Continuando…

Ola,

Haven’t posted in a bit because I’ve been inundated at work.  Things have been really crazy because we are in planning season.  So fun (sarcasm).

I trained twice the week ending 9/16 outside of my normal routine because I had to attend a wedding on the 9/17.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember the stuff we worked on because work has made everything such a blur.  I do remember it being pretty easy and simple because we just got a bunch of new students so we had to work on some simple techniques to give them a flavor of BJJ.

While I the wedding I rolled my ankle while dancing, which sucked.  Man did that hurt.  I kept dancing on it, which probably wasn’t the smartest thing, but I still had a lot of fun.  The bride and groom are dear friends so it was really nice being part of their special day.

Because of my ankle I didn’t train during the week.  Instead I went to class yesterday and had a specific request as to what we should work on.  My friend PB Steve and I were talking about his training sessions and he said that he had trouble getting out from under BB Luis’s mount.  BB Luis uses his hooks on his opponent’s shins and works submissions from there.  Because of this his mount is very difficult to deal with.

Although BB Luis didn’t submit PB Steve, Steve was frustrated with the fact that he couldn’t escape the mount.  We spoke about getting together on our own and working on that so I asked our Instructor to teach us about those and how to deal with them.

His response (so obvious): “Don’t let the guy get them in.”  So he showed us how you can get your butt closer to your heels such that there is no space for the hooks to go in.  Then, we worked on dealing with them should you be too late.  The first priority is to protect your neck.  Once you have that down than you can manipulate your legs such that you eventually get your opponents hooks out.  I won’t try to explain the techniques here because there is such a visual aspect to them that I won’t do it justice.

I didn’t get involved in the open mat because of my ankle so I called it a day.  I hope to get back to my normal training schedule after next week.  Wish me luck.

Chau e bom dia!

Uma Semana Facil

Ola!

Last week’s classes were the easiest ones I’ve had in a long time.  On Tuesday we worked on side mount attacks and defense.  We worked on a straight arm lock from side mount, a kimora from side mount and an arm bar from side mount.  Everyone was going pretty easy; maybe that was just the mood of the class.  I remember everyone going really slowly.  Even the higher belts were really working on detail.  It was quite interesting.

Saturday’s class was also pretty easy.  We worked on very basic guard passes.  Again, the class went really slow and easy.  Maybe everyone’s slowing down because fall is coming.  It was weird.  I never saw a class go by like this.  Even open mat was all relaxed.  We were all going at a snails pace.

I rolled two times, one with a BB named Nassir and a WB named Rusalov.  Nassir is really good so I focused on my defense and he didn’t get me.  When I rolled with Rusalov I just controlled him.  I think if the round was longer I would have gotten him because he would have tired himself out.

Going to class tomorrow.  Let’s see if this “easy” trend continues.

Chau e bom dia!

 

Muito Trabalho

Ola!

Had a pretty awesome week in Jiu-Jitsu.  My wife is in a book club it was her turn to host it at our house so I had to make myself scarce.  What better way to do that than Jiu-Jitsu?  I went to class and BB Luis was teaching (Our instructor only teaches on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays).  We worked on stand up techniques that you would use should an attacker try to wrap their arms around you in a bear hug (I’ve always wondered if bears actually performed this move…anyone know the origin?).

One variation was to throw your hips back, put your hands on his hips, step to the side, clinch his elbow and step back in front of him, squaring your hips to his and do the hip toss.  Very cool.  Then, we worked on a few other variations of that situation and proceeded to ground work.

We worked on side mount chokes and a technique that lead to an arm bar should one of the attacks fail.  Then, we worked on a technique where you’re on the bottom in the north/south position’; you escape out, bring yourself around and apply a triangle.  Very complicated stuff and too detailed to explain here.  I’m sure it would bore you more than enlighten you.  Plus, I struggled with it because it was so advanced so there’s a lot of work I have to do on it before I get even semi-comfortable with it.

We started the open mat and I only did one round with a BB named Keith.  I did well.  I didn’t get him, but I pretty much controlled him the entire time.  He couldn’t stop me from passing his guard and he couldn’t get out from under me while in side mount.  That was pretty much Monday’s class.

Then, I went to No Gi on Saturday.  3 people showed up, 2 women and a 17-year old kid (one of woman’s son) wanted to sign up so PB Art wanted to work with them in the 2nd training room while 4 of us worked on stuff.  We did just basic stuff like passing the guard and sweeps from the guard.  It was a very productive class because there was only 4 of us there wasn’t that weird pressure you feel during  a larger class where you don’t want to ask too many questions.

I rolled with two guys: BB Keith and BB Neil.  I did well with Keith, but got killed by BB Neil.  Neil has the perfect mixture of strength and technique.  It was great.  That was class pretty much.  I spoke with PB Art about the new people and it seems like they have come to the right school.  One woman is a therapist who deals with high-risk mental patients so she wants to be able to protect herself should something go wrong.

I have a friend who does the same thing in DC and she has been attacked by 2 of her patients.  Fortunately, an orderly was nearby on both occasions so the situations ended well.  I’m trying to convince her that she needs to learn BJJ; hopefully she’ll come around.  Anyway, the other woman was assaulted, not sexually, but it was physical, so she wants to learn to protect herself.  That’s a good mentality given our school’s approach to BJJ.  I hope they stick with it.

Finally, today I went back to school (I haven’t gone to class three times in one week in a LONG time) and we worked on mount techniques.  One was the baseball choke, the defense of the baseball choke and eventually getting to a bump and roll so that you end up in your attacker’s guard. After about an hour and 15 minutes we lined up for mount escapes.

Because I was being a bit cheeky during class, my instructor forced me to be one of the first guys to lay down and work.  And of course I end up being partnered with BrnB Bob.  He is a BEAST!  VERY strong, knows a lot of techniques, has a wrestling background on top of that and his mount is VICIOUS.  Apparently, I worked my defense really well because he was trying to get me for a while.  He would alternate between trying to get a collar choke and forcing me to turn to my side where he went for an arm.  Eventually, I was able to trap both of his arms and bump and roll him.  I was really surprised.  I thought for sure he was going to get me, but I was able to escape.

Very proud of myself for that.  That shows me that I’m really internalizing my instructor’s philosophy and using it to great effect.

Looking forward to the next class.  Until then, chau e bom dia!