The return of Jalen

Sheep can be controlled by the sheepdog for the same reason they fear the wolf -- they are both predators. The same relationships hold with the general population, the police, and the criminals. Most people are sheep, but you don't have to be. If you have the skills and attitude of a predator the criminals will leave you alone -- because they will recognize you as a predator and there is easier game available. -Greg Hamilton


Evening gi class at Sleeper Athletics.

Jalen's back, now that football season is over. He's stronger, taller, and his feet are bigger than mine. The balance of power has shifted. I can no longer muscle him. He muscles me. He also has a younger brother in the kids' class. Lord help us all. Jalen Junior. I wonder how long before THAT one starts coming to the adult class and kicking my butt all over the mat.

You are in opponent's closed guard. Make "L" hands and stick them in opponent's armpits. Place forehead on opponent't belly button. Stand up. Crouch back down, with one knee up in opponent's crotch. Hands come down to hips. Break guard, slide through on the side OPPOSITE the side you have the knee up on. Side control. Opponent pushes at your neck/face. You shove elbow past and press your head on opponent's shoulder, so that s/he now has one arm trapped across hir own face. Make sure the arm that you haev under the head is DEEP... crawl fingers along mat to pull it deeper if you can.  Jump over. You must have your body on the same side that the arm is trapped (for some reason, I have a lot of trouble retaining this particular detail). Choke with arms in "rear naked" style, or gable grip "short choke" style, or "talking on your phone" style. You can tiptoe towards opponent's head, or you can sit through to scarf.

You are in opponent's closed guard. One hand on belly button, one hand just above knee. Break guard. Oponent shoves hir other knee across your chest, scissor-sweep style. You push your arm between hir knees and overhook the head with your other arm. You can gable grip your hands together, or you can grab the lapel with your between-the-knees hand and chinstrap the guy with your other hand. Squeeze opponent into fetal position. sprawl, tiptoe around, throw opponent's leg away and pass. Do not let go of the head until you are fully past and have thrown the leg away.

Spars with Cindy, Jalen, Lamont, and Eric. Everybody smeared me tonight except Eric, who is usually nice and goes pretty light and lets me have a few chokes.

Jalen triangled the shadoobies out of me from a setup that I have never seen before- and I didn't exactly see it *THIS* time, either, because he was so goddamn quick that I was gagging in his triangle before I knew what had hit me. I remembered well enough to stay the heck away from his legs, but it's harder now, because he's strong enough to just shove me down there where he wants me. I also did some standup with him, which did not go very well for me either.

I had Lamont right after I got tooled by Cindy (who has injured her knee again, yet still had no problem tooling me). Lamont deliberately pushes all my buttons to make me frustrated- and the more we work together, the better he gets at mapping out said buttons. I was trapped under his side control and mount for lengthy periods, and he was being really tight- yet he will not tolerate me to lie there and wait for him to make a move before I try to get out. He subbed me a whole bunch of times, and I got very frustrated. I really wanted to bail after I got done with him, but I made myself do the one last match with Eric.

I told Cindy I'd be back on Monday. My last day as a productive employed member of society is Saturday night/Sunday morning. My two-month-plus "Jobless Jiu Jitsu Camp" begins Monday morning.