Thoughts on the 2 on 1 & More!

While I look for a way around, over or under the psychic block that's apparently preventing me from working on the slingshot guard, I have been able to spend a lot of time on the 2 on 1. I haven't really pulled off the sweeps or the take-the-back. But I have begun to get more and more accustomed to the grips and controls, as well as the sort of opportunities they might provide.

One thing I noticed is that any fight to free the wrist works in my favor because it gives me the opportunity to be first with the attack. If I have the elbow then as far as the sweep or the back take is concerned, the wrist is just a compliment.

It's not quite the "deception" in my Batman Begins-esque formulation. But there are some of the same elements. Marcelo says that "any time you defend you are losing the fight"; Patton: "advancing constantly" ... One way to attack is by distracting the opponent, helping him waste his time and energy not just in defending, but often in defending attacks that might not even exist.

Back on the mat tomorrow. I did some hip flexor and abs work today, 6 of 20 glute bridges, solo armbars, decline sit-ups and incline leg raises. I'm trying to put this work in the same category, ultimately, as the stretching, which has become an early training year success story. The shoulder feels better every day - I don't know how much credit to give the Cissus, but I'm sticking with what's working.

In a lot of ways, the October 2nd tournament will be like having a home opener at a new stadium. Rodrigo plans to have the tournaments as a regular series, with three or four events a year. And while they won't be quite as big as the Revolution events, they will be sizable, "3-4 mats at a time" productions, with a good number of schools participating.

I haven't seen the new facility, even from the outside. I think a couple of guys trooped over there on Monday after training, but it will still be a surprise for me when I finally get to take a look-see for myself. From what I've heard, it will be hard to miss the old "treehouse" we've been training in for the past couple of years - which is good news, sentimentality notwithstanding.

Training Day: Saturday

Drove over the academy for some weekend training today. A good crew: Lance, Clint, Lindsey, Elliott, Benny J, Andrew, Jeremiah, "Buscape" and a bunch of other folks I can't recall at the moment. I got to train with Lance, clint, Lindsey, Elliott and a good sized blue belt whose name escapes me. A good straight-to-the-point workout today - pretty much all Live Training/Competition Team training.

I went to training hoping to work out of Rap Star for the full guard, and the Slingshot for the half. Suffice to say that neither was accomplished - though I did manage to get some good work in from knee on belly, specifically the baseball choke from that position. Getting and maintaining knee on belly has been the real jewel of my jiu jitsu game here at the beginning of Training Year 6 (Aug 2010 - July 2011).

What I need to work on is pulling guard from the "sparring starting position." A lot of guys are just using basic toreano tactics to hop past me as I defend out of the sitting guard. And many of these guys are getting directly to side control - not the most fun way to start off a six or seven minute sparring session. I know that the pathetic quality of this part of my game is because I'm still learning how to use this position (even though I've been avoiding the "start on the knees" Clash of the Titans silliness since I was a blue belt). But it is still more than a little aggravating.

So out of this situation, I need to improve my guard pull from that position, as well as continuing to work on some of the solutions that Marcelo comes up with when that happens.

I also need to work on Saulo's "Bullet Time" tactic to reclaim the underhook in half guard. Coming in close second on the list of things I'm doing wrong is letting guys get that underhook against my half guard. Rap Star is my "overhook" guard option. But I'm not doing what I need to do in order to create space (i.e., foot in the hip) in order to make Rap Star work when I lose the underhook from half. So while working to gain Rap Star is a good strategy, Saulo's "Bullet Time" is probably better. Bullet Time also sets up the Slingshot, which has been on my TO DO list for longer than I care to remember.

The one thing with training with tough guys most of the time is that your "A" game is constantly challenged (good) while your "B" game typically doesn't stand much of a chance (bad) - to say nothing of moves that you are just beginning to experiment on. It's a "good" problem in most respects. But it does make self-directed development and evolution that less predictable.

157.2 on the scale post-train. I was dragging on Thursday and skipped the scheduled cardio capacity workout. I'll probably pick that up tomorrow.

Training Day: Tuesday

Fundamentals Week 3a began today insofar as Monday was treated more or less like a holiday-training session. We're back to working on passing the guard, which is always worthwhile practice for me. I'm trying to get to that point that Mike Fowler talked about when he started to really love the challenge of passing guard. And given my history of guard passing, that's a very good thing.

The underhook pass from standing was the main technique. I worked mostly with a new, young guy Igor, focusing on counting out the steps (always a good training tool), keeping my lapel elbow tight and underhooking the leg right under the kneecap. Drop the underhook side knee by the hip to block and sprawl the other leg back as you lean forward, bringing the guy's knee to his nose.

Good hard training on Tuesday. We did a bunch of rounds and I got to roll with Lance, Wellington, Elliott and Bruce, who I don't think I've seen in half a year, among others.

Managed to get Brock to show me the slingshot sweep that I've been meaning to add into my sweep game for almost a year now. He caught me with that sweep a few classes back so I wanted to see what he liked about the sweep and what details were working for him. I doubt I'll be training that sweep too much right now, with the tournament a little over a week away, but in the second half of the year, it wil be right up there with the deep half in terms of training priorities.

8 Weeks Out: Conditioning/Training Schedule

Sunday:
Aerobic Capacity - Ground

Monday:
BJJ

Tuesday:
Tempo Training
BJJ/Competition Training

Wednesday:
OFF

Thursday:
Threshold Training
BJJ

Friday:
BJJ/Competition Training
(No Gi)

Saturday:
Aerobic Capacity - Standing

*

Here's the schedule for the next month or so. The focus in on general endurance, splitting aerobic capacity into a two-day "ground" and "standing/LSD3" component. The idea is to build up my cardio to allow me to train longer and more intensely over the next eight weeks. If there was one thing I took away from my match with Sauleh on Saturday, it was about upping the intensity. Rodrigo has been exhorting us in that direction for the past few weeks. It's time to make that a training priority and off-mat aerobic capacity work should help.

Later on, I'll switch up to a more explosive, power-endurance based workout. But to get things started, this is the right focus.

I did the aerobic capacity - ground workout today, essentially 30 minutes of matwork, the 360 drill, my 1/2 guard leg drill and armlocks with The Chair Guard at a moderate pace. My right inner thigh has been very sore all day, which is probably a good thing. I'm icing it like crazy. Other than that, though, I worked up an excellent sweat and my HR was around the high 130s low 140s, at least, which is good. I'm going to have to lower The Chair Guard at some point, and add some weight in order to make it work (right now, I'm afraid to do the full 90 degree rotation for the armbar for fear of toppling the thing). But I think the components are there. I've long wanted an aerobic workout that was purely jiu jitsu oriented and now I think I've got it - or at least the know-how to put one together.

Skills focus for Week One is transitioning to slingshot guard. I'm looking to poach a training partner to work on both the slingshot armdrag and slingshot sweep (the Renzo). The position escape I want to drill is rear mount and the submission escape is, you guessed it, the triangle. The pass is the 1/2 guard knee wedge to backstep.

CBDP: Slingshot Armdrag to the Back

Circuit-Building Deep Practice: Slingshot Armdrag to the Back

Slingshot Armdrag ...

1. Wedge
2. Kick
3. Grip
4. Pull

... to the Back

1. Lat
2. Post
3. Hip
4. Hook