2012 is here already. Seems like last year flew by in a blink.

I was able to squeeze in my 531 squats, despite the Crossfit class being a little bigger than usual. It was full of new faces and resolution-ers…hopefully some will stick with it. It was the “heavy” day for squats in the 531 cycle, which always makes me nervous doing solo. I was only 10 pounds lower than my last measured 1RM.

Jiu jitsu class was three different ways to break out of and pass spider guard.

The first two were very similar. Shuffle to one side or the other, and then use either your knee or your foot to pin down his now flattened leg, break the grip, then shuffle back while keeping some pressure in on him. From there, you can use your knee to pop his leg off your other arm and pass.

The third was for when he’s got you wrapped up more tightly. Start by squatting low to avoid the sweep. Elbow off his foot from your hip, circle your other hand and break that grip. Here he’ll typically re-grab and switch from the wrap to your bicep…and then you can go back to either of the the first two escapes.

Class rounded with two 9 minute rounds of sparring. My first was with Dr. Nope, Seth. He was pretty intent on being on the bottom tonight, so I did my best to oblige him. Passed a couple of times, mounted once and managed to get him into an arm triangle choke.

It wasn’t quite tight enough though, so I switched back to mount. He escaped, and then I started working the armlock from north-south that Damian taught during my last private. Worked great….but I couldn’t break his grip defense. I’ll have ask about that.

Second round was with Tina. We went light, as she had some tender joints.