What happens when you both try to pull half guard at the same time?

Okay- commercial’s over. Grab onto my arm now. Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the way. Just don’t let go of my arm. And if I should kiss you in the dark, it’s no big deal; it’s only because you are my love. –Stephen King


Thursday evening two-fer at Bellevue: no gi and "black belt".


No-gi: start on feet with pummeling, then pummeling to single-leg setup, then eventually to complete the takedown.

Side control- failed kimura. The arm nearest opponent's feet: Put elbow on mat and grasp opponent's bicep. Other arm- grab your own bicep. Step foot up behind opponent's head. Pull back and up.

I had trouble with both of these. I got "Purple belt, purple belt..." from Carlos again.  He doesn't like it when I turn my body and try to motion my way through the technique along with him. He made me turn around and watch... I don't know how to explain that this has me looking at things essentially backwards and then I have to transcribe everything in my brain before I can perform it, which is one area where I have a major neural disconnect. When I can face the same way as he is and do a little "monkey see monkey do" along with him, I get 1)a mental snapshot that I can copy for the next rep without trying to flip it bass-ackwards first, and 2)a dose of physical experience.

A little positional sparring.

I was feeling pretty inept after this and didn't really want to continue with the next class, which would probably be worse in terms of both higher complexity and lower patience/attention span. But I made myself stay.  Ugh, getting into a gi when you're already all sweaty and overheated is awful!


I got the same guy, which made me feel bad, but I actually turned out to be more competant this time. Not sure why, as these were indeed more complex maneuvers.


Pull half guard from standing. Many reps.

Then, partner pulls half guard while you turn your body to the outside and step back with the other foot, then turn back and "slide into home" with inner knee bent and sliding over opponent's thigh. End in side control. Many reps.

Next technique: Both partners squat waaaaaaaaaaaaay down before opponent pulls half guard. As s/he does this, you scoop your arm in and underhook the far thigh. Sprawl on opponent's matward leg. Turn your hips toward hir feet and dislodge your trapped foot. Side control. Many reps.


Last but not least: Your opponent starts in Del a Riva. You have pantleg grip at knee. Opponent sits up. You grab behind hir collar and put hir back on the floor, while moving in and squaring up. S/he pushes with hir foot on your knee.You donkey-kick your other leg out and place it on the mat outside of hir hip. Dance your other foot out to join it, side control. Do not let go of any grips during this process. Many reps.


Then, eternal reps of all three, until I thought I was gonna keel over. My focus started to go, and my partner seemed to be suffering the same. It got to the point where neither of us could remember whose turn it was to pull half guard. What happens when two people try to pull half guard at the same time? You end up sitting in each other's laps and embracing while clonking your heads together. Double points if your teacher is watching you do it (of course he was). After that, we had to resort to me whispering every time we began, "You pull,"  "Me pull," "You pull," "Me pull,"


When we lined up, I was so tired I could barely lift my arms to retie my belt. Carlos must have seen something on my face, because he asked if I was okay. I replied that I was so tired that I was afraid I would fall on my face when I tried to bow. He got a big laugh out of that. When we went to bow out, he called, "Careful, Keetsune, careful..." and I braced my hands out in front of me, just in case.