Fortunately, my banged up knee didn't prevent me from training Thursday night. I worked in with Bruce and Jason on the wrestler's back control drill, switching from side to side, as welll as some counters to the butterfly guard sweep.
The key point about the counters was to let the guy take you in the direction of the sweep. But to sit down on that hip and use the northside arm/elbow to brace your upper body. You also want to lift your hooked leg as high as possible to make it more difficult for his hook to remain in place. With your other leg, you want to walk yourself backward, bit by bit, in a sort of crawling backstep.
You can practice the counter on your own - always a nice feature. As a matter of fact, it's probably a great drill to work into a 3T routine, along with the butterfly sweep solo drill that Kesting shows on his butterfly guard DVD.
Rodrigo also showed us a full pass from that position, a sort of variation on the ballerina pass that I've been relying on in the half guard. Another nice application of the General Theory.
A nice class. I always like how Rodrigo keeps the pace at a high level. Admittedly, it doesn't hurt that I'm in better shape now than I was a year ago. But considering we didn't spar, at all, it was a nice workout as well as instructional. In my Dream Future, when I'm running a jiu jitsu class once or twice a week, that is exactly how I want things to be: one solid hour of motion.
Cindy had us do a routine that was based on those same themes as part of the warmup to the no gi that followed Rodrigo's class. The idea, the Bulgarian Hustle I'll call it, is to just keep moving. Rolling, jumping, pivoting, spinning, reversing, sitting in, sitting out, you name it, as long as it's not sitting still.
Technique-wise, Cindy had us work on some basics, like the armlock from the guard. One of the things Cindy has always emphasized is the idea of stiff-arming the head to make it easier to get your leg around for the armlock finish. Another key - which carries over into the triangle, as well, is getting perpendicular, as perpendicular as possible.
We worked on the stuff triangle, the omoplata off the triangle defense, and the omoplata "barrel roll" sweep when the guy tries to put his weight on you during the omoplata off the triangle defense.
I had a hard time with the mount triangle finish that I've seen Cindy do before and saw her show us again Thursday night. One point she pointed out was that by leaning forward, planting your hand in front of you, you can create space to slip the leg under and secure the triangle.
Failing that, there was a transition to side control that certainly suffices for my purposes of ultimately finishing from the mount.
Not a bad night of sparring. I had to cut things short because of a recurrent cramp in my right leg, right at the base of my hamstring and to the inside. I figured I might as well quit while I was ahead. I'd like to figure out a solution to this new onset of leg cramps. I know I'm not drinking as much water as I should. But then again, if I'm training at a decent clip for 2 hours, should I complain that I can't push it out to 2.5 because my legs say "enough"?
My goal of getting in 21 trainings over the next six weeks is going to be a challenge. I got on the mat twice this week, which means I'm going to have to squeeze in more than a few 4x weeks between now and the visit from the P's. The knee thing is more distraction than anything else, because it is a reminder of my limitations, of what happened with my shoulder after five and a half great weeks of training this spring.
Then again, maybe earlier in the process is better. Injuries have a way of helping your train smarter, if only by making you less athletic, more careful. That's no argument in favor of the beating your body takes in jiu jitsu - at least not necessarily. But like losses, injuries can teach you well what needs to be done to make you better.
