I've always had a very strange synchronity with jiu jitsu. I would be fixated on a certain problem, and then out of nowhere Mamazinho or Rodrigo would be basing the lesson of the day on that problem. In reality, it's probably simply a matter of most of the problems I had as a white belt and a blue belt were pretty common and always good for a lesson. But the experience was always exhilerating - making me think all the more that jiu jitsu "was for me."
Today was another episode in that series. I've been studying the 2 on 1 and looking for ways to deal with standing opponents. Right now, I'm looking at setting up the single X. But it was very nice to have Carlos teaching the cross guard (a relative of the 2 on 1) and the tripod sweep. There were some good details, like checking the ankle rather than the knee, and some more details that Brian picked up about using a torreano style pass to clear the legs after you "technical lift" to the top position. Now, out of the cross guard or 2 on 1, I've got the tripod sweep, the transition to the single X and, hopefully one day, the split back roll from Jiu Jitsu University.
Very good post-class training with Mark. We got in three sets of 10 armbars each, reviewed some side control escape fundamentals, and took another look at the pendulum sweep that he's said is one of his favorites. During a brief sparring session after, I made sure to attack with the pendulum sweep every opportunity I got to help give him a well-rounded sense of the position. One of the ways to get good at a position is to defend against it a lot. So as long as he has the pendulum sweep on his "A" list, I'm going to make sure I keep it in heavy rotation on mine whenever we get a chance to roll.
This is what it is going to take. I'm going to make something really special out of the time I spend at faixa marrom in terms of my own development and my own personal sense of contribution to the guys I train with every other day. I have a pretty good sense of what I need to do in order to be, one day, the kind of black belt I want to be and, with a few willing teammates, there's no doubt that I'll be able to get there. And any white belt or blue belt who's starting to feel a little lost in the mix and wants to roll along for the ride is more than welcome.
158.8 on the scale post-train after a good, but not especially rough training. I haven't figured out how I'm going to negotiate the final week of training leading up to the October tournament. There are potentially some training options that don't necessitate braving Seattle/Bellevue's notoriously terrible weekday highway traffic. But there's no way I'm going to take off the week before a tournament when I'm far more used to training four days the week of a tournament - including the Friday morning 24 hours beforehand. Maybe if I'd been a more successful tournament competitor, I'd feel differently. But I haven't been, so I don't. I need my mat time as much as, if not more than, just about everybody else I'm likely to face in the brown and brown/black belt divisions.
