Two visiting purple belts–Ohio John (about my size) and Tampa Rachel (Ana’s height, and built a little sturdier). We went through the warmup pretty quickly with some running, minimal up-and-down drills, some solo drills (sit throughs and knee-ups), followed by guard retention and KoB rotations with partners.

For technique, we built off of the KoB work we did a couple of weeks ago, adding a scissor choke to the end. To execute, we get to the point of setting up the legs for the omoplata. Instead of the omoplata, we grip for the kimura. If the opponent posts out his far arm, we reach out with our leg and hook it, then rotate and get other leg across his belt, applying pressure for the kimura again. Their natural defense will be to roll out of the kimura, allowing us to cross our feet and extend for the scissor choke.

Rolled with John, Norm, Dr. Dan, and Ed

Was pretty happy with my roll with John. He was on the attack for the entire roll, but I was able to defend through the whole thing. Not so lucky with Norm on the next roll, but I think I’m getting a little better. Or he was hurt. Started with Dr. Dan in my guard and got a scissor sweep to get on top. My knee was caught and I spent a lot of time fighting to get that to the mat for full mount. Got set up for an Ezekiel, but couldn’t finish–Ana explained to me later that I wasn’t lifting my elbows. He swept again–back to my guard and was looking for a cross choke and an arm bar as time ran out.

A round with Ed where I focused on half guard and half guard sweeps. Getting a little more comfortable with it. Tried it again on another roll with him, but had a tough time escaping. He ended up finishing me with an arm bar. Ouch.

Jiu-Jitsu