Friday's instruction, among other things, has added a new routine for my conditioning work. Rodrigo showed us a butterfly guard counter - my favorite one, the Wallid Ishmael one - that will fit in nicely as a number #3 butterfly guard drill (with #1 being the hook sweep drill and #2 being the sit 'n' kick counter to the hook sweep.
Details. Bring the guy's heels in as tight as possible against his butt before attacking with the pass. Put your head down to the mat on the side of the leg that you are going to kick back. Rodrigo emphasized really opening up the hip and turning to your side rather than trying to jump/hop your way over. I was working with Alex and when he turned it up a little, I had a hard time getting around his hook. It may be his guard - and it may be that I'm just not opening up enough on the turn.
By the way, the warm-up was the Machida takedown. Really, really starting to enjoy this one. Combined with the Jacare, I think it's definitely a keeper.
More details: Kick the leg open and back. As you do this, pinch in with the ground knee to make it a little easier to bring your kicked knee back down to pin the opposite leg and the ankle.
From here, you want to step over the knee with your pass side leg. Actually, it's more of a knee over than a step over, in large part because you want to make sure that your knee is tight against the guy's hip after you've brought it up and over. It is a very tight little move.
Grab the gi collar or hook the head - just be sure to keep your elbow in tight. With your other hand, reach down and cup the ankle of the inside, trapped hook as you pass all the way around the leg/knee. Alex recommended grabbing the gi of the other leg underneath the ankle as a way of keeping control of that potential hook, and that made sense.
My tatame was a little rough. I was able to do some good collar and sleeve work from the guard, focusing on putting the sleeve-side foot in the hip rather than the other way around. And I'm focusing more and more on armlocks from side control - both the spinning and walkaround. But I got caught under Bryan's mount late in our session and couldn't get any kind of escape going. As with the guard pass, I need to do a better job of picking an approach and refining it. I have a bad habit of wandering from solution to solution when trying to solve a new problem instead of just mastering a certain rule.
Started to feel a little more winded than I would have liked. But that might be more a credit to Bryan insofar as I felt pretty okay during my second roll with a white belt I didn't recognize. Still I'll be glad when this week off is over and I can get back to boosting things cardio-wise.
On that note I managed to completely map out my conditioning program for the 8 weeks leading to the November Revolution. I've had to make some significant changes, but what was great about it was the 6-week "trial camp" I did provided me with lots of data to work with in term of different exercises, drills, durations and intensities. I'm really looking forward to it.
I fell asleep at about 9:30 p.m. the other night. I can't remember the last time I fell asleep that early. One thing I think that can really be a difference maker this fall is getting the rest I need. A 9:30 p.m. lights out would give me that coveted eight hours a night. Crazy as it sounds given my historic nightowl-dom, it might be worth thinking about.
