160.7 …Dressed no shoes
Thursday morning and I’m right on target. Subtracting a few pounds for the clothes, that puts me at somewhere between 159 and 157. I’ll probably have some black beans for lunch, but those should be the last carbs of the day today. There’s still some question about whether the weigh-in will be Friday night or Saturday morning. Obviously, I’d prefer the former so that I can have a somewhat normal Friday night. But I’ll deal either way.
This is why I said that I’d like to drop to a walking around weight of about 150-155, and then just eat conscientiously, but otherwise normally. I hate restricting my water intake the most, and if I could get down to 150-155, that would make some of the pre weigh-in water restriction more or less unnecessary.
Nothing fancy last night in class. Mamazinho took it relatively light on us given the tournament Saturday—though I think there were only three of us (Tommy, Griff and myself) out of the ten-odd people who showed up. I did some specific mount/escape mount work with Vinny the Blue. I could barely get my knees to the ground when I was on top, and he reversed me pretty handily each time (I got a little better toward the end.) Like me, he seems to prefer the upa to the elbow escape from mount. I then worked some specific rear mount/escape rear mount with Tommy, as well as specific side control and half guard. Tommy’s pretty good at combining the upa and elbow escape to get back to full guard or to knees. I had a typically hard time keeping him under control.
One thing I did try to do was focus on the upper body game when trying to establish and keep rear mount. After class, Chris (the purple belt from my “Risk of Ruin” evening) and I talked about how he emphasized the over/under grip more than the hooks, because the over/under will keep the guy from turning into you and you can always fight to replace the hooks—or to use your legs even without hooks to control the guy’s lower body.
Starting next week, I want to put an emphasis on taking the back. Chris also showed me some of the arm drag types of things he likes to do—an idea that echoes Tommy’s frequent use of the arm drag to set up different attacks. The great thing about the arm drag is that is crosses over pretty seamlessly from gi to no gi. Like taking the back, it’s a nice skill to have.
One thing to be wary of going forward. While I did a better job of extending the outside leg during my triangle escape against Tommy, Tommy has adjusted by moving to take my back. I think I can avoid that, but I need to think about how to tweak the triangle escape to avoid that situation. For one, I know I need to keep the pressure on the down/pinned leg and to work to pass—not just to avoid getting choked. Otherwise I give him too much time to adjust his position. I also need to be more aware of what the other guy is doing, instead of just being focused on the choking leg.
Tommy’s the only one I’ve rolled with who has made this adjustment, so there’s no reason for me to start freaking out. But now that I know that there is that vulnerability, it is something I should make sure I work to fix.
Another Tommy note: He showed us a variation on the clock choke that looks pretty fancy but is really pretty straightforward and really brings the choking pressure. You start out in the clock choke position. You want to bring your inside leg up and lay your ankle on the wrist of the choking arm. It doesn’t have to be pretty—flexibility helps, but the important thing is to get the leg in place. Your inside leg will be “butterflied” with your knee on his back and your ankle on your wrist/lower forearm. Reach over with the other hand and grab the guy’s leg on the far side. Then roll/hop over the guy’s shoulder while pulling with the choke arm and keeping the leg in place. The choke can come quickly. Trying the move with Griff, he tapped before I made it to the mat on the other side.
Not a lot of direct takeaway from Wednesday night's class for the tournament. I still am feeling strangely fatigued early on in class. I've been pretty consistent with my 3 p.m. meal, so I know it's not a fuel issue. There's a possibility that I'm fighting off the flu that Rebecca had a few weeks ago. Ironically, I've had the feeling that I "peaked" about two weeks ago when I was catching people left and right with that keylock from cross-side. I haven't been able to hit it since.
If I did "peak", then that "peak" would coincide with when Rebecca was feeling very sluggish and achy the week going into the Saturday before the last UFC (the 16th). Mamazinho reminded me to take it easy Thursday and Friday; I've got to go to class Thursday night just to keep my riddum (as GSP would say). But there's no reason to blow myself out. Then again, even if I do work hard Thursday night, I should have plenty of recovery time before Saturday morning.
I think I've figured out my goal for Saturday: a submission victory--or, failing that, an overwhelming double-digit win on points. I've won matches on points (2-0 twice, 5-0, 3-2), and I've lost by submission (two armbars and a triangle). But I haven't won a match by submission yet. Whatever else happens, that's what I want to accomplish on Saturday. And if I can't win, at least I want to lose on points, not by submission. I've got to remember that my submission losses have come from not being aggressive enough in passing the guard. If worse comes to worse, establish that rock-solid posture (having Tommy in my guard and seeing him hit that posture was instructive ...) and get set for the next pass attempt.
