Well, I got the word. Last night my professor emailed me. The subject: His intention to hold a blue belt grading date for myself and 2 others in the club! Whoo hoo! The tentative date he has suggested is December 16. I get back from Whistler on December 15. Hopefully I will not be too sore. lol. Actually, unless I have something in a cast, I will be there. So, assuming that I am successful, I will have 1 tournament left at white belt. It’s been a long journey, but the end is in sight! Cross your fingers for me people!
Tag: submission
September 30, 2013 Training Journal aka Raped by Satan
September 30, 2013
No class tonight. Instead we had the final Grizzly Gym in house tournament of 2013. Dubbed the no, nogi championships, the event sported the usual modified IBJJF rules. Same point structure and match length, but any and all submissions. Reap the legs all you want
There were a couple of guys missing, but the turnout was ok. It was a round robin tournament with 1 point being awarded to the winner. The man with the most points at the end of the event would be the champ. I don’t think that there was any question who would dawn the coveted gold medal. The same guy that always does. I’ll get him one day… Grrr!!!
My first match was against Wes. He hasn’t been showing up too much lately. My plan was simple. Pull guard, sweep, submit, and don’t waste too much energy. So… I pulled guard and controlled posture right away. I went for a triangle but missed. I went for a scissor sweep but he defended well. I switched to half guard and got a deep collar grip. I made a little space got the other collar and pulled back to full guard. Tap! Cross collar choke.
Match 2 was against Sean. My plan was to work for side control and attack the head and arm choke. But really, take what I could get. We had a bit of a standing grip/hand fight for a while. Eventually he jumped for a flying arm bar. I defended and he went for a triangle. I defended and worked on passing. Unfortunately I left my left arm out and he snatched it up. I tried to roll and push his hands off with my right foot. Too late. I missed my opportunist to tap without injury. I felt a pop in my elbow as my hand came down and slapped the mats. Ouch!
Match 3 was against the newbie Josh. This was his first competition. He had lost his first match to Sean by crazy arm bar. He’s a former football played with a brutal double leg. It’s like a spear. I wanted to avoid this so I got a good grip and pulled guard. I worked my half guard game and got the sweep passing to side control. 3 points. I threatened a quick Americana and moved to mount. 4 points. I hung out here for a bit. My intention was to fool him in to thinking about the Americana and finish with a head and arm choke. But of course I stopped paying attention to my position and he rolled in to my guard. I went for a triangle and arm bar but he stuffed them both. I went for the cross collar again and had it tight. His face was red and he was making funny noises. I was squeezing tight and I felt my left adductor go (previous injury). Damn it. I let go to relieve the pressure. Somehow he got 6 points during the remainder of the match. Not sure how really. He never passed nor did we stand back up. Whatever, I won on points.
Final match was against Jay. I always feel intimidated against him because he moves so friggin’ fast and doesn’t get tired. I have size and strength, but he’s always able to shut down my submissions. He pulled guard on me and we went at it. At one point I had a tight Achilles lock and I heard him yell profanities which I took as a verbal tap so I let go and sat up. He said no tap. Damn it. Of course I wouldn’t have let go in a non in house match, but this is a training partner. I’m no Paul Harris. So we continued. At the end of the match it was declared 0-0 (I totally didn’t get that because I passed several times). Sudden death. First person to score wins. Just where I didn’t want to be against Jay. I was exhausted and he popped right up. He tried to pull guard as I shot in. I picked him up by the hips and slammed him down. 2 points. Phew! However… Being the jackass that I am, I broke rule number one and tried to break my fall with a stretched out arm. The arm that previously popped. Needless to say I have little mobility this morning.
So I ended up with 3 wins and 1 loss. Good for the silver medal. Every match was hard fought. It was good to see that everyone is a really tough fight. After the medal presentation, Mike put 4th and final stripe on my belt. It felt good.
Today I feel like crap. My elbow is moving very shittily and my leg/groin is killing me. I often ask myself if the pain is worth it? It’s hard to say. I have fun at the time, but regret it later. It seems after every tourney, no matter the size, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. It’s jut amazing to me that I can roll for 20 minutes straight and feel fine (aside from a little stiffness), but throw me in a real match and my body feels as though I’ve been raped by Satan. Arggghhh!!! Damn you Satan!!!
I was really hoping to avoid injury because the OJA provincials are fast approaching and I need all the training I can get. There’s no way I’ll be able to train tomorrow night. I can only hope that on Monday I’ll be healed enough. I’ll have to be, right?
Good Luck Professor Mike
This weekend is the 2013 ADCC Worlds. Grizzly Gym professor, Mike Martelle will be competing in the +99KG bracket. It’s a pretty stacked event. Unfortunately he has drawn Roberto “Cyborg” Abreau in the first round. While you always want to have confidence in your professor, and assure him he is going to kick some ass, this particular draw makes it hard to keep that conviction in the encouragements. lol. I’m sure Mike would be the first one to express these sentiments. Afterall, Mr. Abreau has been the gold medalist three years in a row. Regardless of the outcome, Grizzly Gym will be cheering him on. Everyone is proud of him. Go kick Cyborg’s ass Mike… *yikes
No Rolling Around On The Ground With Sweaty Men This Week
This week there will be no BJJ classes at Grizzly Gym. The Prof was asked to go to ADCC at the last-minute. He’s in the 99+ KG group. It’s going to be a tough one. I’m not sure who dropped out, but they had him on the alternate list. I guess there wasn’t enough time to get people to cover and such… Good luck Mike Martelle!
Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. I forgot it… Doh! Usually I don’t say anything and then give my wife flowers or a card and gift or something. She always says “I thought you forgot.” Last week I had planned to follow my usual routine, but I worked so much OT over the weekend, I completely forgot what day it was… Anyways, hopefully the flowers sent to her work and a gift card to lululemon will make up for it. 😉
October 11, 2013 Training Journal
No gi class started with some good drilling. We did several rounds of guard passing. We went for 2 minutes per round, with each person having the opportunity to practice maintaining guard and passing guard. The objective on top was to pass and/or submit from the guard. Once the objective was met, both parties reset. The objective on the bottom was to maintain guard and/or submit from guard and/or sweep. When an objective was met, both parties reset. I had several good sweeps from bottom and I threatened several submissions. On the top I didn’t worry about submissions. i wanted to work on my passing. My guard was only passed once.
My focus in guard was to stay relaxed, control posture, feel where my opponent’s center of mass was, and sweep to the vulnerable side. It worked out well. I realized that when I stay calm, I am able to move much easier and see openings better. On a kind of shitty note, a can opener was used against me to try to open my guard by a very strong opponent. He pulled as hard as he could and I wouldn’t succumb. My neck is still sore. The can opener is such a greasy move…
Next we drilled several Lockflows. We had a relatively new guy in class, so some of the easier more basic ones were on the card. It was good to do them again. It had been a while. I found that my transitions from technique to technique were quite a bit smoother than they were the last time I had practiced these particular drills. That made me pretty happy. When I was the newer guy’s partner, he only kneed me in the face twice, so that was good too. 😉
I was only able to get 2 5 minute rounds of rolling in at the end of class.
Round 1 Positives
- Did very well to stay off my back
- Reversed several leglock attacks to end in a side choke position
- Threatened several submissions from guard
Round 1 Negatives
- Seemed to be leaving my arm out in the open and was caught in 2 Kimuras
- Held back during takedown attempts
Round 2 Positives
- Used strength against opponent to sweep and submit
- Moved well during leg lock to keep knees pinched and eventually get the tap
- Good takedown defense
Round 2 Negatives
- A little bit sloppy in guard
- spent too much time waiting and not enough time attacking
ONE THING TO TAKE AWAY
Staying relaxed really helped me maintain focus and allowed me to think about set up s and defense techniques.
Mountains to Mats 