Broken toes and gender roles

If your nose is held to the grindstone rough
And you hold it down there long enough
Soon you’ll say there’s no such thing
As brooks that babble and birds that sing.
Three things will all your world compose-
Just you, the grindstone, and your darned old nose.
-Julia Cameron


Thursday BJJ in Kirkland. Several basic guard passes, all of which I have done enough at this point to be able to focus on detail, speed and the Stupid Side.

Several spars, all of which I took the rough side of (with the exception of a new white belt woman)

Friday BJJ in Bellevue. Several guard passes, including a couple of the ones from yesterday.

One spar, in which I let a new white belt woman work upas on me, and ended up breaking my big
right toe. She felt *really* bad, even though I assured her it wasn't anything she did (and it wasn't; it was just one of those things). After I rolled around whimpering for a few minutes, I got back up and said, "Let's go again," Partly to reassure both myself and her that this too would pass; and partly because I knew from experience how this would go. I would be able to do a little more (painful) sparring, before the injury swelled/stiffened/became more mechanically debilitating. This is useful triaging skill. I know that if I am on the path to Mordor and I break a toe, I should just press on those last fifteen miles instead of saying, "Let's make camp and let it rest up a bit, and continue in the morning,"  In this case, it's more of "Okay, I'm going to be on the bench for a while, so  I better get one or two more rolls in first,"  White belt looked at me very doubtfully (probably because I was kneeling with my right foot held up off the mat), but it was fine. Then I had to try to walk to the locker room and then out to the car without looking like I was limping too badly, because I didn't want her to feel worse than she already did.

PSG- despite arranging for walking buddies ahead of time, *no* exercise happened outside of required work and two concerts with Eric (one of which I only lasted through half of). It was over 100 degrees every day, and the nights did not cool off much. I just do not do very well in those conditions. I spent way too much time parked on my arse at Herald Camp, hugging frozen gel neck wraps. Unfortunately, when you are at Herald Camp, you get fed (too much). We also happened to land right beside the Happy Hippies Food Truck. All in all, it was not a good setup for fitness and self improvement. The tuna packets worked out well, though. I have found a new appreciation for tuna and the things you can mix it up with. I will be incorporating more of this healthy item into my routine diet.

I did get those two concerts (Extreme Contact Improv For Martial Artists), which is one more than we usually get, so that was good. I did not get any face time with the guy who has been circling me for the last four years in a row with rather impressive doggedness.... which is just as well, as I have still not decided what to do about him.

The U-haul trailer as camper worked very well. Of course, having gone to all that expense and hassle, this was the second year out of twenty-something that resulted in *NO* rain, so I didn't get to see how it performed. There was a notice on the inside warning that the trailer is "rain-resistant" and not "rain-proof"- bummer- but I still think that with the addition of a tarp on top, it should do better than a tent. I shall try this again next year. The 5x8 was the perfect size (I had asked for a smaller one, which they didn't have). Next time I would like to try clothespinning some foil thermal blankets on top of my shade shelter. As it was, my camp was unbearable during the day. I was relieved to see that the trailer did not RETAIN heat- it wasn't any hotter in there than it was anywhere else, with the exception of a layer of superheated air right at the top that would bake your brain if you stood upright. Sitting down- or lying on the metal floor- was not any hotter than anywhere else. Going to have to sacrifice some privacy for some trees next year, though. This site is like Wisteria in that there are precious few trees placed where you can put your camp- and I am limited in where I am allowed to park a trailer- but I'm going to have to try to get some shade next year so that I don't die.

Ticks- my first shower resulted in removal of fourteen ticks. After that, I checked every few hours. I removed dozens. I also spent a great deal of time picking ticks out of other people's hair and ass cracks. I actually went to the med tent (which I never do!) several times to get my itchy tick bites re-sprayed, re-bandaided, and also my poison ivy re-creamed. The Hunt space in particular was lousy with both ticks and poison ivy. I knew there was no help for it; I was just resigned to bathing in both, and so I did. I actually went to the doctor when I got home, though (again! I never do this!). That was just a hell of a lot of tick bites, and I was skeeved about it. She found one last hitch hiker hiding in my back tat. It was too late to get shots. I just have to watch for symptoms.

The new Hunt space is actually outside the camp gate- which did not thrill me, but Dru was even less happy. I've never been that stuck on the physical space as a strong factor in how the Hunt's going to go, but it is definitely a minus in my eyes to be far enough away that the community can't hear the Hunt. Other than that, no problem. I left Finn out there till the bitter end, and I would have left him out there another forty minutes if I could have. I also howled and barked in the woods to try to get the Hunters vocalizing.... it seems like once someone starts, the others feel freer to do it as well.

Michael (who did very well as Dru's drum backup this year) brought up a point that I'm paying attention to, because I respect him. He said that it's important for the community- especially the young women of the community- to see me as a role model in this venue. Honestly I had not looked at it that way, as my perspective was that Bo needed a backup to help with the work as well as to be able to step in and lead if he became unable. I'm perfectly content being a lieutenant. I don't enjoy standing up in meetings and making announcements. What usually happens is that the Hunt coordinating team stands up there with Bo and he does the talking. I feel uncomfortable standing up there unless I have something pertinent to say (and sometimes I do.... if Dru's not at the meeting, I make any needed announcements for the drum aspect of things). But usually I just stay in the crowd and Bo makes a point of waving at me at the beginning of the week and announcing that I'm part of the team. But Michael's opinion- along with the fact that more than one person mentioned in the post mortem that they had noticed that the coordinating team was perfectly gender balanced this year, and how important that was- makes me feel as if I need to purposefully make myself more visible and audible in this role. As a female, specifically. Not very happy about this idea. It seems like egoist posturing, and all I truly care about is making sure the rit runs well. Also, as I become more and more sensitive to society's outdated and restrictive gender-role pigeonholing and how much it annoys me, I become ever more resistant to being defined by my urinary plumbing before being defined as more important things. But hearing that message from multiple people....

When the Hunt began, the coordinating team was very Y-chromosome-heavy. This led to (among other issues) persistant rumors in the community that women were relegated to certain roles in the rit or not present/welcome in the rit at all. Those types of rumors have dispelled over the years but I think there's still a bit of that lurking. Secondly, there's a wealth of "fluffy-bunny-white-light" ritual. There's nothing wrong with FBWL, but that's not all there is.... and it's important that *women* feel like they can move out of the Fluffy Bunny arena should they choose. Also, though it's less of a problem in this community than in others, I do feel that women have still not reclaimed quite enough of their power/equality yet to feel comfortable moving beyond that into a place where it honestly doesn't matter what urinary plumbing the ritual coordinators have. (It makes me sad and frustrated to think that we won't get to this place in my lifetime.) I think I have been trying to occupy that place in my leadership roles without accepting that everyone else is not really ready for that stage yet. Feels like a slide backwards for me personally, but leadership in the Hunt is about serving the community- if they need me to do the "I Am Woman Hear Me Roar" thing, I should at least consider doing that service.

No pressure

The problems of today cannot be resolved by dwelling on the past. If you are doing that, the past isn't the problem, it's you. As much as the past may serve to preserve your identity, you hanging on to it isn't helping.

First it ignores your actions now. Second it keeps you from objectively viewing the situation -- including your part in it. Third, when you approach others with the attitude of blame and condemnation, you give them no reason to work with you. Fourth, by playing the victim, you give them no reason to trust you.

 The last is more important than you think. Because without trust, there is no possibility of resolution or change.
  -Marc MacYoung

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A friend of mine recently got promoted to brown (congratulations again!). I realized that I haven't even thought about belts in a really long time. It's been great. I haven't gotten a promotion in forever, and it's been great. I'd still like to backtrack to, oh, one- or two- stripe blue if I had the choice.  But at least as long as I'm just parked here, I don't feel like I'm in the backseat of a driverless racecar careening down the highway. It's been great. I hope I never get promoted again.

Thursday lunchtime gi in Bellevue. I feel particularly tired this week for some reason. I felt exhausted waiting for class to start.

Standup: judo grips, stick right foot behind opponent's left foot. (Note, keep toe on the mat and not hooking the shin like I wanted to do. Also, Carlos corrected me on my positioning- I was ending up with my feet a long ways away from the opponent; I need to step in closer and pay attention to not sliding/dancing outward while executing this.)  Opponent steps out. You drop to your knee and pick up hir OTHER heel. Takedown. (Must also pay attention to where you try to put that foot when I pick it up- if I just fling it upward because I'm hyperfocused on the fall, I end up yanking it between my own legs and tangling us up.) Note that although an exaggerated upward elbow-fling before the knee-drop is discouraged, clearing that arm is important- and you also want to try to get the person off balance. Also note that there is a danger of getting caught in half guard after you dump hir and as you move to side control.

I am still working on my grips/hand positioning while doing things like this. I like the firm behind-the-heel grab, but for some reason in the heat of the moment I always seize the pants cuff further up. I think I'm subconsciously anxious about getting kicked in the face. But that higher grip makes it much harder/more unlikely to get the takedown, *MORE* likely to get kicked in the face because the opponent has more mobility and room to use leg strength, and also my ideal is to be less dependant on clothing grips so that my techniques will work in both gi and no-gi. My excellent aim should make it easier for me than for most people to whip in there and snag that heel. I should use my best weapons to their fullest extent.

Standing guard pass using thigh underhook. One thing Carlos touched on that got my attention- because it is a persistant sloppy habit of mine- is where to put your arms as you are passing, so that they are less attackable. In this case, he put his arm across the opponent's belly with the hand on the opposite hip.

People at GB (black belts excepted) do not attack my arms consistantly enough while I am passing to keep me honest. If I rolled more with Cindy- who NEVER misses the smallest opening for an arm attack while I am trying to pass- I might be able to break this habit.

Same guard pass, only opponent thwarts your pass to the side by hanging that leg heavy on your underhooking shoulder. Counter this by going around the opposite side. (I was actually a little bummed to have Chrisanne drilling this, as it is a pass defense I use a LOT, and now she has a good counter and is going to be jamming me, LOL....)

King Of the Hill, starting from any guard, pass vs sweep. I was not doing too great here today. I fought one white belt guy for a long time as he tried to "sweep" me with muscle, and finally had to give it to him..... sigh. Slightly frustrating. But this is one of the things that honestly bothers me a lot less when I'm not worrying about belts. I feel less like shit when I get manhandled by a white belt. Not that getting manhandled by white belts is a good thing.... but the self-loathing mental/emotional spirals are a lot more problematic than the butt-kicking.

Still parked at about 10lb over my normal walking-around weight. I *really* want to jettison at least those 10lb before my June trip. Starting to think that a series of short fasts might be the only way to budge it. Just kick a pound or two each time, then try to maintain for a bit.

Still raining consistantly, so little dog-walking/hiking.   :(

"No matter how fast you do eet, you still have to stay here for an hour."

Peyton Quinn’s rules of conflict:
Don’t ignore him.
Don’t insult him.
Don’t challenge him or accept his challenge.
Leave him a face-saving exit.


Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue.

Being the last kid picked for the kickball team today landed me a black belt drilling partner (Sean). I managed to fall/roll over his hand and also clock him in the forehead within the first five minutes. Sometimes I think I should be wearing a clown suit on the mat.

Carlos had the heat cranked up to "Brazilian Beach In July" again today. We did a long sequence, adding a new piece every 10 min or so, but always starting with the double-leg from standing.

Double leg from standing. I continue to suck at wrestling takedowns. I know I'm not getting close enough to the opponent during the setup- and also, going down (and- especially-getting up again) is difficult on my bad knees. Sean wants me to change levels as a distinct step BEFORE sticking my lead foot between his feet. As I am doing the double-leg, I can't help thinking, "Good lord, his thighs are like cement pillars." I hope I have cement pillars someday.

Failed double-leg to circling to the back and bear hugging. You lift opponent's feet off the mat, s/he wraps one shin around your shin to prevent being picked all the way up and dumped sideways.

You have no choice but to put opponent down. S/he reaches between hir own feet and grabs your ankle, pull to take down. (Note- when you are being taken down in this fashion, do not attempt to keep the bear hug. All that will get you is the opponent thudding down on your ribs like a cement mixer.)

Opponent steps out and pivots (with bent knee, not a big straight-leg spin that will expose the leg to grabbing) and goes to KOB, then front mount. After waiting 3 secons in each position to get points, s/he sinks one cross collar grip.

I had learned long since that one does not want to push the choking hand across one's own throat- thus telling your opponent, "No, buddy, don't bother to choke me- let me choke myself! No problem!" So when Carlos told us to put one hand on the wrist and one on the elbow, I thought I knew what I was doing. But he wanted us to do something that felt counter-intuitive.... PULL the wrist cuff away from the choke. This necessitated switching hands for me. I still have enough Tiger mentality that the world is all about PUSH to me... it rarely occurs to me to pull. I had to pause at this step the first few times and think it over.

Upa. After that bobble, I was so eager to move on that I explosively upa'ed the crap out of Sean, and the next thing I saw was Carlos' face.

"Why you breedge that way?"

"Uh, that would be stupid because he can post with that hand."

"Then why you breedge that way?"

"Because I was in too much of a hurry and didn't think."

"No matter how fast you do eet, you still have to stay here for an hour."   Which actually was kind a revelation, which I will try to keep in the forefront of my mind.

After upa, guard pass. A few different variations of leg spaghetti, involving trapping the opponent's arm across hir own body and keeping both  hir legs stretched out. I felt really off balance during the pass- like it would be easy to tip me onto my back- but Sean explained (and I saw for myself when he took his turn) that the opponent had no leverage for even the tiny push it would have taken to tip me over.

A little King Of the Hill, starting from side control. Top person try to sub, bottom person escape, catch guard or half guard. Camille got a legit sub on me. Awesome. She did a couple of abrupt switches on me- when we were straining in one direction, she suddenly switched to something else in the opposite direction and caused me to use my own force against myself. I love that, and still struggle to work it into my own game. Both white belt girls are giving great Shoulder Of Justice. They will need that, as tiny as they are.

A roll with a white belt who was delighted for me to school him in a Bunch Of Things That I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was a White Belt.  I told him that the best way to thank me would be for him to do these things to me next time we rolled. I love it when somebody kicks my ass with something I taught them.

Down five

No man, however civilized, can listen for very long to African drumming, or Indian chanting, or Welsh hymn singing, and retain intact his critical and self-conscious personality. –Aldous Huxley


I've lost 5lb from walking my dogs. I think the meds are also affecting my appetite (in a good way). I was worried about the typical weight gain that goes along with anxiety/depression drugs. Yet I didn't really want lunch yesterday, and had to make myself eat it (because I was going to class and knew I needed the fuel), and I didn't really want dinner either, but made myself eat it (because I knew I just had not eaten enough that day). I am snacking less at home, as it is disconcerting to have two dogs staring at me. I have been binging on a lot of junk food at work, partially because my insomnia is just making it really hard to get through the day. If I can get this insomnia solved, I think that will be less of a problem. Unfortunately, the insomnia rages unchecked in the face of presciption drugs.

Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue. Standing guard pass to KOB. When opponent pushes at your knee, turn to hir feet and take a modified side control, propped on your elbow. Pick up hir top pants cuff and place hir shin between your shins. Grab hir other pants cuff and the belt or back waistband. Dive over and pull the person into your back mount. This was similar to what we did last week, so I was able to translate (and even figure out- and explain adequately- to Peter why his technique wasn't working). It's all about getting that knee hooked nice and snug with the opponent's knee. If it's too low, or too lose, you don't have adequate control of the opponent's body.

Several rounds of sparring, the first round with Cindy, whom I have not worked with in forever. So that was great (albeit exhausting!)
 

Brain Surgery

There’s a difference between inflicting lethal damage and stopping power. Someone can be fatally wounded and still functional enough to take you with them. Mostly it depends on how dedicated they are to taking you out. Pain alone won’t stop someone hellbent on killing you.   –Campfire Tales From Hell


Missed a day of hiking due to rain (still did the multiple mini-walks). Otherwise, still hiking/walking every morning.

I am on drugs! I have an antianxiety med and a sleeping pill. I insisted that the doc not give me anything potentially addictive, and no refills on the sleeping pills (if I want a refill, I will go back to the clinic and we will have a discussion about my level of reliance). It's only day 2, and I'm still on half-dosages of each. The only thing that has happened so far (aside from a mild headache) is that while dozing about 12 hours after taking the first half-tab of the antianxiety med, I had a bizarre mental picture of a bunch of bats and rats and pigs with sharp edges, flickering like newspaper on fire. Since I do not do substances (well, until now... sigh), I have never before had the experience of finding a thought in my brain that was obviously a foreign insertion. It was very odd. 
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Thursday evening no-gi in Bellevue.

Various basic drills... with RUNNING LAPS between each. We even had to watch the demo of each drill WHILE we were running.

Short spars with rotating partners, no subs allowed. Lots of them- like 12 or 14. Fortunately the room was jam packed with purple and brown belts. There was one lonely white belt in the room (he looked up the line and stage-whispered, "Hey- is this an advanced-only class???").
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Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue. Rodrigo was there to teach tonight!

Great warmup roll with Casey. He let me slap on a number of subs, and get within a hair of finishing them, and then slithered out with ease.

Double leg setups shifting to single-leg. Scoop your arm (the one in front of the opponent) under hir thigh so that you are almost grabbing hir ass, and step backward while you pull hir to the floor. Place your hand on hir hip, "Slide into home" over hir thigh, side control.

Stand up in closed guard (don't forget to grab the sleeve cuff first!). As opponent opens guard and slides to floor, frame up your elbows on your knees and wedge yourself between hir knees. Press one knee to the mat and slide the *FAR* knee through, placing it in hir armpit (it is important to get this high). Make sure to keep your toe down until you backsit to move to side control.   This move- which is not exactly brain surgery, and I use it all the time- was AWFUL on the Stupid Side for some reason.  As usual, the first time I tried it on the stupid side, that's when the prof chooses to come by. He of course questioned why I can't do this very simple thing, and I said, "It's the Stupid Side," whereupon he instructed, "Do the Stupid Side again."   (Argh!)

This last technique actually *WAS* brain surgery......

Same entry, only when you press the knee to the floor, instead of hugging the head to pass, you take the arm closest to opponent's head and wrap it over hir thigh. This presents your shoulder the the mat near hir ribs (your back patch in hir face). Roll, and as you go over, catch hir leg and hook your knees together. If you do this right, as you roll upright again, you force hir into a roll. As s/he rolls, maneuver hir into your back mount. (You must hip escape a bit to make this work). Get hooks. Choke.

I have never done this before (although it has been done to me many times), and it hurt my brain- but Rodrigo demo'ed it about a billion times, so I was surprised when I succeeded. Even more surprised when my white belt partner marveled "You make it seem so smooth!"  Still, this is way too complex for attempting live at this point. It normally takes three times of a given technique coming around in the teaching rotation before it really starts to gel for me.

Lots of reps of all of these.

Found out that said white belt partner has NEVER sparred, so it was a good excuse to stay for one roll. She was assertive and heavy on top, but I was able to handle her, and give her some pointers that she seemed very appreciative of.

A double dose of Dave

The guys who are the most dangerous are usually the ones who- to use a poker term- have the smallest “tells”. It’s not the wild-eyed, drooling-in-your-face mad dawg who’s the most dangerous. (Although odds are good such a person will beat you bloody if you give him an excuse.) Be far more concerned about the guy who doesn’t seem concerned about your “message” of what a big bad ass you are. Take for example the guy who- calmly- leans back in his chair and keeps his voice level- while his hand floats out of sight under the table. If someone isn’t getting uptight about your threat displays, odds are you dun tree’d yourself a bad ‘un.   –Campfire Tales From Hell



Saturday lunchtime no-gi in Kirkland. Cindy was not there because she was at a seminar, but it was very nice to see Dave... and Dave... again.

 haven't been to a Dave class in a long time, and it was amusing as heck to see how much he is turning into Cindy. Not just the way he moves, but his SPEECH PATTERNS as he teachers are mimicking hers. It's a compliment. I'd love to be able to turn into Cindy. I doubt I have the raw material, though!

Standing guard pass vs replace open guard drills, standing guard pass to KOB drills, standing guard pass to KOB to stepping over the head and going to KOB on the other side. Note that when you step over, your shin should be touching the hip already.

Front mount to setting up what looks like it's going to be a mounted triangle, but then turns into an armbar. You do not need to step over and lie down. Dave placed his shin on the opponent's face. I hate kneeling on my partners' faces. The girl I was working with had no problem doing so to me. Thus her mounted triangle position and armbars were nice and tight, and mine were loose because I was trying to be gentle. Good for her,  you go girl!

Positional sparring from front mount. Retain vs sweep/escape.

The woman asked what belt I was, and I told her that this is no-gi, so it doesn't matter. I was trying to fly under radar for the people I didn't know (I like that we are not pressured to wear belts for no-gi at Kirkland), and I kept having to stop myself from automatically going to the front of the line when we lined up at each break. I did notice that after we did the positional sparring, when we lined up again, my partner deliberately moved over to my left to put herself- not me- at the end of the line.

Spars with my female partner, a guy I don't know, then Dave (the other one). I was able to control the woman easily. I was able to defend getting tapped by the guy, although I spent considerable time under side control. Dave is always nice to me and refrains from tooling me when we spar, but I got several chokes on him that were *almost* taps. I continue to stick my feet under people's armpits begging them to ankle lock me, and I should know better than to do that with DAVE, as he loves attacking feet.

Get off the wall.

The applications change, but the core remains. Being able to use those core principles requires thorough knowledge of the subject and not just a shallow look. –Campfire Tales From Hell


Yard work in the morning.

Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue.

Standup: judo grips. Grab your own lapel and turn your torso to break opponent's lapel grip (do NOT step back as you do this). Pull hir toward you with your own lapel grip, stepping BACK with the same-side foot as you do so. This forces opponent to step forward. Drop to your knee (same side) and stick your other leg back behind you so that your own knee will not be in the way as you grab opponent's heel (NOT HIR PANTS CUFF) and lift the foot. Pull on the lapel to assist opponent's fall. Side control.

Same entry, but before you can get side control, opponent swings far leg over to try to replace guard. Lunge forward and hug the thigh with the arm closest to opponent. Your head should be on the back of hir thigh. If you were smart, you did not let go of the ankle. Keep pressing that down to the mat so that you can scoot around to the opposite side. Side control. (Don't forget to go over the arm and under the head- I caught this error again and corrected it just as Carlos was coming over to correct me).

You have spider guard with feet on hips. Bring right foot over-and-in-and-around to "lasso". Opponent drops that knee to the mat. Bring that SAME FOOT underneath your other foot and hook the toe under hir other knee. Pause to pinch the arm between your knees and yank it in a bit. Now take the other foot off the hip and place it on the floor. sweep. Side control. Note that if you keep control of that arm and bend your leg, you can trap the arm with your leg as you sit up, which is a lovely detail.

Same entry, adding the same replace-guard attempt and pass as on the earlier technique.

Chrisanne did not show up tonight, and there was an odd number on the mat, so as usual I was the last kid picked for the kickball team. Carlos was waving simultaneously at the two white belt girls and at Casey & Allison. Good for me, for once I did not do the self-deprecating thing and automatically go with the white belt girls- I picked Casey & Allison. Bad for me, as soon as I got over there, I tried to self-deprecate anyway and huddle against the wall. Carlos is like, "GET OFF THE WALL." When there is a triad drilling, he wants to see quick and lively switching out; he does not want to see someone parked against the wall for minutes at a time. I had never seen this sweep before and I was anxious about messing it up in front of the brown belt and almost-brown-belt, but the only time I really faltered was when Casey distracted me by asking me unrelated-to-jiu-jitsu questions while I was trying to do the drill. I had to tell him to shut up and quit distracting me.

Didn't stay for sparring because I have been feeling a little weird all day. A little nausea, and off-and-on slight swimmy-head feeling. I hydrated some more but it didn't seem to help. Not sure what's up. 

I'm going to get a dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I will be doing a lot more walking once I have a hiking buddy.

Friday night

"To die will be an awfully big adventure."    J.M. Barrie

Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue.

Spider guard pass. Apply pressure. When opponent pushes back with hir legs, shrug/jerk hir feet off your biceps and yank them to the side. End in a slight crouch with hir near shin propped on top of your thigh.

Inside DLR pass. Grips: pants at knee on opponent's leg side, low lapel (near waist) on other side. Press in against hir thigh. When s/he pushes back, Quickly skip your outside foot close in for balance and mule-kick the trapped leg out. Then go to the side and assume KOB. Do not let go of grips.

Sprawl on turtled opponent, crossarm beside neck, spin to the side, outside knee planted, take the back.

Many speedy drill reps. I worked with a white belt woman who hung in there surprisingly well for a white belt. She was almost dead at the end.

Long, fun roll with Chrisanne. We each got one good tap. Mine was a weird mutated gi choke that I wasn't sure would work. I think hers was a keylock.

Whoo-hoo, live tripod sweep!

With developments in technical competence and the application of the technique in training, grading, or competition, the self confidence of the student improves. He sees his improvements as successful efforts on his part. Success breeds success, and success breeds self-confidence. The two go very much hand-in-hand. A successful and confident student looks forward to training and enjoys the learning environment. A happy student learns faster than an unhappy one because he enjoys what he is doing, and because the skills are consciously and subconsciously associated with pleasure, they are retained for longer. In that the reverse is also true- that failure breeds lack of confidence  and dissatisfaction with training- the learning environment has to allow for the student to succeed in what he is doing, no matter what his level of ability or competence.  Tony Gummerson, "Teaching Martial Arts"


No-gi in Bellevue. It was very tempting to not go in today. It was 85 degrees in the house even after the sun had set (which it does at around 2pm even in high summer at my place- such is life in the mountains).

Of course Carlos shut the garage door and turned off the fans before he began class.  Guy is a sadist.

We started with a great deal of pummelling with rotating partners. This is a great way to work up a hell of a sweat on a hot day. Two of my opponents were male teenage white belts who were obviously discomfited with the fact that they were pummelling someone who had boobs, and that said pummeling could not be accomplished without coming into repeated contact with said boobs. I went a little hard and was just very matter-of-fact about it.

Standing guard passes. Press knee and hip, slide over thigh with near knee. Carlos corrected me on a persistant sin of mine- I fail to trap the near arm in side control. OVER THE SHOULDER AND UNDER THE HEAD. I need to ask Chrisanne to start calling my attention to it when I fail to remember that.

If foe turns toward you and tucks in a top knee shield- Underhook the thigh high up on your shoulder and pass on the opposite side. (Note that the forearm that is not hugging the thigh needs to be ALL THE WAY across opponent's waist. This is where I want to deploy yet another bad habit of mine- reaching up and placing it beside the opponent's neck.)

Now- opponent knee shields your first attempt to pass and then foils your second attempt by hanging that leg heavy (I use that defense frequently).... switch back to pass #1. Opponent (that little rat) now pushes on your knee to try to deny you yet again. Quickly switch the placement of your legs and drop both knees to the floor (note that getting both knees on the floor is the part that goes out the window for me when I try to do it on The Stupid Side). Hug that leg very closely to your torso and use the arm furthest away from that leg to reach over your head and catch the ankle/foot.  Push that leg down and away (don't get lazy and just drop it- PUT it where you want it) and pass. Don't forget to trap that arm.

A little king-of-the-hill... takedowns. (Did I mention that Carlos is a sadist?) I got a nice takedown on one of the aforementioned white belts.... took his back and then pulled him down and rolled into mount.  Otherwise, got pretty plowed by the rest of the guys and by Amy (who has great wrestling takedowns). One of the guys swept me up in his arms like a bride and laid me gently on the mat.

One incredibly fun roll with Amy, 20 or 30 minutes. Lots of standup, which is always a good thing. I got one tap on her, which was very exciting. It was a rear naked, after several near misses of same. I reminded her to keep her chin down, and warned that I would be watching her MMA fight next week and that if she let that girl get a rear naked on her, she was going to be answering to me.

I also got a sweep, which was much more exciting than the tap, as I rarely try sweeps live and even less rarely get one. And in no-gi, too! This was a tripod sweep, which I don't think I have *ever* gotten live (I consider it a complicated technique- too many different hand and foot positions need to happen at once for me to readily wrap my brain around). It worked like a charm, and just when I thought life couldn't get any better, I actually followed up by getting up and getting on top. Normally, when I am sitting on my butt with my feet in front of me, I have a bitch of a time getting up and getting on top with any speed or alacrity. On the rare occasion when someone goes down and I am caught in this position, I flounder there on my ass like a harpooned sea lion while they pop back up and pounce upon me. Recently we have done a significant amount of drilling of a technique or two that involved getting up and getting on top from this position, and it seems to have helped. I would be so happy to find myself past that particular sticking point... but we shall have to see if I can replicate the trick or if it was a freak fluke.

Amy of course got several things on me, primarily her excellent guard passes.

Anyway, it was a *really* fun roll... not just because of the sweep, the whole thing was fun- the type of roll that reminds me of why I do this. I need to try to roll with Amy more often. Starting from standup, if possible.

Half guard passing game

The Tueller Drill:
Sergeant Dennis Tueller, of the Salt Lake City, Utah Police Department wondered how quickly an attacker with a knife could cover 21 feet (6.4 m), so he timed volunteers as they raced to stab the target. He determined that it could be done in 1.5 seconds.


Saturday in Seattle.

You sitting, opponent standing. S/he moves to your side. You turn so that the knee nearest opponent is on the mat and your far knee up. Near palm on the mat and far arm in high warding position. Brace against opponent's collarbone and technical lift to get to feet.

Opponent sitting, you standing.  You go to hir side and wrap your FAR arm under hir legs as if to pass. S/he pushed your head to the mat. You hop your feet over hir to the other side.
From closed guard: Do a basic guard break and underhook a thigh as if to stack and pass. Then hop to the other side instead. Opponent starts to roll away from you. Get a sash grip (make sure you are UNDER hir ceilingward arm) and stick your hook in under hir hip as she tries to gain hir knees. Take the back. At this point, get a choking lapel grip.

After we had drilled this for a while, we had the backmounted person free a hook and try to crabwalk out. Attacker keeps the sash grip and rolls belly down sprawling. A choke can often be accomplished from here. if it is not happening, loosen up enough to bail opponent to trying to escape, and retake the back.

Rolls with a handful of people I had never met before. Taught an upa to a white belt. Got two straight elbow locks on a blue belt- the same elbow lock I got on Sean yesterday. That is awesome. But I need to work on remembering to stay out of top half guard on people who are good at retaining half guard and/or doing useful things from bottom half guard. That blue belt had a gnarly half guard retention, and I actually commented on it, yet still found myself sliding right back into it repeatedly. I feel so good about my top half guard passing that I tend to just go into it and proceed to pass as a routine part of my game. It usually works, but I need to take note when I draw someone who is not letting me get away with that, and try OTHER things.

Tons o' pressure

Violence works. It is something that bad guys use to get what they want. When people look for the sources of violence or seek peace, this is the elephant in the room that everyone ignores. As long as violence works, some people will use it. -Rory Miller



Friday in Bellevue.  I wanted some time to work on my knotty thigh muscles with the foam roller, but just as I started that, Luis wanted to flow roll- so of course that was too good to pass up.

Pummelling.

Self-defence- opponent front kicks at your belly, you deflect with your outside arm and then elbow strike to face with your opposite arm. I prefer the feel of using the same arm, braced with the second arm. But the critical part of this feels to be the circular dragon-ish flow. It's been years since I've done this technique, and yet found myself right back to being paralyzed with left/right indecision as soon as I asked my partner to mix up the kicking leg.

From standup- opponent pulls guard and hold your head on hir chest. You make "L" shapes with your blade hands and thumbs, stick them in hir armpits and push yourself down as you move your head to the side and free it. Press one or both of foe's hands to hir chest. Push one knee down and pass with your near knee sliding over hir thigh. Move to side control.

Same entry, only now opponent puts knee shield up as you try to pass. Scoop under the thigh and pass to the other side, with tons o' pressure.

Since it was hot as a frying pan even with the garage door open, Chrisanne and I took off our gi tops and had several good, hard no-gi rolls. I was very determined to not let her turtle, since her turtle is a bitch that I have a very hard time attacking. She still got into it a few times, but less often than usual. I got a few taps, which made me happy, as she is quite hard to tap these days. I could see her getting frustrated, though, so made sure to give good feedback. She left me some gnarly bruises tonight.

Squeak!

A brewing situation is one that takes time to build, is longer-lasting, and involves many chances for observation before the tactical considerations take over and you must act.

A flash situation is an immediate action taking place with little or no warning and requiring immediate counteraction. Campfire Tales From Hell



Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue.

You have spider guard, standing foe, your feet on hir hips. Place left sole on floor and right sole on foe's bicep. Pull hir forward just enough to get hir to take a step. (You want hir standing by your hips, with your own sole pointed at the ceiling- don't try to yank hir over your head). Now let go of the sleeve with your left hand and overwrap hir ankle, Grab your own lapel to secure. Now: number 3 drill from yesterday. I was happy to see this, as I had already asked Chrisanne to review this technique with me tonight. We have done it a lot now. I really like it, but it has an awful lot of steps- which tends to leave me flustered trying to execute it live. When I try to go too fast, I usually end up forgetting to overwrap the ankle. Another recurrent problem: you must remember to let go of the remaining sleeve before you take the person down, lest s/he use it to pull hirself back up on top before you are able to do so. We finished this with either the ankle lock from yeserday, or a technical lift to get on top in side control. In this latter case: GRAB THE PANTLEG BEFORE YOU DO THE TECHNICAL LIFT, and DO NOT LET GO OF THE PANTLEG! You can shove the leg away from you as you get into position.... but Carlos likes to "stuff it in his pocket" and trap the foot on his hip. If you can pull this off, it makes it much more difficult for the enemy to escape.

You are in closed guard. Baseball bat grip on foe's lapels at hir belly. Place right sole on the floor (remember to use toes) and turn torso in so that your knee frame breaks the guard. overwrap the ankle and put it in your left armpit. Pinch opponent's leg between your knees and fall to your hip (not on your back). Ankle lock, tucking your matward shoulder back ("hide the shoulder") for better effect. Don't forget to use the blade of the arm bone on that ankle lock.

Carlos demo-'ing the ankle lock on Doug was HILARIOUS. Doug squeaked like a mouse (totally involuntary) and we all fell about laughing, and a little later he did it again.

Two spars with Chrisanne. I made her start in standup, even though we were both tired. She got a tap (bow and arrow)- she was very happy about, as it is a technique that she has struggled to master. I defended it so that she had to make several small adjustments to finish it, and praised her for being able to come up with and execute those plans B, C, D and E effectively. Then I got a tap with a really wierd mutated kimura that was upside down or backward or something... I'm not sure. I was unsure of whether it was working, so I continued to adjust it as an experiment, and she finally tapped.

I sent Lindsay a PM: "I miss choking you and knocking you down." I wonder what her non-MA FB friends thought of that, especially after she "like"d it.
 

Your heep need to move

People get very uncomfortable around people who are very comfortable with force. -Rory Miller


Thursday no-gi, Bellevue. I had to skip last week because my tattoo was still too scabby. I did considerable exercise-like yard work, though.

Mount escapes.

1)Basic upa, begin by yanking down on foe's shoulder if s/he has it wrapped around your neck. After you land in hir guard, Push one of hir knees to the mat and slider over hir thigh, your inside knee first. Underhook far arm. Side control. Mount, without ever lifting pressure from hir chest/shoulder/neck.

2)Mounted foe is scooting high on you, Grab your own wrist with opposite hand and form a frame to push hir hips back. Place feet as close to butt as possible and pop hips in air as hard as you can, keeping your frame in place.  (Professor Carlos: "Your heep need to move!!!") Pull your knees in and put opponent in butterfly guard. Now straighten legs to shove hir back. Sit up and scoot in (land on your hip NOW to avoid an extra step later),  hug under hir arm, grab opposite bicep, buterfly sweep.

3)This was a new and tricky one. Same entry as above, only you get just one knee between Bad Guy's legs instead of two. Stretch out to shove hir away. S/he should land with one knee up- the one opposite the side you have YOUR knee in. Swing your free leg around the OUTSIDE of hir other hip and place your foot on the hip. (Be careful to not cross- or get shoved across- hir centerline). Now pinch hir thigh between your knees and roll hir to hir outside hip, Ankle lock. (Make sure to use blade of forearm on ankle, not flat).

I had to take some allergy meds before class, so my brain was feeling a little foggy- primo conditions for injuring someone or myself- thus I elected to bow out of sparring.

Drillin'

The first and main tenent is the so-called “Vorschlag” (first strike). It means that you hit the opponent first- you draw first blood. It also means initiative. You want to be and remain in the active, attacking an initiating role. That also means that your opponent is in the defensive role. As long as you have the initiative, you are in the so-called “Vor” (before); your opponent is in the “Nach”- this means he reacts, he is pressed into a defensive role.  –Campfire Tales From Hell



Thursday BJJ in Bellevue. Drill day. I know they are good for me, but man, drill days kinda suck.  :P

1)The same drill we did last week, where you stand beside a lying opponent's feet and place near hand on the floor between hir legs, far hand on far knee, and hop to the opposite side. Remember BUTT DOWN and keep the hop as low as possible. Partner commented that this makes it much faster and smoother. I commented that this makes it much more painful and exhausting. Note that you want to wach for the triangle here; although I imagine that that's what the hand on the knee is for.

2) You in partner's open guard, s/he has right knee shield across your chest. You wrap your right arm over hir lef thigh and grab the foot underneath. Place your other hand on hir knee and head on hir ribs. Press the knee down and hop into side control. Partner must shrimp out and replace the knee shield.

3) Kneel beside lying opponent's hip and place forehead on the floor, hugging over both hir thighs with opposite arm, Cartwheel feet to the other side. Move head to other side and repeat. Note that you want to keep your feet far enough apart that  s/he cannot catch both of them in hir closed guard.

4) You in partner's butterfly guard, hug overtop of both thighs and grab the ankles. Place your head on one of hir hips and hurl yourself in a summersault so that your feet hit the mat beside hir head on the opposite side. Your belly is to the ceiling. Now run your feet back around to butterfly guard, twisting belly down as you do it. When I saw the demo, I thought this was going to pull the hell out of the torso muscles on the sides, but it didn't hurt- it just got hella exhausting after a handful of reps.  

A friend of mine (not around here anywhere) got groped on the mat and her instructor handled it poorly. It is a very upsetting thing to hear about, and I don't know whether to feel depressed or homicidal. I have always felt like I could trust any of my teachers to instantly toss a groper out on his ass upon my say-so, but I'm sure she felt the same about her teacher.  Makes you wonder. I wish I could ask each of them and just verify that no, they would not betray me in that way. There's been quite a bit of publicity in the last few years about molesters in the BJJ community, and it's so frustrating that this sort of shit is still going on and still getting swept under the rug.

That is terribly distracting.

An attorney who in specializes in self-defense told me that of the 300 clients who said something to the police before talking to him, only two managed to NOT hurt their case. Those two didn't help their case, they just didn't hurt it any. If you are involved in a shooting, call the police, physically cooperate with them, but don't say anything except you want to call your attorney.  --Greg Hamilton



Thursday:
I didn't write up the last two classes, because I was feeling frustrated and unable to focus on the constructive bits.

Today, all spars in Bellevue.

I keep wanting to call Justin "Jason" for some reason. So he started calling me "Tiffany" and it went rapidly downhill from there. Now I'm calling him anything with a J (Jerome, Jaylen, Jessie, Jordan) and he's calling me prissy girly names (Brittany, Charity).
-------------------------


Friday:
Standing guard pass, #1: You standing, holding opponent's pants at the insides of the knees as s/he has one foot on your bicep and the other foot on your hip. Step to the "hip" side and thrust opponent's knee to the floor. Scoot quickly back to the opposite side, while pressing the second leg down on top of the first. Drop to your knees behind hir butt (NOT further up, behind hir back) while blocking behind hir knees with your arm.

#2: Opponent has spider guard, you have the same grips as above. Press the knee to the mat on the side that they have the bent leg. Use your OPPOSITE foot (not the one on the same side, as I tried to do first and quickly found that that is completely unbalanced) to push that leg down. Do a lawnmower-starting motion with your arm on that side to shuck the sleeve grip. Now continue the pass as before. (I was a bit bummed that Christy was in class tonight- she does this pass to me all the time, and she makes it hurt.... she really does not need more practice on this rather painful technique!)

As the prof was explaining the technique, we were all suddenly very distracted by the sounds of a woman orgasming loudly  from the next mat.

This was disquieting, as there was a Monkey Bar Gym class going on in there, and as far as I know they did not have an orgy planned for tonight's class (altough perhaps they would get more membership signups if they did).

When I was going to the Gold Creek gym, there were occasionally men in the weight room who grunted like rutting water buffaloes while they lifted weights. I hate that. It is a sad attention-seeking tactic. This was the first time I had heard a woman doing it, and it made me embarrassed to be female. She wasn't even grunting- she was moaning and gasping. It truly sounded like nothing other than noisy intercourse, and it was embarrassing to be listening to while surrounded by a class full of men.

I told Carlos that I was unhappy... that that was distracting and inappropriate... hopefully he will talk to Greg, who will talk to the culprit- if it continues to happen, I will talk to Greg myself. I do not want to hear someone orgasming loudly in the background while I'm trying to focus on guard pass details.

One spar with Chrisanne and one with Christy.

Six Thousand Details

There are thousands of things that can be used as weapons, and there are lots of ways to use them. –Rory Miller



3.5 Minute Plank. OMG. That hurts so bad. But thrilled that I can do it.

Fri evening BJJ in Bellevue.

The longer I do BJJ, the more complicated it gets. What used to look like a very simple basic guard pass now has about six thousand little details that you have to remember all at once.

Pulling guard, then basic (ha!) pass from 1)knees or 2)standing. Most persistantly troublesome details for me tonight:

1)Don't try to use brute strength to haul opponent's sleeve cuff up while you're trying to posture standing in hir guard, brace your elbow against your body and straighten your back.

2)Then move your knees closer together.

3)Don't grab the pants at the knee to push it down, grab the knee itself. Christy was having the same problem, so eventually we both started whispering "No pants! No pants!" to one another every time we began the pass.

4)Control the near arm using the sleeve as you take side control. I already have a good insinct to get that shoulder off he ground and keep it all nice and tight, but the process sure is a lot easier and works better if I remember to deliberately address that arm first and do the right things with it.

I was infuriated, frustrated, mindboggled and despairing to find that I was a pound up this morning despite having eaten tragically little *and* done BJJ **AND** went for a walk. I honestly do not understand how this is possible. I ate even less today. Spent much of both days feeling hungry, distracted and resentful.

Head and arm

Weapons do not change your nature, only your reach and power.   –Rory Miller



I have spent the last few weeks wishing I was dead because my allergies are leaving me unable to function. Dragging myself to work- cuz I gotta- but otherwise,  I can't do anything. Feeling like crap due to allergies is compounded by feeling like crap due to not getting any mat time. Yesterday I had no fewer than five people FB'ing me personally, trying to get me to class, and I just couldn't do it.

I don't think I would have been able to bear going back to another work rotation (especially since I know there's a truly hideous body fluid chamber count CAP survey lurking in my inbox) without at least a little BJJ, so I was determined to haul my suffering carcass to no-gi in Kirkland today.

Fortunately, it was a small class and it went low-key. Cindy still can't roll because of her shoulder injury; there were three huge guys, Dave, and me. Cindy went over a couple of things from the awesome seminar that I missed yesterday (sigh). Then I did a short roll with Dave. I was weak and congested and sneezy and sniffly, and my soft palate itches so bad that I want to eat a wheelbarrow of sand- but the headaches held off long enough, and Dave was really nice to me (especially since he was the only one present who wasn't too big, too injured, or too new to work with me). That could have gone either way. I could have walked into a no-gi takedowns day with Pedro. This, though, was just what I needed.

Guard pass detail: when you're blocking behind the knee, if you place your elbow on the mat, it is structurally impossible for the opponent to pull your arm out of place because s/he would just be pulling it against hir own thigh.

Head and arm choke: this variation requires firstly that you make sure to snug the inside of your elbow right up to the opponent's neck and not leave a hair of space. Crab-crawl your fingers across the mat and give an extra little jerk or two to the side to cinch it all up. Use that same hand to clasp hir shoulder. You want to be lower on the body than we normally tend to be for one of these... and lower under the jaw. Place your head in there to block. Shrug your shoulders up a bit. This was incredible for two reasons: 1)Dave was already tapping when I had barely exerted 1/10 of the squeeze and room that I had available, and 2)It didn't involve having to jump your lower body to the side (which way to jump is one of those little details that my swiss-cheese-brain always struggles with).

I love getting my tail kicked by Chrisanne.

At (long) range, you are taking fire. You may not know from where in that first instant. Hit or not, you have to MOVE. You were ambushed in this precise spot because it is the best place to kill you. You MUST get out of that spot (or “Off the X” as we say). –Rory Miller



Friday evening BJJ in Bellevue.  I was standing on the wall minding my own damn business waiting for class to start, and Casey comes over and grabs me and tries to hurl me to the ground. We end up thrashing around like a couple of weasels while the entire rest of the class stands there in line and watches, making comments about the "mutter...mutter... purple belts...."

Standing: ankle pick as yesterday. I'm noticing that with your lapel grip, you can shove the opponent to either side to finish the takedown. Pushing often works better (and is less work)  than pulling.

Bullfight pass to KOB

Failed bullfight pass to underhook both of hir thighs, stack, and pass. I don't try to set this up often- I feel vulnerable sticking both arms under like that- but I love the way the pass itself feels; I like to grab the tag of the opponent's pants and stack the crapola out of hir and then squish down on top of hir thigh until s/he's begging to let me pass. At the same time, you can grind into the throat and/or twist the head away by levering on the jaw with the other forearm. It's lovely.

Positional sparring from spider guard, varying goals. My suckage at passing spider guard is trumped only by my suckage at trying to sweep from spider guard. But I can hang out *IN* spider guard effortlessly defending the pass until the second coming of Christ.

Some epic sparring with Chrisanne. We started from standing multiple times. She got a couple of really sweet takedowns, and some lovely technical taps. Nice and tight. She is almost never on the bottom any more, and she is always attacking instead of waiting to react to what I do. When we scramble, she gets on top first. Her game has changed 180 from eight months ago. I love it when Chrisanne is kicking my tail. It makes me feel so proud. I am getting to the point of going close to full bore on her, too.

Stayin' Alive

Everyone has a button, you just have to find it and press it under the right circumstances. So the goal is to find the buttons and push them in this type of training, in a safe environment. Not to hurt feelings, but to identify a button someone might use against the student in the real world and take that button away from the bad guys. Make it a non-issue.  –Campfire Tales From Hell



10/2:
Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue. All spars. I held my own today, but nothing stellar. I was able to keep moving around and defend most of the subs from the colored belts, and control the single white belt (granted, he was being nice and not using his extraneous weight and strength).
-----------------------
10/9:
Thursday lunchtime BJJ in Bellevue.

All drills. Armbars from guard, several different types of standing guard passes, spinning armbars. I was drilling with Dex, who is doing Monkey Bar Gym *and* cagefighting, and is in insane shape, so I had to hustle to be a decent partner. Even he was whining about the armbars from guard (I hate that drill, after the first twenty second or so... the first twenty seconds are fine, but it gets slow and painful quickly after that).

While we were standing on the wall watching demo's, the stereo started playing "Stayin' Alive". I cannot believe that a whole line of people can stand there without dancing, without even head-bobbing, while the stereo is blasting "Stayin' Alive". What's wrong with these young people today??!?  It's probably a good thing that none of my close compadres were there, or things probably would have gotten more out of hand than they did.

One roll with Amy- yes, the blue belt cage fighter. I started from standup with her, and she got a nice sacrifice takedown. She was in control about half the time, and spent the other half fighting my open guard. Knowing that she is an MMA fighter, I played spider guard. They hate that. Heh heh heh. She did not tap me, but she would have won on points from the takedown plus advantages.

-------
Thursday evening BJJ in Kirkland.

Lots of pummelling... Dave likes to tire us out with this before technique....

You on your back, partner standing, your feet on hir hips... s/he tosses your feet to one side, you hip out, cross the OUTSIDE foot over top to replace your feet on hir hips, repeat to other side. I tend to get sloppy with both the hip-out and the bracing on partner's shins, because I can do it facter just by hiking up on my shoulders and letting my supreme flexibility and dexterity do all the work.... but Dave didn't like that.  :(

Partner on hir back, knees up, you standing.... shove knees to one side and go to KOB. Dave reprimanded me for placing my outside foot too close to my partner's head instead of keeping my feet parallel. When I did it his way, it was A LOT MORE WORK.  :(    He's mean, isn't he?

Keylocks, failed keylock to straight armbar, a weird sort of upside-down keylock with the elbow straight.... my brain has always had a difficult time parsing this one....

Head and arm choke.

I was working with Irwin, who is a huge guy, but so sweet, and super-careful about trying to not hurt me. I had to tell him several times that he needed to grab harder, choke harder, push harder.... don't worry, I'll tell you if you're hurting me, and as long as you put on a sub nice and slow, trust me to tap when I need to.

One roll with Dave. I made myself keep moving and not stall out under him. Man, he is working rings around me now, though. He has gotten so good. And he has Cindy's fingerprints all over him. Lucky dog.

Smile at her.

Never forget that self defense is about not being there, using awareness, avoidance, and de-escalation to eliminate the need to fight.  Fighting is what you do when you’ve totally screwed up your self defense. Lawrence Kane and Kris Wilder, The Little Black Book Of Violence



Yardwork in the morning. That pulled muscle or pinched nerve or whatever it was is better today. Still there- but when I turn my head to the left, I only want to grimace instead of wanting to scream. I think a little hair of the dog (ie, yesterday evening class) was what it needed.

Friday evening class in Bellevue. All of the other BJJ bloggers in this area are bitching and moaning about the heat. Yup, it was an oven in there. Fortunately, Prof. Herbert was teaching, and he opened the garage door. Carlos is more likely to go over and CLOSE the door. He likes it hot in there.

It was a small class. We still had 4 black belts on the mat, though.

White belt: "Where is everybody?"
Kitsune: "Everybody who is REALLY serious about there training is HERE."

Warmed up by rolling a little with Peter.

Guard pass: scoop opponent's left thigh up onto your shoulder and press hir right thigh to the mat. Grab behind hir collar while you slide your left knee over hir thigh. Make sure to keep your toe pinning hir shin down. Sit out. Switch grip to inside of pantleg at knee on NEAR leg, while you take side control. Now move to scarf.

Chrisanne was feeling nice and heavy- but I asked her to do more shoulder pressure into my throat while she was passing, and to make sure that she didn't shift her weight off of my chest and onto the mat while she was sitting out. With these suggesstions, she was HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY throughout the entire maneuver.

Sparring. Chrisanne was making an effort to be assertive, which was good-  but I reminded her again where her center of gravity is and that she should get it up above mine right away. I also suggested that if her opponent stands up, she should go ahead and stand up too- and not show any insecurity about working standup, even if she is feeling some.  "When she stands up, you stand up too- and then smile at her. Let her think THAT over."   ;)   That's what I like to do at comps.

Christy. Still very good, and getting better. I like how she is able to switch directions/plans quickly- that is something I'm *still* working on incorporating into my own game. It's great that she can do that already. I was able to fend her off okay, and stay relaxed and breathing evenly. She got 2 or 3 taps that I might have been able to get out of if I'd gone 100%, but they were good subs so I let her have them.

Doug- always fun.

White belt guy- muscling, but I was able to fend him off moderately well.

Again with the nausea after class. I don't like this. I don't think it was dehydration. I drank a ton of water, also some chocolate milk and Hawaiian Punch.