More Thursday

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that most human problems have their origin in a bad relationship with the body. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path



Thursday evening BJJ at Gracie Bellevue.

Being my 2nd BJJ class of the day, I was a little torn between having to drive all the way into Seattle vs going to Bellevue and having to be in ADVANCED class whether I felt like it or not. Decided to go to Bellevue this time.

It really is very different doing 2 BJJ classes in 1 day versus doing a BJJ class and a Kung Fu class in 1 day. It is much less exhausting with 2 different arts, as you're using very different muscles and movements. Plus it's different enough that it is also less mentally exhausting to learn (and probably retain). Sigh.

Anyway- we were doing a lot of fun stuff in Advanced class tonight. I got to work with Kelly, whom I haven't seen in a long time and haven't worked with in forever, so that was cool.

Standup: reaps, using a lapel grip and an elbow grip (slide the lapel grip behind the opponent's neck as you step in, and use it to yank hir backward).

Then a fireman's carry: lapel and elbow grip both people; you take your hand off the elbow, place your hand on your own lapel BENEATH opponent's hand and turn torso to that same side. At the same time, sharply yank your lapel out of hir hand and also stiff-arm hir with your other hand to make it easier. (note to self to try this same grip break in other situations...)

Now slide that same-side foot between opponent's feet, kneel on that knee. Stick your arm between hir legs as you yank down on the lapel, to place hir sideways over your shoulders. Two ways to dump hir: bow your head fwd and roll hir off to the front, or cartwheel hir off to the diagonal. Carlos said the first way is easier, especially if they are heavy (and made a point of telling Kelly and me to do it the first way). I tried it that way, and it was awkward. Kelly's leg was almost posted, and in my way. The diagonal was actually a lot easier for me. It might have been a height difference thing. It really needed the momentum to work well, though, so I was awkward for the first few reps- till I was sure about which arm was doing what, and that I had all the steps.

Kelly asked me if I had done judo. "No- why, does it seem like I actually know what I'm doing a little bit?" She said- I can't remember the exact words she used, but something about seeming more assertive and confident with takedowns. Like many BJJ schools, we do not really work takedowns enough, and a lot of people are awkward and hesitant. It was great to work some takedowns. I wonder if that is done more often in the advanced class. Even with the increased mat space we have now, there are often too many couples on the mat to safely work takedowns, even if we wanted to.

Then two reversals from turtle, opponent paralleling you and setting up a collar choke.

1) you pin opponent's arm on the side AWAY from hir, and roll over your shoulder. This was exactly what I had been doing this morning, and calling it a "shoulder throw from the knees".

2) You grab the pants at the knee- of the opponent's far leg. Place your ankle over hir other ankle, then roll AWAY from opponent. KEEP HOLD OF THE PANTS till you finish up on top.

Kelly kept pulling me right onto her belly- which was fine, with me, but if she'd tried that with a heavy guy, it would have sucked. I tried to tweak her form. Then she pulled me over lower on her body so that I was rolling over her pelvis. Well, marginally better... but I said that she was still going to rupture something important if she tried that with Rene. I demo'ed it- when I did it, all her weight was on my hip, and that felt great- so I was pretty sure I was right that that was the way we wanted to be doing it. We struggled, though- she kept saying that she thought that was the way she *WAS* doing it, whereupon I would have her do it to me again, and then I'd pause halfway through and bounce a little so that she could see that all my weight was right on top of her soft belly- REALLY, feel that? *bounce* *bounce* *poke* I think she might have been getting a little frustrated with me, and after a while I kind of wished I had just kept my mouth shut. Especially as I haven't worked with her in a long time, I didn't really want to be an annoying pain in her butt. That was one technique where I think it may have actually been helpful for her to work with someone heavier- it would have been a lot more apparent exactly where she needed to put the weight.

We did the first spar together, and DAMN, the woman tooled me. She has gotten really good. I couldn't get the heck out of her closed guard, I just couldn't. She front mounted me, back mounted me. My usually-efficient back mount escapes failed on her because her hips were so much more flexible than the hips of most people I work with. She didn't get a sub, but I was definitely tooled in a positional sense. Yeah, it was my 2nd class of the day and I was a little tired, but I wasn't feeling tired enough to have an excuse for this... She deserves the cred. She has just gotten really good, and she is really strong, and she tooled me righteously. Embarrassing (especially after I had acted like such a know-it-all during the drills), but I'm proud of her. She was crying on the mat her first month. I'm sure Carlos never thought she'd make it. Not only has she made it to blue, and is GOOD, and doing well at comps, but she is usually training at Bellevue- where there usually are *NO* other women to work with. Intimidating and difficult, especially if you're new. Good for her. Even Ron commented that she is getting good, and really strong. I made a point of telling her that in the locker room after (as well as congratulating her sincerely for tooling me!)

Then Ron, who *ALWAYS* tools me- so at least that time I knew what I was in for. He subbed me six ways to Sunday. Armbars seemed to be the technique of the day for him- he was going for them again and again from all positions. He only got two- I defended a lot, and they are a little harder to finish on me because my arms are so stubby. But he subbed me about a bazillion other times with all sorts of other stuff. Then I was too tired to do any more.