This is how I know I was destined to learn jiu jitsu.
Last night I'm thinking that I need to decide on some fundamental thesis for passing the guard, some paradigm that I can fall back on in any situation, the same way I have developed a paradigm from the bottom (half guard) and for takedowns from standing (ankle picks and trips).
I consider the leg rope, the toreano and the knee cross. For a variety of reasons, I settle on the knee cross and begin mapping out the basic passes I need to learn.
So what does Rodrigo end up teaching for the Friday class? The Knee Cross pass.
Rodrigo had us to the technique as a conditioning drill, in part, and combined the basic Royler style knee cross pass with that "hop step" that he does to avoid the leg. Specifically, Rodrigo had us grab the off-side collar with a same side grip and a grip on the pants at the knee with a same side grip. Step through with the inside leg (collar grip leg) then, as you step forward with the outside leg, hop your inside leg up and back and then down and around into knee on belly.
It's a basic coordination to develop through practice. What I like about the grips is that you can go for either #1 or #2 from the same basic posture.
Tatame was the best of times and worst of times. At times, I was able to work my collar and sleeve guard, work the choke and the straight armlock. But at other times, I got taken out of my game - particularly my half guard game, when I tried to pull the guy back on top of me to work my main sweep instead of transitioning to a different guard to take advantage of his new positioning.
This last point is something I'll really have to work on because more and more people are refusing to engage me in the half guard and instead are trying to pass with bear hugs and other retreats. Rather than trying to pull them back into place, I need to be sitting up and attacking with either a hook sweep from butterfly guard or a straight Cobra guard tackle.
156.0 on the scale after training. That's within 1% of the lightweight limit which is a perfectly fine weight so far out. Very nice to get a fourth training in this week. I need to avoid being a little dissuaded about the knee cross. I still think that it's my best bet for now. Most importantly, I need something I can try for at least a month exclusively to see if it will fit or not. That will still leave me with plenty of time to make a change if today's move of the day turns out to fall short of being my move of tomorrow.
