Notes

Today I worked on Sil Lum Dao in my dreams. I often dream about practicing. It really would be interesting to run some kind of scientific test and see if this type of practice actually has any measurable performance effect. I figure that at the very least, it's got to be helping my "what comes next" issues, since I know that thinking through forms- even when I'm not physically DOING them- helps me memorize.

During the slow period at work last night, I sifted my ravaged files- the "technique list" which contains only things that I feel confident enough about that if I were asked to test on them right this minute, I would have no problem. I noticed that with the addition of Kiu Two, I now have TWENTY complete Shaolin forms on my list (and that's not counting Tai Chi forms, either). Zow- that's a lot of forms! I have two or three more forms in progress, and know bits and pieces of several others.

The other file is my "logbook" which contains more fleshed-out descriptions, miscellaneous notes, things in progress, and a lot of items that I have worked on but don't feel that I KNOW well enough to put on my technique list. Gawds, what a mess. Even if my computer hadn't eaten part of it and apparently put the remainder in a blender and given it a good whirl, it would have been a mess. I know that these notes were helpful to me while I was keeping up on them, and I'd like to get back to keeping up on them. I'm writing all the relevant info out on my training blog anyway, so all I really need to do as far as new material is copy/paste from my blog into the proper sections of the files. It would be great to work my way back through the old material and sketch out all of the forms, drills, etc.

The last time I took a stripe test in my kung fu group (wow, that test actually predates the earliest version of my training blog...) I had to produce a list of "everything I know"... Thus the "technique list". Although I did have halfway decent ongoing notes at the time (in a paper notebook), that took a LOT of work. I resolved that I didn't want to go through that again when the next test came around, so I was going to keep up on my typed notes and have a clean copy perpetually ready to go. After I decided that I didn't want to test any further, I sorta just blew the typed notes off.

Even if I'm not testing, keeping better notes is going to help me. Once again, when I went through the technique list, I had to remove some items that I've let languish long enough that I no longer feel confident about them. I hate that- it makes me feel like I'm working backwards. If I'm keeping the technique list current, and looking it over regularly, I can ask SK to go over anything that's getting rusty before I lose it. This list is also helpful for pinpointing deficiencies- things such as, "Wow, I only have two throws that I feel confident with right now... maybe I should ask to work on some throws" or "Gee, I have seven Tiger forms and only one Crane form, I wonder if I can get anyone to work on a new Crane form with me".

Frolicking is good

Thursday lunchtime no-gi at Cindy's. TIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRED. And sore. Tired enough that I probably would have skipped class and gone back to bed if not for the fact that I know I won't be able to go back to Cindy's till next Thursday due to work commitments.

Another long warmup. Lamont's dead bugs are much better today.

Scarf escape drills again. Review of both side control escapes. A new variation wherein you grab the distal foot instead of the knee to drive in. We also practiced how to react if the opponent tries to sit out and replace full guard while you're escaping. My stumpy legs made it easy for me to sit out and replace full guard before Eric knew what was happening.

Then a lot of positional training from side control. One thing I will say for a defeatist attitude is that it's making it easier for me to abandon those fruitless grips I tend to cling to. Today, as soon as I realized a grip was fruitless, it was like, "Okay, screw that." Give up, let go, let the guy smoosh me flat into side control or whatever. It would be blackly amusing if my "Do I really give a crap" BJJ turned out to be more effective than my "I would cheerfully gnaw my own arm off at the shoulder if it would get me out of this guy's scarf hold" BJJ.

Lamont asked me if I am aware of when I've nullified a threat. Apparently, I wrapped up one of his legs and stretched it out to stop him from doing XYZ, and succeeded in preventing the attack (according to him).... but then I just continued to cling to the leg. That's a good point. No, I'm not really aware of when a threat is nullified well enough to move on. That's part of why I cling- I'm afraid that as soon as I let go, the guy is going to finish the attack he'd started.

Eric and I agreed on our perfect holiday gift: a remote control that will allow you to PAUSE a roll so that you can think about what to do next.



Later...........

Kung fu. We had a shortie class, because my carpool driver elected to take 520 straight from Bellevue, and we got stuck in gridlock and were very late.

SK had asked me if I was up for doing more of what we'd done last week, and I said that if I had my way, I'd like to hold off another week... but that if he wanted us to do it, I would do it- no biggie. The bruises are pretty much gone, but my forearms are still painful to the touch. He said he'd try to not put me with Nemesis again.

Well, it was just SK, JM, Nemesis and me.... and JM whimped out of the forearm-smashing before too long. Since SK is out of the running (rigid plastic wrist splint), well, there I was facing down Nemesis again. I asked him if he'd had any bruising at all from last week. Nope. Of course not.

We did just the Wing Chun drill, not the Hung Gar one. Ow. After a review on the sequence, I was able to focus a bit more on the rebounding energy... but there are still a few too many brain cells focussed on "what comes next?" to put as much attention on the energy as I'd like.

Then a little chi gek ("sticky leg")- Nemesis still has an injured knee, so we could only do one side (although we did both directions). SK wanted us to balance by ourselves, but we had to start out holding each other by one arm till we got in the groove. Nemesis' legs are so much longer than mine that the ranges were difficult. This is quite a challenging workout, as well as a balance drill. My hip was aching very quickly. Nemesis only felt it in his ankle.


Then we went over Sil Lum Dao.

Notes: after the hands-behind-the-back groin strike, the circle forward to the press block is not a wide circle. It only has to be big enough to get your arms around. Nor do the arms float up much.

Do not bounce up on the toes during the high strikes. (Sigh- I got zinged for this again)

The second set of palm strikes are the only ones that are fingers-up.

The last set- the first strike (left hand) is a sideways hand, thumb up. There are only two more strikes after this, not three- the Snakey curving ones.


Watching someone in a rigid plastic wrist brace trying to do Sil Lum Dao is funny. If you are not familiar with the form- the principle characteristic is exaggeratedly-rotating wrists. It wasn't even the truncation that was so funny, it was the exasperated facial expressions (and sometimes, small splutters of vexation) he was making every time his right hand came forward and he realized anew that this was just not going to work.


Individual forms time. I went over Kiu Two, both sides. I don't want to get too cocky, but I think I finally have the sweep in my back pocket. It still wants a bit of polishing, but I can do it now- and it looks like a sweep instead of like a crippled flamingo having an epileptic seizure. Knees are killing me, so I couldn't do too many reps. But I want to make sure to practice it at least a bit each day until Sunday- and ICE MY KNEES before Sunday class- so that I can whip out a few nice ones and make SK proud!

Then I did some reps of Frolic Of the Five Animals. I had been running through this form in my head while I was lying in bed last night, and blanking on the middle portion. Well, the middle portion went fine tonight, but I stumbled over the ending. I pieced it back together after a few reps, though. I couldn't do the spinning flying Crane kick- knees on fire- but aside from that, Dayum- this form looked GOOD. It has undergone an Unexplained Evolutionary Shift (UES). It looked almost good enough to video. Almost. (Grin)


(pic- Renzo and Dave (with his old purple belt on). Dave writes the SIDE CONTROL blog- yep, folks, this is he in the flesh. And you can't even tell him that I totally outed him- because his blog is not comment-enabled. Hee hee!)

No-gi marathon with Angela

Mild nagging physical issues: Knees still ache from Monday (note- ICE THE KNEES before and after class when Tiger drills are involved!). Right big toe hurts. I've been noticing that for a few days; I don't remember doing anything to it. It seems to be getting worse, though. Need to try to baby that a bit for the rest of this week. The muscle just below the knee (on the back) keeps siezing up (just the left one, often- but sometimes both) after the frog jumps in Cindy's warmup. Sometimes it then continues to niggle a bit later in the day. Maybe a little extra stretching of that one right before class is in order.

Wednesday lunchtime class at Cindy's. Wednesday lunchtime is supposed to be gi, but Cindy's school is so heavily geared toward no-gi... many of her students don't even *own* a gi. We rarely do stuff that actually requres a gi- and even when we do, Cindy always has an alternative work-around version for no-gi. For today, I knew that Frank and George were going to be there, and they don't own gi's. So I got rid of my gi jacket before the warm-ups!

Moderately intense version of warmups today. Lamont is having trouble with the Dead Bugs. I had to give him a little flak. Lots of ab exercises. The ones where you lie on the floor and hold your partner's ankles, and lift both legs straight up, then back down (don't touch floor) then the same diagonally to the sides. Wheelbarrows. Partnered triangle drill. Lie on the floor and hold partner's ankles again, lift legs straight up, and pop hips up to touch your toes to the partner's outstretched hands. Ab conditioning exercises can get pretty grueling when you do a whole bunch of different ones in succession.

We reviewed the scarf hold escape #1 again- push face, hip out, lift leg over opponent's head, push down. Rotating reps with every classmate. Abs hurt, after all the exercises!

Then, side control escape. Frame up (make sure to cup the shoulder, don't just let the hand float uselessly there... also, tip the elbow up against the jawbone), bridge, get crossways underhook (shrug it HIGH on shoulder), Roll over to get to knees (you can walk the feet out first if you want). Opponent whizzers, you pull his ankle out and hop both your knees behind it. Now you can limp the arm out and take his back.

I have been thinking that it might be worth laying off sparring for a while and just doing drills, in light of my frustrations. Just a break. The problem is, I can't really avoid the positional training- which is just as frustrating (if not worse, because I have fewer options). We did positional training from closed guard, side control, and back mount. I did bail after that, though... there were only 15 min left in the class, and we had done class from 2 to 4 today instead of 12-2... so I actually did really want to get the heck out of Seattle before 4pm and the height of Rush-Four-Hours.

I had just enough time to go home, shower, and change before evening class at Gracie's Bellevue. I had told Angela I would be there to work with her in no-gi, so I had committed myself to show up. I thought I was going to be completely zombified, but it was actually BETTER (this time, anyhow) to just keep the momentum going. The problems arise if I have time for a nap between lunchtime class and evening class!


Gi hour followed by no-gi hour. I worked with (white belt) Kevin for the gi class. I haven't seen him in months- it was nice to have him back.

I did something _right_ in warmups today. I try to do everything on both sides, on general principles... except of course in the case of things I've never seen before and am fumbling to do correctly on *ONE* side. I also know for a fact that it's important to Carlos that we try to do things on both sides. He even switches sides every time he does a demo.

Today we were doing sprawl, sit-out, grab guard, tactical stand. I am still fumbling a little with the leg motion of grabbing guard, but I did my best to do alternating sides. After the exercise, Carlos pointed out me and two others as being the only ones in the whole class who had done the technique on both sides as we all should. So it's cool to be on his "nice" list instead of his "naughty" list for now!

We started with standing same-side lapel grip and elbow grip- pull guard. Remember to put the foot on the hip on the same side that you have the opponent's ELBOW- that way he can't grab your foot.

Then let go of the lapel and grab the cross sleeve cuff. The elbow grip moves up to the armpit, Yank the opponent forward and across you. Don't forget to use your legs to help you yank him forward.

Hip out, let go of the armpit and reach across the opponent's back to grab under the OTHER armpit. Do not let go of the sleeve, or the opponent will get back on top of you. Get half guard.

Get on top and get hooks in. DO NOT post your arms over the opponent's head. Linger long enough to get your points.

Roll opponent over and cross collar choke. Remember to not be under his arm. If he pulls that second lapel out of your reach, THEN you grab his arm, stretch it out, and place your hand on your opposite bicep to choke. DO NOT place your hand on the back of his head- this can be seen as an illegal cervical crank.

A little positional sparring- Ron and Ritchie. Neither of them tapped me tonight (I am really fighting hard to not tap to Ritchie). I seemed to do slightly better than usual against Ron. Ritchie and I got each other into a bizarre position where we were angled north-south and simultaneously
triangling each other. Neither of us could quite finish, but we were both afraid to move for fear that the other would finish.

No-gi. Starting with standup pummelling. Then standup forehead-to-forehead, hook behind the neck and grip just above the elbow. Push and pull back and forth. Then as your opponent pushes, you change your level, push her elbow up, duck under and get the back. At the same time, you are dragging the behind-the-neck hand with all your weight on it. This ends in a takedown with you on the back.

It is important to be in really close while you are stepping past the opponent and going to the back. Professor Carlos came over to correct Angela and me on this point. He had us do the technique up against the wall so that we had to step in close. Thank Rickson the wall is matted- because the first time Angela did the technique, she slammed me headfirst right into the wall so hard and fast that I couldn't suppress a squawk of suprised dismay.

Having Angela hanging her weight on your neck and grinding you to the floor is no joke. I was going down HARD on my hands and knees (hurt my right wrist a bit). She has either done this one before, or picked it up quickly, because she was able to help me out when I fumbled.

Then we went right into timed spars, which vexed me a bit because my idea of laying off sparring for a while is not going so well. There isn't really an "open mat" on Wednesdays at Bellevue, and we had started the no-gi a little late anyway, so I thought I'd be off the hook- but we ended up doing an entire HOUR of timed no-gi spars. I didn't want to bail out on Angela. I fought her, then some white belt guy, then Angela again.

White belt guy was playing teacher, and he let me have a couple of taps- although he was pretty resistant to chokes. I had to give up on a few, and persist on a few others to a crazy extent.

Angela- I know that I want to avoid her closed guard, and I had moderate success at that, altho she got me a few times. The reason I don't want to be there is that it usually ends in a triangle- and she got me a few times with that as well, although I managed to escape before tapping. She transitioned to armbars a few times, though, and I didn't do nearly so well escaping these.

Note to self- do not engage in wars of strength with Angela. She is stronger than me.

Things are bad for me when she gets on top- although she has short legs, which I was able to exploit a few times by getting ahold of her foot. I also managed to whisk out the back door more than once.

I got front mount and side control on her a few times, but I couldn't do crap from there. Tried a few chokes, with no joy. Keylocks and armbars, likewise. Almost got her turned enough to try for a kimura once, but not quite. Got a KOB once, although she shrimped out before I would have gotten points.

I spent quite a bit of time dancing around her, trying to get in on her without ending up on the bottom. Note to self, trying to control her foot/feet is a bad idea. I tried that a few times, and it ended very poorly for me. Several times, though, I managed to disengage and get to my feet to try to come in on her again while she was sitting.

Another note to self- if she starts to get to *HER* feet, pounce. She got to her feet once, and I thought, "This does not bode well." She guillotined me and yanked me up on my toes trying to finish it. When I wouldn't tap, she tiptoed me over to the wall and shoved me up against it, trying to finish. Still no tap, so then we moved on to the cupping-the-back-of-the-neck and hauling down hard with her weight behind it. Down hard on hands and knees again, but I'm happy to say I still did not tap. She was on top, though... time ran out before she could smoosh me again.

It was a long, challenging no-gi session with Angela... good stuff.

Carlos teased me because my water wasn't pink tonight (I often have zero-cal pink lemonade or fruit punch Crystal Light in it). Then he tried to talk me into coming to next Saturday's group picture and BBQ, and teased me about my reluctance to have my picture taken. The last time someone was taking pictures at the school, I skulked away.

(pic- Jim)

Gingerbread milkshakes!

Back up to 130 on the scale. I blame my stress-fueled candy 0rgy on Friday after the vet's; and the fact that I hit Pizza Hut on Sunday in between work and Lindsey's class because I didn't have time for anything else; and then lunch with SK after practice yesterday. Although I WILL note that the first thing I saw when we walked into the Red Robin was a cardboard table tent advertising gingerbread milkshakes. Red Robin has good milkshakes and malts. With whipped cream, and they give you the metal cup of leftovers that has almost a second full shake in it. I got a salad and a water. The salad was one of those big ones with breaded chicken tenders, cheese, bacon bits, and honey mustard dressing- so it was not really a healthy salad. But it was healthier than a gingerbread milkshake- which I had to watch SK devour. It's not fair. He can eat whatever he wants, and he's still going to look like a Calvin Klein underwear model. I am going to have to watch it this week if I don't want to find myself climbing back up into the 130's again. To make matters worse, some Bad Santa filled the jar on the kitchen counter with mini peanut butter cups.


Tuesday morning no-gi at Cindy's. I was dragging a bit- feeling tired, sore, and I had a little headache which slowly got worse as the afternoon went on.

We did some more of the same scarf hold reversals that we'd done last night.

Then start in scarf hold, get the elbow down, get one hook in, punch your top arm over the opponent's shoulder, and get to knees. You may be able to armlock that arm; but if not, take the back.

Then: pretend you're going for scarf hold reveral number one, and walk your hips out. The opponent scoots after you, chasing you. Hug him with both arms (there's that gable grip again), tuck your hip under his, and roll him first up towards his head and then over to reverse. His own scooting momentum should help you roll him. I've drilled this one a few times before at Gracie's, so it was familiar.

Positional sparring from closed guard. After being pwn'ed by Cindy, George, and then Frank, I lost it again. When I found myself being helplessly mounted by Frank for the eleventy-eighth time, I exclaimed, "God DAMN it!!!", extricated myself, and stormed out the door to sit on the steps for a few minutes and collect myself.

While I was outside, Cindy must have told George to throw me a bone (or maybe he took the cue by himself), because when I came back and restarted, I tapped him four times in as many minutes. I appreciate that people are trying to be nice, but it really doesn't make me feel any better- it's not like I don't *KNOW* they're letting me have stuff. Then Cindy again- she didn't give me any subs (I don't think she ever has handed me a sub), but she went light on me and let me have some positions.

(pic- I don't even know any of these women, but I thought it was a great picture. Look at those guns!)

Kiu Two clinic

SK and I went to my (non-MA) gym today and spent two hours on Kiu Two and Tiger drills. Then I repaid him for the lesson by buying him lunch.

Tiger drills probably lasted 30 min- maybe not even that long- and yet my knees are in agony. I'm glad we did them *after* working on Kiu Two. Note for the future... don't start the lesson with these, if you want to get other stuff done.

I also was disappointed that they didn't come back as swiftly as I expected. They were pretty rough. Yeah, I've neglected them for too long, but I did practice them a LOT up until summer. I'm glad I got this refresher before we start our Tiger/Crane semester shortly.

I have wonderful detailed notes on all of the Tiger drills (the ones from SK's class and also the ones from CC), but I was vexed to not be able to find the file. My housemate did an "upgrade" (ahem) on my computer while I was out of town in June, and now I can't access the majority of my own files. Some of the ones I *can* access appear to be earlier versions- they are missing stuff, and the formatting is all fubar'ed. Shoulda stuck to the paper notebook. I'll have to do some more digging around... I hope that stuff is not lost for good.

Kiu Two:

Don't do the Peter Rabbit bouncing-up-on-the-toes routine on the strikes. Keep heels on the floor and head one one level.

Extend the strikes fully. (Yes, I'm still reminding myself of this, because I'm STILL not doing it right)

Part A:

At the beginning, at the cover and draw back (right before the wrap)- the Snakes are at a sharper angle, not as extended as I have been making them. This is a defensive position.

On the first kick to the knee, turn the hips sideways.

Sweep.... After the little hop back, SK had me set my foot down closer to my support foot. This really made a dramatic difference- in fact it may be the key to getting this thing whipped into shape. It made it much easier to keep my balance throughout the spin, because my weight was better centered above the foot. The momentum was also easier to keep going.

Note- aim for the opponent's FRONT leg.

I didn't get to work it as much as I wanted it to, because my knees started hurting too much.

The pak sau/axe hand strike at the end- lots of twisty wrist movement, but very little arm movement above the wrist.

Part B:

The defensive leg circle swings outward, but not as much as I have been swinging it. Bring the knee up more through the middle.

Kick- the hips are also facing the side in this one. Make sure to target the back knee. Make it snappy, and then do not let the knee bend going into the spin. As the kick is extended, let the toe of the support foot turn back. This will make the spin much easier.

After this spin- this is another place where the Snakes should not be extended quite as much. Draw them in more.

Snake strike sequence: Make sure the nonstriking hand is still in front, in Snake formation, like a regular Snake gaurd.

The last part of Section B:

After the bong sau strike, the left hand comes up and over in a crossways bridge-crashing, striking with the little-finger side of the heel of that hand. Right hand chambers.

Crossways press block with the right hand. Left chambers.

Left crossways Snake strike, waist level. Right chambers.

Pull hands back to right hip, weight on right foot, cat stance. Regular Snake closing, just like part A.

Note for both closings... After feet are together at the end, do an extra arm circle inward, end palms down.

After working on both sides for a really long time, we worked it together. SK kept stopping to ask if he was hurting me too much by bashing me with his splint, but I was more worried about him getting carried away and putting too much power into his techniques... he's off work because he is supposed to be RESTING his broken wrist, not abusing it even more than he would be if he was moving furniture at work!

I had to make a lot of adjustments the first several times through to make sure I was at a proper distance... many times I found myself out of range, especially as SK does not need to be in so close due to his much longer limbs. For the kick sequence in particular, I had to make an extra little hop inward to have any hope of reaching his knee.

I also have to pay close attention to not pre-empt the opponent.

The end sequence- once we got it smoothed out- was OFF THE HOOK. A flurry of complex Snakey strikes back and forth, really fast, and correlated perfectly. It was so cool, and much fun. We just kept going faster and faster!

Tiger drills.... I'm going to search some more for the files with my notes, and if I can't find them, I'll try to recreate descriptions of the six that we worked on today.

The one with the side kick: It's okay to strart bringing the leg back *before* planting the hands on the ground. This solves the persistant problem I was having in the past, with both of the possible hand positions creating problems for getting that leg back smoothly.

The one with the reap- don't circle the leg around so much, bring it more up through the center.

The one with the twisty takedown: Take a wider stance with the scissor stance; if you don't put your leg back far enough at that point, you will have to readjust while you're trying to complete the turn.

The one with the elbow strikes and hammer fist- that first elbow strike comes from right under your chin and hits with the end of the elbow.

For all- don't get so focussed on your primary
striking hand that you forget to keep gripping the opponent's wrist and holding it OUT where you want it.


Later......................


Monday night gi class at Cindy's. Lamont forgot his gi AGAIN... and several of those other guys don't even own gi's... so there were only about three of us gi'ed up. As soon as I saw that we weren't doing techniques involving the lapels or sleeves, I shucked my gi top.

Escape from scarf. Grip the opponent's shoulder (I always forget that). Press his face to make him look away. Walk hips out, throw distal leg over opponent's head and press down/back. Sometimes you don't even have to use that leg; if he's going down, just go with it.

After we'd drilled that, we worked on some arm attacks from scarf.

Assuming you have opponent's right arm across your lap:

Grab the wrist with your left hand and cover the arm with your right leg. Triangle-lock with your left leg. Shoulder lock.

OR: Step over opponent's head with your left leg. Get your foot under his head and tighten everything up to hold him there. You may be able to triangle him. Or- attack his arm. You can keylock or straight-armbar. Also- you can sit on the head and switch to kimura.

This was all a lot for me to remember, but I got in a lot of reps, so I hope some of it sticks. If it sticks, that's a lot of nice options to choose from, and if one doesn't work, I can go to plan B or C or D, which would be nice.

We didn't have much sparring time because the capoeira class follows us at 7:30 on Monday nights. I only got a few minutes with George. He basically just crouched there and let me try to choke him from the back. I remembered to try to get the hooks in first (well, okay, I remembered more often than I forgot), but I wasn't doing too well finishing the chokes. I tried a few guillotines, too, but he kept moving to the side and not letting me get half or full guard to have the leverage to finish it.

(Pic- that's my LEFT arm today, the one that wasn't photographing well before. The bruising has darkened up quite a bit.)

"Does not participate well"

Lindsey's class.... which I stayed for the entirety of, for a change, since kung fu was cancelled today.

We did a number of basic BJJ moves.... turtle to side control, seated ankle pick to guard pass, bullfight, triangles.

I worked with Jeff part of the time, and thus got to push it a little.... although he injured his ribs snowboarding, so we had to go slightly lighter than normal. He told me that he was going to recommend that I recieve a "Does not participate well" note for this class, as many of our drill reps sort of turned into sparring. Hey, it takes two, buddy!

Some of the time I worked with one of the new young ladies. There are two or three who seem like they might actually have some interest and aptitude for BJJ- including the long-legged gal I worked with a bit last week. So in those cases, I was tutoring a little. I think coming into a small subgroup like this and learning some basics must be easier for new women than doing the sink-or-swim in the regular class with all the big guys. This class could be a good source of some new female BJJ students. Lindsey had them actually gi up today, too.

The no-stripe blue belt guy came over to give her some instruction too... but if I may be so bold, he didn't explain it too well- and he gave too many details too soon. A triangle is a complicated technique for a newbie. When he wandered away, I could tell she was lost, so I said to her, "Just focus on this first part for right now." We drilled the setup without finishing the triangle, and when she seemed like she had that down okay, THEN I would add one detail or one new part at a time, and we would drill it some more till she was comfortable.

A little king-of-the-hill positional training, with Lindsey and blue belt guy on the middle and the rest of us cycling through, starting in top side control. Mission: keep top side control. (Jeff was sitting out by then... his ribs were getting more painful as the class went on).

I don't think blue belt guy was taking me very seriously (this is the same guy who jumped the line on me last week), but he seemed to be reassessing the situation after I cycled through him twice and he had a bitch of a time getting out of my side control. Once, he finally got my pantleg and pulled me into his closed guard with it. The next time, after we'd wrassled there for a long time, he resorted to the no-technique-all-muscle-pick-up-and-flip-over (I am no longer going to dignify this maneuver by calling it a "sweep"... I shall have to come up with a sardonic moniker for it).

When I got Lindsey, I tried to stay light, keep moving, and stay on top- and did fairly well. I stayed on his back quite a bit. Tried to be better about getting and keeping hooks, and about not trying to go for chokes unless I had both hooks first. Lindsey let me tap him a couple of times... once with one of those choke-from-behind-while-pulling-the-pantleg things.

The king-of-the-hill was nice, because it worked well for the varying levels of people present.

I am now alternating each class between my orignal CK tornado ear guards and the new Brute ones. As soon as I puzzle out the Gordian Knot straps on the new pair of CK's, I'll add those to the rotation ("easily adjustable!", my butt!). My latest hematoma is almost gone- it is going away by itself, thank Rickson- but I'm going to hold off on using the Asics earguards for a while longer, since they rub right on that area.

(pic: Santa and Mrs. Claus visted the Clackamas County Animal Shelter this week to have pics taken with some of the canine orphans. The Clauses bear a remarkable resemblence to RS and TS.)

Gracie Barra Death March

Pic: This is part of my right arm this morning. The left arm isn't photographing very well, but it sports an impressive purple and green area twice the size of this one.


Friday morning "competition class" at Gracie Seattle. Um, yeah. More like The Gracie Barra Death March.

I was pretty tired this morning, and it was a struggle to get out the door for class. If I'd known what awaited me, I'd have stayed in bed for sure.

Fred is back! He has been gone for five months. I thought he was dead. He wasn't training at all for those five months, either. Today almost *did* kill him.

Carlos (yet another Carlos) is back too- haven't seen him for more like eight months. He brought a girl with him. Good. I hope that means he won't be hitting on me on the mat any more. (Said girl did not come in to train, of course... she came in to sit on the edge of the mat and text, and look bored.)

Run, run, run. High knees. Kick heels. Inside shuffle. Outside shuffle. Three in, three out. Run, run, run. Lots of running is the worst for me, with my reduced lung capacity.

Cardio-Till-You-Puke. Jumping jacks. Jogging-in-place-to-sprawls. Triangles. Come in late- 20 extra pushups. Squats. Lunges. More pushups. It's okay if white belts pause momentarily to hunch hands-on-knees, gasping for air- but that is NOT ACCEPTABLE for blue belts on up. Burpees. Sprawl-to-sit-to-tactical-lift. Faster. More pushups. Armbars from guard. No water allowed. Bicycles. Post on supine partner's chest as you go KOB on one side, then the other. Faster. Chewing gum on the mat- 20 extra pushups. Side control to KOB and back to side control. Partnered triangles. If you are too slow, you AND YOUR PARTNER get 20 extra pushups. Bridges. Crunches. Armbars from mount. Fumbling on what grip to use or which arm to grab? 20 extra pushups for you AND YOUR PARTNER. Leapfrog over partner's back and then crawl between his legs. More jumping jacks. More pushups.

Then we were divided into five groups by size, and given a king-of-the-hill positional training exercise. My group's assignment was to start in high mount with cross collar choke. Top person: finish choke. Bottom person: escape. Bryan was in my group because he is still on the "light duty" injured list. He says my cross collar choke grips are still not deep enough. He also pulled Bree off me once because he thought I'd gone out. I was pak-sau'ing her left elbow in (that pak sau comes in darn useful on the BJJ mat) and she wasn't getting the choke... but I'd closed my eyes because her lapel was scraping my contact lens out of my eye. Bryan said, "Keep your eyes open so we can see you're conscious!"

By the end, I felt weak as a kitten and in no shape to stay for any open mat.



I missed Cindy's Friday night no-gi class because my diabetic cat had a hypoglycemic emergency and I had to rush him to the vet. He is fine now... I think the only lasting damage is to my Master Card and the percentage of grey hairs on my head. He scared me pretty bad, though. The incident stressed me out so much that instead of going to class, I spent the rest of the evening in a bubble bath with an enormous bag of York Peppermint Patties.