Mild nagging physical issues: Knees still ache from Monday (note- ICE THE KNEES before and after class when Tiger drills are involved!). Right big toe hurts. I've been noticing that for a few days; I don't remember doing anything to it. It seems to be getting worse, though. Need to try to baby that a bit for the rest of this week. The muscle just below the knee (on the back) keeps siezing up (just the left one, often- but sometimes both) after the frog jumps in Cindy's warmup. Sometimes it then continues to niggle a bit later in the day. Maybe a little extra stretching of that one right before class is in order.
Wednesday lunchtime class at Cindy's. Wednesday lunchtime is supposed to be gi, but Cindy's school is so heavily geared toward no-gi... many of her students don't even *own* a gi. We rarely do stuff that actually requres a gi- and even when we do, Cindy always has an alternative work-around version for no-gi. For today, I knew that Frank and George were going to be there, and they don't own gi's. So I got rid of my gi jacket before the warm-ups!
Moderately intense version of warmups today. Lamont is having trouble with the Dead Bugs. I had to give him a little flak. Lots of ab exercises. The ones where you lie on the floor and hold your partner's ankles, and lift both legs straight up, then back down (don't touch floor) then the same diagonally to the sides. Wheelbarrows. Partnered triangle drill. Lie on the floor and hold partner's ankles again, lift legs straight up, and pop hips up to touch your toes to the partner's outstretched hands. Ab conditioning exercises can get pretty grueling when you do a whole bunch of different ones in succession.
We reviewed the scarf hold escape #1 again- push face, hip out, lift leg over opponent's head, push down. Rotating reps with every classmate. Abs hurt, after all the exercises!
Then, side control escape. Frame up (make sure to cup the shoulder, don't just let the hand float uselessly there... also, tip the elbow up against the jawbone), bridge, get crossways underhook (shrug it HIGH on shoulder), Roll over to get to knees (you can walk the feet out first if you want). Opponent whizzers, you pull his ankle out and hop both your knees behind it. Now you can limp the arm out and take his back.
I have been thinking that it might be worth laying off sparring for a while and just doing drills, in light of my frustrations. Just a break. The problem is, I can't really avoid the positional training- which is just as frustrating (if not worse, because I have fewer options). We did positional training from closed guard, side control, and back mount. I did bail after that, though... there were only 15 min left in the class, and we had done class from 2 to 4 today instead of 12-2... so I actually did really want to get the heck out of Seattle before 4pm and the height of Rush-Four-Hours.
I had just enough time to go home, shower, and change before evening class at Gracie's Bellevue. I had told Angela I would be there to work with her in no-gi, so I had committed myself to show up. I thought I was going to be completely zombified, but it was actually BETTER (this time, anyhow) to just keep the momentum going. The problems arise if I have time for a nap between lunchtime class and evening class!
Gi hour followed by no-gi hour. I worked with (white belt) Kevin for the gi class. I haven't seen him in months- it was nice to have him back.
I did something _right_ in warmups today. I try to do everything on both sides, on general principles... except of course in the case of things I've never seen before and am fumbling to do correctly on *ONE* side. I also know for a fact that it's important to Carlos that we try to do things on both sides. He even switches sides every time he does a demo.
Today we were doing sprawl, sit-out, grab guard, tactical stand. I am still fumbling a little with the leg motion of grabbing guard, but I did my best to do alternating sides. After the exercise, Carlos pointed out me and two others as being the only ones in the whole class who had done the technique on both sides as we all should. So it's cool to be on his "nice" list instead of his "naughty" list for now!
We started with standing same-side lapel grip and elbow grip- pull guard. Remember to put the foot on the hip on the same side that you have the opponent's ELBOW- that way he can't grab your foot.
Then let go of the lapel and grab the cross sleeve cuff. The elbow grip moves up to the armpit, Yank the opponent forward and across you. Don't forget to use your legs to help you yank him forward.
Hip out, let go of the armpit and reach across the opponent's back to grab under the OTHER armpit. Do not let go of the sleeve, or the opponent will get back on top of you. Get half guard.
Get on top and get hooks in. DO NOT post your arms over the opponent's head. Linger long enough to get your points.
Roll opponent over and cross collar choke. Remember to not be under his arm. If he pulls that second lapel out of your reach, THEN you grab his arm, stretch it out, and place your hand on your opposite bicep to choke. DO NOT place your hand on the back of his head- this can be seen as an illegal cervical crank.
A little positional sparring- Ron and Ritchie. Neither of them tapped me tonight (I am really fighting hard to not tap to Ritchie). I seemed to do slightly better than usual against Ron. Ritchie and I got each other into a bizarre position where we were angled north-south and simultaneously
triangling each other. Neither of us could quite finish, but we were both afraid to move for fear that the other would finish.
No-gi. Starting with standup pummelling. Then standup forehead-to-forehead, hook behind the neck and grip just above the elbow. Push and pull back and forth. Then as your opponent pushes, you change your level, push her elbow up, duck under and get the back. At the same time, you are dragging the behind-the-neck hand with all your weight on it. This ends in a takedown with you on the back.
It is important to be in really close while you are stepping past the opponent and going to the back. Professor Carlos came over to correct Angela and me on this point. He had us do the technique up against the wall so that we had to step in close. Thank Rickson the wall is matted- because the first time Angela did the technique, she slammed me headfirst right into the wall so hard and fast that I couldn't suppress a squawk of suprised dismay.
Having Angela hanging her weight on your neck and grinding you to the floor is no joke. I was going down HARD on my hands and knees (hurt my right wrist a bit). She has either done this one before, or picked it up quickly, because she was able to help me out when I fumbled.
Then we went right into timed spars, which vexed me a bit because my idea of laying off sparring for a while is not going so well. There isn't really an "open mat" on Wednesdays at Bellevue, and we had started the no-gi a little late anyway, so I thought I'd be off the hook- but we ended up doing an entire HOUR of timed no-gi spars. I didn't want to bail out on Angela. I fought her, then some white belt guy, then Angela again.
White belt guy was playing teacher, and he let me have a couple of taps- although he was pretty resistant to chokes. I had to give up on a few, and persist on a few others to a crazy extent.
Angela- I know that I want to avoid her closed guard, and I had moderate success at that, altho she got me a few times. The reason I don't want to be there is that it usually ends in a triangle- and she got me a few times with that as well, although I managed to escape before tapping. She transitioned to armbars a few times, though, and I didn't do nearly so well escaping these.
Note to self- do not engage in wars of strength with Angela. She is stronger than me.
Things are bad for me when she gets on top- although she has short legs, which I was able to exploit a few times by getting ahold of her foot. I also managed to whisk out the back door more than once.
I got front mount and side control on her a few times, but I couldn't do crap from there. Tried a few chokes, with no joy. Keylocks and armbars, likewise. Almost got her turned enough to try for a kimura once, but not quite. Got a KOB once, although she shrimped out before I would have gotten points.
I spent quite a bit of time dancing around her, trying to get in on her without ending up on the bottom. Note to self, trying to control her foot/feet is a bad idea. I tried that a few times, and it ended very poorly for me. Several times, though, I managed to disengage and get to my feet to try to come in on her again while she was sitting.
Another note to self- if she starts to get to *HER* feet, pounce. She got to her feet once, and I thought, "This does not bode well." She guillotined me and yanked me up on my toes trying to finish it. When I wouldn't tap, she tiptoed me over to the wall and shoved me up against it, trying to finish. Still no tap, so then we moved on to the cupping-the-back-of-the-neck and hauling down hard with her weight behind it. Down hard on hands and knees again, but I'm happy to say I still did not tap. She was on top, though... time ran out before she could smoosh me again.
It was a long, challenging no-gi session with Angela... good stuff.
Carlos teased me because my water wasn't pink tonight (I often have zero-cal pink lemonade or fruit punch Crystal Light in it). Then he tried to talk me into coming to next Saturday's group picture and BBQ, and teased me about my reluctance to have my picture taken. The last time someone was taking pictures at the school, I skulked away.
(pic- Jim)
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