First Real Rolls Since My Last Stroke

(8/4/09 5:00pm) Fitness Kickboxing
(8/4/09 6:00pm) BJJ

That's right, another double. Another chance to prove to myself that I am getting better by the day. Another chance to put the memories of strokes and heart problems far behind. Don't get me wrong, I will never forget those things, I wont forget that they helped shape me into who I am today. But I need to move on from them, find out who I am now without them and whenever I can, help others struggling with the same problems.

Kickboxing was the normal, @$$ kicking good time. I actually felt really good all they way thru and at the end was confident that I could press on to BJJ and do well. I ran to the back, changed into my gi and hit the BJJ warm-ups just after they started. I powered thru them the best I could though my body was still a wreck from Kickboxing.

The drills we did focused on sweeps when your opponent is standing to pass your guard. We did quite a few good ones including one that sends the guy flying overhead and allows you to roll to mount. I have done this one before but it was the first time I had "learned" it. It was good to see what I did right and more importantly what I did wrong.

This was my first session of real rolling. Not limiting myself, not holding back. It was awesome. First I went against George who is a good 3 or 4 stripe white belt. He is about my same size. We had a back and forth battle with no submissions. We traded good position a number of times and when we ended I was actually in mount. Not too bad for a first roll back.

Next I went against Sarge. He always owns me. 4 stripes and a lot of strength. I only got tapped a few times and I was actually able to sweep a couple of times. So again for me, this soon back, that's a win.

The last roll was with a newer guy whose name I don't remember. He is very tall and luckily for me very easy to take down and control. I was able to shoot in for singles and doubles at will and get to side control right away. The times I landed in half guard I just used shoulder pressure to his jaw to open up the pass to mount. I don't want to go over each and every short roll so I'll just list what I caught him in.

• Americana
• Ezekiel
• Ezekiel
• Armbar
• Americana
• Ezekiel

I'm pretty sure that's it. It was a great session to have my first real roll since being back. The really cool thing was that I had to wait for him to catch his breath between rolls. That made me feel like I am making progress.

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.

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.

Post-Christmas Jits

Open Mat (12/27/08 10:00am)

Neil and I met up for open mat on Saturday. The gym has limited hours during these holiday times so we decided to take advantage while we can. There were no normal classes on Saturday (i.e. No gi, Fitness Kickboxing) but instead open mat ran from 9:00am to 1:00pm. That's pretty awesome. Actually, I wish the open mat time was like that every week. I find that time invaluable because I really learn a lot in that environment.

Neil had said that he had wanted to learn from me so, that was interesting. Particularly because at times I feel like I don't really know anything!!! But as it turns out I had plenty of things to show him. He wanted to work primarily on sweeps from guard and on some side control escapes. Both of those are things that I always want to work on because of how practical and necessary they are.

We went over the pendulum sweep; he got that one down pretty well quickly. We also did the normal scissor sweep and thanks to my new Jiu Jitsu University book (Thank you Saulo Ribeiro) we worked on a nifty sweep from the guard that makes it easy to take your opponent's back. I love that book. It doesn't teach anything new and flashy but it sure puts the polish and perspective one things.

We reviewed different side control escapes and I helped him work on his phobia of being trapped in side control. This was good for both of us. I have always had a really strong side control so working with someone who is really wanting to learn to escape was beneficial for me in terms of positional awareness when I get it. Also, who doesn't hate being in side control? It sucks. So why not work on getting out of it whenever you can.

We did take some time and I taught Neil that choke the Doctor and I learned from Dennis during the last open mat. I was actually pulling it off pretty well this time. I like it now and I think I will be using it during rolling as situations arise.

We finished the session off with some specific drilling. Starting from guard, the other would try to pass while we would attempt to sweep, submit, retain guard or just survive. It went well. Neil did an awesome job. He tried out a nifty choke from inside my closed guard that worked surprisingly well, so we'll try that out some more and report back later.

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.

Visualized Triangle Choke!

BJJ (11/3/2008 6:00pm)

One of the major issues I have been working thru is my mat anxiety. I love to roll, I love learning things, even when I’m getting my butt kicked and I don’t do anything right. When I’m going I’m willing to keep going until I’ll puke. My problem is that I have such anxiety about rolling beforehand. I’ll get nervous all day worrying about it to the point that when it comes, I get stuck in my head and I know it limits my performance.

I have been using many tools common in sports psychology to help me to overcome this problem. Today, rather than fixate on the prospect of free rolling and the potential to get dominated I set my mind to focus on a specific goal and an overall strategy instead.

During last week's open mat session, I tried a triangle set-up that seemed to work pretty well for me. I decided that I would make it a goal to at least attempt this same triangle in a "live" situation. I also committed to focus on a strategy of working on my guard game, focusing on sharpening my sweeps, hip movement and opponent posture control. Every time my mind started to wander into that obsessive and nervous place I pulled it back and focused on my strategy and goal for the night instead.

Drills:

We drilled half guard sweeps and I can finally say that I am starting to become a bit more comfortable in half guard. I am able to really crunch into a tight ball so I find that I can be pretty elusive and hard to deal with in that position.

Rolling:

We did round robin Pass / Sweep or Submit drills. To my delight, Fritz called me to start on my back, which never happens. As luck would have it, Dr. Evil was my first opponent. Instead of being nervous like normal, I was focused on executing the strategy and obtaining the goal that I had set earlier in the day.

As soon as we started I executed my game plan and set-up the triangle as I had seen in my head. Before I knew it I had it locked in and was using my left hand to break the Doc's base. During the scramble, I was able to use the triangle as a sweep and finish from the mount. This was not just a victory on the mat but a victory in my own mind.

Don't worry about the Dr., he got his revenge a couple of rounds later by sweeping me like I was a bag of feathers making me look like I had no guard passing skills whatsoever!

My Epic Night

BJJ (10/13/08 6:00pm)

It was like a lightning strike, or perhaps something more special. A singular shining moment in which the grappler I know I can be finally started to peek out through the one that I am. This was a night that made me almost want to hang up my belt, though it is white with only one stripe, because I felt like it will probably be a very long time, if ever, till I have another like it.

It was October 13 2008. I had not been able to train as much as I would like to because of work (hence the new blog) and because on September 19, my Father-in-Law passed away. My wife had served for the past couple of years as his primary care giver, and they had grown closer than ever in that time. I like to think that my success in training this night was due to my dedicating it to him. Before I took the mat that night I was thinking of him because this was my first time back since his passing. So silently I said “This one’s for you Al”

That night, I had the best night of my BJJ career to date. Below is the list of everything I pulled off:

Sweeps:

Scissor sweep
Pendulum sweep
Double ankle grab sweep
Oma plata sweep
Arm bar to sweep

And now for the submissions:

Armbar
Arm triangle
Triangle Choke!
Kimoura
Americana
Gi Choke from Mount
Rear Naked Choke!

It was awesome. All that and I didn't even feel that good. Being in my 30’s and a pencil pusher who doesn’t get to train nearly enough, any time away from the gym takes its toll when I get back on the mats. I hardly ever pull of a submission and these were not against chumps, these were against good guys that I train with all the time. And as far as sweeps go forget it; I never even go for sweeps. I actually played offense and had a good ol' time. I like to think that my epic night was my father-in-law’s way of thanking me and saying goodbye. Thanks Al, I miss you.