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.

Double your Pleasure.....Double your Pain

(7/20/09 5:00pm 101 Degrees) Fitness Kickboxing
(7/20/09 6:00pm 101 Degrees) BJJ

I’m trying to be very cognizant of how my body is handling training and I don’t want to start over training but I did the double again last night and actually felt pretty good. I figure that I’ll do this a couple of times a week, but not every session.

When I pulled up to the gym, our giant garage door that is right behind the cage was wide open. That was not a good omen. I knew in my heart that the door being open like that meant that it was so hot in the building and the air conditioning was so inadequate that they had to open up the door. This should be fun.

I changed into my shorts and rash guard which I topped off with my newly acquired “10 Things you should know about Chuck Norris” T-shirt. I headed out to the mats took a seat behind the heavy bags and began wrapping my hands. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll say it again; I love that little moment of Zen, taking a few moments to relax and focus on getting myself ready for what is to come.

On this particular day Josh was leading our class. Josh is a very young guy who just made his professional MMA debut in a bout in Mexico over the weekend. He lost his match but considering he had 5 hours notice, I say he’s pretty game for stepping up and taking it. I’ll post more on his fight as I get details.

I remember when Josh joined the gym, he has come a very long way since. His pacing of the class and the way he switches between cardio and strength exercises is fantastic. It is amazing how much better I felt today. I felt stronger and like I could go for a much longer time than before. I suffered much less MPH in this session than in the two last week. Even now, a day later, I am feeling pretty good. Only a bit of soreness persists.

It is incredible how vertical my recovery curve has been. I am waiting for the bubble to burst when I hit the inevitable plateau and stop making quick gains. But for the moment I’ll keep on enjoying the feeling of getting in shape rather quickly. I was a heaping mass of pathetic mess at the end of the session but it was a smaller heap than the more recent sessions.

BJJ

Right after we concluded I went back into the locker-room and changed into my gi. Thank god this time I packed my new Koral light weight, last week when I did the double I was wearing my Gameness Pearl; world of difference. I took a few moments to wipe all the excess sweat off, get hydrated and then I headed to the mats.

Like last time, the warm-ups were almost to the half-way point. I joined in and was pretty mediocre. I didn’t have much juice left after the conditioning session and I didn’t want to fail pathetically during training so I took it a bit easy.

Fritz hurt his back earlier in the day so he turned the class over to Will, a 4 stripe blue belt who recently joined us from AV Jiu Jitsu. I’ve met Will a few times but this was the first time I had actually been in a class with him.

We started with a few mount escapes. The first was an upa to break their posture which allows you to grab an arm and pull off the basic, first night, upa escape. The second was an upa to create space so that you can turn immediately onto your side, get your elbow in-between his knee and you and use that to get to half guard.

Then we worked on some half guard sweeps. We did the old school wherein you get to half guard, sink yourself very deep, grab their foot, switch up your legs and drive to your knees. I have not done that particular escape in a very long time and I am happy to report that it sunk in much better this time and I actually almost pulled it off in rolling, more on that in a minute.

We worked on another sweep that you pull off if they whizzer your underhook. Instead of reaching for the toe, you shoot your hand thru the gap between their thigh and calf, unlock your guard, and shift your hips under theirs. This sweep, when done right, is very easy and the 235 pound guy I was working with felt like a feather pillow when I got my hips right.

When it came time to roll, knowing that I am nearing the end of my medication run and that I have been feeling better, I decided to test the waters and see how I was doing. I started a light roll with the same guy with whom I was drilling. I’m sitting at 175 right now and he’s the aforementioned 235, so I gave up a good 60 pounds. Still, I did pretty darn well. We started from my guard a couple of times and I put up a pretty good fight for the shape I’m in. We also started from the knees a couple of times. I tapped to an armbar once and to pure exhaustion another time.

I changed partners after two sessions and rolled with a new guy whose name I can’t remember. He’s a really nice guy, about my weight and a lot taller. We started from my guard and I did very well. I got an omoplata sweep and I also locked in a triangle at one point. My legs were so wasted from the conditioning class that I could not manage to finish it. I had it locked up but I had no strength to squeeze. I count that as a success though. Like I said, I’m getting better every day.

One thing that I think is pretty funny; I think my game has improved since I have been out. Physically I am still a wreck but my movement is better (when I can move) and my understanding has increased. I am really looking forward to getting in better shape and seeing how that translates to overall improvement. If I can translate this new understanding into action with a body that cooperates, I’m very optimistic.

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.

Goals for 2009

Goal Setting (1/2/2009)

I'm not one for waxing nostalgic. Not one for waxing anything really; cars, moustaches, surf boards, lower back hair....but now I'm getting off topic. This time of year its natural, because the media tells us, to review the year that has past and to look forward to what is coming in the next.

Far be it for me to shrug my duty to dwell on my shortcomings and to make plans to better myself so here we go! Please realize I am typing with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I do not make resolutions. Those should be left to marketing professionals who need to sell gym memberships and weight loss meal delivery plans. I set goals.

In my business life I set, as many do, SMART goals. That is, they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. I go thru this whole process in evaluating and setting the goals with different intervals wherein I will check back and gauge my progress. With BJJ however, well its a bit more fluid of a thing. I cant make a goal that says "Master the Triangle choke by June 1, 2009" and have that be anywhere near valid. So I set a path of areas to focus on and improve. So, keep that in mind and take a look below. From time to time I will post reports on how I am progressing in the areas I have listed.

Here is a quick summary of 2008:

• Beginning weight 195, Ending weight 162 (33 lbs.)
• Met a lot of great folks
• Got a fancy stripe on my belt
• Had so many work outs that I never thought I'd survive
• Learned so much
• Taught some of what I learned
• Had a couple of mini strokes (TIA)
• Wanted to train even more
  

Here are my BJJ related goals for 2009:

• Become a better BJJ player (Easy one eh?)
• Train more consistently
• Attend minimum of 3 classes/week
  -Attend Open Mat more frequently (it rocks)
• Improve my guard game
  -Work on it every session
  -Drill techniques at open mat
  -Start some rolls from guard
• Make the Triangle my go-to submission
  -Train it weekly
  -Try it in rolling / record results
• Improve my conditioning
  -More BJJ classes
  -Fitness kickboxing classes
  -More cycling (Mountain / Road)
• Keep my head in the “right” place
  -Allow the flow back in my rolling
  -Don’t let mat anxiety freeze me up
  -RELAX!!!
• Get more photos during training
• Write more
  -MMA Blog
  -Cycling Training Blog

There they are, my goals. Those are the things I want to work on. Some are concrete and measurable like the number of training sessions but most are intentionally vague because our sport is organic. Learning in our sport is organic. Progress in our sport slows when you push too hard. Its the paradox of force. So I wont force it, I will put myself in the best position to learn and improve these things and it should happen. So wish me luck and please help to keep me accountable.

Back in the Pendulum Swing

BJJ (11/18/08 6:00pm)

Its been a while since I've had a Monday night come and I've been able to get to class unabated. Finally, it happened. After the rather disappointing week I had just concluded, I really need to start this one off well. One thing that was helping to keep my spirits up was the fact that I was bringing in some new blood to the academy that night.

John, a guy from work, who had recently transferred in from Florida attended the 6:00 class tonight. He had about seven months experience at a Rickson affiliated school in Florida so he is not completely new to the sport. I'm happy to bring him and happy to have another office monkey with whom to talk about my other world.

Warm ups were the same as always. But this time I survived and felt no ill-effects. I don't know what happened to me on Thursday of last week but it seems to be out of my system now.

Technique focused on my old friend the pendulum sweep. I like this sweep because it has actually worked for me. I am not effective at sleeve control, so when I pull it off situationally I tend to control a cross lapel or an underhook, but isn't that the essence of BJJ, to adapt the techniques to suit your particular strengths?

We did guard pass / submit-sweep drills for our rolling portion. I passed the guard on my first attempt. Did very well actually. Then I decided to work on my spider guard with a considerably larger opponent. I did pretty well and kept a stalemate for a long time till he finally broke thru. After a few more rounds, and of course getting caught in a triangle, I passed again by stacking on a failed armbar attempt.

All in all great night. My co-worker was relegated to Upa's but had a great time. He told me that he needs a while to bring his conditioning back, and I know we can all relate to that!

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.