Apparently, as part of the Fabio seminar a few weeks ago, our gym was invited to join the Alliance Jiu-Jitsu team. And we’ve gone ahead and done so.

I’m not exactly certain how this is going to affect us on a day to day basis, but it will certianly open some doors to more high level seminars and visiting instructors. Plus, it’s kind of a big deal to be part of one of the best teams in the world. Especially with those that will be competing at the Pan Ams and the larger tournaments.

The fundamentals class last night was another sequence that we built up step by step. Starting with the bear hug, from behind this time, takedown, side control, mount, elbow escape to guard, traditional cross choke. Then one of two sweeps, either the simple, or the double ankle. Renaulto and I drilled and drilled. I focused on my hand positioning in the cross choke. If you’ve got them in the right place, it doesn’t take much to get the tap.

For the advanced class, the first half was the X pass. I’ve done this before, but a long time ago. I recalled it being tricky, and it still is. The second half of class was one of the Fabio sweeps from open guard. There’s about 19 steps to it, but Bob the Monster and I took it slow at first and eventually got the hang of it. We also ran through a counter variation to a common defense.

The last 15 minutes of class was 10 minutes of semi live drilling. Starting in open guard, either pass (using the X pass if possible) or sweep (using the pretzel sweep if possible). Then switch sides and go again. Bob got me almost every time, but I did manage to both sweep and pass him once. The last 5 minutes were some conditioning stuff. Sprawls mainly.

After class, I was pretty bushed and ready to head out….but Bob insisted on a few rolls. He whooped on me a few times, as usual.