It is time for an athletic philosophy; a philosophy forged through muscles and heart, a philosophy born out of the union of body and mind, of pragmatism and utopia, of sweet sensitivity and a warrior's determination. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path
Now that we don't have Henrique any more, there aren't many people I work with regularly who use a lot of inverted guard. Ron uses it some, and I see Rodrigo use it a fair bit. Not having had much experience against it, my go-to plan tends to be: try to lie on hir face. This sometimes works, but note that this involves diving right into the inverted guard- which seems to be a poor idea if the person is flexible enough to catch you with hir legs. Hint: if the person is using inverted guard, s/he is probably flexible!
10am BJJ at Gracie Bellevue, taught by Luiz. Almost everyone was at the tournament, so there were only six of us.
Very, very low-energy. Part of that is surely my sleep issues, but I think next time I hit the Safeway, I will get some more eggs and chicken breasts and see if I feel markedly better for class with a small protein-bomb breakfast.
From standup- same entry to the "fireman's carry" takedown that we did a couple weeks ago. Note that the lapel grip is on the same side, not crossgrip, and you kneel on the inside knee. Also: on the stupid side particularly, I tend to want to bend over a bit too much, which puts me off balance (almost dropped my partner once).
Instead of a throw, we grabbed the ankle, pulled the leg toward us and punched the lapel forward to knock the opponent over on hir back. I like this- I liked the fireman's carry throw, and it's cool to have another option depending on how the balance is. It's one of those things that I don't like how close my face is to the knee, however. Note: do not get so fixated on the leg business that you forget to be committed about that lapel.
Pounce on the opponent's near leg and lie on it while you underhook the far thigh. Get side control, making sure to defend the half guard with your foot. If you forget to underhook the far thigh, you REALLY will get half-guarded for sure.
Another option: After you lie on the near leg and underhook the far thigh, you can figure-4 your legs around the opponent's leg (outside leg straight) and drive your hips to the mat for a sub. This was cool, but I'm not sure if would be practical for me live. I had to slide a fair ways down the leg to find the sweet spot, while Daniel had to slide a fair ways *up* mine. I was down far enough that I'm not sure I could keep control of the body at the same time, if he was fighting me. Maybe it would be easier on a shorter guy (although Daniel is already fairly short).
Sweep from bottom side control: Both of you are hugging chest to chest, gable gripped over one shoulder and the other arm. As your opponent on top tries to slide hir knee onto your belly, you grab the belt with the hand that is on the opposite side, bridge and roll. This is not going to work if s/he's posting, nor is it going to work if s/he's not pressed right up against you. When you're hugging, though, it was surprising how little effort this took. Like the upa, you want to roll diagonally toward the head rather than the side.
Some positional sparring from side control. Then one roll with John and one with Daniel. Daniel was the one who was hoisting me around with inverted guard. He flipped me right into a headstand once. John got me off of top side control three times with an underhook of the thigh. The third time, I managed to flatten out enough that he couldn't finish, but I must watch out for that next time I spar him.
It would have been nice to work with John and Daniel some more (some of my favorite partners), but I was feeling so low-energy that I quit.
Wonder how the tournament's going.
Chopsticks are getting slightly easier, although I'll bet scrambled egg and chicken breast is going to be much easier to chopstick than chicken a la king. If all else fails, I can simply impale the food on the end of the stick.
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