The "hair slicker" experiment appears to be a fail. The hair slicker slips down over my eyes (when worn under the headgear) or just slips down under my eyebrow ridge (when worn over the headgear). The latter is annoying and distracting; the former... well. Not to mention that worn OVER the headgear, it makes me look like a mushroom-headed refugee from a Mario Brothers video game. Carlos cracked up when he saw me wearing it.
I'm thinking about trying a regular lycra/spandex skullcap under the headgear.
Morning BJJ at Gracie Seattle. It wasn't a "competition class", but you can tell by the pace- and by some of the things we're drilling- that the teachers are in Tournament Mode. Two weeks to Revolution.
Prof. Carlos must have liked those laps-with-sprawls that Lindsey was having us do yesterday, because he made us do them too. Exhausting as they are (after the first couple), I am happy to say that I can pop back up pretty quickly... seems like more quickly than most folks. Then again, it's a shorter distance down to the ground and back for me (grin).
A little standing grip fighting. Being the last kid picked for the kickball team this morning got me partnered up first with black-belt-Kevin and then Lindsey- which I don't mind at all!
A hip throw in which you grab the opponent's belt at the back. This was a new one for me, and I had some problems with it- so I was happy to be working with Lindsey, who could help me out. He did give me some (half serious, half teasing) guff about how hard I was throwing him to the mat, though. I get that a lot. When someone is very small, or new, or injured, I really *can* set them down gently. It's harder with a big guy, though. Depending on the specific throw, it's sometimes all I can do to get him over with proper technique- I can't maintain enough control to set him on the mat like a China doll. I generally don't stress too much over it if they're uninjured colored belts.... they know how to fall. If they complain, I do try to be gentler... but this particular throw was a tricky one, and Lindsey's a decent sized guy... so.... WHUMP. Sorry dude. That's the best I can do with that. (I noticed that HIS throws got harder when it was his turn.... only fair, I guess!)
Then an escape from knee on belly- grabbing the belt and stretched leg, getting stomach down, grabbing the guy's other foot and reversing. I was having a little trouble getting turned over quickly and smoothly.... I was struggling like an elderly tortoise turned on its back! I was also having a little trouble getting ahold of that second foot (and keeping it). After many tries (and more help from Lindsey) I was doing it well enough to get a "Good, Keetsune" from Carlos. Still not keeping weight on the guy during the whole reversal to my satisfaction, though. I hope I get another chance this week to try this drill.
Lindsey was giving me some more (half-teasing, half-serious) crap about the way I was sprawling; apparently it was preventing him from doing the drill correctly. I had to have him demo the problem while *I* tried it before I could grok what I was doing wrong. I apologized and said, "I'm not TRYING to be be a dick to you today, I just don't know any better!" Good thing he likes me. (Still. I hope.) It was actually kind of funny; he was calling me a "little monster" (why is everybody calling me mean names this week?); saying naughty words and laughing... I'm used to interacting with him when he is in Teacher Mode and being formal, so I did a double-take when I heard him giggling and sputtering the F word!
Carlos tried to explain the differences in points that are given with this technique depending on whether you get to your feet or not (and at what juncture), along with exactly where you began and ended. I was a little relieved to see that I wasn't the only person with question-mark-face. Significant chunks of the points system remain a mystery to me.
There was also a brief discussion on the topic of whether you might lose points if you puke when your opponent goes KOB.
Timed rolls with Marc, then Nick. I think I tapped Marc once and he tapped me twice. Nick was always two steps ahead of me.
After that, I rolled with one of the white-belt-Carlosi (the bigger one). He tapped me a couple times, and I tapped him once with a collar choke. I tried a few armlocks which he used strength to turn around on themselves so that I ended up being the one armlocked. I hate it when people do that. Cindy will do that to you, but she does it with technique. When people do it to me with strength, it makes me even more intimidated to try for subs (especially ones that I'm not completely comfortable with). Maybe next time I should slam it on faster to try to get the tap before he muscles it backwards on me.
When we were done, I crawled up behind Lindsey where he was lounging on the mat chatting, and RNC'ed him- then let him beat me up for a while (I figured I owed him paybacks).
I closed down the open mat today- I'm happy when I can last that long, and get a lot of rolling in- even if I wasn't doing particularly grandly today.
Got home and ate lunch... still hungry.... so I ate a second lunch! I really need to stay under 130... but if my body is telling me that it NEEDS fuel, I'm going to listen... especially if I plan to go to a second class that day and want to have enough energy to make it worth it. And yes, I am back on the chicken and egg diet. What was your first clue?
Evening BJJ at Cindy's. It was gi night, and the majority ofpeople actually had gi's. I should bring along an extra jacket or two. Although my gi jackets won't fit many people there. I wish I had time to pop into the thrift stores more often, and try to pick up a few more cheap used gi's for some of these tweenagers who can't afford one.
There was a new girl there. A new blue belt girl. It actually took me a few minutes to recognize Leah. It's been a year. I never expected her to wander back in. Half of me was eager to roll with her and see if I could kick her ass now that she's been off for a year and I've now been training literally twice as long as she. The other half was dreading rolling with her, because if she kicked *MY* ass, it would not help my morale any. I didn't get to find out tonight, though. She left before the timed matches. I guess that question is yet to come.
I didn't get to fight Alecia tonight either, which I feel a little bad about, since I bailed on her on Saturday (it was insane at work, and I just didn't have the energy to go to class after).
Basic guard break & pass, to be followed by side control and then mount. Then, gi choke from guard (the one where your second grip is a handful of the gi at the shoulder). I have actually tapped people with that particular weird little choke. I drilled with Lamont, who showed me another cool one: one deep cross collar grip, then pretend you're hipping up and moving the arm over for the triangle. When they go to defend the triangle, hip out to the side a titch and use your non-collar-gripping hand to press the opponent's face away. I like that one too!
Cindy wanted Lamont to defend the choke a bit, in order to make me try getting my knees and feet in there to pry his defending hands away. They are both making me do some extra stuff "because you've got the tournament coming up".
I told Cindy that I'd gotten somebody to tap with that "low percentage" straight armbar she'd drilled us on last week, and that he'd praised my technique- she was happy to hear it.
A little positional training with Lamont- pass guard/don't get subbed versus sub or defend guard.
Then a timed roll with Leilani and one with Miko. I was on top of Leilani for most of our roll, then remembered to get her get on top. She had pinned one of my arms, and I suggested, "Now that you've got that arm controlled, this would be the perfect time to try to tip me." She tried- in the wrong direction. I said, "Wrong way," and told her why. Next time, I'll tell her to freeze, look at our configuration, and tell me which way she should try to tip me and why.
Miko tapped me out a couple of times, but he was definitely using some strength here and there. More than he had last time I worked with him.
"He did give me some (half serious, half teasing) guff about how hard I was throwing him to the mat, though."
ReplyDeleteHahaha, I get that all of the time! My women's jiu-jitsu teacher Amy always has us practice throws on the crash mat, so I'm used to being able to throw the crap out of people, and she always has us land on our opponents. So then when I am throwing someone on the regular mat, I have a hard time NOT landing my full body weight on top of them! I have to think really hard about it when I throw newbies so I don't hurt them, but when I throw the bigger, more experienced people I sometimes get carried away. I've actually had one of the MMA dudes BEG me to please not land on him again. Good times!
I'm not *landing* on them hard- I'm always careful about dropping my weight down on top of people- they are hitting the mat hard. As in, knock-the-wind-out-of-you hard. Something about my low center of gravity combined with the way I explosively pop them up (just because it's too hard for me to lift the heaviness unless I do it that way).
ReplyDeleteSorry, I didn't mean to imply that I thought you landed on them, that's just something I do that I shouldn't :(
ReplyDeleteSadly, my throwing skills aren't good enough to knock the wind out of people, like yours do, unless I land on them. I haven't figured out how to load up the weight properly yet.
The fact that you can take one of the big people and slam them to the mat shows that you have good technique, and the fact that you are able to NOT do it when you try not to shows that you have good control. I need to work on both of those.
I attribute this to tons and tons of practice in my kung fu class. You have to practice the setup and positioning, slow, with a teacher watching- so that you know you have everything where it needs to be. Then do it a zillion times just loading the person. The actual throw is the simple part.
ReplyDeleteWhere most people slip up is not getting the positioning right- especially the load. Many people do not squat low enough to get their center of gravity underneath their opponent's center of gravity. This is also why people have a hard time throwing *me*. Even if the guy is big and strong, if he doesn't squat low enough to load me properly, I just go limp and sink my weight down- and it's very difficult for him to get me off the ground, even using a lot of strength.
I barely have to squat. I'm already under most people's center of gravity. But sometimes I have to actually get them bent over in order to position them correctly. In kung fu, I can hit them in the stomach. In sport BJJ, it's a little trickier. Sometimes I have to clinch up with the person and dance around a little till I can get them off balance.
Another mistake people make is lifting the opponent. You don't "lift" them up, you POP them up. Once your center of gravity is under theirs, you explosively pop up and BOUNCE the person off you- it's not like heaving a TV up in your arms to move it. Lifting the person is too slow and it interrupts the energy flow, making it a lot more work for you. Popping is fast, hard and smooth.
It's also important to practice with a lot of people of different body weights and types. Hip throwing a tall skinny person is totally different that hip throwing a short chubby person. You have to throw enough different people that you can look at a random opponent and know how to set up the throw with the correct positioning for that body type- and the ONLY way to learn how to do that is tons of practice.
That's why, even though I've been dragging my feet about it, I know I need to go to more judo classes. Although we do work on stand-up in jitsu and karate, we don't do nearly enough of it to really have a strong understanding of kuzushi, and to build the muscle memory, especially on the positioning for the loading up part, like you said.
ReplyDelete"You don't "lift" them up, you POP them up." No one has ever told me that before. I've always wondered how I am supposed to effectively lift someone who is much heavier, but thinking of it as popping instead of lifting makes so much more sense!
I am also shorter (5'4") than most people I throw, but I still don't think I am getting low enough under their center of gravity, I probably need to squat more.
Thanks for the tips, really, really useful, and it actually makes me want to work on some uchi komi practice today :-)
Hope that was helpful! I do not claim to be any expert, but this is what works for me.
ReplyDeleteI should stress, though, that it is ESSENTIAL to make sure the positioning is correct (particularly the center of gravity being in the correct place) before you try to pop. The "pop" *only* works with correct positioning. Hence the zillion reps of just loading, to practice the positioning. After you rep it enough, you can FEEL when it's right and when it's not- and you'll know, before you even try, whether your throw is going to work or not.
I can throw people much heavier than myself. It's just like sweeps where you can easily sweep much heavier people once you find that tipping point under their center of gravity.
If you're squatting correctly and have everything positioned correctly, you're *ONLY* using those big strong thigh muscles to get them over. If you're feeling any effort in the back, arms, shoulders, etc- you're probably doing it wrong.