ATM back in effect today as I made it to Lindsey's class today.
After about a 20 minute warmup of mostly vertical conditioning, we worked on taking the back after sprawling to avoid a takedown.
Some of the key details involved making sure that you got your knee wedged between the guy's arm and knee so that you've got room to control (either with a grip or a hook). Another detail Lindsey pointed out was making sure that your head is down near the other guy's head. This will help keep your back control tight, chest-to-back, especially as you work for either the choke or the roll.
The second half of the drill on Monday was the forward roll to take the guy's back. Lindsey had us work the roll both from a choking grip and from a "seatbelt" grip. The choking grip is nice because, as you dip your forward shoulder and roll, there's a good chance that you'll wind up in a perfect position for the choke. The "seatbelt" grip is nice because it works with or without the gi, and provides for great control.
Tatame was so so. I had some halfway decent movement, but nothing really at all for Conner, for example, or for Jim (i.e., Jimmy Lee), who I worked some guard/pass guard specific after class.
My problem with passing the guard is that I really don't have a routine, a set of procedures that I can attack the guard with confidence. Again, my success with the half guard (such as it is) is a template for what I should be doing with the guard pass.
Right now, I feel that there are only a few bad things that can happen when I'm in half guard and most of them are things I've seen or am familiar with. But when it comes to passing the guard, it seems like there are a million things to think about, worry about, prepare for, defend against, watch out for, etc.
Clearly this means that I am not dictating the game and, instead, am merely reacting to whatever game is imposed on me from the guard.
What I need to develop is an attack theory, a notion on how I'm going to apply pressure to someone's guard so that they are the ones thinking, worrying, preparing, defending, etc. instead of me.
I've narrowed my guard openers/passes to three that I want to focus on: the 101, the Leite/Saulo, and the Tozi. I think the trick will be to learn how to flow between these different high/middle/low options to keep the guy on bottom off guard and, hopefully, eventually, one step behind.
Weight was fine, 158.0. I'm increasingly thinking that trying to make 149 at Subleague is a bad idea. It would just be something else to worry about for one and, for two, I don't think those fast little guys under 149 are going to be any easier than the bruisers under 170 - at least not in the advanced division where I plan on being.
