We did a pretty typical warmup, then hit the reverse de la riva drill for use later in the class. I still can’t do that from one side, but the other side has actually gotten a little better. My partner said it was because I’m getting more up on my shoulders when I spin under from that side. Coach Frank gave us an option to just go halfway to help get the feel, and it also played into the technique of the night.
Review of lasso guard sweep:
Four fingers into the cuff of the sleeve on both sides
Shrimp to get shin to crook of the elbow
Shrimp to get the other crook of the elbow
Push butt up to tighten that hold
Turn to opposite hip to punch leg out and loop for lasso
Bait the pass, reach under other leg and load them up
Push/pull for the sweep
Coach Frank noticed in live rolls last week that lots of people were going for the lasso guard, but people were standing to defend. To remedy that, he showed us another sweep to use on a standing opponent:
Establish lasso guard like above
Move loose foot between opponent’s legs and hook the back of their hip
Hand to the back of trap foot to assist the…
Spin under a la reverse de la riva
Rotate hand to grip pants or ankle
Push up with lasso leg–opponent will roll, use that momentum to punch up the grip hand
Rolled with Norm first. I feel like these rolls are starting to follow some sort of script. They definitely all end the same. I can’t tell if I’m doing the same thing over and over and it’s not getting through to me, or if I’m becoming a little more aware of my base and am simply slowing down the inevitable sweep and submit. Still not passing, that’s for sure.
Rolled with Shawn and tried to keep scrambles going as much as possible. My cardio is better than his, so my strategy with him usually is to move, move, move and wear him down to a point where I can catch him. Didn’t work this time–he got a hold of me and applied pressure. Never really close to tapping, but I couldn’t make my way back to the top either. My half-guard options from the bottom right now only involve getting to the top.
Django was next. He’s gotten a lot better in two weeks. Fun to roll with him because I feel like I’m free to move around a lot and see what kind of weird positions we get into.
Dan the Man was next, and as always, the most fun. Lots of half guard reversing going on between us–me moving to top because I’m stronger and heavier, him moving to the top because he has better technique and is faster. The funny thing is that we both had the other’s lapel wrapped around a neck or an arm the entire time. It was like a race to see who could choke the other faster.
Circles, up and downs, single drills with sit-through (all three steps) and neck rolls. We partnered up and did KoB rotations, then straight to technique.
Technique was passing a review of Wednesday’s lunch class from headquarters:
Same side grip on lapel/knee
Knee to sturnim
Slice
Swap lapel grip
Knee grip moves to wrist, pull up and slide through
and
Same side grip lapel/knee
Knee to sturnim
Swap grips grips
Hip bump to move leg and side control
Roll with Shawn–he swept me a bunch of times and got really close on a choke. Ended with him having my back, I went to attack arm bar, which is something Ed does with me a lot. It’s not really something you are likely to finish, but it does make the other guy forget about the choke and defend his arm.
Roll with Jonathan, worked on retaining guard. Went to mount almost back. No submission either way.
Roll with Dr. Dan–worked on retaining open guard, got him to full guard and attempted arm bars, kimuras, sweeps, but nothing happening. He is tough to move once he’s locked down a position.
Roll with Matt–new guy, and really fun to roll with. Got closer to a Bow and Arrow than I’ve been with anyone else.
Again with Shawn–hand up the gi choke and got an arm bar.
Only three of us made it to open mat this week. Of course Ed was there, and of course we had another really long match. I had his back for a while but..
Still. Can’t. Finish. RNC.
Had a couple of triangle attempts, and one was in pretty deep. I think I was pretty close to the submission, but he’s just dang strong and stubborn. By the time I ended up with him in my half guard my arms were too tired from the RNC to defend the Americana. Got me again! LOL
Next we drilled arm bars from guard with Mitch, who didn’t want to roll because of his shoulder. I’m always down to drill, so this was great.
Afterwards, Frank took on me and Ed for two 3 minute rounds each, and he upped the tempo on us. A lot more movement, and it turned out to be really fun! I think it would do me a lot of good to develop that different gear for when I need it.
Next, Ed and I went for a three minute round, and I planned to focus on pace. I started working a guillotine from guard pretty early, but when I glanced back and checked the clock we were already a minute in, so I got to moving. Got the sweep, side control, and knee on belly. Was working for his back again when time ran out. No submission, but a shutout on points.
Smallish class tonight, and me the only white belt.
So, yeah…beat down.
For warm ups we mixed it up a little with grip fights, knee on belly drills, and reverse de la riva switching drill. I missed Tuesday’s class, so I was already behind on the RDLR, but wouldn’t have mattered a lot–it will be a while until that coordination kicks in for me. Not a problem–I was in the same place with KoB a month ago.
Oddly, the technique part of class was all reverse de la riva based, and I had a much easier time of it. The sweep I got (not perfectly, but I got it) immediately. Then we did another more technical move.
Reverse De la riva sweep
Pull ankle tight to the butt
Cross grip deep into the lapel
Same side grip on the cuff
Punch down and sweep
Like this
The RDLR to take back–I can’t even begin to explain. Luckily I can post a Kurt Osiander video and he can show it. Like he says in the video, this is a good one for little people.
I’m not a little people.
Three five minute rolls in rotation. Went with Norm first–one tap to some sort of choke, but I felt like I defended some others pretty well.
Next up was Dan the Man. He had a pretty tight triangle on me, but I stacked him up and was able to rotate out. That alone got me pretty tired. I was kinda sorta trying to work a baseball choke at the end, but I was screwing it up in every possible way. He probably was completely confuse.
Last was coach Frank. Of course he got my back, and then he aimed for the bow and arrow choke. I defended. I’m sure he could have submitted me a hundred different ways, but he seemed determined to try and get it, so I kept defending and looking for a way out. He got a wrist lock on me as the bell went off, so I didn’t have to tap. LOL
Burner. We picked the wrong day to spend at the beach before class, because this one tore me down. Awsum.
Warmups got a lot tougher today with shots and sprawls mixed into the usually light jog. Technique was a butterfly guard pass and a butterfly sweep.
Pass
Hands grip outside knee and label (same sides as hands)
Snake knee hand side foot in, then drop step around when foot hits mat. Causes an X with the arms–leave it until knees are positioned
Switch hands to side control
Sweep
Cuff grip and punch opponent’s hand down
Reach around and grip belt with other hand
Drop cuff side knee down and under
Lift belt side leg, rolling to shoulder
King of the mat with three down and four up, so not much break there. Then we went into rolls starting in bad positions and just roll from there. I had Norm’s back to start, which didn’t last long, but it’s the only time I’ve ever had that. LOL. Next Joe had me in side control. Took me a while, but I was able to get out. He was about 2 seconds away from finishing a triangle, but I was able to escape.
Then we actually rolled. Had two really good rounds with Ed and Louis. Pulled guard with Ed to start and he passed pretty easily (which means I need to work more) and got me in side control. Defended the mount and eventually worked up to one myself. Attempted baseball bat choke and seated triangle but could finish neither.
Went next with Louis–we were already pretty spent. Took me about half the round to pass his guard (also need to work on). He was able to work me back into guard and sweep me, but I immediately got a good triangle attempt. I was focused on stuffing the arm before pulling the head and thrusting, but he told me later I had it deep and could have finished. Dang! Ended the round with an arm but not able to finish. Pattern developing here.
