Thursday 11/11/2010 - Tonight's Special Guest Star...

Judo - The movement of the judo class to 6 and the BJJ class to 7:30 continues to be a little shaky as people are getting used to the new time and the BJJ class is being rebuilt. People are a little slow getting to the Judo class, but I did kettlebells at 5:30 (really 5:40). it was an abbreviated work out focusing almost exclusively on a strength component though the cardio was there as well. i warmed up while Alma signed people in at the desk. Then we did 3 sets of Clean and press, Rows and Squats. All were done with the 24kg. I have been shirking the Kettlebell workouts as things have been so busy and I have to admit I felt soreness from the workout for several days. But, it feels good to be sore and know that its productive soreness. Need to stay with it and get back in better shape. Hopefully i will be a good example to everyone who comes and stretches. All of us, particularly the light people we have right now need to be stronger. The kettlebell work out will be huge for improving their Judo and cutting down on injuries. Technique is paramount, but being stronger and better conditioned than your opponent is also crucial.

It's taken some time for things to start feeling at home at the new place. the smaller class sizes and missing faces as well as the unfinished feel of things just the sense of being uprooted has been impacting the relaxed feel of being home. Just like it takes time to feel at home in a new apartment it is taking time to feel at home here. I think this will happen and it will happen pretty soon. We have had some volunteers offering to help complete a few of the remaining projects and that will help. Plus just settling in to the new space and getting used to the schedule and who is in the different classes is the biggest thing.

The Judo class had a solid number of people in it. The numbers includes another appearance from Drew, who is doing great. He will be an excellent addition to class and will progress both technically and in rank quickly if he is reasonably consistent in attendance. I would love to see him become a regular competitor for us. We also had one of my oldest friends in Philadelphia as well as the Martial Arts come in with us. Marco Perazzo who is the head instructor at two successful schools in New Jersey stopped in for the class. I met Marco back when I first came to the Philadelphia Judo club in 1996 as well as when I first went to Maxercise around the same time. He mostly committed to BJJ and I focused on judo, though I cam back to BJJ in 1999. He has had his BJJ black belt for over three years as I recall and has always threatened to return to Judo. Now that we have opened a new space in South Philadelphia, the stars are aligning and we have had a Marco sighting.

We covered several variations on Ouchi Gari in the Tachi Waza portion of class. We covered the basic traditional version, the version of the drop knee Ouchi Gari that I use and the circling version. The class did well and I think this is one of the best technique selections for BJJ. The most difficult one, as you wold expect, was the circling version that requires quite a bit more timing than the first two versions.

We did some randori and I jumped in to fill out the sets. Everyone seemed to have good sets and stayed safe. I think just encouraging Drew to engage in more grip fighting improved his Judo by several 100%. When he was giving up  perfect grips to his opponent it was making things way too easy, but, the grip fighting made it much more difficult. Marco felt good in his movement. He switches and reacts to what his opponent is doing more than I would like but, his style tends to be reactionary and opportunistic. My preference is to dictate the technique to my opponent, but he was grip fighting and launching attacks. I could tell he was a little reluctant to attack with reckless abandon but, that is something this club does well, so I think he will have fun when he lets his attacks really fly.

The rest of the randori sets were good and despite being a little smaller than I prefer the vibe on the mat was good.

In BJJ Marco offered to teach the class. It's great to feel supported by him and a lot of other old friends and training partners. who have stopped by and emailed and called with support and encouragement. He covered some side control and submission attacks. The first was similar to the way i walked around the head to attack the underhooked arm with a straight arm lock. he emphasized using it when you get the Uke to react by trying to pull his arm free and staying tighter to the head with your hips than i normally do. This was good for me to see as it was a better entry than I normally use. I also like using it opportunistically rather than forcing it. He also walked around the head and used the elbow on the ribs to step up and attack the juji gatame on the underhooked arm. I like this as it was a good transition and I like anything that allows me to put an elbow into the ribs. (I would say that I was just kidding about this but, people who train with me know I actually do like to do that). Then if Uke defends or fails to react you turn back and control the hips for side control again.

He also, in response to a question from Alma, did a half guard sweep. He used the power to the people grip (or as he called it the soul brother grip) which is thumb grip to thumb grip instead of the cats paw grip on the sleeve to attack the whizzer grip from the top guy who is responding to the bottom player having the underhook.

Marco and I rolled a couple of time. Lots of movement and exchanges of position for both of us. We had some points scored on passes and sweeps, high lights included me hitting the hook sweep I like and Marco doing a nice back escape that forced me to give up the top position and force myself to roll over to avoid the arm lock as the second set expired.

I also rolled with Allesandro who has a few technical flaws from some positions he hasn't seen that often but whose ceiling is so much higher than my own its depressing. His stand up is excellent, his fundamentals are very good, he is competitive and athletic. all he needs is some time and he will wreck guys in BJJ. I would be shocked for him not to win nearly any white belt division right now.

Had a very productive set with Sarah. I don't always get to roll with her as I often have to take some of the potentially dangerous people. I swept and and pressured her she attacked a triangle and I nearly passed a few times giving her pressure but not overdoing it. she was actually quite difficult to complete the pass against her because she used her flexibility and competitiveness so well. I was passing again when she switched to a left sided triangle and surprised me. I defended but she locked it in tight. I think it was the first time someone has been able to successfully lock a triangle since Urso left. I had to legitimately defend and fight my way free from it. It was a tight bite. If I wasn't so stupidly much bigger than her I would have been in even more trouble when time expired.

Good night of classes.