Managed to get on the mat near what was probably the hottest part of the hottest day of the year. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Worked on some combination/counter throws again in Prof. Carlos' class - something he has been developing with us for a few weeks now, at least. For example, last week, we did ko uchi gari attacks to set up the seionage. Today, we worked on counter throws, specifically, countering the initial "distance-checking" arm reach of a double leg with the seionage.
We also worked on chokes from the back. A variation on the bow and arrow choke, where you lean back and lock your legs around the guy's far shoulder (your near leg is around the guy's waist). Leaning back to create space is critical unless you have very long legs.
From here there was a shin choke variation in case the guy kept turning and managed to get to his side. Here, you slide your leg out from under the guy as you put your other foot on the ground as if moving to S mount. Grab the pants as you would for the bow & arrow for balance and, with your choking hand still in place, rock forward a bit. This will allow you to pull you bottom leg up and to the nearside of the guy's neck.
The choke comes on pretty quick given all the leverage. There are also triangle choke and armbar options depending on how the guy defends.
Did some rear mount specific to finish things off before the Live Training. It was done King of the Hill style, and starting out as one of the villagers, I never managed to get my spot on top. There were a few technical things I did poorly: not going to the seatbelt to help stabilize position, and forgetting how to move the forehead back in order to open up the chin. But hopefully I'll get more and more time to work on this insofar as the back is probably my least effective dominant position.
Live Training was good - I didn't get to work on many of the key elements other than the general notion of looking to pass directly into mount (especially directly from half guard to mount). Still feeling sloppy and heavy. But I need to realize that that feeling is likely to last until I can get my 4-week training average back up into the 3.5-4.0 range (end of Week 5 or July 23rd, at the earliest).
From a "competing in August" perspective (for illustrative purposes, only), that would leave four weeks to maintain that 3.5 -4.0 pace (although, arguably, that pace would have been set at least a week if not two, previous.)
164.1 on the scale, post-train. A typically fat, post-holiday weekend weigh-in, I suppose. I'm still looking to drop 10-15 pounds between now and mid-August. Dan walks around at about 147 or so, which makes me think my featherweight dreams may remain just that. But I would be perfectly happy walking around at 155 and being able to dip into the high 40s after a week of competition-prep type training.
