You've gotta love training on Monday nights. We do a quick warm-up and then get right to it. It's really a nice way to start the training week.
Mike was there Monday night. I don't think I've seen him since the spring. For a few months, it seemed like he was my most regular training partner. I can still remember sparring with him one night, Mamazinho rooting us both on. Mike had me in a triangle choke and I was trying to escape using an escape that Mamazinho had recently shown us.
For the record, it was the "CC Grinder" triangle escape. I couldn't get it because I forgot to control the hips with my free hand, so Mike and I were pretty much locked in place. After what seemed like five minutes, Mamazinho congratulated us both in our stalemate.
Anyway, it was great to see him again. It seems like the fall season is bringing back more than a few folks: I'm seeing more of Casey lately, and Brock has been around more and more it seems. Maybe it's just me coming to train more regularly. Who knows?
We started Monday night training with some light stand-up work. Mike worked mostly on reverse pivots. I stuck with double legs, ankle picks, arm drags and that nifty duck under move that Cindy showed us.
From there we went on to specific work. Mostly guard/pass guard. Then some sparring.
I did fairly well, executing another armlock from the guard (the only thing rarer for me would be a triangle choke from the guard) and a nice omoplata sweep. It dawned on me that the omoplata sweep Cindy showed us awhile back is very similar to the one Stephan showed a bunch of us a few years ago back at the Tully's building.
I'm feeling more and more comfortable working from the guard. I appreciate the point that Eddie Bravo makes about being good from the guard: it makes you more risk-seeking and aggressive when on top if you know that your guard is tight. I wouldn't say my guard game is tight. But between an evolving half guard game and a full guard game that I'm getting less fearful of rolling out when the chance comes, I'm a lot closer to "tightness" than I've ever been.
