128.5
Tonight I wore those rabbit-ear tie-front yoga pants to practice- the ones that were too snug when I was ten pounds heavier.
MAN, that area of my upper back still hurts like crazy. Neck, too. It hurt as soon as I rolled over in bed this morning. Maybe I tweaked something on Tuesday.
So of course today was no-gi GUILLOTINE day at Cindy's. Mama Mia.
Guillotine defense- one hand control the arm, hug over opponent's shoulder DEEP with your other arm. When they sit into guard, shoulder pressure on throat.
Slap on a guillotine and pull guard, jumping your hips OVER opponent's shoulder to get a triangle-esque position. Once again I am not jumping my hips high enough. We figured out that I need to leave more distance between my body and the other guy's- possibly by even taking a few backward steps before sitting into guard. But if you don't get the hips high enough and over that shoulder to begin with, you're screwed from the start.
From there, you may be able to get a straight armbar, or move the arm over and finish the triangle (with readjustments, usually). If they wrap the arm back around your thigh- switch the triangle to the other side, hip out and attack the arm (kimura).
Besides getting my hips up high enough and making sure I trap that shoulder correctly, I also need to work on making sure I don't leave space there, and that I also have the clamping knee on the back of the guy's neck, and I need to remember to not try to readjust unless I grab my shin first to keep hir there. Need to calm down and work through all these steps methodically. I tend to panic and assume I'm not going to be able to hold the opponent there while I futz around trying to adjust, so I often don't even want to even attempt it. I still have trouble gauging my adjustment, too. I think I need a ton of practice.
Lamont wants to bring in a camera to capture my facial expressions while I am functioning as Cindy's demo dummy. I informed him that his own facial contortions are just as funny when he's in the hot seat. He says that he KNOWS how it feels, that's why it's so funny.
Timed rolls with Frank and Lamont. Trying *really* hard to stay on top today. Also trying hard to not let Frank get grips at all, because he just overpowers me. Frank caught me in triangles about 4 times, to my disgust. I obviously need a lot more triangle defense practice. Lamont was letting me work with a great level of resistance today- he was letting me get stuff, but not going too easy. I got a couple of guillotines, couple of kimuras. One of those kimuras in particular, I was proud of, because I was working from the bottom in a position that I normally just sort of strain uselessly in. This time I saw the kimura and abandoned my futile grips and went for it. Lamont said, "Good- I thought you were just going to strain there on the bottom." Yep, need to STOP doing that.
Also- when in top half guard- don't be groping for chokes and keylocks while you're too low on the opponent's body. Escape half guard, or at least scoot up, and make sure the chest is controlled.
It's ironic that part of my problem is clinging to useless grips and positions (ie not knowing when to quit), and an equally large part of my problem is that I give up triangle/choke/etc attempts too early when they don't seem to be working right away, because I'm too insecure and impatient to try to make the adjustments (ie quitting too easily). There must be some medium ground.
After a while, Lamont and I slapped hands and then lunged at each other and klunked our heads together so hard I saw stars. Had to stop- but it was almost end of class, anyway. That's going to leave a mark. Lamont told me to tell everyone that Cindy did that to me. He also told me that he was going to start pinching me while we rolled until I got ticked off enough to start being meaner.
I told Cindy that before the tournament, I want to make sure to get some significant practice defending against her pulling guard on me. She suggested a technique that looks a bit like Black Crane "Dropping Elbow"- I had thought of that, but I'm scared to have that arm forward because I think the opponent is going to sieze my cuff and yank me into the triangle. Cindy says I just need to make sure I get my knee over the opponent's thigh. She also says I can brace against one of the opponent's knees just as she's coming in to pull guard, and make her sit back on her butt. I want to practice some of this stuff until it's very routine.
Cindy is freaking out about the kids' tournament she's hosting this weekend. She says that she keeps having nightmares that a kid is going to throw another kid though the plate glass mirrors. Also, first she was freaking out that no one would sign up, then she switched to freaking out that the place would be overrun. I'm sure she'll be relieved when this thing is over and she can stop all the freaking out. :)
Later...................
Kung fu basics. Hand strike drills (against pads). Then we split into pairs and worked the following:
Roundhouse kicks against the kick pad. Focus on clean technique and power.
Roundhouse kicks against the focus mitts- two in quick succession without putting the foot down. Partner holds the mitts at differing levels for each double-count. Focus on aim firstly; although you also want clean technique and power.
Two straight punches against the focus mitts- partner holds the mitts at differing levels for each double-count. I got reprimanded for chasing the mitts around with my eyes... told to look at my partner's chest. "Peripheral vision! The pads are nice and RED!"
Single straight punch against the kick pad, while stepping forward (partner with pad steps back at the same time). Then the reverse (Punch while stepping back, partner with pad steps forward).
"Fireman's kick" front thrust kick against the kick pad. Focus on power and clean technique.
Front Scissor-step with a turn and punch to the side (while partner with kick pad takes a step back concurrently). Then the reverse (back scissor step and puch, partner steps forward).
I figured out fairly early on that you don't want to hold a focus mitt in front of you on a line with your face while Nemesis is punching at it. The type of lesson that you learn once and then you never forget again.
Holding a kick pad for Nemesis while he is roundhouse kicking- well, he didn't send me flying backward through the cement block wall, for which I'm grateful. I told him to do the first two at half power so that I could get my bearings. I was prepared to flatly refuse to hold the pad for him if it was going to be so hard it knocked me down... let SK do that. But I was able to do the job. Knocked me back a couple steps. Hurt, too. It was like being kicked by a clydesdale... I knew it would be. I think I have his footprints in my belly even through the kick pad. I said to him, "I am *never* going to do anything that will make you want to kick me for real."
Then we did a round of partner A closing hir eyes while partner B applies some kind of choke, then partner A opens eyes and defends + counters. I worked with JB, and several of our reps ended with Ground-n-Pound.
Then a round of basic-self-defense monkey-in-the-middle, only for a change the monkey didn't have to keep hir eyes closed. We are all wandering around the room, and every so often someone would attack the victim, who then defended and countered. There was some scenario-playing... I walked up to them and put my arm around their necks... I also did a "pre-mugging interview" on Nemesis by trying to panhandle him first. I was going to pinch the women's behinds, but neither of them was letting me get in back of them- I wonder why! When it was my turn to be the monkey in the middle, at one point JB hopped up to me flapping her arms and making faces, and hollering, "Marshmallows, marshmallows!!!" I just dropped my hands and ran, and she chased me in circles around the room. She kept yelling about marshmallows, while I yelled that it was unethical to attack a mentally ill person like this.
Then it was individual forms time. I ran through Leopard at Dawn once- it was fine, of course.... I had also done a couple reps last night after getting home from CC's, and of course it was fine! Then Hurricane Hands a few times. Then I hunted down SK and asked for three "IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES" for the form. 1)Do not bend at the knees so much during the double wrist release at the beginning. 2)The throw-and-kick sequence.... this thing has given me trouble from the start; I've put a lot of work into it and it's still not right. Make the arm circles somewhat smaller- they're big, but don't hyperextend, especially that left arm right at the beginning before the turn. No pauses. Keep the right arm moving, no chambering. The apex of the kick comes at the same point that the arm-circles come down to the ground near the left knee. I asked SK if we could work the actual throw app sometimes soon so that I could better visualize what was happening, as well as get the balance figured out and the timing straight. 3) the "Hurricane Hand" itself- BIG circle, but only at the wrist. A little hook-and-pull, with a bounce right up into the strike. Don't get all rigid, either. That- along with the long Snake-strike sequence near the end- are the two most seminal portions of the form,so I need to get those right.
DD had come in during the choking practice, and he walked in on SK and me while we were finishing up this stuff. SK made me demo the form for DD. DD didn't appear happy that I even knew the form ("Does everybody know Hurricane Hands?" (no) "Good."), and wanted reassurance that SK had taught me only the most kindergarten version possible ("You didn't teach her the circles, did you? (no) Good."). After denying SK permission to teach me this form for the bulk of 2009, then giving the permission, he has obviously since forgotten all about it. It drives me nuts how tight-fisted he is about letting me have any new material, to the point of being so controlling about what SK is allowed to teach me- and even then it seems like my nose is being blatently rubbed in the fact that there are plenty of Juicy Secret aspects of this that he has happily shared with SK but doesn't feel me worthy of. I do not need my nose rubbed in the enormous hierarchical chasm between DD and his black sashes versus us lowly unworthy peons down here- I KNOW IT'S THERE, believe me. I know *YOU* won't teach me the circles, and you'll forbid SK to teach me the circles, and that drives me nuts... but ya know what... if RS chooses to teach me the circles during his visit- and I pray he does- you won't get a say. So nyaaah. If I was *really* a bitch, I'd let drop to CC that DD doesn't want me to be taught the circles... which would result in CC moving mountains to get RS to teach me the circles. I'm enough of a bitch for it to cross my mind. Not enough of a bitch to actually do it. (Between this sort of crap and my lack of minimum "mean" in BJJ, I think I'd get a lot further in my MA training if I was more of a bitch.)
DD added that I need to pay attention to the press-blocks in the long Snake strike sequence near the end. He demoed them on SK. It's really hard to concentrate on the technique demos when it is much more fascinating to watch the expressions on SK's face while DD is demo'ing on him- especially when DD is doing point-strike techniques. It's funny when DD gives SK a little tap on the arm, and SK's head twitches to the side and his eyes bug out.
Then DD showed me the area of his hand that he was striking with, and demo'ed it on me. OMG!!!!!!! It was not a hard hit, and it hurt reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally bad! He examined my hand and said that my hand has a really prominant spot for this purpose- so hopefully I will learn that trick eventually.
If I ever teach a class, there is going to be a very strict no-cell-phone policy (allowing rare reasonable exceptions for cause, with permission). Anyone whose cell rings during my class is gonna do eighty pushups while everyone watches. Someone's cell rang tonight and someone else's rang five or six times. That is so distracting- and RUDE!!!!!! I hate that.
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