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.

Tonight was a nice, solid night. Good training, good performance, and good feelings. One of those times where everything clicks and works out.

I knew I had to pace myself tonight, so it was my expressed intention to go a little easy. I had done Crossfit in the morning (one of my uncommon two-a-days), and I was still a little stiff and sore from the marathon rolling of Tuesday. After we warmed up and did our 101 warm up, the order of the night was takedowns. 15 each. I broke it up into 5-5-5 of the push-pull-push-trip, the leg-hook-collar-drag and the one arm shoulder throw. These are the three I’m working on for the tournament. My partner Matt used a really slick wrestling take down that I hadn’t seen before, a kind of arm drag into a single leg.

And then….more rolling! I forgot who I started with, but second up was Damian. I had put in a fair amount of thought into the problems I had with him on Tuesday. My plan was to calm down, slow down, be a bit more methodical, and break his grips at every opportunity. And my plan worked pretty well. He swept me as I was passing, but landed in my guard with his arm out, so I got the kimura. Then I tripod passed him and nailed the north-south cross choke. I tried out the BJ Penn style mount that he showed us on Tuesday, but my foot got stuck in his crotch. Turns out I could have switched it up to an s-mount or a knee pillow.

Mongoose, Ron, Sam and a couple of others rounded out the night. Last up was Matt, who was just exhausted, and I was tired, but still keeping a steady pace. I’m really thinking my cardio has improved. Almost every roll I was constantly moving, and executing the things I’ve been working on. In particular, the tripod half guard pass that I asked about on Tuesday and reviewed worked well.

After rolling, Mongoose and Sam had a question about the same arm drag takedown that Matt was doing to me earlier. Turns out it’s one of the techniques that was taught at the wrestling clinic last weekend that I missed. And it turns out that they’re going to do another one next weekend. I picked up enough of it that I drilled it a couple of times with Matt.

Once again, everyone was pretty gassed after class. So we did a few minutes of cool down stretching. I think that it really helped, and it sounded like it’ll be something that we’ll be doing regularly.

Fundamentals was the open guard leg hook sweep and the headlock escape. There was a lot of interest in it, so I suck around to brush up on it and be the demonstration dummy for Luke.

It was nice to have a longish break from things to relax and heal up to 100%. Not that I was injured or anything, but it was good to get a feeling for what my every-day non-exercising-mode state. And it felt good.

There’s less than a month to the Submission Hunt, so my plan is to up my training intensity some, hit up an extra night of class per week if I can, and drop a couple of pounds so I can go down a weight class. I probably don’t need to watch my weight too much, but with the improvement I’m seeing from doing Crossfit, I may gain a pound or two of lean mass between now and then that I’m not accounting for now.

After our normal warm up, Mongoose and Derrick got called out for a 5 minute match. They grip fought for a long while before Derrick got the take down. He passed pretty quickly, but Mike escaped when Derrick went for the mount and stood back up. Derrick got the take down and passed again right as time ran out. I thought Mike did pretty good.

For the rest of us…sparing night. “No breaks!” Damian said. “Except for white belts, you guys can take one. Except for Josh and Pete.” Eeek. But okay, I can do that. I came out way too hard and fast in the first 5 minute round vs Rob. Maybe I was over excited to be back in the groove, but we went like savages. I escaped his guillotine choke, but got swept and passed. He mounted for a second but I got out of it.

30 second break for water, and I’m already panting. I thought to myself that I’ll slow down and take it easy in the next round, then get to a normal pace after that. Except…Damian called me out as his next partner. Oy. No slacking now! So away we went. In retrospect, I think I’m too hasty with him. He rolled to his usual weird guard, and I defended some grips and tried to stuff one leg. He swept, but had one arm in and one out so I went for a triangle….except I forgot to grab his head so he sat up. He pointed that out and told me to finish it, so I did. Next he used an open guard, so I circled my hands to the inside of his thighs and tried to pass behind his legs, to no avail. During the break he emphasized the importance of grip breaking and how a grip goes both ways. No matter who has the grip, both sides can push or pull with it.

I forget who all was next, but Mongoose, Nick the wrestler, Rob, Derrick, John, and atleast one other was in there. Derrick was memorable, I escaped an armbar, then a triangle, then an armbar, then a mounted triangle. Felt good to escape them all, but bad to give him all the opportunities! THREE times Damian pulled the “Last round!” trick. By the end, everyone was gassed.

Damian opened it up to questions. Matt asked about the kimura grip armbar, and learned that you have to hug the arm when they rotate into you, and push it when the rotate away. I asked about the tripod half guard pass and got a lot of things clarified. That’s one that I want to drill a night or two before the competition.

No fundamentals, since we had run way over anyways. Maya got awarded her blue belt, she looked a little shocked and might of even teared up a bit. Good for her, that’s a big step.

Work and life have again conspired to keep me away from the mat! I have been keeping up with Crossfit. Still sore afterwards, pretty much every time. But it’s getting easier. Getting up at the crack of dawn isn’t so bad either.

I did manage to squeeze in a jiu-jitsu class today. Small one, only 8 of us. Including a couple of new faces. Both of which apparently have done some jiu-jitsu in the past.

The lesson was something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently…escaping side control. Too often I get flat and get stuck. Damian really drove home the importance of getting a strong bridge to get the space needed to regain guard. We did a drill with light pressure, maintaining proper hand position, and as the top guy moves from side control to north-south to side control on the other side, threading the needle to the plank position and then to proper side control posture on the other side. The plank in north-south was new material. I’ve ended up there more than once recently, without a plan of what to do.

Afterwards, on the of new guys, Mike (another Mike!) wanted to roll some. So we did. He said he felt pretty rusty, and got out of breath quickly, but still tapped me a couple of times. Made me feel pretty good to be feeling fine while he’s huffing and puffing away.

The date for the next Submission Hunt has been posted….November 14th. Only 5 weeks away! Time to step things up! Well, after life lets me get back to the gym. No more jiu-jitsu or Crossfit for at least a week.

I don’t know if this is a trend or not, but it seems like Thursday nights have been dedicated to round robin rolling. I don’t mind it at all, it gives me a chance to go against some of the higher level guys that I normally don’t get to.

And once again, Damian called me out as his first “victim”. It’s a strange experience rolling with him. When I’m on top, I constantly feel off balance, ready to be swept at any moment. Any, and often. He usually resets back to guard after he sweeps, only to do it again. It’s so different going against him, it’s 100% technique with him, where as everyone else is muscling or bullying to some extent or another. I did pass to side control near the end, and he did something very strange with his top side arm…putting it on the “wrong” side of my head. It worked very well for him, for I was shortly on the bottom with him side controlling me. We only had 30 seconds left, so I asked him to do that again, he did, and said that he’d teach it next week. He also said that I was doing the “right things” just “at the wrong times”

I think alot of my progress can be attributed to familiarity with positions and experience. I have a mental map of options…”I’m in such-and-such a position…okay, I want to do X, Y or Z”. But going against Damian, it’s just hard to describe. Not frustrating, just unfamiliar.

The rest of the time I was up against the usual cast of characters. I opted to aim low tonight, and mainly concentrated on the white belts. I took it easy, and mostly played defense. I did Crossfit that morning, and still hadn’t recovered.

Speaking of Crossfit…it’s going well. Tough, but that was expected. Pretty sore the next day, but bearable. I’ve been doing a Mon/Wed/Fri schedule, with T/Th for jiu-jitsu, and it’s been working well. This week I was off of work, so did Crossfit M/W/Th/F, and I paid for it a little on Saturday!

First day of Fall, and it’s cooling off quickly. It feels good!

Similar lesson to Saturday’s. Side control, push & switch, then either choke or armlock. We added on converting to knee pillow and combined the switch with some of the maintaining mount techniques we did last week.

All together, it’s a slick system. Lots of options to deal with escapes that your opponent may throw at you. Damian canceled the sweeps fundamentals class, even though a couple of the new guys could use it, “because I’m taking you somewhere and I don’t want the sweeps to distract you.” Interesting. Time will tell what he’s got in mind.

After class, I rolled with Alex. Hard and several times. Though he tapped me each time, I lasted alot longer than I have in the past. I even got off a couple of sweeps and reversals, and nearly caught him in a half guard cross collar choke. So close!

Damian shuffled us up, and I got Ron “The Grunter”. He’s new, and still in the “I’m going to muscle my way through this” stage. We kept up the pace, and I did well against him. When I was down, I defended and swept, when I was on top, I passed and submitted. I was firing on all cylinders. In our last roll, I even pulled off a pendulum sweep to mount to s-mount to armlock that was smooth as butter. It may even be the first pendulum sweep I’ve actually pulled off too. I went for an armlock from guard, but he defended, so the sweep involves making a big circle with your outside leg while underhooking his leg, and using the momentum from your leg to flip him over.

Great night of jiu-jitsu.

Crossfit is going well. I’m not going to detail everything here, but I met my first of the “girls” Fran wasn’t so bad. Reduced down to my “girly” level, which I hesitate to say, because there’s some girls there that I’m certain could whoop on me pretty good.

Ugh. Last night and this morning, I’ve been sore like I’ve never been sore before. Okay, not THAT bad, but pretty sore and stiff, mostly in the legs. Guess the squats and lunges did their job…

Ibuprofen is my friend, and convinced me I could make it through class.

Pretty low key class. A mix of the maintaining mount and attack techniques we’ve been doing, plus a little bit of the 5 Positions, and then a new switch technique and choke. Starting in side control, you push in, the bottom guy pushes back, and you use that momentum to spin to the other side, and either choke him with a judo choke or move into a knee pillow position and all of the options from there. The choke is similar to the karate chop choke (which I’ve found out is really called the Single Wing Choke).

Solid class, and once I was warmed up and moving, I didn’t ache quite as much. I hurt like I’ve never hurt before for a while after starting jiu-jitsu, but I’ve adapted and overcome…crossfit will be no different.

I was looking forward to last night’s class. New stuff is always good, even as I’m improving and working on the old stuff.

But we got a curve ball. No class, just round robin sparring. 5 minute rounds…and as a bonus, I get Damian first. I tried to pull guard right off the bat, but he half stood, so it was to open guard we went. I head pushed him twice, and tried for a hook sweep, but he kept my feet off his hips. I did leg circle them back in, which resulted in a “Good!” comment from him. He passed, side controlled me, and kinda laid there for a bit. I tried every escape I know, but he was a like a lead brick. He eventually let up, and we scrambled. I ended up on top, but was off balance and got rolled. He subbed me twice I think.

JP, Alex, and Mike were all over me too. JP dominated me positionally, but didn’t submit me. Alex was a machine, I don’t get why he isn’t a blue belt yet. Mike and I split. I also had new guys Ron and Nick. Ron and I split, both of us doing the exact same mount attacks as we’ve been drilling this week. This was the first time I’ve met Nick, and it was pretty clear by his shot and posture that he was a wrestler. He stayed tight, but wasn’t active. Too tight for me to do a whole lot, so I just made some space and waited. He eventally popped up to try to pass, and leaned way back and I over the shoulder swept him. Didn’t submit him, but he was last and we were both pretty tired.

This morning I took the plunge and gave the 6:30 (in the AM! eeek!) Crossfit class a shot. Enjoyable, but my legs were jello by the end. I think I’m going to keep it up & mix with home treadmill work. It still seems weird to me how my attitude towards personal fitness has changed in the last year.

I’m still on track with my Project Gas Tank…now entering week 3. My knees ached a little bit after my last run, which I’m going to keep an eye on.

Big group tonight, I counted 14, including some faces I haven’t seen in a while. After warming up, John grabbed me to partner. More of the attacks from mount drills. Towards the end of class, Damian introduced a couple of new alternatives that were a little more advanced, the s-mount and going to the bow and arrow choke. Then he opened it up to questions, saying that tomorrow he’s starting something new. A couple of quickie questions later, and we were done.

I had just grabbed a drink, and was about to start looking to roll when Damian walked by. The Mongoose was standing next to me, and Damian commented that we must be “having a lover’s quarrel” because we didn’t partner up. Mike’s the smallest guy in class, and alot of the time I’m close to the second smallest, and we’re pretty close in abilities, so we do partner up alot. But Maya and Sam were both in class tonight, and they’re closer to his size. Damian also commented that I’ve gotta watch out, because Mike might get his third stripe soon, and then we’ll have a real rivalry going. He was just being funny, but the thought of getting a third stripe has crossed my mind.

So Mike and I rolled. My mental goal of the night was to work my top game. I pulled guard, broke him down, and nailed an over the shoulder sweep. He escaped pretty quick to half guard, so I started with the tripod pass. After thinking about it, I know I did it wrong, and I think that I know what I did wrong, but at the time, I was pretty surprised when he swung around and took my back! I escaped that, and the mount, and then swept him again…and ended up in half guard again. Not wanting to give up my back, I tried to position for an arm triangle, but as I was moving toward it, he switched up to his knees. I went for a clock choke, but he had my leg, so I just took his back. He escaped, but I stayed on top and I finished him off with an ezequiel choke.

Sam and John were just starting to roll, so we stopped them, and switched partners. John’s a newer zero stripe, but he’s coming along. I pulled guard, and worked an armlock and a triangle, both just to make sure he kept his hands where they were supposed to be. I stopped my over the shoulder sweep, and elevator sweep, but I got the scissor sweep off. I landed in side control rather than mount, so I started working from there. He eventually got back to guard, and I used the standing guard break, and was going to X-pass. But all of a sudden I got really light headed, so I called time. I felt better after a minute, must of been the humidity, and we were going at a pretty good pace. We were going to continue, but he had to leave anyways.