Smile at her.

Never forget that self defense is about not being there, using awareness, avoidance, and de-escalation to eliminate the need to fight.  Fighting is what you do when you’ve totally screwed up your self defense. Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder, The Little Black Book Of Violence



Yardwork in the morning. That pulled muscle or pinched nerve or whatever it was is better today. Still there- but when I turn my head to the left, I only want to grimace instead of wanting to scream. I think a little hair of the dog (ie, yesterday evening class) was what it needed.

Friday evening class in Bellevue. All of the other BJJ bloggers in this area are bitching and moaning about the heat. Yup, it was an oven in there. Fortunately, Prof. Herbert was teaching, and he opened the garage door. Carlos is more likely to go over and CLOSE the door. He likes it hot in there.

It was a small class. We still had 4 black belts on the mat, though.

White belt: "Where is everybody?"
Kitsune: "Everybody who is REALLY serious about there training is HERE."

Warmed up by rolling a little with Peter.

Guard pass: scoop opponent's left thigh up onto your shoulder and press hir right thigh to the mat. Grab behind hir collar while you slide your left knee over hir thigh. Make sure to keep your toe pinning hir shin down. Sit out. Switch grip to inside of pantleg at knee on NEAR leg, while you take side control. Now move to scarf.

Chrisanne was feeling nice and heavy- but I asked her to do more shoulder pressure into my throat while she was passing, and to make sure that she didn't shift her weight off of my chest and onto the mat while she was sitting out. With these suggesstions, she was HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY throughout the entire maneuver.

Sparring. Chrisanne was making an effort to be assertive, which was good-  but I reminded her again where her center of gravity is and that she should get it up above mine right away. I also suggested that if her opponent stands up, she should go ahead and stand up too- and not show any insecurity about working standup, even if she is feeling some.  "When she stands up, you stand up too- and then smile at her. Let her think THAT over."   ;)   That's what I like to do at comps.

Christy. Still very good, and getting better. I like how she is able to switch directions/plans quickly- that is something I'm *still* working on incorporating into my own game. It's great that she can do that already. I was able to fend her off okay, and stay relaxed and breathing evenly. She got 2 or 3 taps that I might have been able to get out of if I'd gone 100%, but they were good subs so I let her have them.

Doug- always fun.

White belt guy- muscling, but I was able to fend him off moderately well.

Again with the nausea after class. I don't like this. I don't think it was dehydration. I drank a ton of water, also some chocolate milk and Hawaiian Punch.