It was one of those Mondays. So, I decided to go to class.

Huge class today. More of the returning-college student syndrome I think. And one blue belt visitor from Denver. Mat space was at a premium tonight.

More of the turtle guard position drilling. But Damian added a combination of our turtle guard drill and the running escape from side control that we did a couple of weeks ago. Nice to have another option to go to. We also did some positions that result from passing the De La Riva that were related. Basically threading the needle to your knees and then pushing into a dead angle.

I was paired up with new-guy-Mike, and on one of the De La Riva passes, he landed heavy on me, and something popped in my chest. Again. Grrrrr. Stupid ribs. I didn’t roll after class, it was pretty tender. Better now, but it still makes me think that my progress or peak potential may be limited by my physicality. :/

I missed W3D3b of the 100 Pushups…so I started over with W3D1b tonight.

The last couple of classes have brought in some new (to me anyways) faces. 3 or 4 different guys have come back for the summer. Must be students away at school or something. The result has been a swelling of the class. Mat space is becoming scarce.

Today was the last day of the turtle guard techniques we’ve been drilling for the past week. We rotated partners a few times, just to get a feel for different body types. In addition to the 4 moves we’ve already learned, we learned another one. It’s really a clock choke escape. Took me a bit to get it, but Brian was patient enough to let me run through it a few times slow. Plus he showed me a nice counter to a pass defense.

My rib has been feeling pretty good this week. Still tender in one spot, but I think I’m at 95% or so, so good enough to roll. I paired up with one of the new guys, as far as I can tell, a zero stripe white belt…but he had to be 260 pounds at least. He swept me, but I escaped his mount and regained guard. But he just crushed me and put on a half cross choke and leaned into me and squished me like a bug. A bit of a breather, and I grabbed Matt for a roll. I like rolling with him, he’s just a little bigger than I am and a little stronger, and is a good challenge. I’ve also never tapped him out.

We started, and I got on top. He started a open guard that quickly turned into a triangle. I stacked him up and started to turn out of it (thanks to Saulo’s Jiu-Jitsu University book!), but got hung up. He didn’t have the angle to make it tight, and I had my jaw down. He squeezed and squeezed, but I just hung out and worked one hand to his collar and started pressuring his neck. He released it, and we started again. He jumped into my guard, I broke him down and did the elevator sweep I learned on Tuesday. He seemed pretty surprised at the quick reversal of fortunes!

He bucked, and I got his back, but he defended really well and escaped to half guard, and rolled me over. He got an americana grip going, but I was able to grab my sleeve with my other arm and use his head for leverage to defend it. I tried the take the back from guard that we learned on Tuesday too, but couldn’t break his headlock, my arms were like jelly at this point. We were both pretty gassed and slowing down. I butterflyed his leg, setting up the elevator again, but couldn’t get it working.

I heard Damian shouting “Don’t give up on it Josh!” so I kept the hook, relaxed a little, and waited for him to move. We were both panting, so it took a minute, but as soon as his weight shifted I lifted and rolled him right over. He bucked and tried to spin out of the mount, but gave up his back. I got my feet in as hooks, but he grabbed my wrist before I could get his collar. I was only an inch away, right in front of my face. I knew if I could get it, I had him.

He was bucking, but my legs held him, and I was able to nudge his collar over with my other hand. Got one finger on it, pulled it in…got two fingers on it, started to pull on his neck. He felt it and let go of my wrist to defend, and I got a full on grip and that’s all she wrote. A pretty epic roll for me. We were both happy with it.

I try not to have an ego in class, or keep track of who can tap out who and what my ranking in the pecking order is. But I can’t help but to be happy with that roll and success.

No fundamentals class tonight. It was supposed to be BJJ 101, but we just rolled instead.

Mongoose Mike got his first stripe too. Well deserved.

W3D2b pushups done. Proper form and all.

My ribs/back are at about 85% right now. Skipping Saturday I think was the right thing to do.

I’m back on the pushup bandwagon. Damian criticized my technique last week, so I’m starting over at Week 3 (b), and focusing on quality and range of motion, rather than quantity. 100 is the ultimate goal, but I’m only cheating myself if I skimp on the full benefits to hit it. Completed W3D1b yesterday with no problems.

Big class tonight, heavily weighted towards white belts. I warmed up with Bob, who is a member of the “Profuse Sweater” club. There’s a couple of guys who just get drenched and drippy. A little gross, but I can deal with it. For our last cycle of Side-control 101, I escaped side control with the bump and run escape we learned awhile back, and Tim happened to be sitting there watching it. “Look who’s getting fancy!” was his comment I think.

Class was more of the turtle guard sweeps that we did on Thursday. Nothing new, just more drilling. We eventually ramped it up to include some resistance at the end of class too.

I rolled twice with Rob, agreeing to go light. First one he tried to pass a couple of times, but I held and regained guard pretty good. I switched to open guard, and popped a triangle on him, but he stacked me up quick and then slapped a Ezequiel choke on me. Afterward, he said that’s the only way he knows how to get out of the triangle, choke the other guy first! We went again, and he got to half guard. I tried the turtle move of the day, but he took my back and had it well enough that he was going to squish and choke me so I tapped right away.

He went off and rolled with someone else, so I grabbed the heavy bag and ran through the 5 positions a few times on my own.

Fundamentals was taking the back from guard. Eventually. We started with what to do when you break down posture and the top guy clamps on a headlock and stalls in your guard. There’s a flat out awesome sweep we learned, a variation of the elevator sweep. Butterfly hook one leg, hack the other and roll. Easy as pie. Taking the back is similar, escape hips, break the headlock, reclamp the head, escape, and pull him over on top of you.

Side is still tender. Doesn’t hurt as bad as the last time I injured my rib, so I’m hopeful that I can work through it and not have to take any time off of class.

Warming up I partnered up with Mongoose Mike. Damian dubbed him that last week. He’s small (5′ 4″ ~120 pounds), but really quick. And coming to class 5x per week, so progressing fast. He’s Ethiopian, and it turns out they have mongooses (mongeese?!) there, so hence the nickname. Damian commented a couple of times on our Sidecontrol 101, mostly positive.

Great class tonight. We learned a slick method to get to turtle guard from half guard, and then three beautiful passes from there. I sorely needed some half guard instruction, so this was a welcome addition to my mental library of techniques. Mongoose Mike and I paired up for most of the drilling, though at the end I did a few with Rob. Even though they’re 60 pounds different in weight, the technique is pretty effortless.

Two new faces in class, and they both made it to the end. We’ll see if they come back or not.

Lots of people wanted to roll with me tonight, but I’m still trying to take it easy and finish healing up. I told Damian that I still owed him 60 pushups from last week…he simply replied “I know.” I gave him 70, extra 10 for interest. Did some sit ups too while waiting for the fundamentals class.

Fundamentals was an extension of the 5 positions, adding the reverse scarf hold and knee on belly positions. It was 3 of us, so I got to practice on the heavy bag. My ribs were hurting, so I took it slow and focused on getting every detail correct. We eventually switched partners and sped it up too.

I realized while driving home yesterday after class, that Saturdays (as long as they’re not Smackdowns) are pretty easy. I don’t think I would have said that 4 months ago, they’re not so bad. Even double dipping on the regular class + the fundamentals class isn’t so bad. It must mean I’m becoming conditioned to this use (abuse?!).

Strange class yesterday. Big, I think I counted 17. Maya got awarded her blue/white belt at the start of class. We also had 3 new guys taking their freebie class. After we did our warm up and stretching…Damian assigned us partners for a little Sidecontrol 101 (the last part of our usual warm up)..and there’s only 2 left. The third guy must of ducked out at some point and no one noticed!

Class was more posture & grip work from guard. We concentrated on a arm wrap that leads to a elbow or shoulder lock. I was paired up with Bob, who I’ve never seen before, but is a 2 stripe white belt. Apparently coming off of a long break away. Seemed like a nice guy, but I could tell he was rusty.

At the end of class, Damian called out Luke and Brandon, and had them go for 5 minutes with all of us watching. They went the distance, but Luke would have won on points. Damian’s never done this before, I think it was an “advertisement” for the competitions coming up.

I slacked off and didn’t do my pushups for Week 6 Day 3 (c). First time I didn’t. I’m going to redo Week 6 as compensation, and then retest next Sunday. Goal: 60

Before class tonight, I did Week 6 Day 2 (c) of the 100 Pushups program, making up for being busy on Wednesday.

Class was more grip fighting, this time in guard. We ran a drill a few times, guy on top is trying to get and maintain our standard grip, guy on bottom is trying to prevent it, break it, and get the top guy’s hands on the mat. Each hand touching the mat was 10 pushups. I got 30, banged out 15, and “owed” 15 more after class.

We also drilled an armlock from guard that fits in nicely with a grip break. I was paired up with Patrick and we both ran through it many times. Class just rushed by.

Afterwards, Tom wanted to roll again. I did good again in three solid rolls with him. The last one I played defense for a few minutes, working an open guard.

It was almost time for fundamentals to start, tonight was elbow and knee strikes. But Damian decided just to watch us all roll and give pointers. So Tom and I were back at it. No taking it easy this time around! And I did good again. On our second roll, I had Tom in my guard, and had failed an over the shoulder sweep, but when I came back to my back, I had his arm and locked in a great kimura. Damian said something to the effect that it actually looks like I’m beginning to know some jujitsu! Tom and I went one more time, and this was a long drawn out battle. He had my back for a while, and I defended it long enough to escape to turtle, and then regain guard. I think I won by armbar eventually.

Then Damian switches us up, and I get Kylie. Damian tells me to just keep doing what I was doing. And I tried…but Kylie’s no slouch (not that Tom is). We went 4 times, and I got smoked in them all. Once he gets me mounted, he’s like a lead brick. We talked afterward about it. I just need to be a little quicker to get my posture correct while he’s taking the mount. It’s all timing.

Awesome rolls tonight.