me its pretty much; go to the gym, see the guys, catch up, roll, laugh a bit, go home....repeat.
Being able to hang out with a teammate outside of the gym was an interesting adventure. Interestingly, we only talked about BJJ for maybe a combined total of 15-20 minutes. Not too bad. Here's proof that BJJ can bring folks together with common interests and they don't have to only have BJJ to talk about.
One last note on relevance; what better to listen to when getting ready to train? Ok that might be a stretch, but hey the show was awesome. So thanks to the Doc, see you on the mats.
Here are the show Details:
Metallica
Citizens Business Bank Arena
Ontario, CA
Here's the set list (A good mix of old and new):
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Ride The Lightning
For Whom The Bell Tolls
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
Stone Cold Crazy
Whiplash
Seek and Destroy
So at some point during the week, I get this text message from Dr. Evil which basically read "My kid wont be able to go to the Metallica concert with me on Friday night, do you want to go?". It took all of 45 seconds for that to process thru my internal mental computer.
Being a lifelong metalhead, its a shameful admission that I must make here to explain why this is such a big deal. I have never seen Metallica in concert before. I survived Jr. High and High School buried deeply in Master of Puppets and And Justice for All. Being a fan for so long and never seeing the band in concert when I live this close to LA is inexcusable. And today, while I have probably the most eclectic musical taste of anyone I know, I still consider myself a huge fan even after that dark time of disappointment called the 90's and early 0's in which the boys in the band gave us nothing worth listening to.
Now, how is this BJJ relevant? Why does it belong in my blog? Well, first off I think that of any this was a good reason to miss training on a Friday night. Secondly, how often do we really get to know the folks we roll with away from the mats? I know many of you out there might have a different experience than I do, but for me its pretty much; go to the gym, see the guys, catch up, roll, laugh a bit, go home....repeat.
Being able to hang out with a teammate outside of the gym was an interesting adventure. Interestingly, we only talked about BJJ for maybe a combined total of 15-20 minutes. Not too bad. Here's proof that BJJ can bring folks together with common interests and they don't have to only have BJJ to talk about.
One last note on relevance; what better to listen to when getting ready to train? Ok that might be a stretch, but hey the show was awesome. So thanks to the Doc, see you on the mats.
Here are the show Details:
Metallica
Citizens Business Bank Arena
Ontario, CA
Here's the set list (A good mix of old and new):
That Was Just Your Life
The End Of The Line
Ride The Lightning
For Whom The Bell Tolls
One
Broken, Beat And Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
- - - - - - - -
Stone Cold Crazy
Whiplash
Seek and Destroy
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Good to be Home
BJJ (12/08/08 6:00pm)
So I hit the mats again last night after my substantial bit of time off as of late. It was good to be back in the mix again. The old saying, you don't know how much you miss something till its gone, always seems to hold true.
Its so funny, back in the early and mid 90's when I was heavily involved with Tae Kwon Do I used to believe, as I'm sure many do, that BJJ was a sport full of cocky, arrogant, disrespectful brutes who didn't deserve the title of martial artist. I know that this misperception is false at its core and is often perpetuated by those with a vested interest in the "traditional" martial arts.
Over my last year of training, I have come to find that the people I train with are by far the nicest, most humble, selfless and respectful folks I have ever dealt with in any sport. These people truly become a family. When I returned last night, there were so many warm welcomes and people asking "where you been?" after only a week or two; compare that to the times in TKD when I could miss months without anyone noticing, unless of course I missed a payment!
So, training started off as always, with one notable exception. Kazeka was leading class from the beginning. It has been a long while since I have had an entire class lead by him. Normally he'll have Fritz warm us up or take over some aspect of the class, but not this one.
Warm ups with Kazeka can either be extraordinarily brutal or feel almost easy. Last night was an almost easy feeling with some difficult movements added in. A lot of handstand walks and other balance oriented movements.
Drilling focused on defending chokes from the rear when your opponent has his hooks in. The first one dealt with taking advantage of that cardinal sin, when the opponent crosses his ankles. I have actually used this one before actually "learning" it. I didn't make my opponent tap, but it did allow me to reverse to his guard.
We then learned rolling your opponent onto their back, plant your head on the mat, work your shoulder into the choke to nullify it and defend their opportunity to take mount. I felt that once that shoulder was in between the choke, I had a wide open path to start an escape and was able to scramble to side control most of the time if not half guard.
Rolling was awesome. I went with the Doc first, we had a good back and forth, I got to his guard, he swept to mount, I swept to his guard, passed to half, in the scramble got his back, then he turned out, more scramble, he got my back, and stalemate till time was called.
Kazeka had me sit out the next round.
The last round I went against a brand new wrestler kid with three classes in. I went nice and easy, took him to his guard, passed to mount in seconds, let him upa me over to my guard (cause I wanted to work on my sweeps). I pulled off a pendulum first, got to mount, threatened the collar choke, let him escape again, next I did a scissor sweep, started working for an armbar, lost my own balance, in the scramble I just pulled guard, and actually pulled off a sit-up sweep. I’ve NEVER gotten that one before. I just never have the explosiveness or the timing. So big surprise.
Pretty good night. I’m a bit sore, needless to say, since I haven’t trained in weeks but it was good to be back on the mats with the mindset that I can do what I can do and I wont stress about how much or how little that might be this time of year.
So I hit the mats again last night after my substantial bit of time off as of late. It was good to be back in the mix again. The old saying, you don't know how much you miss something till its gone, always seems to hold true.
Its so funny, back in the early and mid 90's when I was heavily involved with Tae Kwon Do I used to believe, as I'm sure many do, that BJJ was a sport full of cocky, arrogant, disrespectful brutes who didn't deserve the title of martial artist. I know that this misperception is false at its core and is often perpetuated by those with a vested interest in the "traditional" martial arts.
Over my last year of training, I have come to find that the people I train with are by far the nicest, most humble, selfless and respectful folks I have ever dealt with in any sport. These people truly become a family. When I returned last night, there were so many warm welcomes and people asking "where you been?" after only a week or two; compare that to the times in TKD when I could miss months without anyone noticing, unless of course I missed a payment!
So, training started off as always, with one notable exception. Kazeka was leading class from the beginning. It has been a long while since I have had an entire class lead by him. Normally he'll have Fritz warm us up or take over some aspect of the class, but not this one.
Warm ups with Kazeka can either be extraordinarily brutal or feel almost easy. Last night was an almost easy feeling with some difficult movements added in. A lot of handstand walks and other balance oriented movements.
Drilling focused on defending chokes from the rear when your opponent has his hooks in. The first one dealt with taking advantage of that cardinal sin, when the opponent crosses his ankles. I have actually used this one before actually "learning" it. I didn't make my opponent tap, but it did allow me to reverse to his guard.
We then learned rolling your opponent onto their back, plant your head on the mat, work your shoulder into the choke to nullify it and defend their opportunity to take mount. I felt that once that shoulder was in between the choke, I had a wide open path to start an escape and was able to scramble to side control most of the time if not half guard.
Rolling was awesome. I went with the Doc first, we had a good back and forth, I got to his guard, he swept to mount, I swept to his guard, passed to half, in the scramble got his back, then he turned out, more scramble, he got my back, and stalemate till time was called.
Kazeka had me sit out the next round.
The last round I went against a brand new wrestler kid with three classes in. I went nice and easy, took him to his guard, passed to mount in seconds, let him upa me over to my guard (cause I wanted to work on my sweeps). I pulled off a pendulum first, got to mount, threatened the collar choke, let him escape again, next I did a scissor sweep, started working for an armbar, lost my own balance, in the scramble I just pulled guard, and actually pulled off a sit-up sweep. I’ve NEVER gotten that one before. I just never have the explosiveness or the timing. So big surprise.
Pretty good night. I’m a bit sore, needless to say, since I haven’t trained in weeks but it was good to be back on the mats with the mindset that I can do what I can do and I wont stress about how much or how little that might be this time of year.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Stuffed with Turkey; Starving for Jits
The Best Laid Plans of Men....and Turkeys
Last week was a challenging one to say the least. Between the news from my neurologist and the hectic pace at work we had to keep up in order to ensure a holiday could in fact take place, no training at all was able to commence. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is problematic as my general mood and my subsequent performance upon returning suffer.
Luckily, my co-worker and open mat partner Neil told me that he heard open mat would go on as scheduled in spite of the holidays. At least that's what the guys behind the desk had told him. But we'll get to that. So after copious amounts of Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos and all the other good stuff that comes with good ol' American style Thanksgiving, it was good to have a light bit of rolling on Saturday to look forward to.
After texting back and forth Neil, Dr. Evil and I were all committed and eager to attend Open Mat. Side note: what's the deal with texting? I understand chicks do it, and I can only assume its because they really don't want to talk to each other. But when guys use it, even though I'm guilty at times, I just don't get it. At least there's no, LOL, TTFN and all that garbage. With my friends the only acronym we use is MPH, when we're bailing from training.
So I arrive at the gym about ten minutes early. I decided to sit in the truck, listen to the radio, finish my coffee and wait for Neil and the Doc to show up. As I sat there, I received a text from the doc which basically said "MPH" and he's not showing. That's cool, we've all been there, at least Neil's coming.
He showed up and we headed inside. The front of the gym was dark. Light and banging noise greeted us from deep in the back. We pensively walked in foot by foot, then Angel emerged no doubt surprised to see us. "Dudes, were closed today" he said. Neil, immediately said "But Tom said...."; and Tom overhearing this reacted with...."Yeah, I was misinformed" , which in Tom speak means "Sorry guys, my mistake, I hope I didn't inconvenience you too much".
So we left. Walking past the wide, open, mats; longing to be rolled upon. Outside we stood. Still suffering from tryptophan poisoning, yet feeling dejected. Sure, we could have left there and sought other ways to work out, but of course that didn't happen. There is always the next week to conquer!
***Side Note***
Went to see "Four Christmases" this weekend. Besides being rather unfunny, it calls MMA "Human Cockfighting" two or three times and the portrayal of the redneck fighter (the normally funny Jon Favreau) would have been better served by actually performing a Triangle rather than the absurd maneuver he applies in the film. Come on Hollywood, do better.
Last week was a challenging one to say the least. Between the news from my neurologist and the hectic pace at work we had to keep up in order to ensure a holiday could in fact take place, no training at all was able to commence. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is problematic as my general mood and my subsequent performance upon returning suffer.
Luckily, my co-worker and open mat partner Neil told me that he heard open mat would go on as scheduled in spite of the holidays. At least that's what the guys behind the desk had told him. But we'll get to that. So after copious amounts of Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos and all the other good stuff that comes with good ol' American style Thanksgiving, it was good to have a light bit of rolling on Saturday to look forward to.
After texting back and forth Neil, Dr. Evil and I were all committed and eager to attend Open Mat. Side note: what's the deal with texting? I understand chicks do it, and I can only assume its because they really don't want to talk to each other. But when guys use it, even though I'm guilty at times, I just don't get it. At least there's no, LOL, TTFN and all that garbage. With my friends the only acronym we use is MPH, when we're bailing from training.
So I arrive at the gym about ten minutes early. I decided to sit in the truck, listen to the radio, finish my coffee and wait for Neil and the Doc to show up. As I sat there, I received a text from the doc which basically said "MPH" and he's not showing. That's cool, we've all been there, at least Neil's coming.
He showed up and we headed inside. The front of the gym was dark. Light and banging noise greeted us from deep in the back. We pensively walked in foot by foot, then Angel emerged no doubt surprised to see us. "Dudes, were closed today" he said. Neil, immediately said "But Tom said...."; and Tom overhearing this reacted with...."Yeah, I was misinformed" , which in Tom speak means "Sorry guys, my mistake, I hope I didn't inconvenience you too much".
So we left. Walking past the wide, open, mats; longing to be rolled upon. Outside we stood. Still suffering from tryptophan poisoning, yet feeling dejected. Sure, we could have left there and sought other ways to work out, but of course that didn't happen. There is always the next week to conquer!
***Side Note***
Went to see "Four Christmases" this weekend. Besides being rather unfunny, it calls MMA "Human Cockfighting" two or three times and the portrayal of the redneck fighter (the normally funny Jon Favreau) would have been better served by actually performing a Triangle rather than the absurd maneuver he applies in the film. Come on Hollywood, do better.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Self Control
Open Mat (11/8/08)
I've mentioned before about how rolling with Dr. Evil brings out the best in me for some reason. Well, I've noticed that this is a good thing and a bad thing.
During the open mat session I described below a similar phenomenon occurred that tends to arise when the Doc and I train together. Even when drilling a technique, if one of us is feeling too much space or an opportunity to escape, we'll take it. We both learn this way. The person executing the technique learns what they are doing wrong and where to tighten up and the escapee, learns how to keep their wits about them and look for opportunities.
Now on its face, this is just fine. But the Dr. and I don't stop there. We tend to let that escape move to a counter then another, then another and so on. Next thing you know its a full blown roll. All the while, this could be happening when neither of us are wearing mouthguards, because we are only drilling technique and not rolling.
The funny thing is, the Doc and I are probably two of the least aggressive guys in the gym. We don't go after each other with aggression, we both acknowledge that we bring out the best technique in each other. We just need to learn to control that excitement and keep it from growing to a crescendo like we do now. Its rare to find a really good training partner who is like minded, so self control is so much more important when you do.
We left that mat on Saturday, we were both bleeding from one or two places. I had a bruised cheekbone from an inadvertent punch in the face (he was reaching for the lapel and MMA instinct took over). Walking out of the gym we were both smiling saying "thanks so much for coming today, I wasn't going to come if you didn't". What other sport in the world can make you look forward to that?
I've mentioned before about how rolling with Dr. Evil brings out the best in me for some reason. Well, I've noticed that this is a good thing and a bad thing.
During the open mat session I described below a similar phenomenon occurred that tends to arise when the Doc and I train together. Even when drilling a technique, if one of us is feeling too much space or an opportunity to escape, we'll take it. We both learn this way. The person executing the technique learns what they are doing wrong and where to tighten up and the escapee, learns how to keep their wits about them and look for opportunities.
Now on its face, this is just fine. But the Dr. and I don't stop there. We tend to let that escape move to a counter then another, then another and so on. Next thing you know its a full blown roll. All the while, this could be happening when neither of us are wearing mouthguards, because we are only drilling technique and not rolling.
The funny thing is, the Doc and I are probably two of the least aggressive guys in the gym. We don't go after each other with aggression, we both acknowledge that we bring out the best technique in each other. We just need to learn to control that excitement and keep it from growing to a crescendo like we do now. Its rare to find a really good training partner who is like minded, so self control is so much more important when you do.
We left that mat on Saturday, we were both bleeding from one or two places. I had a bruised cheekbone from an inadvertent punch in the face (he was reaching for the lapel and MMA instinct took over). Walking out of the gym we were both smiling saying "thanks so much for coming today, I wasn't going to come if you didn't". What other sport in the world can make you look forward to that?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Open Mat, Open Mind
Open Mat (10/25/08 12:00pm)
We had a good session. I was able to show Neil some sweeps I know and that helped me to understand them better myself. We worked a little from every position and just sharpened skills in general. The Dr. showed us an armbar transition for when the scissor sweep fails that was pretty nifty.
After a full week of e-mailing back and forth Neil, Dr. Evil, and I met up at the open mat session on Saturday. We all had things we wanted to work on and it is just nice t0 be able to train with guys that you know you like and who are willing to help you learn.
I always enjoy training with Dr. Evil, for some reason he and I always seem pretty well matched, even though he ends up winning. Since Neil attends the 6:00am class I never have gotten to attend a class with him so it was great to be able to train with him too.
We had a good session. I was able to show Neil some sweeps I know and that helped me to understand them better myself. We worked a little from every position and just sharpened skills in general. The Dr. showed us an armbar transition for when the scissor sweep fails that was pretty nifty.
Saturdays just feel very different than normal days. Much more relaxed. I feel like I learn more in a setting like that than I do in a normal class in some ways.
This Saturday the guys from Unbreakable Mouthpieces were at the gym taking dental impressions for their professional mouthguards. They were offering a discount for all of the students at KnuckleUp. Since I've already had a minor tooth chip and gone through the hassle of getting it fixed I figured that it might be a good idea. The only downside was that it took away from some of my open mat time.
This Saturday the guys from Unbreakable Mouthpieces were at the gym taking dental impressions for their professional mouthguards. They were offering a discount for all of the students at KnuckleUp. Since I've already had a minor tooth chip and gone through the hassle of getting it fixed I figured that it might be a good idea. The only downside was that it took away from some of my open mat time.
On the extremely cool side, these are custom, pro-grade mouthguards which means they can put any kind of design on them. Of course I chose the Fleur-de-lis and my last name to celebrate my heritage! When I was trying to tell the guys what I wanted, they were confused and one of them finally said "oh...the St. Pierre symbol".....um yeah, that's it.
Here's their website:
Here is my draft design:
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