"Taptaptaptap!"

Monday morning BJJ at Gracie Seattle. There were about twice as many people there as there used to be back when I was regularly doing the weekday morning classes last year. Good thing we have a bigger mat space- we'd never have been able to jockey all these people around in the old loft space.

Warmups- still struggling a bit more than I should be with the warmups- I hope I get back in the groove quickly.

A little standup- fighting for grips. With Bryan and JM. I didn't seem to be doing too badly at this. I think my shortness is helping here (at least within the confines of the defined drill).

Takedown: right elbow grip, left collar grip, pull the elbow to get the opponent to step. Hook the ankle (Keep the toe on the floor- I kept wanting to pull my foot up to the back of the knee for some reason). Push opponent forward (keep elbow low, and push with it) and trip hir.

Same opening, but opponent steps out of your hooking foot. Drop to your knee and pick hir other ankle. Pull/push hir around TOWARD the leg you have trapped, dump hir on hir back. Let go of the lapel (this was the step I'd been flubbing last time we worked this, and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get around the straight leg and why I kept getting pulled into closed guard). DO NOT let go of the foot. Go around the leg and get side control.

Guard pass: grab pants at inside of knee, go under thigh with other hand to grab belt. Slide over opponent's thigh with your knee, keep that outside leg stuck straight out. Do not let go of the pants grips till you have your legs out of hir reach and get side control. I caused Bryan to make faces when I ground my knee up his thigh- I guess his groin injury is still not fully healed. Sorry buddy.

Bullfight. I have trouble with the moving around to side control, because my arms are too short (even on Bryan, and he's shorter than the average bear) to keep grips at the knees and still get my shoulder up to pressure on his solar plex. I'm lucky if I can get above his crotch.

8-minute timed rolls. Fred keeps sidling over to press up against me while we're standing in line waiting to be paired up- and Prof Carlos was like, "Stop that, *I'm* going to be the one to pick who goes with whom." Dex first, then Marc (he called me "Nemesis" again- hee hee), then Fred. I was being a little cautious with the right hand, but aside from a few twinges, it was okay. I seemed decently competitive with Dex and Marc (no taps for anyone); Fred worked me over, though. He was actually going kind of hard. I was on the bottom most of the time. He didn't get any taps, but he came close a few times and I managed to escape. Nelson was watching, and he told me I'd done well.

I heard Prof. Carlos yelp, "Taptaptaptap!" That got my attention right away, because I don't think I've ever seen/heard this guy tap to ANYBODY. Then he started howling, and holding his ribs. Uh oh. Rib out. It was just like when it happened to Jim last year. Both of them got it in the same spot- down low around the floating rib area... My own rib injuries were higher on the torso (and obviously not in the same realm of agony). Twenty minutes later he was still lying there on the mat with ice packs on his ribs. Poor guy. I wonder how long this is going to bench him.

Bree turned me down AGAIN for a roll. I said, "The longer you stall, the worse it's going to be for you," She responded, "I'm afraid!"

I relayed to Dave the message that his training blog readers want him to enable comments on his "Side Control" blog. I don't know if he will consent, but I did pass the message. He actually looked a little startled at the suggestion. I wonder if he's one of us who is still surprised to hear that anybody's actually reading their blog.

(Pic- Shawn, Kevin and Rodrigo)