It was nice to have a longish break from things to relax and heal up to 100%. Not that I was injured or anything, but it was good to get a feeling for what my every-day non-exercising-mode state. And it felt good.

There’s less than a month to the Submission Hunt, so my plan is to up my training intensity some, hit up an extra night of class per week if I can, and drop a couple of pounds so I can go down a weight class. I probably don’t need to watch my weight too much, but with the improvement I’m seeing from doing Crossfit, I may gain a pound or two of lean mass between now and then that I’m not accounting for now.

After our normal warm up, Mongoose and Derrick got called out for a 5 minute match. They grip fought for a long while before Derrick got the take down. He passed pretty quickly, but Mike escaped when Derrick went for the mount and stood back up. Derrick got the take down and passed again right as time ran out. I thought Mike did pretty good.

For the rest of us…sparing night. “No breaks!” Damian said. “Except for white belts, you guys can take one. Except for Josh and Pete.” Eeek. But okay, I can do that. I came out way too hard and fast in the first 5 minute round vs Rob. Maybe I was over excited to be back in the groove, but we went like savages. I escaped his guillotine choke, but got swept and passed. He mounted for a second but I got out of it.

30 second break for water, and I’m already panting. I thought to myself that I’ll slow down and take it easy in the next round, then get to a normal pace after that. Except…Damian called me out as his next partner. Oy. No slacking now! So away we went. In retrospect, I think I’m too hasty with him. He rolled to his usual weird guard, and I defended some grips and tried to stuff one leg. He swept, but had one arm in and one out so I went for a triangle….except I forgot to grab his head so he sat up. He pointed that out and told me to finish it, so I did. Next he used an open guard, so I circled my hands to the inside of his thighs and tried to pass behind his legs, to no avail. During the break he emphasized the importance of grip breaking and how a grip goes both ways. No matter who has the grip, both sides can push or pull with it.

I forget who all was next, but Mongoose, Nick the wrestler, Rob, Derrick, John, and atleast one other was in there. Derrick was memorable, I escaped an armbar, then a triangle, then an armbar, then a mounted triangle. Felt good to escape them all, but bad to give him all the opportunities! THREE times Damian pulled the “Last round!” trick. By the end, everyone was gassed.

Damian opened it up to questions. Matt asked about the kimura grip armbar, and learned that you have to hug the arm when they rotate into you, and push it when the rotate away. I asked about the tripod half guard pass and got a lot of things clarified. That’s one that I want to drill a night or two before the competition.

No fundamentals, since we had run way over anyways. Maya got awarded her blue belt, she looked a little shocked and might of even teared up a bit. Good for her, that’s a big step.