The head: a vulnerable design flaw

  Curious friend: “What is guard, what does that mean?”
Me: “It means I can kick your ass while I’m sitting on mine.”   -Ginger Snaps



Thursday evening no-gi in Bellevue.

Carlos still called us "girls" a couple of times, but I think he was making a conscious effort and trying not to.  ;)

I stupidly tried to put in my contacts in the car with too little light, and ended up losing one. It felt like it was still folded up in there, but I could not find the damn thing. I had to call Amy (she's a nurse when she's not kicking ass in the cage) off the mat to poke around in my eye, but she couldn't find it either. I had to work blind. I still don't know what happened to it. Eye is all swollen up.... hope I won't have to go to the Urgent Care for this. At least I was able to do the class and then drive myself home.

Driving drills- pummelling, shoulder throws, armbars from mount, standing rear naked choke defense to takedown with shoulder lock to KOB. Drilling with Amy, you know you are going to work hard.
The shoulder throw ends with the thrower on both knees... I always want to cheat this because my knees hurt. Really need to get way UNDER opponent, and snug hir armpit right into you hard, then sort of meld into one with hir as you bow to the mat. Then you have to unmeld in time to not go over with hir, but  move to KOB.

Carlos yelled at me for trying to cheerlead a white belt through her last set of armbars. Usually this is a thing he encourages, so I was confused and hurt. Two minutes later, he was sitting in a corner with his shirt pulled over his head. Turns out he had a massive migrane. I'm choosing to believe it was this that caused him to snap at me, and not that he hates me.

Four years ago- or even two years ago- this small event would have sent me into an epic spiral of self-hate and doubt and flagellation..... "Carlos yelled at me... he hates me....I can't face him again..... I suck....did I really do something wrong? It's probably because of that exchange we had last week about "girls" vs "women".... that's why he hates me.... was I out of line with that? I suck..... Was I rude and inappropriate to that white belt? Did I make her feel uncomfortable? Did I look like an ass in front of the whole class? Everybody hates me..... I hate myself..... I suck..... I can never face any of these people again....." Yeah, stupid, I know. And yet. Welcome to the world of anxiety disorders.  I don't know if it's being on meds, or feeling more comfortable with Carlos after five years, or just maturity- but I didn't spiral too badly this time. I spiraled some. But not with the usual severity.  And I made a point of facing him on Friday and asking if his head felt better, instead of slinking away because I was sure he hated me.

Friday women's class: Same shoulder throw we did yesterday; another standing rear naked choke defense ending in a reap instead of the shoulder lock and pulling-to-floor; and the donkey-kick standing guard pass to KOB. I have done this donkey-kick thing enough now to know where my trouble issues are. It really needs to happen in 3 steps, not twenty because I am shuffling my feet around trying to get them in the correct position for the KOB. Getting it down to 3 steps requires beginning with the outside foot planted WAY out, not beside opponent's body, it requires actually USING the push-and-bounceback of the shin on the opponent's thigh instead of just going through the motions, and it requires HOPPING that outside foot in and donkeying the other leg back IN THE SAME MOTION. Once I get really focused, I can do it, but the stupid side is very stupid. The hunching over is also tough on my back.

On the last round of reap drill reps, Chrisanne's breakfall was less than optimal, and she got her chimes rung pretty bad. I felt terrible. I have quit treating her like an egg and usually go about 85% on her, but I may need to backpedal and be a little more gentle. Of course, she tried to get right up and continue, but Carlos and Doug and I told her in no uncertain terms that she needed to just lie there for a minute. They put me with Christy, who is training for Pans, and churning out guard pass reps like a damn machine. I was in awe, and said so. Her throws are also painful. I didn't take any bad falls like Chrisanne did, but drilling two complete throws in one class to the extent that we did was a bit much. Just a lot of constant brain jarring. My head ached all night and still aches this morning. I had to take an ibuprofen, which I almost never do. I pinged Chrisanne to make sure she was alive, and she is. After she had refused my offer of a ride home,  I had quizzed her on concussion symptoms, and made her promise that if she had any, she would ask her son's girlfriend to drive her to the Urgent Care. I know this isn't really my fault (or at least MOSTLY not my fault), but I still feel awful. Chrisanne had a terrible week at work, and I put the cherry on top by almost giving her a concussion. (And not that this is important- weighted beside giving Chrisanne a concussion- but it did cross my mind that this incident is not going to do anything good for Carlos' apparent view of me as a reckless, dangerous Godzilla on the mat.)

My head ached too much to consider the all-levels class that came after this one- even if I'd had the energy, which I don't think I did.

Chicken wing

It is important that when a new activity is being introduced, the practices that immediately precede it are well known to the student and the general movement pattern is similar to the new skill. The advantage of this strategy is that the student is confident in his own ability and has a starting point to work from. Having an existing frame of reference makes any demonstration or presentation  of a new technique all the more effective for the student, because he can quickly relate it to his own existing range of skills. With similar movement patterns, the rate of learning is much faster than with different ones, because part of the skill is already known.  Tony Gummerson, "Teaching Martial Arts"


Thurs  lunchtime in Bellevue.

All five-minute flow rolls, rotating partners. Chrisanne points out that this is more aerobic than ACTUAL rolls.


Fri Evening in Bellevue. Carlos made Chrisanne and I split up and work with white belts. It was also Pick-On-Kitsune Night.... he was all up in my grill criticizing all my details. I know that this is a good thing- it helps me get all the little kinks out of my technique, and I am also aware that if he didn't care about my progress, he wouldn't bother to nitpick at me... but it does give me the Performance Anxiety Sweaties. If he picks on me too much, I start panicking and getting really frustrated and frantic and sloppy. Note: two or three times recently, Carlos has looked at my technique and indicated displeasure, leading me to ask, "What am I doing wrong?" He doesn't like that word. It's not wrong, it's an opportunity to improve. Anyway- need to find a different phrasing to ask what the problem is (I'll bet he won't like "problem" either... okay, I need to ponder that....)

Standup: judo grips. Moving around. Stop with feet square to opponent. Let go of elbow grip. Grab your own lapel and jerk your torso to the side to free opponent's grip (do NOT step back, and do not turn so far that you are facing away from the enemy). Slide your lapel hand down and place your free hand above it. Jerk opponent downward. S/he will try to posture up. Step in with the foot that is on the same side as your grips. Use the hand on the OPPOSITE side to grab the leg. Lots of places here for me to get confused with right/left.

Armbars from mount. When I do these, I like to put my hand on the mat on the same side of the head as the arm I'm attacking, yank the person aggressively up on hir shoulder, and pin hir there with my knees.  Carlos made me place my hand on the opposite side of the head as the arm I'm attacking (which makes me feel off balance, leaning there with my arms crossed) and leave hir back on the mat. This is very different from what I am used to doing. Also (and I didn't remember this until afterward), I continue to be sloppy about pinching my knees together on the arm.

This was new: From mount, you try to do the armbar and the opponent defends by wrapping the arm around your hip/waist. You trap the arm between your bicep and thigh. Note that the arm must stay bent to finish this. I had to mess around a bit to find the right angles, but it's essentially a kimura. If it isn't working, you can scoop your arm back and chicken-wing the opponent's arm out further. Or do a wrist lock.

One great, competitive roll with Chrisanne. I was working hard to keep her out of turtle; and she got me in side control a few times, but I was trying mightily to stop that as well. This forced us both out of our customary games and made us both try some new things, which was exciting. 

Chrisanne!

The spiritual path is more than an event; it is a life’s walk. It is every step.  -Tasara


Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue. Chrisanne!!!

Drills: Armbar from mount, failed keylock to armbar from mount, uhhh... there were a couple more, but my mind blanks....

Lots of positional sparring from mount. Most people switched partners a few times, but I stayed with Chrisanne. She's been really sick, and off for a month, and her weakness and lack of wind are painfully obvious. I grabbed Gordon a few minutes into class and asked him to make sure to be careful who he puts Chrisanne with, because she's fragile. Ritchie was there today, and that's about the LAST thing she needed.

We worked on pinching her legs together on the armbar, and getting her knee and heel in tighter on the S mount. She continues to not be assertive enough about jumping back on top hastily when she needs to. Also, she is setting up subs and then sort of backing off at the very last minute. I hope I am not being too annoying by coaching her constantly; but she's got great technique with just a few glaring loose spots that need fixing, and it's so satisfying to watch the way she tightens everything up and gets so much better in an hour. I worry so much because she is so damn tiny. I nagged her to not let herself get flattened out under side control.

This tutoring did, unfortunately, involve me letting her armbar and bow-and-arrow me many times. God, my left shoulder. Is it EVER going to get better? I still can't roll over in bed without groaning. Also, I had been kind of smug that I felt relatively okay after Saturday's wrestling takedown hour with Pedro, but when I got up for work on Sunday night, I was hurting. My neck/throat, especially. He did choke me some, and have a forearm wrapped around my throat with that shoulder-grip thing we do- but I think the pain was actually from whiplash due to that one particularly brutal takedown he did.

I wanted to get a few more rolls in at the end, but nobody stayed except Rodrigo and Gordon, who were rolling with each other.

Just experiment.

 


Knife is not a precision skill, not at the serious level. It is a matter of intent and will. –Rory Miller



127

Ow! Lower fronts of thighs! From all those reps of the leg-squeezing takedown! I put some salicylate patches on them. I have been taking a ton of allergy drugs lately, so I don't really want to dump oral ibuprofen on my poor liver which is working too hard already. Besides, at least this is one of the pains that says, "You worked hard, and it was good." I can bear that sort of pain a lot easier than the type which says, "You have an eight-pound sandbag sitting on your face and you can't draw more than a sip of air at a time."

Evening BJJ at Bellevue. Four professors on the mat for a Friday night, and only the most junior one spoke any English.

To my surprise, there was a girl! Lindsay was so giddy to see me walk in. She said that she has been feeling crappy all week, but is better now and really, really wanted to have a hard sweaty workout. Well, after that, I would have been an asshole to run out right after drills, especially as there were no small guys in there tonight (unless you count Prof. Herbert).

Armbars from mount. Herbert demo'ed them with a crossing of your free hand to press on opponent's opposite shoulder. I'm not sure how practical that is for us weak mousies. I like taking that cross-hand and placing it on the mat, snugging it right up to the opponent's throat. Lindsay was impressed with the effectiveness of this detail. Also: Prof Herbert was grabbing the pants as he lay back. This is always a challenging detail for me, and I struggled to remember with every rep, as per usual.

I made Lindsay promise to not heel-kick me in the face, and then she went and did it anyway- got me right in the nose. Then she was exaggeratedly hesitant and gentle for the rest of the class, even though I was shielding my face with my hand and telling her repeatedly to not worry about kicking me in the back, top, or side of the head.

Second technique- this was sooooooooooooooooooooooo cool. I have never seen this before. Same setup from mount, only instead of putting up the knee in BACK of the opponent, you put up the knee in FRONT of hir, bring THAT leg around in a big sweeping loop over hir head, and place the top of your foot on the back of hir neck as you sit back. Armbar. I like it, I like it! Lindsay struggled with it- partly because she was being so paranoid about kicking me in the head. Finally, I said, "I'm going to cover my face, I want you to do it faster and not worry about kicking me." Then she got smoother.

A little positional sparring from mount. Then I did a few no-gi rolls with Lindsay, starting from standup.

She mentioned several times that I was feeling really strong and aggressive and heavy tonight. I admitted that what I was mostly feeling was relief and some excitement that I was actually fighting someone who didn't outweigh me by 50lb or more, for a change. There really has been even more of that than usual, lately. Lindsey is about 136, but feels 15lb lighter, and her wrist is small enough for my hand to encircle, and our strength and skill levels are comparable. It was the first time in quite a while that I didn't feel like a pomeranian at a rottweiler gang fight.

I didn't get any great takedowns, but I got a nice guillotine off one of her attempts, and there was some good standup struggling in which I felt at least competant. On the ground, we both gave as good as we got- she got a few taps, I got a few taps. I focused on trying to fight my way out when I found myself on the bottom, instead of giving up. She has good mount skills, so it was work... but I just kept telling myself that we were evenly matched and that I *could* get out if I just tried hard enough.

She got "tiny package" and a few variants of same on me, and I asked her to keep doing it... by the end, I was seeing these techniques coming a little sooner, and getting better at defending them. For Lindsay, it was head-and-arm triangle. The second time I got it, I grinded on her kind of mean, and said, "Don't let me get that arm up there again.... if you do, I'll make it hurt worse next time!"
Then she got *my* arm isolated up there- twice- and failed to capitalize on it, instead transitioning to armbars (both of which I escaped). I explained that if I was stupid enough to let her pin my arm up by my head, she should keep me there and tap me out instead of transitioning- each transition gives me an opportunity to escape. She's not comfortable with head-and-arm choke. Well, I'm not really comfortable enough with them to TEACH them, but I told her that if she had me well trapped with my elbow to my ear (that position sucks.... it's a bear to get out even if the entire rest of your body is free), that she should just keep me there and experiment until I tapped. That's what I do.

I lay there and let her grind on my head and arm for a while, trying different holds and hopping from one side to the other. After she'd tapped me out a few times, we restarted. Later on, she got me in some weird position that had my arm pinned in a sort of inside-out, bastardized, mutant omoplata variation. She started to transition into something else, and I stopped her. "You have me pinned really well here, and you have an arm... see if you can just bend it in some way that will make me tap." So she experimented, and she eventually found an elbow lock.

By that time, everyone else had left except for Casey and the black belts, who were playing Dancing Bears on the exercise balls. Casey was griping at Lindsay that he wanted to go, so we quit. But it was a very good workout, and I think we both got good learning points from it.

Nice try. No tap.

During a training session, when the rational mind slows down the flow of thoughts, the body begins to disclose its secrets. Consciousness is free to travel from one muscle to the next, and have access to powers unknown to those who can’t go beyond cerebral activity. This is not just a physical experience. It is spiritual. It transforms the body as well as the character. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


Didn't make lunchtime class today, to my exasperation (with myself). I did, however, make evening class in Bothell.

Pummeling to double-leg. Note that the side with the underhook needs to have the foot forward. This allows you to push opponent's wrist down on the other side, drop to your knee (this knee should be between opponent's feet with good penetration) and do one "duck walk" step. Now your sole is on the mat and your head is against opponent's side. Grab behind both legs just above the knees and press with head. You need to try to squeeze the knees together in order to avoid finding yourself in closed guard once down.

Go to side control, then to front mount. From here, we did a keylock. Then an armbar. Note that for the armbar, grabbing with my left arm first is the EXTREMELY stupid side. I can keep it nice and tight, it just takes about twice as many little positional adjustments to get there. So I worked mostly that side.

Some positonal sparring from front mount.

One spar with Pam. She has great top pressure and excellent "explosions". I will be looking to her for inspiration on that last, as I continue to fail to integrate that into my game.

When I was done with her, I was pretty damn tired and ready to quit, but somehow I let Cindy chivvy me back onto the mat to go with Eric (partly because Pam was about to volunteer, and I am nervous at the idea of letting any women aside from Cindy and Angela go with Eric).

Eric likes wrestling cradles and loop chokes. He dominated me utterly, and I was lying helplessly on the bottom the entire time. On the other hand, he was obviously trying his goddamndest- with all his muscle and explosive spazz- to get a tap.... and he did not succeed. Near the end of the round, I figured he had to be getting tired, so I tried to move a little more. I even tried to set up a triangle. It's frustrating...yet I'm pleased with myself for coming away from him without any injuries or any taps. He's a challenge.

Friday evening in Bothell

We are stuck within a system that gives all the power to the mind, and just the leftovers to the body. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path




Friday evening BJJ at GB Bothell.

Worked with a few of the older white belt guys tonight, and they seem nice. There's also a very good blue belt from Edmonds. He did an interesting gi-tail choke on me twice in a row. I said, "Keep doing that until I figure out how to defend it." He did it to me again, and I still can't even see it coming. Once you're in it, turning either way tightens it more, so you're hosed. Note: next time I spar that guy, ask him to keep doing that choke on me.

Review of stuff from the week: armbar from mount (note that you don't *have* to hold the arm as I tend to do; you can post both hands on the chest and as long as you quickly plant your crotch on the guy's shoulder, he can't pull the arm out), keylock from mount,  Failed keylock transition to armbar, Front mount to back mount with choke, Cross collar gi choke from mount, Cross collar gi choke with the 2nd hand on the outside of the gi shoulder. Note that if you put your forehead on the mat for those cross collar chokes, it is supposed to go on the same side that your uppermost arm is.

Spars. I had told everybody that I have a minor rib injury and to not go too heavy. Everybody was fine. Eric still being really muscley, but I don't expect that to improve for a while. At one point we had about 20 seconds left on the clock when we reset from a spar, and after the clap-and-bump he lunged and hit me like a speeding freight train. It hurt a bit, but it was also so over-the-top that I spent the last bit of time trying to defend while laughing my butt off. 

Cindy and I were teasing each other a lot tonight, which is fun, but I need to be mindful to not go too far- because I know she's trying to maintain at least some of the more formal decorum of Gracie Barra Land. I guess I could come off as sounding disrespectful to people who don't know us, and I certainly don't want that. For some reason, when it's largely over-forties on the mat, it seems okay to me to loosen up more. 

Also note: at Sleeper, Jalen and Terry usually cleaned the mats. Here, with the present crew, I need to remember that if I walk out without helping to clean the mats, I'm being kind of a jerk.

This was a very good couple days of hard training, Five classes in two days. Now I am sore, tired, and bruised from head to toe, but it was good stuff.

You want to watch this. It's adorable and funny. Have the sound up.

 

Muscle

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




Turtle Drum. I used Ascha, Tiala, the double guiro, egg shaker, housemate's little frog guiro. I took my jian, but it was too crowded in there tonight to play with that. A little muted chanting, but not much.  Some dance- my most recent Form Of the Day was the White Crane fragment, but for some reason it was mostly Leopard Three and Tai Chi (silk reeling, Repulse The Monkey) tonight. A little belly dance. (There's a combo- Leopard and Belly Dance) Then I felt like doing some Snake (more compatible with belly dance), but we were out of time.
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Monday- walk to work and back.
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Monday evening BJJ, GB Bothell. 

Nice to see some older, heavier white belts coming in and working.

Armbar from mount, keylock from mount.

Spars- Will, the 14YO orange belt, is good. Also good to work with. Wrestling skillz (sigh.... I do not do well against these wrestling takedowns).

Eric again. This is proving interesting. I didn't do much better against him than I did on Friday, but I remained calm and relaxed- even moreso than on Friday. I think that even as recently as nine months ago, working with this guy would have made me so frustrated that steam would be shooting out my ears. Now I can keep my cool- and I can also restrain myself from trying to match muscling with muscling. I knew what to expect from him this time. He is very muscle-y, and knows just enough technique to be dangerous. I am playing very defensive. Next time I want to move around more and take a few more chances. I'm anxious that as soon as I stick something out, he's going to slam a sub really hard and injure me. This type tends to slam subs. I need to try to experiment more and yet still protect myself adequately from slammed subs.


I told Bo I'd do it.