Circumstances allowed me to give a Thursday night training a shot and it was very much worth it. I got to the academy early enough to do a little matwork (TM) before hooking up with Angus for some technique review. This is something I've really got to make a habit of - some of the most important breakthroughs have come from working with blue belts like Angus and Mark and Joe before or after class, reviewing specific problem areas and potential solutions.
Tonight we worked on the far side ankle pick from the collar drag. My preference has always been for the near side pick, the cross pick, using the drag to get the guy to put his weight on the foot you are seeking to attack. But the far side pick has it's advocates and both Prof Carlos and Prof Lindsey have both made the case for the far side pick.
Prof Carlos added a subtle guard pass at the end of the takedown, which then morphed into a guard pass with collar choke. Very good chain working - going all the way from takedown to finish - which is a really good way to think about jiu-jitsu.
Good hard training. We did a takedown King of the Hill that really put me through my paces. Having not worked on Live takedowns in several weeks, I was more tentative than I would have liked to have been, not really aggressively working Rip Cord, my ankle pick set-up and takedown, as I should have. One nice discovery/recollection was that the safe clinch is one of my favorite positions for a takedown. Obviously, not everybody is going to let you close the distance that much. But I love the push/pull of the safe clinch, and almost never have failed to get the takedown if I am fortunate enough to get the clinch.
Live training with Prof Casey, which is always a great study - and right now more than ever in many ways. I also got a chance to roll with Joe, who thankfully encouraged me off the sidelines when I was thinking about calling it an evening. A great roll with Joe, though maybe shorter than I would have liked due to recurrent leg cramps and overall fatigue on my part (the latter largely induced after fighting off a very tough triangle attack).
That said, I was still surprised to weigh in at 153.6 on the scale. That's among my lightest, post-train weights ever. Wednesday was a essentially a fast day (largely unintended) and today was a pretty low carb/low calorie day (one midday meal of steak and broiled greens and a piece of toast). Combine that with 24 minutes of HICT (high intensity continuous training) this morning and maybe it's not so surprising to see numbers so low.
At least it gives me license to eat! I just need to keep it relatively clean.
