More Thursday

Like a martial artist who has developed an exceptional technique, but who doesn’t have the wisdom to know when to use it, Western culture has in its hands the technological potential to turn the planet into a paradise, but has no clue as to how to enjoy it. Rather than being used as a means to enrich our daily lives, the evermore sophisticated technological inventions become a way to take us further away from our bodies and our nature. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


Another twofer at Gracie Bellevue. I'm getting off on Three-Class-Thursdays. It's a little hard to have class #3 be Competition Class. I was considering ducking out of that one tonight, but then I saw a guy that had done the lunchtime class and the basics class sitting there. I asked him if he was doing a third, and he said yes- so I said, Okay, now I'm going to look like a big wuss if I don't do a third as well.


Basics class was AWESOME- spider guard sweeps. Anytime I see that we're working something I can do off the damn bottom, I am full of glee.


You have spider guard. Thrust your left spider guard leg out as straight and taut as you can, use your other foot to push the guy's knee back on the opposite side. You have to make sure you're controlling hir arm on that side so that s/he can't post.


You have spider guard, opponent standing: Thrust your left spider guard leg out as straight and taut as you can, hook your rt foot outside of opponent's rt ankle, and get your head over by hir left foot so that you can grab it. Pull sleeve, push left foot, try to force the person to take a dive. The pulling of the sleeve can make all the difference, because it can torque the person's shoulder over painfully and awkwardly.


You have closed guard. Get spider guard with left foot, place rt shin across opponent's belly with your knee OUT. (I kept wanting to put the knee on the inside). Again, thrust spider guard leg out as straight and taut as possible and yank sleeve. Use knee to jack opponent up enough so that you can underhook thigh. Flip. Same story with the pulling of the sleeve being a biggie.


Positional training from closed guard. Sweep vs pass. I was kinda sucking on both sides this time, although I *almost* pulled off a butterfly sweep. I was trying to do one, but I haven't drilled that in forever, and was a little too rusty.


Competition Training turned out to be three of us, and the Prof just had us roll- switching the odd person out every ten min or so. These two guys are just heavier and stronger enough- and I'm just enough far ahead in training- that we seem pretty well matched, so it was much fun.  I am teaching them to counter all my little tricks, though, so soon I'm going to be toast! I enjoy it, though, when I finish something, tell the guy how to stop me from doing it again, then I try again, and he stops me.


I have now nearly succeeded in getting these two particular guys well trained to shrimp the heck out immediately when my knee slides onto their bellies. If they just lie there, I start counting loudly- "ONE...TWO...."  One of them is now starting to try to KOB me back at every possible opportunity- smartass.