A nice day of midweek training. Professor Carlos was following up on some of the work we did on Monday, taking the back against the turtle and finishing with the choke. One of the great things about taking the fundamentals classes all the time is that many of the critical little details become extremely easy to see. Nothing against the Advanced class. But I'll admit to having gone back to my Gracie Barra Fundamentals DVD more than a few times when I was having trouble with a certain move.
Today, for example, the emphasis was on only stepping the toes inside when going to insert the initial hook before taking the back. This gives you much more leveraged because you haven't locked your entire leg (and, more importantly, your entire hip) to the other guy. This and leaning forward to block the roll-side shoulder were some of the best points of the day.
Live training with Glenn (twice) and Professor Casey. It was good to work my deep half counter, as well as my Feitosa pass - though neither was a perfect performance. One of the things I'm realizing about the Feitosa pass is that I need to bait the guy into the option that I want, rather than just "taking what he gives me" - especially when that guy is as good as Casey.
I can't say enough about the "training after the training" though. I swear, if you stayed after jiu-jitsu class for 30 minutes every time you trained for a year, I'll guarantee that you would increase your skill acquisition 50% faster. After class seems to be when the black belts professors really start to share what they are working on. It has always been some of the best "training" you can get, and today was a perfect example. I feel as if I've got three new transitions out of my beloved half-guard after just half an hour with Professors Rodrigo, Carlos and Casey. If there is a reason why I'm less likely to buy jiu-jitsu DVDs or pay for seminars, then Wednesday afternoon was a great example of why. I've got everything I need right here at GB Seattle.
161.4 on the scale post-train. A bit of a bummer since Monday's weight was so hysterically on point. We'll see if I can get this thing back down to the mid-150s by Friday.
