Some good rolling Thursday night ... and I'll admit that I'm really starting to love the new space. It's like a jiu jitsu treehouse.
Started off with some half guard work. My half guard needs a major overhaul. From the bottom, I've still got a problem with getting to my side. From the top, I was trying to work the sitout, but I'm still a little confused about how to use my legs to open up the half guard from that particular half guard pass.
Overall, very, very rough. Too much "wrestling". My half guard has really fallen off over the past year--more than anything else.
Got in some no gi work, Thursday night, also. Some good recognition of different no gi chokes: the mata leao, the katagatame, and even the north/south choke, which I didn't manage to really lock in well enough for the submission. Later on, I did a pretty good job of defending against the choke when I got caught in rear mount.
I got to work a couple of things from the bottom of rear mount. I was trying to catch the guy's leg when he was attacking with a body triangle. I managed to keep him switching, but wasn't able to reverse the position back to guard. I need to do a better job of transitioning into the guy's closed guard when I've got someone focused on maintaining the body triangle. I'm already at the point that guys are cautious about using it on me. I need to make sure that if I get a guy who is paying attention to my counter on the body triangle, that I do a good job of spinning into guard--especially when rolling no gi.
Got the leg cramps from hell Thursday night. Both inner thighs. First time I ever had cramps there (usually its hamstrings and calves). The culprit was clearly dehydration; it was the second time at the new academy that I rolled without Gatorade. That, plus the fact that I'd done a Berardi workout earlier in the day, probably had my thighs in ready-to-explode mode. So I need to watch this going forward.
Some interesting news: Cindy Hales will be fighting one of the best women mixed martial artists in the world, Megumi Fujii, on Valentine's Day in Japan as part of the SmackGirl promotion. Cindy joins jiu jitsu fighters like Bibiano and Rani who have been deemed quality contenders to some of the best fighters on the planet just because of their jiu jitsu ability, which says a hell of a lot about jiu jitsu as far as I'm concerned. An incredible opportunity for Cindy--win or lose.
Fujii has a lot of that crazy Japanese sambo shiite going on. She has been effective with an armlock and has a pretty nifty uchi mata. She's also got a lot of experience, which means that if Cindy starts beating her up a little, she might be able to withstand it better than many.
Megumi is definitely the favorite. But a Cindy Hales victory would not surprise me for a second. She's training Tuesday and Thursday nights with Gracie Barra Seattle which Thursday night meant some round with Rodrigo, Alex (who has been training with Marcelinho and I got to roll with a little bit), and Jeff from FosterBJJ, who's got some really good jiu jitsu from what I could see.
More info on Cindy's fight when I get it.
Also ran into Angela who, unfortunately, is out with a separated shoulder. If it is any consolation, it sounds as if she might have had a Mike Fowler Moment (meaning she got slammed while someone was trying to escape her submission attack). It sounds more like an accident. But Angela was elevated before she came down on the shoulder, which tends to shift the responsibility toward the one doing the elevating. But that's jiu jitsu. She sounds fine, seems to have a great positivity about it, and is expected to heal pretty quickly (though three months is three months).
All for now. I really need to retool my half-guard this year. But I'm not going to focus on it like I tried to do in 2007. From the top, there are some small details to focus on. From the bottom, some basic fundamentals I need to improve.
A good night. It is great to be back on the mat. It is also clear that my off-mat conditioning is helping tremendously (thigh cramps notwithstanding). My wind is good and when it's gone, I'm getting it back pretty quickly.
