Today was a special training Open Mat for some old friends and training partners of Prof Rodrigo's, guys who were part of helping get jiu-jitsu started here in Seattle 6-7 years ago. A lot of folks training - and there was a special added bonus of Budo Videos replaying the ADCC 2011 Day One competition in the background.
I got in four sessions - a good tough roll with a blue belt from Bellevue named Jim, an even tougher roll with Benny who was down from up north, an incredible roll with Sauleh (with whom I never can train enough) and finishing up roll with blue belt Steve, who arrived on the late side. I also got to spend a LOT of time talking and drilling with Glenn, mostly over half guard, but also looking into other basic concepts like space and the range-game when it comes to guard work.
A lot of good things. I need to brush up on my triangle defense on the one hand - including my escape. But my watchdog half guard pass is working very, very well and I just need to keep at it. Still not getting enough movement on top, but it's a preoccupation just about every time I roll so focusing on it should be a first step toward fixing it.
155.9 on the scale post-train. This is a good place to be at the end of the week. For all my talk of featherweighting, I'm increasingly thinking that this lightweight level is where I belong.
