Pushing and Testing

Jiu jitsu is an “unusual” martial art. Unusual in the regard that there is no artistic elements to it, everything is based on functionality and effectiveness. Most of the other arts have katas, or kata-like elements…drills or sequences that flow from one move to another. Common with karate and kung fu, and usually used for demonstration, competitive or testing purposes. Tonight was a night to test our jiu jitsu. Nothing but rolling.

We spent a little longer than normal warming up and stretching. Then I did a few take down drills with Tim, working on my single leg. And then it was rolling time. 5 minute rounds, 30 second break. I wanted to push myself a little bit, test my cardio and my diet, so I resolved to take no rounds off.

First up was Nam, a brand new guy. Tim told us to start with BJJ 101, but Nam wanted to roll, so roll we did. I went slowly, letting him work here and there, then escaping. I treated this first round as an extended warm up. I did armlock him once when he was attempting to cross collar choke me from within my guard.

Next was Dave. A lively few rolls, mostly with me on the defensive. The one time I did sweep and get on top he rolled into a weird ankle lock that I think I could have kicked out of, but rather than fight it, I just tapped and reset. It bugs me that he bends the rules and does leg attacks like that, but I don’t think it’s my place to call him out on it.

We switched, and I ended up with Dan. He’s a blue belt, but one that I rarely run into. We started, I was doing okay for a while, working guard, and he popped me open passed. He was on me pretty tight, so I just focused on keeping everything in and tight, being defensive and upa’ing here and there to attempt to get back to half guard or something. I had a chance and started to thread the needle to get a single leg, but he sprawled and I ended up turtled. He didn’t take long to crack my shell and take my back. I stayed calm, defended, breathed, and eventually escaped. Now in his guard, I eventually got to half guard, and got a good deep grip in his collar, intending to use it more as a base than anything else. However, he shrimped away, trying to get to full guard, and when he did, he tilted his head back, and I shot my hand in on the other side and started a cross collar choke. My grip wasn’t perfect, but I knew if I adjusted it, I’d loose it, so I just squeezed and leaned into it….and after what seemed like an eternity, he tapped. I’m not certain, but that may have been my first legitimate tap of a blue belt. He complimented me on it, saying it was completely unexpected.

Rolled next with Tim a few times. He still gets me every time, but I’m lasting longer. Then back with Dave for a round. Nearly triangled him, and attempted (and failed) to use the slick back taking technique Damian showed me a couple of weeks ago.

I was about to call it a night, but Ed called me out. My unofficial jiu jitsu motto for 2011 is “One more round,” so away we went. Ed passed pretty easily, so I went into defensive mode again in his side control. Keeping the far underhook, but my elbow in. One knee up to prevent him from mounting me, and trying my best to keep his other arm of my head. He wove and underhook, I rewove mine back. Upa and attempt to escape, weave, reweave. Block the mount. He eventually got to mount, but I made him work for it. Now mounted, it’s time to protect my neck, keep my elbows in, and keep upa’ing. Ed’s no small guy, and he maintained the mount pretty well. I got to my side, and he secured the kimura grip on my low arm. My head was inside though, so he couldn’t do anything with it. I couldn’t escape, and he couldn’t submit me, so it was a bit of a stalemate for a while. I upa’d to get my hips out, and he timed it perfectly to loop his arm over and finish the americana. Afterward, he complimented me on my movement, patience and defense, saying all had improved alot since the last time we rolled.

Always nice to have others tell you that you’re improving, because it’s hard to tell sometimes.