Finally back on the mat for a Thursday night class. I tried just coming to the no-gi class at 6:30 because I was dragging a little bit and didn't want to rush into the 5:30 gi class. It's hard to say which I prefer better, both or only doing no-gi. I think the issue is more the 5:30 start, which I had a hard time with back when the Monday class was at 5:30, also.
We worked on moving from side control to scarf hold to north-south and attacking with the kimura. The second move was a counter to the guy's escaping his head from between your legs (you should have his head and shoulders virtually pinned). Here, Cindy emphasized keeping that kimura grip ("the best grip in jiu jitsu" she called it) and using that to maintain control. One of the main options was to stand up and pull the guy toward you, either to reset your legs in the north-south control or to step over and attack with the armlock.
Got in a little roll with Benny - it was a pretty small class with Brock and a pair of guys I didn't quite recognize. It was nice getting back to working my standing guard passes - especially against an active no-gi guard.
Benny was doing a good job of blocking my Flat Pass by using his elbows to move my head off his chest. That was a new counter I hadn't experienced, so I'm pretty grateful. I think it is signaling that I need to get my head all the way over to the mat and not necessarily try to work it from the chest to the mat, where the motion can be easily blocked as Benny did with the elbow.
Pretty heavy on the scale after training: 162.2 (I had predicted 162.1!) Not a big deal, except insofar as it represents in part slacking in my off-mat conditioning. I signed up for the December 13th event after training and just didn't feel comfortable signing up for the 154 and under given the day-of, Sunday morning weigh-in. That would mean spending the weekend cutting weight and I'm just not going to do that.
So I'll be with the bigger boys this time around, up to 170 - where my fortunes historically have not fared any better than they have of late with guys my size. More on this in a separate post. But it is a little weird trying to calibrate my expectations in this space that is supposed to be "beyond winning and losing." At this point, it is a little more Zen than I'm in the mood for.
