I left my gi top at class. I called Rodrigo's cell and left a message. Best case scenario? I pick it up in Ballard around 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. Worst case scenario? It's left there until I come in on Thursday. I'm more annoyed than I should be ...
If I don't hear from Rodrigo by tomorrow noon, I'm going to Seattle Martial Arts Supplies on 658 South King Street in the ID and pick up a gi top if possible, or a back-up full gi if necessary. There's nothing wrong with having two; most regular jiu-jitsu guys have at least as many.
Will be at the tournament this Saturday. Rodrigo gave me the option to fight in the white belt bracket, and I'll probably take him up on it. I got my first submission in sparring tonight--an armbar after working for a gi choke from the mount. It was against a heavier (though not much taller) white belt who'd been around roughly the same amount of time as me. Pretty exhilerating. It was a lot more fun that just punching and kicking somebody in the head.
Notes on the armbar. Squeeze your knees together. Don't flex your thigh muscles or you'll cramp (as I almost did). Feet to the mat, extend the captured arm with the thumb up, and slowly raise your hips. TAP.
The techniques for tonight were attacks from the guard. One variation set up a triangle, another set up the armbar, the third set up the omoplata. I'm going to look around in my Machado encyclopedia volume #1 (which is 150+ attacks from the guard), and see if I can spot them. There is always a hip swivel that seems counter-intuitive in many of these moves. Once you do it, you see why it makes sense. But as you're trying to remember it, it is easy to get confused.
Got it! The first move we did was Machado #7: The triangle choke.
Got it ! The third move we did was Machado #10: The omoplata.
Okay, I'll look for the second move later. There were a number of armbars in Machado that looked close. So I'm sure I'll find it.
Tore some skin under my left little toe. Nothing serious. I need to stop mutilatintg my fingers. It's making them unnecessarily sensitive at the tips.
got thoroughly worked by a purple belt during sparring. I've sparred with him before and he's got good variations. I didn't really have anything for him but some halfway decent moves to take side control. But there aren't any points in that. I tried to work his arm for a kimura or key lock. But I was so obvious about it that he easily defended.
I didn't do a halfway bad job of passing his gaurd. but he'd get me right back in his guard usually (except for a moment or two of side control, as above). The grabbing the opposite pant leg technique is a nice part of the guard passing arsenal, though.
I tried to work that one pass with the opposite collar grab and forearm to the throat, but nobody was buying it. Maybe I ned to combine it with the pass-side pant leg grab from underneath to give me room to shoot a pass-side knee ...
