Training Day: Monday (Squared)

This pretty much describes my training on Monday, swapping out "girl" for "jiu jitsu". I was only able to make the Open Mat session on Monday during the day, so I figured that it was time for me to finally try a two-a-day. So, come the night, I was back at GB Seattle 3.0, ready to go.

Monday night is the advanced class, so Prof Rodrigo had us going at a nice hard tempo. He showed us a move that Casey has used against me more times than I care to remember the last time we rolled. Some people call it the low spider guard sweep, but Rodrigo pointed out that the move is essentially about recovering guard, with the sweep as a perfectly fine bonus.

I'd been thinking about this position ever since Saturday when I was training with one of the brown belts from Lake Stevens and he managed to pass my guard after getting my right leg folded/trapped back on the inside. Afterwards, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity for the move that Rodrigo would eventually show us. But, at the time, I just couldn't put it together. So having Rodrigo show us the move specifically, step-by-step, was a real gift.

Of course, the issue now is for me to drill it. Over and over again and not just for the Seattle Open this Saturday, but for the Revolution in March and beyond.

Trained with Benny (there are now two "Benny the Purple") and Lance (twice) Monday evening. Benny is no joke (his guard passing is getting better and better) and two sessions with Lance were a real workout. With Lance especially, the goal was to keep moving and "not stop" as he talked about when we got to train together about a week ago. I'm still looking for the opportunity to write a little bit more about what Lance had to say, largely because it seemed like the culmination of something that a number of black belts - from Profs Rodrigo and Carlos to newer black belts like Jesse, Casey and Lance - have pointed out about my game, albeit in their different ways. More on that elsewhere, because it is important enough to deserve a post of its own. But rest assured that I've taken the "criticism" (for lack of a better word) to heart.

163.0 after the day session, 160.3 after the night, everything but the coat, as usual. I'll admit that I was in pretty exhausted shape by the time training ended on Monday evening. But with Wednesday only a rest-day away, it will be interesting to see if I can "do the double" twice in one week without falling apart.