Finally made it back on the mat last night. Overall, my performance wasn't horrendous. My cardio was very good - thanks to the conditioning I've been doing and the weight I've been losing. Technique-wise, I was a little rough. I had a hard time remembering the initial technique Rodrigo tried to show us. On that score, though, I wasn't alone. Rodrigo ended up abandoning it and switching to something simpler when too many of us kept messing it up.
I'm going to make a point out of asking Rodrigo to show me that technique again. The trick with these moves is, if you can't remember everything, to remember the first three things that you are supposed to do. If you get stuck later, you can either ask for help or try and figure it out on your own. But I think there is a tendency to focus on the end result of the technique as it is being shown ("Ah, what a cool choke!" "Wow, that move turned into a great sweep!") If the technique is complicated, though, you can find yourself completely lost trying to remember the first, less-easy-to-understand-why, moves.
So that's my theory on learning jiu jitsu. We'll see how that works.
The move we did learn was a nice counter when you have knee on belly and your opponent tries to push against the hip of the standing leg.
What you want to do is switch your hips so that you are parallel to him and facing his legs, watchdog style. You use the knee of the standing leg to knock the arm away AND pin it to the mat. The knee that was on the belly comes back behind you - again you are almost parallel facing his legs in a stance that might look like a track runner in the block.
What you will do from here is replace the knee on belly. You do this by switching your hips back so that you are facing the front. You want to come in from an angle - your knee might land a litle higher on his body than normal for knee on belly. But that angle is what is important to make sure you keep the arm trapped. This is also why you want to bring that other leg back behind you: it makes it easier to bring that leg in high and down his body to replace the knee on belly.
With regard to my sparring, I was technically a little off. I wasn't as effective in the half guard as I would have liked and got stuck in a few sweeps. At least the instincts were on target. Got to roll with Andrew (brown belt) and Rodrigo - in addition to a pair of white belts for probably a total of 25-30 minutes worth of sparring.
The bad thing, though, were the cramps. They didn't kick in during the drills. But it wasn't long after we started sparring that my hamstrings and calves just started seizing up. I was able to spar, but every time I would flex my legs, they would cramp and I'd have to stick them straight out until the cramping subsided on their own.
I could have stopped - and have in the past. But I was curious to see how well I could "prevail" as they say in Red Belt - or at least survive. It was an interesting experiment - though not one I want to repeat with any frequency. I found a Berardi article on hydration and saw that he recommended four liters of fluid (non-caffeinated) on training days. I had trained earlier in the day, also, and know that I probably had a liter of fluid tops all day. That's not going to work.
One technical note that I think I've figured out. When guys sprawl to avoid being put in my half guard, I need to butterfly hook their trailing leg (usually their right leg) instead of chasing after it and stretching myself out. Even if I can't sweep them from there, I can probably prevent the pass.
Also, with the scissor sweep, remember to pull and then scissor the legs. You want to load his weight, not just try to "shove" it over.
Lastly, post-training weight? 158.4. A very nice Tuesday night number. With the gi, and before training, I think I was 168.4 or so - only half a pound over the IBJJF lightweight limit.
