Middle Age BJJ

I'm Back!

2012-02-18T13:53:00.001-08:00

First full class today since early December. 1 hr beginner class plus 30 mins of open mat. I'm on cloud 9. Very sore toes and groin but otherwise feel great. Techniques included a guard break to combat base to knee slide pass. Then positional sparring. During open mat I worked with a Green (my age but 40lbs lighter), a White (early 20s and maybe 80lbs lighter), and a Purple (10yrs older and 60lbs lighter). My goal was to keep moving but not gas. Each training partner was a perfect complement. Some solid flow rolling. Taking time off seems to have cleared my head. I wasn't overwhelmed with trying techniques I only half-remembered. Instead, did what came naturally and looked for opportunities to apply leverage. I attempted whatever came to mind even if what came to mind wasn't something I'd been shown in the past. My time with the Purple was particularly instructive. He was visiting from an affiliate academy, but I hope to get more mat time with him.

UNIJJ Class Photo

2012-02-16T17:45:00.001-08:00

I'm the bald guy in the back next to the tall dude...

Sore Upper Inner Thighs

2012-02-15T20:15:00.000-08:00

Wowzers. Haven't been this sore in a while. Walking bull-legged. It's from yesterday's back maintenance and guard pass drills with the Brown. Well...I'll just say that it's REALLY hard to keep a grown man in between your legs when he's trying desperately to escape.

Light Drilling w/ Ryan Hall

2012-02-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

No no no... I wasn't drilling with Ryan Hall, so if you came here to read about that, go ahead and leave. Instead this post is about some light drilling work I did with a Brown Belt yesterday w/ a Ryan Hall video link with heated discussion about his loss to Bruno Henrique at the Houston Open last weekend. Here's the link: http://www.grapplingweekly.com/ryan-halls-contraversial-loss-to-bruno-henrique-at-the-houston-open/ (discussion on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grapplingweekly/posts/232217980200950)

A few friends from NOLA BJJ competed at the Houston Open and watched Hall's match. My thoughts? Rules are rules I suppose. But I wonder if Bruno considered conceding the fight to Hall. The dude got beat, official results notwithstanding.

Oh... about my light drilling. It was the second time on the mats since early December. Showed up for the 7:30am class and the only other person who showed was a Brown I know only in passing. The doors were locked so after 30 mins of waiting we decided to sneak into a gym located nearby and drill a bit. I was hesitant at first, but hey, he's a Brown. I'm just following my elder's lead! (Actually, I'm older than him by 3mos) We warmed up with sweeps from half guard. The sweep allowed us to get into a groove and sweep back and forth. Then he showed me a new choke from mount. Basically feed your gi lapel under the guys head and pass to opposite hand. Dismount to side control and finish in modified north-south. Pretty slick, although I'm not sure I will be able to control a guy during the transition from mount to side to north-south. Regardless, it was good to see a new technique again.

We finished with drills. He worked back escapes while I attempted to sub. Initially we were going to switch off, but while demonstrating a one armed choke, I think he crushed my windpipe. I heard it pop and I still can't swallow right. So... no back escapes for me. Instead I worked guard sweeps/subs while he attempted to pass. Worked up a decent sweat over 15 mins. Although he's only 160lbs or so, I couldn't control him from the back at all. He escaped each time, except for the last attempt when I choked him when he raised a hand to clear his hair. Got lucky. I swept him twice. Sweep off a pass and omoplata. He passed several times. Once I got stuck under his half guard. Miserable. He felt like 250lbs. How do people do that? Finally, out of exhaustion, I gave up the pass.

Before leaving I stopped back at the gym. Doors were open and folks were starting to arrive for class. Hmm... I guess the schedule changed when I was gone. Had to get to work so I couldn't join the class. Now I have a copy of the new schedule. I guess things like that happen when you stay away from the gym for months. . .

UNIJJ 5th Anniversary

2012-02-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

Today was the fifth anniversary open mat and party for the University of Jiu Jitsu. I haven't been on the mats in 2.5 months so I purposely showed up late and stayed on the side lines as long as possible to avoid the temptation to over do it. The last thing I wanted was to hurt myself on my first "day" back.

To say the mats were crowded is an understatement. I'll update this post on Monday with pictures, but...let's just say I've never seen anything like it. Packed to the max. It was good to see everyone again still training hard. Several White Belts are now Blues. A couple Blues are now Purples. A purple is now a Brown. To quote Mr. Miller, "Time keeps on slipping (slipping...)..."

I jumped in with another Blue about my age and weight for the last six minute round of the session. Survival was my goal. As Professor Matthias from NOLA BJJ advised, i went 50% and played defense. Well...sort of. I went 50% at first and tried to play defense as best as I could. I recall getting into some trouble quickly. He had me cross-faced but hadn't secured side control. Felt smashed and claustrophobia alarms started going off. Eventually he secured the side control and advanced to knee on belly. I recall escaping to turtle and rolling out to open guard. Open guard to x-guard sweep. Then pass to knee on belly. He turtled out and I set up the back attack but he rolled out again to guard recovery. From guard he set up a front gi choke. But it wasn't the typical front gi choke. He looped a forearm around the head and smashed a wrist blade across the face. Same move three times and third time was a charm. He had it tight and I tapped thinking he left me with a fat/blue lip fo sure...

Shortly after resetting from the tap, I laid back into open guard. Got a spider grip left side. That used to be my go to side for sweep off a pass, but given that I'm 50% (at best) on the left Tricep and otherwise weak on that side, I wasn't sure if I could hold the position. Well, it held. I got the sweep without too much trouble and immediately transitioned to the arm bar. He tapped verbally as I arched my hips. But I cold tell something was wrong. He was holding his upper arm and said his shoulder dislocated. Said it's the seventh time in his life and third since he started training BJJ. Master Saulo and Professor Santos looked concerned and told us to sit out the rest of the round. He quickly reset the dislocation and said he's ok now (just can't tell his wife about or no more BJJ for him...).

Hmm... Hurting my training partner upset me. Was I too aggressive? Did my ego and pride take over allowing me to crank too hard on the arm? Would a more skilled fighter have cotrolled the sub setup and provided more time for the tap before injury? These and other thoughts have been running through my mind all afternoon/evening.

Injury to my teammate notwithstanding, my first five+ minutes on the mats in 2.5 months couldn't have felt better. I didn't gas. My neck seemed safe the entire time. I felt...well, fantastic. Can't wait to resume training next week.

After the open mat, Master Saulo and Judo Sensei Lizumi gave rousing talks about the virtues and martial arts and the master-student relationship. I'm proud to be part of the UNIJJ team and, God willing, look forward to many more years of safe training.

Homestretch

2012-02-01T15:26:00.000-08:00

Tentatively plan to return to training in two weeks. Strength and conditioning going strong, but I'm still having trouble with the left tricep. 25-30lb skull crushers on the right tri compared to 12lb on the left. Bench pressed 15 reps of 65lbs this morning (yes...that was a challenge). Although still weak, I can now stand up in base from a left side post.

I'm looking forward to being a spectator at San Diego's Grappling X tourney on 2/12. Pans are in the back of mind too, but still a long way from knowing if I'll be comp ready by the end of March.

Slowly Improving

2012-01-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

Symptoms receding. Numbness almost gone, but I can induce tingles by changing posture. Tricep getting stronger, but I still can't post on my left arm. Can't imagine a push-up. Only working out ~4hrs per week. Still can't jog or jump in place without inducing symptoms. Strangely enough my weight is still down a few pounds since the injury. Hopeful that I can return to the mats sometime in February.

I'm Not Alone (in SD)

2012-01-04T23:59:00.000-08:00

Wow. Stopped by the gym today for the first time in over a month. Pleased to run into someone I deeply respect, yet hardly know. Explained that I hadn't quit, but had a setback. Turns out he struggles with the same issue. Herniated c5-c6. Understands what I'm going through. He's the second Professor in two cities to look me in the eyes and, I could tell, really understands and cares. He asked me to go with him tomorrow to see his neck specialist. God I love this journey.

Discharged!

2012-01-02T16:19:00.000-08:00

Saw the surgeon again Friday. He discharged me and said I'm on my way to recovery. Told me to resume PT/strength & conditioning this week. Suggested I stay off the mats until symptoms are gone. Said it could be a month. Maybe longer. Maybe shorter. I asked him a 1000 questions and made sure he understood BJJ. Instructions still the same. Train if it doesn't hurt and I don't have symptoms. Rest if it hurts or my fingers go numb.

Still...I can't imagine getting back on the mats anytime soon. Pain is pretty much gone, but I get nerve aches in my shoulder, tricep, and forearm. Index finger still dead numb. Tricep is extremely weak too. Went to PT this morning (dang it felt good to do some activity again) and could barely lift four to seven pounds with skull crushers (tricep isolation exercise). I was doing 20lbs with my right arm no problem. I can't post on the left side at all. A single push-up is absolutely impossible.

Oh! Oddly enough I lost weight since early December. Weighed in at 219 this morning (clothed). No exercise plus lots of holiday food and drink equals 5-6lb weight loss. Go figure.

I'll be hitting the gym 3x per week for PT/strength & conditioning. When the numbness goes away and I have sufficient strength in my tricep I plan to get back on the mats. Until then...keep training my friends!

No Surgery...Yet

2011-12-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Went over the MRI images with a neurosurgeon Friday. Herniated C5-C6 and C6-C7. Same as the January results, but apparently something decided to give during sleep. Doc doesn't want to operate...yet. Says I'm young enough that there's a good chance the symptoms will recede with traction and rest. I see him again in two weeks and then in a month. If after a month I'm not completely (or near completely) symptom free he'll start talking other treatment options. Says the surgery would defintely be a two-level fusion (ACDF). I'm pretty sure Peyton Manning and Tito Ortiz only had a one-level fusion. I asked about long-term prospects for active living including BJJ (assuming no surgery). He said to follow the common sense rule: If it hurts, don't do it. In other words, so long as I'm symptom free I can continue training. First sign of symptom reemergence I need to rest. Makes sense, but I'm not entirely sure he knows what BJJ is and the pressure it can exert on the neck. I'll discuss more with him in two weeks.

Trip to the ER

2011-12-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

Woke up Sunday in the worst pain of my life. I couldn't see straight. Just laid on the ground moaning and kicking the floor. Did this for almost 12hrs before I agreed to go to the ER. Docs gave me three shots in the butt and three scripts for some powerful stuff. Dilaudid, Zanaflex, and Ativan. These on top of Amitriptyline and Methylprednisole I started taking last Thursday. Pain is now barely tolerable. I'm not working. Hardly moving around. Feel sick to my stomach. Generally miserable. Had an MRI on Monday. Get results tomorrow. I'm almost certainly heading for surgery.

Down for the Count...

2011-12-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

...and this time I may not get back up.

Woke up Saturday with a slight kink in the neck. Slight kink turned into excruciating pain. Think crawl out of skin and bang your against the concrete until it stops pain. Left hand and fingers numb. Achy shoulder, elbow, and forearm. Spasmy deltoid, Tricep, and pec. Almost now strength in my left arm. 2-3 hrs of broken sleep per night. Misery.

Dragged myself into the doctor today. Started a steroid pack (methylprednisolone) plus amitriptyline to help with sleep and pain. He wants a new MRI. Said the MRI I got in January doesn't explain my current symptoms. The herniated discs shown on that MRI explained the symptoms in my right hand, but nothing that could suggest current symptoms on the left side. Dr. says additional damage must have been done since. Hmm... The only neck trauma since January happened a couple months back when a Purple tried to escape a triangle via front roll. But that strained the muscles. I didn't feel any nerve pain or have numbness in the arm/hand. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Have no clue how long I'll be out. At this point - given the crazy pain - I'd say I'm out indefinitely.

Getting Heavier

2011-12-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Literally... 224.5lbs today before class (with gi). That's sick. I have my heart rate between 150 and 170 for at least 30 minutes six days per week: 3 days of jits plus 2 days strength and condition and 1 day mix shoulder PT and strength/conditioning. Throw in a 2-3 mile jog if I can't make a class or PT/conditioning session. Can't imagine where my weight would be if I wasn't so active.

Training's been good. Gave a younger (27-30), slightly smaller (190-200lb) Brown a heckuva a time this week. A few sweeps (Butterfly, knee push, and spider sweep off a pass). Passed guard twice. Survived, escaped side control, knee on belly, and turtle a few times. Movement and open guard felt great. Subbed a more experienced Blue who used to destroy me. Cross choke from top half. Set it up to pass but he held the guard and tapped instead. Brand new Blue triangled me. Same guy who caught me with a Kimura a few months ago as a White. He dominates me every time we train. Glad to see him promoted. Purple triangled and armlocked me at the same time (sick stuff). Got subbed a few other times I'm sure. Overall, the game is feeling good. Strength and conditioning seems to be helping the BJJ stamina, especially the top game.

Gonna have to alter my diet. It's hard right now because we're remodeling our home. Living at the in laws. Routine all messed up. I'm committed to improving my diet (especially portion size) when we move back into the house in a couple weeks. I want to be at 200lbs by Pans and 185lbs by Master/Senior worlds. But...I'd settle for 210 by Pans and 200 by Master/Senior worlds. None of this Ultra Heavy non-sense...

12 Rounds

2011-11-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

Started 12, five min rounds after a 15min warm up. Finished with 4, six minute rounds. I sat out four rounds. Pretty intense training. Got a round with Master Saulo. He let me play a bit of open guard. Felt like I *almost* had him off base a couple times, but no go on the sweep attempts. He squashed me pretty good most of the time and finished with two arm bars. Got caught a couple other times by smaller but younger Blues. Caught a couple Greens and a White with arm bars from the sweep off a pass. More validation for the bread and butter combo. Caught a couple Blues with arm bars and one with a front gi choke from closed guard. Escaped side turtle twice to top position via a new move I'm working on that uses my hip flexibility. Very tough to describe the escape but I may be on to something... Stay tuned. Even forced myself to play a fair amount of top game. Got swept a few times as a result...but also had a few successful passes. I was most impressed with my stamina. No clue where it came from, but I felt like my game kept getting stronger the longer I trained. About round nine I felt truly great. Kinda shocking.

Gym closed through Sunday. PT on Friday. Will try to run a few miles this weekend. Back on the mats Monday.

Bread and Butter

2011-11-21T15:04:00.001-08:00

Overheard a Purple explaining to a frustrated Green after training Saturday that he shouldn't be frustrated by my spider sweep off a pass because "It's just something he's good at..." The spider sweep off a pass is clearly my bread and butter, but I've had similar comments about my lasso, knee push, and x-guard sweeps. Most upper belts can see it coming and squash it, but every once in a while I get lucky.

Saturday's sweeps were a little more special because I was thinking combos. I knew I'd get the sweeps so I was refining the landing and transition to top to facilitate a quick pass or sub. For example, got an arm bar immediately from the sweep off a pass. Controlled the sweep to allow his momentum to bring me up. Kept the spider sleeve up and tight. Fell back into the armbar. I've been thinking about that combo for a couple months now after seeing a similar attack on a Royler Gracie comp vid. But I've struggled to control the sweep on the opponent's way down to give me the proper momentum into the attack. Saturday was the first finish. Also had a few sweeps to x-pass to knee on belly. I struggled to maintain knee on belly, advance, or finish, but was pleased with the combos that got me that far.

Saturday wasn't all hunky dory though. A 160lb Blue tore me up. My shoulder still aches from his sweep from side control via kimura attempt. His escapes from side control and mount are off-the-charts better than equally sized and experienced training partners.

Light training week. Family in town. Gym closed Thurs-Sun. Will probably only make class Wednesday night.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Something...

2011-11-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Gnarly Old Guy noticed I've been off the grid lately and encouraged me to post "something"...ok, thanks for the nudge. :-) Here's a little something.

Summary:
I've been training. Consistently too. 3x per week. Trained in three States since my last post. Nagging neck problems. Submitted a Black Belt (bow and arrow, although I think I caught him totally off guard and I doubt I'll get away with that again anytime soon). Game still mostly lazy. Top game makes me exhausted and turtle is my security blanket. Same 'ole same 'ole.

Physical therapy is transitioning to strength and conditioning. Shoulder feeling 100x stronger and more stable than since pre high school surgery. That's going strong at 2x per week. Did 9 pull ups today. 4 mos ago I could do maybe 3. Finding some time for a 2-3 mile jog once per week. In short, sweating up a storm 6days per week. But I'm still gaining weight. 220lbs in light workout clothes this am. hmm...

Some Details - Wish I Could Write More, but I'm Exhausted...and Lazy:
Relative got married in Austin a few weeks back. Found time to stop by Georgette's school for a Sunday morning class. Georgette was out of town, but I met some great people and learned a couple new side control escapes. Rolled with a senior Purple for about 10mins after class. He's a bit taller but 15-20lbs leaner. Good time. Swept him a couple times. Passed guard once. He caught me twice.

Headed to New Orleans after Austin. Spent a week there. Tweaked my neck a bit between the hotel bed and plane ride. Kept me from training at NOLA BJJ as much as I would have liked. Had some solid sessions though. It was good to see everyone.

Competed at the Louisiana Open on Nov. 5th. I missed weight by 1.5lbs. Fortunately they fudged the brackets last minute so I could compete in the Ultra. Only one competitor in that division. A monster of a man. At least 6'6" and 260lbs+. I was a bit freaked out.

Before my Division fight, a tournament organizer asked if I would fight in the Adult Super Heavy. Apparently there wasn't anyone to fight the sole registrant for that division. I only missed weight by 1.5lbs and my opponent was at least 5yrs younger than me so I guess they figured it was even. Fight started ok. I could tell he was strong. Very strong. Take down set ups were uncomfortable. Decided to pull guard. Pulled De la Riva. Quickly transitioned to knee push. Got the sweep (2 pts me)...but he immediately arm dragged me and I bailed to turtle. Advantage him. He spent at least 3 minutes trying to establish a second hook. I couldn't shake the guy. He was so strong. Had me pinned in turtle. He finally got the second hook (4 pts him) which, believe it or not, gave me an opportunity to escape. He scrambled and I was back in open guard. Established lasso and swept him (2 pts me). Began working a pass as time expired. I lost by advantage. Looking back, I should have forced my way free from turtle. I couldn't find a technical way out, but it's a tourney. I could have exploded and forced something. I don't know...

Licking my wounds, I turned my attention to Goliath. Wowzers. Big dude. After a bit of hand fighting I decided to ... Wait for it ... Wait for it ... Attempt a double leg. Of course!!! I shot from too far away. Timing all bad. He sprawled and smashed me down. To my great (and pleasant) surprise, I rolled out to recover guard. I don't remember all the details, but I believe I swept him, passed guard, mounted. He upa'd. I swept him again, passed, and mounted. Time expired. I won 15-0. Wasn't really expecting that.

To my great dismay, no one signed up for the Master Open Division. Apparently the silver medalist from the Master Super Heavy signed up for the Adult Open division while I was fighting the giant. By the time I realized no one signed up for Master Open and another Mater was allowed to fight in the Adult Open, it was too late. They had closed the brackets and wouldn't let me in. Boo.

Competing is always good. Win or lose, I learn. If I learn, it's a win. To play is to win.

Training since the tourney has been ok. Consistently getting my butt handed to me by my UNIJJ training partners. Can't wait to take another beating tomorrow morning.

More Laziness

2011-10-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Last night started off well enough. Did a fancy drill involving inverted weaves through and around a standing partner's legs. Tough to describe but it made me TIRED.

Rolls were terrible. Just terrible. Got a Brown, Blue, and White. Spent almost the entire time defending back attacks with all opponents. Successfully survived the Blue and White. Brown caught me a couple times. Arm bar and bow/arrow, both from back.

Recognized opportunities to recover guard from turtle but was too lazy to try. Had a couple chances to pass guard but instead allowed the other guy to stand up and push me on my back. Only positive outcomes from the night included a nice sweep off a pass (Brown) and a back escape to side control to technical mount combo (Blue). The White Belt was all over the place. He flailed quite a bit, but managed to pass guard, get my back, mount...all over me. I just defended/survived and moved on. Guess I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

Won't train tomorrow. Golf with my brother before he deploys for 7mos. Next training likely Tuesday morning.

Lazy / Hurt Grappling

2011-10-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

I must be a bad training partner. Seems I get hurt and/or complain about one injury or another every time I'm on the mat. (This time it's a dislocated pinky toe. The other one...). I'm also a lazy grappler. Passing guard is too tiring so I get stuck "trying" to pass in the rare event that I find myself on top. Problem is, often I'm not really trying to pass; I frequently stall and sometimes give up a sweep or roll back into guard where I'm more comfortable.

I'm also far far too comfortable in turtle or when someone has my back. I feel safe there and to do anything that requires too much energy. I can't help but think that my training partners, many of whom spend 50-75% of each round trying to deal with my turtle while I stall, are beginning to take notice.

I'm in a rut. I don't want to be "that guy", but I can't seem to muster the mental toughness that it's going to take to pull myself out.

Oh! Shout out to Megan of Tangled Triangle and her recent interview of my Professor Saulo Ribeiro. Great post Megan!

Starting from Standing

2011-10-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

2hrs of semi-open mat on Friday. A few 8min rounds followed by sparring from stand up. Finished with a few more 5-6min rounds. For the stand up portion, Professor Saulo would call up two to spar for about 3mins. The rest of us watched. I got two rounds, each with a smaller Blue. Got a few takedowns, including a double leg and drop seoi nage. The rest was pretty sloppy sparring. I attacked a kimura from north south, lost the position but tried to switch to an arm bar...ended up under side control then mount. Sloppy... Second round I mounted but couldn't finish. The experience was fantastic. Hope to start from standing more.

Tapped...a lot

2011-10-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Great to be back on the mats again. Been healing for 2.5 weeks. I'd say the neck is 80% range of motion with most pain gone. Warm up went well. Managed 20 regular push ups in a row. I think thats a record. The PT has been paying off. Also hand stand walked half way across the mats. Another first. Technique wasa new half guard pass. Had trouble implementing in live sparring. 5 minute rounds. Professor Saulo was merciful tonight. But the short rounds allowed me to roll a lot. I think I had 5 maybe 6 rounds. Tapped a ton tonight. Got some tough guys. Two recently promoted Purples, a couple Blues who give me trouble. Tapped to an RNC, bow and arrow, gullotine, another choke (I don't know what it was but it sucked). One White. Went light with him.

Got selected fora jury. That's gonna impact my training schedule. Will try to make it Friday night. Saturday for sure.

Another Neck Injury

2011-09-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

But this time a bit different. No numbness. All pain and extremely limited range of motion. Almost like whiplash. Couldn't turn or move my head without pain for several days. It's gradually easing. I've been off the mats since last Saturday. Missed American Nationals this past weekend. Hoping to train again for the first time next Tuesday. How'd it happen? In a nutshell...a Purple spazzed on me. I had him locked in a triangle. He stacked. Instead of twisting or posturing he decided to front roll. Huh? It was so quick I couldn't get my head out of the way for a proper back roll. Instead by neck/head cranked down into my body. I ended up on top with mounted triangle. No clue why he thought a front roll was a good idea. Makes no sense.

Training had gone very well between my last post and the injury. I felt ready for Nationals. Cardio was good (enough). Strength, check. Aches and pains, minimal. I even trained a couple days at Paragon Santa Barbara while traveling for work. (The Paragon experience was great BTW. If ever in Santa Barbara, be sure to visit.)

When I do make it back on the mats, I'll take it slowly at first and begin prep for the Louisiana Open on November 4th. Just have to figure out how to stay healthy.

2.5hrs

2011-09-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

...is a lot of mat time for a day. Saturday started with an hour of self defense (dbl/single leg stuffs and guard pull to punch survival and space creation) and ended with 1.5 hrs of almost continuous open mat training. I lost track of all the 6min rounds. Had a couple solid rounds with two different Browns. Both a couple years older and a little lighter. Survived and escaped several back attcks. Got a few sweeps and even a couple guard passes. Finished a couple Blues. But...got worked over pretty good by a White. I didn't tap, but I was on defense the whole time. Couldn't finish another White who had only been training a month or so. All around a very good session though.

At a work conference in Santa Barbara this week. Hope to make 2 classes at Paragon before heading to NOLA this weekend. Nationals the next weekend. I hear the Master Blue brackets should be quite full. Should be interesting.

Almost a month?

2011-09-09T20:37:00.001-07:00

Wowzers. It's been almost a month since my last post. Where did the time go? I've been training. Missed a week due to a cold, but on the mats ~4x per week the rest of the time. Progress is slow, but I do feel like I'm improving. Especially with butterfly sweeps, x-guard, and combos. Had several smooth transitions from sweep to pass to submission lately. Even a nice x-pass to knee on belly to arm bar on a Purple last week. Working a lot from side control lately. Got tapped by a White last week too...(kimura)...so hey...I guess it all balances out. My endurance is getting better. I'm able to train longer without break than I was a month ago. But I'm still lazy on top. Very lazy. I can't count how many times I swept to top and gave up the position to rest on my back and sweep again because I was too tired to work the top game. I'm also working on sweeps that get me past guard. Sweep to side or mount in particular. IWhy gas trying to pass guard if I can sweep to side or mount? Lame...but I rationalize it like this: If I am in guard...I gas...If I gas...I have to sit out...If I sit out...I train less. So? If I give up top position and allow the sweep or reversal...I get to work bottom...the more chances I have to sweep to side or mount...sweep to side or mount and I don't gas...don't gas and I can train more. Make sense? Maybe not, but it's my game lately.

Sites set on American Nationals in a couple weeks. I'm training at Paragon Santa Barbara next week while at a conference and at NOLA BJJ next weekend while on a mini-vacation. Get to see a live UFC fight too. And...there's a chance Wanderlei Silva will hold a seminar at NOLA BJJ while I'm there. That should be fun.

Clocked = Zinger!

2011-08-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

Heavy PT yesterday. Shoulders, traps, neck, biceps very sore. Greg's been working to build the muscle groups around the shoulder for greater overall stability and strength. Calves terribly sore. My shoulder isn't strong enough to handle a full session of focused PT so we work other parts of the body between shoulder exercises. Yesterday was calves. Wowzers they hurt today.

Overall a good training session today. Very light warm-up and stretch before working technique. Slight variation of Tuesday's arm drag to back plus triangle option. Followed by one round of positional training (sweep / pass guard using technique of the day). I struggle with the arm drags. They just feel awkward.

Finished up with four 6-min training rounds. Merciful. I seem to handle the 6-min rounds much better than the 8-min rounds. Got three Blues before finishing the day with a Purple. First Blue and I are fairly evenly matched, although he was attacking most of the time today. I purposefully made myself vulnerable as I went for various x- and half x-guards. Had to test my survival skills and work escapes several times when things didn't go quite right.

Pretty much had the second Blue under control the entire time. Caught him with an arm bar, bow and arrow, and triangle from guard. The arm bar and bow and arrow came after nice spider and lasso sweep to guard pass to back/mount to sub combos. I was really surprised how the positions flowed. Played a bit of catch and release after that so I could try different attacks from mount.

Third Blue gave me a real hard time. He shut down my guard and the only time I ever got on top was after escaping some pretty ugly attacks. I turtled A LOT this round. Needed to catch my breath and I was simply trying to survive.

Shot for a half x-guard from butterfly set up when the Purple approached me in combat base. He floated a bit and I had an underhook on his right leg. He straightened and twisted away from me. As I started to stand up and put him on his back he posted on his hands and tried to kick his left leg over my head (roundhouse style). As I stood up to put him on his back and complete the sweep, his kick clocked me in the face. I saw it coming but couldn't block or duck in time. Felt an immediate zinger down my right arm leaving my thumb, index, and middle fingers tingly numb. I don't think I blacked out, but I definitely saw stars and collapsed. Fortunately the numbness went away pretty quickly and an hour later I don't have any neck pain. Pretty much tried to survive the rest of the roll. Turtled a lot again. Exhausted by this point. Escaped one arm bar attempt. Not so lucky the second time. He advised me to bridge and hip escape. I totally understand and wish I could. My mind tells my body to fight more. My body is mutinous. The muscles wouldn't do any more.

Rusty

2011-08-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

That's what happens when you take two weeks off from full contact classes. Had LASIK a couple weeks ago yesterday. It went fantastic. Seeing better than 20/20.

I spent a nice week with the family at Lake Nacimiento near Paso Robles (central CA coast). It was a wonderful break, although I consumed far too many calories. Gained 6lbs in the process! It wasn't all bad though. I ran 7.5 miles (in three days) and swam a bit (~0.5 mile open water). I've run over 1 mile without stopping only four times in my life, each time with my dad. A beach run last year. The other three times this past week. Averaged 10 minute miles. Lungs felt good. Knees, hips and lower back another story completely.

PT yesterday morning and private with Michael Jr. yesterday afternoon. We reviewed basic techniques from the first four privates. I was soooo rusty that even Michael commented about me being a bit off my game. Yeah. I basically forgot four hours of private instruction. Not good. But that's why we did the review! :-)

Today was my first real class since LASIK. Warm-ups went well. Technique went well (arm drag to take the back from open guard plus triangle option). Focused training went well (sweep / pass the guard using the technique of the day). Training went terribly.

Four 8-minute rounds. Brown from Brazil calls me over and proceeded to manhandle me. There really isn't a better way to describe it. He caught me three times in the first minute alone. I think he hit his arm bar within the first 10 seconds. I can't count how many other times he caught me. I managed only two sweeps in the eight minutes and only towards the end. I'm guessing he either gave them to me or he was tired from kicking my arse. After the roll he complimented my open guard (I think...his english isn't the best. But I'm pretty sure it was a compliment).

Blue calls me over. Ok. Then a Purple calls me over. I politely declined because I already had a training partner. Professor Leo explained that when an upper belt calls me over, I'm supposed to oblige. Ok. After 14 months of training, I really hadn't encountered that etiquette before. No worries. I didn't have much for him but in general I really enjoy rolling with this particular Purple. He had me positionally dominated almost the entire roll and my left calf and both feet/toes cramped up badly. Gassed out at the 5-6 minute mark. Abysmal guard pass attempts (the couple opportunities I had). Tried to implement some of the stuff Michael's been showing me. No go. Things moving too quickly and I was thinking too much. On the bright side, I executed a slick improvised sweep from a pseudo x-guard. A couple good arm bar and back survival/escapes.

Professor calls me over. Oi vey. After learning that I'm supposed to oblige an upper belt's request to train, I HAD to decline. My feet were cramping like mad and I literally had no gas in the tank. He understood. After sitting out a round he called me over again. My muscles had essentially mutinied at this point. Cramping had stopped but I could tell it wouldn't take much to lock up again. A few seconds in I try to pull x-guard and trap a knee for a sweep Saulo shows in Revolution 1. Combination of my clumsiness and his immediate base collapse left me in a bad spot. He passed and mounted. Gave me multiple opportunities and ample space to stage an escape, but I was too tired. He dismounted and moved on. I "escaped" a couple times and ended up in open guard. Played a little. Attempted the x-guard to knee trap again and had a bit more success with the set-up; however, he squashed it before I could get the sweep. He caught me with an arm bar from the back. Thought I was going to escape but he consolidated the position and finished. After the session I heard him say, "You need to get open guard" (he has a thick Brazilian Portuguese accent). But he said it with a complimentary sort of tone. I asked him to repeat. This time I heard, "You will get open guard." He said I have a solid grasp for my experience and said I'll "get it" in time. Hopefully the rest of my game will follow...with more time. :-)

Joey Hernandez Photography

2011-07-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago my buddy Joey Hernandez visited UNIJJ with his son. Soft Judo creator Sensei Iinzumi (7th dan) taught before open mat. Joey's a photographer and captured much of the day in four photo blogs. The first covers the Judo class. The second and third capture Master Saulo rolling with his protege Michael Liera Jr. I'm the subject of the last segment. Here are a few select shots, but be sure to go to his page and look around.

Joey has no background in BJJ, grappling, or any martial art. He also didn't know he could step on the mats to get better angles and shots. That said, I think many of his shots are pure magic. I hope he catches the BJJ bug through his photography. Thanks for coming by UNIJJ Joey. Let's roll around again soon.

Guard Passes

2011-07-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Basic guard passes with Michael Jr. today. I say "basic" because they are taught in Saulo's White Belt fundamentals class but all were brand new to me. Double and single spider breaks and passes plus torreando-ish passes. Great stuff. So simple in concept. Can't wait to try to implement. Will try to make another session tomorrow before taking 10 days off for a family reunion. Then back to training on August 8th. Preparing for American Nationals in late September.

Lasik

2011-07-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Got my eyeballs reshaped on Monday. I'm seeing a little better than 20/20 now. Dislodged contacts during training - no more! Unfortunately I have to avoid "strenuous" exercise for a couple weeks. That means no heavy training. I plan to go to my private this afternoon but will have to keep it low key. Also plan to continue my PT regime and will attend self defense class Saturday. (BTW, I went last Saturday...worked bully headlock escapes.) I leave this Sunday for a family reunion. Will be gone a week and there aren't any BJJ schools nearby so I won't be tempted. I'll be ready to dive back into training upon return.

Zebra Mats

2011-07-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

For more than ten years the guys and gals at NOLA BJJ rolled around on Zebra mats. Those mats facilitated the promotion of three Black Belts, at least three Brown Belts, and countless Purple Belts over the years.

All things wear down with heavy use and it came time to replace the trusty old mats. I offered to help price shop and negotiate a deal. We considered a range of companies and mat products, but we kept returning to Zebra mats. Zebra quality is unmatched. Unfortunately, our budget could not afford 50+ new Zebra mats.

Rather than give up and settle for a cheaper mat from a less reputable company, I contacted Zebra and see if they could work with our budget. I spoke with Patrick McCarty and explained our situation. NOLA BJJ is a relatively small gym consisting mostly of students and blue-collar types. Accordingly, the mat fees are modest ($100/mo) and no contract is required. Patrick was very understanding and receptive. We quickly agreed to terms of a sponsorship deal to provide NOLA BJJ with lightly used mats within our budget in exchange for recognition of the NOLA BJJ / Zebra partnership. ("Lightly used" means the mats are essentially new but used at a recent tournaments or promotional event.)

The new mats look and feel great. We used some of the older mats to pad walls (including sections of brick wall that previously had no padding!). Thanks to Zebra, the gym has a great look and is a safer place to train. We couldn't be happier with the outcome. Thank you Zebra and Patrick for the sponsorship! NOLA BJJ looks forward to raising another generation of fighter on Zebra mats!

Gas

2011-07-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

Started the morning with PT. Worked the left shoulder and back mostly plus a little right shoulder, wrists and leg/hip flexibility. Session felt good.

Another hot day in the gym today. Brief warm-up and a good stretch. (I've noticed that we haven't worked core much during the warm-ups. I'm used to a couple hundred reps of ab work each class. Wonder if I should supplement with P90X ab ripper X or Core Synergistics...) For technique we revisited the De la Riva passes from Tuesday's class and added a new pass from the same basic set up but involved different grips and sprawling out on a hip. It felt a bit awkward at first but after a dozen or more attempts the movement started feeling a bit more natural. Finished the technique section with 10 minutes of sweep / pass the guard from De la Riva set up. Although I couldn't pass, I only got swept a couple times and I swept a Purple a couple times.

Rolls were merciful again. Only 6 minute rounds. So darned hot. But this time I had enough gas in the tank to participate all four rounds. Hmm. Cardio getting a bit better? Got two Purples (one of them twice) and a White. Struggled with the Purples, but survived. Had a couple good sweeps. Passed once. Got a nice compliment from one of the Purples regarding my spider and inverted work. The other Purple had me in side control for too long. I'm really lazy when it comes to trying to prevent or escape side control. My training partners fight with everything they have to prevent me from securing side control. I tend to lay on my back and wait for him/her to do something...anything...and hope to find a hole. Lame. Roll with the White went ok. Had several dominant positions, but all sub attempts failed. Congrats to him for the solid survival skills. I need to keep working to secure the position before attempting the submission.

Me (top) training this past Saturday with another Blue from Outliers, a new RJJA affiliate in Santee, CA. Sensei's Saulo and Iizumi (7th Dan Judo) in the background.

Half Guard Passes

2011-07-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

Private with Michael Jr. today. Warmed up with partner hip escapes, turtle to guard recovery, and swinging omo plata and arm bars. Hot in the gym again. Good sweat going only 10 minutes in. Reviewed the standing guard break, step over with hip brace and sprawl into half guard. The hip brace is a transition to escrima (underhook) pass. Then learned a cross face option if opponent defends the escrima. Finally an option to mount if opponent employs hip brace against the cross face option. Tons of technical details that make or break these techniques. I'll definitely review these techniques at our next session (Monday). Finished with a brief review of the open guard techniques from our first private.

Injury Report: Slight numbness returned to my right index finger today. May need to back off the activity. :-(

Mon-Tues

2011-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

Private with Michael Jr. on Monday. Reviewed techniques from the last private (sweeps and attacks from basic open guard, including scissor sweep, helio gracie palm up / palm up choke, palm up / palm down choke, arm bar (2 variations), triangle, hip bump, guillotine, and kimura. New techniques included basic posturing in guard, grip defense, bait until you get the grip you want, pistol grip the opponents grip and stand up, break opponents grip, break guard, and establish x-pass setup. Standing break followed by ground break technique.

Tuesdays class was hot. I mean real hot. Started sweating before class started. Light warm-up and lots of stretching before 30 minutes of technique. De la Riva passes to positive and negative sides. Basic principle involved demobilizing opponents attacking leg (the one that stretches you out) by popping down and collapsing on it by switching to a crouching/squat position on your toes. The passes involved moving the trapped leg to one side or the other depending on opponents reaction and passing over. I struggled with the crouching/squat position. My thighs are big oxygen consuming beasts and this technique gassed me...fast. Followed technique with 10 minutes of sweep/pass the guard from de la riva position. And I thought I was tired before...about puked.

Professor Leo took it easy on us during training. 6 minute rounds as opposed to 8 or 10 mins. Got a Black Belt and two Blues. Sat out a round. Almost swept the Black Belt a few times via knee push and x-guard, but his base was solid. I think I rushed the x-guard sweep. He eventually took my back and I spent several minutes defending neck and arm attack setups. Survived...but barely. The first Blue is much smaller. Lots of good sweeps. I caught him in either a reverse triangle or a shoulder lock via north south transition from a sweep off a pass. I was working both attacks when he tapped. Not long after he caught me in a reverse triangle. Tit for tat. Second Blue is much heavier than me. I got destroyed. He eviscerated my guard. Crushed me in side control. Tapped me by baseball bat or bread cutter from knee on belly, bow and arrow, arm bar, and kimura. It wasn't pretty. Extremely tired after class. My body took forever to cool down. Still sweating an hour later...

BBQ Saturday

2011-07-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

PT at 6:30a. Worked on the left shoulder a bit plus neck, back, and wrists. We almost overworked my shoulder on Thursday. This time I think it was just right. Not too stiff or sore. The neck and wrists are sore though.

Applied for my passport after PT. First step in the earliest planning stages for the Master/Senior Worlds in Rio next summer.

Self defence class at 10:30a. Reviewed grip breaks and learned four responses to when someone grabs your jacket or shirt from the front. In response to three different types of single front grip attack: shoulder lock, kimura(esque) and take the back, and take down to knee on belly and arm bar setup from wrist pressure. In response to double front grips: base out, pray up and around to trap arms, and take down to knee on belly and arm bar setup.

A Judo seminar followed the self defense class. I sat out. Bruised ribs on my left side causing problems for a week now. I really didn't think getting thrown around was a good idea.

Open mat and a team BBQ followed. Rolled with two Blues from our new RJJA affilliate, Outliers located in Santee. Both good and challenging rolls. The second Blue (about 150lbs) caught me in a straight ankle lock. We were both tied up in a pseudo 50/50 and both went for the ankle locks. He beat me to it. Rolled with a buddy who stopped by to hang out with his 5yr old son. We've known each other since 7th grade. He's never wrestled or done any martial arts. He took a bunch of pictures of the day. I'll post a link when he puts them up on his website.

Private: Back to Basics

2011-07-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

First of twice-weekly hour-long privates with Michael Jr. today. My goal for the privates is to stick to the basics. Saulo's basics. I want to learn everything from the beginnig and pay attention to details until the techniques are ingrained in muscle memory and I can teach them without skipping a detail.

Started with a brief stretch and warm-up. Lots of non-conventional partner hip escapes plus a core lift arm bar drill from standing guard break attempt via muscle sweep set up. Techniques were built around the classic open guard. Learned proper grips and foot placement (control the hips). Reviewed the classic scissor sweep from the open guard set up. Followed with the Helio Gracie palm up / palm up choke from the same set up. Detail I'd been missing: Use your vertical leg to open up opponent's arm and create space for the second palm up grip then place the foot back on the hip and spread his/her out and into your choke for the finish. Then palm up / palm down, arm bar, and triangle options from the same set up. Next up a classic hip bump sweep with guillotine option if s/he throws weight into you to defend against hip bump. Finished with a kimura from closed guard. I plan to spend the first half of next class reviewing these techniques before getting into the next lesson.

PT - Stretch - Train

2011-07-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

First day of one-hr physical therapy + strength/flexibility sessions. PT for my left shoulder. Weakness from two past surgeries prevents me from doing push ups and pull ups. It has to be holding back my game too. Worked the inner joint quite a bit. No weights. Only minimal manual resistance from many angles. Shoulder very sore this evening. Also worked hip and knee flexibility. I'm fortunately flexible in many joints at many angles, but unfortunately tight in others. Working to loosen the tight areas and add strength to the joints that angles that are already loose. Plan to work on neck amd wrist strength in future sessions. Going to give this six months.

Training included half guard techniques. First, a half guard maintenance transition to open guard drill if opponent posts weight into your knee shield. Second, a sweep highly similar to the basic sweep taught in Revolution 1. Finished with a sweep option if opponent attempts to respond to the first sweep by stepping over to pass to the negative side. Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got three much more experienced Blues and sat out a round. First Blue was smaller but...48 yrs old! Incredibly fast. Highly technical. Survived, but it was quite a struggle. Second and third Blues were a few years younger and ~5-10lbs lighter. Caught a couple arm bars from the back during transition to technical mount. Got arm locked from a crucifix(like) setup. I pretty much rolled into it. Drats. Cardio felt decent. The six minute rounds (and sitting out one) helped. I'm not ready for 8min rounds.

Strength vs. Technique

2011-07-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

Nooner class. Worked a spider/scissor sweep. Plus triangle and de la riva sweep options off the spider/scissor setup. Really enjoyed these techniques. Good fit for my game. Then 10 minutes of sweep/pass the guard with emphasis on the learned techniques. Six minute rolls to finish. Got two Blues and Purple. Tapped a few times to one smaller/faster Blue. Specifically remember a triangle and an arm bar. Barely survived an onslaught of attacks from the other smaller/faster Blue. He had me in all sorts of guard knots. Rubber, inverted, spider, etc. None worked too well. Spent most of the last roll with the Purple on the attack (surprisingly). Lost two arm bar attempts from s-mount. Position before submission! At one point after I passed guard, he chuckled and said, "Dude...you are strong!" I didn't know how to take it. Strength is a bad thing right? After class he said it again but added that strength plus technique is a good thing. It was a nice compliment; especially coming from a seasoned and respected member of the academy.

I lost a contact in class. That's three times in the past couple weeks. Once I lose one contact, I have to be careful not to lose the other or I won't be able to drive home from class. Hope to get lasik in the next few months. Until then I need to remember to bring extra contacts.

Back in San Diego

2011-07-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

It's been a while...I know. Trained five or six times at NOLA BJJ and a couple times at UNIJJ since I last posted. My cardio seems to be getting worse and, as a result, my grappling's been lazy. That said, I've had some really great rolls with upper belts recently. I've also had some spectacularly poor rolls. Got banged up these past few weeks. Busted up lips, bruised cheek bone, sore ears, gnarly knot on my knee, tender turf toes, bloody nose, blood vessels ruptured in my eye, etc. Choked someone unconscious for the first time too. That was a trip. Bow and arrow. I couldn't see him, but I could hear him gurgling. He had a hand on my wrist and appeared to be defending. He didn't feel limp. Someone was sitting along the wall looking right at him the whole time and didn't know he was out. Finally let go and he was snoring (literally); eyes rolled back in his head. Freaked me out. Really. I'm not a violent person. It freaked me out. Next time I have a choke deep and the guy doesn't tap after a few seconds I'm letting go.

Starting to think about the Las Vegas Open, August 13th. Hmm... That's only a month or so away. I'm currently 217lbs with a gi. Can I drop 10lbs in a month? Sure. Do I want to? We'll see.

Oh! Got a new gi. Blue Vulcan A3. It's light and feels great. Hope that it makes for a good competition gi. Sunny tailored the arm length. It's two fingers from the wrist bone with arms extended but with a little adjusting it will reach the wrist. Can't wait to train in it.

3 for 1

2011-06-22T14:23:00.001-07:00

Trained last Thursday morning, Monday night, and Tuesday midday. I need to deal with an increasingly obvious and absolutely massive hole in my game. What? Cardio. I simply cannot keep up with the class pace and my training partners. Not even close. I'm going to have to work extra hard.

Technique for all three classes emphasized koala guard passes and sweeps. We drilled the same couple of passes against fulling resisting partners for about an hour between the three classes. One of the passes is quite effective (and drilled into my head). The other pass still feels awkward. Especially if the opponent employs a "duh" hook. I say "duh" hook because almost anyone who knows what they are doing would apply this hook and make the pass very difficult. But although I struggled to deal with the hook, others were able to beat my hook without too much trouble.

Rolled with two Browns and a Purple Monday night. Got manhandled by one of the Browns. Must have tapped me four times in five minutes. The other Brown tapped me a couple times, but I had a few sweeps and a slick guard pass (thanks to Revolution 2!). Almost caught the Purple in an arm bar. He almost had me in a front gi choke. Rolled with a Blue yesterday (before losing contacts forced me to stop). Very aggressive. In fact, all training rounds have been very aggressive lately. Have a nice scrape on the side of my face, bruise on my gin, bloody lip, and a blood vessel burst in my eye. Yeah. A lot tougher than I'm used to. I have a lot of work to do...

Heading back to New Orleans to train at NOLA BJJ through July 4 weekend. I've only been gone a few weeks but am already looking forward to training with everyone again.

Color on the Mats!

2011-06-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Work kept me from training today. Bleh. Will do my best to make the 7:30a class tomorrow.

Trained on Monday but either too lazy or busy to write. Showed up for the "Advanced" class Monday night. It followed the "Beginner" class, which was wrapping up as I stretched. Beginner class had about 12-15 White belts and one brand new Blue. As folks started to roll in and suit up for the Advanced class, I started counting upper belts. By the time Saulo lined us up to start class, I counted two Blacks (Professor Saulo excluded), six Browns, five Purples, a dozen or so Blues, and one White. Geez. Some assortment of color! Training didn't go so well. I ate too much too soon before class and felt sick the entire time. Stuck with it though. Struggled terribly with grip fighting and take down setups, learned two neat koala guard pass variations, and had a pretty forgettable three 8 minute rounds rolling with Blues. Just glad I made it through the night without hurling. Hope tomorrow morning is better.

Tight Joints at 7:30a

2011-06-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's class started with a nice slow warm-up. 7:30a class is nice because it's always great to start the day with BJJ. That said, it sure takes a while longer to get the joints moving that early. Felt sooooo tight. Warm-up followed with variations of the muscle sweep and sub transitions. Three days in a row learning variations from the root position (muscle sweep off standing guard break attempt). It's been great. So many options depending on how your opponent approaches the guard break/pass attempt and so many more options depending on their reaction to your response. Love it!

Got a Purple and two Blues for the rolls. 6 minutes with 90 seconds between rounds. Did surprisingly well against the Purple. A couple solid x-guard sweeps and a two or three guard passes, including an x-pass that I've been working on. Rolls with both Blues went better than expected too. A couple more x-passes, x-guard sweeps, a knee push sweep, and two sweeps off a pass (one from spider, the other from lasso). One of the Blues was clearly going light and flow-rolling. Had him in a few bad spots (unusual for this particular blue) and he worked himself out without too much trouble. At one point with the other blue, we were tied up in a knot...almost 50/50ish... I noticed his left leg was caught posting in an odd angle and thought that a slight hip shift, frame, and nudge would make him fall back and allow me to come up on top. Worked just as I imagined it would. Notable because although exhausted I had the presence of mind to recognize the vulnerability, develop an action plan, and implement. Definitely encouraging.

The past few days at UNIJJ have shown me a few areas that need improvement:

I'm getting my guard passed too easily. Bailing to turtle seems to be my default. It's very comfortable - I can usually recover open or half guard from turtle - and if it were a tourney, I'd be avoiding the pass points. But I'm starting to wonder if I should force myself to survive/escape side control instead of bailing. My side control escape to guard recovery is terrible. I felt like tapping (nearly puked) from the Purple's side control alone. Miserable.
I'm losing position too often. I pass guard or take mount only to loose position to half or open guard far too often. I've been quite impressed with how quickly (and instinctively) my training partners have recovered a guard.
My survival/escape skills are slacking. I need to get back to basics and build up.

Oh! World Champ and newly minted Purple Michael Jr. taught today. At 17, he's already an excellent instructor. Check out his 2011 Mundial's highlight vid.

Drubbing

2011-06-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

Arrived a bit early this morning to stretch. Warm-ups and standard drills followed at a good pace. Then open guard maintenance drills...with hands in belts. More of a drill for the bottom than top. Forced emphasis on hips/core movement. One hand (other in belt) next. Surprised how much I sweat and the impact on my gas. Technique picked up from yesterday. Arm bar feign against standing guard break attempt when top guy bases against muscle/under hook sweep. Transition to triangle when s/he defends arm bar. Then switch to proper arm bar if stack prevents triangle finish. Followed with an omoplata to sweep from same standing guard break and muscle sweep defense position. Worked each position many times. Worked up a good sweat. Not typical for the technique portion of class.

Concluded with three six minute rounds. Got a Purple, Blue, and White. Purple pushed my limits the entire time. Not sure I did anything particularly well. He caught me with an arm bar from top. Possibly technical mount when I was in a turtleesque defensiveposition. I knew it was coming and even employed the proper escape technique...at first. Couldn't see it through though. Blue simply destroyed me. He's much bigger. Younger. 4-stripes on his very aged looking belt. Caught me in a choke from north south, a bow and arrow, and omo plata. I really had nothing to offer this guy. It was a drubbing. Pure and simple. Last was a tall, strong, young white belt about my weight. He came on strong. Had to bail to turtle to prevent guard pass. Recovered guard. Caught him with an arm bar and mounted triangle before it was all over. Stretched briefly after class.

Transitioning Schools

2011-06-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving New Orleans around the July 4 holiday to return to San Diego. I'll be in San Diego for at least 6 months and I'm not sure if I'll get another field assignment in the great crescent city. Last Thursday was the first of a handful "last days" training at NOLA BJJ. I'm going to miss the school terribly. I've learned a ton from my training partners and professors. Special kudos to Professor Matthias Meister and Asst Instructor Gavin Murray. Although everyone contributed, these two really helped develop my game during the first year of my journey. I hope to make it back to train with everyone often.

Training at NOLA BJJ last Thursday was good. Got two Purples as the first of what I expect to be several going away presents. Had some good moments. Some not so good moments. Survived one of the rolls with a couple guard passes, couple sweeps, and some aggressive top work (almost had an arm bar from technical mount). Got choked from north-south by the other Purple. Spent most of the roll under his weight trying to figure a way out of north-south. No go.

Although I'm leaving my NOLA assignment in early July, I'm actually in San Diego now through June 20th. Instead of paying visitor fees for two weeks, I signed up with University of Jiu Jitsu. I'm now a team member of Saulo and Xande's flagship academy for the Ribeiro Jiu Jitsu Association. I'm really looking forward to developing my game under the tutelage of these world champions.

Today's initiation class was quite instructive. After a brief warm-up we reviewed a sweep against standing guard and two transitions to subs: omo plata and arm lock. Good stuff. Three 8-min rounds with 1-min breaks between rounds. Got two Blues and a White. I'm a two-stripe Blue, but these Blues are clearly more experienced (and better) than me. On defense the entire time against the first Blue. White caught me in a kimura from north-south. First time I've been caught by a White in over 9 mos. He earned it. Although ~6'2", 225lbs, and 22yrs old, he didn't muscle it. He passed my guard appropriately and secured the position before going for the kill. Solid. Hope he sticks with BJJ. He'll be a great add to the team. Second Blue is bigger than me, but not by much. Apparently an MMA fighter (has a fight this weekend). Did surprisingly well (in my opinion). Got a few key sweeps, guard passes, and escapes. He provoked a tap when he had my left shoulder locked up and I felt VERY vulnerable. I've had two surgeries on that rotator cuff and I just felt like the slightest tweak one way or the other and ... kaput... So I tapped and apologized for being lame. I just don't know this guy and didn't want to risk injury. Quite tired from the 8-min rounds with minimal break, but overall things went well.

Stripe 2

2011-06-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've only trained 1.5x since my last post. Last Thursday (1) and last night (0.5).

Thursday was a good night. Worked two side control escapes. The first from Kesa Gatame and the second from traditional bad spot side control. Rolled with Professor Matthias and a Purple (among others). Pleased with both sessions, although Purple worked me over pretty good. Survived/escaped back attack. Oh. Got a second stripe Thursday.

Last night started ok. I felt well (enough) during pre-class stretches. A larger White asked to roll. I've been watching this guy roll a lot the past month or so and know he's a handful. He obviously has experience. Finished stretching and started to roll. Struggled a bit. He had me in a few bad spots; his top pressure was intense. Great weight placement and distribution. Forced me to bail to turtle. Then flattened me out. Couldn't get hooks. Thank goodness for turtle to x-guard. Managed a couple sweeps. Passed a couple times. Took his back. Mounted. But he had solid technical answers for all of it. Especially impressed with his back survival/escape. Textbook Saulo stuff. Turns out he has a significant rassling background plus no gi experience. Just starting gi. My guess is he won't be a White much longer.

Gassed out. Unusually so. We didn't roll that hard either. Warm-ups were a bit of challenge. Sweep / pass the guard killed me. Had a few sweeps and a couple passes (including a 4-stripe Purple via standing guard break to x-pass), but I literally collapsed when Professor called time. Felt extremely noxious. Sat out technique. Didn't feel any better. Decided to call it a day. Feel fine now. Not sure what was up.

LA State Championship Results

2011-05-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have to admit…my interest in this training log is beginning to flag. I’m cutting corners in my posts and, as a result, the blog’s utility as a training tool is diminished. That said, I’m not quitting. Just contemplating a format and post-frequency change. We’ll see.

I trained last Thursday. Sort of. Work made me very late. Got there about 10 minutes into the technique. I stretched. Then joined the group for the rolls. Got absolutely destroyed by a Purple. Rolled with a couple other Blues and a White. Pretty light going. Just wanted to get the joints moving before the tournament.

Oh yeah. I competed on Saturday. My first tourney as a Blue. Louisiana State Championship. NOLA BJJ did fantastic as a team. Closed out a number of brackets. I had three fights, lost two – both against the same guy.

Master, Blue, Super Heavy division only had two folks. Me and Steven Springer (aka Nemesis). Thought: “Hmm… My normal game won’t work. It doesn’t in training. Why would it work now?” So I implemented Plan B. Go buck wild. Started with a totally botched drop seoi nage. Somehow managed to save half guard. Got the half guard sweep. Failed x-pass attempt. Failed muscle-brute pass attempts as I tried to dodge some wicked open game work. Escaped a triangle shoot. Almost got caught with a second triangle. Got caught in an arm bar on my way out of the triangle. That’s how my foggy brain remembers it going down.

Matched against a seasoned Blue in the first round of the Open (…I assume seasoned because he said it was his 3rd Statewide tourney as a Blue…). Taller than me, but about 10lbs lighter. Took him down. A bit sloppy leg trip. Landed in his half guard. Passed his half guard. Attempted to advance position to knee on belly. He blocked. Switched to north-south. Couldn’t trap an arm for a kimura or other sub. Felt my body rise too high and across his chest center line (from side control) several times. Heard my corner cautioning. Fortunately he didn’t do anything with it. Eventually took his back. He spun around into my guard. Seem to recall shooting an arm bar. Bailed into turtle. Rolled from turtle into an x-guard set up then settled into half guard. Got the half guard sweep. Passed again. Up 14-0 before finishing it with a step over choke from side control. Saulo special. Unfortunately (for him) he responded to the step over by laying flat on his back. That changed my angle of attack and turned it from a true choke to a pure pain submission as the inside of my left knee smashed and cranked on his jaw/neck as it wedged against my left forearm wrist. He yelped a bit as he tapped and rolled over. Didn't get up for a while. Probably didn’t feel good at all. I felt a little bad. I had him crushed. Didn't need to go for the kill. Then again. It’s about the experience. I saw the opportunity for the sub. I took it.

Met Nemesis again in the Open Finals. My Plan B (i.e., spazz) didn’t work the first time so I decided to back off and play my game. I knew he'd beat me, but I was fine with that. Although we share the same rank (1-stripe Blue), he's clearly better than me. No doubt about it. Pulled guard. Worked a bit of lasso and spider. Thought I had a sweep a couple times but his base was impeccable and I couldn’t adjust my hips to recover the proper angle. He eventually broke free and was on his way to pass. I seem recall a bit of inverted spider work and a brief open guard recover before landing in half guard. Unlike our first fight when I got the sweep, he cross-faced me early and hard. I couldn’t establish an underhook and sweep set up. He began to pass. At some point I bailed to turtle to avoid pass points. He ended up getting my back with hooks. Tapped to a choke with only seconds on the clock. I deserved it. I bridged right into his choke. Silly.

I’m sure I have some details wrong. I have videos of my Open fights. (Thanks Matt Washington!). Will post he vids and photos as soon as I get a chance.

Congrats to Steven and the rest of my NOLA BJJ teammates for a great tourney. Competing is a win for your journey, even if you didn’t win a fight. You showed up. You fought. Others didn’t. Ergo you won and they lost. TO PLAY IS TO WIN.

2 for 1

2011-05-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Yes. I've been slacking. Life interrupts. Trained Monday and Tuesday. Here's a brief summary.

Monday

Private with Professor Matthias. Reviewed a takedown combo and De la Riva pass to the "negative side" from Revolution 2. Followed by sweep / pass the guard warm-up and a fairly long stretch of rolling. Completely gassed at the end. Made me weak and queesy for class.

Tough tourney prep the rest of class. Well...tough for most of the class. I worked with a new guy during the full speed partner drills. We went very slowly. I think we had 7 five minute rolls. Tiring.

Tuesday

Starting to taper for Saturday's tourney. I took it extra easy. Almost lazy actually. Got my butt handed to me by a Purple. Caught me with two arm bars and something else...escapes me. The arm bars were slick. Had no idea I was vulnerable until it was too late. Apparently I was pushing up from bottom. I recall using a bit of a stiff arm to help brace him while I attempted to shift my hips, but given the angle, I really didn't think I was vulnerable. Thought wrong. Obviously. I thoroughly enjoyed the schooling.

Observation: Chokes from guard seem to be getting better. Got several chokes using different variations of palms up, palm up / palm down, and even one with one hand.

Drag

2011-05-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

Cutting weight is one of the least pleasant things I've done in a long while. Daily caloric intake under 1200 for 5 days now. And I trained M-Th! Light headed, a bit dizzy, and somewhat noxious the past couple days. What a drag.

205.0 post train last night. 207.6 this morning. Drank a lot of water last night. 208.2 after work today. 212.4 with my lightweight gi. Have to lose at least 5lbs in 7.5 days. If I'm not <203.9 come Monday morning I'm going to abandon ship and jump to Super Heavy. I should have started cutting earlier, but Jazz Fest intervened. If you're not from New Orleans or have never been to Jazz Fest, you couldn't possibly understand...

As I mentioned, I trained last night. Tried to post, but Blogger was down for maintenance. Oh well. I can miss a day.

A Bit Too Much

2011-05-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Exhausted. 90 mins of Bikram Yoga before class tonight. Showed up to class 20 mins early and stretched (not that I needed it). Felt funny. Light headed.

An upper belt asked to roll. Sure. Hadn't rolled with this particular guy in a long time. Months maybe. Passed guard and transitioned to north-south. Tried to lock in a reverse triangle, but apparently I didn't have the arm trapped. As I started to go for the kimura, I thought... "Something's wrong. It cant be this easy." Then I remebered he'd been rolling for quite a while before me. Probably just seeing what I was up to and went along for the ride. Tried for the kimura but couldn't free the arm because I didn't pin the bottom arm with a shin or lock it back with the reverse triangle. Regardless...I didn't have the position so I didn't get the submission. Tried to transition back to side control but I recall that not turning out too well. From then on I struggled to maintain various survival postures. He had incredible control of my legs and hips. Unsettling really. At one point I set up to recover guard from modified inverted spider. Shot the inverted triangle. He struggled. Stepped around my head to negate my angle. I kept it locked and turned attention to his left arm. My real aim was the straight arm lock. But the more he struggled, the more I clamped down on the inverted triangle. Started to stretch him out and squeeze. Again, my goal was the straight arm lock. Got a tap. But not from the arm lock. Not from a choke. Apparently I was straining his neck pretty good. My bad.

Not going to recount the warm up and drills. Drills were intense. I felt like passing out a few times and had to slow down. Took several water breaks. Fought dizziness. Got a judo throw during the take down portion of class. It's one of the throws I learned in Hawaii back in November. The Blue I threw is quite large and heavy with a good base. Pleased with the timing, execution, and result.

Rolls were pretty sloppy. Exhaustion and near delirium made for untechnical sparring. Got two Blues and a Black. Brute force didn't work like it had in recent rolls. Busted posture. Bleh. Not much good came out of the rolls. Black caught me with an Americana from side control and an arm bar from back. I'm pretty sure I tapped to one of the Blues but I don't remember what he caught me with. Anyways...not my best showing tonight.

205.6 post Bikram/training.

Brute Force Works

2011-05-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

5:15-5:30p: Stretched. Felt like an old man. Achy knees and hips. Glad I got there early. Needed that stretch session.

5:30-5:45p: Warm-up / drills. Counted almost 30 on the mats. Lots of big scary White Belts. Couldn't help but go down the line and think, "avoid him, him, him, and...uh...definitely him". Lame I know, but my achy knees and hips were talking for me. Enjoyed the gynastiical natural component.

5:45-6p: Core drills. Butterfly lift/extend drill, guard pull sit-ups, and inverted leg wraps plus spin around. Tough to describe. Partner a few pounds heavier, my height, but much younger struggled. Clearly wasn't used to core movement like that. I think he was a bit surprised by how easily I worked through the reps. Yeah kid...keep training. :-)

6-6:30p: Self defense technique involved two takedowns in response to sucker RNC attempt. First was a standard hip throw. Second was a throw over your leg if attacker bases against hip throw. Both with arm bar finish. Sports BJJ technique involved fundamental guard break to stack pass plus an alternate pass when opponent employs a heavy leg in response to stack attempt. (Thanks again to Matt for pointing out what I missed.)

6:30-7p: Rolls. Think 6min rounds. Groups of three. Got two Blues. One taller and possibly heavier. The other a bit shorter and about 15-20lbs lighter. Both good sweaty rolls. Can I declare victory if brute force worked yet again to counter arm drag and posture busting attempts? This particular Blue (the bigger of the two) is one of four Blues at our academy who give me a heckuva time in guard. Posture busting arm dragging back taking masters they are! Unless he was taking it easy on me, my brute force attempts to keep him down and break his guard seem to work. Didn't have many sweeps tonight. In fact, none come to mind. Passed guard a few times. Got swept a few times. Got stuck trying to pass half guard. Like a chess match. We both know Saulos half guard passes and sweeps fairly well. Turned part of a roll into an interesting stalemate. Got a kimura from north-south. Got a tap from a sloppy triangle during transition to straight arm lock. Got to knee on belly once. Started to set up baseball bat choke when time called. Lost a couple arm bars from mount. Solid defense and my poor sense of timing...lost the sub. Position before submission!.

208.2 after training. Can I lose 7-8lbs in 10.5 days? Gonna give it the old college try.

Am I Serious?

2011-05-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

About making Heavy? LA State championships May 21. Weighed in a pudgy 217 this morning...in the buff...pre-breakfast. Hmm... Not exactly on track to make 207.5 in a gi...especially when weigh in for my division appears to be ~3p. Good news is that 217 was likely lots of water and backed up piping from a crazy fun weekend of Jazz Fest food and drink. I was 209 after training tonight. 200-201 nude in 12 days is doable. Do I have it in me? Am I serious? Time will tell.

6:45-6:50p: Work kept me. Missed my private and warm-ups. Brief stretch and jumping jacks before joining class.

6:50-6:55p: Sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into a Blue's guard. He almost always beaks my posture and outright owns me...well just about always actually...but especially when I'm in his guard. Decided the only way I had a chance to survive was to employ brute force. Kept thinking about the Gigante seminar a while back. "If you no get it, squeeze harder. Still no get it? Push harder. No? Pull harder." Or something like that. You know. Big guy jiu jitsu. Ha. Yeah well it worked. Sort of. Managed to stop the arm drags and other posture dominating maneuvers. Did have my posture busted a couple times, but forced a recoveries. Not sure how it happened but I ended up in his half guard. Missed a cross face and got swept.

6:55-7:05p: Pummeling and drills to double under hook. Wow I'm bad at this stuff.

7:05-7:20p: Rolls. Six 6-min rounds. Got a Blue and five Whites. Blue and I kept bumping into guys rolling around us who were taking up about twice as much space as they should have. A bit annoying but whatever. He caught me with a choke. I think it was from half guard (him on top) but maybe a loose side control. Not sure how I got into the mess, but once in I couldn't get out. Rolls with the Whites were pretty loose. Just went with the flow. Caught a couple chokes and arm bars but only if they gave it to me. Pretty tired after class. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Tourney Prep = Grueling

2011-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

6:30-6:45p: Stretched. Very sore today. Tired too. Left knee felt strange. Weak.

6:45-7p: Purple called me over for a warm-up roll. Struggled a bit, especially in his north / south. Couldn't trap an arm and recover guard via inverted and spider like I'm used to. I seem to recall tapping to something at one point. Think I got a sweep too. Not sure though. Recollection fuzzy.

7-7:20p: Warm-up / drills. Solid. Just what I needed.

7:20-7:30p: Stand up. Grip fighting and take down set ups. I'm so bad at stand up... That said, I timed a guard pull to de la Riva set up on a Purple.

7:30-7:45p: Sweep / pass the guard. Passed a White's guard. Got a couple sweeps and gave up my spot. Got swept by a Black.

7:45-8-45p: Rolls. 10 rounds, 5 minutes each. 2 minutes between rounds. Pretty brutal. Won't even try to recount each roll. Things I did well? Not much. Got a few sweeps on upper belts. A couple successful rolls from turtle into x guard with sweep finishes. Things that didn't go so well? Lots. Blue triangled me from mount. Posture destroyed by multiple Blues. Tapped when I got a finger stuck in a Blue's sleeve. That sucked. Thought it was dislocated for a moment. Turned out to be ok. Lost countless guard passes and top position over turtle. Got swept a bunch. Overall sloppy and lazy rolling at times. Too aggressive with a couple smaller Whites. Should have worked with them a bit more. Had my posture completely busted by a few Blues and a Black. Gave up my back a few times. Almost Broke a White's fingers when I literally fell onto his stomach after a sloppy torreando. The list could go on...but there's no point. Tired rolling is sloppy. Need to tighten up.

Still Can't Pass His Guard!

2011-05-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

5:20-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / drills. I led. Didn't push it too hard. Incorporated a few gynastica natural moves and odds and ends I picked up from UNIJJ.

5:50-6p: Sweep / pass the guard. Started on bottom. Big White stepped in. When I say big, I mean big. 300+ lbs? Mid 30s. Apparently he trained at the gym a year or so ago and decided to come back out after finding this blog. Wow. Really? So cool to know this training tool may be making an impact in our gym. Anyways... He crushed my guard. Bailed to turtle to prevent the points. Prevented points but for the purposes of the drill I was done. Stepped into a White's guard next. Passed via sloppy knee/hip slide. Sloppy. A bit embarrassed actually. Remember getting a sweep next, but don't recall the details. Time.

6-6:30p: Technique. Self defense included punch defense to a throw with arm bar finish. Then went to classic arm bar from guard and a triangle from guard.

6:30-7p: Rolls. 5-6 minute rounds. Crowded mats. Groups of 3. Got a Blue and a White. Blue .... ARGHH.... Can't pass his guard. Rolled with him a couple weeks agp. Same story. Spent entire roll in his guard. He almost swept me a couple times via scissor variation. Tough time. Still can't pass his guard! White. Wow. Man Dime has improved a ton. Even the other Blue acknowledged. His guard felt solid. Grips too. Fantastic hip movement. His recent 4th stripe promotion = well deserved! A Brown called me over to roll in between Blue and White. Geez. Some of the tightest guard passing I've ever encountered. He had complete control over my hooks and hips. Passed and secured side control with ease. At one point I had a front gi choke set from guard. Didn't have it deep enough and held on far too long. Burned a lot of energy and he turned it into a pass. Swept him twice. So he says... I recall only one sweep. Escaped an arm bar from turtle. Saulo's trusty escape continues to pay dividends.

Slipped Away

2011-05-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

Trained tonight. Gynastica Natural warm up. Nice for a change, although there wasn't enough room for the inverted rolls. I really need to work on those rolls too. I should be much better at the inverted rolls given how flexible I am, but no...terrible.

Sweep / pass the guard went ok. Got two sweeps. One sweep off a pass via lasso and a knee push. Had a takedown opportunity from a scramble after failed lasso sweep, but gave up my spot to the scramble effort. Got swept after failed knee/hip slide pass when the Blue turned it into an arm drag and took my back. Worked a lot of takedown technique and drills. Then rolls.

Got a Blue and a White. Rolled with the Blue twice. Think they were 6 minute rounds. White is a really big younger guy. He's improved a lot. Got a baseball bat choke from knee on belly. One successful transition to x guard sweep from turtle.

Blue has always given me trouble. Faired better tonight than any prior roll. Passed his guard a couple times, but it never lasted. Not sure I would have got the points. At one point I thought I had him in a front gi choke, but as I adjusted to get a deeper collar he escaped. Had a grip on a collar for a clock choke or bow and arrow set up from turtle, but...again...as I adjusted for a deeper grip he defended and escaped. Heard Professor Saulo's voice from Revolution 1 in my head: "you no need a deep grip for this choke...".. I let the subs slip away. Arghhh. Escaped an arm bar attempt. Lots of scrambling. Transitioned from turtle to x guard, don't think I. Got the sweep. Seem to recall it turning into a bit of a scramble. Had trouble defending cross face while working spider from inverted. Overall, very pleased with my two rolls with this particular Blue.

Trained with a big strong young White after class. He swept me with a hip bump to mount right out of the gate, Nice move! Crushed me several times and almost passed my guard, but I kept my cool and either recoverd or bailed to turtle. Another transition to x guard sweep from turtle. Ended up with an arm bar and a kimura from inverted triangle (top position facing north-south). Worked arm bar escapes with him before calling it a night.

Not Even Playing the Same Game

2011-05-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Trained at UNIJJ last Thursday night. No time to post after class and headed to Vegas for the weekend...so this short post will have to do. Good solid warm-up. Technique was review from Monday's class. Chokes from mount. Rolled with a White, Orange, Blue (ha!), and Purple. White and Orange rolls were instructive rolls. The Blue destroyed me. Seriously destroyed me. Big guy. Heavier, taller, younger, in better shape... He only caught me once (one of slickest arm bars I've ever been caught with), but that doesnt count. He clearly wasn't trying. Like a cat toying with a mouse. We weren't even playing the same game. Roll with the Purple went much better. He's older, about 10lbs lighter, and far more experienced. Fun roll. I felt a bit sloppy, but the Purple complimented me after saying he liked rolling with me cause it's tight and technical. I'll take it. Especially after getting my arse handed to me by the young Blue.

Glimpse

2011-04-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Trained yesterday. Blogging today.

9:10-9:30a: A bit late start this morning. I was the only one at the gym at 9am. Everyone seemed to showed up a couple minutes after 9a. Warm-up / drills. Worked up a good sweat.

9:30-9:40a: Mount escape drills. Upa and elbow/hip escape.

9:40-10a: Technique. Multiple chokes from mount. Palm up / palm up, palm up / palm down when opponent bridges, palm up / palm down when opponent defends choke, and transition to bow and arrow using your gi lapel. The lapel move seemed a bit gimmicky. If you can't get one of the other chokes, I don't know how you'd pull off the gi-assisted bow and arrow. Not quite ready to add that to my repertoire.

10-10:30a: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got a Purple and two Blues. Roll with Purple went very well. Got a sweep from butterfly setup. Textbook from Revolution 1. Lots of lasso and spider work. Kept him on guard and off balance a lot, but I couldn't finish other sweeps. Roll with second Blue went well, but not as well. I got a knee push sweep (again...textbook Revolution 1), but not much else. Got stuck in his half guard. He swept me. So smooth and calm. Unsettling really. I didn't feel too threatened, but I was definitely on defensive most of the roll. After 6 minutes, I was gasping for breath. He wasn't sweating. Roll with last Blue went much better. Struggled to pass guard. Eventually passed. Got a kimura from north south. After we reset he began attacking, aggressively. Almost caught me in an arm bar from x-pass. Pretty slick combo. Bunch of turtle work. Some lasso and a lot of spider work. He hipped into it a lot and as he would break one grip, I'd switch to lasso or reset the other spider. Every time I'd move for a sweep, he'd switch it up. Got a slick sweep. Not sure what I did, but in the middle of some intense pressure I noticed an opportunity to compromise his balance with a slight nudge to the knee. Over he went.

Fun training. I'm starting see things that I've never seen before. Opportunities for sweeps mostly. Especially during transitions. As my opponent defends against one sweep set up, he usually opens himself up to something else. I'm not executing as quickly as I'd like, but I'm stoked to be recognizing opportunities. Feel like I got a glimpse into my future game.

8 Minutes with a Legend

2011-04-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

5:45-6p: Arrived at UNIJJ early and stretched. Recognized about half of the guys, but most I'd never seen before. 20+ on the mats; most Blues, a few Purples, a Brown plus 4 or 5 Whites.

6-6:20p: Warm-up / drills. Loved that I could remember how to count in Portuguese.

6:20-6:45p: Drilled 4 sit up guard sweeps that they had apparently learned during the week. All but one were completely new to me. Professor Saulo tried to help me with a couple. But having never seen them, it was hard to pick it up on the fly. We switched partners a few times with the top guy trying to maintain balance and the bottom player working for one of the four sweeps. Floundered a bit...

6:45-8p: Rolls. 8 minute rounds. The class split up into two groups. All the top ranking guys were in the first group. I was in the second group with a few other Blues and 4 or 5 Whites. Each group rolled 8 minutes and rested 9 minutes (1 min between rounds). Professor Saulo rolled each round. I got paired with two Whites, a Blue, and...totally unexpected...Saulo Ribeiro himself.

Played a ton of catch and release with the first White. He was a little smaller than me and has been training only 4 months. Got to work on all sorts of things I normally don't get to work on. Went very slowly, tried to execute the transitions as tightly and controlled as possible. Plenty of time to think about combos. Some worked well like the top of turtle to back to hooks to bow and arrow set up and transition to arm bar when he defended the bow and arrow. Even employed the gi lapel arm bar from back we learned at the Gigante seminar a couple weeks back. I didn't finish any of the sub set ups, although he tapped to one arm bar before I really had anything. I would have let it go if I had secured the position. Lots and lots of sweeps. Of all types. Just about everything in my arsenal plus a new one from open guard I improvised. Basically a whizzer with my leg. Brought my left leg all the way outside his arm, under the arm pit and across his chest with my toes in right arm pit. Then brought my right leg to span his lower torso with a hook on his right hip and my knee against the front of his left hip. Dove low and underhooked a leg, then rocked.

Tried the improvised open guard sweep twice against the Blue during my next roll. It worked again...twice. Landed in a clean knee on belly the second time. Interesting. Seems to be so effective it must be a real sweep and I just hadn't learned it yet. Passed guard a couple times. Transitioned to mount to technical mount. Got an arm bar from technical mount. A bit sloppy because he fought like mad to escape. But I stuck with it and worked for the angle and finish. Fun roll. I was surprised how fast and hard he came at me. Think I did a good job slowing him down and bringing him into my game.

Professor Saulo called me over for my third roll. I was sooo nervous. He started with an open combat base. I immediately grabbed his lapel and attempted to shoot one of his butterfly sweep techniques from Revolution 1. He based out and I had him in the air a bit. Couldn't finish the sweep. He passed and didn't move too much. Secured a good side control posture/defense with my knee and elbow touching, but I couldn't advance past that point. As I'm writing this I realize I should have used that knee as leverage, changed the angle of my body and recovered guard...drats. At one point he got knee on belly. It was a friendly knee on belly. I've heard Saulo's made many black belts tap just from knee on belly. He was being very kind. :-) I tried to recover half guard - a technique Professor Matthias showed - but he was so tight and against my side I couldn't stuff the foot. He transitioned to mount. I struggled a bit to establish mount survival posture. Got the frame/brace so he couldn't advance higher, but I couldn't get a leg free of the grapevine to lay flat on the mat. He went for a one arm choke. Then I completely blew it. I bridged directly into the choke and had to tap. Had I bridged the other way, I probably could have survived. As soon as I tapped I said, "What was I thinking going that way?" Professor said with a chuckle, "Right. You make it easy for me." A little later in the roll the Master allowed two sweeps. I think he was just flow rolling. No way I really got those sweeps. One was from butterfly. The other was the first sit-up guard sweep we drilled earlier in the evening. I don't know the sequence, but at one point he attacked my right arm from technical mount. I was waiting for the leg to come over to apply the trusty Saulo arm bar escape, but he was so quick I missed my opportunity. He had me flat on my back and my defense attempts were ultimately futile. He finally got tired of waiting to see what I'd do and finished. I showed him the trusty escape and he said that was still the right thing to do. I thought I could only go for it during the transition (as the leg comes over). He showed me how to thrust the elbow up - "like you gonna elbow me in the mouth" - to get the angle even when in a bad spot. Nice! It was an amazing experience. He felt like a million pounds on me. He made me squirm...a lot. Loved every second of those 8 minutes.

My last roll was with a White. Taller guy visiting from Hawaii. Apparently a professional skate boarder. He was pretty aggressive and bit spazzy. Totally unpredictable. He actually got me in a bully headlock at one point. Escape was simple, but I was a bit perplexed. Also had to escape sloppy knee bar and heel hook attempts. Really. One of the Purples stopped us to explain the rules. Glad I didn't have to say anything. Could have tapped him many many times. At one point I had him in a bow and arrow set up. Released the choke and he basically gave me his arm. I was so surprised I didn't even touch it. I just moved and kept the roll going. At another point I had him mounted and had DEEP palm up palm down choke grips. Rather than defend the choke, he sunk in his own grips. Again. Quite surprised. Didn't finish, just moved on to something else. My goal with him was to just keep the game moving and work on balance from the top game.

Picked up a copy of Revolution 2 after class. A Purple who knows me fairly well had some great compliments. Said my game has improved significantly. Really liked the open guard, especially the lasso, and butterfly work. Said I missed a transition to x guard from a butterfly sweep, but other than that he seemed genuinely impressed with the improvement since my last visit to UNIJJ in February. It was nice to get such kind words from a very experienced Purple.

This Stuff Actually Works!

2011-04-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Was supposed to take off Wednesday night, but showed up to work with a co-worker on his second day training.

6:20-6:50p: Stretched with the co-worker and showed him some of the standard drills we often do during warm ups.

6:50-7p: Upper belt approached and asked if I wanted a warm up roll. He'd been training open mat for an hour or more. Went through a couple blacks, a brow, and a purple before. Said he had gas in the tank for one more before having to take off. Started in his guard. Grip fought a bit and stood up. He opened. Established combat base and began to work a knee / hip slide. He went for the arm drag to back. Basically rolled into him and pulled half guard. Remember setting up a baseball bat choke from half guard and baited him for the pass, but didn't have a very good angle and he escaped. I don't remember a lot after that other than the fact that I was on bottom a lot and he felt VERY heavy. No longer a warm up roll when all I could think about was how badly I wanted out from underneath him. Although a little lighter than me, he distributes his weight very well. I recall successfully rolling from turtle to modified x guard. Didn't last long, but the roll to x guard is something I'll be looking to try more. Near the end he had me in north south. Fought for an inverted spider. Got it. Then shot the inverted triangle. Locked it in, extended hips to break down posture and destabilize, then attacked the arm he used to base out. Got the straight arm lock. I'd been working on that particular flow (turtle to inverted spider to inverted triangle to straight arm lock) with Professor Matthias for a few weeks. I'd failed to convert multiple times in the past attempts. Got lucky this time. Wouldn't presume to think I could pull it off on an upper belt again any time soon. But the moment I realized I got the tap, the first thing that came to mind was: "This stuff actually works!"

7-8p: Warmed up and then worked with my co-worker friend through the end of the technique portion of class. We worked three half guard passes. I'd seen all three before (very similar to three passes Saulo shows in Revolution 1), but it was a good refresher and opportunity to work the techniques very slowly.

Can't Pass His Guard!!!

2011-04-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

5:15-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / standard drills.

5:50-6p: Partner drills. Guard sit ups, climb around the standing guy without touching the ground (couldn't do it), leap frogs, and leg lifts.

6-6:30p: Technique. Self defense response to sucker bear hug. Sports BJJ technique involved a flow. Escape from busted posture to guard break to stack pass to side control. Then escape from side control (via north-south defense and closed guard recovery).

6:30-7p: Rolls. Crowded mats. 30 strong! Groups of three. Got two Blues. First Blue is in High School. Got his Blue the same time I did. Have always struggled in this kid's guard. Today was no different. He has a WICKED hip bump sweep. Spent almost the entire roll defending the hip bump. Finally got the guard open. Struggled to pass... Fail. Repeat fail. He recovered closed guard. Then got the hip bump to mount...just as time called. Have always had trouble with the second Blue. Usually taps me via omoplata or kimura from north south. Faired much better tonight. Swept each other back and forth. I don't think either of us passed guard. Both of us turtled or recovered. Pleased with one sweep from turtle to side control when I trapped an arm. But he recovered open guard before I could secure side. Fun roll.

BTW: Assist to Matt Washington. Helped me remember details from tonight.

More Co-workers!!!

2011-04-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

5:15-5:45p: Stretched. A lot. Felt great.

5:45-6:15p: Private with Professor Matthias. Worked triangle finishes. Been having trouble finishing lately. He confirmed that I'm not doing anything really wrong, my execution has just been slower than my opponents ability to regain posture and escape. Learned a cool trick to break posture. Professor said it's sort of dirty. Perhaps for the tournament bag-o-tricks. Also learned a transition to arm bar that saves a bridge off my weak neck. Pretty slick. Me likes. Reviewed a few of the techniques from the seminar, including baseball bat choke (plus a variation from guard that Gigante didn't teach), a guard pass (plus a variation when in full butterfly that Gigante didn't teach), a couple of the takedowns, and attacks from the back. He showed a transition between two of the back attacks that I didn't recognize (and Gigante didn't teach). Finished with a 6-8 minute roll. Stopped a few times in the roll to ask what he did. One was a half guard recovery from knee on belly...very simple and obvious. Can't believe I didn't see that before. Second was a sweep worthy of You Tube. I went flying over and on my back. Felt like I was 5 feet in the air! He basically took advantage of a hole in my knee or hip slide pass. Need to tighten that up...and learn start using that sweep when others try to a sloppy pass! Aside from those teachable moments, the roll was pretty sloppy on my part. Was much happier with my performance on Saturday.

6:15-6:30p: Reviewed some of the techniques from the seminar. Got in a discussion of difference between clock and baseball bat chokes. Then I got stupid. Showed one of Saulo's transitions from clock to bow and arrow. Accidentally pulled the guy helping us out back and rolled his ankle. Felt so bad. Dumb move Rick, dumb move. Hopefully he's not really hurt. How did I get so carried away? Freaking amateur.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / drills. A co-worker we've been courting for a while now showed up. If he sticks around, that will be 6 from the office plus one of our " clients" who showed up for his first class on Saturday. Another co-worker started kickboxing last week. Wowzers! Worked
with my co-worker on hip shrimps while the others did the standard drills.

6:50-7p: Sweep / pass the guard. Worked with the co-worker on basic guard posture, a break, and stack pass set up.

7-7:30p: The ever vigilant Matt Washington pointed out that my original post omitted a very important part of class. Geez. How did I forget 30 minutes of half guard technique? I remember two sweeps (one similar to the sweep Professor used against me during our pre-class roll) and one guard recovery option if opponent bases out in response to sweep attempt.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got a Blue, White, and a Purple. Blue always gives me problems in his guard. Perfect opportunity to work from his guard. We grip fought and I struggled to maintain posture for a couple minutes. Not sure if I broke his guard or if he opened just to get beyond our stall. Tried a standard guard pass from combat base. Got something wrong. Was off balance not too long into the pass attempt. Had to base out and knew I was going to get swept. It wasnt a matter of if...just when. So I fought for a favorable position and allowed the sweep when I calculated it would put me in the best open guard position. Worked from open guard, but couldn't get a sweep before time ran out. White is fairly new. Been taking kickboxing for a while. Tall, strong, athletic... Powerful. He'll be a monster when he gets some technique. Got a couple sweeps. Arm bar from guard and a bow and arrow. But not without a struggle to maintain composure under some real pressure. Purple was apparently one of the founding NOLA BJJ members. I hear he's been away for a few years. Smaller, fast, extremely athletic. Very technical. I absolutely LOVED this roll. He gave me a real hard time, but I managed my share of guard recoveries and escapes. No sweeps. Shot a couple I'll-timed triangles. Fail. He worked a lot of inverted guard. First time I've worked with someone adept with inverted guard. It was a pain in the arse! Several times I thought I was about to pass guard...he recovered...via inverted. Forced me into sloppy land a bit more than I'd have liked. I hope to have the pleasure of working with him again...soon...and often!

4+ hrs yesterday

2011-04-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

A day late...
10:15-11a: Private with Professor Matthias. Reviewed a half guard sweep from Revolution 1 (chapter 11). Reviewed guard passes. An escape to guard recovery from turtle. Triangle from inverted that is really a distraction to get a straight arm lock. Finished with a 7 or 8 minute roll.

11-11:20a: Warm up / drills.

11:20-11:30a: Sweep / pass the guard. Got swept twice by same blue. Made same mistake twice. Geez. Don't remember much else.

11:30a-12p: Technique. Arm bar variation from closed guard that used opponents gi to trap the arm, Also a slick choke from closed guard involving the lapel. Also a sweep that involved an inverted roll. Struggling to remember the details though. Probably forgetting a technique or two.

12-12:30p: Rolls. Got two Blues and a White. 6 minute rounds. First Blue destroyed me. Tough roll. Caught in two arm bars. Thought I was going to escape both, but no luck. Played a lot of catch and release with the other Blue who recently relocated to our school. I was impressed with his x guard break and pass reflexes. Caught the White in a bow and arrow, but really had to work for it. Also impressed with his cross face instincts from top half and side control.

2-4:15p: Fabio "Gigante" Villela seminar in Hammond, LA. Big guy Jiu Jitsu. Started with take downs. Three variations from the same basic set up. Learned a new grip technique that could come in handy some day. Worked some guard passes that differed slightly from passes I'd seen before. Learned a baseball bat choke for the first time as well. Quite effective. Spent a lot of time on various attacks from the back using your gi lapel. The chokes didn't seem very realistic but I liked the arm bar.

One Year

2011-04-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

April 14, 2010: Stepped onto the mats for the first time. I was almost dead after 15 minutes of warm up. Mike (Purple), the guy who brought me, saw me in a wrecked state, smiled, and said with a chuckle, "The easy part is over man!". He wasn't joking. Almost puked, had a horrible achy night sleep, and could hardly walk the next day. But I was hooked. From day one. Not going to do a lengthy recap. I'm stronger, healthier, feel 10 years younger, more confident (in general), happier and, perhaps the coolest part - I've made many new friends. A few injury setbacks notwithstanding, I don't see how my first year could have been better. One thing I know for sure. This training log has been a tremendous complement to my training. Because I know I will write about my training, I pay more attention during class. Moreover, writing about what I just went through each night is similar to meditation. I have to replay the night in my head and internalize the night's lessons. It has to have helped my game.

5:20-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:55p: Extended warm up / drills. Had a very good sweat going.

5:55-6p: Abbreviated sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into Purple's guard. Got swept. Stood up. He opened and sunk a De la Riva hook. I tried to counter and he switched to something I've never seen before. Tried to counter that and it was as if he expected my response and dropped me. Impressive. Wish I knew what he did. Stepped into another Purple's guard. Passed via a very assertive knee slide. A bit muscly, but it's a start. I've been working on the pass for a month or so know and Professor's advice to be a bit more aggressive. It feels sloppy and muscly but it's working. Perhaps with time I can continue to refine and pull it off with more finesse. Blue stepped into my guard. He stood up. Dropped him with a classic under hook and hip twist on the thigh / dead angle knee. Professor called time so I couldn't attempt to finish and transition to mount. This particular Blue has always scrambled out when I've employed that sweep so I need to work on the transition. Next time.

6-6:30p: Technique. Two self defense techniques. Responses to sucker RNC attempts. First is a standard hip throw. Second is a take down if attacker inserts a knee / leg between your legs to prevent the hip throw. Followed up with two subs from closed guard. Straight arm lock via whizzer plus a shoulder lock option in response to typical whizzer defense.

6:30-6:55p: Rolls. Groups of three. Five or Six minute rounds. Got a Green and a White. White is roughly my size with more experience. Good rolls. X-guard work with the Green. For some reason I find lots of opportunities to work x with her. Possibly because she's so much more flexible than most guys. She thwarted many choke attempts from back, mount, and technical mount. Good survival skills. Found out she came from Rafael Lovato's school. Explains the Green Belt. Ribeiro schools do the yellow, orange, green steps for adults. White dropped me on my butt in a failed standing guard pass attempt. Pretty slick. Got a couple knee slide passes. Straight ankle lock, front gi choke, couple of sloppy kimura's from north / south. Also got a tap from a Gogoplata set up. I had the shin under the chin and started working to lock it in with my other leg. He started struggling a bit and thought he was going to escape. Started plotting a transition to omoplata when he tapped.

6:55-7:05p: Young, big, very strong White asked to roll before calling it a night. Ok. Why not? He started in my closed guard. I opened and he put on some serious pressure. Obliterated my open guard but never secured side control. Inverted to open recovery. Triangle attempt failed. But got an arm bar from a transition. Straight ankle lock failed as well. He forced me to bail to turtle a couple times. Tried to take the back. Got stuck. After the roll, showed him a couple options to either take the back or transition to technical mount.

Shot a few triangles tonight. All failed. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but my triangle success rate is abysmal. Will work on it with Professor Matthias at our private Saturday morning.

Stripe 1

2011-04-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Not enough time for a proper post. Arrived at 5:20p. Left at 7p. Led warm ups. Got a sweep off a pass (blue). Not much else during sweep / pass the guard. Techinque = Guillotine choke and escape. Closed guard grip break to whizzer to straight arm lock. Rolls. Groups of three. Got two Blues. Both within +\- 10 lbs or so. Rolls went well. Some good. Some bad. Got a messy kimura on a Blue. Shot a couple triangles. Fail. Not bad night though. Got my first stripe at the end of class.

Elixir

2011-04-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

A substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely. --Webster

Ok... Not indefinitely, but I am really starting to feel like I'm getting a bit of mojo back. Neck feels good. Training is progressing well enough. Trajectory looking good for the LA State Championship on May 21.

6:25-6:30p: Stretched.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-ups / drills. Including 6 min abs. Had some lower back cramping, but not too bad.

6:50-7p: Sweep / pass the guard. Started on my back. Very experienced blue stepped in. Almost swept him from closed guard via Saulo special. His base is great so he recovered no prob. Opened to lasso and switched to a spider variation. Ended up with a sweep off a pass. That was the first time I'd managed to do anything against this guy. Another Blue stepped in. Got the sweep, but I don't recall exactly how. Big White stepped in next. He wanted to start open. Ok. Heavy base and clearly a wrestling background. Couldn't get him off base at all. He smashed a sweep attempt and came down on my side. I had full contact shield between my knee and elbow so he hadn't technically passed. He stopped and proclaimed the pass. No problem. I showed him my contact and said, "not really, but close enough.". Stepped into a huge Blue's guard next. He has a reputation for rolling really hard. Stood up and broke his guard. Worked a knee slide pass I've been working with Professor Matthias. Almost had it. Almost. He scrambled out and recovered full guard. Busted my posture in my process. Ended up sweeping me via kimura attempt. I gave up the sweep to defend the kimura.

7-7:05p: Half guard drills. Full speed sweep / passes. Top guy picked the starting grips. Tough. Tiring.

7:05-7:30p: Half guard sweep techniques. One from lock down. The other a classic sweep grabbing the foot. Both require using hips or bumps to move your opponent up. Pretty simple detail I tend to forget. Have trouble grabbing the foot. Tend to prefer one of Saulo's variations that does the same thing without grabbing the foot.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Groups of 3. Got 2 Blues approximately my size. Fun rolls. Several sweeps. Inverted work, but not entirely successful. Suspect it was more nuisance than a threat, but did manage a couple open guard recoveries. Got swept. Several times. Almost got choked out from north south. Managed to squirm out. Literally one escape attempt away from tapping. Fortunately I guessed right. Escaped a kimura attempt from north/south. Caught an arm bar after transition from a sweep off an arm bar stack. Very pleased with it because I think it was my first successful combo. Visualized and executed.

8-8:05p: Stretched a bit. Reviewed the choke with the Blue who almost caught me. Still not sure how I escaped. Definitely got lucky. Talked a bit about inverted. I'm fortunately flexible. Put both legs behind my head. Apparently that's not easy to do...

Strong Night

2011-04-05T18:01:00.001-07:00

Walked into class tonight a bit sore and contemplated asking Professor to pair me with smaller newbies to avoid injury. Tonight was the first night I've trained two full classes in a row since early December. Wasn't sure how it would turn out. Turned out fine.

525-5:30p: Stretched.

5:30-5:55p: Long warm-up and drills. Partner drills. Lots of core. Couldn't do the partner push-ups.

5:55-6:05p: Sweep/pass the guard. Started on bottom. Professor stepped into guard. Different Professor than last night, but he stood up and stepped forward. Predictably (especially if he reads this blog), I attempted a rollout sweep. He stuffed it. Passed a Blue's guard. Standing break and step over from torreando set up. Swept a Blue who stood up and stepped in using the Rollout. Not very pretty - and ended up in a scramble - but finished. Swept a White next via Lasso. Ended up with knee on belly. Chants of You Tube from the crowd. Hee hee. Ok...not that dramatic...I'm a legend in my own mind.

6:05-6:30p: Technique. Three front gi chokes from closed guard. The first two are pretty standard. Palm up / palm up and palm up / palm down. The third was tricky. Professor joked that he doesn't do it anymore because it's not fair...he gets it every time. Too difficult to describe, but I couldn't execute. Maybe it was my training partner. Really big guy with tight fitting gi. Just couldn't get it to work...

6:30-6:55p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Groups of three. Got two Blues, roughly my size. Rolls went well enough. Mount, technical mount, a few sweeps. Inverted guard work with the second Blue. A few failed triangle attempts from inverted. Should have gone for a straight sweep, but I wanted to work on the triangle. Fail. Had my guard passed a few times. Recovered guard via north-south and inverted. Apparently kicked my partner in the face. He stopped the roll and asked me to slow down. Sorry! I really didn't feel or see the kick. Definitely unintentional.

6:55-7p: White grabbed me to roll. Big "kid." Collegiate football background. Never rolled with him before. To tell you the truth, I've avoided him. He rolls hard and, frankly, I'm not a fan of getting hurt. Whether stupid or just on an endorphin high from the great night, I accepted. Before we rolled I showed him three sweeps when someone stands up in your closed guard. The roll was fast and furious. Swept to mount and finished with arm bar in 45 secs or so. Second round, same result but it took a little longer. I showed him the mistake he was making that allowed me to get the sweeps. He corrected his mistake and broke my guard. I set the lasso and he smashed through without too much trouble. Bailed to turtle and rolled back to open guard. Set up and completed the knee push sweep. Kickboxing class started so we called it a night. He paid me a nice compliment. Asked me to call him out to roll in the future. Said he learned more in five minutes working with me than he had in a while. I suspect that's because we worked on specific problems he's been having as opposed to techniques of the night that he may or may not be able to employ during rolls. That tells me he may be ready for a private with a qualified instructor. Enjoyed this roll like I imagine my dad enjoyed beating me in basketball as a young man. After working me over, he'd say, "Son. I have to do it now because it won't be long until I have no chance." This kid is very athletic. When he figures this out, I won't have a chance.

Squish Slosh

2011-04-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

That's the sound my neck makes when I move it these days. Thankfully not causing problems (yet), but hearing sounds and feeling the squish is unsettling...to say the least.

5:15-5:35p: Stretched.

5:35-6:20p: Private w/ Professor Matthias. Went over the sweep to triangle from the lasso via stack pass bait featured in this month's Gracie Mag. Although we had some trouble executing as shown in the pic (a step is clearly missing), we adapted and came up with something that felt comfortable for both of us. Executing clearly requires your opponent to be committed to the stack. Worked guard passes the rest of the time. Lots of review, but I learned a de la riva pass that should help me get out of a few sticky situations.

Rolled lightly for a few minutes to end the session. The only thing worth writing about is a sweep that Saulo calls a "Rollout Against Underhook Defense" (Technique 16-3 in Jiu Jitsu University). Professor attempted a standing guard break. He stepped forward and held my lapels to prevent an underhook sweep. I timed release of my guard and rolled out. Got the sweep...eventually. Steps 5&6 didn't go as smoothly as shown in the book. I didn't have full control of the foot and Professor began to step out of my rollout underhook. Had to stand up with his foot and fish the sweep while standing as opposed to kneeling in turtle. Never before did I have an opportunity to attempt this sweep. Never drilled it. Just saw it in the book and on the Revolution 1 DVDs a dozen or so times. My opponents either don't attempt standing guard passes or they succumb to the Classic Underhook Sweep (Technique 16-2). The rollout is only an option if your opponent steps into you to prevent the classic underhook sweep. I've never had a training partner step forward like that during a standing break/pass. Now I know it works. Just need to work on controlling the foot during the rollout.

6:20-6:30p: Stretched and chatted with friends before class.

6:30-6:45p: Warm-up / standard drills. More abs than usual. About 300 reps. I tried to finish the core set with the Gynastica Natural solo drill in this month's edition of Gracie Mag. I'd never tried it before and clearly attempted to do the move too quickly.

6:45-7:05p: Drilled standing grip breaks and take down set ups, a judo hip throw (not good with the judo names), and open guard passes with limited hand use. The top guy got to use one hand. The bottom gal had both hands in belt. Interesting. Didn't do as well as I thought I would. The two-three week white belt ended up passing a couple times and got mount once. I couldn't do nearly as well against him.

7:05-7:30p: Technique. Standing guard break from busted posture. Hands in arm pits. Pop up. Move one knee around and insert into butt crack. Work hands up pants until guard breaks. Then baited stack pass to step through and knee on belly. Finished with a kimura after switching to north-south when opponent pushes on knee. Last technique was a pass to arm bar from double spider guard. Hip in, reach under and secure opposite pant leg, grip a sleeve, then posture up and step back slightly while "unwinding" your opponent. Should end up in position for the arm bar.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minutes rounds. Got a Blue, Green, and Black. Roll with Blue was good. Recall losing a good north-south back position to a strong single leg from opponent's turtle. Only highlight from guard was a dive through from half guard to take the back. Roll with Green was good too. I started off with a relatively easy pass to side to north south to technical mount to arm bar set up. She escaped the arm bar and I was in a bad spot. She solidified side control and I struggled. Couldn't escape. Fought for an underhook. Denied. Tried a normal bridge to guard recovery. Too tight. Bailed to turtle and exposed the back. I don't think she got both hooks, but I was on defensive. Eventually rolled back to open guard. Final roll with Professor was good (enough). I think it was the first time he rolled to finish. Caught me in what felt like a clock choke variation while I was in turtle. Also caught me in an arm bar. Had some tingly fingers during this roll. First time with tingles in a few weeks. Bleh.

Matisyahu

2011-04-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

Saw Matisyahu at the Howlin’ Wolf after class last night. Great show = Late post.

5:20-5:30p: Stretched. 5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. 210 core reps. No problem. 80 push-ups. Finished 90% from knees. 5:50-6p: Sweep / pass the guard. Got swept by a Purple via omoplata transition. Passed a Green via standing torreando variation. Swept a Blue…can’t remember how. Blue passed me via torreando variation. Disappointed because I dropped him on his butt twice when he stood up (using a sweep from Revolution 1), but I couldn’t transition to top quick enough to complete the sweep.

6-6:30p: Technique. Bully head lock take down, escape to arm bar. Standing guard break. Very similar to Saulo’s standing guard break from Revolution 1. Geez. One other technique, but I can’t remember at the moment. Will revise post if/when it comes to me… ***UPDATE*** The other technique was a double leg stack pass from open guard after a standing guard break. Thanks for the assist Matt!

6:30-7p: Rolls. 6 minutes. Got a Purple, Blue, and White. Purple destroyed my posture…repeatedly. Got swept twice from busted posture via flower/upa combo. Managed to reverse both mounts via upa. Done messing with busted posture, I grabbed a high lapel and fisted it down to the mat across his throat. That worked…sort of. Regained posture and opened guard, but got swept via de la riva (maybe tripod). Shot a triangle while he was trying to pass. Timing was good, but his posture timing was better. I let it go thinking I couldn’t finish. Afterwards he told me I shouldn’t have quit. Said I almost caught him and I definitely had his full attention. Interesting.

Blue passed to half guard without too much trouble. Tried to defend the cross face, but he insisted… He passed to side control and got me in a mean cross face pin. Didn’t feel good, but I wasn’t threatened either. We must have sat there for 3 minutes. He started suggesting that I shrimp. Uh, no. He had me so tight and I was so tired, I couldn’t spare the energy to do something I didn’t think I could pull off. Besides, he wasn’t advancing or threatening me. Why waste the energy? Purple reminded me afterward that I should have tried harder to escape because, in a tourney, although a good ref would tell the top guy to advance, it would burn valuable time and I was down on points. He’s right. Need to adapt my survival mindset. Blue finally tried to advance (went to north-south). Started working for inverted guard but time ran out.

Roll with White was fun. Long (and strong) legs. Tight closed guard. Tricky open guard. Encouraged her to work a butterfly hook or two into her open guard. She’s doing remarkably well for only a few weeks into training.

Self Defense Hour

2011-03-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last night was supposed to be an off night, but I showed up for Rusty's (Brown) Helio Gracie fundamentals or self defense class. Glad I did. Although not physically demanding, the techniques taught are a great complement to sports BJJ training. We worked guard recovery and subs (kimura and a choke) plus strike avoidance from a side control wrestler's pin. Also worked strike avoidance and escapes while under mount. I think I'm ready to add Rusty's Wednesday 6-7p class to my two-day per week sports BJJ routine. The neck will let me know if it's too much...

Struggle

2011-03-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

5:30-6p: Brief warm-up with extended core work and drilled six fundamental BJJ motions from back. Should have sore abs tomorrow. Nice!

6-6:30p: Three mount escape techniques. Three Purple belts each showed a different escape. Gayton taught me a new BJJ term: quarter-guard. Almost a year into this sport and I think that's the first time I'd come across the quarter-guard.

6:30-7p: Rolls. Seemed short. 4-5 minutes? Not sure. Got a Purple, Blue, and two Whites. Struggled quite a bit.

Purple caught me in a d'arce. First time I've tapped to a d'arce while wearing the gi in a long while. Caught by the time I realized I was in trouble. Got swept a couple of times, including a tripod that was just silly. I saw it coming and almost didn't care. Retreated to guard. Got a couple of decent sweeps, including a De la Riva and one from butterfly where I trapped the leg ala Saulo's Revolution 1.

One of the Whites gave me a heckuva time. I think he's in high school. Doesn't show up very often. Probably 50-60lbs lighter than me. He took my back and almost got an arm bar. He neutralized my open and inverted guards. Good for him.

Roll with the Blue was, as expected, quite the struggle. I started in his guard and he immediately busted my posture. I really couldn't do anything to regain. He shot a triangle when he probably shouldn't have. Thought I was more vulnerable to the omoplata. Thank goodness he shot the triangle though because I needed a way out of his guard. Once out, I seem to recall that I basically pulled guard. Wasn't going to try to pass again. That said... I couldn't really do anything from guard either.

Last roll with a White who has come a very long way. Felt solid. Left his arm extended and exposed when trying to open my guard. I took it. Arm bar notwithstanding, his game has improved considerably in the past couple months.

Easy Does It

2011-03-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Internet down at my place again. Posting from the i-phone is not my favorite. Will skip the formal post tonight. Work made me 20 mins late to class. Stretched a little and joined the group for a little sweep/pass the guard. Technique included an arm drag to back take set-up followed by a clock choke variation from top of turtle. Rolled with three Whites. Fun, light, working rolls.

Volunteer Co-Instructor

2011-03-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

6:10-6:30p: Stretched. A lot. Felt great. A friend from Howlin' Wolf's Den showed. He trains stand up / striking and some no gi BJJ at another academy. Introduced him to Professor Matthias before class started.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. 6 minute abs.... Bleh. Did more push ups than normal, but more likely because I didn't want my visitor friend to see me doing "girl" push-ups. Lame, I know. I'm human.

6:50-7p: Sweep / Pass the guard. Got swept by a Purple after an improvised response to De la Riva. Passed a White's guard with more weight than technique. Got a nice x-guard sweep on a Green, but only after a healthy struggle. Prediction? Green will be a Blue soon. Gave up the spot to the Green for the excellent effort.

7-7:30p: We had four new students. Professor asked for a couple volunteers to work with them while he taught the advanced class. Another Blue and I volunteered. It was an interesting experience. Never taught a technique portion of class before. We showed a front gi choke, basic posture break techniques, guard break techniques, and I threw in a technique to frustrate an opponent employing a basic guard break technique. Lagniappe. I really enjoy working with newbies. instructing is definitely a separate skill set and I look forward to more opportunities to hone those skillz.

7:30-8p: Rolls. Worked with two of the new guys, including Wolf's Den buddy, Went really well. Wolf's Den buddy's no gi and MMA experience showed. He wasn't spazzy at all. Didn't know a lot of gi techniques, but still adapted very well for the first day in a gi. The other new guy is a very talented kick boxer. I worked with him a bit a few months back when taking kickboxing after BJJ. I really hope he comes back because I think he has a bright future if he commits to the sport.

8-8:05p: Rolled with my co-instructor, a fellow Blue. Fun roll. At one point he took my back and I recall cursing myself for letting him sink in the hooks. I thought I could escape from a modified turtle position but his transition was tight and I didn't have a way out. Managed a couple butterfly variation sweeps and finished a foot lock (while he had my back) and an arm bar that started from technical mount, but not only after a good struggle (including a couple rolls).

Enjoying Inverted Guard

2011-03-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

10-11a: Private with Professor Matthias. Reviewed the open guard sweeps and subs shown in the latest Gracie Mag. The first straight arm lock is about all I'll try to incorporate into my game for now. Worked guard passing most of the session. I have only rare success with the basic pass techniques during live spars. Will keep working on it. Finished with inverted guard from north/south. Looked at a few options for inverted triangle. One results in a triangle finish. Another uses the triangle to lock the opponent while I attack the arm with straight arm lock or kimura. Also played around with open guard recovery from inverted.

11-11:20a: Warm-up/standard drills. Finished about 75-80% of the push-ups from knees. Painful.

11:20-11:30a: Sweep / pass the guard. Sweeping machine today. Think I had 9-10 sweeps. Flower, De la Riva, Sweep off a Pass, and several others I don't have a name for. Guard passing was so-so. I passed both attempts, but they were sloppy passes against smaller Whites. I really should have been tighter.

11:30a-12p: Technique. Review from Thursday with minor variations. Basic stack pass, triangle when stacker is sloppy, arm bar from triangle transition when stacker postures to defend the triangle, and closed guard recovery in response to stack attempt.

12-12:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got a first day White and two Blues. Worked the stack pass technique with the new guy. The rounds with the Blues went well. Did some things well but could have done other things better. Had a real solid open guard with the first Blue and one pleasing sweep. Got a sub too from guard. Had to have been an arm bar. I'm really out of shape because I was nearly gassed after the roll.

All I remember about the second Blue was the awkward execution of a reverse triangle from modified inverted guard. Locked in the reverse triangle, but his inside arm wasn't across his body so I couldn't finish. He stacked and twisted too so both subs i worked on before class were unavailable. Worked for a kimura, but that wasn't happening. Set up a wrist lock and started to apply pressure, but remembered one of our guys broke a poor visiting gal's wrist a while back... Never practiced a wrist lock before so I didn't want to be "that guy" who tries a sub the first time in a roll and hurts his training partner. Let it go and finally angled my body properly for the arm bar. Utterly gassed though when Professor called time.

I'm really starting to like inverted guard. Funny because I transition to inverted guard most often from under north/south. As my side control prevention got better, training partners would go north/south. Inverted guard to guard recovery became my go-to escape from north/south. Now I'm not only comfortable with being under north/south (err...with some training partners that is...), I actually look forward to the opportunity to work out of the position.

12:30-12:35p: After class roll with Brown. Uh...that would be stretching it. I was fully gassed and had nothing. I couldn't do anything right. He basically said I was rolling like a White Belt. Agree...it was a poor showing. Exhausted and demoralized I turned down an offer from a Purple to roll. I hate doing that. Need to get as much time with upper belts as possible. Bleh.

Internet Down

2011-03-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Recently moved to a corporate apartment and still don’t have internet set up. Trained from 5:30-7p last night and wanted to post. This shorter write-up will have to suffice. Enjoyed the inverted guard drills. Techniques = Stack pass, stack pass to guard recovery defense, and triangle if stack passer gets sloppy. Rolled with a Blue, Green, and White.

Blue destroyed me like I haven’t been destroyed in a long time. Kimura, couple arm bars, likely other subs. Had a terrible time in his guard. Posture all busted up. Glad to hear he got a stripe the night before because he’s leaps and bounds better than me. Have a fat lip and red marks on my face. Lovely.

Green Belt roll was fun. She’s new to our academy and has been training a couple years. Not afraid to mix it up with the boys. Worked x-guard set ups, a few sweeps, and some back attack work. Some catch and release. Kept the flow going and kept the heart and breathing rate up. After the roll she asked how it felt and if she was keeping tight. Roll felt good and she was keeping her arms in well and not leaving too much space. I advised her to make it harder to secure spider or pistol grips. Suggested she focus a bit more on grip fighting because I basically had free reign to take whatever grips I wanted. She seemed to appreciate the feedback.

The White is pretty new. She showed up a few weeks ago and seems to have some martial arts background. Notice she attended the women’s class on Monday. Started in her guard. She has long legs and kept the guard closed…tight. I didn’t want to dig my elbows in (try to avoid that in general) and didn’t want to force my way out so I cupped a sleeve and stood up. She asked me to stop and explain what she should do from there. Said guys keep doing that to her. My theory is they do that because her closed guard is so tight the guys stand up so they don’t hurt her. Showed her a classic sweep and she seemed pleased to know there is something she can try when it happens again. Later I passed to side control and she instinctively rolled out and gave up her back. Said she hates side control. Suggested she fight that instinct and instead turn in, shrimp, and connect knee to elbow. She knows the shrimp drills, but probably hadn’t realized the practical application. Enjoy working with new folks who are genuinely interested in learning.

Tourney Prep Mode

2011-03-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to Pans, but a small group will be representing NOLA BJJ at Pans this year. That said, the entire academy is training as if we are all competing in a couple weeks. Fine by me...I'm about 90% sure I'm going to compete in the Louisiana State Championships May 21st. Need to drop 10lbs and get into the comp mindset.

6-6:30p: Traffic forced me to miss my private with Proffesor Matthias. Bleh. Stretched and watched others roll. Managed to get a few tidbits from Matthias anyway. We briefly reviewed a guard pass detail I've been missing, then worked through a couple techniques from the latest issue Gracie Mag.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. Actually managed 10 regular push-ups before finishing the set of 25 from knees.

6:50-7p: Partner drills. Guard sit ups, guard walk around to back, core work, etc. Tried to guard sit ups, but my partner couldn't hold me. Got dropped square on my back. Almost knocked the wind out of me.

7-7:10p Odd sumo-esque push your opponent out of a small square drill. Did well...sometimes. Did terribly most of the time.

7:10-7:20p: Take down drills. Class split into > < 175lbs. Professor called me over to the smaller group. Looking out for my neck. I pulled guard each time. Tried to work a guard pull to de la Riva set up and sweep. Got the sweep on first attempt against a Purple. Never go it again, although I was pleased with the resulting guard position.

7:20-8p: Rolls. Groups of three. 5 minute rounds. Little rest between the back-to-backs. Got two Blues, both lighter and much more experienced. Exhausting. A bit of a haze. Recall getting Omoplata'd and spending a couple minutes fending off an arm bar before finally escaping. Spent a good amount of time in mount, but couldn't do much with it. Made only one weak (and failed) submission attempt (arm bar). A couple good sweeps from open guard. One fantastic sweep attempt from closed guard (opponent standing). Dropped him, but I couldn't transition to mount fast enough and he scrambled to force me to turtle. Spent too much time on the bad end of north-south and side control. Too exhausted to execute what my mind was telling me to do. It was a minor victory. In the past, I'd be so tired I wouldn't be able to think of anything. Tonight I knew what I should be doing, but couldn't muster the strength to execute. Baby steps.

"You Need to be More Assertive"

2011-03-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

Had someone tell me that during the Mardi Gras hiatus... Really? Me? The comment had nothing to do with jiu jitsu, but it made me think. Is my game too passive? Too risk averse? Am I taking chances when I see opportunities? Or do I wait for another opportunity with a higher chance of success? Good questions to ponder during Carnival. Unfortunately I trained so much tonight (completely gassed) that I almost always reverted back to passive energy saving survival mode.

5:30-6:10p: Good, long stretch session. Watched three Professors, a Brown, Purple, couple of Blues, and a White roll.

6:10-7:05p: Open mat. 8-20 minutes each roll. Worked with Professors Matthias and Doc Eddie, a Purple, and a Blue. Exhausting. Utterlly. Attempted two straight ankle locks. Fail. First time trying to execute outside of technique portion of class. One training partner said I was close. I was closer with the other training partner, but could tell he was committed to not tap. No problem. Moved on. Had a couple great sweeps. Got swept a few times. Guard passing wasn't so hot. Pushed myself to the limit (which wasn't very far). Tried to be more assertive with the Blue. He has a great guard. After 15 minutes or so he finally got the hip bump sweep. Professor Matthias caught me in a triangle (but played a lot of catch and release the rest of the time). Professor Doc Eddie caught me in a bow and arrow variation. I might as well have tapped to the Purple. I was worthless. He recognized that and we stopped rolling. I tired. I should have died.

7:05-7:20p: Warm-ups / standard drills. Gassed. Sat out most of the warm up. Finished maybe 20% of the push-ups from knees.

7:20-7:40p: Sweep / pass the guard with submissions. We have a small team heading to OC for Pans. Professor encouraged us to press it. All I remember is doing my best to assert myself. Got a solid knee slide pass on a White. Almost had a nice knee slide with another White, but forgot a technical detail and ended up slipping on my arse. Had my guard passed by a White. No worries though. I was taking chances. Trying to be assertive.

7:40-8:05p: Take downs. I sat out. Wanted badly to participate. Still cautious about the neck.

8:05-8:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds with minimal break. Got two Purples, a Blue, and a White. Tapped to an arm bar (Purple) and the Blue probably would have caught a number of D'arce, gator rolls, or guillotine chokes but I suspect he was wary of my neck. Since I was way outmatched with most of the rolls (the Blue is substantially better than me), the only real chance I had to assert myself was with the White. Took lots of chances. Played aggressively. Got a couple sweeps. Took mount a couple times. Worked choke attempts but he reversed. He was very patient under a lot of top pressure and took advantage of my mistakes. Caught him in a somewhat unconventional arm lock dater he stacked a triangle attempt. Oh...just remembered that I did assert myself a little with the Blue. He forced me to play a little inverted guard. While inverted I attempted a sweep. It rolled him over and I ended up in a pseudo-reverse mount. Didn't have a clue what to do from there and I'm still not sure if I ended up in a better position because the reverse mount didn't last long at all and I think he ended up taking my back immediately after. I still liked to the attempt and may play around with it a bit more.

206.5 lbs post-train, no gi. That's probably 210 hydrated. Need to drop 10-15lbs to return to October/November 2010 weight (and high school weight). Not sure if that's possible given that I've reduced my mat time by 65% or so. . .

Mardi Gras Break

2011-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

No training until next Wednesday. Parades make regular class impossible. The gym will have open mat, but getting there will be almost impossible. Being sidelined by injury is one thing. Being sidelined by Carnival is another. Looking forward to next Wednesday.

Cruise Control

2011-02-28T18:55:00.000-08:00

5:20-5:45p: Great stretching and got to watch even greater rolling. Professors Matthias and Doc Eddie plus the Murray brothers Colin (Brown) and Gavin (Purple). Fun to watch.

5:45-6:15p: Private with Matthias. Mostly guard break/pass review. Each time we review I pick up on a small detail that I've been missing. Will keep using these 30 min privates to drill these basic techniques into my head. He also showed me how to counter a particular half guard difficulty I've been having. Simple solution really. Just never trusted my position/balance enough to even consider it as an option. Didn't have the opportunity to use it today, but I get stuck in the the position often enough it's bound to come in handy.

6:15-6:30p: Stretched a bit more.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / drills. Oddly...breathing a bit more than usual during the jogging portion. Out of shape. Had problems with the push-ups...nothing new.

6:50-7p: Sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into a Purple's guard. Tried Saulo's standing break. Need to do more squats. I couldn't stand up. Ended up with busted posture. Then trapped in a whizzer and he reached under to my cross-side lapel with a tight grip (did I mention my posture was busted?). Sort of a stalemate for a while. Then I got the bright idea to peel his thumb off. Purple (jokingly) cried out for a ref. Didn't know you couldn't peel a thumb. Illegality aside...it worked...but no sooner that I broke the grip and whizzer, he swept me. Standing in line (awaiting my next victim...ha!). Asked Collin (Brown) for suggestions on how to get out of that jam legally. He basically told me I was screwed. In a real roll situation he would have given up the omoplata attempt and work an escape from there. Next up a very large new White who clearly muscled his way through a Blue's guard. Stepped into his guard and he was clearly still in muscle mode. Struggled to maintain posture. Eventually got control, the break, and pass. Took more energy than I would have liked, but technically it was a sound pass. Got a young aggressive Blue next. Almost got a couple closed-guard sweeps. Opened the guard and immediately switched to a spider variation. Then to a De la Riva variation for the sweep. Felt pretty clean. A very large 4-stripe Blue stepped in next. Only seen him a couple of times. Big barrel chested guy. We struggled a bit. He eventually broke and worked a torreando. I maintained and forced him around to north-south. I went inverted with feet into the biceps and spider grips. Shot an inverted triangle with intent to sweep over to inverted mount...but Professor called time as I shot. Could have been interesting.

7-7:35p: Technique. Pull guard to De la Riva set up and standard sweep. Then a switch to a koala-type set-up and sweep. Finished with what to do if opponent employs typical De la Riva defenses. First option to recover and finish De la Riva. Second if they attempt a knee slide pass employed a scissor knee and stiff-arm of their posting arm to drop them on their stomach. Finish by taking the back. All great techniques. I use spider and de la riva a lot. A few of tonight's techniques will go into my arsenal immediately (fingers crossed).

7:35-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got two much younger and brand new Whites plus a more experienced Blue. All three fun rolls. Didn't have to work at all with the White's despit their superior strength and roughly equal or greater weight advantage. Just played around. Sweeps at will. Tons of positonal advantages and submission opportunities. Played a little catch and release, but mostly didn't try to for anything. Took a few opportunities to reset and show a technique or two when they asked what they should do from this position or that. Finished with the Blue. Another fun roll. Got dropped on my arse a few times via tripod. Had a couple sweeps, but couldn't secure the position. Blue is very good at scrambling. Got my back taken a couple times, but avoided both hooks. Breathing quite hard after the roll. Good time.

When in Doubt Improvise

2011-02-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

5:20-5:30p: Arrived early enough to stretch a little. Nice.

5:30-5:50p: Warm up and drills. Did "6 minute abs." Guess that means we did abs for six minutes straight. Felt like forever. Likely 300-400 reps. Also 60 push ups. Well...others did 60 push ups. I did about half that from knees. Did my best.

5:50-6p: Pummeling drills. Got a new White Belt. Know how to pummel, but not well enough teach a newbie. Professor saved the day.

6-6:10p: Judo Ouchi Gari and ankle pick option if opponent employs typical Ouchi Gari defense.

6:10-6:20p: Arm bar drills from mount. 20 ea.

6:20-6:35p: Technique. Mount to key lock (Americana) with straight arm lock and kimura options. Kimura option involved a front roll to finish. Not really a big guy jiu jitsu move.

6:35-7p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got picked by a Brown and two Purples. Got worked over most of the time. Swept a lot. Guard passed at will. Lots of turtle and back survival. Tapped twice (both arm locks). Had a nice improvised sweep. Surprised me. Had some nice hooks and a good grip...then recognized the opportunity to leverage for the reversal when he tried to pass. Couple other sloppy/forced sweeps. A few really solid arm bar escapes. Saulo's trusty escape continues to pay dividends. Took mount on a Purple from back position, but I started with his back so he could work escapes and managed to transition to mount during one of his escape attempts. Mount didn't last long at all. Next thing I know he's setting up an arm bar from back/side. But he knows I like the Saulo escape so he was extremely tight and didn't give me the space I needed to defend. Tried to change to another escape...to no avail. Exhausting but had a great time tonight. A bit unsettling when a roll with a smaller Brown leaves me utterly gassed but leaves him calm as can be. I have soooo much to learn. Love it.

Intrepedation

2011-02-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

(co-author credit to Matt Washington)

5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / drills. Less strenuous than usual from the Purple who led tonight. Managed all push-ups...but from knees only. Still too weak to do "real" push-ups. Noticed a few odd looks from the newer and younger white belts. Yeah...I'm not ashamed. I can't do regular push-ups. Has something to do with my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hyper mobility disorder) or the neurological issues from my two herniated discs in the neck. So what? I'm still here. Trying...

5:50-6:05p: Take down technique/drills. Two basic grip grips to arm drag and single leg take down. Pretty basic, but the single leg was new to me. Emphasis on placing the neck inside the leg and committing to the takedown lest you get caugt in a guillotine. Caused a bit of trouble with the neck. Some tingly fingers. First time with tingly fingers from training in several weeks. Bleh.

6:05-6:35p: Technique. Worked guard posture breaks. A few different techniques. Elbow into elbow. Drop feet, squeeze knees, and raise hips. Jump hips over knee to bait an arm drag and take the back.

6:35-7p: Rolls. 6 min rounds. Huge class. 28 plus two Professors. Groups of 3. Looking around the room, I was a bit anxious about the rolls. Lots of big, strong, young and “green” White Belts. Had premonitions of injury... Fortunately I got paired with two Blues. Both lighter than me, but one was taller. The other was much smaller. Both much more experience. Got two taps. Sloppy arm bar from mount via a couple rolls and Ezequiel from mount via roll to guard. Never subbed this particular Blue so, despite the sloppiness, it felt good enough. Got Omoplata'd by the other Blue. He transitioned to the Omoplata after a failed half guard pass attempt. I knew I was screwed when he recovered full guard (high full guard). My posture was completely busted. After a couple minutes of futile escape attempts, he finally locked it in and I had to tap. Afterward he said that's all he had. BS. He's money. Watched him set up and almost lock in a couple Go-Go Platas... Good stuff. Other than that...rolls were fairly sloppy and muscly. A few cool sweeps and some turtling (mostly stall tactics) but not much else to write home about.

oh...Matt rolled with a blue belt and a white belt. Defended a few arm bars and a triangle attempt. And got caught in an arm bar, kimura, and at least two other submissions. Still, a very good showing.

UNIJJ Open Mat

2011-02-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

11:30a-1:30p: Spent last week in South Lake Tahoe snowboarding/skiing with the family. Thought I'd be too sore for open mat today but felt surprisingly good. Too bad that good feeling didn't last long.

After stretching and a brief warm-up, I grabbed a large White Belt in his late 20s. Said he started in December. Has a rassling background. Rough roll. We went 14 minutes before I got an arm bar from guard. He smashed through triangle shots, half guard, knee push and de la riva sweeps, etc. Got a nice roll over to side control from top turtle position (as shown in Revolution 1). But...mostly...exhaustion.

Got in six minutes with a 20yr old Orange Belt who started training last Aug/Sept when I trained at UNIJJ for the summer. He's much better. Took my back from guard. Didn't see it coming. Crazy strong for a smaller guy. Other than a couple sweeps, didn't have much to offer.

Rolled with two Purples...sort of... So exhausted. Managed to survive, but I doubt they were trying too hard to tap me. One of the Purples danced on my back as I rested in turtle. I admit it...I was stalling...big time. Trying to catch my breath. Lame.

Got a round in with a 16yr old Blue. Small guy. Probably 140lbs. He crushed my guard and half guard. Swept him several times, but he managed to recover in the post sweep scramble. Quick kid. Took my back at one point and had me locked. Couldn't escape...but a well timed scoop ensured he couldn't finish. Spent the last ~90 secs of the roll in this stalemate.

Last roll with the new big White Belt again. More of the same from our first roll. Caught an arm bar from guard. Pretty textbook. Felt good. Could have shot an omoplata at one point, but I hesitated and didn't want to commit. Should have gone for it.

Finished the session working on various open guard sweeps with the White and Orange Belts. Caio Terra's spider sweeps (as shown here), Saulo's knee push and sweep off a pass, also a little De la Riva.

My lack of conditioning was embarrassing. I rolled lazy and gassed. Under the crushing weight of a couple bigger guys the following thought crossed my mind: "This is not fun. Why do I do this? I should quit. Not for the day, but for good." Never had those thoughts before...

205.8 lbs post-train without gi. Not good, but given my lack of training and atrocious diet the past couple months I suppose it could be much worse.

For Posterity

2011-02-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

I trained tonight. Rolled with two Blues. Got my arse kicked. 'nough said.

Ego: friend or foe?

2011-02-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

Foe...

No time for a proper post tonight. Started with a 30 min private with Professor Matthias. Sat out most of the grip break and take down drills. Odd number of training partners and I didn''t want to risk injury. Technique included side control to mount and a triangle transition from side control. 3 rolls. Around 6 minutes each. Got a Blue and two Whites. The blue and one of the whites likely outweighed me. 100% on the guard pass attempts. Major improvement. Roll with the lighter White is the focus of tonight's post. ~20yr olds. Maybe 190 lbs or so. Wrestling background with ~4 mos experience, but he apparently took a few months off. Didn't recognize him. Wild ride. Had I kept my ego in check, I wouldn't have picked him - and I certainly would have forced him to play my game. Alas..I did neither. I chose him and I allowed his pace and intensity to dictate the round. Shot 3-4 arm bars from guard, to no avail. He stacked each and I had to rework guard. Several sweeps including one from spider. Had him in north-south and locked the figure 4 to execute kimura. Had it cranked more than 45 degrees and got distracted. He couldn't be that flexible could he? I lost focus. He managed to escape. I transitioned to arm bar. Had it tight...he didn't tap. Extended hips and pulled harder. Still no tap. REALLY? C'mon. Time ran out. Crazy ego-filled roll. Instead of slowing him down, I went with his pace and shot arm bars when I should have bailed to a sweep set up or side control survival / escape. When he stacked those attempts, I ended up having to sweep from side control or recover guard anyways. At one point he locked in a d'arce set up when i set up a butterfly guard sweep, but didn't know how to finish it. Anyways...ego is my foe. I risked injury trying to show that a Baby Blue Belt, enven a middle aged baby blue, could handle the most athletic and aggressive White. Did I handle him? I suppose. Didn't submit him, but the roll was crazy tough. I could have done a better job controlling the roll. Oh well. Next time.

Routine

2011-02-03T21:18:00.000-08:00

5:30-5:45p: Warm-ups / standard drills. Short. Sweet. Fast paced jog. Good.

5:45-6p: Sweep / pass the guard. Having trouble remembering... Got swept by a Purple. He grabbed my left sleeve cuff and would not let go...Errr...I couldn't break his grip. He managed to work to his knees and set up the take down. Game over. Got a new White Belt next. He's young, strong, athletic...former college football player. Just passed a Blue Belt's guard. I stepped into his guard. He tensed up. Worked a standard guard break to knee slide pass. Didn't take long. He wasn't too happy though. Purple stepped into my guard. Same guy as my first round. He eventually passed. Have no answer to the torreando. While in line I chatted with the new White Belt football player. He just got worked over by a Purple who had him in spider. He seemed a bit frustrated. Wanted to know how to counter. I couldn't help but chuckle. Dude...you've been here 5 days and you think I can explain how to break a Purple's spider grip and pass his guard in a one minute discussion? I showed him how to break the grip, but warned him that a Purple would just shift to something else. Explained that the actual answer to his question is mat time. Nothing beats mat time.

6-6:30p: Technique. Kesa gatame escapes. Three variations. The first I sort of recall from self defense class. The second and third escapes were new. Simple and very effective. Only problem is I don't recall the last time anyone had me in kesa gatame. Professor said Judo folks like to use it.

6:30-7p: Rolls. 4 six minute rounds. Got a Purple, two Blues, and a White. Got tapped by a Blue - arm bar that started from technical mount - I think - but ended up from his guard. I thought I was going to escape. Tapped the White from mount, but not until after he had me in the strangest bear hug after I set up butterfly guard. Took me 2+ minutes to escape. Then after finally escaping he was gassed and needed a couple minutes to recover. I was sort of ticked that I couldn't figure out how to escape the bear hug. Pretty much got worked by the colored belts the rest of the time. None of my bread and butter sweeps were working. Passed with Torreando countless times. Found myself in turtle a lot. Forced to play a little inverted guard several times as a means to escape north-south. The only good thing about that was side control defense seemed solid enough to force transition to north-south. Popped my knee when a Blue passed. Made a loud snap. Felt strange, but no pain. Knee feels fine now. Don't think it was a bad pop. Anywhoo...not impressed with my performance tonight, but not disappointed either. Pretty routine. That's a good thing.

Dropped by Gayton's tonight to pick up a couple tickets to tomorrow's RMMA fight. It's his pro debut. Defending the 185lb title. He's a solid Purple who walks around at 210+ or so. He looked real thin tonight. Hadn't seen him in a couple months. Can't imagine cutting 25 lbs for a fight. Noor is fighting too. He's a new Blue and it will be his MMA debut. I'm supposed to fly out tomorrow night. But I got an e-mail from Continental saying my flight might be delayed or cancelled. The plane is coming from Houston, which is expected to get snow through the night up to noon tomorrow. I'd love to go home for the weekend to see the wife and kids, but watching Shawn and Noor isn't a bad alternative if I can't get out of town.

Feeling Great!

2011-01-31T21:09:00.000-08:00

5:45-6:15p: Private with Professor. Chatted a little about the Strikeforce fights while stretching. Then messed around with the knee bar and omoplata from guard from a Machado you tube clip (thanks Steve!). Followed by 15 minutes or so of rolling. Exhausting. Can't say that I did anything particularly well, but I managed a few sweeps from butterfly set up shown in Saulo's Revolution 1. Doubt theynwere legit sweeps though. We were just goofing off. That said...I was exhausted. First time I'd exerted myself for 15 minutes straight in 6 weeks. Exhausting.

6:15-6:30p: Stretched. Ran out to my car to get an extra gi for a new guy. Lots of new folks lately. Hope they stick around.

6:30-6:50p: Warm up / standard drills. Could only finish less than half the push-ups from knees. Sooooo weak.

6:50-7p: Grip break drills from stand up. Terrible showing. My stand up doesn't deserve a white belt.

7-7:30p: Technique. Side control maintenance and escapes. Transitions to multiple positions, including north/south. Worked with a new White Belt. Although I have more experience/technique, he had more muscle and determination. Threw me every which way...but gassed in the process. Still, I was a bit embarrassed how easily he esacaped...no swept me from...side control.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got a first day White Belt my first round. She said she trained a few weeks in Pensacola at a Pedro Sauer school. 3 weeks? Really? She was pretty solid. Aggressive. Good instincts. Not a bad roll. Got two Purples my last couple rolls. Roll with Purple number one was a blur. I'd rolled with him before, but not like this. Perhaps it was my 6 week hiatus or perhaps he was going easier on me before, but I really struggled tonight. Only thing I remember is he caught me with a straight ankle lock and I escaped an arm bar attempt. Plain tired. After the roll, Purple complimented me on my "A" sweep, but encouraged me to work on transitions to a "B" and "C" sweep when he posts out on the "A" sweep. I wish I understood what he was talking about. I was so stinking tired...I don't recall the "A" sweep or my failure to recognize opportunities to implement "B" and "C" sweeps. I was too tired...it will be a bit of a haul until I'm in shape again. Last roll with a Purple who is commmited to working guard passes. He passed my guard every time, but I did my best to frustrate his attempts. Wore myself out even more in the process.

8:30-8:35p: Worked with a White Belt after class. Mostly guard passes. Managed a couple of sweeps to mount, followed by chokes. He's a lot stronger with a much stabler base than in the past. Noticeable improvement. Nice.

Although utterly exhausted after class, but I feel amazing. The post-train high is incredible.

Scare

2011-01-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

5:30-5:50p: Forgot my gym bag today. No gi. No belt. No tape. No mouth guard. No nothing. Purple had an extra gi...whew...I was really looking forward to training tonight. Glad it worked out. Another Purple led a tough warm-up tonight. Lots of odd drills. Couldn't finish all the push-ups and some of the core work, but I kept moving. Felt good.

5:50-6:05p: Pummeling to throw set ups plus double-underhooks attempts. Then guard breaks from busted posture at full speed. Worked with a second day new guy without a gi. Went ok.

6:05-6:30p: Technique. Guard break from busted posture. Stand, insert knee through butt crack and break to torreando grips to double leg stack pass.

6:30-7p: Crowded mats. Groups of three. Brown Belt picked me and a 15yr old White Belt who rolls like a solid Blue but isn't old enough yet for the Blue. Watched them roll first. Brown played light catch and release, but I thought he released a bit too early. I don't think White understood that he didn't have legitimate escapes...maybe...but maybe not. I rolled with White next. Started off well enough. Got a couple of sweeps. He came at me pretty hard. Swept me a couple times. One of the sweeps...think it was a tripod or variation...dropped me back and I landed on my head/neck/upper back. Immediately felt three snaps in the neck (not the chiropractor adjustment type...the scary type) followed by immediate ringing in both ears and a jolt of electricity down my left arm. I tapped...and rolled over. Couldn't focus my eyes for a while as I tried to assess the extent of my injury. No significant pain. Could feel everything. Nothing numb or tingling. But I was in a bit of shock. Shaking a bit. Sat out a while. Missed my opportunity to roll with Mr. Brown. Drats.

Eventually convinced myself that nothing was serious is wrong. The 2nd day White Belt I worked with earlier tonight asked me to roll. Sure...why not. He's bigger than me. Lots of muscle. Should probably have said no, but it went fine (i.e., I didn't get hurt). He tapped 5-6 times but I didn't try to tap him. I had intended to play a little catch and release, but he tapped before I could even secure a position and begin to lock in a sub. No problem. He clearly understands the value of the tap = opportunity to start over and try again. Seems to really like BJJ. NIce. Hope he sticks around because he'll make a good training partner.

Neck is a bit tight and sore, but I think I'm ok. Scared the crap out of me though...

No Longer Taking Names

2011-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

6:15-6:30p: Stuck in traffic. Thought I was 15 minutes late, but turns out I've been away from the gym so long I forgot what time class started on Monday nights so I was 15 minutes early. Whew. I hate being late. Stretched.

6:30-6:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. Nothing special.

6:50-7p: Take down drills. Essentially judo. Skipped the first set. Didn't want to risk neck injury. Participated in the second set, but worked with someone who was also wary of injury and we didn't finish the throws.

7-7:10P: Sweep / pass the guard. After class tonight...over a few beers...I was gently admonished for posting the names of classmates. So, I've resolved to stop taking names. I'll only refer to rank. Although this is supposed to be MY training log, I realize that quite a few classmates have found my blog and read with some regularity. So...referencing rank should allow me to track my relative progress while also protecting the innocent. First up tonight was a Brown Belt. Stepped into his guard and pretty much got owned. No submissions in this drill, but in my zeal to pass his guard Mr. Brown let me know he set up but did not execute several submissions before sweeping me. Professor also told me to relax a bit lest I hurt my neck. Didn't think I was pushing it, but if it caught Professor's attention...guess I was overdoing it a tad. Next up a White Belt who had managed a few consecutive sweeps so I got him tired. Passed his guard with a smash pass. Not the most technical, but he"s huge, young, strong, athletic, etc....I'll take what I can get. A White Belt stepped into my guard. Sweep off a pass in no time. Blue Belt up next. Swept her after she attempted a floating pass. Upon further reflection, I muscled the sweep. Lame. I apologize. Blue Belt stepped in...time ran out before we could get anything going.

7:10-7:30p: Technique. Basic guard break and knee slide pass plus a feaux cross choke to knee slide pass. The feaux cross choke to knee slide was new to me.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got three Blue Belts. Crowded mats tonight so I felt like I was stopping mid-roll multiple times to reset. Fortunately my training partners were experienced and took it all in stride. Got swept on my ass from inverted guard after several minutes trying to pass. Not sure what happened. Professor said it was a You Tube sweep. Ok... Got worked. Got drilled by the second Blue. He had me in an arm bar from mount but we ran into another group so we yielded. I didn't tap but he would have had me if we didn't roll into the other group. Other than that I feel like I gave him a hard time from guard. Almost swept him with De la Riva and spider a couple of times...but didn't quite pull it off. Last roll was good. Ran into other groups a few times and had to reset, but I managed to take mount and finished with an arm bar from technical mount. Had a few sweep set ups too. Overall, very pleased with the rolls tonight. No neck/tingly issues at all. I hope that I can train a couple nights per week without too much trouble. Fingers crossed!

Neuorologist Weighs In

2011-01-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

I had a neurologist check me out over the Christmas break and sent him my MRI results for review/comment. Here's a summary of his comments:

1. Reversal of cervical lordosis is suggestive of muscle spasm as the neck should be C shaped and mine is more straight. Not a major finding.

2. At C5-6 there is moderate narrowing of the spinal canal but no cord
compression (good).

3. Bony narrowing of the canals on both sides of the neck at C5-6 where the nerve roots come out of the spinal cord and go into the arms. Similar but less severe
findings at C6-7.

Diagnosis: Tingly symptoms and weakness in arm/hand are probably from irritation of nerve root in tight bony foraminal canal in C5-6, but C6-7 could be contributing. In other words...my symptoms are from disc degeneration and bone spurs.

Treatment Options: Not based on MRI, but symptoms. Significant pain, muscle weakness, or persistent tingling could indicate time for surgery. Surgery may involve a cervical fusion at C5-6 AND C6-7 --(fix both levels while they are in there). Surgery is called ACDF anterior cervical discectomy with fusion. Based on my symptoms (which seem to get better every day), he doesn't think surgery is mandatory...yet. Although I can delay the surgery, he thinks it's probably inevitable. He doesn't advise steroidal injections. Says my problem is anatomical. Injections hurt, are expensive, and only treat symptoms. Physical Therapy has a better chance of helping my condition, but not likely to be the source of major long-term improvement. Said it's worth a shot though.

Closing Note: He wrote: "Mixed martial arts may not be the best thing for you neck" and said he didn't know how good "wrestling" is as a form of exercise for someone in my condition. Good thing I don't train MMA or wrestle! Ha.

First Full Day Back

2011-01-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

5:30-5:45p: Warm-up / standard drills. Henry (White) led. I think it was his first time leading. Did a great job. My belt is too small (or I`ve grown a bit in my time off). A wee bit uncomfortable.

5:45-5:55p: Partner drills. Sit-ups from guard. Leg lifts to each side and center. Back-to-back squats. Leap frogs. Legs quivering. Exhausted. Couldn`t finish all the reps.

5:55-6:10p: Sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into Nick`s guard. Defended the hip bump and other sweeps for a while, but eventually succumbed to a hip bump. It was Nick`s third round in guard so he gave up his spot. Swept a first day guy without a gi. Not as easy as it should have been. Got Cleve (Blue) next. Almost swept him from x-guard. Botched it and Cleve took advantage and passed.

6:10-6:30p: Technique. Guard break and stack pass review. Worked with Alex (Purple) and Chet (White). Explored ways to maintain base and avoid getting swept while inserting knee in butt crack to initiate break.

6:30-7p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got Woody (Blue), brand new guy, and Alex (Purple). Very pleased with my performance after 5+ weeks off. Tiring but I didn't gas. Got several sweeps. Got swept even more. Passed guard a few times. Had my guard passed a couple times. Took mount. Got mounted. Got a straight arm lock. Tapped to a step over choke via gi lapel wrap around. A bit sore now, but not too bad. The post-workout high is incredible.

MRI Results = Sucks to be You!

2011-01-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

MRI results:

Reversal of the usual cervical lordosis.
Moderately advanced C5-C6, C6-C7 level degenerative disc disease/hypertrophic spondylosis with related central canal and foraminal stenosis, at the C5-C6 level somewhat asymmetric to the right. Findings at the C6-C7 level include an eccentric left posterior central or paracentral disc herniation though with evidence of asymmetrically pronounced right-sided foraminal stenosis at the same level.
Comparatively mild degenerative changes referable to the suprajacent C4-C5 level with small midline focal posterior central C4-C5 disc protrusion.
More cephalad, evidence of asymmetrically prominent left-sided C2-C3 and right-sided C3-C4 foraminal narrowing which would appear likely at least in part developmental.

Might have well said, “Sucks to be you!”

Likely to see a specialist to determine next steps.

BTW, if anyone reading this is a doctor, feel free to translate. Might be a while before I can see a specialist.

Purple!

2011-01-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

Made it to class tonight for the first time since December 8th. After 8mos training almost non-stop, taking a month off was rough. Gained 15lbs and generally feel miserable. I need to train. This neck injury and numb fingers be damned! So when I heard a friend Aaron was up for his purple tonight, I had to make it to class. Congrats Aaron!

5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / drills. Mike (Purple) led. Good partner drills. Sit ups from guard. Leg lifts. Leap frog. Etc.

5:50-6:05p: Sweep / pass the guard. Stepped into Mike's guard. Ended up with him in turtle to elevator take down. Guess I was a bit over eager 'cause Professor Matthias told me to take it easy on account of my neck. Mike had been in a couple rounds so he let me stay in. Got a young athletic white belt next. He thrashed and smashed but I ended up with a sweep. New white belt stepped in. He also thrashed and smashed. Had easy triangle, front gi chokes, and other subs, but this drill was sub-free. Played a little catch and release while waiting for a sweep to come to mind. Supposed to work for sweeps. Mind drew a blank...rusty... eventually let him take my spot...

6:05-6:30p: Technique. Arm bar and triangle from guard. Review, although the triangle is a variation that I'd struggled with in the past. Got one good electric zing down my arm and hand from one of the arm bars. Fortunately that was the only incident of the night.

6:30-7p: Rolls. Jammed pack tonight. Took it easy. Worked with Mike (Purple) a bit and then Matt (White). Mike worked guard passing. Got one sweep when he was trying stuff, but he didn't have a lot of trouble passing the rest of the time. Roll with Matt was a bit awkward. Wasn't sure what I was doing. Showed him a sweep from closed guard that landed him in mount. Struggled to recover half guard or escape the mount. Struggled but never could really recover. Caught him with an arm lock from guard via whizzer. Matt...watch the whizzer!

It was really good to be back on the mats tonight. Having a bit of post-training numbness, but nothing serious. Going to schedule an MRI tomorrow. Hope to find out what's really wrong with me soon.

Anatomy Lesson

2010-12-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

Professor Doc Eddie says it's not Median Nerve Compression. Says it's likely a blown disc in the neck that's pinching the Median Nerve root, but the actual Median Nerve is in the arm, beyond the brachial plexus. Suggested I take it easy for a bit and not train at all (including core work and jumping rope). Then referred me to a neck specialist. Need an MRI. To say that I'm disappointed is an extreme understatement. I can finally tie my new blue belt, but can't break it in. Lovely.

Median Nerve Compression

2010-12-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

I'm out...for the most part. Chiropractor clearly doesn't have a clue what's wrong with me. 5 minutes of googling tells me I have median nerve compression or irritation (but not CTS). Going to take it easy for a few weeks and see what happens. Through Christmas Eve, I'll show up to class a couple times per week, warm up, and be very picky about my participation in techniques and drills. No rolling. I'll work my core and other band/ankle weight conditioning instead. Then I'll take 10 days off while home for Christmas. If my symptoms haven't subsided come the new year, I'll have to see a neurologist.

Baby Blue

2010-12-08T20:09:00.000-08:00

5:15-5:30p: Showed up for my private with Gavin early to stretch. First time putting on the Blue Belt. It's an HCK brand and I tried a dozen times or so to tie it properly with the label upright...fail. Such a Baby Blue. Can't even tie my belt. Tsk tsk. Shawn (Purple) was training with some of Spider's top kickboxing guys. He looked beat. Could tell he had a rough (as in good rough) session. Wish I could have been there earlier. Shawn told me to quit my job and show up next week at 4pm. Maybe I'll leave work early with a mysterious illness? ;-)

5:30-6:30p: Private. In many ways this was my favorite private yet. Almost everything we worked I knew, but Gavin refined details. Worked mount and technical mount escapes, half guard to full guard recovery and half guard sweeps, and some closed guard sweeps and subs. Finished with spider, de la riva, and x-guard sweeps.

6:30-6:45p: Stretched and watched Professor Matthias roll with Doc Ken (4-stripe Purple) and Gavin (4-stripe Purple). Good, solid rolls.

6:45-7p: Doc Ken asked me to roll. I was hesitant at first because I wasn't warm and my neck has been...well...problematic to say the least. Ken is a big strong guy and I was feeling pretty fragile. So glad I said yes. It was a great warm-up roll. Challenging. Had a couple solid escapes and guard recoveries from bad spots. Almost pulled off a butterfly sweep to side control, but I'll take the sweep to guard. Ken wasn't pressing me too hard, but he pushed me as hard as I could take and I was pleased with my performance.

7-7:15p: Warm-up.

7:15-7:30: Pummeling and take down drills. I'm not a good dancer. Shot a double underhook take down on Andrew (Brown) and got an electric jolt down my right arm and hand. Arghhh.... No take downs...

7:30-8p: Technique. De la Riva to omoplata followed by koala guard to single leg take down if opponent tries to pull out of the omoplata set up.

8-8:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Crowded mats tonight so we grouped in threes. Got Noor (Blue) and Jeremy (White), then Noor again. Three in a row. Lots of technical work. Standing guard passes, sweeps, escapes. Used a new De la Riva sweep Gavin showed me tonight a few times. It's basically a sweep off a pass variation and can tell it's going to be one of my favorite sweeps. Some successful inverted guard to guard recovery. Was worried it would pressure my neck, but no problems. Had difficulty securing positions and lost a number of submission attempts. Need to remember: Position before submission. Managed a gi choke from technical mount. Got kneed in the jaw. Knocked me silly. Had difficulty chewing tonight. Pain...bleh.

Neck Nerve Pinch

2010-12-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

My neck on 12/6/10

Apparently my neck is too straight and I have a bulging disc between C5 and C6. Chiropractor says the "trauma" must have happened in past couple years. Since I haven't been in an accident, he thinks it must have been BJJ and suggested a guillotine or another choke (he promotes MMA events and understands BJJ). The only neck trauma I can think of is the RNC at the no gi finals on 10/23. I felt my entire neck and spine crack and I briefly lost motor control. I literally couldn't tap. After Professor Marco broke it up and Cleve let go of his grip, I regained control of my muscles. My neck seized up and was an issue the week after. Didn't think anything else of it until a few weeks back when I began feeling tingles in my right thumb, index, and middle finger. Now my index finger is numb (constantly) and my thumb and middle fingers tingle. I feel a strange pinch in my lower right neck/shoulder. No pain, but very annoying and disturbing.

"Normal" neck profile

The chiropractor says to train, but train smart. I need to tap to all chokes that get close to cranking the neck. No guillotines, d'arce's, gator rolls, RNCs, and I should avoid inverted guard and stretches that involve putting my legs behind my head. I can do that... In the mean time, he says I need a few months of adjustments (3x per week) followed by a month of traction to get the proper curve back in my neck.

I don't know. I'm skeptical. First, is my neck profile really a "problem" or is it just that I kept my neck straight for an x-ray? Second, if my neck is a "problem" is cracking it a few times a week followed by some traction really going to help? My spidey sense is tingling here...not sure.

I'll train tomorrow night and see how it goes. Missing the last two nights...driving me crazy. I must train.

Blue

2010-12-04T23:44:00.001-08:00

Represents more than 200 hours of mat time, 90% of which involved me getting my butt kicked. Dorian, Ricky, Chris and Nick got the nod tonight as well. Each well deserved. All four under 23 yrs old. I was the token old guy. Caroline got her Brown tonight. I'm really happy for her.

Now the real fun begins. I'll have a target on my back. Getting through this transition without injury will require that I set aside my ego and go for the ride. Do I have it in me? We'll see. Do I "feel" like I have Blue Belt skills? Sometimes yes, often no. But as they say: The belt only holds your pants up. I continue to trust my Professors.

Deep Tissue Relief

2010-12-04T14:18:00.000-08:00

11:05-11:20a: Showed up a bit late to class. I have a thing about wearing a fresh gi to every class and my gi wasn't done drying. Should have woke up earlier... All sorts of warm-up drills I'd never seen before. A 4-stripe Blue with a Capoeira background led. He usually trains mornings so I don't see him very often. He's much more athletic and flexible than most everyone else. A couple folks caught on, but most of us looked pretty silly.

11:20-11:30a: Sweep / pass the guard. Started in Jeremy's (Blue) guard. Broke his guard with a standing break, but eventually got swept. Can't recall how at the moment. Got the Capoeira guy next. Broke guard and almost passed with a knee slide. To secure the pass, I had to base out and smash his legs together. Jeremy stepped into my guard. Worked open guard. He eventually stuffed my legs and passed.

11:30a-12p: Technique. Fundamentals. Basic guard break to stack pass. Then bottom guy worked an escape from side control via underhook, hip/switch, and take down to land in guard. Then start over. Added a knee slide pass variation if opponent employs predictable defense against the stack attempt.

12-12:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got a visitor (2-stripe Blue), Ricky (White), Instructor Tran (Brown), and Chris (Blue). Great exhausting rolls.

The visitor charged at me hard. 2 minutes into the round I thought I was in for a serious butt kicking. He passed my guard at will and took my back. I was in serious survival mode. Maintained composure and relied on survival/escape basics. Eventually found myself with room to work. Recovered half guard. Transitioned from half to X-guard and got the sweep. Ended up taking his back and got a bow and arrow. A bit later I triangled him from guard. I think that's the first time I've tapped a Blue twice in a roll.

Ricky is always a challenge. Arm dragged me and took my back. Spent most of the roll surviving and escaping back only to have him take my back again. I have no offense against this kid. He's eventually going to tap me. Only a matter of time.

Tran worked with me. Shot a couple triangles but I escaped. I'm pretty sure he was playing catch and release. At one point he took my back and I executed Saulo's scoop and break. He said, "Dang Saulo stuff. It works!"

Chris hasn't been around for a few months. He's about my size. Hard charger. The last roll of 6 consecutive training days and I didn't have a lot to offer. Thought I had a sweep off a pass, but he knew the defense. Dang. Didn't have a backup plan...should probably have a transition from that sweep set up handy since it's not that difficult to stuff... He caught me with a triangle. Surprised he didn't get anything else.

12:30-1:30p: Private with Professor Matthias. Worked half guard passes and a couple half guard escapes in response to common pass attempts. Used techniques from Saulo's Revolution 1 series as the basis, but Matthias added details that aren't on the DVDs. Also worked arm drag defense.

Had a 50-minute deep tissue massage after class. By far the best deep tissue massage I've ever had. Most of the time the masseuse can't dig deep enough. Not a problem for Desiree. She said I have a wicked knot that has receded under my scapula and is likely the source of the nerve pinch. That makes total sense. I can feel the knot and the pressure under the scapula. When I tilt my head to the right and back, it puts even more pressure on the knot and induces numbness. Said to take regular epsom salt baths and I need monthly deep tissue sessions. (BTW, fellow jits blogger Dagney Taggert recommended epsom salt as well (here and here)...will have to get some tomorrow). We even talked jits. She's an avid MMA fan and has been thinking about getting into a martial art. Hopefully she stops by the gym.

Tonight is the NOLA BJJ Christmas party. Should be a wild time. Wonder if I should bring a gi.

D'arce...bleh

2010-12-03T19:37:00.000-08:00

5:40-6p: Two short warm-up rolls with Instructor Tran (Brown). Straightened and swept mats between rolls. Tran rolled light. Let me pass guard from standing several times. It was too easy to be legit. X-passes mostly, but one or two step through passes Professor Marco taught a while back. Tran's NOLA BJJ forum handle is "Underhook." Now I know why. His underhook to guard recovery from side control is sick. Finally prevented the escape by switching to reverse kesa gatame. Passed to mount. Set up for a Roger Gracie cross choke variation but got upa'd as I tried to sink it in. Still had the grips from guard, but my top grip wasn't under the neck. Didn't want to smash his face and didn't think to shock snap his head to get the forearm under the chin so I let it go.

Aside from the gimme passes and the mount to cross choke attempt, Tran had me on defensive most of the time. While trying to prevent the cross face to set up an escape from side control, he pointed out that I should keep my elbow to the mat and against his hip. I asked how I could do that and prevent the cross face at the same time. Instructor Rusty (Brown), who had been watching, assisted. They showed me how to switch between cross face prevention and good side control survival posture. Nice. I've been so focused on cross face prevention I was creating another -- but equally dangerous -- hole in my game. Thanks guys!

6-7p: Self defense class. Review of the arm bar techniques taught on Wednesday. Great! Love to see techniques again. I have too much swirling in my mind already. Arm bars from mount and step around from side control. Then looked at a kimura option from north south when opponent defends the side control step around by grabbing belt. Rusty's lagniappe for the night. Loved it.

Almost called it a night. Asked Matt if he wanted to bail and head to dinner. He shamed me in to staying. Fifth night in a row and given my neck pinch and tingly fingers plus general soreness, I wasn't looking forward to class. But thanks to Matt, I'm glad I stuck it out.

7-7:20p: No gi. Warm-ups and drills. Asked to show some new drills I've learned at other schools. Added some strange stuff. The no gi class seems to have more upper belts compared to the gi classes so these went over a bit better than when I introduced some of the same drills to the gi class.

7:20-7:30p: Single leg take down to sprawl/stuff drills.

7:30-8p: Technique. Over my head. Learned a wrestlers stuff from sprawl of single leg attempt. Then learned gator roll and d'arce. Good to see the gator roll and d'arce again, but I'm still far from comfortable with these subs. I'd much rather learn how to avoid and escape them. More on that later.

8-8:30p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got Sammy (White), Dr. Steve (Blue), Ben (White), and Will (White). Got a RNC (White) and set up an X guard (White) and had him stretched out quite a bit. But without a gi lapel, sleeve, or belt to grab on to I didn't know how to finish the sweep. Also got to and maintained mount for over a minute. Good that I maintained mount for so long, but trying to get a submission from mount without a gi is tough. Too slippery to lock in the arm triangle. Too slippery to tie down an Americana. Too slippery to pull of the arm bar from mount reviewed in self defense twice this week. TOO DANGED SLIPPERY. Definitely something to work on.

Dr. Steve destroyed me. Americana from running escape posture. I really didn't think I was vulnerable until it was too late. Didn't feel good at all. I don't think I'm hurt though. But that wasn't the embarrassing part. Steve caught me in 4 D'arce chokes during the roll. From butterfly, half guard, side control and who knows what else. Fish out of water without my gi... I'll figure it out...eventually. Prediction? Dr. Steve gets his Purple in May or June.

Upper Belt Access

2010-12-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

5:30-5:50p: Warm-up / standard drills. Mike (Purple) led. Did bride carries. Mike was my partner. Ugh. He's 6'2" or so and 220lbs or so. Thighs still sore from Monday's fireman carries and squats.

5:50-6p: Sweep / pass the guard. Got swept twice. Scissor (4-stripe Blue) and a silly off-balance sweep from failed standing pass attempt (Purple). What's new? Posture...bleh. Didn't get swept, but I gave up an attempt to a 4-stripe Blue who set up a go-go plata after a minute or two trying to pass. No submissions in this drill, but he had the set up and started pulling on the head. Had it been a roll I would have tried to escape, but I'd tried to pass his guard unsuccessfully for too long and the fact that he surprised me and set it up meant it was time to move on. I screwed up. Next time.

6-6:30p: Technique. Side control escapes. Traditional and underhook to hip switch and drive take down. Then worked a guard recovery technique if opponent sprawls out on your take down attempt. Good review.

6:30-7p: Rolls. 6 minutes. Mike (2-stripe Purple), Alex (Purple) and Caleb (4-stripe Blue). Nice! Mike and Alex are taller, heavier, and stronger. Caleb is smaller, but solid and quick! Aside from another 4-stripe Blue, these three were the top ranking guys in class tonight. Nice!

Survived the 6 minutes with Mike. He was attacking hard. Lost a contact. Never had that happen before. Almost got my face ripped off from an RNC attempt. Struggled intensely to maintain good half guard posture. I think the only reason why he didn't submit me is because he was trying so dang hard he forced me into survival mode. I didn't try any sweeps or attacks. It was survival/escape 101. Probably had to do with a certain "challenge" issued earlier this week.All in good fun. Although very uncomfortable, I loved every second.

Then got Alex. Awesome. Two Purples in a row. Never happened before! Good roll. Started on top. Got scissor swept after not too long and fought for guard recovery most of the time, but I managed an X guard set up and butterfly sweep...sort of. The butterfly sweep set up and execution was solid, but he scrambled on the landing and had a good grip of a lapel. I couldn't get side control and landed in his open guard. Immediately pressed for a guard pass as he pulled me in. I was too eager. Left arm exposed. Arm bar. Happened so quickly my elbow popped. I deserved it. Tapped as quickly as I could, but it wasn't soon enough. Fortunately it's not sore at all. I could tell he was tired. Glad he had to work for it. I grabbed him immediately and pulled him back into the fight. No resting on my time buddy! I don't get to work with Purples too often, so no rest until after Professor calls time!

The difference between my roll with Alex and my roll with Mike? I suspect it was that Alex took it relatively easy on me and let me work. I got caught because I was acting out of my comfort zone and pressing an attack. I never had a chance to try anything with Mike. He forced me into survival mode. Had Mike let me work a bit, I'd have messed up and he'd have caught me at some point. I'm sure of it. I don't think I've ever had a Purple fully test my survival. Usually Purples, Browns, and Blacks work with me. They try new stuff and give me opportunities to work. When I get a sweep or a solid escape, it's because they are working on things they don't get to work with their peers. I realize that. But that also frustrates me a bit. I want to get my arse kicked. I can "work" with Whites and some Blues. So it was good to test my survival skills against a fully attacking Purple.

Last roll with Caleb. This kid is wicked quick. Impeccably fit. I tried survival mode, but he eventually extracted the left arm for the arm bar from technical mount. Not sure what I did wrong, but he found a hole and exploited it. I'm just glad I got away with only one arm bar. Last time we rolled, he caught me twice. Oh...escaped X guard once...using the technique learned the other night...but he recovered guard and set up a different X guard variation we learned a couple weeks ago resulting in a sweep. Great to "see" his mind work. I recognized what he was doing, when we learned it, and executed the break and pass learned in class. Nice.

I've had more than my fair share of access to upper belts recently, but tonight I hit the mother load. Sweep / pass the guard drills and training. Loved it. I feel really confident in my survival skills for only 7-mos experience. Hope to keep focusing on survival / escapes for my entire journey. The rest of the game will follow...with time.

Worthless

2010-12-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

Exhausted + dehydrated + sore = absolutely worthless for training. Should have stayed home. Made it through self defense class (6-7p), warm-ups (7-7:20p), and sweep / pass the guard (7:20-7:35p) ... but only barely. Self defense techniques included three responses to various sucker chokes from behind. Then reviewed Machida/Rampage failed arm bar attempts and drilled the correct technique from mount and side control. Observed the technique portion of sports BJJ class. Sports BJJ class techniques included X guard sweeps from butterfly and half guard set ups. Couldn't believe it, but I started to doze off. Bailed before the rolls started. Just wasn't going to happen.

Injury Report: Not sure what's wrong, but my right hand/thumb has been tingling regularly for the past few days. Something's pinched in my neck/shoulder. Don't think it's training related. I developed a kink and first noticed occasional tingling after an uncomfortable flight and night's sleep a couple weeks ago. But now it's regular. Hasn't affected my training...yet...but definitely something I need to pay attention to.

The Challenge

2010-11-30T20:39:00.000-08:00

Alcohol and BJJ don't mix well. Apparently I called out my good friend (and Purple Belt) Mike at the Gracie Barra Comp Net after party in late Oct. Allegedly issued a challenge: If I survive 15 minutes, I win. Simple challenge, right? All have to do is last 15 minutes without tapping and I win. Ok, not allegedly. With Shawn's encouragement, I laid it down. All in good fun of course. Mike is my BJJ "father". He's the one who challenged me to show up that first April Wednesday evening. But...the challenge match never happened. We forgot about it...until tonight. Out with a few guys (and a couple Professors), we revived the challenge. It's taken on a life of its own. Apparently it's on. Thursday night at class. From stand up. 15 minutes. Ouch. Of course, I have nothing to lose. I'm a white belt. Of course a taller/heavier/stronger Purple Belt with 6+ years experience is supposed to destroy me. But...part of me wants the challenge. I have only one goal. SURVIVE. Can I do it? Doubtful. Is it worth the try? I suppose. Why not? Oh...btw. Even if he submits me within the first 30 seconds. . . No . . . WHEN he submits me 15 times within the first 7 minutes. . . we go the full 15 minutes. We'll see. Maybe it's all drunk talking.

Short post tonight to record the training:

5:10-5:30p: Rolled with 17-yr old 180lbs 4-stripe White Belt Nick. Challenging roll. In my opinion, he's the most technical and best White Belt in the academy. No submissions, but he clearly had the upper end after our 20 minute roll. Despite a few sweeps on my part, he took my back a couple times and went for an armbar. I escaped, but he definitely earned the advantage for the effort. Good roll. I'm just glad I can hang in there with a young buck with a couple years experience.

5:30-6p: Warm-ups, standard drills, and sweep / pass the guard. Got swept...twice. Sucked.

6-6:30p: Technique. Standing guard break to combat base to stack pass. Knee slide for second option in response to typical stack pass defense. Review, but it's been a long while and I forgot many of the details. Great to see again.

6:30-7p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds. Got Tiffany (White), Jeremy (Blue), and Ricky (White). Tiffany was tough. Although only 115lbs or so, she's quite strong, fast, and aggressive. Good roll. Jeremy is new to our school. Has an MMA background, but hasn't trained regularly for a couple years. Tough roll. He caught me with an RNC. Haven't been caught in an RNC in gi in a long time (if ever). Sort of pissed at myself. How did I let that happen? Still not sure, but I didn't see it coming. Professor Matthias asked who among the White Belts I wanted. I had a dozen or so to chose from. Ricky was the obvious choice. Nick had already been assigned and Ricky is easily the second toughest White Belt in the group. He breaks my posture at will and his arm drags to back are sick. And he's big. Taller and probably 30lbs heavier than me. I'm determined to work from the top against him as often as possible until I can improve my guard break and pass (err...posture maintenance and arm drag avoidance). Results were asi asi. Managed to break guard and almost pass using the technique taught tonight, but that didn't last long and he still managed to take my back. Never seriously threatened, but I was on defensive most of the roll.

7-7:10p: Stretched.

Bad Habit That Won't Die

2010-11-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

6:15-6:30p: Arrived a bit early. Stretched. Watched Professors Matthias and Marco roll. Also watched Professor Doc Eddie roll with Ross (Blue). Solid. Although exhausted from only 5 hrs sleep and a fairly rough day at work, it sure felt good to be back on the mats.

6:30-6:45p: Warm up. Professor Matthias asked me to lead. No problem until Professor Marco wanted me to introduce some new stuff I've learned at other schools. Bleh. I can barely lead familiar warm-ups let alone introduce new stuff. I don't think the handful of new drills went over too well. I try to keep warm-ups to 15 minutes, so the new stuff forced me to rush and short the time for stretching. Bleh.

6:45-7p: Drills. Open guard sweep/pass, side control attacks/escapes, and turtle attacks/escapes. A couple minutes at full speed before switching top/bottom. Terrible guard passing. What's new? Ricky (White) passed my guard after a couple minutes of failed sweep attempts (spider and half guard). So busy working on my half guard sweep set up, I gave up the cross-face. That's been a problem lately. Had a few solid guard recoveries (via north south and turtle) against a Blue Belt.

7-7:30p: Technique. X-guard passes. Couple different variations. Too difficult to describe, although I recognized them immediately as Mike (Purple) at UNIJJ used them both to escape my x-guard set ups on Saturday. Oh...the second pass we learned is very similar to the "Break & Pass" shown as Technique 34-2 in Jiu Jitsu University.

7:30-8p: Rolls. 6 minute rounds, but felt longer presumably because I was exhausted. Got Ricky (White), Shawn (Purple), and Caleb (Blue). Both Ricky and Shawn outweigh me by at least 20-30lbs. Not a big deal, but transitioning from these big guys to Caleb who is relatively small (about 5'6" and 150lbs or so) was striking.

Ricky can break my posture at will. So...I started in his guard in an attempt to work on my posture and guard passing. Hmm...I worked on it alright, but didn't get very far. Ended up getting swept via arm drag variation and forced to defend the back a lot. When I managed to recover half guard, I gave up the cross face...again...Doh!

Shawn was on the attack the entire roll. Started in his guard and it didn't take long for him to sweep to mount. Happened again later in the roll. Doubt he played guard more than 30 seconds of the roll. I was defending the rest of the time. Some solid survival/escapes (triangle, arm bars, a choke attempt) and a few guard or half guard recoveries, including one from north south to inverted to open guard. Gave up the cross-face from half guard. Again...too busy working my escape set up. Geez. Bad habit just won't die! Shawn caught me with an arm bar after rolling out of two attempts. For a moment I thought I was going to escape. Wrong. Good roll.

Caleb simply destroyed me. Two arm bars. One from guard (how does he move his hips like that?) and one from technical mount. He moved so quickly I had no idea where he was let alone how he got there or when he moved on. I tried my best to "feel" his movement around my back/sides, but it was hopeless...I was clueless. I hope that this sort of "feeling" will come with time. But focusing on cross-face prevention when setting up a half guard sweep is a bad habit I can and need to correct now.

8-8:05p: Stretched a bit. Amazing how much more flexible I am post-training compared to pre-training.

Need to figure out how to get to sleep earlier. Late training makes it tough. Blogging makes it tougher. Hmm....

UNIJJ

2010-11-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

Got back from Hawaii late last night. Too much great (read bad for you) food and only 2.5 hrs of jits in over a week. I needed some mat time! Stopped by Saulo and Xande's place, UNIJJ, this morning for open mat. Got my butt kicked by Sean (blue), Mike (purple), Frank (purple), Yoad (blue), and Sean (round two). 8-13 minute rounds. Tapped to a few arm bars, but got a handful of nice sweeps from spider, x, and half guard. Solid technical escapes as well (arm bars and back). Guard passing needs work. Really enjoyed the long rounds. Long sparring sessions provide ample opportunity to work your game and no matter how you try to pace yourself you get one heckuva workout. 205 lbs post-training with sweat soaked gi. Not bad.