This week was my first 3-time Crossfit week in a while. Really…it was my first 2-time Crossfit week in a while! As a result of some heavy squats on Friday, I was a little stiff on Saturday. So I decided to take it a little easy.

Rolling started out perfectly. I paired up with John, who appeared to be pretty new. Bigger guy, and still in the slightly-spazzy newbie mode. I pulled guard with him each time, going a little slow, for both of our sakes. He struggled in my guard, eventually popped it open, “passed” in the sense that he got to side control, but didn’t really use any particular technique to get there. I regained half guard, then guard. We repeated a couple of times, but then he attempted the usual newbie “one arm in one arm out” pass, which I’m morally obligated to punish via triangle choke. So I did. We went again, and he was huffing and puffing pretty good this time and moving much slower. My improvement in my own conditioning still amazes me. This time I slowly attempted to over the shoulder sweep, he countered by pushing into me, and I landed in near perfect kimura position. I couldn’t get the grip, but did switch around to his back. I caught myself leaning back to finish the choke, but Fabio jumped into my head, and I leaned in to watch his face as I finished it this time.

Next up was Tim, who beat me up, as usual. Twice I tried the Fabio guard break, and failed both times. Tim pointed out that I was holding his pants, but the heel of my hand wasn’t on his hip as it should be. It’s tricky.

Last was another purple belt, who’s name escapes me. We went a few times, him tapping me in each, but I put up a good effort I think. I escaped a couple of armlocks, and avoided one sweep. However, my nemesis, the butterfly guard, continues to be a thorn in my side.

Did my 531 press work and called it a day. The past month or so, my schedule has been so erratic with Crossfit that I restarted month 2 of the 531 program. Focusing on form, especially with my squats. George pointed out a small flaw in my deadlifts this week which I’ve corrected. And when I squatted yesterday, Liz said they were perfect. My estimated one rep maxes are holding steady from my Dec-Jan levels, so my slight lean mass loss due to paleo in Jan hasn’t affected my strength. Now that I’m (hopefully) back on the steady 531 bandwagon, they’ll start creeping up.