Deep half guard dilemma

Writing is a job. It is not waiting for some mysterious force to smack you upside the head with inspiration. It is a job and you do a job by working. Sit down. Write words. That simple. Writer's block isn't what is going on. What's going on is an overwhelming mass of projects. It's like a huge pile of dirty dishes in the sink. You want to believe that if you just don't look at them, they will magically go away. But that's not how life works. You do the dishes. One at a time. Until you are done. -Rory Miller


Sat: 129
Sun: 130    ankle weights
Mon: 130   ankle weights
Tues: 130    ankle weights
Wed: 129.5

Nurse in break room (with quizzical expression): Do you work all shifts??
Kitsune: Seems like I'm *always* here, huh?
Nurse: Uh, yeah.

Wednesday lunchtime BJJ at Kirkland.

Foe bearhugs you from the back. You grab hir hands, lower base a titch, and swing left foot behind foe's feet. Now kneel on rt knee and roll, rt shoulder first. Keep that grip, so that opponent is carried helplessly over your shoulder. S/he hits the mat and you roll over top of hir. You land belly up. Your shoulder blade remains glued to opponent's chest. Keep pressure on. "T" up, then turn into top side control.

Note that if I ever have to drill this with someone heavy, to ask them to take it easy when I am the uke. Even with Cindy (130lb), I had to make really sure to let go before we entered the roll so that I could frame my elbows to protect my ribs. Even so, it hurt. This would be a perfect way for me to pop a rib out again.

Next: escapes from bottom side control. Frame up, push up a titch to get a little room, hip out, KEEP ELBOW PLANTED but windshield-wiper the forearm to underhook. Heist to knees. From here, depending on where you end up, you can take the back (your arm is high on foe's back), single or double-leg (Head pops up, place sole on floor on same side, posture up, push and lift), or pull out opponent's near leg and get behind it. Note that if you do this last, you MUST either 1)get BOTH legs back there, or 2)use your foot to pin opponent's foot down. Otherwise you will find yourself being summersaulted and kneebarred. Note also to not lose track of that arm. I was focusing on the lower body action so much that I left my arm hanging straight out there, and Cindy elbow-locked me.

After class, I asked for help with the persistant problem of being sucked into deep half guard and swept.

Rule 1: do not resign yourself to the sweep and fall back on your ass (my habit). Stay on top. You may be able to simply sprawl heavy out of it. Otherwise, stay on top and try to wrap arm around opponent's head. Bring knee/thigh up to support, and try to get nestled in there with opponent's head resting on your inner thigh. Now grab hir far leg and try to squeeze hir into a Tiny Package (TM). It's all about controlling the head. I immediately assumed that any big guy was just going to muscularly straighten out of this.... but if the head is kinked to the side and pinned in place, it 1)is very distracting (owwwww) and 2)makes it impossible to move the rest of the body much. There are more options from here, but the one I liked was to *let* the guy straighten out.... you go with it and grab a kneebar.

Note that I need to work these some more the next time I get to work with Cindy.