Them’s Some Fancy Moves

Tuesday night BJJ was a little different.  I don’t often attend Sean’s class.  Not because I don’t want to go or anything, but because typically, Tuesday is busy with the kids sports or the Mrs is working out and I have to stay home and make dinner and such.  But I had nothing going on last night so I decided to attend.  There weren’t many in class.  Just 4 eager souls. 

Sean has taken it upon himself to create his own lock flow.  It has a lot of really interesting techniques in it.  Stuff that I have never seen before.  I think he put a lot of effort and creativity in to it.  Included are a crucifix, wrist locks, leg scissors, and a calf crank from the truck.  Good stuff!

Class ended with each person picking a position that they wanted to work on.  The object was, you started in that position and if you were able to better your position or get a submission from there, the round ended.  If your partner was able to better their position of get a submission, the round ended.  It was fun.  One guy chose to start having his back attacked.  I tricked him by switching from the classic RNC attack to a full nelson.  Lol.

Sean chose to start from being mounted in a head and arm choke.  I saw that the other guys were trying finish the choke by using their head and neck to try to apply the pressure on Sean’s carotid.  I made a quick mention to them about flattening out more and using their own shoulder or upper chest to apply the pressure.  I know why Sean picked that position.  I have a pretty good arm triangle.  I have spent a lot of time working on it.  LOL.  He’s always trying to figure out ways to get out of bad spots like any good Jiu Jitsu fighter.  So far, including last night, he hasn’t figured a way out of mine.  😉

I chose north/south.  My goal was to either make enough space that I could spin around in to half guard and come up to attack, or bring my legs and hips up over my head and try to take the back.  I was successful with the first, but couldn’t figure out the latter.  All in all, it was a good time.

Squats n’ Half Guard

I achieved a personal best at the squat rack yesterday. 300lbs. Now, while that may not seem like a lot for many of you out there, it’s a weight that I never thought I would reach. Not because the weight is so astronomical, but because of the pain in my knees. You see, for the past 10 years or so, walking down a flight of stairs without holding on to a railing was very frightening to me, let alone the thought of doing heavy squats.

6 months ago when I found out that the ACL graft in my right knee from 2002, had failed, I’ve worked hard to strengthen my quads and hamstrings to keep everything as stable as possible. I started out slowly. I worked consistently and very hard. I did squats, step ups, lunges, deadlifts, extensions, and curls. I used the stair master, and consistently attended spin classes. Yesterday all that work paid off. I squatted 300lbs for 2 reps nice and deep (for me) with perfect form. Next goal: 350lbs.

Yesterday evening at Jiu Jitsu we worked on half guard. That’s always been a position that I felt very comfortable in. In the last 6 to 10 months I haven’t spent much time working it. I’ve been too preoccupied with sweeps and passing guard (which I still suck balls at). It sure showed. I couldn’t play my game for shit. White belts we negating my half like I’d never even played it before. It was very frustrating. Always a step backwards in Jiu Jitsu. Sigh… As long as my wife is home in time, I’ll be back at it tonight I guess.

New Stripe

Thursday I was awarded a stripe on my Blue.  I guess it is a result of losing 5 matches last weekend, but hanging in there nonetheless.  I don’t really get being promoted for losing, but we all can’t be winners, right?

In the last little while, I have made a subconscious change to my standing game.  I have only become aware of it recently.  It used to be that I would shoot in for a double or a single, right away.  I hate dancing around, grip fighting, or pushing and pulling.  I was confident enough in my shot that, as long as I didn’t telegraph it, I had a good chance of finishing on top.  But lately I haven’t been shooting in at all, or if I do, it’s half-hearted or weak.  This last couple of weeks, the reason has become very apparent.  My god damn knees hurt too much.  I physically can’t get them to work in a way to make the double effective.  Or when I do force them to work, the pain make me never want to do it again.  Arthritis is a bitch. I hate the guard pull. That’s not my game. I’m not too sure what I am going to do. I’ll have to think about it for a while…

Update

I updated my competition record on the BJJ page.  I took the time to look at it and reflect on the wins and losses.  So at white belt I went 14-33-1.  LOL.  Here’s the funny part.  All but 4 of those 14 wins were at in-house tournaments.  So they were people I’ve rolled with a million times.  I know their strengths and weaknesses.

I started out at blue belt going 0-2.  I think that’s it for a while.  People say that you learn a lot from the losses and come back stronger.  As we can see, that theory does not apply to me.  I learn jack shit.  lol.  I was going to go and do the Ascension tournament on March 1-2 (last year’s was my one shining moment in an otherwise shitty season), but I decided not to.  No point in wasting the money.  Plus, I don’t feel like it.  Too bad I jumped the gun and switched shifts with a coworker.  Now I have to work shitty shifts for nothing.  sigh… At least I can keep eating deep-fried mayonnaise balls.