Open Mat Saturday

Saturday was a good, almost relaxing, day on the mat. Even though it didn’t start that way.

I got there, changed, and did some stretching and warming up. Dave was nearby, and so when we were ready, away we went. I started, as I usually do, on by butt, one hand back behind me for a base, the other up and ready to intercept. We each grabbed a sleeve, and he snagged a knee too, and started to walk around to side control. I rolled into him, moving to get my hands into proper position. He went to hook my head, and whacked me right in the eye with the back of his hand. We stopped, because I yelped and was seeing stars. After a minute of eye watering and laughing about it, we restarted. Not 30 seconds later, as I was escaping side control, he posts with his hand and then yelps himself. Apparently he smacked his hand down on the mat and caused hit his still-broken-but-tapped-and-healing finger to pop. So he quit for a while and when outside to stick his hand in the snow.

And I switched to Bryannt. He hasn’t been around in a long while, but is a good kid. We went back and forth for a while. I ended up on top, and in side control with him facing the wrong way, and ended up securing a wing choke. We restarted, and he was a bit more agressive this time, and got me mounted and grapevined my legs (which I have determined that I don’t like). My elbows were in tight and my neck was protected, so it became a battle of me trying to un-grapevine my legs enough so that I could upa or elbow escape out. Eventually I got out, but he maintained side control. He started an ezekiel choke, but I had my hand in place to block it. Then he switched to a weird no-arm arm triangle that I’ve never seen before. I didn’t worry about it, until I realized it was working and had to tap.

We restarted again, and were both moving pretty good. I was in guard, and he stood up. I started working for any of the sweeps that we had been drilling all week when Damian stopped us and showed us both something really slick. Bryannt was bent over, and crowding me, so even if I had the right grips, the sweep was unlikely to work because I didn’t have the leverage. So instead, I can open my legs, underhook one of his legs, slide my knee (and just my knee) down and inside his thigh, then duck my head under his leg to go with my arm. Now my other leg naturally wants to come too, and I can reach up, grab his belt in the small of his back, kick my legs and boom, I’ve taken his back. We drilled it a half a dozen times each, just to get the feel for the move. Apparently Cobrinha (“Little Snake”) has made this move famous.

Water break, and then I switched to roll some with Derrick. He tapped me a few times, but I thought I did well anyways. He did comment that I was moving better. I did have one nice armlock escape that drew a cheer from Dave who was watching.

Last rolls of the day were with Short Josh. Again, he got me a couple of times, but I felt like I was moving well. He commented that my paleo diet must be working, because I felt lighter. As we were cooling off, I showed him the Cobrinha technique, and he thought it was pretty sweet too.

After I stretched I went and did my 531 presses. It’s week 4 so the weight is really light and didn’t take long to do.

Diet is going great. No major cravings. My eternally stuffy nose, which I had chalked up to allergies, has cleared up.