A whole week without any intentional exercise…first time that’s happened in…well, a long time. But back at it now.

Lots of new stripes and belts on everyone last night. Mo got his 4th and Mongoose jumped all the way to white/blue belt. I’m usually not too far behind those guys. Tim was sporting his shiny new purple belt too. And now some of the colored belts have stripes too.

We had a long solid warm up with some fun joking mixed into it. The past month or so, Tim and I have been making “I’m watching you” motions now and then. Tonight he mixed in a Thiago Silva style throat slitting motion with a big grin.

Class was the armlock from closed guard with a triangle choke and omoplata backups. Mo and I worked the first two alot, and tried the omoplata a couple of times, but never really got the knack of it. The armlock from guard is such a bread and butter move that it’s something I really need to work on and perfect. The omoplata…not so much. Not that it isn’t effective, just it’s less common.

After class Tim and rolled a few times. I thought I did well, escaping an armlock twice, and ending up on top both times. Never passed, but still reversed him. I’ve got to work on keeping my posture in guard, getting broken down makes everything a lot more difficult. Tom and I went a few times next, most went the same way, him in my guard, with the occasional pass, followed up by me sweeping or reversing him, and then tapping him. He did get me in an americana in one. I did finally pull off the arm pull bait into a triangle. Pull on a sleeve to get them resisting by pulling back, then switch it suddenly to a push, stuff the arm, and go right into the triangle.

Rome just returned from New York where he had a chance to train with John Danaher. John’s reputed to be the best BJJ instructor in the world. He spent a few minutes showing everyone a technique that he learned that’s applicable to the armlock, kimura, and americana. All switch the joint lock into a slicer. So instead of pressuring the joint, it applies pressure onto bone. They hurt! Even Damian was impressed by it.

Crossfit’s going good. Did my first pullups with band (2) assistance this morning!