Back on the mat for a Cindy class after more than a month ... It was nice to get back into her routine: the semi-gymnastic warm-up has been augmented with a serious core building routine: duo triangles, flutter kicks, duo triangles, isometric situps with trunk twists ... it was actually a relief to get to the Superman, behind-the-head Superman and alternating Superman drills.
We did specific work after several minutes of pummelling. Guard/Pass Guard and Mount/Escape Mount. Since it was no gi, I focused on the Flat Pass. I'm a little hung up on some of the things guys are doing to defend it - tonight, grabbing my attacking hand and controlling it was a major tactic. I need to work through that. It definitely works to get into the habit of opening the ankles with your top leg. It is agility worth developing because it is a nice edge to be able to open those ankles without necessarily needing to use your hand.
That was probably the biggest lesson. I went a lot more for the knee wedge half guard pass with the double underhooks, which should probably be my go-to half guard pass outside of the watchdog position. I had to fight for it, but the ballerina pass out of the watchdog and crossface positions both seemed to work tonight.
I'm also thinking that Thursday night might be a good weightlifting night, given the new equipment downstairs. Being able to do some heavy pulls on the lat machine and rows on the cables would be great, along with some leg extensions for my quads. Mainly focusing on stuff I can't do at home. Doing that after class on Monday and Thursday might be a nice little difference maker in my strength training.
157.8 on the scale. So far I've managed to weigh in below 160 after every class this month. Starting in July, that's going to have to be a pre-train weight instead of post-train, keeping things nice and low for the two weeks going into the Revolution event.
