Deep Practice Alert: Semerzier v. Fabiano

More on the WEC 43 contest between Mackens Semerzier v. Wagnney Fabiano from MMA Junkie

Fabiano was on top of Semerzier when he briefly stood up and then moved back into the fight-ending hold. The WEC newcomer said the closing seconds of the bout included a sequence he's drilled countless times.

"We work on it all the time," Semerzier told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). "I got a butterfly (guard). It was half-guard, and I stuck in a butterfly. I started to lift him a little bit, and I didn't think he liked it. He decided to come out and come back in, and I was lucky enough to get a triangle."

CBDP: Flat Pass

1. Flat

2. Grip

3. Switch

4. Kick

5. Step

6. Check

Focus on Check. I've got a bad habit of settling for half guard. Although my watchdog half guard pass is getting better, I need to at least force the guy to defend the complete Flat Pass to side control.

CBDP: Double Leg

Circuit Building Deep Practice for Double Leg takedown:

1. Drop

2. Tip

3. Step

4. Twist

Notes:
Look into the eyes.
It's not a date.
Shoulder drives the body to the mat.
Walk away from the legs.

WEC Upset: Faixa Roxa Taps Faixa Preta

"The unbeaten but unheralded Semerzier, in just his fourth professional bout, locked up a tight triangle from the bottom on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and became the first man to ever finish or submit the Nova Uniao standout. The end came 2:14 into round one. A Pedro Sauer protégé, Semerzier has stopped each of his first four opponents, three of them by submission."
--courtesy of Sherdog.com.
WEC 43 Bonuses: Semerzier Capitalizes on Fabiano Upset.

Wagnney is one of my favorite fighters, easily my favorite guy in the WEC. I'm sure he'll bounce back and maybe even be better for the loss in the long run. A few more fights before a title shot wouldn't be a bad thing.

And congratulations to Mackens for the submission. Chalk up another one for the power of the faixa roxa!

Four Weeks (and a Day) Out

For the next three weeks, my conditioning will be threshold training 2x a week and LSD/cardiac output 1x. As much as I'd like to spend some time trying to recoup what I've probably lost cardiac output wise before moving on to cardiac power and more skills-specific training, I just don't have the time. With four weeks to go, it's time to put everything together.

I've got an idea of how I can get the fight to the ground, how I can pass the closed guard if I am unable to escape the legs as I get the takedown. I've got an idea of where I want to be in order to get the finish - and what finish I want to get.

The difference for the next four weeks will be my training. For the next four weeks, I'll up the frequency pretty dramatically. But I'm only doing live training/sparring from here until competition time.

There are a variety of reasons why I want to try this route - a training schedule I used to disapprove of when I was a white belt and used to see purple and brown belts show up after the rest of us had already been huffing and puffing our way through 60 or 90 minutes of warm-ups, conditioning and drills. Forgive me for saying "that was then".

For one, I want to focus my training on sparring: free sparring, specific sparring, stand-up, whatever will be directly geared toward what I plan to do in November. That's the proper path when it comes to preparing for competition that everybody else in every other combat sport follows. At 0-5 as a purple belt (0-7 overall, including intramurals) maybe I can find a reversal in fortunes by jumping on that bandwagon.

And, for two, I just don't want another week like the week I had to finish September and start October - especially in the middle of the not-wholly-self-possessed 8 Weeks of competition preparation. The week wasn't an utter failure. But there was far too much negative momentum that I'd rather not see accumulate any further. We'll see if this works.

Wow ... just saw a crazy WEC interim lightweight championship fight between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson. Without getting into spoiler territory, there is a lesson in this match for guard players playing a countergame with wrestlers.

Pronounced "Raw Shock"

Found myself watching The Watchmen last night. I liked it better, much better in some ways, than I thought I would. While I continue to be surprised at the latent, well, fascism in much contemporary comic superhero legend (something that was also very much the case in Sin City), worlds in which stereotypically liberal values have resulted in nothing but societal passivity in the face of truly existential archetypes of chaos and evil - I also continue to be surprised at how effective this backdrop remains for modern-day myth-making.

I also continue to be surprised at the role of "The Wound" in the making of the superhero. Superman and Batman the orphans. Spiderman, the Hulk, Dr, Manhattan, Wolverine and a host of other innocents caught up in a dark nexus of unimaginable science and indifferent fate. Most mesmerizing in The Watchmen, to me, is the story's narrator, Rorschach who - at least as far as I can tell - is the unwanted son of a whore.
The idea of The Wound is one I first ran into decades ago (!) in John Gardner's book, On Becoming a Novelist:

A psychological wound is helpful, if it can be kept in partial control, to keep the novelist driven. Some fatal childhood accident for which one feels responsible and can never fully forgive oneself; a sense that one never quite earned one's parents' love; shame about one's origins - belligerent defensive guilt about one's race or country upbringing or the physical handicaps of one's parents - or embarassment about one's own physical appearance: all these are promising signs ... insofar as guilt or shame bend the sould inward they are likely, under the right conditions (neither too little discomfort nor too much), to serve the writer's project.

Substitute novelist or writer for artist, martial artist or - in the tragic case of Rorschach - superhero and I think you're saying the same thing every time.

In any event, a film worth seeing for me to be sure, given where I'm calling from these days.

Conditioning Notes: "Un tipo più greco dell'italiano"

Did some light cardio and resistance work at the burien top team academy. I'm feeling better, at least in the sense of cycling through my typical cold symptoms and beginning to see the finish line. Unfortunately, I'm still too wary of inadvertently sharing my immunoglobins with unsuspecting teammates to get back on the mat. Given the timing of things, with the intramurals on Saturday, it is looking more and more like Monday will be the first day back.

Here's the conditioning routine I did today. It's a mix of complex work and regular resistance work that I'll probably tweak before trying again.

(30s rest between exercises)

20 decline situps
20 Arnold press
20 incline leg raise
20 DB swings
20 decline situps
20 upright rows
20 incline leg raises
20 push press
20 decline situps
20 Arnolds
20 incline leg raises
20 DB swings

The rest I did with heavier weight in a more typical resistance style, with 2 minutes between exercises and about 5 minutes between sets.

Two cycles of:
20 incline bench
20 flat bench
20 decline bench

Two cycles of:
10 upright rows
10 Arnold presses

Two cycles of:
10 Alt curls
10 hammer curls

Two cycles of:
20 BUDRs
20 one-arm rows
20 BODRs

That was plenty for today. Tomorrow I'll try some cardio - probably the skill-specific threshold work since today's workout had a bit of cardiac power-oriented conditioning to it. On Monday, I was only able to make it through 2 cycles instead of 3. Of course, now I know that I was on the way "down" on Monday. Tomorrow we'll get a chance to see what I can do on the way back "up."

Rei Braulio

A can't-miss interview with division and absolute Abu Dhabi Combat Club 2009 champion and Gracie Barra black belt, Braulio Estima.

FightWorks Podcast:You talked about who some of your idols were. But a lot of people are listening to this interview and you are their idol. What message do you have for them?

Braulio Estima: I used to think, man, those guys who were my idols were like super heroes, you know? These were guys who were born to do this, these guys were unbelievable and I'd never be able to do that. But I think I proved that wrong because I'm just a normal person that has a normal life like everyone else, you know? I have a baby, I have stress, I have fights with my wife, you know what I mean? I don't sleep well at night because the baby cries in the night. I have bills to pay, credit cards, you know? We are humans, we all have two arms and two legs ... The difference is if you believe - and to be determined.

"Sleep"

To sleep is to replenish vitality. The more intense the individual's physical and mental activity, the greater the need for rest. To sleep seems to me just as important as any other facet of an athlete's training. I prize at least eight hours of sleep per day, always deep and uninterrupted.

Poor sleep means ill health, poor performance and mood, mental fatigue.

--Carlos Gracie Jr. from "Body health" in the Sound Body issue of GracieMag.

I've been training harder than ever before, getting very close to averaging four training sessions a week. I've been doing more off-mat conditioning than ever - and smarter conditioning than ever before, thanks to the work of Joel Jamieson. My diet has improved dramatically, with the addition of some Gracie Diet-influenced additions (namely eating fruit daily and not mixing carbs). I'm regularly weighing-in at under 155 - a number I usually only make under duress in the final few hours before a pre-tournament weigh-in.

At the same time, I got sick twice in October last year as cold and flu season kicked in and, here we are a year later and I'm stumbling through my second rhinovirus in 30 days.

So what's the deal?

The only thing I can point to is a lack of rest. Since I started at The Daily Planet, I've been averaging about 6 1/2 hours of sleep a night, getting up at 5:30 am for work and hitting the sack sometime between 10:30 and 11 pm - usually closer to the latter.

In some other situation, this may not be such a big deal. But when you add in all the physical stress of training and conditioning (and as far as mental stress goes, life at the Daily Planet is no children's crossword puzzle, either), 6 1/2 hours just isn't going to cut it.

As much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, I'm 42. And if I'm going to keep up this pace, I'm going to have to get my rest the old-fashioned way: 8 hours of sleep minimum during the week.

Maybe getting some sort of cold has been inevitable (I'm pretty sure that I've gotten a cold every fall for at least the last several years). But the double-dip nature of it all - the two colds in October last year and the two setbacks this fall - speak to something more than just the regular change-of-seasons headcold.

So that's what I'm figuring right now. Assuming that I'm not going to get sick for a third time this year, there may not be an easy way to tell if this "figuring" has worked (though maybe an uptick in my on the mat performance would be one welcome sign). But I've really got to try something to break this pattern and, from some perspectives, forcing myself to hit the sack at 9:30 or 10 p.m. at the absolute latest, might be both the easiest and most effective approach.

Kayron Gracie Earns the Faixa Preta

Oldest son of Carlos Gracie Jr., Kayron Gracie was awarded his black belt in a private (!) ceremony in California. Kayron recently won both his weight division and the absolute (brown belt) at the American No Gi Nationals (click here for some cool pictures from the black belt competition).

Marcio Feitosa was interviewed by Gracie Magazine on his thoughts about Kayron's present and future.

How do you assess Kayron’s Jiu-Jitsu?

Feitosa: I think Kayron’s two great virtues are his cool-headedness and humbleness. Karyon doesn’t have a big ego or bad attitude, his students and friends love him. He inherited that from the Master, I believe. In Jiu-Jitsu, he is doing his homework just right: trying to compete as much as possible to gain experience, training hard, but never losing focus on developing good teaching skills to teach with and leadership skills to carry on with his family’s work.

Me & My Rhinovirus

Out Monday, likely to miss Tuesday, as well. Second head cold in a month. Absolutely lovely.

Conditioning Notes: Threshold Training

Threshold training, per Joel Jamieson of 8 Weeks Out is geared toward:

helping you increase aerobic power ... by working your aerobic system to the maximum limits of its energy production abilities (so that) the body adapts by increasing the total number of aerobic enzymes and improving overall contractile properties.

According to Joel, the strategy here is to make it harder for your body to reach that stage where it begins drawing primarily from anerobic energy systems for fuel.

Here is my threshold training program based on my specific jiu jitsu agenda right now.

Week 1:
Three sets. Three minutes rest.
60 seconds hook sweep
60 seconds 360 drill
10 count matwork (approx. 4 minutes)
60 seconds 360 drill
60 seconds hook sweep


Week 2:
Three sets. Three minutes rest.
60 seconds hook sweep
60 seconds 360 drill
15 count matwork (approx. 5 minutes)
60 seconds 360 drill
60 seconds hook sweep

Week 3:
Three sets. Three minutes rest.
60 seconds hook sweep
60 seconds 360 drill
20 count matwork (approx. 6 minutes)
60 seconds 360 drill
60 seconds hook sweep

"Matwork" - for this block - consists of:

alt upas
hipscapes
sitouts
hip splits
back rolls
crossovers
arm drags
sit 2 stand

Threshold training is twice a week for the next three weeks, Mondays and Thursdays.

Conditioning Notes: LSD and Cardiac Power Blocks

I managed to get in six LSD sessions in my first three weeks of camp.

Sun 9/13: LSD9: 2.25, 9 laps; 34:31, 388/121
Sun 9/20: LSD9: 2.25, 9 laps; 34.39, 391/122
Thu 9/24: LSD9: 2.25, 9 laps; 34:34, 387/121
Sun 9/27: LSD3: 3.01, 12 laps; 45.55, 502/157
Tue 9/29: LSD9: 2.25, 9 laps; 34.31, 389-121
Sat 10/3: LSD3: 3.00, 12 laps; 45.18, 502/157

This is nearer to the low end of what I would have preferred (8-10 sessions in the first three and a half weeks is closer to ideal). That said, this LSD schedule works out to an average of two sessions per week over the first three weeks. And considering the fact that I trained four times a week during this stretch, I won't kick myself too hard for not having squeezed in two more LSD sessions over the past few weeks.

In any event, the stepped-up pace for the next few weeks should more than make up for things. Today was the beginning of the Cardiac Power/Threshold Training/HICT part of my conditioning, the most intense part by far with 4x/week conditioning and 4-5x/week training.

Here's today's cardiac power workout:

60 seconds work
120 seconds rest

Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings
Push Press (Box Squat Depth)
Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings
Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings
Push Press (Box Squat Depth)
Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings
Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings
Push Press (Box Squat Depth)
Sumo Deadlift Overhead Swings

Max heart rate was around 160 +/- 4 BPM
Push Press sets were consistently broken sets
Total workout time around 30 minutes.

Next Sunday, I increase the work period to 90 seconds, with a 210 second rest period. Then, the following Sunday, I work for 120 seconds with 5 minute rest periods.

Training Day: Friday

Managed to slip away for about an hour and a half or so of training on Friday. Fortunately, we were continuing to work on passes against advanced guard like the spider guard and the spider guard with DLR hook.

I got to class late, but was still able to at least work two of the Moves of the Day with bot Pat and Alex, who was suffering from scary-looking back aches for much of the session.

Both passes were against the spider guard with DLR hook. #1 was a turn and pivot attack where you look to fold the guy's leg over after turning into his DLR hook. With DLR hook on your right leg, for example, you step back and forth a bit to test his hook then, while swimming your spidered arm under and tucking your elbow, and checking the DLR hook with your other hand, you step wide and around with your free leg and turn in a 9 to 12 noon motion so that you are facing the guy at a perpendicular angle.

#2 was very similar, but was in case you had a hard time breaking the DLR hook. Here, the trick is to turn the knee of the DLR'd leg inside and kick to the inside to free the hook. From here, #2 is essentially the same as #1 in terms of folding the leg over.

Did a little specific work before calling it a day. Rolled with Brian, who I haven't been able to trade with, and he did a good job in passing my guard with the underhook pass that we've been working on, as well as sweeping me with a modified flower sweep off an armlock attack.

I did a little de-briefing on that underhook pass, reminding myself later on the specific counter (push off the shoulder and hip, elbow escape away and drop your knee down). My error with the sweep was in not controlling the hips after I went to the standing squat.

This was probably the worst week of training I've had in awhile. Looking back, it wasn't quite the disaster it seemed at mid-week - thanks largely to the training on Thursday and today. And its better to have a bad training week in week six of your eight-week training camp compared to deeper in.

All the same, with 5Weeks Out starting on Sunday and 20-25 training sessions to go, I need to start tightening up my guard pass strategy and guard strategy. Training next week should have a pre-competition intensity to it to help me gear up for the Invitational tournament on Saturday. I'll also start the cardiac power/threshold training segment of my conditioning next week, which should also help me dial in to training a little better.

"Since I Don't Believe A Word You Say ..."

Training Day: Thursday

A Cindy Special here on Thursday. The first class, the gi class, had us working on double leg takedowns to start and toreano guard passes to finish. I worked with Brock for the takedowns and Rueben on the toreano. As you might guess, they were both fantastic to train with and it was nice to actually get to do the drill for the first time all week.

During the no gi class that followed, Cindy had us working on armdrags from a variety of positions. We worked on standing armdrags (the Marcelo Garcia stuff) then on re-dragging counters, then on two versions of the armdrag from the closed guard: a basic and a two-on-one. Along with the double leg Cindy had us working on last week, this armdrag training was very much what the doctor ordered.

Only a little sparring - though enough to get caught in a kimura from the closed guard. That hasn't happened in some time and but it is in part of testament to where I'm calling from these days, to steal a line from John Edgar Wideman.

A good "return to balance" evening of training. It's been weird lately with so many of the guys who used to train regularly as purple belts now showing up less and less frequently now that they are on the doorstep of the black belt. This, without getting back into it, is a bit of a mixed bag.

Maybe it's the transition to fall and the drop in temperature, but I'm struggling a bit to find the flow in my training right now. As I wrote awhile ago, this may just be the rhythm of things - with the end of August representing a cycle high and the end of September representing a cycle low. While it would be far, far too dramatic to say that I'm trying to understand exactly what I'm trying to accomplish in jiu jitsu, I do find myself in a strange and somewhat uncomfortable position of thinking jiu jitsu rather than feeling jiu jitsu. And the fact that I've been training at a pretty decent pace for the past few weeks - at least since getting off the IR - only makes that discomfort that much less comfortable.

Like I said, I'm really looking forward to meeting Saulo Ribeiro in a few weeks - I'm a little desperate for some words of jiu jitsu wisdom and I suspect that few can deliver in that regard like the six-time world champion. Of course, I've got to get through the Seattle Invitational Tournament next Saturday before I get to Saulo. Talk about a ticket to ride.

Helio Day

October 1.

How about a little birthday berimbau for the Grandmaster?

Training Day: Wednesday

Rick: Hello camper! My name is Rick. How are you doing?
Cartman: Well I'm pissed off, Rick. How are you?
--from "Fat Camp", South Park episode 415.

Wednesday is Basic BJJ day, but we continued to work on passing the spider guard. Given the less than pleasant aspects of drilling this on Monday, how excited was I to get another chance at working this pass - probably the worst part of my jiu jitsu - on Wednesday?

Well, unfortunately what was fucked up about training on Monday was no less apparent on Wednesday. I'd like to say that I just don't get it, but the truth of the matter is that I do get it. The truth of the matter is that it actually helps fill out a picture, an unfortunate picture, that had been taking shape and color for some time.

I've long subscribed to the Camus line that, ultimately, the world is not to be changed it is to be endured. So I don't see some of this circumstance changing anytime soon, if at all. What I need to do is figure out some way to avoid it when possible and ignore it, I suppose, when it is not.

It's not like I've got some miserable life in some sub-Saharan hellhole. But all the same, jiu jitsu has been a refuge for the past four years. Not an entirely or always cozy refuge - as tonight proved - but a place to be and belong, all the same.

Right now the only thing I'm really looking forward to is the Saulo seminar - which apparently I was scammed (the story of my fucking September it seems) into overpaying. I feel like the end of September is turning into the exact opposite of the end of August - when I was having some real breakthroughs with ideal training partners like Angela, Ro, Scott ... Instead, of late, I'm thinking about that line from the poem by Yusef Komunyakaa: "there are teeth marks on everything he loves."

152.8 on the scale after training and back at it tomorrow for Cindy's Rock 'n' Roll Grappling Extravaganza.

ADCC: Not So Instant Replay

I haven't had much to say about the ADCC 2009 because, in part, the video on demand feed from ADCC 2009 isn't working. The life feed was actually okay. But they are having an impossible time getting the replay to work properly and I'll admit that it's been annoying the hell out of me.

Hopefully, they'll get their act together and I'll have some reportage worth reporting.

By the way, the underground market did a perfectly good job of providing replay and video on demand immediately after the event. I went the honorable route this time and am still waiting for my money's worth.

Training Day: Monday

Good training tonight. It was the intro class, so we focused on the 20 GB Fundamentals for the instructional and then did some specific guard/pass guard work.

After Lindsey's warm-up, we started with takedown drills. We alternated between ippon seionage - what I have been mistakenly calling morote seionage for the past several weeks - and the double-leg. And my double leg has gotten immensely better since Cindy's review last Thursday.

I've chunked up the takedowns - the five big ones - into three or four step chunks. I've just started drilling them this morning informally, but they will definitely become a part of my skills conditioning work as the training camp plays out.

As Rodrigo tipped us off on Saturday, we worked on passing the spider guard. Actually, we worked on both establishing the spider guard for the guy on bottom and then passing with the shoulder toreano for the guy on top. Very good stuff here. Some key details worth remembering is that when popping the spider guard, use the foot/leg that is closest to the mat to push off the hip and create space to insert the spider guard block with the other leg. With the shoulder toreano, the chunking is (1) stand out of the spider guard, (2) swim your hands to get inside control, stepping forward as you do this to direct the legs up, (3) STEP BACK with inside control on the legs and keep moving straight back until the guy's feet are flat on the mat and he is sitting up, (4) pin the legs with all your weight and, from a pike or lunge position, lean in with your shoulder and apply pressure to flatten him out.

Tatame was some specific work (guard/pass guard). I always love specific sparring and am very glad that we are going to be doing more and more of it. I'm still having a terrible, terrible time working my assignments when the time comes. I didn't work butterfly guard. I didn't work left hip half guard. I didn't work the armdrag from butterfly or half guard. And from the top, I went for the Flat Pass three times (!). My attempts to stand and pass (Move of the Day, anyone?) were pretty few.

Easy to dwell on the negatives. I'm feeling a bit of dystopia - maybe brought on by reading an erroneous report that Pablo Papovitch had submitted Marcelo Garcia to take first in the 77 kilo division at this year's ADCC. I'd been trying to avoid seeing the results until I'd watched most of the feed. But the on demand feed from ADCC was a little slow in coming and I just couldn't take it any more. I will say that I did get to see the Marcelo Garcia v. Kron Gracie match, which was every bit as exciting as Clint said it was during training on Saturday.

Kron Gracie might be the most interesting guy in jiu jitsu right now - though Joel Tudor is close on his heels and the growing rivalry between Raphael Mendes and Rubens Charles is starting to look every bit as intense as Ali-Frazier. I don't know if his performance at ADCC was enough to pull Kron fully out from beneath the shadow of his legendary father. But I can't help but root for the kid to do well every time he's out there.

Six weeks out. I'm starting to get into the mental frame of competing, even as my conditioning routine is still coming online in many ways. The goal is for the next four weeks to burn at a pretty high temperature, and then taper off for the final two weeks before the Revolution. I think a little of the melancholia is the sobriety of preparing for the event starting to set in, which is fine - as long as over the next four weeks the grey clouds start yielding a little lightning, if not thunder.

Training Day: Saturday

A nice little session on Saturday. We spent the instructional part of the class reviewing the moves from last week: the takedowns (Machida, ippon seionage and the Machacare, and the underhook guard pass variations.

Those variations, just to remember them were the (1) the basic underhook, sweeping the leg up on the shoulder and stepping/kneeing deep under the side, sprawl and duck around the leg to get to side control, (2) the underhook to Fowler, where you pin the leg that is on the mat and, hooking the head from that same direction, make the guy do the splits as you hook the head and backstep out and, (3) the underhook to roll, where you start like (1) and then, with your other grip, grab the belt or the pants and get the guy to start to roll over his far shoulder. In all likelihood, the guy won't do a full roll, but you can start the roll and then stick your head inside between his knee and elbow and roll him back into your lap and side control.

Tatame was rigorous. I rolled with Stephen, then with Joe and then with Pedro, a purple belt from Eastside. No easy rolls for burien top team on Saturday, that was for sure.

All the same, a great day of training. There's nothing better than training on a late Saturday morning/early Saturday afternoon, in many ways. And today was no exception to that.

Training Day: Thursday

First Thursday training in about a month. The new schedule on Thursday is actually a lot like the old schedule: with an hour of beginner gi jiu jitsu followed by an hour of all levels no gi. Cindy leads both classes.

We focused on double legs to start with. I can't say enough about how much I like the new, more focused and specific classes. There are always more advanced and sophisticated moves to learn (on Mondays and Wednesdays, for example). It's nice to focus on some basic, core moves that will pay off for years.

The double leg is one of them. The process is the drop, the penetration with the forward knee to the mat, head up and tucked against the torso, arms around the knees and enough contact to knock the guy off balance.

The middle part of the move is the step through and step out. You want to step through with your other leg and then, as you stand, step out with the drop leg.

One detail was here was that the step out should be "out" and to the side. Your foot should be pointing in that direction.

Also make sure that you grab around the knees. That will make it that much harder for the guy to put you in his guard - especially if you do the takedown properly. Which leads to another point: use your inside shoulder to pressure the guy as you take him to the mat. I was a little surprised at how much pressure this puts on.

The double leg is really a move that I need to drill the same way I've been drilling the morote seionage, the Jacare and the Machida (and the combo, the Machacare, for when the guy steps back to avoid the Machida leg sweep and you transition to an ankle pick with your collar grip). Thursday was the first time in a long while that I really got to focus on the specific details of the move and it is definitely a keeper if I drill it.

On the ground, Cindy worked on knee on belly. Here was another nice technique I had wondered about for awhile: switching sides/knees from knee on belly. Cindy showed two approaches: the pike around, basic but effective method, and the step/backstep style that I remember seeing Pe de Pano use to devastating effect in the 2003 Pan Ams. With both, the trick is to plant your hands on the guy's chest and turn them in the direction that you are going to move. That pressure will substitute for the moment when you knee is not applying the downward pressure.

Cindy also showed us a counter the common knee on belly escape of pushing on the knee and elbow escaping away. What you want to do from the top is to let the guy turn into you and stuff the knee-push wrist to the mat. Gripping that wrist, with your inside hand, step around his head with your outside leg so that you can sit on his head while you reach for the kimura grip. One detail here was to really get a good kimura grip by pulling down on the wrist and up on the forearm. Done the right way, it is almost an arm crusher in and of itself. What it does either way is give you a lot of control over the arm and shoulder. You can attack with the kimura or continue to turn and turn it into an armbar.

Another detail: You can sit on the head while you attack with the kimura. But laying out - the same way you do when you are positioning for transitioning out of mount and back to side control - can give you more stability and make it easier to get a good turn on the kimura.

Tatame wasn't bad. I rolled with Alex and Michael. Alex caught me almost instantly in a Marcelo-style guillotine that I had to spend some pretty dedicated moments surviving and eventually escaping. I've got a tendency to lower my head, like a lot of people do. But my bad habit is exacerbated by the caution of not getting a shot in the eye. There's going to have to be some middle ground.

I'm back to thinking that butterfly guard will be my "other" guard. It makes sense for all the ordinary reasons, but like everything else I've been a little hesitant to engage it as aggressively as I should. The butterfly guard is even less of a "hanging out" guard than the half guard, so if you're going to play it, you've got to get in there and play it and not screw around. No gi tonight was a good opportunity to be aggressive with it. Hopefully that wil carry over into training over the next few days and weeks.

One place I really like the butterfly guard is as a counter to guys who have been backing off my half guard. This gives me a nice alternative that, among other things, can bait them back into a more regular half guard. I like the butterfly guard option a lot more than just trying to pull them back into my half guard.

Also I'm liking the idea of trying to force a butterfly guard defense of my guard pass. Even thoug my half guard passing has stalled out over the past several weeks, I still think my high comfort level in the half guard will ultimately make me a fairly confident half guard passer. At least that's the plan - and the strategy I'm deploying when it comes to adding the butterfly guard to my game.

Training Day: Wednesday

For some reason, it's almost always easier to write posts in a text editor and then copy and paste them into blogger compared to writing directly in blogger.

Wednesday's class was Basic BJJ, which is really intermediate level when you think about it. I'm liking the way classes are increasingly defined, with beginner classes focusing on the 20 fundamentals and basic/intermediate classes opening things up a bit with more multi-step moves. The new focus on specific work as opposed to sparring, is tremendous. I'm sure it will pay off over time if we stick with it.

And I love the idea of being able to go to a beginner class and know that I'm going to work on some bread and butter fundamentals (or rice and beans fundamentals - pace Gracie Diet! banana and watermelon fundamentals ...). Right now, a Monday/Wednesday/Thursday schedule with Friday and/or Saturday as the final fourth session of the week is starting to look like a keeper.

Tonight we worked on pulling guard and transitioning to the balloon sweep. The main thing here for me to remember (pace Talent Code! practice) is using the sleeve grip side leg as the first and most important foot in the hip. I've actually got a nice chair drill that I can do to help me get that down. The off leg in this case goes to the hip second. You draw your legs in tight enough to get your hips under his hips and, with both feet on his hips, extend your legs and pull forward on the collar and sleeve grips.

One thing that Rodrigo has been focusing on with a lot of these guard pulls is transitioning immediately to the sweep. I think that's a big deal and something to keep in mind when we start doing more stand-up training closer to the next tournament.

The Move of the Day was a very nice gi choke from S-mount. To get there, Rodrigo showed us a "Jack pass" style attack on the turtle guard to open the guy up and put him on his back. From a good combat base against the Turtle (hips low, elbows in tight and not "reaching over"), you want to reach in front of the guy's face and grab his opposite sleeve at the cuff. With your other hand grip the pants of his near leg at the cuff.

You can jump to your feet or just creep back and then pull. I didn't like jumping to my feet because it just creates space - even if for just a moment. Instead, working with Benny, I leaned in to him and then lunged back. That seemed to create the right action/reaction as well as the necessary space for him to fall.

Finish the pass of the turtle with a move to side control.

The choke went this way: grab the gi lapel as low as possible on his far side and thread it under his arm and around the back of his neck. Feed it to your headside/north most grip. From here, you want to let him turn into you a bit to make it easier to move from side control to mount and, eventually, to S-mount.

You are going to go under the arm. You can get a good angle by fading back as you allow the guy to roll into you, going into a real, laid back Watchdog type position. But you want that arm north of your head in any event.

Keep that gi grip. And make sure that your knee is tight against his back in order to have a good position. Tuck your choking elbow in tight as you tighten your S-mount. Grab the hand of the arm that is trapped in the whole choke ensemble and pull it down to tighten things even further.

If this doesn't get the tap - and it is a very tight choke - step over the head with the northside leg and turn it into a near armlock/Frankenstein choke. This variation can tighten things further. And if you still can't get the finish, there is the armlock opportunity as well.

A very nice set of attacks from side control. Sure, they are predicated on being able to take mount. And there's an argument that if you can get to mount, things are likely going your way anyway. But this is a very nice little sequence, with maybe the potential of a baseball choke attack if the guy stays flat and refuses to turn into you.

Tatame was good. I continue to work the scissor sweep to keep getting better at that attack from the guard. I started to work some Overwrap Guard, which I think is something I really want to include in my guard game after all. I think that it, like Rap Star, fits well with my basic half guard game very well and am going to make it a part of my training over the next two weeks to see if it can become a permanent part of what I do.

Got in a nice roll with Scott. I didn't attack from standing as I would have liked. But I was able to learn a few things about my Flat Pass and about slowing down at potentially critical moments that should be pretty helpful going forward.

Saulo in Seattle

Saulo Ribeiro - one of the greatest teachers and champions of jiu jitsu - is coming to Seattle to give a two-day seminar - courtesy of Marcelo Alonso Jiu Jitsu
October 17-18th. One day gi, one day no gi.

There aren't too many people higher on my list than Saulo. His book, Jiu Jitsu University has been my Bible ever since I got it. I still look at his DVDs when I'm stuck in a situation and need to be reminded quickly of what the fundamental details are.

Too bad it's not the weekend before - since my wife will be in Portland the weekend of the 10-11th. But, like I said, there's no way I can miss a Saulo Ribeiro seminar. It should be a blast!

Standing Against the Guard: The Range Game

Step Two in My Pi-Step Program Toward Passing the Guard from Standing.

Stevie Nicks - Stand back
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Val as in Valhalla

Craziness! Here are two of my favorite jiu jitsu non-black belts (who don't train for Gracie Barra) in a pretty funny training/seminar video.

Gracie Magazine's Top ADCC Competitors of All Time

An interesting list - and one that tells us as much about the ADCC as it does about the top grapplers of the past 15-odd years.

Training Day: Monday

Got to the academy a little late - I think I'm still adjusting to the return to 5:30 p.m. I don't have nearly the issues that a lot of folks do, but I still need a bit of a running start to get there on time.

Rodrigo and Lindsey were team-teaching the class again. We worked the morote seionage warmup, focusing on the footwork rather than the handiwork. The practice I've been doing off the mat has really paid off in terms of keeping my balance as I make the turn and squat into the prime throwing position. This practice will be a part of my off the mat conditioning program going forward.

Monday is a Beginners' class, so the instructional was based on some of the key 20 fundamentals that Rodrigo has been focusing on. Today, we focused on moving from side control to knee on belly and then from knee on belly to mount. I worked with two white belts - and spent more time than I ever had with a knee grinding into my chest/stomach/etc. But it was good stuff. I really enjoy working with white belts from time to time. It's a great way to re-understand the fundamentals.

I rolled with Scott of the Endless Guard and Andrew. Scott in some ways has entered my top five of Guys I Must Train With On a Regular Basis. He has very good guard replacement skills - Jason/Garcia-esque in many ways, though with more length - which really tests the weakest (and most important) part of my game. I suspect that Rodrigo has noticed this, because he's pairing me up with Scott more and more frequently. It's great work - guard passing is a true difference maker when it comes to success or failure for me, especially in competition. Hell, if I had to train with one person between now and November, it wouldn't be a crazy idea for it to be him.

Rolling with Andrew was another ride through the cement mixer ... I managed to avoid a few armlocks, but he caught me in a pair of bow and arrow chokes and a triangle over the course of about 15-20 minutes worth of rolling. In at least one instance with the bow and arrow choke, I knew that I was escaping in the wrong direction after pinning his leg to the mat. But I was so focused on wanting to practice escaping over the leg - hipscaping and turning back into him - that I figured I'd take the risk to the body motion practice. The halo choke defense is something to remember in this situation where the guy switches hands to catch you after you've picked a side.

About 154 or so on the scale after rehydration. At the beginning of Week 7, that's a perfect weight - if even a bit light. I'm feeling a little worn-out of late - having really trained hard on Saturday and again today on Monday. I may take Tuesday off and return to the mat Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and definitely Saturday. That way I still get my four training sessions in for the week.

My off the mat conditioning is going a little slowly. I got in one LSD session last week (two were scheduled) and so far this week I've managed one session as well (three are scheduled). With any luck, I'll be able to hit the treadmill at least twice over the rest of the week (Wednesday and Friday would be perfect) before it will be time to switch up to the cardiac power and threshold training (as well as the HRI work - 20 minutes of box steps!)

Another Major Loss for ADCC

This is getting ridiculous ...

Kyra Gracie Out of ADCC

I injured my lumbar region at the Jiu-Jitsu Worlds in June. I did a lot of physiotherapy and adapted my training. I was feeling well, but this week in New York I trained hard and worsened it. It is impossible for me to fight like this. I can’t even find a comfortable position to sleep in," said the champion.

I'm still looking forward to the ADCC - there are just too many unbelievable competitors to not be excited to see who comes out on top.

That said, it would have been nice to see Kyra compete. At the rate that top people are having to withdraw, the matches can't start soon enough.

Training Day: Saturday

Due to the ADCC Northwest Regionals, Saturday's training was pretty much an open mat. It was also another excellent Saturday of training.

I rarely get to train on Saturdays, but that may change. I have to admit, the past two times I've trained on Saturday have been really great. This time I got to work with Ro again, continuing to focus on guard and guard passing issues. But I also got to roll with the black belt Joe and brown belt Shawn.

What I most liked about my rolls with Joe and Shawn was that I able to keep moving, to keep fighting for escapes or to replace guard. It is easy to get to a point with guys like this where you don't feel as if anything you do is going to work. But as I learned during a memorable roll with Rodrigo probably a year ago, what is important is that you keep working for better situations, to improve a situation as much as you can, to keep alert and active for the opportunity to turn a miserable situation into something close to neutral.

I also was impressed that my aerobic conditioning seems to be back on line. We'll see as Week Two my training camp begins. But it may be the case that I haven't lost too much from that week and a half I spent in semi-convalescence to start the month.