12 People at class tonight–three new people and a visitor from NY. Awesome!
Warmups are getting pretty easy for me now. They are actually just warming me up instead of wearing me out. I did 45 minutes on the bike at HR 120 right before class, so I was already pretty warm. Standard stuff with jump-ups, crawls, guard retention, and hip thrusts for triangle. Then we did partner drill (Ed) for KoB and stepping around the head to switch sides.
Technique–again working with Ed
We worked on triangle from guard and turning failed triangle to arm bars. The key for both of us was rotating for the little angles in the triangle, especially at the end. We both sort of preferred just going for the armbar from that position because, being bigger, it’s tougher for us to scoot into the rotations for the best position–definitely something to work on–and the feeling right now (I’m sure this is will be proved wrong) is that the armbar is way more natural for us.
Rolling
6:00 with New Dan (WB)–Taller than me, maybe a little stronger. A little heavier and a little more experience. He works stiff. He immediately got me into some sort of lock on my legs that I had to tap. We haven’t learned any of that stuff yet, so I don’t feel bad. Was pretty back and forth the rest of the time. I made him eat my weight from side control for a little bit. He got me again with a slice across the mouth that made me eat the gi right before time. #Survive
6:00 with Ben (PB, visiting)–This dude wore me out, but I was pretty happy with how I did. I probably had 40 pounds on him. I know he wasn’t going all out, but he tapped me twice–triangle and arm bar. Pulled two sweeps on me that I saw coming a mile away and could do nothing about, which was funny. He gave me a side control gift for a little while. #TryToSurvive.
6:00 with Louis (WB)–Louis is pretty banged up and asked to go more as a flow roll. So happy to do that because I was exhausted from Ben and he has helped me so much already. I know that I’m heavy, and that’s pretty much all I know, so I get it that people who are injured don’t want to just suffer my shoulder in their face. I immediately pulled guard and held that for 5:30. Very relaxed and he worked to pass. Showed the armbar and triangle when he opened them up, but didn’t attempt to take them. When he defended I released. He passed and I worked on defending side control for the last 30 seconds. #Defend.
6:00 with Norm (PB)–Norm is maybe my favorite person to roll with right now because he can flatten me at will. And he’ll do it too. I know I don’t offer him very much of a fight though, and I feel bad about that. We’re about the same size, so I’m hoping a benefit I can give him is that I’m strong enough that he has to think more about technique than size/strength. But I’m sure he’s way past that and already has really solid technique. I know he passes my guard very quickly and I haven’t made it out of his yet. The best I’ve gotten is maybe 3/4. He completely wrecked me with an arm drag that included some jewel mining, but he was nice enough to show it to me. He also coached me through an escape from mount. Maybe the highlight for me was that he went for a bow and arrow, and I recognized it from class on Tuesday and was able to defend it until time ran out. #TryToSurvive
Yes…everyone still beats me, but I’m ok with that. Losing is learning and improving.