There is an incredible difference between those who experience their power only though the mind and those who also feel it in the body. A person who knows there is a wild wolf living under the skin has less reason to be intimidated by reality. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path Wednesday evening BJJ at Cindy's. I missed more than half the class due to traffic... and when I walked in, everyone was wearing gi's. Drat. I need to just bring a gi top whenever I go over there. Cindy kindly whipped off her gi jacket and gave it to me. (Cindy will give you the shirt off her back! Literally!) Later in the class, she said, "I glanced at you and was about to say, "Sharp gi!" Then I remembered it was *MY* gi." "You only think it looks sharp because it's got blood on it!"
We did some butterfly guard with a sweep, then butterfly guard to a half of a spider guard to a triangle. Then, butterfly guard to a failed sweep- transition to an omoplata instead. I was drilling with Leilani, who had a horrible time with the spin to the omoplata. I reassured her that she just needs more practice.
Positional spars from closed guard with Leilani. I was so proud of her tonight- I put her in bottom half guard, and she immediately got the underhook, got her butt out and did the escape without even thinking about it. I swept her a couple of times, but she defended some other sweeps well. I talked her though defending my cross-collar choke attempts, although she was already doing pretty well at not letting me get a second grip.
Timed spars with first Leilani and then Leah. This is only the second time I've sparred with Leah since her reappearance. I've started to wonder if there's some reason we aren't being paired up. Anyway, it appears that I can be more competitive with her now than I could before her year off (hopefully she'll take a while to catch back up to me!). I just have to be mindful of those long, long, strong legs (Leilani referred to her as "that girl with the really long legs"). Stay out of her triangle. She also cannot be keylocked, as I discovered tonight. Sigh. She does inverted guard, and it's tricky to try to stack her effectively with her long strong legs and her abnormal flexibility. I did okay against her, though. Positionally. I think chokes are going to be the sub to aim for with this one. Without keylocks- and without gi chokes, when we are doing no-gi- my sub arsenal is pretty sparse, and it's going to be really hard to get her.
(pic- Alecia (blue) and Rihanna (red))
Anyone can be keylocked. Try this: make sure your arm isn't under her head. Suck both your elbows in tight to her body, one in the crease between neck and shoulder, the other tight into her ribs. Both hands monkeypawed (thumbs with fingers). Forget about lifting her elbow off the mat, especially with women. Just think about dragging the back of her hand in a straight line down the mat, parallel with her spine, and rotate both your hands, knuckles towards the mat, like you were revving a motorcycle with both hands.
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