For the instructional, Prof Rodrigo had us working on adding grips to the X Pass (collar and knee), and then working on a triple attack with the cross choke, spin move armbar, and a brabo choke that you finished by rolling under and putting the guy in guard to tighten and get the tap. Very nice to spend as much time as we are on techniques from the same general area.
Live training was full of tough rolls: Jason, Prof Rodrigo, Ethan and Frank. One thing that I'm really noticing is how overly reactive my game is. Too often I'm either waiting to counter or initiating a single move without really having an overall attacking strategy in mind, as if I'm only rarely thinking more than a move ahead. To be fair, the tougher the competition the harder every thing is anyway. As Charles Barkley famously reminded us, "the other guy is out there trying, too." But I'm feeling more and more that this BJJ astigmatism is at the root of everything that has been most frustrating about my jiu-jitsu - from competition to "conditioning" - for years.
The trick is to deal with it directly. Just training more frequently won't fix the problem - though I credit my increased training pace over the past month as helping to reveal the problem more clearly than I've ever seen it. The good thing is that I can start small, very, very small, and with most of what I need at hand.
161.9 on the scale post-train.
