Thursday morning BJJ at Cindy's..... Lamont took the day off because his neck hurts, and Frank is going to be on the bench for a while yet because of his injured shoulder. So I got Cindy all to myself today! She said, "I'm gonna make you TIRED today." Uh oh.....
Warmups.... I did the "dead bug" excercises; I wonder if these will ever get any easier. Armbar drill- I start out okay on this one, but I get sore and exhausted REALLY fast, and then the form starts getting sloppy. I'm trying to not be lazy about getting the hips up and the getting the lower leg in the armpit instead of sitting on the hip. We've been doing a lot of abs/core exercises lately- I hope it's making me stronger. More flow drill. Adding some Knee-On-Belly: mount with toes on the insides of the opponent's thighs, transition to KOB, to side control; wash, rinse, repeat. I feel like an evil brute putting my weight on the KOB. I kept doing a little bounce during the transitions so that the knee wouldn't grind in so much. I don't know if I'm going to feel okay doing this to people full-on (except maybe Hostility Boy... I think I would do it to him!). I need to remember to not crouch low over the opponent when I have KOB, because they just hug me and roll, and now I'm on the bottom.
Then we just rolled... for a really long time. Ever roll with someone who pins you down and leisurely reties her gi pants at the same time? She did give me a triangle escape, so I must have done it okay. On the whole, I didn't feel any more competant... but I did keep moving, keep trying, keep fighting- even when I was hurting and even when there didn't seem to be any way out and even when I was so tired I didn't even have the energy to beg for mercy.
Cindy kept her promise, she made me tired today. When I got home, it took me two tries to put the gearshift in park.
I tried one of my new earguards today- "Brute" brand. I'll have to wear them a few more times, but so far they seem perhaps slightly less comfortable than my original pair. They do rub on the ears a bit- hopefully not enough to produce hematomas, especially if I am switching back and forth between earguards. They are harder to hear through... I kept having to ask Cindy to repeat herself. And can anyone make a chin strap that doesn't feel like it's strangling you to death??!
The third pair of earguards- a different model of Cliff Keens- I haven't tried them yet because I can't figure out how to adjust the straps. I'll need to get somebody to help me with that. I have the "hair slicker" too, haven't tested it out yet. Lamont was posting on my hair yesterday, so it should be getting long enough to be ripped out again soon!
SK has injured his back, so kung fu class is cancelled tonight. With DD and CN mostly out of the picture, when SK is down for the count that leaves us with no backup teacher, which sucks. I should have gone to Gracie's... I wanted to go to Gracies.... but for the second night in a row, I assessed my corporeal self and decided that the body was not up to it. I could have done kung fu tonight... not because it's EASIER, by any means, but it's a different workout which works (at least in part) different muscles in different ways. One thing that holds true for both 1)Gracie's in the two weeks before the Revolution, and 2)Cindy's when you happen to catch a small-sized and thus more personalized and targeted class, is that there ain't gonna be no coasting through a "light one". Don't even bother to show up unless you're ready and willing to throw down and bust ass. It's been great getting privates and semi-privates at Cindy's lately, but it does wipe a person out... one two-hour class and my body wants to be done with hard exercise for the rest of the day. It's not like a larger class where there are just more breaks built in due to trying to organize a lot of people.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Attitude problems
Morning BJJ at Cindy's. It was supposed to be gi day, but Lamont forgot his gi, so we did no-gi again. I hope I get some practice at defending against people pulling guard on me from standing, with gi... before the competition.
More positional flow drill. Continuing to have some problems with that pesky arm, going from north-south to scarf. Had to be reminded to sink my butt lower and also watch the weight-tipping point- I tend to hike myself too far up on the opponent, to the point that he can just summersault me over to the other side. On the bottom, trying to do some defending.... it's really hard to do anything, especially when Lamont puts his weight on me (and he's being relatively nice... I asked him to go easy on my ribs today). Sometimes I can catch a half-guard. I was informed today, though, that if I am going to do that, I need to follow it up because every time I catch a half-assed half guard and the guy gets out, he gets three points for "passing" my guard. I didn't really realize that, and feel stupid... someone could rack up a lot of points on me that way.
Cindy says that she's seeing me just freeze up- like a deer in headlights- in certain positions. Yeah, part of it is sometimes I don't know what to do, sometimes the weight on my ribs hurts so bad that I can't do anything but wheeze for breath, and sometimes I feel like any way I move is going to put me in an even worse position than the one I'm already. She wants me to move more... she says that moving and maybe getting reversed is better than freezing and CERTAINLY getting reversed.
When I front-mount, I need to make sure to draw my foot right up against the opponent. I sometimes have it too far out, and Lamont grabs half-guard.
We reviewed the pass and armbar that we'd done yesterday, substituting a slightly different armbar (same-side figure-4 grip instead of cross-grip).
Then a little pass-guard vs defend the guard. I know Lamont was going easy on me, but I still seemed to be a wreck. I was getting pretty frustrated. It was one of those days when I feel like I'm busting my butt really hard and just never getting any better. They both made a point of telling me that I am.... they are doing that a lot; I think they're trying to work on my miserable inferiority complex.... but it doesn't feel like I am.
So, kind of a discouraging-feeling session. I have to try to trust that Cindy and Lamont are right. I know (intellectually) that my defeatist attitude does me no favors and may well in fact be the most problematic aspect of my entire game. I started out MA excited and optimistic; transitioned to frustrated when lots of hard work did not translate to success because of physical limitations. You can stay at "frustrated" and get ulcers, and start having screaming tantrums in the grocery store line... or you can shift to "defeatist" which seems easier to live with than "frustrated" sometimes. I tend toward that "If you just work HARD enough, you will succeed" mindset- and it's very demoralizing when you really work as HARD AS YOU CAN and people still crush you effortlessly. With "defeatist", the pressure is off. But it is definitely a destructive spiral that feeds upon itself.
More positional flow drill. Continuing to have some problems with that pesky arm, going from north-south to scarf. Had to be reminded to sink my butt lower and also watch the weight-tipping point- I tend to hike myself too far up on the opponent, to the point that he can just summersault me over to the other side. On the bottom, trying to do some defending.... it's really hard to do anything, especially when Lamont puts his weight on me (and he's being relatively nice... I asked him to go easy on my ribs today). Sometimes I can catch a half-guard. I was informed today, though, that if I am going to do that, I need to follow it up because every time I catch a half-assed half guard and the guy gets out, he gets three points for "passing" my guard. I didn't really realize that, and feel stupid... someone could rack up a lot of points on me that way.
Cindy says that she's seeing me just freeze up- like a deer in headlights- in certain positions. Yeah, part of it is sometimes I don't know what to do, sometimes the weight on my ribs hurts so bad that I can't do anything but wheeze for breath, and sometimes I feel like any way I move is going to put me in an even worse position than the one I'm already. She wants me to move more... she says that moving and maybe getting reversed is better than freezing and CERTAINLY getting reversed.
When I front-mount, I need to make sure to draw my foot right up against the opponent. I sometimes have it too far out, and Lamont grabs half-guard.
We reviewed the pass and armbar that we'd done yesterday, substituting a slightly different armbar (same-side figure-4 grip instead of cross-grip).
Then a little pass-guard vs defend the guard. I know Lamont was going easy on me, but I still seemed to be a wreck. I was getting pretty frustrated. It was one of those days when I feel like I'm busting my butt really hard and just never getting any better. They both made a point of telling me that I am.... they are doing that a lot; I think they're trying to work on my miserable inferiority complex.... but it doesn't feel like I am.
So, kind of a discouraging-feeling session. I have to try to trust that Cindy and Lamont are right. I know (intellectually) that my defeatist attitude does me no favors and may well in fact be the most problematic aspect of my entire game. I started out MA excited and optimistic; transitioned to frustrated when lots of hard work did not translate to success because of physical limitations. You can stay at "frustrated" and get ulcers, and start having screaming tantrums in the grocery store line... or you can shift to "defeatist" which seems easier to live with than "frustrated" sometimes. I tend toward that "If you just work HARD enough, you will succeed" mindset- and it's very demoralizing when you really work as HARD AS YOU CAN and people still crush you effortlessly. With "defeatist", the pressure is off. But it is definitely a destructive spiral that feeds upon itself.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Oops-forgot to de-knife.
Tuesday morning no-gi at Cindy's. I got a speeding ticket on the way there. You'd think that with the methadone clinic right down the street and all the homeless crack addicts lurching and shuffling aimlessly up and down the sidewalks and the drunks passed out in the bushes on the medians, the cops would be able to find some *REAL* criminals to chase. But as Cindy reminded me, the Tully's coffee shop is right there too. And it's the truth- there are usually a phalanx of police cars sitting right there. They can probably operate the radar guns right from the booths along the westward windows of the coffeehouse while they lounge there eating their overpriced muffins.
We did a lot of rib-crushing today. Lots of positional flow drills after warm-up. Still awkward transitioning from north-south to scarf- getting the opponent's arm caught between our bodies. When I tried to scoot down and pry it out, Lamont turned on his side, bridged me off and grabbed half guard. So Cindy told me that if things were not right, I had the option of backtracking and going back to north-south. Then I can make sure I have the opponent's arms where I want them before I try to transition again.
I am cheating the hip-switches. I don't have my knee pointing up and my foot braced to drive pressure at my opponent, I tend to have the leg drop to the floor and try to move to the next position too hastily. We repped that a lot, till the muscles along my ribs were burning. It feels weird- feels like my backbone is twisted too much, and when I'm turned away from the opponent like that, it doesn't FEEL secure.... even though when we walked through demo's of the RIGHT way versus the WRONG way (otherwise known as MY way), I could see that it was. I just have to remind myself to clean up my technique in that area and practice it the RIGHT way until it feels more natural.
Hips still tend to be up a bit too high; also must remember to keep that shoulder dug into the opponent's neck at all times.
Lamont's not that heavy, but he has evil pressure even when he's being nice. Kitsune's poor ribs. Cindy doesn't want me to apologize to Lamont even whan I accidentally elbow him in the face.
We worked a basic guard pass- the one where you push down one knee and creep over the thigh. We started with one hand bracing on the opponent's solar plex and posturing up while you're in hir guard. I never feel good in this position. Some people (JB!!!!) immediately pull me down on their chest with their legs. Others grab my wrist and yank me forward- usually right into a triangle. In both of these scenarios, there is also usually the bonus of jamming my elbow and/or wrist painfully as they bull me into whatever position they want me. So I'm sitting there and already feeling vulnerable, and being directed to reach my free arm to my side to push the knee down. Well, yeah, IN THEORY you've got their knee pinned to the floor so that they can't triangle you, as well as bracing that other arm on their stomach so they can't sit up and do other unpleasant things. But in actual practice, with all of the stronger, bigger opponents, they are just going to forcibly put me into the triangle no matter what I do to try to prevent them. It took a lot of demo's for Cindy to convince me that it might be okay to put that arm on the knee. Apparently my biggest problem is that both kung fu and my early guard pass training at Gracie's have brainwashed me into always keeping my elbows pasted to my ribs. So when I go to press that knee down, my elbow is on the inside of the opponent's thigh and my arm is all huddled up against my own hip- right where the opponent wants it for the triangle. Whereas if I let my armpit air out a bit, unglue my elbow from my floating rib, and make sure my arm is on the outside of the opponent's leg- if they go for the triangle, I can thrust both my arms forward and the best they can get is me in their guard again, which is where we started out. Okay, this is going to take some MAJOR reconditioning to break myself of that automatic elbow-to-ribs habit, especially in guard. And I will have to constantly be on the lookout for that lighting triangle attempt- from either side- and be ready to instantly react without freezing up in confused dismay.
So, if you manage to pass the guard without making a hash of it, you next move to side control. Linger there long enough to get your points. Sit-out (watch that leg again!), front mount. Scoot up high under armpits. Grab the head and pull it up a bit, hugging it to your chest, to make it harder for the opponent to buck you off. Linger there long enough to get your points. Cross-hand bicep grip, stand up halfway and sit on opponent's shoulder, crossface, sit back and armbar. This part I can do okay (nice and tight, even) except the crossface- am not used to adding that little bit of unpleasantness. Had to keep riminding myself to not forget that.
Lamont's turn- ouchie on the ribs some more. He also seemed to enjoy getting his knee over my thigh for the guard pass, putting his weight down on it, and then pausing there for a long moment- for no discernable reason other than to prolong and savor the agony it was producing on my knee and thigh. I bore it for as many reps as I could, then had to start defending it a bit by grabbing at his knee, turning, trying to get my own knee in a little. So to counter THAT, Cindy showed him a series of complicated wrestler's cradles and other neck-and-leg knotty painful things to do to me.
By the time we were done, my ribs were too sore to spar. I took a couple of ibuprofin when I got home. Hope it kicks in soon. I don't want to skip tonight's class- even though on Tuesday evenings I have the dubious choice of 1)Bellevue and getting kicked around by Hostility Boy, or 2)Seattle and having to take the advanced class whether I feel up to it or not.
Later.....................
Bellevue it is. Ribs are tender but, not so much that I can't function. I didn't get Hostility Boy- I got a new female who- while she obviously is new to BJJ- I could tell just by the way she walked that she has trained SOMETHING seriously. I didn't catch her name; something foreign-soundingand multisyllabic that starts with an E or an I.
An upa variation. Then from side control- person A starts to mount, person B catches half guard and squirts out the side to go to their back.
Timed spars. Ron, Dave, the new girl. Focussing on just trying to hold those top positions, and stay the heck out of the triangles. Ron subbed me with another one of those chokes with the pants-grab and spine-bend... how I hate those! That's the only sub anybody got, though. Ron dominated me, but I did a little better with Dave. I felt like I should have owned the new girl, but she was strong- and although she had very little BJJ technique, she obviously knew her way around a spar. I was in bottom half guard for an embarrassing length of time, but I did finally get the mount and armbar that we did at Cindy's this morning. I forgot to grab her head or to crossface, but I felt like I was in control at those points and not in danger, so I guess they were not needed. While I was in high mount, the woman was straight-arming my chest. As soon as I started getting grips, she knew enough to try to squirm, so I had to make a couple of tries- but I did get the tap. (She trains karate, BTW... I asked her after class.)
I did not participate- but stayed to watch- the advanced class.
As I was getting ready to leave, I went to re-knife, and my folding knives were not in my boots where I usually tuck them while I'm on the mat. I thought, I must have stuck them somewhere else, or maybe even left them in the car- although I almost never do that. When I got home, I found them- in the waistband of the bike shorts I was wearing under my gi pants. I had forgotten to de-knife before class. I did an entire BJJ class with two folding knives clipped to my waistband. Can't believe I didn't notice that... I guess I'm so used to having the things poking me in the hipbones all the time that it just didn't register. I had to open them up and clean them well, as they were all sweaty!
We did a lot of rib-crushing today. Lots of positional flow drills after warm-up. Still awkward transitioning from north-south to scarf- getting the opponent's arm caught between our bodies. When I tried to scoot down and pry it out, Lamont turned on his side, bridged me off and grabbed half guard. So Cindy told me that if things were not right, I had the option of backtracking and going back to north-south. Then I can make sure I have the opponent's arms where I want them before I try to transition again.
I am cheating the hip-switches. I don't have my knee pointing up and my foot braced to drive pressure at my opponent, I tend to have the leg drop to the floor and try to move to the next position too hastily. We repped that a lot, till the muscles along my ribs were burning. It feels weird- feels like my backbone is twisted too much, and when I'm turned away from the opponent like that, it doesn't FEEL secure.... even though when we walked through demo's of the RIGHT way versus the WRONG way (otherwise known as MY way), I could see that it was. I just have to remind myself to clean up my technique in that area and practice it the RIGHT way until it feels more natural.
Hips still tend to be up a bit too high; also must remember to keep that shoulder dug into the opponent's neck at all times.
Lamont's not that heavy, but he has evil pressure even when he's being nice. Kitsune's poor ribs. Cindy doesn't want me to apologize to Lamont even whan I accidentally elbow him in the face.
We worked a basic guard pass- the one where you push down one knee and creep over the thigh. We started with one hand bracing on the opponent's solar plex and posturing up while you're in hir guard. I never feel good in this position. Some people (JB!!!!) immediately pull me down on their chest with their legs. Others grab my wrist and yank me forward- usually right into a triangle. In both of these scenarios, there is also usually the bonus of jamming my elbow and/or wrist painfully as they bull me into whatever position they want me. So I'm sitting there and already feeling vulnerable, and being directed to reach my free arm to my side to push the knee down. Well, yeah, IN THEORY you've got their knee pinned to the floor so that they can't triangle you, as well as bracing that other arm on their stomach so they can't sit up and do other unpleasant things. But in actual practice, with all of the stronger, bigger opponents, they are just going to forcibly put me into the triangle no matter what I do to try to prevent them. It took a lot of demo's for Cindy to convince me that it might be okay to put that arm on the knee. Apparently my biggest problem is that both kung fu and my early guard pass training at Gracie's have brainwashed me into always keeping my elbows pasted to my ribs. So when I go to press that knee down, my elbow is on the inside of the opponent's thigh and my arm is all huddled up against my own hip- right where the opponent wants it for the triangle. Whereas if I let my armpit air out a bit, unglue my elbow from my floating rib, and make sure my arm is on the outside of the opponent's leg- if they go for the triangle, I can thrust both my arms forward and the best they can get is me in their guard again, which is where we started out. Okay, this is going to take some MAJOR reconditioning to break myself of that automatic elbow-to-ribs habit, especially in guard. And I will have to constantly be on the lookout for that lighting triangle attempt- from either side- and be ready to instantly react without freezing up in confused dismay.
So, if you manage to pass the guard without making a hash of it, you next move to side control. Linger there long enough to get your points. Sit-out (watch that leg again!), front mount. Scoot up high under armpits. Grab the head and pull it up a bit, hugging it to your chest, to make it harder for the opponent to buck you off. Linger there long enough to get your points. Cross-hand bicep grip, stand up halfway and sit on opponent's shoulder, crossface, sit back and armbar. This part I can do okay (nice and tight, even) except the crossface- am not used to adding that little bit of unpleasantness. Had to keep riminding myself to not forget that.
Lamont's turn- ouchie on the ribs some more. He also seemed to enjoy getting his knee over my thigh for the guard pass, putting his weight down on it, and then pausing there for a long moment- for no discernable reason other than to prolong and savor the agony it was producing on my knee and thigh. I bore it for as many reps as I could, then had to start defending it a bit by grabbing at his knee, turning, trying to get my own knee in a little. So to counter THAT, Cindy showed him a series of complicated wrestler's cradles and other neck-and-leg knotty painful things to do to me.
By the time we were done, my ribs were too sore to spar. I took a couple of ibuprofin when I got home. Hope it kicks in soon. I don't want to skip tonight's class- even though on Tuesday evenings I have the dubious choice of 1)Bellevue and getting kicked around by Hostility Boy, or 2)Seattle and having to take the advanced class whether I feel up to it or not.
Later.....................
Bellevue it is. Ribs are tender but, not so much that I can't function. I didn't get Hostility Boy- I got a new female who- while she obviously is new to BJJ- I could tell just by the way she walked that she has trained SOMETHING seriously. I didn't catch her name; something foreign-soundingand multisyllabic that starts with an E or an I.
An upa variation. Then from side control- person A starts to mount, person B catches half guard and squirts out the side to go to their back.
Timed spars. Ron, Dave, the new girl. Focussing on just trying to hold those top positions, and stay the heck out of the triangles. Ron subbed me with another one of those chokes with the pants-grab and spine-bend... how I hate those! That's the only sub anybody got, though. Ron dominated me, but I did a little better with Dave. I felt like I should have owned the new girl, but she was strong- and although she had very little BJJ technique, she obviously knew her way around a spar. I was in bottom half guard for an embarrassing length of time, but I did finally get the mount and armbar that we did at Cindy's this morning. I forgot to grab her head or to crossface, but I felt like I was in control at those points and not in danger, so I guess they were not needed. While I was in high mount, the woman was straight-arming my chest. As soon as I started getting grips, she knew enough to try to squirm, so I had to make a couple of tries- but I did get the tap. (She trains karate, BTW... I asked her after class.)
I did not participate- but stayed to watch- the advanced class.
As I was getting ready to leave, I went to re-knife, and my folding knives were not in my boots where I usually tuck them while I'm on the mat. I thought, I must have stuck them somewhere else, or maybe even left them in the car- although I almost never do that. When I got home, I found them- in the waistband of the bike shorts I was wearing under my gi pants. I had forgotten to de-knife before class. I did an entire BJJ class with two folding knives clipped to my waistband. Can't believe I didn't notice that... I guess I'm so used to having the things poking me in the hipbones all the time that it just didn't register. I had to open them up and clean them well, as they were all sweaty!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Scheduling tag- you're it!
"Women's self defense" at Gracie Barra. Lindsey said, "Those girls won't be in today... they all went to a big Halloween party last night and now they're hung over." Heh. Well, works for me! So I got 30 min of rolling with Lindsey followed by 30 min of rolling with black belt Shawn. Definitely worth coming in for!
Lindsey wants to me tie my belt correctly. I just tie it in a square knot because I'm lousy with knots and too impatient to bother with learning to tie it correctly, much less taking the time to do so every single time. So I got the Belt Tying 101 lesson, which will probably have to be reviewed a few times before I memorize it.
Not sure if I can regurgitate much of the feedback frm th rolls.... I hope I internalized it.... it's hard when I have two classes back to back and can't go home to write up the lessons immediately.
I do recall that Shawn wants me to make sure to not let him wrap his near-side arm around my neck when I'm in bottom half guard. Lindsey wants me to make sure to put hooks in immediately if he leaves the space gaping in his turtle. He also wants me to sprawl back when I'm trying to do a standing guard pass and he grabs for both of my heels. He dumped me on my kiester three times with that move today. I wonder if anything else in BJJ makes you look half as moronic as getting nailed with that particular move.
Shawn also showed me two escapes from heel hook, which I've wanted to add to my repertoire.
I tried the Quadruple-threat sequence on Shawn. It took me many attempts before I could get his arm properly trapped and even think about going for the choke. He didn't tap to that, so I did the roll, but then he defended me capturing his leg(s)- so I couldn't finish. The next time I tried it, I apparently didn't do the roll quickly and decisively enough. He stopped us midway with me on the bottom, and started putting a ton of pressure on my chest.
Lindsey said that I seem improved even over last weekend.
I started getting really tired near the end of the hour, which was disconcerting- but I guess it's not unreasonable after an hour of fighting a black belt and a two-stripe brown.
Straight to kung fu (Kaungren was kind enough to let me cut the shower line in front of him so that I could get to my next class on time and not tap everybody out with my BO).
Leopard Fist. Don't cheat the right-to-left face-level block before the bong sau.
Snake Versus Five Animals. Snake portion: after the three Snake strikes, make sure to turn the right toe outward and defend the kick to the groin before dropping to the knee. 5 Animals portion- the first punch is straight from the center. For some reason I always want to throw a looping haymaker from the shoulder, and SK has got to be getting tired of making this same correction on me week after week. Also- make sure to slide the foot deep in between the opponent's feet before the elbow strike to the midsection- otherwise the takedown won't work right.
A few runthroughs with partners. Nemesis. I got to the shoulder-lock part, went for it, and he just stood there looking at me hanging off his arm. Just like every single other time I've tried this move on him- hundreds by now. It really makes me want to have a full-on, screaming, foot-stomping temper tantrum. I settled for disengaging to pace back and forth a few times while rubbing my hands over my face and gritting, "This is really frustrating." SK told me to just try it- and if it doesn't work, just Snake-strike Nemesis in the armpit and move on with the remainder of the form.
Do-si-do and change partners. JM. I am trying to remember to not elbow her so hard in the belly when I do this form with her, because she grunts painfully, but she is not good about letting me know when she needs me to go lighter. I did the shoulder lock on her and thrust her into a forceful faceplant on the mat. She said, "That seems to be working fine." Argh.
Kiu Two review. I was standing behind JM while we were running through the sections, and she is doing the first bong sau on the opposite side as me. Assuming she is right and I am wrong, I switch. Doesn't make sense. Switch back. Almost ask for clarification, but figure that when we do the form with partners, it will become obvious which is right. But we didn't get to that, so I'll have to try to confirm that next week.
Part B, double circling horizontal Snake strikes to midsection- it's a deep lunge, do NOT* go down on the knee as in Snake vs Five.
An additional little piece of part B only. The last two Snake strikes: right (high), left (lower). After there, your right arm does a parrying circular movement back near the shoulder. This turns into another Snake strike (high) followed by yet another (left, low). This last one turns into a understated bong sau, just enough to divert Snake A's final midsection strike.
That's all the new stuff we got today, because this last section is a veritable flurry of fast Snake strikes here and there which all have to be coordinated, parried and countered correctly on both sides; it is quite complex. I worked on it with JoE till I thought my brain was going to start bleeding.
Remember how I keep saying what a PITA it is to try to schedule a lesson with CC? Do you think I exaggerate? For your amusement: the following is an untouched transcript of the last two weeks' worth of trying to schedule a lesson. And we *STILL* haven't managed it, so this could keep going for a while longer yet. The following is not unusual- this is how it is almost every time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kitsune
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 10:46 AM
To: 'CC
Subject: Next lesson
I have Sunday free until 4:30.
Saturday is more full, but I should be free by 8pm if that's not too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 7:05 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Sorry…this kept bouncing…hopefully you get it this time
From: CC
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 8:58 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
I have birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday so they might not be so good. How does your week look?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 4:09 PM
To: 'CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Tuesday evening?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:29 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Hi Kitsune…this is going to be a challenging week. How does Thursday look for you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:18 AM
To: 'CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Thursday is not good. Saturday? I should have 3pm-ish to 5 free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 8:48 PM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Saturday is pretty booked…what about Sunday around 4 or 5?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 3:28 PM
To: CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Sunday is booked from 6:15 am till 10:30pm!
How about *next* Sunday- the 31st. I have a class starting at 5pm, so anytime before then works.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 11:03 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
How does 4 work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll notice that he mailed this last missive a scant three hours before I would have needed to leave the house to make *that* date.... I didn't get the e-mail till 4.
So yeah...... all that and we *STILL* haven't scheduled the next lesson. I am not making this up, folks.
Lindsey wants to me tie my belt correctly. I just tie it in a square knot because I'm lousy with knots and too impatient to bother with learning to tie it correctly, much less taking the time to do so every single time. So I got the Belt Tying 101 lesson, which will probably have to be reviewed a few times before I memorize it.
Not sure if I can regurgitate much of the feedback frm th rolls.... I hope I internalized it.... it's hard when I have two classes back to back and can't go home to write up the lessons immediately.
I do recall that Shawn wants me to make sure to not let him wrap his near-side arm around my neck when I'm in bottom half guard. Lindsey wants me to make sure to put hooks in immediately if he leaves the space gaping in his turtle. He also wants me to sprawl back when I'm trying to do a standing guard pass and he grabs for both of my heels. He dumped me on my kiester three times with that move today. I wonder if anything else in BJJ makes you look half as moronic as getting nailed with that particular move.
Shawn also showed me two escapes from heel hook, which I've wanted to add to my repertoire.
I tried the Quadruple-threat sequence on Shawn. It took me many attempts before I could get his arm properly trapped and even think about going for the choke. He didn't tap to that, so I did the roll, but then he defended me capturing his leg(s)- so I couldn't finish. The next time I tried it, I apparently didn't do the roll quickly and decisively enough. He stopped us midway with me on the bottom, and started putting a ton of pressure on my chest.
Lindsey said that I seem improved even over last weekend.
I started getting really tired near the end of the hour, which was disconcerting- but I guess it's not unreasonable after an hour of fighting a black belt and a two-stripe brown.
Straight to kung fu (Kaungren was kind enough to let me cut the shower line in front of him so that I could get to my next class on time and not tap everybody out with my BO).
Leopard Fist. Don't cheat the right-to-left face-level block before the bong sau.
Snake Versus Five Animals. Snake portion: after the three Snake strikes, make sure to turn the right toe outward and defend the kick to the groin before dropping to the knee. 5 Animals portion- the first punch is straight from the center. For some reason I always want to throw a looping haymaker from the shoulder, and SK has got to be getting tired of making this same correction on me week after week. Also- make sure to slide the foot deep in between the opponent's feet before the elbow strike to the midsection- otherwise the takedown won't work right.
A few runthroughs with partners. Nemesis. I got to the shoulder-lock part, went for it, and he just stood there looking at me hanging off his arm. Just like every single other time I've tried this move on him- hundreds by now. It really makes me want to have a full-on, screaming, foot-stomping temper tantrum. I settled for disengaging to pace back and forth a few times while rubbing my hands over my face and gritting, "This is really frustrating." SK told me to just try it- and if it doesn't work, just Snake-strike Nemesis in the armpit and move on with the remainder of the form.
Do-si-do and change partners. JM. I am trying to remember to not elbow her so hard in the belly when I do this form with her, because she grunts painfully, but she is not good about letting me know when she needs me to go lighter. I did the shoulder lock on her and thrust her into a forceful faceplant on the mat. She said, "That seems to be working fine." Argh.
Kiu Two review. I was standing behind JM while we were running through the sections, and she is doing the first bong sau on the opposite side as me. Assuming she is right and I am wrong, I switch. Doesn't make sense. Switch back. Almost ask for clarification, but figure that when we do the form with partners, it will become obvious which is right. But we didn't get to that, so I'll have to try to confirm that next week.
Part B, double circling horizontal Snake strikes to midsection- it's a deep lunge, do NOT* go down on the knee as in Snake vs Five.
An additional little piece of part B only. The last two Snake strikes: right (high), left (lower). After there, your right arm does a parrying circular movement back near the shoulder. This turns into another Snake strike (high) followed by yet another (left, low). This last one turns into a understated bong sau, just enough to divert Snake A's final midsection strike.
That's all the new stuff we got today, because this last section is a veritable flurry of fast Snake strikes here and there which all have to be coordinated, parried and countered correctly on both sides; it is quite complex. I worked on it with JoE till I thought my brain was going to start bleeding.
Remember how I keep saying what a PITA it is to try to schedule a lesson with CC? Do you think I exaggerate? For your amusement: the following is an untouched transcript of the last two weeks' worth of trying to schedule a lesson. And we *STILL* haven't managed it, so this could keep going for a while longer yet. The following is not unusual- this is how it is almost every time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kitsune
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 10:46 AM
To: 'CC
Subject: Next lesson
I have Sunday free until 4:30.
Saturday is more full, but I should be free by 8pm if that's not too late.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 7:05 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Sorry…this kept bouncing…hopefully you get it this time
From: CC
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 8:58 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
I have birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday so they might not be so good. How does your week look?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 4:09 PM
To: 'CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Tuesday evening?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:29 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Hi Kitsune…this is going to be a challenging week. How does Thursday look for you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:18 AM
To: 'CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Thursday is not good. Saturday? I should have 3pm-ish to 5 free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 8:48 PM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Saturday is pretty booked…what about Sunday around 4 or 5?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: Kitsune
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 3:28 PM
To: CC
Subject: RE: Next lesson
Sunday is booked from 6:15 am till 10:30pm!
How about *next* Sunday- the 31st. I have a class starting at 5pm, so anytime before then works.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: CC
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 11:03 AM
To: 'Kitsune
Subject: RE: Next lesson
How does 4 work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You'll notice that he mailed this last missive a scant three hours before I would have needed to leave the house to make *that* date.... I didn't get the e-mail till 4.
So yeah...... all that and we *STILL* haven't scheduled the next lesson. I am not making this up, folks.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Jonesing for sugar tonight.........
Whose lame idea was it to schedule a tournament two weeks after the most candy-centric day of the year??!!
For a month now, one couldn't walk into a Safeway to pick up one's chicken breasts, eggs, 100-calorie bags of unbuttered popcorn, and carrots without running a cruel gauntlet of bulging shelvesfull of candy. In two days, it will be bulging shelvesfull of HALF-OFF candy. Worse- cheerful colleagues who bring orange-frosted cupcakes with little black bat sprinkles on top, packages of grinning pumpkin-shaped cookies, and bowls of mini Milky-Way bars to work. Even if I can grip my willpower in both hands and negotiate the grocery store safely, my willpower does *not* last eight and a half hours' worth- especially with the boss breathing down my neck.
So of course the day of the hyperglycemic Tootsie-pop orgy is also the last day to register for the tournament before the price hikes up. Once registered, you are committed to a weight.
-------------------------
Your registration has been received and will be reviewed shortly.
Please check the website Tuesday, Nov. 9th to verify all your registration information is correct. All changes must be submitted by midnight Wednesday, Nov 10th.
If you chose the email option of being updated via e-mail the weigh in schedule will be e-mailed to you Friday, Nov 12th. The information will also be posted on our website www.leapllc.com.
Thank you for Supporting The Revolution.
Women's Divisions
Gi ($40)
No-Gi ($40)
X Both ($60)
Women's Gi Registration
* Women's Gi Weight Class (pick one)
118 & under
118.1 - 129
X 129.1 - 141
141.1 - 152
152.1 - 163
163.1 & above
* Belt Level (Gi Competitors)
White
X Blue
Purple
Brown
Black
Weight is with Gi. Weight classes may be combined to accommodate competitors
* Would you be interested in fighting up a weight class if there is no match for you at your skill level?
**This does NOT mean if you weigh over your registered division you will be able to compete. This is for you being the only registered competitor in your division and getting the choice of REFUND or competing against the next highest weight division.**
X Yes
No
Women's No-Gi Registration
* Women's No-Gi Weight Class (pick one)
113.5 & under
113.6 ~ 124.5
X 124.6 ~ 135.5
135.6 ~ 147
147.1 ~ 158
158.1 & above
* Experience Level (No-Gi Competitors)
Beginner (0 - 12 months)
X Intermediate (13 - 36 months)
Advanced (37 months & longer)
Elite
weight is without Gi but with public appropriate attire. ie, spandex shorts are OK, underwear is not.
weight classes may be combined to accommodate competitors
* Would you be interested in fighting up a weight class if there is no match for you at your skill level?
**This does NOT mean if you weigh over your registered division you will be able to compete. This is for you being the only registered competitor in your division and getting the choice of REFUND or competing against the next highest weight division.**
X Yes
No
Friday, October 29, 2010
Now *I* am a Nemesis.
Friday morning BJJ at GB Seattle. "Competition training"- ie, timed matches only. I was running a little late and missed half the warmup.
Ruben, Glenn, Nic, Marc, JM (not kung fu JM- this is a BJJ guy who goes by "JM"... I'll have to call him "BJJJM?")
Today I focussed on 1)trying to close up all the space between me and my partner, especially as regards the upper body area, and 2)holding top positions for at least long enough to get my points, if not longer. The guys would still crossface me out, or curl up and thus shove me away, or bench-press me, or upa really hard, or otherwise pry me off. But I tried- and I stayed in top side control and (to a lesser degree) top mount a bit.
I don't know how easy they were going on me, but Glenn is the only one who tapped me today- and he said, "I had to go all the way to plan H". Plan H apparently is one of those back chokes with the grabbing of the pantleg- I had to tap to the spine crank, not the choke. (I didn't tap anybody- if I even need to confirm that)
Marc called me his "nemesis"- LOL. I'll take that as a compliment!
Nic does a lot of pantleg-grabbing. I asked him what the heck he does in no-gi when he can't grab pantlegs. He said, "I grab their leg hair."
BJJJM, Ruben and Glenn all told me that I'm getting better. In fact Glenn came over again later to tell me a second time. BJJJM asked me what I weigh, and then was all like, "No way" when I told him. Wow. That's really nice of them. They are being supportive.
Carlos stopped to chew us all out- and me in particular for some reason- for talking and laughing on the mat and supposedly not being serious and working hard enough, with a tournament coming up. Now that is not fair. I am *not* one of those annoying giggly girls who isn't there to work. I work hard, I do not goof around, I'm very respectful on the mat. Yeah, my partner and I do laugh occasionally when something amusing happens during the roll, because we like BJJ and we are having FUN, so sue me. We talked a little- but only about the spar, injuries, and such perfectly valid BJJ-related topics. Pat was yapping away like a Yorkie on speed- pausing every few minutes to admonish his partner to shut up so they wouldn't get in trouble. But because my voice is higher-pitched and Carlos can ID my laugh even with his head turned away, I am the one singled out to get reamed in front of everybody. Again- I would be really upset about this, if not for the fact that Carlos seems to be up *everybody's* butt lately about every little thing. Maybe he was irritated at me for coming in late. I have gotten a little sloppy about that lately. Must get out of the house 10 min sooner. Wish I hadn't signed that sheet about the tournament, though. I feel like he might not be riding me quite so hard otherwise.... and I'm not sure this is useful for me. I'm way too thin-skinned about being reprimanded.
I didn't take any breaks during the timed matches, which was good, since that's all I got. I hung around for a while after open mat was called, but everyone who wasn't finished was already paired up and I didn't get any more rolls. Brian came over to tease me about giggling on the mat, though. So I teased him about his cauliflower ears.
Ruben, Glenn, Nic, Marc, JM (not kung fu JM- this is a BJJ guy who goes by "JM"... I'll have to call him "BJJJM?")
Today I focussed on 1)trying to close up all the space between me and my partner, especially as regards the upper body area, and 2)holding top positions for at least long enough to get my points, if not longer. The guys would still crossface me out, or curl up and thus shove me away, or bench-press me, or upa really hard, or otherwise pry me off. But I tried- and I stayed in top side control and (to a lesser degree) top mount a bit.
I don't know how easy they were going on me, but Glenn is the only one who tapped me today- and he said, "I had to go all the way to plan H". Plan H apparently is one of those back chokes with the grabbing of the pantleg- I had to tap to the spine crank, not the choke. (I didn't tap anybody- if I even need to confirm that)
Marc called me his "nemesis"- LOL. I'll take that as a compliment!
Nic does a lot of pantleg-grabbing. I asked him what the heck he does in no-gi when he can't grab pantlegs. He said, "I grab their leg hair."
BJJJM, Ruben and Glenn all told me that I'm getting better. In fact Glenn came over again later to tell me a second time. BJJJM asked me what I weigh, and then was all like, "No way" when I told him. Wow. That's really nice of them. They are being supportive.
Carlos stopped to chew us all out- and me in particular for some reason- for talking and laughing on the mat and supposedly not being serious and working hard enough, with a tournament coming up. Now that is not fair. I am *not* one of those annoying giggly girls who isn't there to work. I work hard, I do not goof around, I'm very respectful on the mat. Yeah, my partner and I do laugh occasionally when something amusing happens during the roll, because we like BJJ and we are having FUN, so sue me. We talked a little- but only about the spar, injuries, and such perfectly valid BJJ-related topics. Pat was yapping away like a Yorkie on speed- pausing every few minutes to admonish his partner to shut up so they wouldn't get in trouble. But because my voice is higher-pitched and Carlos can ID my laugh even with his head turned away, I am the one singled out to get reamed in front of everybody. Again- I would be really upset about this, if not for the fact that Carlos seems to be up *everybody's* butt lately about every little thing. Maybe he was irritated at me for coming in late. I have gotten a little sloppy about that lately. Must get out of the house 10 min sooner. Wish I hadn't signed that sheet about the tournament, though. I feel like he might not be riding me quite so hard otherwise.... and I'm not sure this is useful for me. I'm way too thin-skinned about being reprimanded.
I didn't take any breaks during the timed matches, which was good, since that's all I got. I hung around for a while after open mat was called, but everyone who wasn't finished was already paired up and I didn't get any more rolls. Brian came over to tease me about giggling on the mat, though. So I teased him about his cauliflower ears.
The Quadruple Threat Technique
I mailordered three different types of ear guards on Tuesday. I couldn't find the exact ones that Alicia had, but I found a few that looked good- and it's a crapshoot; you can't really tell about that sort of thing until you actually try them out on the mat. Now I'll have a few options to switch around- assuming they all fit. I also ordered the Cliff Keen "hair slicker". It may not work with all the different earguards, but it should work with at least the set I already have and one of the new ones (both Cliff Keen). I keep having dreams in which I have hair again. I want hair again.
One of the new earguards arrived today. No review yet- I'm still trying to figure out how to manipulate the strap spaghetti to make them fit correctly. This pair, I found quickly, NEEDS to fit correctly and stay put or else it rubs RIGHT against my current hematoma, which is the last thing I need.
I took an online ADD quiz, and scored in the highest bracket- "Severe ADD likely". Amusing. I have long thought that it's likely I have a mild ADD, although I'm surprised that it think's I'm "severe". I wonder if that could explain some of my difficulties with learning MA. It would be interesting to do a controlled experiment and see what effect an Adderall had on me.... not that I'd ever do such a thing..... but if I were to hypothetically do that, I'll stay home all day and try 1) some really dry coagulation-pathway continuing ed, 2)some formwork, several other specific things that I sometimes have difficulty focussing on.... and report the hypothetical results in my training blog. Stay tuned.
Thursday morning BJJ at Cindy's. I haven't been to Gracie's all week, and I feel guilty about it- but I usually get more individual attention over at Cindy's. I'm really glad I decided to go over there this morning, because it was just me and Lamont, and we spent pretty much the entire class period working on my personal challenges.
Started with a little light rolling with Cindy- she was on her back and I was dancing around her. She wanted me to control her legs and then lunge over them for mount the way we'd done earlier in the week. I was scared to try it because I figured she'd get her knee(s) in there really quick and I'd impale my groin on them. So we worked on that for a while. One option to try: PUSH the legs until the opponent pushes back, then slam the feet to the floor and lunge over. Also: I am still not being MEAN enough. I am too high up on my toes (and then on my knees), and just staying too high up in the air in general- because I don't want to come down on the opponent's stomach/ribs with my weight. Another thing- once past those trecherous knees, don't be too eager/quick to scoot up to high mount- stay low, curl the back in, weight down, grapevine the legs, wait till you get your points.
After that, we worked on sprawling. I am too slow, don't get my feet back fast enough, don't get my butt low enough, don't sink my weight enough, I flare my elbows, and I raise my arms too high like I'm trying to float over top of the opponent and go for his hips or something. Need to keep the elbows down and in, flop down decisively on the base of the opponent's neck, get the feet back (Cindy wants me to THROW them back; we practiced it a lot and I wasn't doing too well with that.... maybe I need some drills on a stationary object to get the correct motions down), hips all the down to the floor, sink the weight through the stomach, stop scrabbling frantically for crappy grips. I need to work on this a lot more, but I would REALLY like to get very good at this. No one would be able to pull guard on me. That would make me happy. At first I was afraid that they'd just go over the top if I stalked them in that low stance, but Cindy says that if they do, just shoot in for their legs. This is another place where I need to just slow down and be patient. I am also supposed to just back off and disengage if things are not going my way. That's going to be hard. I am hard-wired to charge in aggressively and grab the opponent. I do not like to dance around for long periods.
We spent the majority of the class on the technique that stands out in my mind as the most brutal and painful thing I have ever experienced in BJJ (in fact, in any MA, I think). It is also the technique that gave me my first cauli ear. Cindy noticed that I am grabbing a lot of half-assed guillotine attempts and then many times not being able to finish them for one reason or another- so she wants me to substitute this lovely thing.
Have a back-of-the-head grap and an overhand bicep grip. Snap the head down ("comb over" the top of the head). Sprawl (HARD... see previous paragraph full of improvement points). Have opponent's neck and *one* of the opponent's arms in your hug. Shoulder pressure right in the little cup-like area at the base of the neck. After doing this about a zillion times on Lamont, I could really feel it as soon as it socketed into the right spot- although I tended to want to let my shoulder drift further down his back (and my weight drifted down there too... much less effective.). Don't be afraid to turn the body. GABLE GRIP- do not get lazy with the grip (this tripped me up multiple times again, especially once I started to get tired). Scissor the elbows together very firmly and put the opponent's bicep on the mat trapped underneath him (you may need to pull him forward some... just don't let up the pressure). If you do this right, then there is no need to be in a frantic hurry at this point.
Now: Keep the pressure on, but stick your butt up in the air and move to the side so that you can stick your head in the little hole between his trapped arm and his thigh. Again, you can pull him forward a titch if the hole isn't big enough, but DON'T LIFT HIM UPWARD! Forward, not upward. Keep the pressure on. Then walk on your toes toward his feet. I know from having this done to me that it is a combination choke/neck crank/pressure-point ouchie... and the opponent tiptoes far enough back, it starts to crank on your spine in a direction that the spine does not bend, as well. It is just Quadruple Unpleasantness.
But the fun doesn't end here. If your opponent won't tap out to Quadruple Pain, you can logroll (do this quickly and decisively). As soon as you come out of the roll, make sure the opponent's head is on the bottom of the resultant configuration and does not pop up. Immediately run your feet toward him, grab half guard. Again, a spot where you can pause and catch your breath while you enjoy the scenery. Now punch your lower arm through, use your other hand to grab your bicep, "talk on your phone" as Cindy likes to say. If that doesn't do it, you can take a deep breath, squeeze your arm muscles and flex your hips. This HURTS. It hurts VERY BADLY. But one thing I like about it is that theoretically, you have enough control over the opponent that you can put the cranky parts on as slow as you want. I'm okay with doing this as long as I can do it very slow and controlled. I know from experience that it's hard to tap from this position since everything is trapped... and you can't verbally tap, either, since you're choking and all the breath is being squeezed out of your body.
I had to do this sequence over and over and over until I was practically staggering with exhaustion. Poor Lamont. I told him that I definitely owe him dinner or something for this. But this is what I really, really need- reps to the infinite power, until I 1)don't need to try to mentally remember it, and 2)feel confident that I can make it work.
At one point Lamont exclaimed to Cindy, "It's working! She's getting more aggressive! She just chinstrapped me- I thought for a second that I was grappling with *YOU*!" Wow, that's like the most incredible compliment... it probably would have been better if it related to something I'd done on purpose. I had to ask what "chinstrapping" meant.
I hope this doesn't feel 100% different on a different person (since I mostly did it on Lamont). Sometimes I feel like I have to relearn the technique on each different body type.
Step by step.... don't get rushed, don't get sloppy, if you mess it up, backtrack a few steps and start again.
It was a lot of good, hard, focussed work today. I am so exhausted. And I still have kung fu tonight.
Later...................
Kung Fu Basics class. After hand strike drills, we spent most of the class listening to SK's "pressure points 101" lecture.
There was some discussion of elemental association of pressure points and the order in which you strike them... that intrigues me; and I picked SK's brain some more about that on the way home. Some Bagua styles apparently use some extra elements ("mountain", "thunder", "wind"), and I'm curious as to how these relate to the Chinese elements (earth, fire, wood, water, metal) and also to the basic four elements used in many earth-based religions (earth, air, fire and water). I have also run into a Native American tradition that added an element known as "bone". I asked SK to see if he could dig up any more information about the topics we talked about; there may be some helpful puzzle pieces in there for me.
After SK described a (possibly mythical) technique that theoretically stops the heart, I intoned, "Can I have a volunteer?" (told him that next time he gives this lecture, with new students present, he has to add that at that point... provided he can do it with a straight face.)
He demo'ed a particular pressure point on Nemesis, which wasn't working too well (NOTHING works on Nemesis.... that's why he's Nemesis... he'd make the perfect Supervillian). I pointed to JM and said, "Try it on a normal person," But apparently JM is not "normal" either, as her body overreacts violently to everything.... so he doesn't like to use her for pressure point demo's. That left me as the only arguably "normal" demo dummy... so I got prodded repeatedly till I jumped and yipped.
Pressure point discussion took almost the whole class time, then we had individual forms time for 20 min or so.
I ran through Hurricane Hands a couple of times, doing extra reps of the four areas that we targeted last time for "improvement points". That gnarly throw in particular, seemed to be flowing better (SK agreed), although it still needs plenty more work. We worked on the trajectory of the Snake-strike-and-press-block sequence (press straight down, wrist bent, but strike moving forward, not up). The three-level double-strike section near the end is from a high lunge, NOT horse... need to remember that. The two kicks that we worked on last time- still not doing them quite right. The first one is with the BALL OF THE FOOT, toes pointing right. Second kick is with the outside blade of the foot, toes also pointing right.
We spent the most time working on the quality of the Snake strikes themselves- in a general sense. Before SK came out to help me, I was trying the strike-and-press-block sequence using the same reboundy energy that we had been doing with some of the strikes in Kiu Two on Sunday, against the pads. It's a lot harder to do reboundy strikes in the air with nothing to bounce off of. I was trying it against the rim of the trash can in the hallway.
SK told me that I was stopping my Snake strike too soon by flexing my bicep muscle, and I need to 1)extend my arm further, 2)let the end of the strike rebound back by itself instead of stopping it with my arm muscles. This is changing the way I have always done Snake strikes. It feels weird to extend that far, and the hand position is all fubar'ed now that my focus is on rebounding and keeping that muscle relaxed. The hand spasms at the endpoint of the strike like a Northern Mantis claw on acid. (That's okay, he says- the hand position can be refined later, the energy of the strike is more important.) I finally had to visualize it as "My hand is not attached to my wrist- and I am going to throw my arm forward and "shoot" my detachable hand across the hallway so that it splats against the opposite wall. My focus being on the trajectory of the severed hand, and I need to not think about what the arm is doing." I know that sounds weird, but I'm all about the visualizations- and when I used that one, SK approved my technique. Now I am going to have to practice this and adopt this into all my Snake stuff. It appears that being able to do the strikes this way is a "level up" in the practice of Snake style. I am leveling up. Shiny!
One of the new earguards arrived today. No review yet- I'm still trying to figure out how to manipulate the strap spaghetti to make them fit correctly. This pair, I found quickly, NEEDS to fit correctly and stay put or else it rubs RIGHT against my current hematoma, which is the last thing I need.
I took an online ADD quiz, and scored in the highest bracket- "Severe ADD likely". Amusing. I have long thought that it's likely I have a mild ADD, although I'm surprised that it think's I'm "severe". I wonder if that could explain some of my difficulties with learning MA. It would be interesting to do a controlled experiment and see what effect an Adderall had on me.... not that I'd ever do such a thing..... but if I were to hypothetically do that, I'll stay home all day and try 1) some really dry coagulation-pathway continuing ed, 2)some formwork, several other specific things that I sometimes have difficulty focussing on.... and report the hypothetical results in my training blog. Stay tuned.
Thursday morning BJJ at Cindy's. I haven't been to Gracie's all week, and I feel guilty about it- but I usually get more individual attention over at Cindy's. I'm really glad I decided to go over there this morning, because it was just me and Lamont, and we spent pretty much the entire class period working on my personal challenges.
Started with a little light rolling with Cindy- she was on her back and I was dancing around her. She wanted me to control her legs and then lunge over them for mount the way we'd done earlier in the week. I was scared to try it because I figured she'd get her knee(s) in there really quick and I'd impale my groin on them. So we worked on that for a while. One option to try: PUSH the legs until the opponent pushes back, then slam the feet to the floor and lunge over. Also: I am still not being MEAN enough. I am too high up on my toes (and then on my knees), and just staying too high up in the air in general- because I don't want to come down on the opponent's stomach/ribs with my weight. Another thing- once past those trecherous knees, don't be too eager/quick to scoot up to high mount- stay low, curl the back in, weight down, grapevine the legs, wait till you get your points.
After that, we worked on sprawling. I am too slow, don't get my feet back fast enough, don't get my butt low enough, don't sink my weight enough, I flare my elbows, and I raise my arms too high like I'm trying to float over top of the opponent and go for his hips or something. Need to keep the elbows down and in, flop down decisively on the base of the opponent's neck, get the feet back (Cindy wants me to THROW them back; we practiced it a lot and I wasn't doing too well with that.... maybe I need some drills on a stationary object to get the correct motions down), hips all the down to the floor, sink the weight through the stomach, stop scrabbling frantically for crappy grips. I need to work on this a lot more, but I would REALLY like to get very good at this. No one would be able to pull guard on me. That would make me happy. At first I was afraid that they'd just go over the top if I stalked them in that low stance, but Cindy says that if they do, just shoot in for their legs. This is another place where I need to just slow down and be patient. I am also supposed to just back off and disengage if things are not going my way. That's going to be hard. I am hard-wired to charge in aggressively and grab the opponent. I do not like to dance around for long periods.
We spent the majority of the class on the technique that stands out in my mind as the most brutal and painful thing I have ever experienced in BJJ (in fact, in any MA, I think). It is also the technique that gave me my first cauli ear. Cindy noticed that I am grabbing a lot of half-assed guillotine attempts and then many times not being able to finish them for one reason or another- so she wants me to substitute this lovely thing.
Have a back-of-the-head grap and an overhand bicep grip. Snap the head down ("comb over" the top of the head). Sprawl (HARD... see previous paragraph full of improvement points). Have opponent's neck and *one* of the opponent's arms in your hug. Shoulder pressure right in the little cup-like area at the base of the neck. After doing this about a zillion times on Lamont, I could really feel it as soon as it socketed into the right spot- although I tended to want to let my shoulder drift further down his back (and my weight drifted down there too... much less effective.). Don't be afraid to turn the body. GABLE GRIP- do not get lazy with the grip (this tripped me up multiple times again, especially once I started to get tired). Scissor the elbows together very firmly and put the opponent's bicep on the mat trapped underneath him (you may need to pull him forward some... just don't let up the pressure). If you do this right, then there is no need to be in a frantic hurry at this point.
Now: Keep the pressure on, but stick your butt up in the air and move to the side so that you can stick your head in the little hole between his trapped arm and his thigh. Again, you can pull him forward a titch if the hole isn't big enough, but DON'T LIFT HIM UPWARD! Forward, not upward. Keep the pressure on. Then walk on your toes toward his feet. I know from having this done to me that it is a combination choke/neck crank/pressure-point ouchie... and the opponent tiptoes far enough back, it starts to crank on your spine in a direction that the spine does not bend, as well. It is just Quadruple Unpleasantness.
But the fun doesn't end here. If your opponent won't tap out to Quadruple Pain, you can logroll (do this quickly and decisively). As soon as you come out of the roll, make sure the opponent's head is on the bottom of the resultant configuration and does not pop up. Immediately run your feet toward him, grab half guard. Again, a spot where you can pause and catch your breath while you enjoy the scenery. Now punch your lower arm through, use your other hand to grab your bicep, "talk on your phone" as Cindy likes to say. If that doesn't do it, you can take a deep breath, squeeze your arm muscles and flex your hips. This HURTS. It hurts VERY BADLY. But one thing I like about it is that theoretically, you have enough control over the opponent that you can put the cranky parts on as slow as you want. I'm okay with doing this as long as I can do it very slow and controlled. I know from experience that it's hard to tap from this position since everything is trapped... and you can't verbally tap, either, since you're choking and all the breath is being squeezed out of your body.
I had to do this sequence over and over and over until I was practically staggering with exhaustion. Poor Lamont. I told him that I definitely owe him dinner or something for this. But this is what I really, really need- reps to the infinite power, until I 1)don't need to try to mentally remember it, and 2)feel confident that I can make it work.
At one point Lamont exclaimed to Cindy, "It's working! She's getting more aggressive! She just chinstrapped me- I thought for a second that I was grappling with *YOU*!" Wow, that's like the most incredible compliment... it probably would have been better if it related to something I'd done on purpose. I had to ask what "chinstrapping" meant.
I hope this doesn't feel 100% different on a different person (since I mostly did it on Lamont). Sometimes I feel like I have to relearn the technique on each different body type.
Step by step.... don't get rushed, don't get sloppy, if you mess it up, backtrack a few steps and start again.
It was a lot of good, hard, focussed work today. I am so exhausted. And I still have kung fu tonight.
Later...................
Kung Fu Basics class. After hand strike drills, we spent most of the class listening to SK's "pressure points 101" lecture.
There was some discussion of elemental association of pressure points and the order in which you strike them... that intrigues me; and I picked SK's brain some more about that on the way home. Some Bagua styles apparently use some extra elements ("mountain", "thunder", "wind"), and I'm curious as to how these relate to the Chinese elements (earth, fire, wood, water, metal) and also to the basic four elements used in many earth-based religions (earth, air, fire and water). I have also run into a Native American tradition that added an element known as "bone". I asked SK to see if he could dig up any more information about the topics we talked about; there may be some helpful puzzle pieces in there for me.
After SK described a (possibly mythical) technique that theoretically stops the heart, I intoned, "Can I have a volunteer?" (told him that next time he gives this lecture, with new students present, he has to add that at that point... provided he can do it with a straight face.)
He demo'ed a particular pressure point on Nemesis, which wasn't working too well (NOTHING works on Nemesis.... that's why he's Nemesis... he'd make the perfect Supervillian). I pointed to JM and said, "Try it on a normal person," But apparently JM is not "normal" either, as her body overreacts violently to everything.... so he doesn't like to use her for pressure point demo's. That left me as the only arguably "normal" demo dummy... so I got prodded repeatedly till I jumped and yipped.
Pressure point discussion took almost the whole class time, then we had individual forms time for 20 min or so.
I ran through Hurricane Hands a couple of times, doing extra reps of the four areas that we targeted last time for "improvement points". That gnarly throw in particular, seemed to be flowing better (SK agreed), although it still needs plenty more work. We worked on the trajectory of the Snake-strike-and-press-block sequence (press straight down, wrist bent, but strike moving forward, not up). The three-level double-strike section near the end is from a high lunge, NOT horse... need to remember that. The two kicks that we worked on last time- still not doing them quite right. The first one is with the BALL OF THE FOOT, toes pointing right. Second kick is with the outside blade of the foot, toes also pointing right.
We spent the most time working on the quality of the Snake strikes themselves- in a general sense. Before SK came out to help me, I was trying the strike-and-press-block sequence using the same reboundy energy that we had been doing with some of the strikes in Kiu Two on Sunday, against the pads. It's a lot harder to do reboundy strikes in the air with nothing to bounce off of. I was trying it against the rim of the trash can in the hallway.
SK told me that I was stopping my Snake strike too soon by flexing my bicep muscle, and I need to 1)extend my arm further, 2)let the end of the strike rebound back by itself instead of stopping it with my arm muscles. This is changing the way I have always done Snake strikes. It feels weird to extend that far, and the hand position is all fubar'ed now that my focus is on rebounding and keeping that muscle relaxed. The hand spasms at the endpoint of the strike like a Northern Mantis claw on acid. (That's okay, he says- the hand position can be refined later, the energy of the strike is more important.) I finally had to visualize it as "My hand is not attached to my wrist- and I am going to throw my arm forward and "shoot" my detachable hand across the hallway so that it splats against the opposite wall. My focus being on the trajectory of the severed hand, and I need to not think about what the arm is doing." I know that sounds weird, but I'm all about the visualizations- and when I used that one, SK approved my technique. Now I am going to have to practice this and adopt this into all my Snake stuff. It appears that being able to do the strikes this way is a "level up" in the practice of Snake style. I am leveling up. Shiny!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)