Drillin'

The first and main tenent is the so-called “Vorschlag” (first strike). It means that you hit the opponent first- you draw first blood. It also means initiative. You want to be and remain in the active, attacking an initiating role. That also means that your opponent is in the defensive role. As long as you have the initiative, you are in the so-called “Vor” (before); your opponent is in the “Nach”- this means he reacts, he is pressed into a defensive role.  –Campfire Tales From Hell



Thursday BJJ in Bellevue. Drill day. I know they are good for me, but man, drill days kinda suck.  :P

1)The same drill we did last week, where you stand beside a lying opponent's feet and place near hand on the floor between hir legs, far hand on far knee, and hop to the opposite side. Remember BUTT DOWN and keep the hop as low as possible. Partner commented that this makes it much faster and smoother. I commented that this makes it much more painful and exhausting. Note that you want to wach for the triangle here; although I imagine that that's what the hand on the knee is for.

2) You in partner's open guard, s/he has right knee shield across your chest. You wrap your right arm over hir lef thigh and grab the foot underneath. Place your other hand on hir knee and head on hir ribs. Press the knee down and hop into side control. Partner must shrimp out and replace the knee shield.

3) Kneel beside lying opponent's hip and place forehead on the floor, hugging over both hir thighs with opposite arm, Cartwheel feet to the other side. Move head to other side and repeat. Note that you want to keep your feet far enough apart that  s/he cannot catch both of them in hir closed guard.

4) You in partner's butterfly guard, hug overtop of both thighs and grab the ankles. Place your head on one of hir hips and hurl yourself in a summersault so that your feet hit the mat beside hir head on the opposite side. Your belly is to the ceiling. Now run your feet back around to butterfly guard, twisting belly down as you do it. When I saw the demo, I thought this was going to pull the hell out of the torso muscles on the sides, but it didn't hurt- it just got hella exhausting after a handful of reps.  

A friend of mine (not around here anywhere) got groped on the mat and her instructor handled it poorly. It is a very upsetting thing to hear about, and I don't know whether to feel depressed or homicidal. I have always felt like I could trust any of my teachers to instantly toss a groper out on his ass upon my say-so, but I'm sure she felt the same about her teacher.  Makes you wonder. I wish I could ask each of them and just verify that no, they would not betray me in that way. There's been quite a bit of publicity in the last few years about molesters in the BJJ community, and it's so frustrating that this sort of shit is still going on and still getting swept under the rug.