Week One on the mat started tonight, Rodrigo's gi class. We worked on triangles from the guard, first the triangle attack when the guy reaches back with one arm to try and pry your closed guard open, second the triangle attack from spider or open guard (the entry out of closed guard is the elbow escape to shin block to moth guard).
One interesting wrinkle is that Rodrigo had us focus on attacking with a relatively wide, "bad triangle" first, then tightening and adjusting it into a good triangle. There were two methods, but the one that stuck with me was just grabbing the shin and using the off leg to plant and pivot into a better attacking angle.
Other than that, there were a couple of other emphasis points. The biggest ones for me were getting my hips up high off the mat when attacking with the legs and attacking as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Point two was especially important with the spider/open guard triangle attack, where Rodrigo emphasized attacking with the triangle as soon as the guy stands, not after he's already set, regripping your legs and beginning his own attack.
Rodrigo also had us finish with the armlock from S-mount, including the transition from mount to S-mount. This is a move I really need to master, insofar as mount is increasingly becoming my dominant top position (for better or worse). As much as I'm working the Ezekiel from mount, I need to make the armlock from S-mount part of the training rotation.
Tatame was fair - not bad for being off the mat for two weeks (six classes approx.), but nothing great either. I was terrible at passing the guard, but I did stand frequently when trying to attack, even resorting to the old PTMU against Clint. It didn't work. But at least I was working on what I need to be working on and not wasting training time. I also tried the half guard switch pass twice and it worked both instances.
From a certain perspective, considering the past two weeks, I'm almost tempted to give today's session a B-. With my cardio back over the next couple of days, I might be able to turn this into a decent six week run to the Subleague event after all.
One scheduling note, as they say: Thursday nights will now be all no gi. So between the early class on Wednesday and the Thursday class, there are two no gi classes each week - not a bad thing given the Subleague six weeks away.
