Monday, August 31, 2009

August 30, 2009

another small Sunday class. Lee, Alma, Christine and Scott S. We did some Harai work including the Down the line variation. Randori with Scott and Lee. It was OK, but I still can't hit a good Haria, though I hit a mediocre one that was more Soto Makikomi than Harai, but it was fun to land on Lee as he has been giving me trouble lately. His high grip has been keeping me on the defensive, have to work on attacking and defending it better.

Took questions for mat work. covered the scissors sweep and the entrance to the X-guard.

August 29, 2009

Saturday BJJ class. Urso covered turtling and getting back to guard. He locks the arm on the outside knee of the uke when they try to move to a side to attack the turtle. Then sits over the opposite hip while keeping the weight on the elbowand the knee up to allow tori to sit to the guard. I voiced concern with using the free leg to attack an inverted Oma Plata or a belly down arm lock. He focused on sitting throough and pulling the arm free if they take the weight off and attack the arm. It was hard to catch him from there, so i have to remember the focus is to get out of the turtle and get to guard, and this worked pretty well.

Had Amir, Dave Oh, Tom and Randy for training. They were all pretty clingy especially in half guard once I put them on the bottom. typical sets with all of them, except Randy. It was going as it usually does when he tried to trap my shoulder from the bottom which annoyed me. When i got free I passed aggressively as time was running out. I got outside his legs and launched a knee in the belly that knocked the wind from him, then rode on top of the knee for a few seconds and he tapped as time expired. Does this make me a jerk? Ronnie would say yes, but at least he was uninjured.

August 27, 2009

I was sick last night so missed my class to teach at S. Philly Karate. I covered the 6 pm class at the Westin. 4 white belts, Maggie and Myself. I covered the old school one arm in Rorion pass. works very well against people without triangles which will define most of the older stouter white belts in the Westin program.

Then off to BJJ open mat which was sparsely attended.

The Judo class was large but an odd mix. Lee, Chris s. and Paula from my black belts then a few of my lower ranks plus a japanese white belt with limited english in his 4th class, a guy in his second class who takes himself and aikido way too serously, a guy who was excited by the class but had only done Capoeira, and a Korean black belt who spoke very little english was good but in terrible shape. Tough class to make work. Warmed them up hard then did Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi. Send the new guy to the back to do some Ukemi, Osoto Gari and Ogoshi. Randori was good. Lee threw the Korean twice big and was thrown twice big, but, I thought he would toss his cookies he was so tired. He did one more set with Chris S and then left. Hope he comes back as he will be a good addition if he can get in shape. The new Japanese fellow Taki, did well and might stick. The aikido guy I will take in class, but he takes himself too serously and has a little "keepin it real" vibe that irks me. The other white belt Carlos was excited by Randori and did the last set with Scott S. who played light and did well.

Matwork, we did the arm lever turn over and waka gatame if there arm should be unsecured. We covered the anatomy of the armlock so everyone would understand what they are trying to do with the armlock. Then covered the anatomy of a strangle for the new guys. Did Ne waza and called it a night. Good class despite the challenges.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

August 25, 2009

Tuesday day class at the Westin. Urso wasn't there today, so John taught and I assisted. 9 white belts, a purple (delpi), and a blue ( Marty) John covered the bull pass. I rolled with Chris and marty. The training ws fine albeit a little short.

The program is doing pretty well, there. I hope to continuing to make it there once per week, or so, but, I need to remain cognizant to the fact that I am getting tired. The little extra training is grinding me down a bit, but it is very good for my dieting..

August 24, 2009

BJJ class for Monday night. I made it for the second half of the first class. Urso worked on the bull pass. I did 2 sets of training. Once with Eric Silverman. I swept but Eric managed to sweep back and then kept me down for the rest of the set. moving through positions as I tried to escape. Final score was bad 12-2ish. Did a set with Tom, who was playing hard and forced me to turtle. I trap and rolled him and tapped him from the pin. As soon as he went over I could tell he would tap if I pressured the pin and wound it tight.

second class Urso continued with the bull pass. using it to pass several positions including the spider guard. Cup your hands under the calves of the uke and sit back to protect your baselever the ukes feet up, if he doesn't resist throw them over his head. If he does, switch to the bull pass.

Good sized Judo class. We did Soto Makikomi, the kneeling practice version then the big version on the crash pad. 4 sets of randori. I did 2. A hard set with Lee first. He is doing a good job screwing me up with the high collar grip, I need to fight that better. He hit a Ouchi Gari that was good, it was the only really good score. a set with white Scott. He is improving but still needs to change direction on his attack better.

Mat work we did some X-Guard sweeps. We covered #1, the get up and #4 the far sleeve. The class then did positional drills starting in the X-Guard and then playing. All in all they did pretty well.

Side note- Lee's black belt certificate finally came back from the USJA, so we were able to present it to him tonight.

Monday, August 24, 2009

August 23, 2009

Sunday Judo Class. Disappointing turn out, I thought we were turning the corner, but, I will have to get on some cases. 4 of us were in, Lee, Christine, and Kyle, the 13 year old I teach at S. Philly karate. He has a lot of potential, if he keeps up the work. His BJJ is solid for his age and amount of training and he learns well. Would like to keep him coming to Judo.

Taught Ouchi Gari first. did it a classic entry with a lot of reps and throws. Good for me too, as this used to be my primary technique and, while I am entering well, I need to finish better. Good number of throws and fits for me and Lee, while Christine and Kyle worked. Everyone did well.

Taught Yoko Tomoe Nage from a hunched posture (as if Uke is breaking you down with a high grip) went very well. I forgot how well, I threw this and have to break it out more often. I was really hitting it as was Kyle. Chris did pretty well, and Lee had some promise but, he has never been a Tomoe Nage player.

Randori - I did a long set with Lee. Hit a few tomoe Nages and a few things. Almost nailed a big Harai, but not quite far enough through the zone with my hips, but it was a little improvement. Lee had another good Sasai. It is his best technique right now, I think.

Kyle and Chris had a nice set. She struggled with his posture but began to figure it out by the end. He threw a few good Morote Garis and a few other things.

For Matwork we did X-Guard sweeps. We did 1, 3 and 4. The three of them did a good job on it. Chris and Kyle had a good matwork set. He pulled and worked for a triangle and finished with aminute to go. she pulled then and I think surprised him with an excellent arm bar and tapped him.

August 22, 2009

Saturday BJJ class. - Urso covered a pass of the butterfly guard for most of the students but had me and 3 other brown belts work on something else. (I like that he is willing to give the upper ranked guys a little individual attention). The isea is to do a knee up inside the guard and work the pass from there. so, right knee up, left leg out wide for base and looking to step over. Next he knelt forward and actually knelt in the belly of the uke. the right hand went for a deep collar choke gripKeep the uke turning to the side you are choking. look to pass but be patient most importantly maintain the position and keep the pressure on. If the chance arrives throw the second hand on and choke. This choke worked well and was very tight for me. He also did a looping/lariat variation of the choke that was strong. As you are choking always be looking to pass. Defending the choke, which is a dangerous choke can open the pass opportunity.

3 sets - Dr. Joe, Dr. Eric and David Oh. Decent sets, nice sweat. They are all cling more than I like but they are improving though Dr. Joe fell backwards when he stood up to pass and I pulled myself up to him, thus pulling me on top into the mount...not one of his shining moments.

Friday, August 21, 2009

August 20, 2009

Thursday BJJ open mat. - Rolled two sets with a couple of blue belts, Steve and Tom. Both are among the better blue belts. Decent sets without anything of real note. Worked some X-guard sweeps a bit. did 75 Harai fits with Lee. its killing my shoulder trying to get my hip across for it. I can feel why I am failing to throw the Harai. The pain in my shoulder is keeping me from getting my hips across to the correct position to throw. I will have to do a lot more fits to see if I can get it to loosen up. giving some thought to trying a little Uch mata. It wouldn't require quite as deep an entry with my hips. Be tough to change primary techniques at this point but, I can't throw the Harai effectively right now, so the question becomes try to force the shoulder to cooperate or learn a new primary technique. Neither is an attractive option.

Judo Class - 8 people including a new white belt, who does kettlebells. Tattos like a bike messenger but turns out to be a dea agent. Jim crandley was in also, so law enforcement was well represented. Covered standing Seoi Nage. Lee took the new white belt and he continues to be invaluable. Being both willing and able to give instruction. He is well on his way to being the next assitant coach. 10 minutes of Tokui Waza. then randori. The sets were fine. I took Paula as there were limted good match ups in the room for her. I really need some smaller technical players and women as the club is very top heavy with heavier brawlers right now. The next set was with Eric Silverman. He is doing well and hit me with a good Tani Otoshi when I tried to back out of a failed Harai. Good way to make remember to never back out of a throw though its hard right now as the Haria is both painful to try and likely to fail. Threw a good Ouchi Gari which may have to become my primary technique for awhile.

Matwork the white belt left so I had a reasonably experienced group so i threw some more complex stuff at them. We attacked the person wh is trying to stand up and pick us up for a technical break from the guard. First I opened up and did the two foot in the hip flip over the head. They did fine. Next we did closing the guard and pinching the knees together, lifting up the uke with your guard and sweeping him to the side. they did Ok with that. Then we slid underneath to an X-Guard. Here we got into trouble. Eric was fine and helped Paula, so she was fine. Lee was Ok, Chris S, James and Jim all struggled. I did dropping the low hook and sweeping the foot, taking them backwards first, this was Ok, though some of them can't seem to grasp the need to open the knees wise. We then tried to do the Get Up sweep, which is normally the very forst one. Lots of trouble with this. Biggest problem was getting them to sit up on to their elbow. Next trouble coming out from beneath the Uke. By the end they began to get it but it took so long we didn't do Ne Waza. I was a little disappointed that they had so much trouble.

Next day the good news was i hit 243 on my home scale, Maxercise usually weighs 2-3 lbs. lighter than mine. The bad news is that my shoulder hurts so much I have been taking painkillers all day.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

August 19, 2009

Wednesday night class at S. Philly Karate. 6 people (4 adults/2 kids one good one useless) 3 white belts and a blue (Mike Deuber). The Brad Daddis tournament is around the corner so i taught drop seoi nage and using the kouchi to square their stance. the covered the basic split and bull pass. 3 sets of ne waza for the class, did one with Mike as he was the toughest in the blue belt. He tries and is improving but, still not able to push me at all.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

August 18, 2009

Tuesday day class at the Westin. Urso ran class decent mix of rank. Dave Oh and I reviewed the 7 X-guard sweeps from the previous night. Urso then showed us a way to defend the position biggest idea is to not push with the hands, this gives a chance to expose the hips and secure the pass. If they run to the back side pinch the knees high on the still controlled leg to prevent/block the pass. Move the uke back with your hands and knee then regain the X-guard. If they run to the front side, come over the top and use the leg that he was passing to put the foot in the hip and push him away, then you can regain the X-guard or go over the top for a straight knee lock.

3 training sets- Dan (yellow belt) is pretty good and competitive and is very resistant to going to his back and doesn't like to accept sweeps or the pin. Very difficult to sweep with the regular butterfly/Regis sweep, now I want to hit it on him as he blocked it twice.He is coming to Judo on Sunday (supposedly) Swept him twice. He will do better once he accepts going to his back more.

A set with Dave Oh. He actually did pretty well, gave up two point by losing his balance and not scrambling back up, but then worked from the bottom and got a sweep.

Last set was Chris Delpi who I haven't worked with in years. he chatters a bit, but is ok, once I reminded him no knee locks in purple belt. swept him a couple of time and he fought hard, but it was fine.

August 17, 2009

Monday BJJ class first class came late, stretched and observed. Urso was teaching some guard pulling. I did work in to the training 3 sets, Mike Light is a good blue belt, touogh decent technique and trains hard. He is in a tough spot as a good reasonably tought training partner he gets picked by the upper ranks. In a "beginner" class his three sets were Brian Rago, Zak and me. It will make him good or kill him. Good set, he is a sucker for the butterfly/regis sweep. can't stop it. he fights hard after that but he can't get away. Justin was next. His half guard is hard to pass, but once I got around it, he has a rib injury and it was quickly aggravated by me flattening him out. Then Tom, who I have trained with quite a bit lately. Like Mike he is a pretty good training partner, so gets the upper ranks for most sets. slightly better technique than Mike but, doesn't fight quite as hard.

Second class was good as Urso recapped the last few weeks by showing 7(!) X-Guard sweeps.

1. Get up sweep - key element to remember is to take the top leg /hook out to prevent them from running to the backside pass and come up away from them not into them.

2. sweep backwards by dropping the bottom hook, no new information.

3. catching the near sleeve - pass the leg over the head by really pushing uke with the hooks to make the leg toward the head light, he is grabbing the whole foot by the toes most of the time now to pass it. the grip the belt and take him backwards. If he runs forward keep the grip on the sleeve and come up behind him. Smash him to the ground or take his back.

4. Catch the far sleeve - He does this a little differently than me. He drops the top hookto the front of the ankle of the uke and scissors him down. this works well if you can't lift uke because he is too big or heavy. Not quite as clean as the one I do, but works well for all sizes.

5. you use when uke pushes towards you. Lift them straight up and straighten your legs. As uke slides down the leg keep the knee up and don't let him past it. catch the foot and sweep him backwards with pressure with the inside of the knee.

6. push the near sleeve and flip. - catch the near sleeve and push it towards ukes feet. This works best if uke has his hands down and is trying to push himself on top. but, you can force it by pushing the near hand towards the feet and lifting uke straight up and over his blocked shoulder, do a shaolin style backwards roll to the top side position.

7 Uke has his low knee down and pulls the low leg of tori up, so that you can't do the get up sweep. - Only saw this tech as I had to go to Judo. grab ukes far lapel with the hand towards uke's front. with the back hand block (don't grab) the hip of uke. you don't need the top hook. strong elbow escape movement underneath uke nad lift with the bottom hook and take him backwards.

Monday Judo
10 people
Covered Uchi Mata- They did well with it all in all. I can several of the lower ranks being Uchi Mata players. Chris S. tries but he won'tcan't make the adjustments I suggest and his technique suffers. Greg crashed on Z once badly. Greg thought he was clinging but regardless it was a bad fall to have to take. Flat and he landed on his nuts.

Randori. 3 sets Had Will first still late on the Hrais, but I threw several good belt grip sumi gaeshis. knocked each other down a few other times. next set had William. Never had a guy who has trained as long as he has and be a black belt as long as he has, grip so painfully. He catches skin on every sleev grip and spazzes quite a bit. border line dangerous if you can't control him. Threw him a few times but nothing too big. Last set was Eric S who has been training well. I hit a few good Ouchi Garis and a good yoko tomoe nage. he got a nice left drop seoi nage. all in all 3 good sets in that I trained hard and did ok, but still not hitting the harai.

Mat work we did getting the mount and escaping the mount. Went fine. 2 ne waza sets. I had will who is a sucker for any type of X-guard. He also has terrible technique for escaping depending on flexibility and effort rather than good technique. His matwork is solid and I enjoy working with him but regret he never did BJJ as he could be a purple by now without a doubt and be much better than he is. Second set had William. Just as annoying and spastic on the ground. He actually twisted my neck a bit and made me lose my temper. Upped the ante and began to play ugly forced an ugly armlock twice and ground on him. Not sure if I should say anything as he has been a black belt long before he was with us and may just think this is how to train, but playing like that will make me dangerous to him. I also will keep feeding him to tough guys as I don't have confidence that he is safe for the women and less experienced guys.

Side note - Greg and Z had an issue in ne waza. were arguing about it after class. Will monitor their behavior for awhile and see how they do. no history there fo either of them, so I am assuming an isolated incident. Won't put them together for a few months.

Monday, August 17, 2009

August 16, 2009

Sunday Judo Class

Seven people, Me, Lee W., James G., Mike Temkin, Z and his two freinds Al and Nova, who is a woman who took 6 classes at balance a few years ago, but is new to Judo. Lee was a huge help. He started the warmups and was uke and worked with Nova most of the time.

We did Kouchi Gari and Kouchi Makikomi from the feet. Class did reasonably well considering they were mostly novices. Some randori, but only 2 sets, considering the inexperience of the participants and limited time due to so much repetition on the techniques. Lee and Z both did well.

Matwork covered a clock choke and the trap and roll. Continuing to try to give everyone at least one techniques for all of the psotions. 2 sets of Ne waza. Decent class, but would have been helped by more numbers particularly in the green belts. I didn't do much except teach.

Friday, August 14, 2009

a tech I need to remember from 8/6/9

Urso covered some information on the 50/50 half guard. the idea is to wrap your right leg behind the right leg of the uke, over the top of it then lock the right ankle behind the left knee. This is the position. He showed a sweep from there which seems hard to stop and he has become very good at it. However he considers the position dangerous, doesn't like it and believes it will soon be illegal.

the sweep is done by turning your hips away from uke and rocking your body after you have secured a grip on the far ankle, then using almost a de la riva movement to take ukes directly across your body.

More importantly to me is the defense. Most importantly you MUST keep you weight away from uke as far as possible to avoid the sweep.

Then the Urso defensepush the shin knee of the tori down below your own knee and work to step out. works faster but has a higher rate of being swept than...

The Zak defense - If your left leg is trapped grab the left sleeve and the left collar, you can release the collar in a pinch but you must hold the sleeve(!). Then your right foot into the arm pit of the tori. Now work to get you left foot to the other side of the tori (from his left hip to his right hip) push up and across his body which will kill the 50/50 position. Pass normally, by flattening the hips.

August 13, 2009

Arrived at open mat for BJJ. 2 sets of training 10 min with Zak - started off of our feet. he hit a nice single. I normally defend them well, but it was very well done. He didn't catch me, but I was on the run for the whole set. I really can't stop the Uma Plata, both because it is so good and because it makes my surgically repaired shoulder nervous. Final score was about 12-2. 15 mnutes with Eric Silverman who is one of the better trainingpartners i have right now. Last week he won the set 3-2, but, if I can get to the top early I can put up points and give him a hard time. the final was around 16-2 but the set was much closer, i barely avoided an arm lock and several scores, before we called it.

Urso showed me an interesting half guard pass. You go for the facing the waste pass, uke defends by reaching under to block, you then go around his arm with you high hand so your forearm is just beneath the point of the elbow and secure the grip on your own lapel. if uke doesn't grip to protect his arm you go for a strainght arm lock. if he does you work the pass. the key element is to stay low on the hips of uke. if you pass, keep the arm trapped and go north south, this will usually break los his grip and you can attack the straight arm lock.

10 people in judo including 3 of the new white belts. I taught the 3 feet on a line Osoto Gari, and the Sasai Tsurikomi Ashi. Then Randori my set with lee was frustrating. my stand up is not coming back. I can't get my hips through the zone on the harai Goshi as my shoulder problem jams me up on the turn. My grips are competant, but no better. I MUST force myself to start working into the uchikomi. I have resigned myself that my techniques will not come back on their own and to fight quality heavy weights, I am going to have to stop coasting and wishing and start working.

Ne waza I continued to teach escape and pins. Taught the Kesa Gatame and the Kazure Kesa Gatame and explaing the escapes and why I prefer the Kazure version. Good to see the white belts but need to get the green belts back in consistently.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

August 11, 2009

Returning to this blog after several years. In the past 3 years. I have had multiple surgeries Knee which went well and solved the aforementioned problems and shoulder to address a chronic dislocation problem which hasn't gone nearly as well. I have gotten married (again) , had a daughter which takes up an inordinate amount of time and working a different job. Regis has moved to San Diego and Ronnie has moved to Hawaii. John has taken over Maxercise. Urso has left and returned. Zak has become almost unstoppable, Brian has become very good, and Tim has stopped and recently restarted training. I have assumed the duties of head instructor of the Judo club with Alma as my assistant instructor. Will is the head instructor of the Drexel club so is only with us sporadically. Alma has been runing a kata class on Tuesday that has been well received and given our club something that very few clubs hve, a class devoted to kata and an instructor who is good at it and wants to teach it.

I try to make class 5 times/week including 3 BJJ classes (one I instruct at S. Philly Karate) and one open mat and 3 Judo classes all instructed by me. I might try to add a BJj class during the week att he Weston depending on how the classes are.

I haven't the time to go into detail of the classes anymore, but, I want to chronicle the techniques I see and what I teach In Judo and BJJ as well as any other things that strike me.

BJJ class last night was a guard pull. drop for a yoko tomoe nage from a right sided grip with the left foot to the hip to prevent uke from grabbing the leg as you drop. Then do a scoot under to the x guard. do it by switching from the sleeve grip to the grip behind the foot closest to the hand, far leg (right) hooks behind ukes left knee, lift the hips, point the left knee down and aggressively scoot under the uke to secure the x guard. first tech was to drop both hands to Ukes heels and sweep him straight backwards, come up holding both his heels to keep him from coming up too. this is important. next did the get up sweep - push uke away with both legs, take out the TOP leg and come up in base. if uke won't turn go for a calf crush in brown belt divisions, ust pressure it in lower divisions to get him to accept the sweep. Urso covered the x guard sweep where you catch the near hand and pass the leg over your head, reach up and grab the belt and sweep him back or if he runs, come up with his arm between his legs and finish. Interesting point of emphasis was when getting the x guard from the entry, you have the leg trapped in your arm pit holding down with your elbow, other hand turns the knee in and you go under the leg to achieve the x guard. now Urso cups the knee can and puts a lot of pressure on it to control Ukes efforts to defend. Urso also showed how Zak will jump into the x guard from a position where he is being swept with the get up sweep.

trained with Tom, Mike Light and David Oh. Mostly bad matchup in the room for me. few good training opportunities anymore.

Judo had 3 novices who are desperately needed right now. Had 12 total counting Alma, Will and myself. Taught the de ashi harai when uke steps behind himself (the Will mistake). Had everyone do Ashi Waza of choice for awhile then forward Tokui Waza. 3-5 minute randori sets. Need to get my stand up back, have to push myself to be willing to fail when I attack. Used the Koga armpit grip to screw up will in his grip fighting.

Covered the Bull pass and then did elbow escaping from side control.

On a side note John has begun a BJJ class at the Weston health club (1835 Market St.) across from where I work. I might try to get there and train every so often.