Last night I covered the BJJ class. Mike was away on a seminar. Every time I agree to cover, I get all stressed out. There are several reasons that contribute to this. 1: I don’t think anyone will show up because I suck the D at BJJ and don’t know what I’m doing. 2: If people do show up, they expect a good class and I suck the D at BJJ so they probably won’t get what they’re looking for. 3: If new people come to class, they will see how much I suck the D at BJJ and won’t come back. 4: People will complain to Mike about how much I suck the D at BJJ.
Well, 3 people showed for class. Wes (blue belt), Mitch (white belt), and Murray (white belt). I had decided that I wanted to work on some stuff that I’ve been watching lately. I think I have all of Rafael Lovato Jr’s instructionals. I really like his teachings. He explains stuff very well and he shows stuff that really works. It may n0t be the newest, most fancy techniques, but it’s all proven. That’s what I want. Stuff that works. I decided to work on the first part of his Guard Mastery series.
Now I’ve watched it several times and even tried a few things in rolling (with varying success), but this was the first time that I was able to drill it. We did:
Xande Sweep
Xande Sweep to Back (pulling opponent to you)
Xande Sweep to Back (climbing up)
Xande Sweep to Back to Arm bar
Xande Sweep to Back to Arm bar (opponent defends, roll to arm bar)
It worked out ok. I was actually surprised how well the newer guys picked it up. They had a little trouble with the arm bar roll, but all in all, it was a success. We ended the class with some rolling. I decided that the white belts couldn’t roll each other. They had to go against the blues. It was good. I’ve mentioned before that I like letting them get me in to bad spots and then work my way out.
Oh ya. I also finally got to try out my new BJJ Globetrotter, super light weight, travel gi. It was awesome. So light. It’s like I was rolling around with sweaty men while not wearing anything at all…
After BJJ I decided to stay for the Muay Thai class. It was sort of… strange… lol. The class didn’t really consist of a lot of Muay Thai. Mostly conditioning. There was only 2 rounds on the pads and a couple of quick sparring rounds. The rest was warm up and conditioning. Well, whatever. Everyone has a different teaching style. Personally, I like to focus on Muay Thai during Muay Thai class, but that’s just me. A good workout nonetheless.
The end.
Mountains to Mats 