If ever a training could be short and sweet, Friday's training was it. I had a few things to do before I was able to get over to the academy, and ended up somewhere around the final third of the class, with folks working on the half guard specific. I got to work with Stephen (blue belt) and Bryan, who had already been hard at it for some time. I tried to be mindful of that, focusing on the "power-free" jiu jitsu I've been thinking more and more about since reading the Henry Akins interview from OntheMat (click here if you missed it).
Admittedly, "power-free" jiu jitsu got me clobbered at the last Revolution. But from a training perspective, I think it does have a lot to recommend it. I'm thinking that it's a good way to motivate my training through the end of the year and into the next (before tournament prep mode kicks back in).
Although there are times like Wednesday when I'm training with a guy like Benny (blue/white gi) when I think the last thing I want to do is pick up the pace, I'm wondering if there aren't some instances where I might actually have a cardio advantage. I'm no Diego Sanchez under any circumstances. But I do think I'm in better shape than I was earlier in the year - or even at midyear. Proof. Pudding. Eating. It will be interesting to see if there is an argument for actually increasing my pace - especially when it comes to passing from standing.
The little tatame I was able to do was very productive where it needed to be: SRO. My Project 2010 is to become 100% comfortable on my feet against any kind of guard, and I like the tentative steps in that direction that I've been able to make over the past few weeks. I was reading somewhere about a seminar with Raphael Mendes where Mendes believed that, for gi jiu jitsu, passing the guard in a sort of stand-squat is the best. This reminded me of what Rodrigo said about the guard passing skills and strategy of Marcio Feitosa. In a small way, I think I'm trying to adopt that - plus some of the key guard/half guard passing work that Rodrigo has emphasized over the past several days.
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. But it seems that, in some ways, once you recognize a place between standing up straight and walking on your knees, passing the guard becomes a completely different, completely possible, endeavor.
I wouldn't have minded one more 8-10 minute roll. But time is always snug on Fridays. I'm as ready as I can expect to be for Sunday (no post-train weight, but 164.8 in the gi beforehand). Here's to being worth watching.
