Mizblog

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.