Double BJJ, again

Monday morning BJJ at Gracie Seattle. Lots of colored belts, a small handful of 3 and 4 stripe whites, only 2 unstriped whites. When it was time to split off "advanced" and "basic", Rodrigo called the two unstriped white guys by name over to the other mat. So once again, awkwardness... considering the population, it was kind of ridiculous for me to go over there, and since there were only 2 of 'em, I wouldn't have had anyone to drill with anyway. Sigh. So I stayed in the advanced class again. Drilled with Angus.

Standup: grab collar and elbow, pull collar, when opponent steps with that foot, you slide your foot between his feet and to the outside. KEEP TOES ON THE MAT!. Then push staight back with collar hand and pull with elbow hand, dump him on his butt.

Next- if he lifts his trapped foot and steps back. You kneel, grab behind his heel on his fwd foot, lift, stand up and step back with your foot, again dump him on his butt. I was fine with that part, but the next section- pushing his leg to the side and getting KOB- I had trouble with. Finally figured out I had to let go of the collar when I dumped him, and give him a nice shove to break his own grips, otherwise I just got pulled into guard. Still awkward to get around the leg, but that might have been the fact that his legs are as long as my entire body.

Guard pass by pushing one knee down and curling your opposite arm under his opposite thigh and grabbing belt, kneeling over his thigh. Pressure, pass to side control. Make sure to keep the shin trapped to avoid the half guard.

One roll with Marc, then one with Pat. I was on top a lot with Marc; kept trying to get full mount, but he was defending it well. I FINALLY succeeded in getting it (after distracting him with a faux keylock attempt), and he exclaimed (choking off the last two syllables), "Motherf.....!!!" I yelled "HA!!!!" Pat and I traded off the top position, but I could tell he was toying with me. I still ended up on bottom turtle and bottom half guard a lot more than I wanted to be, with him. Also still doing too much Clench-n-Cling. He was skipping and skating around, which made me instinctively want to clench at him more to make him hold still.

JM's eyeballs (both of them) are red as a vampire's. I asked, "What happened?" "Glenn choked me out." Wow.

I asked Bree for a roll. We haven't worked together in a very long time. But she was done- her asthma has been acting up lately. I asked her for a rain check, though.



I think I forgot to mention that JB told me Sunday night that she's quitting Gracie's. I knew it was coming, just not how soon. She would like to see the new school first, so we planned to carpool in tonight, with SK. Two hours before pickup, text from SK.... "Wait- Cindy's or Gracie's?" "Gracie's" "I'm not enrolled there any more." Well. Nice to know, two hours before I'm supposed to pick you up. Again, I knew that was coming down the pike- but I wonder how long ago he quit and when he was planning to mention it. That was rude. And here I am still coordinating carpools- why do I bother? I don't think any of them are going to actually ENROLL at Cindy's, which will mean greater incentive for them to skip since they have to pony up ten bucks drop-in fee each visit (although I do often treat them, just because I know all of them are poor). Again, what I see happening is some sporadic attendance for a few weeks, then they die off. It's sad. I wish at least one of them had stuck it out. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. I think I'm going to just shut up and let them ask *ME* for a ride if they want to show up, otherwise assume I'm soldiering on alone. Hopefully in a few months, I'll have advanced my BJJ enough to be kicking all their asses again when I get them on the ground in kung fu sparring. That edge will once again be mine alone, in due time.


So anyway..... evening BJJ at the new Seattle school, with my lone remaining (for a couple more weeks) minion. It was nice to have another Rodrigo class.... I guess I will be seeing even less of him now- since without my gang, I will have less reason to battle Rush-Four-Hours traffic into the city and will probably be going to the Bellevue school more often.


The guy (Judo black belt, BJJ blue belt) teaching the takedown class was a little late, but we still got some time in with the shoulder throw. My biggest challenge is still foot positioning- I tend to want to take a wide stance with at least one of my feet- if not both- outside of the opponent's. We were going to cycle through the class throwing everyone in turn onto the crash pad, but we ran out of time... so only Peter and one other guy got to do that this time. Peter is very tall. When it was my turn to get thrown, he tried about five times to squat down low enough to get his center of gravity under mine, and it still wasn't low enough. He tried to haul me over anyway, and I just hung on his back like a sack of grain- he fell to his knees, and I slapped on an RNC. It was hilarious- everyone was laughing. It's so rare that being short is a tactical advantage.

Standup- come in as if you're going for a double-leg, then posture up to defend the guillotine and scoot to the back. JB complained that I have the BONIEST shoulder. It's so funny that that is the most-commented on aspect of my 9lb weight loss.

In guard, opponent has one same-side lapel grip. Duck head under her arm, posture up to pry the grip off. Basic gaurd break. Opponent grabs spider guard. Bullfight pass. Then a variation where you step back with one leg and push only opponent's near leg down before passing to side control.

Short timed spars- no subs, position only- with Bianca, Anthony, Bianca again. Then open mat, and a little rolling with JB. They were all dominating me. I spent a vast amount of time on the bottom tonight with everyone- even JB. My foot crossover escape from mount into half guard works every single time- it ought to; I must have repped it four dozen times tonight alone. I got a keylock sub on JB, but she made me work hard for it. She beeped my nose when she was on top, the little minx!! I tried the head-grab-to-neck-crank thing on Bianca once when she was on top of my turtle. While I was doing this, I was saying, "I'm sorry... I know this is mean...." Her muffled voice came back from where her head was crushed upside down under my belly, "No, go for it!"

I talked to Bianca a bit about the last tournament, how my match went, what a monster BJJ Goddess Julie is, and a little about my confusions with the level of meanness. She is of the "It's a tournament, kill them all," contingent. She also told me that she is at 125 right now. Wonderful. I had been thinking that she was ten lb heavier than that (she is lighter than ME!!!), and that I might get into a weight class below her- again, not that that would likely save me from her. She did say that she would not murder me. (That's nice of her... she knows she can kick my can, anyway, without resorting to nasty tricks). Bianca's photo is on the poster for the upcoming Revolution, which is cool.



Sue (from Submissions 101) will be here tomorrow, and will be going to Cindy's no-gi class with me at lunchtime. Can't wait. I hope Cindy's knee will be feeling functional enough for her to roll with Sue.


I have twelve separate little round bruises on the inside of my right leg just above the knee, where Angus was pushing my leg down to pass my guard in those drills this morning.