TGIF Dawn Training: Closed Guard Sweeps

(instruction)

Ground:

Pendulum Sweep
Scissor Sweep
Hip Bump/Crossover Sweep

Scale:
166.4

TGIF Dawn Training: Enter the Katagatamezekiel

(instruction)

Ground:

Scissor Sweep

Hip Bump Sweep

Katagatamezekiel from the back

Live Training:

18 minutes

Positive Jiu-Jitsu Space? Priceless

Another nice night on the mat.  I still weigh a ton, and can feel it every time I try and move to keep up with some of our young guns.  But there are few things in life right now that compare with the joy of a good night on the mats.  Coach Ed said it best after we finished a sparring round after class: "I wish I could live here."

Wednesday was tripod sweep and taking the back from closed guard.  Tonight, we worked the scissors sweep and the scissor sweep transition to the armbar.  Five black belts on the mat helping the class.  Awesome.

To do for me: work on deep half defense, lose some #(*%&@ weight, finish the ICP4 course by Saturday and start the technique essay.

Really appreciated being in a good jiu-jitsu space.  If I let my mind wander, I end up in the "desert of the real" to steal a phrase, so I'm trying to keep busy, stay occupied and, quite frankly, avoid Facebook and anywhere else I'm likely to encounter news that makes me want to move to Mercury.

163.4 on the scale post train.  That's not so good.  On the other side of things, I'm teaching the am class at 6:30 tomorrow and the new "Over 40" class at 6 pm tomorrow evening.  It will be a long day, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't incredibly excited to have this kind of responsibility.

I really want to make sure I take advantage of the incredible training partners I've got right now.  The golden age of training (May-October 2012) may have ended, but there's still plenty of prospecting to do on those night and nooners I am able to return to the tatame.

Training Day: Monday

A whole lot of the kind of training I really like: a little self-defense followed by about half an hour of nothing but scissor sweeps.

It may not be the most exciting training for some.  But as far as learning is concerned, there really isn't anything better than taking one key technique and working it over and over and over.  We aren't at the technological singularity yet, and can't quite assimilate knowledge like they do on the Nebuchadnezzar.  So the only alternative, as Daniel Coyle writes in his excellent book, The Talent Code, is the slow, often-painful process of forging muscle memory, building the neuro-circuitry that will allow you to access what Rickson Gracie famously called "the place beyond knowledge."

Some good training with new Gracie Barra Seattle purple belt Kyle, and blue belt Cordelia, a judo black belt if I overheard correctly, with very good movement on top (i.e., spinning armbar, kimura set-ups) that had me scrambling to recover guard.  And a great guard/pass guard specific training with Mark during the Open Mat (four two-minute rounds).  I might start spending every Open Mat with this kind of training.

I also got to work on some of my rear mount escape demons, specifically Saulo's detail about falling to the side rather than straight back, and trapping the fall-side leg BELOW the knee rather than above it.  Felt like a breakthrough.  We'll see what happens the next time I'm rolling with one of those casca-grossas from the last few weeks.

A very heavy 162 on the mat post-train.  At least it's Monday.  Should be a very heavy week of training as I try and set a new training year record of 163 sessions in a year (August - July).  To get there, I've got to train every day this week - twice on Friday - and then on Monday and Tuesday of next week.  It shouldn't have been this hard; a few more sessions this spring and I'd be waltzing across the finish line in front.  But, things being as they are, I'm just going to have to take the long road to the goal.

Training Day: Wednesday

So far so good for the week. Tonight was a nice refresher on pulling deep half from standing and attacking with either the deep half scissor sweep (w/sleeve control and collar drag) or the deep half pendulum sweep.

Working with Angela, I had a better time with the scissor than the pendulum (ironically, she was having an ideal time with the pendulum sweep). I think the issue is relative leg length: if your legs are longer than your opponent's, it may be difficult to get the leverage for the pendulum sweep compared to the scissor. Prof. Rodrigo seemed to be making that point when he had us alternate between the two based on your partner's reaction.

Every other Wednesday we are doing about half the first class in specific (half guard tonight) after the technique section. Training with GB Seattle's newest brown belt, Ruben, I made sure that I started out in southpaw half guard. My mid-year jiu-jitsu resolution is to really round out my half guard game. Rather than run away from it as I thought I needed to do this spring, the goal is to completely flesh it out, to explore every aspect of the half guard that I can conceive of.

And one of the first steps is to become more or less ambidextrous when it comes to attacking from the half. I don't necessarily have to be able to do every move from half guard on both sides. But I need to have as many options on the right as on the left - whatever they are. And the current options I have on the left need to become expanded.

Tough training in the Live Training, as well, rolling with Lance, Rodrigo and Elliot - who is back from an injury. Here the goal was largely in remaining active on top, which I met, but I need to be more focused in turning everything into a half guard game and then going right to my best passes.

A large part of getting better and better in jiu jitsu lies in avoiding areas of uncertainty and trying to draw your opponent into places where your edges are the greatest. That doesn't mean that you'll always win. But it does mean that almost always you will be giving yourself the best chance of winning. And at the end of the day, that's all you can ask. As Charles Barkley put it brilliantly, "sometimes we forget that the other guy is out there trying hard, too."

In terms of focus areas I need to keep working on the backstep pass v.s. the half guard, and keeping better posture when passing from standing. I need to sit/squat a bit more because I can feel my upper body getting a little out in front of my hips and making it hard to be really mobile.

To that end, I want to keep training the double underhook pass with the hop variation, as well as the Marcelo series (step/folding/leg over). I also made some half-hearted moves toward the basic toreano. I'd like to get that more into the mix as well. About six passes for the next six months.

161.5 on the scale post-train.

Training Day: Thursday

Finally made it to the morning session on Thursday's. Lindsey is leading the class, and training Thursday morning was just what the doctor ordered.

The class was small - Frank, Chaim and a couple of white and blue belts I didn't recognize. Lindsey had us working on the scissor sweep from spider guard and the triangle choke in the first half of class and the triangle/straight armbar off the arm wrap/Rap Star guard.

Managed to get in a little bit of Live Training - though it was more of a guard specific, which was fine with me.

Mostly it was great to get back on the mat for a third time this week. Friday will be very busy, but I'm hoping to be able to squeeze in at least a little time on the mat around noon.

158.3 on the scale, post-train, everything but the coat. That's what an evening training followed by a morning training will do for you.

Reverse Scissor Sweep

Training Day: Monday

First, the instructional. Rodrigo started out with a self-defense move after the warm-ups. The move was coming back to standing after getting pushed or knocked down. First, to fall properly, Rodrigo had us fold our hands across our chest (dying man pose), and then squat. This is to (a) keep you from reaching back to break your fall with your arms and possible hurting your arm and (b) get your center of gravity as low as possible in order to better to control the fall.

From here, from the squat, you essentially "sit" back out of the squat and breakfall by slapping the mat/ground with both hands at the same time.

Next is the stand, which we did as the technical lift. The correct process is: left knee up, right leg checks the attacker at the knee, while left hand defends against punches and kicks and the right hand plants behind. From here, kick the right, checking leg back and perform the "lift" to standing.

The move of the day was the scissor sweep. One mistake I was making was in not getting the shin block in place, which probably has to do with not getting a full rotation and turn over to my side. I've had some success with the scissor sweep over the past several months, so this was a very nice tune up. Rodrigo made the point that I need to make sure I'm doing this with proper technique because, based on the new class set-up, there's a more than small chance that I'll be showing this move to some new, white belts one of these days in 2010.

It was that kind of night. I'm not sure if I can sufficiently mask in metaphor some of the more interesting developments of the evening. We had to visiting black belts, Christiano from Gracie Barra Yakima and another guy I'd never met before Rafael "Barata" who had a GB school in Hawaii but is now in New Mexico.


The audio is messed up. So I suggest you just turn it down so it doesn't distract. But at least you can get an idea of the submission.

From my perspective, I did very well with both visiting black belts - "very well" meaning that I was able to attack (if not pass) their guards effectively from standing without being swept in 10 seconds. I got caught in Rafael's baratoplata twice and Christiano got me with a baseball type choke. But without getting into particulars, I was able to do something I've wanted to do for probably almost a year now and nothing would make me happier than to have the opportunity to do it again - and with a little more "Bob's Your Uncle" next time.

162.8 on the scale post-train. Not bad for the Monday after the Super Bowl, I suppose, though it's starting to get a familiar above 160. I overheard Christiano saying that he's at 158, which is relatively heavy for him compared to where he competes (at 154 lbs. in the gi, one division below me), which actually made me feel a little better about floating around north of 160 for week after week.