Monday Lindsey had us working from standing. No instructional techniques, per se, though he showed us some of his favorite throws, knee picks and ankle picks. It was more of a "specifics" session, which I didn't mind for a bit. There's something about Monday training that makes you want to jump in and starting rolling as soon as the warmup is done.
I worked with a couple of guys, including Stephen. It's good training to see how well your takedowns work with the resistance and stiff-arming a gi provides. I still feel far more comfortable with ankle picks and countering leg throws with hip throws and kubi nage (headlock throw) of my own than with most other takedowns. And there's always the infamous half guard pull ...
We also did some specific king-of-the-hill work from the half guard. It was nice to have complete license to attack from the half. I worked my standard toe grab sweep well, but should have probably taken the opportunity to work the underhook guard or the high half. Then again, it was Monday.
Speaking of the half guard, my crossover sweep from half guard continues to work. It is definitely something to add to the competition gameplan, so to speak. I do need to work on passing the half guard as soon as I get the sweep, capitalizing on the suddenness of the reversal to stay yet another step ahead. But otherwise, that sweep is the best new thing to happen to my half guard.
I've been wrestling for it and using the Aesopian kung fu move to get into position. I'm starting to think that a kimura attack would also work. Just when the guy feels like he has escaped the kimura by pulling his arm out, he exposes and opens up the whole side of his body for me to overhook and then pull into me for the crossover.
My mount escapes are the main area I want to tighten up, in large part because if I can get to half guard from mount, then feel like I'll have the tools to go all the way from being on the bottom in mount to being on top in side control (i.e., escape mount to half guard, half guard sweep and guard pass to side control ...). Rear mount is pretty important, also. But at least with rear mount I feel like I have my procedures set but just aren't executing them consistently. With mount, there is still a little mix up in how I want to attack and escape (probably calls for a flashcard ...)
