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.

S-A-T-U-R-D-AY Jits

(7/25/09 11:00am) BJJ
(7/25/09 12:00pm) Open Mat

It’s been quite a while since I have attended a Saturday session. These are typically more laid back (even by BJJ standards) and consist of a lot of rolling. Since I was not quite to the ready to roll stage, I relied on the fact there was a new guy there who I could coach during the session.

Josh was heading up class on this Saturday morning, it’s a first time I have been in a class that he has led. Its funny when I think of the fact that I was a student at the gym before he was and now he is teaching me. I guess that really illustrates all of the time I have had to be away from the mats due to my various head/heart/health problems. He got his blue belt while I was gone and has really grown into it. Its funny, but I have zero resentment and nothing but pride for what he has done.

The familiarity that Josh has with all of us lead to an even more relaxed Saturday class. We did a normal warm up and then we drilled the basics. Which I’ve said before and wait for it……I’m saying it again….I love drilling the basics. That is where Jiu-Jitsu lives. In the basics. We drilled:

• Armbar from the guard
• Triangle from the guard
• Triangle from failed Armbar
• And a bit o’ Omoplata

I worked with the brand new guy, who was considerably larger than I am (as is typical). We drilled the positions while I taught him all kinds of other tidbits at the same time. It was frustrating in that his base kept collapsing while we were drilling so I had to improvise; but it was good because his base kept collapsing so I had to improvise.

After our drills we did a bit of king of the mat with a twist. The guy out on the mat, on his back; the others would try to pass while he tried to sweep or submit. The twist was that win or lose the guy stayed out there for 5 or 3 minutes. I love this kind of drilling.
I had a few good passes and I had both a sweep and a submission so very successful day for me.

Open Mat

During the open mat session I worked with the new guy a bit more and then got schooled by Jerry on Spider Guard. Luckily while I was getting schooled I was getting schooled. He taught me quite a bit I was doing wrong. I worked spider guard on John immediately after and pulled off a beautiful sweep. I do so enjoy learning during open mat. I can’t wait to get to more of them. Unfortunately I have a class for work this weekend so I will have to wait till the next.

Third Time's the Darce

BJJ (6/17/2009 6:00pm)

Back on the mats again. Tonight was my third night back since returning from my surgery and that whole ordeal. I felt terrific. I survived the warm-ups with only the jumping push-ups being passed over.

Drills tonight revolved around learning the Darce choke. I have seen this one performed many a time but this was my first opportunity to learn it. After a bit of awkward fumbling my training partner for the night and I started to get it down pretty well.

When it came time to roll, I stuck to the plan and started to sit out. It wasn't until one of the other guys got hurt that I started. I got the left-behind partner of the guy who had to limp off the mats, told him I can't really roll but I can work technique. He said he wanted to work on guard passes, so that is how we started. My Guard Was Awesome tonight. Probably one of the best guard nights ever. Not only was I happy to be doing well, I was also glad that I was able to help this other guy with something he needed to improve.

I swept a few times, didn't really go for submissions because I was trying to help him learn. I was able to control his grips and posture, off-balance him at will, and just generally look like I knew what I was doing. Good night.

Next I rolled at "50%" with Kim. He has always been tough for me. He was going immediately to spider guard, which always gives me trouble, but I did well. Twice I was able to pass, and as in the earlier session my guard was solid. I didn't submit, but I did not get submitted either.

For my third night back, pretty awesome. I am just taking it a day at a time, knowing that it is a journey.

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.

Normality Creeping Back

BJJ (1/5/09 6:00PM)

So tonight was the first night of class after a full work day in this new year. Back to normality. While I really enjoyed being able to go to the 9:00 am classes during the holiday break from work I did miss the camaraderie of the normal group of guys at the nightly 6:00 pm class. Again, BJJ forms much more of a family family atmosphere than any other sport.

Tonight we worked on a butterfly guard sweep. The one and only other time I have learned anything about butterfly guard in class it was this very sweep. At least this time it felt a lot better. I was getting my movement down a lot crisper and was able to get to the butterfly position without too much hassle.

The last time I drilled this technique I was paired up the "Big" Mike, the name doesn't apply any longer because he's been on a BJJ and Fitness kickboxing diet and has dropped a substantial amount of weight. This time I chose someone much taller than I (not hard to do) and went with Bill. I figured that it would be good for both of us to have very different body types to adapt to...and it was.

The drills went great. I felt good, my sweeps were crisp and we were both using leverage and NOT strength. At one point Kazeka made us not trap the sweepee's arm in order to allow them to post so that we could see that the technique works, even if they try to defend. The awkward part of that is knowing what to do with your own hand. Once I grabbed his lapel I was good to go and sweeping thru his defense like a Janitor thru Time Square confetti on New Years Day.

Rolling:

We started off by doing Guard Pass / Submit or Sweep drills with a twist. The guy on bottom had to start with one hand tied up in his belt. The point being obviously to use the hips more. I started off on top against "Not-so-Big" Mike; yeah not the same...back to "Big" Mike. He still has unbelievable gorilla strength after all. Anyway, I stood up in his guard and was pressuring his hip to make him open up when he released a "chemical weapon", embarrassed he chuckled, which made me chuckle but then spurned me on to pass his guard rather rapidly.

I then went on to have my guard passed just before the two minute time limit, by Brandon (who got a stripe tonight...congrats!).

I had a great time trying to pass Jerry's (who also got a stripe...congrats!). He worked everyone over. He is masterful at spider guard in regular rolling but even one handed, he's a phenom. I want to work on my game and get it there. He got me in an Oma Plata, I rolled, he rolled, caught me and finished. Just awesome.

We then did two rounds of rolling to finish the night. I went against "Sarge" (Ruben) to start, he always gets my back right off the back, and did again. I turned over into his mount, Upa'd out but left an arm too exposed and gave him an Armbar appetizer to start the night.

Next we started off, and went for much more of a see saw, and when it finally finished I had worked into his guard. That is a win against "Sarge" any time. He just got another stripe the other day and should be getting his Blue very soon. And deservedly so.

I went with Bill next. I'm 5'7" and Bill is 6' a lot with long legs. As soon as we started he pulled guard. As I posture up, he's able to break my posture down. I began to realize something as he did this. As much as I want to improve my guard game, I really NEED TO WORK ON MY GUARD PASSING. Perhaps I need to add that to my list of goals of 2009. Consider this an addendum. Especially because he was able to break me down, latch onto and isolate my right arm and basic armbar me. Tap.

Next we start again, de ja freakin vu, he pulls guard again. Starts to go for the armbar again. Luckily I am able to start defending right away. I get my arm tight to me, put my other hand to his thigh, start to stack, get him over to his side and pass. Finally, I am in side control. I start to put some tremendous shoulder pressure down while faining a pass to mount. All the while I am setting him up for either an Americana or wristlock on the far side. He started to push into my hip with his hand underneath me and I felt the opportunity to go for the wristlock there, just as I went for it Kazeka called time. So close yet so far. At least I had a few places to go.

I was better able to relax tonight. Hopefully I can keep it up and the stress of normal life doesn't become a cumulative thing that builds up and inhibits performance / learning.