More Stuff

So I did another tournament. This one was on the Battleship NJ, in the Camden Waterfront area. Sort of an interesting venue, but the floors were metal, and my buddy smacked his head pretty hard on it which was not cool.

I got there just at the tail end of weigh-ins. I weighed in at about 130 with my jeans and stuff in my pockets. The promoter, with the unfortunate name of The Good Fight, uses a modified Madison bracketing system, so I had no idea what my weight class might go up to.

As I was warming up and the brackets were being made I heard my name called on the speaker. I went to the head referee table, and the nice guy there informed me that the next lightest person competing that day weighed about 150. The next lightest after him was about 160. He asked if I still wanted to compete and I said, yes of course. After all they already had my money, so why not?

So my first fight I pulled guard, got x-guard, swept. Couldn't stabilize my pass, and he went to x-guard. But he reaped the knee, and the ref DQ'd him. Sucks, but that's the game.

Second fight was with this dude who frankly I thought I would tool. And I should have. I dominated him positionally the entire match, surfed his guard, smashed his hooks, did everything except score a clean pass unfortunately. I swept him two or three times, but each time I almost got a pass he would turtle and scramble into a single or double and get points for a takedown. It ended tied and he won by an advantage. I am a little annoyed at myself for not sealing the deal. I really should have passed his guard at least once. He gave me several opportunities and I hesistated; instead trying to pass straight to mount. But oh well, lesson learned.

Everyone else did really great, and we took home like five medals. Fun day overall, and it was awesome when I saw that Zak and Brian came to coach and a bunch of people came to watch.

Sneakey Tournaments

These little tournaments kind of sneak up on you. I have been training regularly but not really focusing on a tournament game. Mostly I've been working on an answer to a particular butterfly guard pass, and some sweeps from a particular type of butterfly guard. Since I'm competing at the Battleship NJ tournament I had better start focusing again on my main go to positions. I say that like I actually know what I'm talking about, but I have only the vaguest idea of what they actually are.

Regis was back for a week and it was one of the best BJJ weeks of my life. I came to every class, went down to MD to do his seminar, and took a private on the above butterfly guard position. I feel like I have made more progress since training full time at the new gym than in all the time at Maxercise. Smallish classes, mostly blue belts and above, and lots of personal attention really make a difference. Regis went over a bunch of new positions, and covered some new details and cleaned up some old ones. It was great watching him train with Brian and Zak as well.

I've slacked off on the lifting too, I should get back into that. I haven't noticed a difference in class, but I am a lot more sore the next morning that I had been when I was doing weighted chin-ups and such.

Last night I fought what was probably the most technical match I've ever had. I was paired up with a very strong and agressive blue belt who has smashed me several times. We had a back and forth battle that lasted the entire ten minutes or whatever it was. I have been working on Saulo's running escape and it worked perfectly, and my x-guard was strong too. I really need to clean up my passing game though. I got to half guard with tight head and arm control, but couldn't get the pass.

I'd like to drill some more outside of class but it's hard to find the time and a partner that will commit to it.

Time for another update

So I've done a couple of little tournaments in the last month or so, and learned a lot. The thing about local tournaments is you never know who's going to show up. The first one was US Grappling's Diamond State Games, and there were some pretty tough guys, one of whom I saw previously at the IBJJF's NY Open. The second was the Rupture tournament outside of Philadelphia. My division only had four guys, and I had two fights. For once I was at the top of my weight class, and I think the two bluebelts I fought hadn't been training that long. One I know had only been training for a year and a half. Both were scrappy though.

Even though I won both matches at Rupture I feel that I fought very sloppily and made a number of mistakes that a more seasoned opponent would have capitalized on. The good thing is that I was very relaxed when I fought, compared to earlier experiences. I didn't blow my grips in the first match, and I kept my head fairly well and listened to my coach the whole time. I used to be a nervous competitor so this shows that you apparently can learn to control your emotions, which in my opinion is what BJJ is really about.

I went to both with my roommate, who is also a blue belt. Unlike me, he is a monster and cleaned up both his weight class and the absolute division. He doesn't have a blog because he is too busy chasing down animals and eating them raw. We coach each other during our matches and I feel that I've learned as much from that as actually fighting. I'm also greatful to Lex for taping one of my matches and putting it on youtube so I can watch it over and over and nitpick every mistake I made.

I was happy to run into some old friends from Maxercise, and I'm glad there's no hard feelings there for the most part.

I noticed that not many people use the standing method of opening the guard as it is taught at our school. I guess this is a good thing? I feel that it's the most powerful way to open the guard, but I see a lot of people insisting on opening from the knees or using the terrible method of standing and trying to force a choke to get the guy to open. At the DE tournament I saw a lot of de la Riva guard, but not a lot of x-guard. Every tournament where I have gotten to a solid x-guard I have gotten the sweep so I'm going to continue to develop that position as my go to guard. I'm also going to keep working on my standup game and the next local tournament I do I'm going to at least attempt a takedown or throw.

After hearing an interview with Loyd Irvin, I've decided to follow his model and use local tournaments to test out different stuff I'm working on and bring my A-game to larger tournaments. Now if only I had an A-game I'd be in good shape.

Update

Well I've been out with a Staph infection, so I haven't trained in about a week or so. It's hard not training, and I looked so awful I haven't really left the house until this past weekend. I'm typing this on no sleep, so it may be a bit confused. You have been warned.

I had been focusing on my guard game quite a bit, and I felt like I was making progress there. I had neglected the passing game though, and it showed when I went to the NY Open. My opponent immediately pulled guard, and I missed several opportunities to pass, and eventually got triangle choked. So when Regis came out the next week I did a private on passing, which helped. The next week I did another private with Brian on the same thing, which really helped cement everything. I noticed a definite improvement almost immediately.

We didn't really cover anything new, just went over the details of the cross knee pass, with some variations. We also covered a butterfly guard pass that Regis often uses. These details, while occasionally tedious (not really, inside joke), are what makes techniques work against a good, resisting opponent. I don't think you're going to get these details off of a DVD set or from the internets.

With Regis I covered a variation of the knee cross where the opponent is on his side with his top knee against your hip. You need to drive your knee to the ground and post your foot closer to his head. You can smash his knee and pass, which is what I have been doing. The butterfly guard pass is one that I have done before, but didn't have a lot of confidence in. Regis forced me to open my legs much further apart on the pass, which helps alot. We also worked on the timing of it, another big issue to get a technique to work.

One thing I've noticed from watching a lot of Marcelo videos during my layoff is how quick he is t to make grips. Zak is the same way. He gets the grips he wants while you're still thinking about what you're going to do. Definitely have to work on this.

So I had been training really well up until my Staph. I went to class to observe last night, and since I rarely sit trains out I enjoyed the opportunity to watch my friends train. I was particularly impressed at how Brian, even though injured, still trains with the biggest and toughest guy in the room, and basically "houses" him without any effort. There's no dodging anyone or making excuses for himself.

In addition to regular training I have been lifting in an attempt to get into some semblance of an astetically pleasing shape. That stopped when I had Staph, but I was back the last couple of days. I've lost some muscle but not too much strength so it should come back quickly if I eat right.

I'll probably train again Tuesday, and I can't wait.

Not to get all negative, but...

So Fredson, a wee little black belt visiting Maxercise, taught the classes there on Sunday and Monday. He went over his personal way of passing the half guard to "the negative", by sitting on the hips and controlling your opponent's leg between your legs, keeping an upright posture. I got to train with him on Monday, and it was pretty fun. He has an interesting choke where he attacks under your arm and tricks you into thinking that you're safe, but then you realize it's an arm triangle.

He also taught a variation of the esgrima pass that is in Saulo's book and I have used and I know Eli uses it on me all the time, where you control the elbow with your hand and put pressure and weight on the guy's chest with your elbow and allow him to come up on his side. He went to the negative from there. Given my druthers I'd rather just pass from there and go for the armlock, but it's not always possible if the guy hides his other arm.

Wednesday at Bainbridge Brian taught the more typical way of passing to the negative done by Regis and Marcelo, and I worked on it with one of my trains with John P. I have a hard time with both variations, partly due to my lack of weight, and partly do to my bad positioning when I step around. It's hard for me to keep the guy flat. Fredson's version leave me vulnerable to the guy on the bottom sweeping me with a butterfly hook, although I know you can step over his knee to hop to the north-south it's easier said than done.

Training was excellent and super tough. Zack G. choked me out at least six times, Eli was all over me, Rob smashed me with that half-guard pass he does really well, and Kevin armbarred me like five or ten times. I got to train with a visiting blue belt which was cool, swept with a scissors sweep, then tapped him with an x-choke from the mount. Then swept with an x-guard sweep but got lazy passing and got caught in a triangle armbar. It seems like guys who haven't seen that x-guard entry and sweep don't really have an answer for it. As long as you slide yourself underneath them and don't just try to yank them on top of you.

I've been working on playing a more sitting up guard type of game and only using the de la Riva guard when I get pushed back as a secondary defense. It gets me into trouble because I suck at it but I'm making progress slowly. Passing, I'm thinking about the squatting position Fredson showed and that's getting me into trouble because I'm thinking too much about that, and not passing quickly. Also everyone has such a good half-guard and open guard it's a different world than what I have become used to. Then a quick soak in the hottub and a nice walk home in beautiful spring weather. Good times.

I Confront My Fear of Heights

So I have trained three days in a row, and plan on training tonight. Last night we worked on two positions I recognized from Marcelo Garcia's playbook. I've been meaning to add them both to my game, and have had a lot of success with the first one already so it was a great review.

The first technique was a single from the sitting up guard that Marcelo plays a lot. The second was a double leg from the same position. I didn't love the double that much, but felt more comfortable with it by the end of the night.

Training was fine; I trained with Katie, Lex, Owen, and Ray. Ray finally brought out the elbow on bell technique that I've heard so much about. I'd like to learn that. I'm really focusing on the butterfly guard, and trying to force myself to get to the regular hook sweep. It's hard enough just to get to the position I need to start it. I really need practice with it.

Since Monday night is so short I've been staying for Judo although I don't get home until 10:30. We didn't do any specific stand up technique but we did a cool drill where you went for a sweep every time you stepped. Since I know about two and a half judo techniques I just basically kicked the poor guy in the leg whenever I got a chance. Then we drilled whatever technique we wanted and the guy I was working with threw me so high with an ippon seonagi that my feet hit the metal pipe on the ceiling. It was fun though.

Randori was also good. I tried not to play too much like a BJJ guy, bent over and stiff, and I tried not to be totally defensive but I know so few throws and I'm not comfortable with any of them so it was tough. I got thrown a bunch of times which is fine. My gas was not terrible actually.

Newaza was good, Ray taught a couple of basic BJJ techniques. Newaza randori was also fun. Again, I tried not to play a BJJ game, going for a pass and a pin rather than hunting for submissions out of a transition, and trying to be mindful of a ref that would stand us up if nothing was happening. Attacking the turtle is really tough when guys just tuck the chin. It's hard to get past that I obviously I don't want to just do a chin crush. I did fight a BJJ blue belt from another school. It was his first Judo class, so we definitely had more of a BJJ fight. But I enjoyed it.

Afterwards I felt pretty good, although my back is a little sore today it should loosen up. I will not be able to train tomorrow due to an eye doctor's appointment, but I'm going to try to get to the Barn on Thursday and see what's going on there.

Lots of training

Well I've been lucky enough to continue to get to class on a regular basis. Assuming nothing else crazy happens in my life I may even get to train six days a week for the next month. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at Maxercise, Thursdays at the Barn, Saturdays at Optimal, and Sunday for the team train at Maxercise.



Saturday was a great class, although there weren't a ton of people there, it was still really tough. Zak led some particularly strenuous warm-ups consisting of lots of that crazy running on all fours drill and lots of bear crawls and mat cleaners which are the worst. I actually felt like I was going to puke afterwards, which is great. I need more of that.



The first class Zak reviewed the basic arm bar from the closed guard. I picked up some details on how the traps the shoulder with his legs. Say you're attacking your opponent's right arm. Instead of going straight for the arm lock, cross your feet over your opponent's right shoulder first and pull him close to you to prevent him from pushing his shoulder back in. I tried this on Sunday against a bigger guy and had a hard time with getting there. I may need to adjust the angle of my hips. After you're there and have the guy sucked in, push on his head and extend your hips and move your leg over his head to complete the arm bar.



The second class Brian taught an awesome entry to the Ezekiel choke. This is my favorite submission ever, not the highest percentage move by any stretch of the imagination but it's pretty darn cool when you get it. Anyway the entrance Brian showed was from the old school double underhooks stacking pass. You have to jack the guy pretty high up, then when he pushes on your knees you trap one of his arms with your leg, use your elbow to force him to a half-turtle position, get the seat belt, then roll or flip to an Ezekiel choke. Its pretty hard to describe exactly, and honestly, I thought I would never use it, but I hit it on Sunday, I just got a little sloppy with the choke at the end and my opponent escaped but it still gave me clean side control.

Training was great, got to train with Tim a couple of times, Zak, Brian, and a blue belt and a white belt. It's always fun to train with the higher belts, and very humbling. Training with the blue belt can be frustrating because he constantly sits back to an open guard which he uses constantly. He's very good at defending the pass but has no real offence from that position. And if you do pass it he basically just crosses his arms, turns to the outside and stalls. The first time I passed somehow, then took his back and submitted him with a rear naked choke. He may have had his chin tucked a little, and I think he got a bit of a chin choke. We shook hands, then he sat back to guard again, giving me two points, not that it matters but it's a bad habit to get into, and one of our less politically correct Brazilian teachers specifically called us a bunch of faggots for doing it. I saw it coming, and immediately bull passed. I went to knee to belly and he tried to bench press me off him. I sat back for the arm bar and accidentally smashed his face with my leg. I swear to god it was an accident. I really hate injuring my training partners, especially the face, having been the recipient of a few permanently irritating injuries myself. I hope there's no hard feelings there, BJJ is a rough sport and I try to be nice when I train, but basically, shit happens.

Anyhoo Sunday's team train at Maxercise was fun. We did the typical maxercise warm up, a two point train, some positional trainings, and regular trainings. I really sucked at pulling guard. I really really really need to work on that and get it cleaner. There's just no excuse for how bad I am at it. I hate starting off the feet and it just puts me in a bad position from the get go. I wouldn't mind doing a whole hour of two point trains just to get better at that.