11/20/2010 - BJJ at Osagame

BJJ class at 11 - We had three people plus me, but they were the core of the BJJ program i am hoping to build. Eric S., Lex and Sarah came to the class. We worked on passing the half guard. We worked on the Head control pass, the underhook pass and using the free foot to pry open the half guard and pass to the mount or jump to the side. I then took a question that i intended to cover briefly, bu it took on a bit of a life of it's own. I covered a lot of the elements of my X-Guard entry series. First starting in a butterfly position, then going for a choke to get them off of their base and then pulling the knee forward to slide to the X-Guard. There was more to it than that and it took a more time than I intended. As a result we did just 2 sets of training and I'm afraid I sent them away (at least the blue and white belts) with a bit of information overload. I find that i am enjoying teaching BJJ again and sometimes I get excited about a topic and lose track of time. i also need to teach less and have them drill more. even the more experienced students will be better served with more reps and fewer techniques. I see things I think they should know and try to rectify too much of it at once.

We just had time for two sets of training. I had sets with Eric who got to a good intial positiona nd had me on the run for the balance of the set. I think the practice and teaching he is doing is very good for his technique. I know he has never been ahead of me for the whole set like he was in this one. The other set was with Sarah, who continues to impress me with her spirit and most importantly her back game. I wold like to see her get physically stronger. For years Ronnie and I avoided outside strength and cardio training, devoting ourselves to improving technique. it took us a long time to accept that being as strong or stronger than the other guy is a good idea and nearly as important as technical training. While I hate this idea because I don't really enjoy the outside kettlebell/weight lifting/running etc., I have become reconciled that it's true. Hopefully as she has more time in her schedule she will be able to add some outside training time which will help her reach her very high ceiling.

I have to keep it in my head to cut back on the technique, raise the reps, and get more positional training in BJJ.