Mizblog

I left the house today and got onto the freeway just as I realized I forgot my mouthguard. Oops. Turned around and went home to fetch it.

Still made it to class on time. Early enough to change and watch the end of TJ’s Krav Maga class. After they cleared off the mat, we got on and lined up. Class started with a breathing instruction. In through the nose, out through the mouth. We did some running, interspersed with partner grip finding, then grip fighting.

First technique of the day was the fireman’s carry takedown. From the standard judo grip, take the overhook on the steering hand, push your partner back, and when they push forward to recover, you duck under the overhooked arm (keeping it tight to your body) at the same time your opposite side leg kneels and you duck your head under their arm pit and reach down and underhook their leg. Then, you stick out your overhook-side leg and rotate your upper body over it, taking your opponent over with you, and you end up on top in side control.

I drilled the takedown with Greggo, and accidentally got my eyeball scraped. I was so awkward. It was terrible.

After that, we got into randori. I survived against Aaron and Matt, getting them to turtle after failing takedowns. Greggo might have gotten me down once but I got a good sprawl on his single and stayed up. Sean launched a 5-throw combo that ended with me crashing down into the ground. Very impressive! Cosmo and I mostly stalemated, though I did end up on the back of his turtle. I wasn’t trying many takedowns, actually. At the last, I went vs. Ashish, and I was able to turn his osotogari and just push him over, and I ended the randori with a fireman’s carry takedown just like we did in drills!

Then it was back to the classroom, where we learned the de la Riva guard and a basic sweep from that guard. I practiced it with Christian, and it was pretty easy. The hardest part was getting into that guard, wrapping my big left foot with the sore big toe around the forward leg. Not fun!

After that, we rolled.

Who did I roll with?
Cosmo – heavy on top but I survived
Matt – good top half guard and good bottom side control. I submitted him with an Americana after a very slow tightening.
TJ – I stayed in his guard for about 4 minutes before getting bored and letting him arm bar me. Then he almost passed my guard but I swept him.
Sean – I got mounted and arm triangled, tapping early. He was surprised I tapped, but I realized he’d passed all my defenses and I wasn’t getting out.
Cosmo – we were both tired and he ended up on top, being hard to move off
Aaron – we flowed at about 30% and it was a good recovery round while he was having heart problems

After class I bought the new 805BJJ rash guard (size XXL) and also got one for Saranya, to gift her on her birthday (so don’t tell her!)

I came in feeling structurally unsound. I remembered my knee pads at least. Tested that out early, and the knee seemed fine. I started warming up on the small mat until Christian took the Krav Maga class in there. After that, I swept the big mat until Greggo started the class with a running warm up, then shrimps across the mat, then reverse shrimps, then somersaults, then fall breaks, then shoulder rolls.

After that, Christian suited up and had us do the transitions from side control bottom to half guard to open (butterfly) guard to full guard, then back to butterfly guard, then back to half guard on the other side and let the top person pass to side control. I don’t yet have a reflex to grab the underhook in half guard, but I was able to do the transitions pretty well. EDIT: I met Archie again, but kept forgetting his name! I kept thinking “Aaron, Andrew, A…” but couldn’t come up with “Archie” until it finally popped back into my head the next morning.

The next drill was to go from closed guard to open guard with feet on the hips and gi grips. I did this okay but was not good at scooting my own butt back so that it was behind my own shoulders. I need to work on this.

The last drill was to go from closed guard to half guard before your opponent opened your closed guard. I ended up working on this a lot during the subsequent rolls, and I discovered that I really suck at half guard.

Anyway, rolls. Started rolling against TJ and he tapped me about 3 times with some arm bar submissions he learned last Sunday at the JJ seminar. Humbling.

Next roll was with Cosmo, who tapped me with an Americana from side control top (I maneuvered him from half guard to side control with a stupid improvised technique that turned out to be a bad idea) and a Kimura from half guard bottom. He also cracked my neck with a cross face, and surprisingly my neck felt better leaving than when I went in! Hope it stays better!

I sat out the round after that, then came back and rolled with Matt, who I tried real hard to gi choke off the jump, but gave up when he didn’t tap. That gassed me out, and I ended up on side control bottom with no energy to move at all.

Last roll was with Dave, and that was a fun one. We each got sweeps, and I almost finished an arm bar on him from mount, but he wiggled out. I need to establish my control of the arm a little earlier and a little better in the future.

805 rash guards are coming in tomorrow!

Dragged myself in a little early because I felt very crappy, but wanted to train anyway. When I got there, I realized that I forgot my knee pads. I warmed up in the small room until Christian took the Krav class in there and kicked us out onto the main mat. Chris and I did some light rolling before class to sort of warm up. He complimented me on my good defense, and impressed me with his variety of attacks from below. He helped me clean up my bow and arrow choke, which I sunk for the first time on him.

Class started, and Greggo warmed us up by running us around the mat. We warmed up until the Krav folks got changed and joined the class. Then Christian taught us Osotogari, and a cheating hopping version. It’s very difficult to execute successfully. We did about 15 1-minute rounds of randori (takedown sparring) and I didn’t hit it once. I got a couple decent takedowns (mostly on Matt) and I got taken down a few times (once spectacularly by Matt, with a hip toss) and mostly I defended myself pretty well. I did try a few single leg takedowns, and bruised my knee on the mat (no knee pads).

Then we did arm bar drills. I teamed up with Dave, and my key insight was that I need to locate my pelvis at the elbow of the arm to be barred. Also, keep your stepping-up knee close to the controlled arm.

Then we rolled.

I rolled with Dave first. My knee was keeping me on my back, and I tapped to a kimura that I couldn’t defend without hurting my knee worse. Other than that, I did alright. Maintained guard longer than I used to.

I rolled with Aaron next. I did some good guard stuff. Stayed very active, broke his posture, and tried attacking with sweeps, but was rebuffed by my bruised knee. I sat out the last round with ice on my knee, then changed and went home. Nobody bowed out of class. TJ and Greggo were left on the mat, going over techniques, when I left.

Woke up Thursday feeling a tiny bit sore since Tuesday’s class, but not too bad. Went early to get gas at Costco.

Coach Mark came, but his knee was messed up so Greggo taught most of the class. After warm up, we did the alternating arm bar spins drill, then arm bar from the guard finishes, then sweep arm bar, then triangles. Then we rolled.

First roll was Cosmo, who got straight from the knees to side control and smashed me. I kept trying to recover guard but he persisted really well, eventually tapping me from pressure.

Next roll was with Phil. I jumped onto his back and was doing alright, but he got me in a kimura grip and was able to use that to get back to guard, and the round ended before he could turn it into a finish. Coach Mark admired his use of that grip. He said I looked good and had lost weight. I maybe lost some fat, but the scale still reads 227.8 lbs. or so.

Next roll was with Dave. He asked what weight class I was in. I told him the 227 number was without the gi, but lean I’d probably be about 175 lbs. He said that was the same as him – he used to weigh 225 lbs. but he’s dieted down to 178 lbs. now. He had a strained back, and our roll started out in unlit territory (I had him in my butterfly guard) and I was thinking of flipping him over his head but didn’t because I didn’t know if it would hurt him. Anyway, I eventually got on top and threatened attacks until the end of the round.

Next roll was with Cosmo again. He again got me down and straight into side control. He again started crushing me mercilessly. But this time he made a mistake in going for a submission, and I got on top and into side control. I then crushed him mercilessly. It eventually forced him to turn away, and I was able to get mount. He tried a collar choke from below, and I was pursuing submissions until the end of the round.

I took the next roll off and talked with Chris a little bit. Then we rolled during the next slot. He started in seated guard, and was able to sweep me and submit me pretty quickly. Then I was able to push him down and throw his feet to the side, and we fought for side control until the end of the round.

At the end of class we did 80 crunches, lined up, and I was awarded my 2nd stripe on my white belt. The first stripe took me 21 classes, and the 2nd one took me 33 classes. At this rate, I should be a blue belt in another 2 years.

Coming back from a week and a half off felt pretty good. Warm ups were so easy that I barely broke a sweat. Just slow motion guard passing. Once all the slowpokes from Krav suited up (TJ and Aaron) we bowed in and got right into closed guard pass defenses stemming from the elbow seam grip.

If your opponent is in your closed guard and they move their knees to start to open your guard, that’s when you get your chance to sweep them. Pull their elbow down toward the ground and pinch them with your knees to scissor them over toward your elbow-grip hand. Once you’ve got them going over, separate your feet to continue the scissor and end up in mount.

If your opponent bases up on one foot (away from the elbow) you can (again) pull them down with the elbow grip while turning to underhook their posted leg, pulling them down onto your hamstring. You can then pendulum them over and mount them.

If your opponent stands up and lifts your hips up, you can lower yourself and then sharply pull them down with your closed guard legs and the elbow grip to break their posture. Then you can overhook their foot (away from your elbow grip) and lever them down as you come on top.

After we drilled those things (I didn’t get a chance to drill the knee pass scissor) we rolled, starting from guard. I started with Aaron, who had a hurt neck and was going 50%. I refrained from grabbing his neck. Easy roll. Focused on technique and base rather than winning, and it set the tone for the whole day.

Then I rolled with TJ, who had a tweaked back. He passed my guard and tried to get me in a crucifix, but I kept getting my arm out. He thought I’d seen the technique before but I just knew my arm was in peril and brought it back to safety.

I rolled with Rick next, and was immediately uncomfortable in his butterfly guard. I again took a measured approach, and only got tapped out 2 or 3 times.

Then I rolled with Greggo, and he walked me through an arm bar.

Next was Dave, who I was able to almost finish with an arm bar (he escaped), and again almost finish at the end with a collar choke. He coached me on the finish but we ran out of time.

At the end I rolled with Ryan, and though I went easy on him, I was able to dismantle him. He was so dead tired, and had no technique, so he was basically a talking grappling dummy.

I got out of the class feeling pretty good, with no serious injuries.

Got on the mat and bowed in with coach Greggo, anticipating coach Mark would arrive and take over the class. We warmed up doing alternating guard arm bar swings. Wheee!

Mark didn’t show, so Christian suited up and taught us the very basics of guard passing and posture.

Basic guard posture involves squeezing your legs next to the bottom person’s hips. Grip the lapels and take off the slack to minimize your opponent’s ability to move. Your other hand should find the hip bone, and line up the elbow with their thigh bone. Christian had the bottom person test the top person’s base stability.

Breaking the guard involves keeping the hips on the ground, getting a knee into the butt while you shift your base to one side, then bending your back to extend it and break open the guard. I should have mentioned that the hand you have on the chest is on the same side as the leg you move in to anchor the butt.

From there, you raise your butt-knee off the mat, press the hip-hand-side leg down as you staple it down with the butt-knee. Then you pass the stapled leg, going for an underhook on the far side, lift the close side arm and slide the stapling leg through to kesa gatame.

After practicing that for a bit, we went to the small room to practice the sweep single leg takedown on the wrestling dummies. One of them punched me in the face and left a mark. Anyway, the takedown involves pulling down from the grip and holding them bent over while you do a drop step to the outside, elbow hook one knee, turn 90 degrees into them with your head touching their torso, get back to your feet and drive through them to finish the takedown. You can also turn them more to get them off balance and finish the takedown.

Then we did takedown sparring, which I loved. I took Dave down with a sacrifice throw, and I almost got the single leg of the day on a couple people. Not quite, though.

Regular rolling started thereafter. I rolled with Dave first, and told him my rib was sensitive, so if it hurt I’d just tap. He went easy on me, but it was just too painful to continue. I sat out most of the rolls thereafter.

Feeling fragile and apprehensive, I came into the studio a little early. Christian was sitting at the desk and reminded me about the women’s self defense seminar on Sunday. TJ was teaching Krav and they were doing light sparring with a 2-on-1 component. Very entertaining. I had planned on doing some warm ups on my own, but this was too interesting to look away from. Dave, Andrew, and Josh were putting on a show. During this, Christian came over and explained his lesson plan ideas to Greggo. Eventually, the Krav class lined up and bowed out, and we hurried onto the mat and lined up.

Our warm up was technical upa mount escapes followed by sloppy guard passes to mount. It was a good warm up, and gave me some excellent practice at an escape that I’ve done successfully in the past but not slowly or technically.

The next drill was guard recovery from mount. Getting the mount low over the hips, framing with the elbow, getting your legs inside the feet of the mounter so they can’t hook on, and either get a butterfly hook or an outside hook to recover guard. It was complicated and ugly, and both Christian and Greggo struggled to articulate how they decided when to switch from one mount escape technique to the other.

Then we rolled. Every roll was to start from the mount.

I started with Victor, and I did well. We both survived. He’s getting better. I could still tap him though.

Next I rolled with newly minted blue belt Dave. He started on top and I managed to sweep him, pass his guard, and mount him. I think. All I remember from that roll was attacking him with arm bars, Americanas, etc. The gi grip was the trigger for the upa sweep in the drills, so I only threatened that grip to open other things. I stayed on top for the rest of the roll, and Dave complimented me on my top control.

Next I rolled with Andrew, and that was hard. He got me in kesa gatame and crushed my ribs until I tapped from his pressure. Ouch! But I seem to be okay afterward. Other than that, I held my own against him. He had good defense once I was mounted, and I got too attached to the grip so he upa’d me just like I wouldn’t let Dave do. D’oh!

After that I rolled with TJ. He’s got a very good guard, especially against a tired old man like me. Unfortunately for him, he got a cramp and had to abandon the roll just as he was about to lock in an arm bar. I didn’t feel I did very good against him, as he was able to break me down in his guard pretty reliably.

The last roll, I again was paired up with Victor. He started on top, I recovered guard and got him in an arm bar. Then he started on bottom and I got him in an Americana and an arm bar and a gi choke. We were both so tired.

I got in late after waiting behind very slow people at the Costco gas pumps, being chased off the road by fire engines, and getting lost in Simi Valley.

Anyway, I jumped into the warm ups, which were long. Coach Mark ran us long, then got us in a circle and told us how to hold a turtle. He used Dave as a demo dummy, and he was wrecking the poor guy. The first technique was pulling the turtle and then pushing it over with the hip, pressing it into side control.

The next part was standing and lifting the turtle, dropping in the feet for hooks, and driving the crotch into the bottom person’s lower back. That’s a killer, but then you can come in with a scissor choke or a trachea bar arm choke. They were all very vicious techniques, and Chad and I were going really easy on each other. I tweaked my right big toe during one of the moves, and I bet it’s going to haunt me for a while now.

After that, we rolled. Starting with Victor, who I got in a collar choke from guard, and then an arm bar from mount. I was about to get an arm triangle when the round was over. Easy work.

Next I rolled with Aaron, and he got on top of me and I could not budge him. Actually, whenever I budged him, he got into another stable position. I was very complimentary of his movement. Also, I was worried about him after Tuesday, but he was alright. Glad for that. :)

Next I rolled with Chad. He messed me up in his guard (arm bar) and later he turtled. I thought about doing the move of the day but worried about him and my feet both, so I didn’t do it. Round over.

Coach Mark then stopped the rolls and gave Dave his blue belt. Well earned, and I kind of knew it after the harsh treatment in the demos.

I left 15 minutes early to come home and deal with the crazy situation in the lab.

Christian’s Tuesday morning class. Saranya came with me and sat at a table in the front, because Sangeeta was off running in Moorpark and didn’t make it home before I had to leave for class.

Our black belts went to a Ralph Gracie seminar last Sunday and they were really excited to bring back some of the ideas they picked up there. So we did a warm up where we were starting from an open guard position, and the top person would scoop a leg and try to go for an over-under pass, while the defender would get heavy on that leg (preventing the pass) and then transition into a sweep. Next we did a drill where we’d do a kick sweep on one side, then a scissor sweep on the other side when they got back up.

Then we did a standard stretching sequence before getting down to the lessons.

And the lessons today were centered around kesa gatame, which I first learned a freakin’ year ago (sort of). We did modified and standard, and I had the most trouble transitioning to the standard kesa. Giving up that far side underhook was difficult. I had a relatively easy time getting the arm bar and the americana, as I’d seen them a bunch of times.

We did sparring, and I started rolling with Chad (whose wife ran with Sangeeta this morning in Moorpark) and of course today we started in side control. I started on bottom. It was a good roll. I managed to sweep him but he recovered guard. He locked onto my collar, but I got 2 hands on it and would not let go, at the same time maintaining pressure and trying to pass so he couldn’t move around to a solid submission. That lasted to the end of the roll. I survived!

Second roll was with Em. It was a little scrambly, and I was able to muscle some stuff, but she was able to recover guard a lot. I did manage to get half guard on her a few times, and mount once, but no subs of course. We had a funny conversation mid-roll.
Em: You have hair like mine.
Me: You mean on your stomach?
Em: No, on your head.
Me: Gray?
Em: No, long and curly. It’s annoying.
Me: At least yours is falling out slower than mine is, so you’ve got that going for you!

Next I rolled with R/N whose name I had to keep practicing. I was able to easily sweep him once I let him get into kesa, because his base was awful. I had him restart on top again and coached him to have a more solid base.

After that I rolled with Dave, and that was an adventure. I was able to mount him and go for a gi choke, and when he defended that I latched onto his arm and went for an arm bar in a crazy roll that saw him keep going belly down and stacking me to try to get out. I never did get it, and ended up tapping when he dove for an arm bar while my fingers were tangled up in his gi. I was hoping the dive would dislodge them, but they remained stuck and I verbally tapped. I fixed my belt for the remainder of the roll.

Last I rolled with Aaron, who was suffering with a bruised knee. I found him impossible to hold down, and kept ending up under his north-south pressure. At the end, I was turtled and managed to roll under him, but his arm was trapped and he both wrenched his shoulder and hit his head. I was actively trying not to hurt him, but it didn’t work out that way. Poor guy. Hope he recovers quickly.

We started late, with a small class and self-warmup. Em just got her wisdom teeth out. She tried to do class anyway though.

We started with an illustration of the guard perimeter. Approaching the open guard, you put your hands on the knees or feet and hold them solid while you move around them. You have to immobilize the hips, then drop a knee next to their hip to secure the side control position. If they get a wide open guard, you can get motorcycle grips inside their knees, push their knees to pin them down, then pull their feet to the ground and put the knee into the hip for the pass.

I rolled with Jen first. She’s really good at open guard where she eliminates an arm. It was fascinating to try to do moves I knew only to get stuck because I couldn’t use one of my arms. I took her back once from turtle but coach Mark coached her out of it. I was able to use the move of the day on her twice.

I rolled with Dave next. He wore the pink belt of shame today because he forgot his belt. I was able to do pretty well against him.

After that was coach Greggo. He left me openings, leading to an S-mount arm bar. He walked me through the details at the end to finish it. Thanks coach! :D

Following that, I took an extra minute to catch my breath and then rolled with Rick. He smelled like ammonia. He got me in an arm bar, but walked me through the escape rather than finish it. Thanks, Rick!

I took the last roll off and talked with coach Mark. I told him I can’t do back-to-back Krav and BJJ yet because my conditioning isn’t up to snuff, and the Krav tires me out too much so I don’t get enough out of my BJJ class other then injuries. We talked about book publishing too.