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.

Small class tonight, only 8 of us. We drilled the stand up passes we worked the other night again. I was paired up with Mike. Since it was a small class, it gave Damian a chance to watch and critique each of us. It was nice to have the feedback. He also threw in a pass against the De La Riva guard, which I’ve seen referenced, but have no idea what it was!

Afterward, Damian told Mike that he wanted him to roll with me. So we did. I tried starting off ready with a butterfly sweep, but Mike just ended up in my half guard. He’s a smaller guy, and very quick. He was popping back and forth between side control on one side and the other. Once in a while he’d end up in mount, but he was so light I got out of it easily. I ended up in turtle with him having my back. I purposely rolled over and let him flatten me out so I could practice my escape. And it worked. It ended when I got him in a knee pillow position, and worked a choke. We rested up and went again, but didn’t have time to finish before Fundamentals started.

Triangle choke time. Matt and I drilled together. It was nice, because I had Matt in one on Tuesday, but couldn’t finish him, and now I know why. Lots of steps to doing thing right, and I think I’m much smoother now than the last time we did it.

At the end we learned the hook sweep, which I really liked. Nice way to drop your partner on his butt.

Completed Week 5 Day 2 of the 100 Pushups, the first day with 8 sets. I managed to hit 50 in the last set, a new personal best. Woo!

Did my 100 Pushups progress test on Sunday, and passed the minimum without killing myself. So…on to Week 5. Week 5 Day 1 was tough, similar to Week 4 Day 3, but with a few more reps each set. On Day 2, the sets increase from 5 to 8. Thankfully the reps drop.

Class last night started off with a few different ways to stand up from being in the closed guard. I partnered up with Joe and we had a good time drilling together. At the end, we learned the X-pass. Basically: stand up, break the guard, shove a knee one way, and move the other to pass. Tricky timing and balance. I got it a couple of times, but I need to work on it a lot more.

Rolled with Matt twice afterward. I’ve been thinking on how to improve against or beat him. He came in hard to start, as he usually does. I stuffed him a bit and tried out a guillotine choke. I had it on, and was securing my guard but he popped out. I’ve never done that before, so maybe it’ll make him think twice about coming in hard to start with. I held guard for a while, preventing several pass attempts. At one point we were separated, and I had a butterfly position set up ready with a sweep if he dove in again. He eventually did and I got on top (finally!) in half guard. He rolled me, and I ended up on my side with an arm trapped under myself. He worked the “half back” I guess, and got in a choke. Our second go he was hesitant to rush in on me (woo!), and I got into his guard. I went for the deep collar grip and was going to stand up to break his guard open, and as I did so, he slapped on an armlock. A little piece of me knew he was going to do it. I’m not unhappy with my progress.

Fundamentals was the 6 hooks drill, which I’ve done before. We also did a haymaker block to t-position self defense drill too.

My ribs are sore. Not sore like they were last month, on the side. They hurt this week in the center, just below my pecs.

Straightforward class today. Damian had commited to supporting his Crossfit guys at a local fitness competition, so we were on our own. 3 minute rounds, rotating between: guard with no hands, guard, half guard, side control and mount. Sweep, submit, or improve your position. I was partnered up with Joe. We had fun with it. I managed to pass on him a couple of times in the guard positions. We spent the half guard time with him showing me some passes and sweeps, since I know jack about that position right now.

After one cycle, we switched partners, and I got JP. And he just manhandled me. Maybe I was tired, maybe it’s the 20+ pounds he has on me, who knows. But we’d start, and I’d be instantly flat on my back, and helpless. He was like a lead blanket. A little frustrating, but it’s something I’ll have to learn to deal with, or avoid. I’m beginning to think that a lot of this game is mental.

Came home, and made it through the 100 Pushups Week 4 Day 3 routine. I struggled mightily with the last set, but made it. Again, a mental thing. Right before Set 5, I was sitting there thinking to myself “There’s no way I’m going to be able to hit 40.” I was almost afraid to try. But why? I’m in competition with myself, no one else. And there’s no consequences for failure. In the end, it didn’t matter, I made it. Time for another progress test, I’ll probably do it tomorrow. Week 5 will up the sets from 5 to 8. Eeek! Atleast the reps are cut way down.

I just added up my counts from each week. 1446 pushups so far. Kinda crazy.

Successfully completed Week 4 Day 2 of the 100 Pushups routine. Once again, my body does what I didn’t believe it could. Day 3 will be the real test!

More drilling of the three chokes we learned on Tuesday. I partnered up with Matt and we drilled each of the three. The last part of class, we worked from the same half guard position to obtain any of the chokes with 50% effort and resistance. In one of my attempts, Matt spent over 3 minutes doing nothing but defending his neck. Stopped me from getting the choke, but I could have submitted him half a dozen times with other things. It was a little frustrating.

Speaking of frustrating…I think I’m going to have to mix it up and warm up and drill with other people. Matt’s technique is subpar, and I want to have someone that knows what they’re doing to practice on, so they can notice and correct my mistakes.

After class, we did have a chance to spar. I really wanted to try to thread the needle and take him down this time. We started as we usually do, with him powering into me. He passed pretty quick, and I did the thread, but he snagged a leg. I did regain guard, but he had one hand in my collar pretty deep, and tried to cross choke me. I don’t think that you can really do this from within guard. He didn’t have it on tight, and I had a grip on one of his wrists, so I wasn’t about to pass out. But with his weight on me, elbows digging into my chest, and the constant threat of him sinking in the choke deeper, I didn’t see any escape.

Fundamentals was the kimura shoulder lock. We got a brief history lesson on it first. Masahiko Kimura was a Japanese judo player who fought Heilo Gracie in 1955. Dispite having a 40 pound weight advantage, and being considered the greatest judo player of all time, Kimura took 13 minutes to beat Heilo, winning by Gyaku ude-garami, breaking Heilo’s arm in the process. The Brazilians renamed the move to kimura to honor Masahiko.

The kimura from guard wasn’t too hard. It starts with the over the shoulder sweep, but it’s just to gain momentum before falling back and isolating the arm. The rest is grip. Doesn’t take much pressure to cause it to hurt pretty bad!

We finished class up with learning to stand up to base. The correct way to get back to your feet with a guy standing above you. Including an option to destroy his knee and/or take him down.

I’m sure glad the soreness I had on Saturday dissipated. I banged out the 100 Pushups Week 4 Day 1. I upped the rest period to 2 minutes for Sets 1-4, and 4 minutes before the final set. And I did more than the minimum on Set 5 too.

Class last night was a few chokes from half guard. This being my first exposure to any half guard techniques, it was nice to see. I thought the best part of the class wasn’t the chokes, but the locking down of the bottom guy. Keep him flat, and sit on his leg. The first choke was a pretty vanilla cross collar. The second was an innovative on that uses the lapel of MY gi to provide leverage to choke. And the third, against the bottom player releasing his guard and allowing me to pass was more or less an upside-down clock choke.

After class, keeping to Damian’s comment that I need to roll more, I did. New guy Mike and I went at it. This is only his 5th or 6th class, and he weighs about 130 pounds soaking wet. I started off slow and steady, and he was being really aggressive. I just defended and worked on maintaining my guard. He passed a couple of times, but never could hold it. I never got a sweep off on him, but I did get to my knees and try to take his back, but he’s quick. It ended with me slapping on an americana from mount after he gassed out.

I also rolled with Whatshisname. 3 times I think. He pretty much tooled me all three times, cross collar, triangle, and an omaplata. I thought I was doing pretty good in the last one, and almost passed before (I think) he arm dragged me into the omaplata.

Fundamentals was the armlock from guard. Dave showed this to Matt and I last week, and I tried it a couple of times in my roll with Mike, but never got it off. Being able to go through it 15 or 20 times, slowly, focusing on all the steps, I think I understand it much better now.

Matt wasn’t here tonight, so maybe I can snare him in one on Thursday. Next time we roll, I’m going to thread the needle from his side control and take him down that way to get on top. That, or perfect (okay, maybe just improve!) my sweeps. I’m tired of being on the bottom all the time!

Week 3, Day 2 of the 100 Pushups completed. I upped the rest time from 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Hard, but completed. Week 3, Day 3 will be the real test.

Good class last night. 3 new faces, apparently all friends. They were suitably sweaty and tired by the end! We drilled a method to regain the guard position from side control that I haven’t seen before. You “run” on your side and then basically somersault back into guard.

After class Matt and I rolled a bit. I had him in a triangle, but didn’t have the right angle on his arm to make him tap. He eventually escaped, and mounted. I got back to half guard, but we were both pretty winded at this point and just called it a draw.

Fundamentals was Side Control 101. Since we all knew it already, we broke it down and drilled each stage individually. So elbow escape to guard, then sweeps, then escaping the mount, then passing. I got to be the demonstration guy a couple of times.

And at the end of it all, Damian called me up and gave me my first stripe. It felt good, to be recognized as making progress. I’ve tried not to focus on it, I know that they’ll come naturally as I progress and it’s shortsighted to concentrate on them. But it sure did feel good to get this first one down!