Mizblog

After KM91, I changed and jumped into a standing grip drill. We did a couple of takedown drills after that, and then did a little takedown sparring which I sucked at. I’m sure I’ll eventually learn some more takedowns, and I’ll also learn to fight some grips. I showed Matt how to do Osoto-gari just from what I learned from watching Saranya’s BJJ class a couple weeks ago. Brandon taught me the big-guy cross-collar pull down. Nice!

After that, we learned Tomoe-nage. This is a judo throw where you’ve got standard grips with your opponent and he’s pushing you hard. You sit forward while extending one leg into his midsection, and he goes right over you. You pull his head down and do a back roll, and you should either end up in mount or knee-on-belly. Christian commented on my execution, saying that I must have done it before. Nope! This was my first time ever, and I was super nervous, but it went okay and neither Matt nor I were injured in our practice.

Then we went into some maneuvers you can use if you find yourself in turtle position. First, you can take the back by getting your head out and pressing it to their armpit while you step forward with the same side leg, then scoot the other leg all the way through, rotating once your clear, to get control of their back. I found this move very comfortable. Second, you can transition into a double leg or single leg takedown to side control by again putting your head into their armpit, stepping the same leg up, but then sitting in just next to your posted foot, reaching through to the leg, and then driving off the posted foot and through the connected head to secure the takedown and move into side control. Finally, we learned how to twist under and recover guard. This time, you again put the head out the side and press it to the armpit, but this time you post on the same-side foot, shooting your other leg beneath and between the opponent’s legs, and then recover half guard or butterfly guard.

I had to leave after that, so I didn’t get the last drill that combined all these maneuvers. I felt pretty good right after class, but at home my back started aching and I couldn’t sit up anymore. I eventually took a nap, and when I woke up, my left big toe was painful when walking. Exploring its sensitivity, I found that it would not bend backward at all! It was extremely painful.

Followup: I felt it giving me problems when I’d put weight on it at my desk, or when I’d roll over during the night. By morning it was quite a bit better, but now I’m scared to walk too much for fear of aggravating it more. It’s always something, isn’t it? I hate being so fragile!