Some good things and some not so good things out of day's training. On the positive side, my wedge half guard pass is working against better and better guys. Passing the half guard has been a challenge - more than I would like. And though I've had some success with the watchdog pass out of the half, it has not been as reliable as I'd like.
In part, that probably has to do with not having a reliable alternative, an option to preoccupy the opponent (the "D" in the PAD principle, at work). The wedge pass works great as a pair with the watchdog pass because if I'm able to get to the watchdog position, then I know that I've got access to the far side underhook. That sets up both the Royler/Knee Through and the Wedge. I may even be able to do the cross wedge from here - though the idea of going from half guard to mount by way of the Wedge pass remains almost 100% irresistible.
On the not-so-hot side of things ... let's just say that I'm learning about the neighborhood of rear mount one cranked ankle at a time. I'm pretty good about not locking my feet for any length of time when in rear mount, but I learned the hard way that even having both of your feet near each other can result in the same thing. The silver lining is that I'm doing more and more work to take the back from mount (as opposed to the other way around), and I'm feeling comfortable about my options from here (including a leg attack that Saulo showed at his seminar that probably would have saved me a likely 24 hours of minor agony.
One thing that Rodrigo has pointed out that I've noticed in Marcelo Garcia's rear mount game, as well, is that the hooks are a secondary concern. If the hooks aren't helping you roll the guy toward the choke (inside hook on the choke side pulling down, outside/under hook on the off side lifting up), then I'm thinking that I might as well get my legs the F out of there. The choking knee down against the upper back and neck and the off knee up and pressing more toward the middle of the back (sort of like a reverse S-mount) is probably a better, safer way to get the submission.
One of the moves from matwork, "skeedaddle" will probably help me get my hip out and back, freeing the leg on the choke side to come behind the head and upper back, knee down. Then, just step back over the body with the off leg to put the knee in the ribs from the back.
And we're back to the beginning in terms of the Fundamentals: 1A today on Monday
Technical Lift:
Standing Rear Breakfall + Technical Lift + Drill
Scissor Sweep
Front Choke from the Closed Guard
A good detail on that last one was a reminder to bring those elbows down as a way of getting an angle on the chin. Most of the mechanics on my collar choke are okay, but this is one critical detail - and one that I could have used on Saturday during some rougher-than-need-be collar choke attempts.
Training today was another case of "piu greca d'italiana". I'm tempted to write about it more at length, but it would be very easy to sound a wrong note and give an impression that I'm not interested in giving. So I'm going to have to figure out a way to finesse it. But I think there are some interesting things that I've learned about training over the years, about the community of training and how it evolves and changes over time, that I've never really heard anyone talk about before. And there is probably some benefit, at some point, to putting some of those observations into digital ink for posterity.
161.6 on the scale post-train. Not great, but the lowest Monday weigh-in this month.
