I slept horribly last night after class. And this morning a combination of being tired, sore, and a near complete lack of motivation convinced me to stay in bed another hour and skip Crossfit. 3 Crossfit classes plus 3 hard jiu-jitsu classes this week have taken their toll!

Class last night was small, only 8 of us. Damian is still out sick, so round robin rolling it was. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I had been thinking a lot about being more aggressive with the take down and getting a decent position right off the bat. And with that in mind, I started with Ron.

I did a kneeling version of the arm drag dump right off the bat. I didn’t get side control, but I did end up on top in half guard. Tripod pass to side control, switched sides when he rolled into me, mount, americana, and he taps. Smooth, pretty quick, and about as perfect as I can do. We started again, this time I pulled guard and tried to work for an over wrap (one arm over his shoulder, the other under his armpit, clasped behind his back) and then eventually work to take his back. But his posture was pretty good and we ran out of time.

Mongoose and I went hard as usual. I made the same mistake I always do with him, loosing the underhook from half guard, and then he takes my back. This time I caught myself and regained it quickly. I eventually used the BJ mount technique and cross collared him.

Oscar was next. I don’t think I’ve ever rolled with him before, but he’s a beast. 6′ 2″, 220 pounds…..and 15 years old. Seriously. Strong as an ox, has been wrestling for years and years, and is a yellow belt (the under-18 version of a blue belt). So in short…a very uphill 5 minutes for me. I head pushed as best as I could, but he passed. He was very tight, but I foiled his mount attempts for a while. He eventually worked for a arm triangle, choking me between his bicep and my own shoulder. He thought he had it, but I had enough space to wedge my jaw low enough to keep the blood flowing. He squeezed and squeezed, and I don’t know how to escape from there, but I was bucking and trying to move as much as I could while still keeping my jaw down. The 30 seconds left beeper went off, and I made it out with out tapping.

Nolan was next, who’s basically a older version of Oscar. He took it pretty easy on me, only defending when he really needed to. I passed and switched to north-south for a choke, but he blocked. I switched to knee pillow and worked one there next, he blocks. I mount and go for the cross collar, he blocks. I keep working it though, and get it. So I’m pulling for all I’m worth, and posted up on my head so as much of my body weight is on his neck as I can muster and still maintain the mount. I feel him pause for a couple of seconds, then he upa’s me back to guard, but I’ve still got the collar and I’m still squeezing. He postures up and eventually breaks it, but I’m amazed at how long he lasted. Everyone tells me that my cross collar choke is pretty good. He told me later that he was seeing stars.

Matt, Luke and Tim rounded out my night. The roll with Tim was notable. He tapped me a couple of times, but in our last go, I escaped his mount, s-mount, back control, and one armlock before he got me in another. Probably the longest I’ve lasted against him.

Luke taught the fundamentals, and it was about taking the back from guard, the exact move I tried on Ron early in the night. We did it both the way I tried to do it, and a new way that I haven’t seen before. The old way is a slow, methodical creep around the body. Hard to stop, but it can take a while. The new way is dynamic and can be very quick if done correctly. Very cool, and it works great when your opponent is posting his hands on your stomach or chest, preventing you from moving much.