Judo - good group for the last class at Maxercise for the Judo club. I said good bye with my favorite techniques, Harai Goshi. We covered some drills on footwork and hip position. It was interesting to see Lori and Sarah working on the technique. Their emphasis and skill at Tai Otoshi was effecting their footwork for the Harai. It was interesting to work on the slightly different stepping pattern for the Harai with them. Have to be certain not to negatively impact the footwork for Tai Otoshi which is their primary technique. Tweaked a few things here and there with others as well. All in all it was a productive session.
We did 4-5 sets of randori. I wanted to give some good sets to everyone and there were enough good matchups that we had good Sets. Josh was in again and he again showed good strength and was able to counter people but, I saw the problems that you get when you are the big strong guy in class. He remained a lurker waiting to counter the other person. This can be effectrive but it tends to have a low ceiling for long term growth. I am strongly committed to not letting any of my big guys fall into that trap even if it works for them. Lex hit a good Kouchi Gari on me. I am still having fun with switching back and forth from left to right, which is kind of amusing as I was so totally against it for years. Not sure if this is an evolution in my technique and style or just laziness, most likely a bit of both. I still think the best way on the way up through the ranks is to commit to a side and a technique and make it your own. But, when you get older it might be good to be more open to other opportunities, rather than banging your head against the wall as I have done for years.
We covered the trap and roll for Ne Waza and focused on maintaining the pin. Everyone did it well after a little bit of modifying the angle. I did get them to commit to the pin as I was able to demonstrate how effective, difficult to escape and painful it can be as long as you maintain control of the trapped arm. Showed how to block most of the conventional escapes by altering the hip position and the body relationship. I also showed how much pressure I can put on the pin and how I can get submissions from it. Then we covered the escape that Ronnie and I developed back during the open mats at the Y. It's not foolproff, but, still the best one I have seen and the one I have had the most success using.
We had time for 2 sets of Ne Waza and then called it a night at the Las Vegas Lounge for one last drink. I will have to reflect on my time at Maxercise and post some thoughts.
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