Back on the mat last night. We worked on the guard pass from the knees, the double underhook pass from the Fundamental Five.
The emphasis this time was on sprawling to get off your knees and on your toes, and using your chest to press the guy's hips forward and up. The idea is to make sure that your shoulders are higher than your hips when you drive forward. This will keep you from being in a vulnerable position as you attempt the pass.
I had a great moment during the sparring/tatame when I managed to convert a low cross guard (cross grip and same side grip on the knee) into a nice armdrag to the back. Insofar as taking the back is one of my major focuses for 2010, I was thrilled to see this move work.
The trick is to get the guy focused on the two grips you've got (the cross grip and the same side knee grip), that he forgets about the grip you want: the other sleeve which will set up the armdrag. Last night, I managed to get my partner focused on breaking the knee grip, which allowed me to sneak in and grab the other sleeve shortly after he freed his leg.
I want to work on this move a lot more over the next few weeks - and add to it the backroll sweep out of the low cross guard. It's strange that I still haven't been able to really work the slingshot armdrag or slingshot sweep into my game. But this low cross guard to armdrag move seemed to come almost out of the blue.
161.8 on the scale, post train. Blame it on the switch from lagers to ales in 2010. That and the fact that I'm not getting in the off-the-mat conditioning that I will be in a week or two. Given that my new tournament cut-off is 162, I don't want to get too lazy. But I can certainly afford to train a little heavier than before.
