Taught the BJJ class tonight while John was away. decent sized group in the class including a new blue belt and a new white belt girl as well as a new white belt guy who has some solid wrestling experience. The recovery continues in the membership. The ranks are slowly rebuilding. The competition for BJJ people in Philadelphia is so fierce due to the extremely high density of BJJ programs. It's been interesting to see new people come to the club. I do notice that we are keeping a high percentage of the people who come through the doors and do some classes. This a good sign. It's hard enough to get people on the mat, when you do you hate to see them go away. It's gratifying to get positive feedback on the classes and see so many people sticking with it.
I covered the drop Kata Guruma which is no longer legal in Judo but still a very effective technique. Mike B was lights out with it and did very well. Jason also looked good doing it. some of the others had some trouble with the correct angle to finish the technique as they were going a little too much over their head instead of across their shoulders but I think by the end, everyone was looking pretty good.
From there I had them work on taking the mount and then working for the choke. We went for the choke like I do with a thumb in first grip and a low second grip. After everyone did that, I worked on the next defense when Uke blocks the tori's elbow from descending which blocks the choke. I showed popping out to knee in the belly and using the high knee to scrape off the grip of the uke and then applying the choke. We did 3 sets of training. I trained with the new white belt girl who has great spirit but is pretty tiny. I wanted to see how she rolled before I put her with too many of the guys in class. She did fine and fights hard so will be OK, with good partners.
Judo
Smaller group than we have recently had, 12-15 people. James did his Sankyu promotion to begin class. He did very well (as did Scott as Tori) His gi ripped and he had tape stuck to his foot but, he stayed focused and did a good job. I gave a strong discussion of the benefits of doing Kata. I would like to get Lori into kata and see some of the guys do it and compete. It would be good for Alma to have more students and it would be good for all of them to improve their Judo. I would be happy to have some national kata competitors. Arianna did very well and is really improving right now. to bad it's about to be her summer away as this is a good time for her to get better. I had Alma cover the second set of the nage No Kata for Standup for everyone.
In Ne Waza I did how to reverse headhunters who attack the Sode Jimi from inside the guard. I warned them that people like Roman who attack from the position can be dangerous if you don't defend correctly. I rolled with Scott and had a good set with him, changing positions and moving through things. This was important considering how I had to smash him the last time we worked. Good class but I would like to get more consistent attendance. We peaked last year going into Am-Can but I don't think we will do that this year.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday - 5/8/2010
Judo - rather small group of 6-7 people. We did some testing on a few techniques by name to see if the brown and green belts knew them and could demonstrate them. The results were disappoint. They were pretty basic throws from the first two queues. We need a better result for this.
In Ne waza we covered the dropping arm lock then talked about the yoko tomoe nage from the same attack. I' interested in doing some work on this armlock. I also ok'ed it for use in randori. I did a set with Zweli. He is doing better, but needs to play tighter. He is playing fast and loose which is hard to do against a more skilled player. He would be well served to use his strength more.
In Ne waza we covered the dropping arm lock then talked about the yoko tomoe nage from the same attack. I' interested in doing some work on this armlock. I also ok'ed it for use in randori. I did a set with Zweli. He is doing better, but needs to play tighter. He is playing fast and loose which is hard to do against a more skilled player. He would be well served to use his strength more.
Friday - 5/6/2010
Westin Open Mat - 6 of us were there including two black belts Steve B and Steve K. also myself, Chris, blue john and craig. all in all an excellent group for training. I set it up into 5 - 7 minute matches. The matches with Craig Blue John and Chris were fine albeit fairly standard. Chris remains very susceptible to a whizzer butterlfy sweep done from the left side. Blue John tries to hard to scramble back to his feet rather than working on his back game as much as he should. Craig struggled with the knee in the belly and tapped before he should. Steve B has a very solid technical game. he moves well, though had a little trouble with the size differential. I managed to pass and get to knee in the belly. He went for the escape I think is a mistake going under the knee, I dropped and trapped it, the managed to catch the Ude Garame. Steve K was last. a bit smaller than me, but good and more athletic than Steve B, I think. I pulled and he worked to pass. He tore my pants as I was coming up which screwed us both up. I bailed and went trap and roll. My hand was caught in his pants and I had to stop when my fingers were twisted and crackled. I didn't really have much use of it the rest of the set. He pulled and I worked the pass, until time expired. Good set, despite the torn pants and the jacked up fingers. looking forward to training with them next week.
Thursday 5/5/2010
Open Mat - BJJ
I did a Kettlebell work out on the mat upstairs. I like doing it there with my IPOD playing, I think. I am going to try to get there early enough to do my thgursday work out in this format. The work out was good. I emphasized strength and endurance over flexibility, but, it's a good fit for me right now.
Sarah came up and Eric S arrived. We both rolled with Sarah several times as she was getting ready for a big tournament and needed to sweat a few pounds. Covered a few fundamental technical mistakes she was making, but, she is a pleasure to coach. She listens and learns easily. He flexibility is almost too good and her fighting spirit is excellent. She could use some focus on her strength training for power and we will continue to fix some Ne Waza flaws, but her ceiling is very high and she has a great attitude.
Judo class is returning to it's more typical numbers of 12-15 rather than 18-20. I love having the bodies in class and prefer that, but it is easier to teach the smaller group particularly when there are mostly advanced players in the group. I covered some Ukemi, namely taking essentially a Kota Gaeshi fall to work on keeping the hip closed to the fall and not pancaking out of it. Better for tori to throw and much better for uke to take. Then, we transitioned to working on the basic tai otoshi. This is clearly not my best technique but, everyone needs to understand it and while I may not use it much I do have a good grasp of the fundamental elements of the technique. Falling better helped everyone throw better as well.
We did some Tokui Waza, for about 10 minutes then 3 sets of 5 minute randori. All in all, good sets, pretty hard competitive play without being too crazy.
We worked on taking the choke when uke turns away from you in Ne waza. Anticipate the turn, and as uke turns away, drive your hand deep across and secure the choke grip use the second hand to tighten the choke, then do a shin roll and pull uke up into your lap. Use the leg on the same side as the choking hand to peel off the defending hand of uke, grab the pants at the knee of uke with the non choking hand, arch your back and get the tap. I use this quite often and consider it a fundamental part of my game. They had, what I thought was surprising difficulty executing this. In general, there was a failure to get deep enough grips with the first hand. Tori didn't anticipate and react to the turnout by uke quickly and aggressively enough, which led to shallow grips and difficulty finishing the strangles. There was also confusion in executing the shin roll to get to the final choking position. I think this is an easy technique that will serve everyone well, so we will revisit it soon.
3 sets of ne waza and we called it a night.
I did a Kettlebell work out on the mat upstairs. I like doing it there with my IPOD playing, I think. I am going to try to get there early enough to do my thgursday work out in this format. The work out was good. I emphasized strength and endurance over flexibility, but, it's a good fit for me right now.
Sarah came up and Eric S arrived. We both rolled with Sarah several times as she was getting ready for a big tournament and needed to sweat a few pounds. Covered a few fundamental technical mistakes she was making, but, she is a pleasure to coach. She listens and learns easily. He flexibility is almost too good and her fighting spirit is excellent. She could use some focus on her strength training for power and we will continue to fix some Ne Waza flaws, but her ceiling is very high and she has a great attitude.
Judo class is returning to it's more typical numbers of 12-15 rather than 18-20. I love having the bodies in class and prefer that, but it is easier to teach the smaller group particularly when there are mostly advanced players in the group. I covered some Ukemi, namely taking essentially a Kota Gaeshi fall to work on keeping the hip closed to the fall and not pancaking out of it. Better for tori to throw and much better for uke to take. Then, we transitioned to working on the basic tai otoshi. This is clearly not my best technique but, everyone needs to understand it and while I may not use it much I do have a good grasp of the fundamental elements of the technique. Falling better helped everyone throw better as well.
We did some Tokui Waza, for about 10 minutes then 3 sets of 5 minute randori. All in all, good sets, pretty hard competitive play without being too crazy.
We worked on taking the choke when uke turns away from you in Ne waza. Anticipate the turn, and as uke turns away, drive your hand deep across and secure the choke grip use the second hand to tighten the choke, then do a shin roll and pull uke up into your lap. Use the leg on the same side as the choking hand to peel off the defending hand of uke, grab the pants at the knee of uke with the non choking hand, arch your back and get the tap. I use this quite often and consider it a fundamental part of my game. They had, what I thought was surprising difficulty executing this. In general, there was a failure to get deep enough grips with the first hand. Tori didn't anticipate and react to the turnout by uke quickly and aggressively enough, which led to shallow grips and difficulty finishing the strangles. There was also confusion in executing the shin roll to get to the final choking position. I think this is an easy technique that will serve everyone well, so we will revisit it soon.
3 sets of ne waza and we called it a night.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Thursday 5/5/2010
I taught the day class at the Westin. I did some stand up due to the upcoming tournament and took advantage of John being away to do a little off of the feet. I did a belt grip attack for the crouching lurker, which how all too many bjj people fight off of their feet. The first one was essentially a low Georgian throw, without the pick up part. I more just rotated the Uke to his back over his left shoulder. I then did a belt grip Ouchi Gari. I reminded them to make sure they square back up as this will make the back take harder for the uke who has been thrown. Lastly we covered a basic Kimura from the straddled head position, breaking the grip free then applying the arm lock.
2 sets of Ne Waza - Chris D and blue John. I am feeling a little sluggish and heavy. Need to get back to the diet. 10 lbs. is just the tip of what i need to lose but it's a real tipping point in how I feel in terms of mobility and cardio.
2 sets of Ne Waza - Chris D and blue John. I am feeling a little sluggish and heavy. Need to get back to the diet. 10 lbs. is just the tip of what i need to lose but it's a real tipping point in how I feel in terms of mobility and cardio.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Need to do some catching up. I missed a few classes due to attending the draft for my "Spring Break" then missed back to back Mondays to support Beth and her need for time to complete her Calculus course. So I am just going to bang out the classes i made and any special notes.
4/26 Monday
No class - Baby duty.
4/27 Tuesday
Day class at the Westin - Check
4/29 Thursday
Day class at the Westin - Check
4/29 Thursday
Kbells - I think my new routine will be to do Kettlebells on my own on Thursday. I devised my own work out. I didn't make it through the workout as designed so i will have something to work towards. If I get to the point that i can complete it, then I can add an exercise or raise the weight.
This stupid blog program won't let me copy and paste it so I will have to add the workout later.
BJJ Open Mat - Check
Judo - This was Miguel's last class with us. He has graduated and will be returning. We promoted him to Sankyu. He has been a great asset to us during his time at the club. We went out afterwards and I was pretty hammered.
We promoted Miguel to Brown belt. He deserves it quite easily and his throwing skills are on a black belt level. to celebrate his promotion and bid him farewell. We all took turns throwing him. Our new tradition for all of our promotions.
Friday 4/30 Open mat at the Westin
Good work Chris left early, and Steve B. came in and joined. so he will add a lot to the training. I did some sets and had a few nice rolls. The sets with Steve were good as his game is very solid and a little different than I am used to seeing. I didn't catch him but scored a few times and avoided giving up any points. It will be good to see how the games develop as I work with him more. I also hit a few flippies on Craig. he was shocked as a 200+ pounder doesn't expect to get flipped.
Sunday 5/1 Judo
I did some fits and throws with Lex. I felt pretty good and felt good taking some throws. I worked on the hikikomi Gaeshi with him as I think I realized what the trouble was for his execution of the technique.
I tested them Nick, Sarah, Lex and James) on several throws to see if they knew what they were by name. They did poorly so we will have to work on this.
I did the over-under pass in Ne waza as Lex wanted to work on passing directly to side control rather than to half guard.
Monday - 5/2 Judo
No class - baby duty.
Tuesday Day class at the Westin.
2 sets of training -Chris and blue John.
4/26 Monday
No class - Baby duty.
4/27 Tuesday
Day class at the Westin - Check
4/29 Thursday
Day class at the Westin - Check
4/29 Thursday
Kbells - I think my new routine will be to do Kettlebells on my own on Thursday. I devised my own work out. I didn't make it through the workout as designed so i will have something to work towards. If I get to the point that i can complete it, then I can add an exercise or raise the weight.
This stupid blog program won't let me copy and paste it so I will have to add the workout later.
BJJ Open Mat - Check
Judo - This was Miguel's last class with us. He has graduated and will be returning. We promoted him to Sankyu. He has been a great asset to us during his time at the club. We went out afterwards and I was pretty hammered.
We promoted Miguel to Brown belt. He deserves it quite easily and his throwing skills are on a black belt level. to celebrate his promotion and bid him farewell. We all took turns throwing him. Our new tradition for all of our promotions.
Friday 4/30 Open mat at the Westin
Good work Chris left early, and Steve B. came in and joined. so he will add a lot to the training. I did some sets and had a few nice rolls. The sets with Steve were good as his game is very solid and a little different than I am used to seeing. I didn't catch him but scored a few times and avoided giving up any points. It will be good to see how the games develop as I work with him more. I also hit a few flippies on Craig. he was shocked as a 200+ pounder doesn't expect to get flipped.
Sunday 5/1 Judo
I did some fits and throws with Lex. I felt pretty good and felt good taking some throws. I worked on the hikikomi Gaeshi with him as I think I realized what the trouble was for his execution of the technique.
I tested them Nick, Sarah, Lex and James) on several throws to see if they knew what they were by name. They did poorly so we will have to work on this.
I did the over-under pass in Ne waza as Lex wanted to work on passing directly to side control rather than to half guard.
Monday - 5/2 Judo
No class - baby duty.
Tuesday Day class at the Westin.
2 sets of training -Chris and blue John.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday 4/11/2010
Missed Kbells. They were prepping for some F'ing Deniro movie replacing all of the signage etc to make the street look like Manhattan an as a result everything was blocked or bound up. So I was late.
Taught BJJ - 6 people in class despite the 8 people away at PanAms and the crosstrainers who fought in Judo who took the night off, so not too bad. Also had a new prospect who seemed interested and Dave's niece Linda did the class.
I covered the half butterfly hook sweep, freeing the leg when it's trapped and re-engaging for the sweep and coming up via the shin roll to sweep them backwards if the pull away. They got the technique and trained well so it was a good class.
Judo was good albeit a little small in the post tournament malaise. Art will give the Sato disappointing his instructor speech on Thursday for those who haven't heard it. We did Sasai Tsurikomi Ashi and Kouchi Gari then gave time for tokui waza.#-4 sets of randori.
For Ne Waza we worked on triangles. Mike the new white belt started to develop his and I think has a very promising future in general and with this technique in particular. His body is a natural for it. Christine did a very good job coaching through it. Ne Waza was fine. One of the guys played a little heavier than i would have liked with Ariana. I took him next and played hard with him, tapping him repeatedly and generally roughing him up. To His credit he recognized that something was different and inquired. Most of the times I have had to put it on someone like this they just take it and don't try to learn from it. I just told him to back it off a little in the future with the light girls. He understood and processed the information well. His understanding made me have even higher hopes for him.
Taught BJJ - 6 people in class despite the 8 people away at PanAms and the crosstrainers who fought in Judo who took the night off, so not too bad. Also had a new prospect who seemed interested and Dave's niece Linda did the class.
I covered the half butterfly hook sweep, freeing the leg when it's trapped and re-engaging for the sweep and coming up via the shin roll to sweep them backwards if the pull away. They got the technique and trained well so it was a good class.
Judo was good albeit a little small in the post tournament malaise. Art will give the Sato disappointing his instructor speech on Thursday for those who haven't heard it. We did Sasai Tsurikomi Ashi and Kouchi Gari then gave time for tokui waza.#-4 sets of randori.
For Ne Waza we worked on triangles. Mike the new white belt started to develop his and I think has a very promising future in general and with this technique in particular. His body is a natural for it. Christine did a very good job coaching through it. Ne Waza was fine. One of the guys played a little heavier than i would have liked with Ariana. I took him next and played hard with him, tapping him repeatedly and generally roughing him up. To His credit he recognized that something was different and inquired. Most of the times I have had to put it on someone like this they just take it and don't try to learn from it. I just told him to back it off a little in the future with the light girls. He understood and processed the information well. His understanding made me have even higher hopes for him.
4/10/2010 - Liberty Bell Tournament
The Liberty Bell tournament was this Sunday so class was canceled. Out club turnout was very solid and in general we did well. I will update this post as I have time to complete it. The new venue was good, but farther away and needed more space. It did feel much cleaner and less rundown than Lincoln High school.
Paula and Ariana fought Saturday in the Juniors divisions. Christine and Alma went to the tournament site and coached. This is laudable as it was neither close nor easy for them, but they stepped up to represent the coaches. the Juniors divisions were very competitive with excellent national level players in many divisions. Paula went 1-1 which says a lot about the level of competition. Ariana went 0-2 and fought hard but was in a little over her head when you look at the quality of the competition. If she will stick it out as she grows and fills out and fully discovers her technical skills, she will be a dangerous competitor
The Sunday competition went well. (In no particular order, just how they popped in my head.)
James threw an ippon which was great, but he continues to be vulnerable to seoi nage. Not really surprising as he is tall and a little stiff in the hips, plus he is a good uke all of which lends itself to being a seoi nage target. I might have him spend a lot of time with Lex throwing him in the seoi so he learns the feel of the attack and thus learns to defend it better.
Eric J. was a little frustrated I think as he was in a round robin 2 man division, which is annoying to pay full price for it. He lost his matches to a guy who he could definitely beat. His only problem is he isn't training enough. it's hard to play at a high level when you are just training once a week. I spoke to him about making a twice a week commitment until after Am-Cans.He also holds on to his grips too long after his technique has failed which leaves him vulnerable to be turned. Silver
Paula played well. She went 2-2 with a quality win and two tough losses. her losses to were to good players one in a scoreless match where she lost a referee decision after golden score, and the other she beat on Saturday via Ippon. She was thrown for a late Yuko, and her opponent ran from her the rest of the set. she just needs to work on her offense a bit as he defense is fine. But, really she has been training lightly as she finishes her senior year, Her opponents are training every day and barely beating her. Bronze (I think?)
Lex took 2nd in 90 kgs and 3rd in 81 kgs. He was armlocked in 90 by a bjj purple belt which will be a good learning experience for him. He was up a wazari and got careless for just a minute. He mostly dominated this division and was the best Judo player in it. The purple belt couldn't take him down at all but had the skills to catch him. a little better focus and learning better armlock defense will solve this issue. In 81 Kgs. we need to work on a way to get past the one sided stiff arm Miguel was using to defend. i want to work on the Sasai from that position to break up the defense. He was countered by another player and that will be solved by working on staying forward to avoid the counter. His opponent was sloppy and the referee was piss poor. The counter should have been yuko at best wazari, but was called ippon. He and Miguel were the class of the division. He showed great spirit technique and conditioning, Most of his problems will be solved with experience and some very minor fine tuning. I do want to review the way he was going for clock chokes and the advanced Paula. He had the wrong hand in too many times and didn't grab the shoulder I wold have liked to see him tap a few guys with it and end the match easier. Silver and Bronze
Miguel played very well. He and Lex were the class of the 81kgs division. He is very difficult to throw. he only allowed one score in 5 matches when he was countered for ippon in a match he was dominating by wazari and yuko to nothing when he got careless. His offense is very solid. I enjoy working with him and will be sad to see him leave us to return to Mexico. He has been an excellent addition tot he club while he has been here. Silver
Chris had a great day going 3-2, throwing 2 ippons won a bronze medal and playing very well. He still has some problems with posture and I want to take away the lunging Tani otoshi he tries as it again got him ipponed when he missed. Under a risk - reward model, it's not worth it. But all in all he [played well, had agood results and I was very happy for him. Bronze
Greg did a huge weight cut cutting 35 lbs in just over three weeks. He said he felt fine but he looked a little slow and sluggish compared to the explosive powerhouse I am used to seeing. he hasn't fought a tournament in 9 months due to the time off with the injury. I am looking forward to seeing him fight again without the big cut. He still went 1-2 with an ippon off of the Uchi mata-Kouchi Gari switch and took a bronze, but I know he was disappointed as he has high standards for himself. Bronze
Sarah looked great and did great winning a gold and totally outclassing her opponent. The downside was they bumped her down to novice where she did totally outclass her opponent. Hard to say much from these matches except congratulations and her job is to beat whoever is in front of her which she did with aplomb. In the future her matches will be more challenging. Gold
Joe C fought masters where he fought Lawrence twice. He has so much experience on lawrence this wasn't a very fair matchup. He threw ippons as you would expect. He also for some strange reason foought seniors where he fought hard but was outclassed by guys less than half his age. Gold
Lawrence Fought masters and drew Joe twice. He fought hard but the experience disparity made this a rather unfair match. i would have liked to see him get some players from another club to fight. Silver
Nick is an interesting case. He fights hard but seems to get thrown by people he should beat his stand up is solid and his matwork is solid but he seems to get overpowered and outgripped and overwhelmed by aggression sometime. When he settles in and gets to work he does fine, but, when he is grabbed aggrssively and yanked around he can get tossed . I need to work on his posture and controlling the match with grips and movement, instead of being dragged around and chased. he reminds me of one of our players from back in the day and I need to work on solving this as he is a great training partner and a very valuable member of the club and I want him to be rewarded for his hard work. Bronze
We had a strong turnout in the black belts who weren't competing to coach and assist. Several injuries and life issues kept us from having even more competitors, but we still had an excellent showing. Great to see so much support for the club. I would love to have even more students and have some of the guys who have quit come back, but I really love this group. It's one of the best we have had in my 15+ years in the club.
Paula and Ariana fought Saturday in the Juniors divisions. Christine and Alma went to the tournament site and coached. This is laudable as it was neither close nor easy for them, but they stepped up to represent the coaches. the Juniors divisions were very competitive with excellent national level players in many divisions. Paula went 1-1 which says a lot about the level of competition. Ariana went 0-2 and fought hard but was in a little over her head when you look at the quality of the competition. If she will stick it out as she grows and fills out and fully discovers her technical skills, she will be a dangerous competitor
The Sunday competition went well. (In no particular order, just how they popped in my head.)
James threw an ippon which was great, but he continues to be vulnerable to seoi nage. Not really surprising as he is tall and a little stiff in the hips, plus he is a good uke all of which lends itself to being a seoi nage target. I might have him spend a lot of time with Lex throwing him in the seoi so he learns the feel of the attack and thus learns to defend it better.
Eric J. was a little frustrated I think as he was in a round robin 2 man division, which is annoying to pay full price for it. He lost his matches to a guy who he could definitely beat. His only problem is he isn't training enough. it's hard to play at a high level when you are just training once a week. I spoke to him about making a twice a week commitment until after Am-Cans.He also holds on to his grips too long after his technique has failed which leaves him vulnerable to be turned. Silver
Paula played well. She went 2-2 with a quality win and two tough losses. her losses to were to good players one in a scoreless match where she lost a referee decision after golden score, and the other she beat on Saturday via Ippon. She was thrown for a late Yuko, and her opponent ran from her the rest of the set. she just needs to work on her offense a bit as he defense is fine. But, really she has been training lightly as she finishes her senior year, Her opponents are training every day and barely beating her. Bronze (I think?)
Lex took 2nd in 90 kgs and 3rd in 81 kgs. He was armlocked in 90 by a bjj purple belt which will be a good learning experience for him. He was up a wazari and got careless for just a minute. He mostly dominated this division and was the best Judo player in it. The purple belt couldn't take him down at all but had the skills to catch him. a little better focus and learning better armlock defense will solve this issue. In 81 Kgs. we need to work on a way to get past the one sided stiff arm Miguel was using to defend. i want to work on the Sasai from that position to break up the defense. He was countered by another player and that will be solved by working on staying forward to avoid the counter. His opponent was sloppy and the referee was piss poor. The counter should have been yuko at best wazari, but was called ippon. He and Miguel were the class of the division. He showed great spirit technique and conditioning, Most of his problems will be solved with experience and some very minor fine tuning. I do want to review the way he was going for clock chokes and the advanced Paula. He had the wrong hand in too many times and didn't grab the shoulder I wold have liked to see him tap a few guys with it and end the match easier. Silver and Bronze
Miguel played very well. He and Lex were the class of the 81kgs division. He is very difficult to throw. he only allowed one score in 5 matches when he was countered for ippon in a match he was dominating by wazari and yuko to nothing when he got careless. His offense is very solid. I enjoy working with him and will be sad to see him leave us to return to Mexico. He has been an excellent addition tot he club while he has been here. Silver
Chris had a great day going 3-2, throwing 2 ippons won a bronze medal and playing very well. He still has some problems with posture and I want to take away the lunging Tani otoshi he tries as it again got him ipponed when he missed. Under a risk - reward model, it's not worth it. But all in all he [played well, had agood results and I was very happy for him. Bronze
Greg did a huge weight cut cutting 35 lbs in just over three weeks. He said he felt fine but he looked a little slow and sluggish compared to the explosive powerhouse I am used to seeing. he hasn't fought a tournament in 9 months due to the time off with the injury. I am looking forward to seeing him fight again without the big cut. He still went 1-2 with an ippon off of the Uchi mata-Kouchi Gari switch and took a bronze, but I know he was disappointed as he has high standards for himself. Bronze
Sarah looked great and did great winning a gold and totally outclassing her opponent. The downside was they bumped her down to novice where she did totally outclass her opponent. Hard to say much from these matches except congratulations and her job is to beat whoever is in front of her which she did with aplomb. In the future her matches will be more challenging. Gold
Joe C fought masters where he fought Lawrence twice. He has so much experience on lawrence this wasn't a very fair matchup. He threw ippons as you would expect. He also for some strange reason foought seniors where he fought hard but was outclassed by guys less than half his age. Gold
Lawrence Fought masters and drew Joe twice. He fought hard but the experience disparity made this a rather unfair match. i would have liked to see him get some players from another club to fight. Silver
Nick is an interesting case. He fights hard but seems to get thrown by people he should beat his stand up is solid and his matwork is solid but he seems to get overpowered and outgripped and overwhelmed by aggression sometime. When he settles in and gets to work he does fine, but, when he is grabbed aggrssively and yanked around he can get tossed . I need to work on his posture and controlling the match with grips and movement, instead of being dragged around and chased. he reminds me of one of our players from back in the day and I need to work on solving this as he is a great training partner and a very valuable member of the club and I want him to be rewarded for his hard work. Bronze
We had a strong turnout in the black belts who weren't competing to coach and assist. Several injuries and life issues kept us from having even more competitors, but we still had an excellent showing. Great to see so much support for the club. I would love to have even more students and have some of the guys who have quit come back, but I really love this group. It's one of the best we have had in my 15+ years in the club.
Monday, April 12, 2010
4/7/2010
Westin day class. Just Blue John showed up. We covered some guard passing ideas that give me trouble. Less technical than strategic and philosophical... Hopefully it will help him.
Open Mat BJJ - Just Judo people were there. I trained for about 5 minutes with Eric s and we had a decent set. I had a little soreness but no reoccurrence of my injury.
Judo had the last class before the tournament. Well attended with 23 people. Good hard low impact training. I started to run the people who still needed to cut weight but realized ti was too soon, as they had a day left to wait to weigh in, so we got a good sweat and worked on technique and called it a night.
Open Mat BJJ - Just Judo people were there. I trained for about 5 minutes with Eric s and we had a decent set. I had a little soreness but no reoccurrence of my injury.
Judo had the last class before the tournament. Well attended with 23 people. Good hard low impact training. I started to run the people who still needed to cut weight but realized ti was too soon, as they had a day left to wait to weigh in, so we got a good sweat and worked on technique and called it a night.
Tuesday 4/5/2010
Good group at the Westin Day class. two on one attacks by John. Still on the IR. I tried to train a little but my rib twinged in the first 30 seconds so I had the sense to stop.
Monday 4/4/2010
Kettlebells Decent. There is a little more joint mobility.
John covered some 2 on one attacks in BJJ. Still can't train due to the rib pull.
In Judo, more of the same, lots of tokui waza and hop randori, then turtle turn practice for Ne waza then a few sets of training.
John covered some 2 on one attacks in BJJ. Still can't train due to the rib pull.
In Judo, more of the same, lots of tokui waza and hop randori, then turtle turn practice for Ne waza then a few sets of training.
Sunday 4/3/2010
Easter Sunday class. surprisingly well attended. We drew 10 people. and did some good training. We did some hop randori and three man drills. Good numbers of fits and throwing. We didn't fight much as we are just a week from Liberty Bell. We did some rounds of clock chokes and turnovers. I talked a bit about why I don't like the tricep (as opposed to the hip) version of a clock choke. Some Ne Waza then called it a day.
Here is the link to the March Randori High Lights.
Here is the link to the March Randori High Lights.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Thursday 4/1/2010
Day class at the Westin - Small group though John's apprentice Mike was there. He will be a good training partner. He plays a solid technical game, is young and plays hard but not crazy.
We did some more half guard attacks, working for the underhook, then sweeping or taking the back. the we worked the half guard reversal closing the triangle above the knee and sweeping them backwards.
I trained with mike and he worked a solid pass attempt. I escaped and fed him a triangle to attack and then passed him from it. he escaped to his turtle. I worked for a clock choke then had a small pop in my right rib. First time I have had that injury in years. I forgot how much it sucks. I hid the rest of the set, but didn't quit. I rolled a short one with one of the white belts to keep the sets even. I pulled nad just maintained guard and let him work but not succeed. Hopefully this won't linger.
We did some more half guard attacks, working for the underhook, then sweeping or taking the back. the we worked the half guard reversal closing the triangle above the knee and sweeping them backwards.
I trained with mike and he worked a solid pass attempt. I escaped and fed him a triangle to attack and then passed him from it. he escaped to his turtle. I worked for a clock choke then had a small pop in my right rib. First time I have had that injury in years. I forgot how much it sucks. I hid the rest of the set, but didn't quit. I rolled a short one with one of the white belts to keep the sets even. I pulled nad just maintained guard and let him work but not succeed. Hopefully this won't linger.
Tuesday 3/30/2010
Day class at the Westin - good class 8 people counting John and myself. John taught some half guard attacks. I was still feeling a little sore from the sunday training (which speaks volumes about where I am in my training) so I sat out the training.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday - 3/28/2010
Sunday Judo class.- Smaller class than I would like considering the Liberty Bell tournament is so close to us. We did have a very good class for the 7 of us that were there. I worked in quite a bit and felt good to work prety hard. We did some uchikomis to warm up and then did three man power drills. I had Eric J and Lex in my group. Good group and good sets. Lex felt very strong on his lift as I would expect. Eric also was really firing off and driving strongly. We did three man throwing drills back and forth next. I threw Harai and got through my set fairly quickly. I was getting a little sloppy but kept up a good pace. Eric threw left sided which is good for me to feel. I don't fight as many lefties and I should and this will be good for me, especially with Greg also fighting left. and Lex willing to attack left as well. Lex threw his seoi and it felt good to take. Good to feel a big well executed technique like this. Eric was jangled by one of the throws and we switched Nick in to finish the set. We played two sets of king of the hill, a heayweight group and a lightweight group. So it remained Lex, Eric and myself. We played golden score, winner stayed but, if there was no score in 90 seconds the player entering the match stayed. I threw a few, hit a few sacrifices and counters. Eric and Lex each threw me a few times and split some matches between themselves. Nice workout and a good group.
We did turtle turn tokui waza then did Ne waza. I worked with Eric. He managed to pass me and held me for a bit, but I escaped and came up behind him I caught the rudder armlock attacking his turtle when I caught his arm with my high leg, blocked the elbow with my low knee and then applied it. Good to work with Eric as he is one of the few people I work with who has a chance to pass me much less hold me.
We did turtle turn tokui waza then did Ne waza. I worked with Eric. He managed to pass me and held me for a bit, but I escaped and came up behind him I caught the rudder armlock attacking his turtle when I caught his arm with my high leg, blocked the elbow with my low knee and then applied it. Good to work with Eric as he is one of the few people I work with who has a chance to pass me much less hold me.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday 3/25/2010 - How I've become a Phil Neikro
I never really make titles for my entries as I don't want to invest the time to make each of them clever, and if they aren't clever, it's a waste of time, but I had a terrible revelation as I was writing this that i wanted to recall. The relevant passage is in bold so i can find it easily if I look for it.
Day class at the Westin. No Chris today and was a small group (me, 2 johns and Craig) John did the closed guard, flip to turtle sweep and an Oma Plata attack from the same position. He also covered an interesting position he uses that I hadn't seen in awhile. Uke stands, tori underhooks behind the ankle of the uke and comes off of the closed guard but keeps his hips up. Pull the sleeve of uke up a bit to make space and put the right foot in the left armpit of the uke. keep the foot in the armpit. Drop the other foot down to the other foot of the uke. there is a nice knee lock entry here, or push the far foot of the uke with tori's left foot while pushing him back with your foot in his armpit. He goes over surprisingly easily. I rolled two short sets with Craig and blue John, just enough to break a sweat. Decent class.
BJJ Open mat
Just Judo folks here. We covered a few questions then trained. Katie was getting a bit frustrated trying to get a split to work her pass. I showed her how I do it and she seemed to fell better about it. I rolled once with Craig. He is a really big strong son of a gun. He is smart also. He has made a good technical decision to work on his half guard. It's a good technique selection for him and he is improving there.
Judo. 13 people I have been getting a little spoiled with the huge classes but this is actually an easier class to teach. We did Drop Seoi Nage for 10-15 minutes then another 15-20 minutes of tokui waza. Then randori.
I jumped in and did some of the randori. I did a 5 min set with Eric. He is a good training partner. I hit a Sasai and a few knock down techs, but nothing big. He came close but didn't get me over a few times.
I had a 5 min with James. It's a reminder of how far my technique has fallen. I can''t get in on him with my harai and its maddening. I can feel the time for it, but can't trigger the attack. i can knock him down with stuff if I want to but I have always been a big technique player now I throw junk, it works I guess but its not what i want. I just saw an analogy to a baseball pitcher who blows out his shoulder or even just gets old. He had a big fastball and it was fun to throw it hard down the middle and overpower people and strike them out. then he blew out his shoulder and got old and lost the fastball, so he retires or he learns to be a junkballer. He learns to throw slow curves, changeups, knuckleballs and whatever offspeed crap he can find to get someone out. I am sort of saying this to be funny but I am also horrified by this. I genuinely don't know if I can accept this. I was never Dwight Gooden but my fastball had to be respected even by good players. Now it's gone. Perhaps never to return. My only consolation is at this point 95% of judoka retire... at least I haven't quit.
I did a set with Greg on his feet. He really is a beast, feeling very strong. I almost hit an Osoto Gari, then he switched to left and really screwed me up. I managed to stay near the wall so there was interference when he woud have thrown me, but it was definitely intimidating when he came in strong on the left side. I hit a Sumi Gaeshi as time expired but that was it.
We did turtle turning tokui waza 10 up turtle turns and 10 flat turtle turns.
We did ne waza to resolution 3 groups of 4 Christine won her group, Allesandro won his group of middle weights and Eric won the heavyweight group.
Day class at the Westin. No Chris today and was a small group (me, 2 johns and Craig) John did the closed guard, flip to turtle sweep and an Oma Plata attack from the same position. He also covered an interesting position he uses that I hadn't seen in awhile. Uke stands, tori underhooks behind the ankle of the uke and comes off of the closed guard but keeps his hips up. Pull the sleeve of uke up a bit to make space and put the right foot in the left armpit of the uke. keep the foot in the armpit. Drop the other foot down to the other foot of the uke. there is a nice knee lock entry here, or push the far foot of the uke with tori's left foot while pushing him back with your foot in his armpit. He goes over surprisingly easily. I rolled two short sets with Craig and blue John, just enough to break a sweat. Decent class.
BJJ Open mat
Just Judo folks here. We covered a few questions then trained. Katie was getting a bit frustrated trying to get a split to work her pass. I showed her how I do it and she seemed to fell better about it. I rolled once with Craig. He is a really big strong son of a gun. He is smart also. He has made a good technical decision to work on his half guard. It's a good technique selection for him and he is improving there.
Judo. 13 people I have been getting a little spoiled with the huge classes but this is actually an easier class to teach. We did Drop Seoi Nage for 10-15 minutes then another 15-20 minutes of tokui waza. Then randori.
I jumped in and did some of the randori. I did a 5 min set with Eric. He is a good training partner. I hit a Sasai and a few knock down techs, but nothing big. He came close but didn't get me over a few times.
I had a 5 min with James. It's a reminder of how far my technique has fallen. I can''t get in on him with my harai and its maddening. I can feel the time for it, but can't trigger the attack. i can knock him down with stuff if I want to but I have always been a big technique player now I throw junk, it works I guess but its not what i want. I just saw an analogy to a baseball pitcher who blows out his shoulder or even just gets old. He had a big fastball and it was fun to throw it hard down the middle and overpower people and strike them out. then he blew out his shoulder and got old and lost the fastball, so he retires or he learns to be a junkballer. He learns to throw slow curves, changeups, knuckleballs and whatever offspeed crap he can find to get someone out. I am sort of saying this to be funny but I am also horrified by this. I genuinely don't know if I can accept this. I was never Dwight Gooden but my fastball had to be respected even by good players. Now it's gone. Perhaps never to return. My only consolation is at this point 95% of judoka retire... at least I haven't quit.
I did a set with Greg on his feet. He really is a beast, feeling very strong. I almost hit an Osoto Gari, then he switched to left and really screwed me up. I managed to stay near the wall so there was interference when he woud have thrown me, but it was definitely intimidating when he came in strong on the left side. I hit a Sumi Gaeshi as time expired but that was it.
We did turtle turning tokui waza 10 up turtle turns and 10 flat turtle turns.
We did ne waza to resolution 3 groups of 4 Christine won her group, Allesandro won his group of middle weights and Eric won the heavyweight group.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesaday - 3/23/2010
Day class at the Westin. - Good group, 8 of us there. John had a new guy who did well and trained. Kevin was in from the night group. I covered the first two of the half guard passes Fredson did with us last Friday. They did well and cemented some of the ideas of the passes by teaching them. They had decent sets so John and i stayed out and let the 6 of them train. Not much of a workout, but, it was good for me to teach and think about the passes.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday 3/22/2010
Monday- Kettlebells good but, I needed to up the weight a bit. alma and John noted a form break I was having on my 2 hand swings whihc my have caused or exacerbated my recent spate of back issues. Have to wath it.
BJJ - Fredson taught class again. It was again a really excellent class and reminded me of how good BJJ classes can be. The classes with John have been useful and enjoyable but I haven't had classes this good since Urso was here. He assured us he will be back soon. This is a great sign. it's good to start feeling like we are getting back into the BJJ community. For years we were isolated from the east coast community and the local scene, which was a waste considering all fo the great schools and players, not to mention good friends int he area that we weren't seeing. But, for awhile were also weren't seeing any of the Brazilians come through. This really leads to stale, monotonous BJJ. Now it seems we may be getting the best of both worlds. Back training and sharing knowledge with the east coast community and also seeing some of the Brazilians coming through town. Fredson is excellent, and he indicated that some of Saulo's other black belts and instructors will be back in philadelphia soon.
To the class - Had a great class and saw 2 things I have never seen before. One was a variation of a half guard attack and the other was a whole new approach for me to attack the half guard that leads to a lot of different opportunities. will record them and practice them. I am actually excited to do some reps ont he positions. Trained with Dave O. forced my way to one of the half guard passes from Friday and was able to make it work, despite how tightly he was clinging to the position. Once I passed i tapped with a choke from side control. Rolled with Fredson next. I pulld to X guard. Funny as I used the same entry he taught me 7-8 years ago. I think I surprised him that I went for it. I got there, and worked some sweep attempts. He defended very well and managed to beat one of my hooks I bailed to a turtle as he was passing . He worked my side and back. i prevented hooks and we stalemated for a bit. He had an under the arm cross the back grip. i went trap and roll, he floated around it and sunk the grip in very deep. He was under the arm, so despite the tightness and pressure i didn't think he could catch me there... then I woke up. We started again and he pulled, i was working my pass and getting into it when he swept, i bailed as he came up and he came to my back. The set ended before he got his hooks. Very enjoyable training. would love to be able to train like that every day.
Judo had 18 people. Class started with several promotions. Scott Sorrentino was Uke for the first three sets of the Nage No Kata to complete his requirements for Sankyu. He and James did a superb job. Very few Green belts could do nage No Kata like that. Peter McNeil wa promoted to Green belt/Yonkyu. Very proud of Peter. Starting Judo at +40 and fighting in class and tournaments as he has done isn't easy. It's a privilege to be able to coach guys like these two. Truthfully we have a wonderful bunch right now. there aren't any olympians, but I would take this group over most every day. Good attitudes, hard workers, and genuinely nice people. The club is very fortunate to have all fo them right now.
We do Tokui Waza for 40 minutes or so, then did Randori. 4 good sets across the board 3-5 mins and 1 3 min set. Christine has lloked very good since she recommitted to her randori. paula did well but, turned and ankle over. Chris S, showed some good techniques. He always fights hard, but sometimes gets by on intensity and effort. His techniques looked good. 12 of the people here tonight indicate they plan on competing at Liberty Bell. There are others who say the same but weren't in class. Would be great to bring 15+ competitors. I think we will.
Ne Waza - Did sets of turtle turns. made a few tweaks here and there to improve some things.
We did more Ne Waza to resolution and used the lightest wins tie breaker to avoid draws.
BJJ - Fredson taught class again. It was again a really excellent class and reminded me of how good BJJ classes can be. The classes with John have been useful and enjoyable but I haven't had classes this good since Urso was here. He assured us he will be back soon. This is a great sign. it's good to start feeling like we are getting back into the BJJ community. For years we were isolated from the east coast community and the local scene, which was a waste considering all fo the great schools and players, not to mention good friends int he area that we weren't seeing. But, for awhile were also weren't seeing any of the Brazilians come through. This really leads to stale, monotonous BJJ. Now it seems we may be getting the best of both worlds. Back training and sharing knowledge with the east coast community and also seeing some of the Brazilians coming through town. Fredson is excellent, and he indicated that some of Saulo's other black belts and instructors will be back in philadelphia soon.
To the class - Had a great class and saw 2 things I have never seen before. One was a variation of a half guard attack and the other was a whole new approach for me to attack the half guard that leads to a lot of different opportunities. will record them and practice them. I am actually excited to do some reps ont he positions. Trained with Dave O. forced my way to one of the half guard passes from Friday and was able to make it work, despite how tightly he was clinging to the position. Once I passed i tapped with a choke from side control. Rolled with Fredson next. I pulld to X guard. Funny as I used the same entry he taught me 7-8 years ago. I think I surprised him that I went for it. I got there, and worked some sweep attempts. He defended very well and managed to beat one of my hooks I bailed to a turtle as he was passing . He worked my side and back. i prevented hooks and we stalemated for a bit. He had an under the arm cross the back grip. i went trap and roll, he floated around it and sunk the grip in very deep. He was under the arm, so despite the tightness and pressure i didn't think he could catch me there... then I woke up. We started again and he pulled, i was working my pass and getting into it when he swept, i bailed as he came up and he came to my back. The set ended before he got his hooks. Very enjoyable training. would love to be able to train like that every day.
Judo had 18 people. Class started with several promotions. Scott Sorrentino was Uke for the first three sets of the Nage No Kata to complete his requirements for Sankyu. He and James did a superb job. Very few Green belts could do nage No Kata like that. Peter McNeil wa promoted to Green belt/Yonkyu. Very proud of Peter. Starting Judo at +40 and fighting in class and tournaments as he has done isn't easy. It's a privilege to be able to coach guys like these two. Truthfully we have a wonderful bunch right now. there aren't any olympians, but I would take this group over most every day. Good attitudes, hard workers, and genuinely nice people. The club is very fortunate to have all fo them right now.
We do Tokui Waza for 40 minutes or so, then did Randori. 4 good sets across the board 3-5 mins and 1 3 min set. Christine has lloked very good since she recommitted to her randori. paula did well but, turned and ankle over. Chris S, showed some good techniques. He always fights hard, but sometimes gets by on intensity and effort. His techniques looked good. 12 of the people here tonight indicate they plan on competing at Liberty Bell. There are others who say the same but weren't in class. Would be great to bring 15+ competitors. I think we will.
Ne Waza - Did sets of turtle turns. made a few tweaks here and there to improve some things.
We did more Ne Waza to resolution and used the lightest wins tie breaker to avoid draws.
Friday 2/19/2010
Fredson was in town and come to teach class. Excellent class, he fixed and explained a lot of the problems I was having with some of the half guard passes I was seeing last fall. I wil describe them elsewhere but I liked them a lot and have begun using them as alternatives to the better hald guard players. In some ways I think that they are complex and have quite a few moving parts. They work well against more advanced half guard players, but my old staples work well against most (90% or so) of half guards, but it will be good to have some alternatives against the more skilled players. Have to say it was a real pleasure to work with Fredson. Easily the best class I have had soince Urso left. Trained three sets. All in all, a very good night.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday 2/18/2010
Day class at the Westin. I rolled with chris and John D. The John d set reminded me I need to work on some alternatives for the De La Riva psoition with him as he defends it well. He caught the leg in the middle and we fought so hard over who would come up he ripped the pants i was wearing. The rest of the set was strongly afected by both of us working around the torn pants. Once I get him down he has difficulty coming up, but he is playing well right now, so I have to play better to gethim down.
Open mat - coverd some ideas for Greg, Lex and Peter then rolled a few quick sets. Eric worked on another sweep from his cross spider position that should help him with the guys who try to pass standing. i did a few things that seemned to ehlp them. I covered turning bakc inside to go belly down rather than turning away. Peter and Greg both did this when we trained and avoided a pin. We also covered the trap and roll pin escape Ronnie and I devised back at the Y, which I haven't done with anyone in years. I had a kneeling program request after i used ti to devour the room last week. I will have to see if i can work it out when we have the right group.
Judo had 18 people in it. I had a plan to work myself into the sets and do some wrk for myself, but, it didn't work out that way. I covered not wrecking each others knees with Ouchi grai. i needed tp cover this as we have had a recent bad knee injury. We worked on a good ouchi gari and not grounding ourselves on our entry or allowing Uke to ground us freezing our attacking leg to the ground which leaves us vulnerable to to kosoto gake/tani otoshi across the outside of the knee, which is exceedingly dangerous.So we working on the Ura nage instead. not what i was planning but ti was important to cover it.
I intended to do a simple technique and then get a lot of ne waza in, since i wanted to train, but, I called an audible and did the turning inside to get to the turtle to avoid pins. It went so well for Peter and Greg I felt they all needed to see it. It took some time but went well eventually and should help them.
KBell challenge I got 31/30 with the 24. The extra weight it scaring my shoulder a bit. I might go back to the 20 to get more reps and go for cardio over power. have to think about it.
Open mat - coverd some ideas for Greg, Lex and Peter then rolled a few quick sets. Eric worked on another sweep from his cross spider position that should help him with the guys who try to pass standing. i did a few things that seemned to ehlp them. I covered turning bakc inside to go belly down rather than turning away. Peter and Greg both did this when we trained and avoided a pin. We also covered the trap and roll pin escape Ronnie and I devised back at the Y, which I haven't done with anyone in years. I had a kneeling program request after i used ti to devour the room last week. I will have to see if i can work it out when we have the right group.
Judo had 18 people in it. I had a plan to work myself into the sets and do some wrk for myself, but, it didn't work out that way. I covered not wrecking each others knees with Ouchi grai. i needed tp cover this as we have had a recent bad knee injury. We worked on a good ouchi gari and not grounding ourselves on our entry or allowing Uke to ground us freezing our attacking leg to the ground which leaves us vulnerable to to kosoto gake/tani otoshi across the outside of the knee, which is exceedingly dangerous.So we working on the Ura nage instead. not what i was planning but ti was important to cover it.
I intended to do a simple technique and then get a lot of ne waza in, since i wanted to train, but, I called an audible and did the turning inside to get to the turtle to avoid pins. It went so well for Peter and Greg I felt they all needed to see it. It took some time but went well eventually and should help them.
KBell challenge I got 31/30 with the 24. The extra weight it scaring my shoulder a bit. I might go back to the 20 to get more reps and go for cardio over power. have to think about it.
Tuesday 3/16/2010
Day Class at the Westin. Craig has been doing well and working hard. he did well with Mike today. i think he may have frustrated Mike a bit as Craig has a few months less experience. Also learned that one of our other MIa white belts tore a rib at the in house, which is why he has not been on the mat.John did some Uke Garame from butterfly. 2 sets with Chris and John.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Monday 3/16/2010
I made it late so no Kettlebells.
BJJ - decent class with 11 people in it including 5 white belts who are all relatively new. John did some half guard passing work. He did the tripod version of the escrima pass and the head control pass. We do some elements of these techniques differently, but, the class in general got it, though they struggled with some of the leg positioning and when and how to either cross the knee or pull the foot.
My game felt off. Not sure if it was because I didn't do much but assist during the class, so I was cold, if I was still feeling a bit beat up from a few hard Judo classes, but, I think part of it was i was feeling a bit lethargic from not dieting better. I need to diet better as it will make me play better and looser.
I did 4 sets.
Dave O. I let him get some movement as he attempted to pass trusting to always be able to recover but I was a little slow and he made it to Half guard. i worked but it took me quite a while to sweep back to the top. I passed the haldguard abut Dave defended the next positions well and the set ended.
had Shannon next - He has been playing well, His base is so good he is difficult to sweep and he passes well. I had to bail to a turtle and he went for the wrestling arm lever and was the first person since John zilcoski to get me over with it. I managed to get back to my turtle eventually and finally got him to the bottom in his half guard. I nearly passed but he regained the half guard and time expired. Have to really watch that arm lever as he does it very well. Found out he was an assistant wrestling coach at Princeton, so I can really feel the wrestling skills coming through.
Worked with one of the new white belts who had played a little hard with his wife. I squished him some to be funny, but, he fought hard and stayed active the whole. he has more upside than i realized.
Then had a nice set with Frank. Tried to play pretty light, he managed to step off my hook in the X guard. I managed to reverse him anyway. rolled the rest of the set, he went spider but I slipped it and went knee in the belly. good set.
Judo - 18 people. We did some Uchi Mata and then some Tokui Waza. 3-4 randori sets Lee was in though his knee is a mess.
We did some grip breaks from the cross juji gatame position. I did the basic attack the grip with power then did the reversed elbows, then worked on coming up to the Uki Gatame.
We did Ne waza sets and then called it a night. Decent class, albeit not outstanding.
BJJ - decent class with 11 people in it including 5 white belts who are all relatively new. John did some half guard passing work. He did the tripod version of the escrima pass and the head control pass. We do some elements of these techniques differently, but, the class in general got it, though they struggled with some of the leg positioning and when and how to either cross the knee or pull the foot.
My game felt off. Not sure if it was because I didn't do much but assist during the class, so I was cold, if I was still feeling a bit beat up from a few hard Judo classes, but, I think part of it was i was feeling a bit lethargic from not dieting better. I need to diet better as it will make me play better and looser.
I did 4 sets.
Dave O. I let him get some movement as he attempted to pass trusting to always be able to recover but I was a little slow and he made it to Half guard. i worked but it took me quite a while to sweep back to the top. I passed the haldguard abut Dave defended the next positions well and the set ended.
had Shannon next - He has been playing well, His base is so good he is difficult to sweep and he passes well. I had to bail to a turtle and he went for the wrestling arm lever and was the first person since John zilcoski to get me over with it. I managed to get back to my turtle eventually and finally got him to the bottom in his half guard. I nearly passed but he regained the half guard and time expired. Have to really watch that arm lever as he does it very well. Found out he was an assistant wrestling coach at Princeton, so I can really feel the wrestling skills coming through.
Worked with one of the new white belts who had played a little hard with his wife. I squished him some to be funny, but, he fought hard and stayed active the whole. he has more upside than i realized.
Then had a nice set with Frank. Tried to play pretty light, he managed to step off my hook in the X guard. I managed to reverse him anyway. rolled the rest of the set, he went spider but I slipped it and went knee in the belly. good set.
Judo - 18 people. We did some Uchi Mata and then some Tokui Waza. 3-4 randori sets Lee was in though his knee is a mess.
We did some grip breaks from the cross juji gatame position. I did the basic attack the grip with power then did the reversed elbows, then worked on coming up to the Uki Gatame.
We did Ne waza sets and then called it a night. Decent class, albeit not outstanding.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday - 3/15/2010
Judo Class - Jason Y stayed after the team training and I wanted to do something that would be good for him but also not risk him lasding on anyone, so I revisited the Sasae Trurikomi Ashi-Osoto Gari-De Ashi Harai series, but entered at the Sasae, rather than the Osoto gari. Eric Johnson was there and he worked with Jason and did a a very good job. He has all the makings of a solid instructor.
We did some randori next. Eric had Jason and realized how big guys can feel sometimes as Jason looked like he dwarfed Eric.I took Z and had an interesting set. he threw a Te Guruma that got me over in good form. the next time he picked me up I threw him in the Sumi Gaeshi. He banged his forehead into my mouth and loosned a tooth slightly before he went over.
I took Eric next. hard set as he is big, strong and mostly plays left. He hit a drop left sided Tai Otoshi a la Big Tony. Good techniques for him. He also caught me with a foot sweep. I got him down with a foot sweep back but failed in my forward attacks. Hard sets but fun.
We went back to the Juji turnover (Russian version) for around 20+ minutes.
For Ne Waza we did 2 groups of four with 5 minute sets. I had Lex, Zweli then Eric. I pulled and swept all of them. I hit a whizzed butterfly sweep with Eric and pinned him. woudl be interesting to roll in a bjj format where the set could continue a bit more technically rather than settling for the a pin and then being over.
Went much better than Thursday.
We did some randori next. Eric had Jason and realized how big guys can feel sometimes as Jason looked like he dwarfed Eric.I took Z and had an interesting set. he threw a Te Guruma that got me over in good form. the next time he picked me up I threw him in the Sumi Gaeshi. He banged his forehead into my mouth and loosned a tooth slightly before he went over.
I took Eric next. hard set as he is big, strong and mostly plays left. He hit a drop left sided Tai Otoshi a la Big Tony. Good techniques for him. He also caught me with a foot sweep. I got him down with a foot sweep back but failed in my forward attacks. Hard sets but fun.
We went back to the Juji turnover (Russian version) for around 20+ minutes.
For Ne Waza we did 2 groups of four with 5 minute sets. I had Lex, Zweli then Eric. I pulled and swept all of them. I hit a whizzed butterfly sweep with Eric and pinned him. woudl be interesting to roll in a bjj format where the set could continue a bit more technically rather than settling for the a pin and then being over.
Went much better than Thursday.
Thursday 3/11/2010
BJJ open mat - Eric and I covered a few things with Lex who had severaal questions. Eric also worked on another few attackes from his cross spider position that were fun. I want to get back to working on this position a bit. There was a particularly cool response to the Uke ducking their under the high leg.
Judo smaller class but still 11 people. sets of 25 uchikomis and the we did speed throwing. I did this with everyone else and was the second fastest finished along with eric S, who was my partner. We lost to Chris and arrianna, but finished ahead of everyone else. I felt good doing it but have to admit it tired me more than it should have. I was also a bit sore from all of the falls which I haven't taken lately. We did the outside Sumi Gaeshi and the class did well with it. I liked the way paula was doing it as she was throwing well and then riding the momentum to the mount. I'd like to see her incorporate this into her technique set.
Good randori sets. I am working in, though my stand up still hasn't come back to what I want it to be.
We did some ne waza tokui waza which seems to be a good idea. htere isn't enough drilling done on the ne waza techniques for my taste. Having a good matwork technicque requires repetitions like stand up techniques.
Ne waza - We had 10 people training so I did the play to resolution style approach. Everyone had 9 matches 3 min each. The intensity level was disappointing. Not sure if the room was tired from the hard work in randori and nage komi, but the ne waza wasn't as spirited as I would have liked. I switched from my normal guard pull approach to a more competitive kneeling program approach. I backdropped and pinned everyone except arriana and Eric S. They both pulled. I caught Eric in a guard transition and passed him. I went 9-0 and encouraged everyone to raise the level of their efforts to win the set. Couple of suggestions were that there were too many sets, so people were saving their strength and there were too many draws, will try fewer longer sets and institue a ti breaker rule of lighter person wins a draw.
Judo smaller class but still 11 people. sets of 25 uchikomis and the we did speed throwing. I did this with everyone else and was the second fastest finished along with eric S, who was my partner. We lost to Chris and arrianna, but finished ahead of everyone else. I felt good doing it but have to admit it tired me more than it should have. I was also a bit sore from all of the falls which I haven't taken lately. We did the outside Sumi Gaeshi and the class did well with it. I liked the way paula was doing it as she was throwing well and then riding the momentum to the mount. I'd like to see her incorporate this into her technique set.
Good randori sets. I am working in, though my stand up still hasn't come back to what I want it to be.
We did some ne waza tokui waza which seems to be a good idea. htere isn't enough drilling done on the ne waza techniques for my taste. Having a good matwork technicque requires repetitions like stand up techniques.
Ne waza - We had 10 people training so I did the play to resolution style approach. Everyone had 9 matches 3 min each. The intensity level was disappointing. Not sure if the room was tired from the hard work in randori and nage komi, but the ne waza wasn't as spirited as I would have liked. I switched from my normal guard pull approach to a more competitive kneeling program approach. I backdropped and pinned everyone except arriana and Eric S. They both pulled. I caught Eric in a guard transition and passed him. I went 9-0 and encouraged everyone to raise the level of their efforts to win the set. Couple of suggestions were that there were too many sets, so people were saving their strength and there were too many draws, will try fewer longer sets and institue a ti breaker rule of lighter person wins a draw.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Thursday 3/11/2010
John is in Florida so I coveered the day class at the Westin.
i covered the mount escape for Craig and everyone needed the reps on it. I showed how I take and hold the mount, bu closing my feet and then working for a choke. With the pairs i had I ran one long set of Craig and Mike and Chris and John. Hopefully will do an hour of training tomorrow with them.
i covered the mount escape for Craig and everyone needed the reps on it. I showed how I take and hold the mount, bu closing my feet and then working for a choke. With the pairs i had I ran one long set of Craig and Mike and Chris and John. Hopefully will do an hour of training tomorrow with them.
Tuesday 3/9/2010
Taught the westin class for John as he was being tatooed. Crig had asked about closed guard submissions. Rather than revisit the basic cross choke or the juji gatame or triangle, I introduced the Oma Plata. I did it like I taught the judo class last week, elbow escaping to one side, while freeing the far knee while simultaneously brining the near side leg up for beginning of the Oma Plata position. bring the foo over the near shoulder, close the triangle and stay there. I did the breakdown that Xandre showed at the seminar a few years ago, which I have success and even showed the wrist lock (Kota Mawashi - sp?). I trained with john and Craig. Good class but would be nice to have a few more people and a few more minutes.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Monday 3/8/2010.
Kettlebells - a couple of minutes late but a good class anyway. Not as tough as last week, but still good.
BJJ tired so I didn't work in much. decent numbers with 10+ people including several new white belts one of which is a promising woman. John worked on Ude Gatame from the butterfly guard and then from closed guard. They did better with the second one. We debated was it because the closed guard version is easier to learn or did the work on the butterfly version help them with the closed guard. Kind of a chicken and the egg arguement but next time I teach it I will switch the order and see how they do.
I only did one set with Dave Oh. He will be OK on top at Pan Ams, but his guard game still needs work. He clings tightly with the half guard but still needs to improve his offense there. He really needs to win the takedown fight.
Judo 17 people. (2 bjj people - Frank and Dave)I am getting spoiled with the 20+ people per class lately but his was a good group. We did speed throwing with a 20 pushup incentive not to finish last. Lex is a brilliant thrower but usually loses this as he tends to be a little deliberate between his throws and get ups. he is in such good shape he doesn't feel any urgency to win speed contest.
We did ashi waza tokui waza for 15 minutes, with 4 fits and a throw bakc and forth.
Then I worked on the Sumi Gaeshi from the belt grip. Good for everyone to see this but I especially wanted to tweak how Lex is doing it after he was ipponed at the Spatak tournement from this technique the past weekend. This went well and I saw some solid improvement.
4 randori sets. Lots of good randori all across the board. Isidor is going to be a huge addition if he sticks it out, good for everyone that works with him. Sarah has also been a godsend. Exactly waht i needed as a solid ccompetive woman as a bridge between the ones coming up and the black belts.
We did Kesa Gatame escapes. Then we did Ne Waza. I did 4 groups of 4 fighting to a resolution. They liked it, but the only concern was the down time for people who win their matches early and have to wait around for the full 5 minutes to expire. I might try 4 minutes next time Will also suggested 5 man groups with a floater coming in to replace the loser, as losses are suffered. I will noodle on this as i like the idea, but have to find the format I like the best.
BJJ tired so I didn't work in much. decent numbers with 10+ people including several new white belts one of which is a promising woman. John worked on Ude Gatame from the butterfly guard and then from closed guard. They did better with the second one. We debated was it because the closed guard version is easier to learn or did the work on the butterfly version help them with the closed guard. Kind of a chicken and the egg arguement but next time I teach it I will switch the order and see how they do.
I only did one set with Dave Oh. He will be OK on top at Pan Ams, but his guard game still needs work. He clings tightly with the half guard but still needs to improve his offense there. He really needs to win the takedown fight.
Judo 17 people. (2 bjj people - Frank and Dave)I am getting spoiled with the 20+ people per class lately but his was a good group. We did speed throwing with a 20 pushup incentive not to finish last. Lex is a brilliant thrower but usually loses this as he tends to be a little deliberate between his throws and get ups. he is in such good shape he doesn't feel any urgency to win speed contest.
We did ashi waza tokui waza for 15 minutes, with 4 fits and a throw bakc and forth.
Then I worked on the Sumi Gaeshi from the belt grip. Good for everyone to see this but I especially wanted to tweak how Lex is doing it after he was ipponed at the Spatak tournement from this technique the past weekend. This went well and I saw some solid improvement.
4 randori sets. Lots of good randori all across the board. Isidor is going to be a huge addition if he sticks it out, good for everyone that works with him. Sarah has also been a godsend. Exactly waht i needed as a solid ccompetive woman as a bridge between the ones coming up and the black belts.
We did Kesa Gatame escapes. Then we did Ne Waza. I did 4 groups of 4 fighting to a resolution. They liked it, but the only concern was the down time for people who win their matches early and have to wait around for the full 5 minutes to expire. I might try 4 minutes next time Will also suggested 5 man groups with a floater coming in to replace the loser, as losses are suffered. I will noodle on this as i like the idea, but have to find the format I like the best.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Sunday 3/7/2010
I missed the team training, too much baby duty to make it in time. Too bad, as there was a very good turnout including several purple belts with whom I don't normally get to train.
Judo was solid with 10 or so of us. I worked on Ashi Waza drills and then for Randori I did golden score king of the hill. Happy to have a very competitive 4 girl group. Alma, christine, Paula and Sarah. Not many clubs could bring 3 good black belts and a good brown belt to their womens group.
I worked in the men's side. I got through most of the group but then Joe and I did 90 scoreless seconds so we went to the back. I came in on Lex and he did a good job getting me to chase him and he hit a good Kouchi Gari. i won a few more but as time was going to expire I chased Joe too hard and he threw me with a drop seoi nage. Fun stuff good group for it I will do more of this.
We did the flip from the open guard. I brough the baby in demonstrate how you should be able to control the roll all fo the way to the bottom and you should go over the top to take the mount. Fun her first class participation. I did the helicopter armlock too. The idea was that this is a difficult technique that flows from the flip and makes the flip seem easy and gives you confidence. they actually did pretty well with it. It was also helping some of them do a better job capturing the hear for the armlock from the side a bit earlier. Later I told Beth, it's a tough technicque but the focus was getting them to have confidence and try the flip more than the helicopter. i compared it toteching them a calculus problem and then the the algebra II problem trey just tried seems easy by comparison. we'll see if anyone actually uses it.
I experimented playing matwork sets to a resolution. Each 4 person set did round robing and when someone caught an armlock, choke or pin, the set was over. I like how competitive this makes things. It also gives everyone incentive to work on winning. the girl's group had three 2-1 with Chris winning as the lightest (tiebreaker) she also hit a wicked armlock on paula and actually popper her arm a little, but they all played well. Sarah will do better and better in this group as i refine a few of her techniques.
Lex won the men's group with a 3-0 record. His pins looked good.
Judo was solid with 10 or so of us. I worked on Ashi Waza drills and then for Randori I did golden score king of the hill. Happy to have a very competitive 4 girl group. Alma, christine, Paula and Sarah. Not many clubs could bring 3 good black belts and a good brown belt to their womens group.
I worked in the men's side. I got through most of the group but then Joe and I did 90 scoreless seconds so we went to the back. I came in on Lex and he did a good job getting me to chase him and he hit a good Kouchi Gari. i won a few more but as time was going to expire I chased Joe too hard and he threw me with a drop seoi nage. Fun stuff good group for it I will do more of this.
We did the flip from the open guard. I brough the baby in demonstrate how you should be able to control the roll all fo the way to the bottom and you should go over the top to take the mount. Fun her first class participation. I did the helicopter armlock too. The idea was that this is a difficult technique that flows from the flip and makes the flip seem easy and gives you confidence. they actually did pretty well with it. It was also helping some of them do a better job capturing the hear for the armlock from the side a bit earlier. Later I told Beth, it's a tough technicque but the focus was getting them to have confidence and try the flip more than the helicopter. i compared it toteching them a calculus problem and then the the algebra II problem trey just tried seems easy by comparison. we'll see if anyone actually uses it.
I experimented playing matwork sets to a resolution. Each 4 person set did round robing and when someone caught an armlock, choke or pin, the set was over. I like how competitive this makes things. It also gives everyone incentive to work on winning. the girl's group had three 2-1 with Chris winning as the lightest (tiebreaker) she also hit a wicked armlock on paula and actually popper her arm a little, but they all played well. Sarah will do better and better in this group as i refine a few of her techniques.
Lex won the men's group with a 3-0 record. His pins looked good.
Saturday 3/6/2010
Made it too Saturday class, but John and I spent the class working on some takedowns with some of the potential Pan-am competitors. Didn't do much myself, but, at least I was there this week. A few different faces came to the second class but, I had to leave.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Thursday March 4, 2010
BJJ Open mat - Me, Katie, Lex and Greg. Eric came in a little late due to some traffic issues.Greg asked about playing some half guard.. I covered the basic cross the arm and rolling reverse them. Pretty simple but effective. Had to tweak them a bit to get them to go underneath uke as aggressively as I wanted. Then I did burrowing underneath them swinging the legs to the opposite side, catch the foot with your free hand. Then Kip up and sweep them backwards. As you would expect, they had a little trouble with it but got better. Rolled with Katie and Greg. Katie is playing pretty well. sometimes she gets competitive enough that I can see her get frustrated. As long as she can channel this into staying focused and improving her technique and not let the frustration make her impatient and have her technique break down, she will do well. Greg is making a sound decision in looking at half and open guard games. He isn't well built to play closed and is so physically overpowering he can force the sweep game as long as he keeps himself from being flattened out. Once he is on hhis back he is hard to hold but he has a hard time coming up.He would be well served by improved flexibility but he's smart, has solid instincts, his takedowns can be devastating and it never hurts to be the strongest guy in the room.
Judo - 20 people again, haven't had a run of classes this size since I have been at the club (15 years) And it's been different faces so we could really hit some big numbers. 2 very good prospects. Paul Lattimers daughter Laura was in with her boy friend Marty. She trained for 6 years as a juvenile, he has 6 classes or so. They are students and seem interested in getting back into it. Also had a Secret Service agaent who will be in town for a week or so. He is a recently promoted shodan.
I covered Harai as i had promised Katie that I would. I entered from the cross grip sequence. We did 15 minutes or so of Harai then another 15 minutes of Tokui Waza. Then 4 or 5 sets of randori. Good sets. I did 5 pairs so a few had to sit each round. Greg hit an Ippon against Eric as Eric was going for a belt grip attack. Eric wnet for a belt grip Harai and Greg attacked the standing leg with a Tani Otoshi/Kosoto Gake attack. It was very well timed and is an interesting counter to the Belt grip attack.
For Ne Waza I went back to the Oma Plata from Monday, but, covered taking the Uke backwards for the sweep when they pick you up. Had a little trouble at first but they got it by the end. Then we did the stepping over the head for the Ude Garame armlock.
I jumped into the Ne waza, took Migel and swept and worked him, wnet for the back and choke but he really buries his chin, when he turtled i switched to the juji turnover, Got the reversal and took the arm. he didn't want to tap but I forced it, and he held on a touch too long and maybe tweaked his elbow slightly. Rolled with the SS guy. Pretty good, but too many situations he hasn't seen. One other set I don't recall.
For Kbells, I did 33/31 with the 24 Kg.
Judo - 20 people again, haven't had a run of classes this size since I have been at the club (15 years) And it's been different faces so we could really hit some big numbers. 2 very good prospects. Paul Lattimers daughter Laura was in with her boy friend Marty. She trained for 6 years as a juvenile, he has 6 classes or so. They are students and seem interested in getting back into it. Also had a Secret Service agaent who will be in town for a week or so. He is a recently promoted shodan.
I covered Harai as i had promised Katie that I would. I entered from the cross grip sequence. We did 15 minutes or so of Harai then another 15 minutes of Tokui Waza. Then 4 or 5 sets of randori. Good sets. I did 5 pairs so a few had to sit each round. Greg hit an Ippon against Eric as Eric was going for a belt grip attack. Eric wnet for a belt grip Harai and Greg attacked the standing leg with a Tani Otoshi/Kosoto Gake attack. It was very well timed and is an interesting counter to the Belt grip attack.
For Ne Waza I went back to the Oma Plata from Monday, but, covered taking the Uke backwards for the sweep when they pick you up. Had a little trouble at first but they got it by the end. Then we did the stepping over the head for the Ude Garame armlock.
I jumped into the Ne waza, took Migel and swept and worked him, wnet for the back and choke but he really buries his chin, when he turtled i switched to the juji turnover, Got the reversal and took the arm. he didn't want to tap but I forced it, and he held on a touch too long and maybe tweaked his elbow slightly. Rolled with the SS guy. Pretty good, but too many situations he hasn't seen. One other set I don't recall.
For Kbells, I did 33/31 with the 24 Kg.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Tuesday 3/2/2010 (out of order)
Oops. Missed the report on the Tuesday class at the Westin. John covered the De La Riva open guard position and did the first two techniques from the previous night, i.e. standing up with the leg hooked to the single and catching the second leg and coming up to essentially a modified double. 2 sets - Chris and blue John. The sets are solid and they are becoming more difficult as I am making some small alterations in their games to be more effective against me.
Thursday 3/4/2010
Day class at the Westin - Craig has become one of the usual suspects here. I saw a blue belt in the locker room I hadn't seen in quite awhile (he is also a brown belt in Judo) he has begun working out here and I am going to ride him about getting into class. It will be good to see a new face. Classes are consistent here but not as large as I'd like. John worked again on the De La Riva position. He ddd a leg hook to what he did earlier in the week. Against a one knee up opponent, he hooked with the inside knee (without gripping) and stepped back like he was standing in base to pull the knee out from under them. Then hip into them, free the leg and pass. Nice variation. I think I don't use these variations that much, primarily because I'm lazy and the ones I use work well for me, but, from a technical perspective, I am not far enough to the outside of the advancing knee of Uke. This can be big, as when i fail to sweep and Uke puts pressue on me, I could solve it by rotating further to the outside.
3 sets of training. The blue belt John (hereinafter, blue John)was first. He was still staying on outside and trying to find away past my open guard, I got grips, and sucked him in and hit the two footed tomoe nage flip sweep. Fun technique and always feels good because no one wants to take the ride. Passed him and worked him, but didn't catch him.
Chris was a good set - swept and mounted then caught him once. Next time I swept but he nearly went under neath for a half guard pass successfully, but I managed to shift out of it. Set ended there working to pass the half.
John and I did a short set. He plays me pretty well, better now than he used to, in fact. I managed to hit the hald butterfly hook sweep, but he swept back as I was passing the half guard. Good technique ad I am prety stable on top half guard. He has been working hard to get a strong grip on a sleeve and working to cross it, have to watch more closely for this and not take it lightly. After he swept, I worked from underneath. and nearly swept he scrambled out of it and seemed to pasue for a second in the scramble, I didn't and bulled him down. Passed the half guard from the escrima and we finished the set there.
3 sets of training. The blue belt John (hereinafter, blue John)was first. He was still staying on outside and trying to find away past my open guard, I got grips, and sucked him in and hit the two footed tomoe nage flip sweep. Fun technique and always feels good because no one wants to take the ride. Passed him and worked him, but didn't catch him.
Chris was a good set - swept and mounted then caught him once. Next time I swept but he nearly went under neath for a half guard pass successfully, but I managed to shift out of it. Set ended there working to pass the half.
John and I did a short set. He plays me pretty well, better now than he used to, in fact. I managed to hit the hald butterfly hook sweep, but he swept back as I was passing the half guard. Good technique ad I am prety stable on top half guard. He has been working hard to get a strong grip on a sleeve and working to cross it, have to watch more closely for this and not take it lightly. After he swept, I worked from underneath. and nearly swept he scrambled out of it and seemed to pasue for a second in the scramble, I didn't and bulled him down. Passed the half guard from the escrima and we finished the set there.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Monday 3/1/2010
Kettlebells - Best workout I have had with Alma. This was really the first one I couldn't have made myself do. Cardio intensive with a solid strength component.I noticed she changed the Turkish Getups from switching to one side and then the other. i think this is more efficient and prefer it.
BJJ - Good class. 2 new guys were in plus the usual suspects minus Max and Dave. John did some of the de La riva guard position. Emphasized getting to the side. He used the inside leg as a hook to stand up to the single leg. This is a good technicque that I don't use (much). He then stayed down and sucked the legs in for a double. I had 4 sets of training, Lex, who is doing a good job staying focused on working the armdrag series. I encouraged him to watch for the sweep when he has the arm trapped and then roll and mount them. it made sense to him as soon as he saw it.Decent set with Frank who is training well right now, though he did end up on the wrong end of an elbow to the belly and was impressed by how painful it was. I guess this is a good thing, but even if it's not good, it's funny. Eric and I had an excellent set. I pulled and we worked. I ended up in half guard and was working the sweep as he was working the pass, I went for the sweep and thought I had it, but i think he glanced off of the wall. He stabilized and worked a good pass, I was able to bail but it was after he would have had points. when i turtled he went for the Juji turnover and I cam to the top, managed to pass his legs and catch him with a choke from the side. I needed the finish or to score as he was up a vantage by the score in my head. Took Maggie next and had some fun throwing her around a bit and catching her.
Judo - Biggest class in a long time. 22 or 23 people - I did the one step ashi waza attack drill then some Forward Tokui waza. Then Randori. The back room had some new people working so I had to break up the break up the randori into light and heavy groups. Very solid training across the board, lots of good sets. The March Highlight film will be long if this is any indication. Greg looked good, almost too good. he might have to pull it back just a touch or he will retire some people. If he had a vicious streak like Mark K or John Z or Rich C had he would be too dangerous to have in the club. Wish we could get Gene back, they would be a fun match.
I am going to cover some basics in ne waza. I did the basic hip bump up sweep, then did the basic shrimp away and do Oma Plata.3 sets of Ne waza and we called it a (very sucessful) night. Several new prospects were in including a blind women Laura, who did well. Alma did a fantastic job teaching her the Ukemi basics. Mike was back and did well. I will mix him into the regular class next time he is in. We also had a Balance blue belt named John who came late due to the time change. He seems very interested and seems to have a decent chance of coming back around. Good to see some new faces.
252 - back to moving in the correct direction.
Here is the link to the February randori High Lights.
BJJ - Good class. 2 new guys were in plus the usual suspects minus Max and Dave. John did some of the de La riva guard position. Emphasized getting to the side. He used the inside leg as a hook to stand up to the single leg. This is a good technicque that I don't use (much). He then stayed down and sucked the legs in for a double. I had 4 sets of training, Lex, who is doing a good job staying focused on working the armdrag series. I encouraged him to watch for the sweep when he has the arm trapped and then roll and mount them. it made sense to him as soon as he saw it.Decent set with Frank who is training well right now, though he did end up on the wrong end of an elbow to the belly and was impressed by how painful it was. I guess this is a good thing, but even if it's not good, it's funny. Eric and I had an excellent set. I pulled and we worked. I ended up in half guard and was working the sweep as he was working the pass, I went for the sweep and thought I had it, but i think he glanced off of the wall. He stabilized and worked a good pass, I was able to bail but it was after he would have had points. when i turtled he went for the Juji turnover and I cam to the top, managed to pass his legs and catch him with a choke from the side. I needed the finish or to score as he was up a vantage by the score in my head. Took Maggie next and had some fun throwing her around a bit and catching her.
Judo - Biggest class in a long time. 22 or 23 people - I did the one step ashi waza attack drill then some Forward Tokui waza. Then Randori. The back room had some new people working so I had to break up the break up the randori into light and heavy groups. Very solid training across the board, lots of good sets. The March Highlight film will be long if this is any indication. Greg looked good, almost too good. he might have to pull it back just a touch or he will retire some people. If he had a vicious streak like Mark K or John Z or Rich C had he would be too dangerous to have in the club. Wish we could get Gene back, they would be a fun match.
I am going to cover some basics in ne waza. I did the basic hip bump up sweep, then did the basic shrimp away and do Oma Plata.3 sets of Ne waza and we called it a (very sucessful) night. Several new prospects were in including a blind women Laura, who did well. Alma did a fantastic job teaching her the Ukemi basics. Mike was back and did well. I will mix him into the regular class next time he is in. We also had a Balance blue belt named John who came late due to the time change. He seems very interested and seems to have a decent chance of coming back around. Good to see some new faces.
252 - back to moving in the correct direction.
Here is the link to the February randori High Lights.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Sunday 2/28/2010
BJJ open mat team training - I arrived a bit late. there were 10 there ahead of me. they were doing drills off of the back and then did positional training. The older I get I find the less I enjoy drills and positional work. I know it's importance, but, I really find the transitions to be of more importance for me. The only way to drill transitions is to train live. In all honesty I enjoy it more, but, I really believe that training transitions is more important than drills onc you reach a certain level of technical profiency.
I joined in the two point training. My group was Eric, Lex Jason and Max. a big fgroup of bodies. I had Jason first. He and some of the others are working almost exclusively from a 2 hands on one side grip. I think this is very limiting and only works for a few technicques. The failure to control the backside shoulder as in a more conventional grip dooms this grip for most technciques. It can be a little difficult to attack as the distance id a little off but, attacking from it for Osoto Gari, or Uchi Mata, I don't think is a good idea. He tried that for a bit and then tried the drop to the knees and then try pull the person down and then go for a double, like Regis used to teach. I think this is a terrible technique. It's the same thing the guy at PanAms tried a few years back, and the rtesult was the same. I immediately took him down for two points.
Eric was next and pulled guard. I worked to half guard and managed to complete the pass. Max pulled and held me off with his length for a bit until I got to position to bull pass then i passed. He needs to refuse to accept surrendering points more than he needs any technical improvement. Lex and I wnet back and forth. I got to whizzer and was holding him from it, then jumped to a butterfly guard with the whizzer and swept him.
we did several sets of training. I had Jason, who is definitely becoming dangerous as he gets better at playing like a heavyweight instead of a lightweight. I had to bail from a pass, but I came up and caught him from the side. I went kneeling program next and passed h9m forward so i took his back and worked a clock choke.
Max played well, but I was bale to pass him and keep him down. Passed him again when he elbow escaped, which he does well. He needs to have bit more offense from there but, played well overall. Mike D was next. I find him suffers from Chung Li syndrome sometimes. He tapped from a knee in the belly and then from two elbow in the belly's. Part of it is willingness to tap out there. Part of it is lack of confidence on his escape from the position.
The team training was useful, but, will be better when there are more members of the team there.
Judo - Another big group, very heavy with green belts was in the room. I went back to the Osoto Grai, Sasai Tsurikomi Ashi, De Ashi Harai series. James did this pretty well as well as a few of the others. This ashi waza work has been good for them and we will keep working some of the drills into the equation. We did 4 five minute randori sets.
I covered Escaping the mount by means other than rolling to the flat turtle. finally, 2 short ne waza sets. I have been doing extra Tachi waza lately as we have had more time dues to the class time changes. This is the right thing for now. I think that we will get more ne waza once summer arrives and the tournament season is over.
I joined in the two point training. My group was Eric, Lex Jason and Max. a big fgroup of bodies. I had Jason first. He and some of the others are working almost exclusively from a 2 hands on one side grip. I think this is very limiting and only works for a few technicques. The failure to control the backside shoulder as in a more conventional grip dooms this grip for most technciques. It can be a little difficult to attack as the distance id a little off but, attacking from it for Osoto Gari, or Uchi Mata, I don't think is a good idea. He tried that for a bit and then tried the drop to the knees and then try pull the person down and then go for a double, like Regis used to teach. I think this is a terrible technique. It's the same thing the guy at PanAms tried a few years back, and the rtesult was the same. I immediately took him down for two points.
Eric was next and pulled guard. I worked to half guard and managed to complete the pass. Max pulled and held me off with his length for a bit until I got to position to bull pass then i passed. He needs to refuse to accept surrendering points more than he needs any technical improvement. Lex and I wnet back and forth. I got to whizzer and was holding him from it, then jumped to a butterfly guard with the whizzer and swept him.
we did several sets of training. I had Jason, who is definitely becoming dangerous as he gets better at playing like a heavyweight instead of a lightweight. I had to bail from a pass, but I came up and caught him from the side. I went kneeling program next and passed h9m forward so i took his back and worked a clock choke.
Max played well, but I was bale to pass him and keep him down. Passed him again when he elbow escaped, which he does well. He needs to have bit more offense from there but, played well overall. Mike D was next. I find him suffers from Chung Li syndrome sometimes. He tapped from a knee in the belly and then from two elbow in the belly's. Part of it is willingness to tap out there. Part of it is lack of confidence on his escape from the position.
The team training was useful, but, will be better when there are more members of the team there.
Judo - Another big group, very heavy with green belts was in the room. I went back to the Osoto Grai, Sasai Tsurikomi Ashi, De Ashi Harai series. James did this pretty well as well as a few of the others. This ashi waza work has been good for them and we will keep working some of the drills into the equation. We did 4 five minute randori sets.
I covered Escaping the mount by means other than rolling to the flat turtle. finally, 2 short ne waza sets. I have been doing extra Tachi waza lately as we have had more time dues to the class time changes. This is the right thing for now. I think that we will get more ne waza once summer arrives and the tournament season is over.
Thursday 2/25/2010
BJJ open mat - Eric took the lead here and did nice job keeping things moving. He ran some drills off of the back and then we did some training. Katie has been working hard and showing good improvement. She will be helped by her renewed committment to coming to Judo. She needs to be on top and with Sarah who has been doing great, in more often they will have excellent training for one another. had a few sets of training, Eric, Dave, were solid. The snowicane ma have kept the numbers down for the open mat.
For Judo, we had another good number, with 13 in class despite the weather. Again there were a large numbers of green and brown belts. We did standing and drop seoi nage ane then worked on Tokui waza. 4 sets of randori. allessandro returned in his rehab from the double knee surgery. Great to see him back, just have to make him stay patient and get healthy before trying to do too much too soon.
I broke the ne waza into two groups of 6 round robin players. I did the round robin with Dave, Eric, Chris S., Shannon and Migel. Good sets. Shannon got to my half guard from on top and caught an ude garame. from there as I was trying to get my guard back. He's a very solid player, not crazy, fundamaentally sound, as he commits to improving his back game, he will be even better. The rest of the sets were unremarkable.
Kbell challenge - I did 32/26 with a 24 kg.
For Judo, we had another good number, with 13 in class despite the weather. Again there were a large numbers of green and brown belts. We did standing and drop seoi nage ane then worked on Tokui waza. 4 sets of randori. allessandro returned in his rehab from the double knee surgery. Great to see him back, just have to make him stay patient and get healthy before trying to do too much too soon.
I broke the ne waza into two groups of 6 round robin players. I did the round robin with Dave, Eric, Chris S., Shannon and Migel. Good sets. Shannon got to my half guard from on top and caught an ude garame. from there as I was trying to get my guard back. He's a very solid player, not crazy, fundamaentally sound, as he commits to improving his back game, he will be even better. The rest of the sets were unremarkable.
Kbell challenge - I did 32/26 with a 24 kg.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday 2/23/2010
Day class at the Westin. Not the best class to see for the club, but the best possible class for me. Me, John D., Chris and John (Blue belt) were the ones who came. We did a few drills and then trained 3 long sets. Perfect for what i wanted to do after no class the night before. First set was with BB John. Fun, but it was what you'd expect, I caught him a few times. He still bounces around a bit much and sits guard but then scrambles back up, I think he'd be better served to pick a position and commit to it. My set with John d., was fun. first two sets, i managed to get to the top off of a sweep and then pass and catch him. He has a hard time escaping me when i make it to a side position. the third set was good. We were scrambling and he jumped to the leg lock program and worked a series of switches from the foot to the knee and back a few times. I couldn't quite come up and couldn't get my leg free. he managed to catch the knee bar just before time expired. Really fun set and reminded me how effective the leg lock system is. i should go for it even if i just work the straight footlocks against the lower ranks. Last set was with Chris. He managed to make me bail from his pass attempt, but I got bakc to the top and kept pressure on him. Fun training.
AQ reported we had 15 in Judo last night, including a few more new people who could stick. Good classes there right now.
AQ reported we had 15 in Judo last night, including a few more new people who could stick. Good classes there right now.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, 2/21/2010 - In House Tournament
The In-House tournament that was postponed by Snowpocalypse came off today. it went much better than I had anticipated. The light classes recently had me concerned about the turn out, but, if anything, there were too many people there. Beth had a funeral that night and I refereed all day after doing a lot of bracketing. I had to leave before the No gi division happened as I was running very late.We had 5 purple in round robin division, a fair number of blues and a lot of white belts. I was disappointed that more girls weren't there, though. At least 8 clubs were represented if you count the Judo club as separate. The refereeing was a grind and really more than I wanted to do (my back was killing me for the next few days) but, it was good to see the club so well supported.
I saw a few old friends who came to show their support which was good. I didn't realize so many people had a problem with Regis. I think that was big part of the turn out from the other clubs, people felt they were treated unfairly or worse by Regis and wanted to show some support. I don't know all of the details for all of them of course, or how true some of it was, but I was a little surprised to hear so many people tell me different versions of the same story. I renewed some relationships and had a lot of requests to come train with other clubs, which was good to hear. I think I am going to start making a circuit visiting some of the other clubs. It will be good to see some different faces and training partners and be welcomed back into the BJJ community.
Not going to comment on any of the matches. I had 4 Judo people fight, Lex won his white belt division, Eric took second in Purple and Will and Shannon lost their first match in Blue (both losses shocked me. I didn't see Will's match, but Shannon was working on pulling guard, if the match was important to him, it would have been different, I think.) I saw some good ones and some bad ones and saw some things that need to be addressed as coaches.
The most common question I heard was about Zak and how good he really is. I told them he might not be the next American to win worlds at black belt, but that he will do it. Their was a lot of doubt. I actually bet one of the balance guys I know pretty well, $50 Zak will win a black belt mundials in the next 5 years. I also told him my idea if I was his manager. I always thought its a shame to see one of the best Americans in the sport living in his mom's basement and teaching white belts and blue belts when guys who aren't as good as him are making a crap load of money and flying all over the world competing and making dvds. The shelf life for a competitor to make his reputation and make some real money is short. One injury or missing some time or just failing to convert the opportunity and it's gone. I see JT Torres, Mike Fowler, and before JT, Ryan Hall flying all over competing in Japan, Brazil and Europe and doing super fights with the top guys in the weight class, making DVDs and a ton of money and fame. I don't think any of them are any better than Zak, but they are marketed and supported properly. Competitors are supposed to compete. I wish I had Zaks chance I would go to Lloyd and join his system. Lloyd is a good coach especially for competitors and is the best businessman in the sport and has made a career out of taking brown belts and making them into BJJ rock stars and those guys weren't as good as Zak is. JT has a DVD line out on taking the back. Zak should be doing one on the Oma Plata with videos all over the internet, signing autographs, beating off the BJJ groupies and fighting all over the world. Instead he's scrounging for sponsorship money to fly to San Diego and teaching white and blue belt classes in someone else's club. Youth is wasted on the young.
No sunday Judo class due to the In-House touornament. I have to skip Monday class because I spent so much time at the club on sunday so Beth will hve some time to get her work done.
I saw a few old friends who came to show their support which was good. I didn't realize so many people had a problem with Regis. I think that was big part of the turn out from the other clubs, people felt they were treated unfairly or worse by Regis and wanted to show some support. I don't know all of the details for all of them of course, or how true some of it was, but I was a little surprised to hear so many people tell me different versions of the same story. I renewed some relationships and had a lot of requests to come train with other clubs, which was good to hear. I think I am going to start making a circuit visiting some of the other clubs. It will be good to see some different faces and training partners and be welcomed back into the BJJ community.
Not going to comment on any of the matches. I had 4 Judo people fight, Lex won his white belt division, Eric took second in Purple and Will and Shannon lost their first match in Blue (both losses shocked me. I didn't see Will's match, but Shannon was working on pulling guard, if the match was important to him, it would have been different, I think.) I saw some good ones and some bad ones and saw some things that need to be addressed as coaches.
The most common question I heard was about Zak and how good he really is. I told them he might not be the next American to win worlds at black belt, but that he will do it. Their was a lot of doubt. I actually bet one of the balance guys I know pretty well, $50 Zak will win a black belt mundials in the next 5 years. I also told him my idea if I was his manager. I always thought its a shame to see one of the best Americans in the sport living in his mom's basement and teaching white belts and blue belts when guys who aren't as good as him are making a crap load of money and flying all over the world competing and making dvds. The shelf life for a competitor to make his reputation and make some real money is short. One injury or missing some time or just failing to convert the opportunity and it's gone. I see JT Torres, Mike Fowler, and before JT, Ryan Hall flying all over competing in Japan, Brazil and Europe and doing super fights with the top guys in the weight class, making DVDs and a ton of money and fame. I don't think any of them are any better than Zak, but they are marketed and supported properly. Competitors are supposed to compete. I wish I had Zaks chance I would go to Lloyd and join his system. Lloyd is a good coach especially for competitors and is the best businessman in the sport and has made a career out of taking brown belts and making them into BJJ rock stars and those guys weren't as good as Zak is. JT has a DVD line out on taking the back. Zak should be doing one on the Oma Plata with videos all over the internet, signing autographs, beating off the BJJ groupies and fighting all over the world. Instead he's scrounging for sponsorship money to fly to San Diego and teaching white and blue belt classes in someone else's club. Youth is wasted on the young.
No sunday Judo class due to the In-House touornament. I have to skip Monday class because I spent so much time at the club on sunday so Beth will hve some time to get her work done.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday 2/19/2010
open mat at the Westin - I wnet over and rolled with Chris D. the more time I spend with him the more I like him. I had forgotten what a really good guy he is. His game is solid and I can help him get better which will make thtraining better. I caught him twice but we trained for 20-25 minutes. I hit one really pretty sweep, kind of a shaolin variant going over backwards, needed it to get out of a poor position. Its good when he plays better and puts me in a bad spot as that makes me play better and keeps me from being lazy. We might start doing this even more often. Maybe on wednesdays too.
Thursday 1/18//2010
BJJ Open mat
Me, Lex, Eric S., Peter, Katie and Max. We did a round robin training. Decent training. Katie played well, though she can still gat a little too excited. Max played pretty well and really shows great potential. peter was OK, and is a good student. If I ever offered a full program somewhere i would get him to do BJJ also. It would loosen up his body and he shows some decent aptitude. Lex is doing a good job working on the arm drag. He just needs time for his game to develop. Eric started with his cross spider. He nearly swept, but i managed to hold the top and spent the balance of time in his half guard.. Peter asked about escaping knee in the belly, and i explained the same side hand defense i use. they all seemed to get it and likeit.
Judo
Good class. only 4 black belts but good number of Kyus (again). Had a brown belt in for two weeks, "Joe". Big guy (6'3" 300lbs.) trained for a year n japan and will be going back. They seem to promote faster than we do as he has potential but needs more seasoning and time before i would put him up for a Dan rank.He mentioned having trouble withthe stiff arm in Osoto Gari. I covered the three feet on the line Osoto and turning inside of the stiff arm, then combo'ed the technicque to a Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi, then to De Ashi Harai. I expected them to struggle with the foot sweep, but they did well enough that I let them continue to an Ashi Waza drill where you must attack on each step or you switch uke/tori. went pretty well. I might revisit this drill on Monday.
Good randori sessions. high lights included Eric hit a beautiful harai on the big guy Joe. Arianna his a excellent Kouchi makikomi on Nick. Z hit a beautifu Harai. All in all very spirited randori and was well played.
Ne Waza - I did the Yamashita turn and then did Ne Waza sets. I rolled with Scott who is improving and fighting hard. Still needs to work on his technicque and he is a little too willing to turn to his belly for my taste, but that works in Judo for awhile. Has Migel next, very athletic and is a little too dependent on that worked him into a choke and had to work it under his chin. it took some time but I got it there. Pinned him a few times and he tapped to it a little faster than I'd like, but the maximum effort ne waza guys tend to give up if they can't get away from a position early enough. Took the big guy Joe next. He is pretty massive and I am always concerned about having a huge guy fall on me, but I pulled anyway. Went rubber guuard first and made it to the Oma Plata and tapped him swept a few times and held him then caught the choke when i let him turn. He tried to choke me from inside my guard, i gave him a few chances to give that up but, when he didn't i choked him back and he tapped. He has good potntial but is over ranked, by my standards and his ground training is quite minimal. wish we had him long term as we could do a lot for and with him.
Kettle Bell challenge time - I have gone strict Warrior Diet/Atkins Diet the last few days to jump start the weight loss. I felt good the first two days. not as good today and i ran out of steam in the Kbells. I did 31 rightsided and then 23 left sided before I hit the wall hard and had to stop. first time I didn't do more than the previous week. On the plus side I am down 8 pounds in the last three days.
Me, Lex, Eric S., Peter, Katie and Max. We did a round robin training. Decent training. Katie played well, though she can still gat a little too excited. Max played pretty well and really shows great potential. peter was OK, and is a good student. If I ever offered a full program somewhere i would get him to do BJJ also. It would loosen up his body and he shows some decent aptitude. Lex is doing a good job working on the arm drag. He just needs time for his game to develop. Eric started with his cross spider. He nearly swept, but i managed to hold the top and spent the balance of time in his half guard.. Peter asked about escaping knee in the belly, and i explained the same side hand defense i use. they all seemed to get it and likeit.
Judo
Good class. only 4 black belts but good number of Kyus (again). Had a brown belt in for two weeks, "Joe". Big guy (6'3" 300lbs.) trained for a year n japan and will be going back. They seem to promote faster than we do as he has potential but needs more seasoning and time before i would put him up for a Dan rank.He mentioned having trouble withthe stiff arm in Osoto Gari. I covered the three feet on the line Osoto and turning inside of the stiff arm, then combo'ed the technicque to a Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi, then to De Ashi Harai. I expected them to struggle with the foot sweep, but they did well enough that I let them continue to an Ashi Waza drill where you must attack on each step or you switch uke/tori. went pretty well. I might revisit this drill on Monday.
Good randori sessions. high lights included Eric hit a beautiful harai on the big guy Joe. Arianna his a excellent Kouchi makikomi on Nick. Z hit a beautifu Harai. All in all very spirited randori and was well played.
Ne Waza - I did the Yamashita turn and then did Ne Waza sets. I rolled with Scott who is improving and fighting hard. Still needs to work on his technicque and he is a little too willing to turn to his belly for my taste, but that works in Judo for awhile. Has Migel next, very athletic and is a little too dependent on that worked him into a choke and had to work it under his chin. it took some time but I got it there. Pinned him a few times and he tapped to it a little faster than I'd like, but the maximum effort ne waza guys tend to give up if they can't get away from a position early enough. Took the big guy Joe next. He is pretty massive and I am always concerned about having a huge guy fall on me, but I pulled anyway. Went rubber guuard first and made it to the Oma Plata and tapped him swept a few times and held him then caught the choke when i let him turn. He tried to choke me from inside my guard, i gave him a few chances to give that up but, when he didn't i choked him back and he tapped. He has good potntial but is over ranked, by my standards and his ground training is quite minimal. wish we had him long term as we could do a lot for and with him.
Kettle Bell challenge time - I have gone strict Warrior Diet/Atkins Diet the last few days to jump start the weight loss. I felt good the first two days. not as good today and i ran out of steam in the Kbells. I did 31 rightsided and then 23 left sided before I hit the wall hard and had to stop. first time I didn't do more than the previous week. On the plus side I am down 8 pounds in the last three days.
Thursday 2/18/2010
Thursday day class at the Westin. Covered for John again. Covered some gripping and seeming to be a takedown player to convince the other guy to pull, then did drop knee Ouchi gari. Then did the head control pass. 2 short sets of training. this class needs 10 more minutes of time desperately.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday 2/16/2010
BJJ class at the Westin - Taught the class for John. I covered jumping guard, then droppiing to the kosoto gake. i like this technique quite a bit, though of course I would never jump guard. I think it's a strong effective technique and relatively easy to learn. then we did the underhook half guard pass straight from the takedown. they did well. this class would be vastly improved by being 10 minutes longer.
Monday 2/15/2010
Taught the BJJ class. thankg god for Max, Katie and Dave Oh. As far as I can tell they are the entire BJJ program. I covered sweep attacks to defend the standing split. I did when uke stands without a sleeve, underhooking the leg and pressuring it by jumping the hips and flipping over to a turtle and pressuring the knee to take uke down. I did 3-6 minute sets and 2-7 minutes sets 32 minutes of training. I should have been more fatigued.
Katie and Dave stayed for Judo. They would be good addtions to the prgram. Hopefully they will come more often. Max staryed and watched but I nudged him. He wants to get a purple before starting Judo. I think that's stupid as Judo would help him get his purple. I mentioned that Saulo won't promote to purple without a green in Judo. We'll see.
Covered Osoto Gari and followed up with Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi. Decent Randori. Hit some soto Makikomis, a good Tomoe Nage and a some ashi waza. Still no Harai.
Did the head control pass for the half guard wihile holding the lapel. Good class. New white belt, Mike was in and did well. Had a long novice line and a short (3 person) Dan line. I like having the people on the other side and will be good when both sides of the line are filled.
Note Isidor made contact and finished school. He is threatening to return. We will see.
Katie and Dave stayed for Judo. They would be good addtions to the prgram. Hopefully they will come more often. Max staryed and watched but I nudged him. He wants to get a purple before starting Judo. I think that's stupid as Judo would help him get his purple. I mentioned that Saulo won't promote to purple without a green in Judo. We'll see.
Covered Osoto Gari and followed up with Sasae Tsurikomi Ashi. Decent Randori. Hit some soto Makikomis, a good Tomoe Nage and a some ashi waza. Still no Harai.
Did the head control pass for the half guard wihile holding the lapel. Good class. New white belt, Mike was in and did well. Had a long novice line and a short (3 person) Dan line. I like having the people on the other side and will be good when both sides of the line are filled.
Note Isidor made contact and finished school. He is threatening to return. We will see.
Sunday 2/14/2010
Better turnout for Judo than the BJJ class. I covered Harai. Sarah came in and will be an excellent addition to the club. it will be agreat fit to have another competitive girl in class with rank. she is good but, I think I can help her with some things. Now if I can get Paula and Christine back from injury with Alma, Arianna Katie who is threatening to come to class, the womens program will be rebuilding. Eric Johnson was also in and confirmed his commitment. Will be good when Greg and Eric S., Lee and a few others are there. The heavy/lt heavy training will be solid.
I covered the same thing in Judo as i did with the BJJ people the proceeding day (open half guard with the knee raised. It went pretty well, they made decent progress for a position most of them hadn't seen. Rolled with Sarah, among others to feel out her game. It's pretty fundamentally sound, just need to polish some positions.
I covered the same thing in Judo as i did with the BJJ people the proceeding day (open half guard with the knee raised. It went pretty well, they made decent progress for a position most of them hadn't seen. Rolled with Sarah, among others to feel out her game. It's pretty fundamentally sound, just need to polish some positions.
Saturday 2/13/2010
BJJ - i covered the 11-1 classes for John while he is away. I was barely on time, but there was no one there. I was going get my book when Max showed. A few more wandered in, but all in all a poor showing for a Saturday class even considering the weather.
I covered the open half guard witht he high knee position like Xandre showed at his seminar I showed using the elbow to stack the knee to prevent being flattened and passed, going for the choke, then if they pull away, coming up for the underhook, then either coming up behind them, attacking the Ude Gatame, or sweeping them over by pulling their knee. Everyone seemed to get it and have some success with the idea. I dodn't train in the first class but trained with everyone in the second class. Max could be good, but he isn't instinctively competitive. He works too much on being good from bad positions (which is a good thing some of the time) and not enough on forcing his way to good positions. The training was adequate, in that I broke a sweat, but, I am thinking more and more that i need to have more and better training. When Eric or John or Shannon aren't there, it is disappointing.
I covered the open half guard witht he high knee position like Xandre showed at his seminar I showed using the elbow to stack the knee to prevent being flattened and passed, going for the choke, then if they pull away, coming up for the underhook, then either coming up behind them, attacking the Ude Gatame, or sweeping them over by pulling their knee. Everyone seemed to get it and have some success with the idea. I dodn't train in the first class but trained with everyone in the second class. Max could be good, but he isn't instinctively competitive. He works too much on being good from bad positions (which is a good thing some of the time) and not enough on forcing his way to good positions. The training was adequate, in that I broke a sweat, but, I am thinking more and more that i need to have more and better training. When Eric or John or Shannon aren't there, it is disappointing.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Thursday 2/11/2010
Snowpocalypse continues. The Westin classes are cancelled.
The BJJ open mat was useful as Katie, Max, Lex and another Judo person were in the class. I fielded questions from them and worked on various positions. They seemed to find it useful. Katie is threatening to come to the Monday Judo class. We will see.
11 people in Judo which shows some real dedication.
I had Lee cover the Kosoto Gake he has been doing.
Right sided stance strong left handed lapel pull while cross stepping with the left foot. the arm enters like an Ippon Seoi Nage. Key note on the entry is to keep the hips faced directly at Uke. Then Take the Kosoto Gake against their left leg. makikomi down on them from the Seoi grip. I am intrigued by this and did some. I think I might be able to make something of it. I did several sets of randori. I am getting a little better but the Harai is still dead in the water.
I did the hook guard position in Ne waza talking about the sweep and the bicep cutter in response to head control.
I rolled with Migel. He is quite athletic but if I slow him down and make it a technical match he is food for the gun. there are just too many positions he hasn't seen.
Note we had the first hit from Lee's judo club web site. a promising prospect came in and seems like he will join. (Mike)
The BJJ open mat was useful as Katie, Max, Lex and another Judo person were in the class. I fielded questions from them and worked on various positions. They seemed to find it useful. Katie is threatening to come to the Monday Judo class. We will see.
11 people in Judo which shows some real dedication.
I had Lee cover the Kosoto Gake he has been doing.
Right sided stance strong left handed lapel pull while cross stepping with the left foot. the arm enters like an Ippon Seoi Nage. Key note on the entry is to keep the hips faced directly at Uke. Then Take the Kosoto Gake against their left leg. makikomi down on them from the Seoi grip. I am intrigued by this and did some. I think I might be able to make something of it. I did several sets of randori. I am getting a little better but the Harai is still dead in the water.
I did the hook guard position in Ne waza talking about the sweep and the bicep cutter in response to head control.
I rolled with Migel. He is quite athletic but if I slow him down and make it a technical match he is food for the gun. there are just too many positions he hasn't seen.
Note we had the first hit from Lee's judo club web site. a promising prospect came in and seems like he will join. (Mike)
Friday - 2/5/2010
Quick entry out of order - I went to the Westin and trained with Chris and the blue belt John.We rolled for an hour. I took each of them in turn and then they would roll. I enjoyed the training, thois could be some of the most productive BJJ training for me during the wekk (whihc says something unfortunate). We would roll until I caught them and then switch. I caught them each 4 times. Chris scored a vantage and that was it. the training was much better than the score reflected, and they will improve against my game faster than I will improve against theirs, so I expect the training to improve.
* note I mentioned the training on Friday to Dave Oh, who works in my building and he wants in on it. I also happened to see Steve Bowers on the street, he works across the street from me, and he was interested as well. so the training could get even better. (fingers crossed)
* note I mentioned the training on Friday to Dave Oh, who works in my building and he wants in on it. I also happened to see Steve Bowers on the street, he works across the street from me, and he was interested as well. so the training could get even better. (fingers crossed)
2/9/2010
Tuesday day class at the Westin - John was there late so I started the class. I taught the Double underhook like I did the night before. They did fine with it. I made the sets and ran the class. I will cover some classes for John while he is in Austin and New Orleans.
2/8/2010
Kettlebells - check. Alma asked my opinion of the class. I told her I liked most of it but don't like switching back and forth for the Turkish get up, and that I prefer a left sided set and then a right sided set.
BJJ - John asked if i wanted to teach anything so I did the double under pass and I showed how to use it as a submission when you stack them.I realized that i do it like I defend a triangle, and tap people from it the same way I tap them from my triangle defense. It went fine, though, I am concerned by how lightly attended the evening classes are. The weather is bad, but we are still pulling our numbers for Judo.
I trained with the usual suspects. Frank is training well, bbut not good when i have to take him as one of the tougher guys for me to have in the room.
Judo
Reasonable numbers for Judo. there has been a Greg sighting which is very good. He is bigger than before, but still leaks potential and he will get back to 100 kgs.
No weigh in tonight, taking a mulligan from the superbowl feast.
BJJ - John asked if i wanted to teach anything so I did the double under pass and I showed how to use it as a submission when you stack them.I realized that i do it like I defend a triangle, and tap people from it the same way I tap them from my triangle defense. It went fine, though, I am concerned by how lightly attended the evening classes are. The weather is bad, but we are still pulling our numbers for Judo.
I trained with the usual suspects. Frank is training well, bbut not good when i have to take him as one of the tougher guys for me to have in the room.
Judo
Reasonable numbers for Judo. there has been a Greg sighting which is very good. He is bigger than before, but still leaks potential and he will get back to 100 kgs.
No weigh in tonight, taking a mulligan from the superbowl feast.
Sunday 2/7/2010
Sunday Judo class - made it through the snow and ice to class it was decently attended with 6 of us there. I think we mostly all needed to escape cabin fever of the snowed in existence of the last few days.
Made it it an open mat with everyone working at their own pace. I did quite a few fits with Lee. We threw some as well. i need to get a lot more of this.
Made it it an open mat with everyone working at their own pace. I did quite a few fits with Lee. We threw some as well. i need to get a lot more of this.
Thursday 2/4/10
Open Mat - Peter came in and I rolled with him for 40 minutes or so. We worked on some fundamental mistakes he was making. I think it was very productive time for him.
Judo class begins at 7 now which is good for the Judo class but doesn't bode well for the BJJ program as it mostly reflects a lack of participation in the open mat by the BJJ people.
The in house tournament is being moved to 2/21 dues to Snowpocalypse.
Judo class begins at 7 now which is good for the Judo class but doesn't bode well for the BJJ program as it mostly reflects a lack of participation in the open mat by the BJJ people.
The in house tournament is being moved to 2/21 dues to Snowpocalypse.
Monday 2/1/2010
Kettlebells - check
BJJ - Check
Judo - Check
Don't recall much other than that I made it to the class.
BJJ - Check
Judo - Check
Don't recall much other than that I made it to the class.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Sunday- 1/31/2010
Good class. Eric J. was back. He agreed to go for his Shodan. He knows what he needs to do, now just have to make sure he makes it. last class for Mark Eckenrode. I will really hate to see him leave. He has been a p[leasure to coach and would be a great fit with our club if he could have stayed around town. Hope he makes it back some time.
We did some Harai and we worked on stepping across their hips from Kenkai Yutso right on left gripping for an O Goshi. . I did Randori with Eric. He's tough to get down. I would have drawn penalties on him, but he's tough to throw. I took Z for a set and got him down a couple of times but he is vey explosive and throws hard. He will be good as he gets more experienced. Took Mark for the last set. threw him some and went over for a couple of ashi waza techniques.
We did some Harai and we worked on stepping across their hips from Kenkai Yutso right on left gripping for an O Goshi. . I did Randori with Eric. He's tough to get down. I would have drawn penalties on him, but he's tough to throw. I took Z for a set and got him down a couple of times but he is vey explosive and throws hard. He will be good as he gets more experienced. Took Mark for the last set. threw him some and went over for a couple of ashi waza techniques.
Marks last class with us. 1/31/2010
This is a picture took of my daughter going for her first throw ever. I like the BW/color effect.
Here is the throw funny how she is totally gone except for her feet.
Thursday - 1/28/2010
BJJ open mat - Still mostly Judo people coming to the open mat. We will move the Judo class to 7 and the open mat will be 6-7. This is enough time for the open mat and the Judo class can begin and end early which is good for us. It seems win-win.
Judo - Don't recall the class to well. I hit 45/45 in the Kettlebell snatch challenge. just need to make 50/50 to go up in weight.
Judo - Don't recall the class to well. I hit 45/45 in the Kettlebell snatch challenge. just need to make 50/50 to go up in weight.
Thursday - 1/28/2010
Day class at the Westin. Ran the guys through some competitive drills working on armbars, triangles, and oma platas. Then did some positional training (back, mount, side)
2 sets of training.
2 sets of training.
Tuesday - 1/26/2010
Westin day class. Looks like we will be losing Hugo who is moving to Australia. Shame for us as he has been a very promising student. I love the added training I get, though it's usually little but, getting back with Chris D, has been a pleasure, both for training and as to getting to renew acquaintances with one of the genuinely nice people I have met. The Blue belt, John, whose last name still escapes me has been fun to get back with him also. They can't take me, but, they are still fun to work with them as they fight hard regardless of the result or situation. getting the 2 sets with them every few days makes the effort of going to the Westin worth it.
Monday 1/25/2010
Did Alma's Kettlebell class. Mostly I like it. some of the sets seem a little quick for my taste. I would like fewer movements for longer sets. Particularly true of the Turkish Get Up. Good to be back in Kettlebells though.
BJJ is moving to a 1.5 hour class next week on Monday with Judo moving to 7:30. this will be good for both classes I think.
Class was fine, though I didn't do much until the training. I trained with most everyone in class. very good set with John. he made me work hard to catch up to him. as long as he is on top assuming I concede the top to him, then he gives me trouble, if I get him tot he bottom, I become a bad match up for him and can keep him down. I am improving against Eric's cross spider guard. As i start to find the holes I am passing a higher percentage of the time. Still an interesting technique, though as he has swept and caught me from it. Seems particularly effective the first few times someone sees it. One other note, I hit the sweep I use when uke is inside my closed guard and they decide to headhunt me on Shannon. shows how well it works as he is very difficult to sweep. Have to remember to teach this.
Judo was solid did the speed throwing drills. Class is filling up. Christine is getting better which is good. Paula hurt her back with Josh S. He went for an uchi mata and she catted out of it but landed on her face and hurt her back. She is stupidly tough sometimes. We talked her into calling her mother and going to the emergency room. She wanted to just go home despite being in so much pain she couldn't really move.
Chris ran the rest of class as Alma and I worked on her.
BJJ is moving to a 1.5 hour class next week on Monday with Judo moving to 7:30. this will be good for both classes I think.
Class was fine, though I didn't do much until the training. I trained with most everyone in class. very good set with John. he made me work hard to catch up to him. as long as he is on top assuming I concede the top to him, then he gives me trouble, if I get him tot he bottom, I become a bad match up for him and can keep him down. I am improving against Eric's cross spider guard. As i start to find the holes I am passing a higher percentage of the time. Still an interesting technique, though as he has swept and caught me from it. Seems particularly effective the first few times someone sees it. One other note, I hit the sweep I use when uke is inside my closed guard and they decide to headhunt me on Shannon. shows how well it works as he is very difficult to sweep. Have to remember to teach this.
Judo was solid did the speed throwing drills. Class is filling up. Christine is getting better which is good. Paula hurt her back with Josh S. He went for an uchi mata and she catted out of it but landed on her face and hurt her back. She is stupidly tough sometimes. We talked her into calling her mother and going to the emergency room. She wanted to just go home despite being in so much pain she couldn't really move.
Chris ran the rest of class as Alma and I worked on her.
Sunday - 1/24/2010
Small class Judo class but spitited. we got good Tokui waza in and then some randori.
Lee covered the Kosoto gake he has been throwing. Right sided stance strong pull a la right sided seoi nage, but, without turning at all. deep cross step with the left foot as you pull, right foot follows with a kosoto gake. You have to stay tight to avoid them turning out. he has hit it on me, so I know it will work. works best when you make them respect/fear the from throw and they hip cut. Crash on them.
In Ne Waza I did the Flick and whip entry to a clock choke from the Inoue DVD. Good stuff, I like it and will try to incorporate it to my entry.
Lee covered the Kosoto gake he has been throwing. Right sided stance strong pull a la right sided seoi nage, but, without turning at all. deep cross step with the left foot as you pull, right foot follows with a kosoto gake. You have to stay tight to avoid them turning out. he has hit it on me, so I know it will work. works best when you make them respect/fear the from throw and they hip cut. Crash on them.
In Ne Waza I did the Flick and whip entry to a clock choke from the Inoue DVD. Good stuff, I like it and will try to incorporate it to my entry.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Thursday 1/21/2010
BJJ open mat and Judo - Worked on the hook guard (formerly caled the De La Riva position by us) with Katie. she wanted to see it and I went through the way i use it with her. katie is tough but would be well served to return to Judo. She shoud be a better top player and needs to be stronger at the takedowns. she and Max would both do well in Judo. Eric trained with Zach Green who I think is excellent. He nearly caught Eric, which isn't easy to do, especially giving p size and rank. i will continue to try to get him to some Judo classes.
Judo was good, Good numbers and we worked at a fast pace. I gave some time for indiviual Tokui Waza and worked with different individuals on some elements of their throwing. Solid if unspectacular randori. Z and Scott as well of course as Lex are standing out among the sub brown belts as the guys to watch.
More Juji Gatame turnover work for Ne waza. The new white belt who has dome some sub grappling did OK with this which is a good sign for him. It's not an easy technique but the club ia handling the difficulty level well and we might get a few who actually use it. I like Lex and what he is doing there.
In the Kettlebell snatch challenge After switching to a right side first approach (which is amazing to me that I have to protect my right side - pre surgery taking my right side second I woudl still always do significantly more reps on the right, now its my weaker side) I hit 40/40 with the 20KG. I won't go up in weight to the 24 kg until I hit 50/50.
Judo was good, Good numbers and we worked at a fast pace. I gave some time for indiviual Tokui Waza and worked with different individuals on some elements of their throwing. Solid if unspectacular randori. Z and Scott as well of course as Lex are standing out among the sub brown belts as the guys to watch.
More Juji Gatame turnover work for Ne waza. The new white belt who has dome some sub grappling did OK with this which is a good sign for him. It's not an easy technique but the club ia handling the difficulty level well and we might get a few who actually use it. I like Lex and what he is doing there.
In the Kettlebell snatch challenge After switching to a right side first approach (which is amazing to me that I have to protect my right side - pre surgery taking my right side second I woudl still always do significantly more reps on the right, now its my weaker side) I hit 40/40 with the 20KG. I won't go up in weight to the 24 kg until I hit 50/50.
Thursday 1/21/2010
Day class at the Westin. Worked more on the arm drag but emphasized keeping the arm trapped and then sweeping. It was similar to what we did at the Marcelo Garcia seminar, but some small changes in grips etc. I actually prefer the Marcello variant, but, the guys here did well with this one.
Tuesday 1/19/2010
Tuesday Day class at the Westin. Numbers are consistent here but not really growing. We really need to find a way to get a few new faces here. We will lose Hugo to Australia, which is a shame as he has shown a good aptitude and attitude.
John did more of the Arm drag work here. Good for the guys who haven't seen it. I like the way he emphaiszed rising up on your feet slightly from the seated position to get more momentum and pull on the arm drag. Seemed to have very good effect and clearly added to the strength of the technicque.
The training here is steady with Chris and John (The blue belt) but would be nice to see a little more rank to vary the sets for me.
John did more of the Arm drag work here. Good for the guys who haven't seen it. I like the way he emphaiszed rising up on your feet slightly from the seated position to get more momentum and pull on the arm drag. Seemed to have very good effect and clearly added to the strength of the technicque.
The training here is steady with Chris and John (The blue belt) but would be nice to see a little more rank to vary the sets for me.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Monday 1/18/2006
BJJ class atb 6. John has been working the arm drags this week. It's a good technique and a bit underutilized by our club in general. He has a nice trick when he cross grips the sleeve he blocks the trapped arm from regripping with his forearm. I like this and will work on it as well as keep an eye out for people doing it as it makes for a more difficult techniques to defend.
Judo - Post tournament class - did some movement drills for staying light on the feet and advancing with your hips rather than with your hands to cut off the mat and get into your grips. trying to minimize the frankenstein plodding and chasing while over reaching with the grips.
Randori - I have been hitting the soto makimomi but i still hate settling for it and consider it a poor substitute for the Harai.
Ne Waza - continued working on the Juji Gatame turnover. - Emphasizd the Adams version of the turn and capturing the head with the leg tp prevent uke from coing up.
Judo - Post tournament class - did some movement drills for staying light on the feet and advancing with your hips rather than with your hands to cut off the mat and get into your grips. trying to minimize the frankenstein plodding and chasing while over reaching with the grips.
Randori - I have been hitting the soto makimomi but i still hate settling for it and consider it a poor substitute for the Harai.
Ne Waza - continued working on the Juji Gatame turnover. - Emphasizd the Adams version of the turn and capturing the head with the leg tp prevent uke from coing up.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Sunday 1/17/2010 Liberty Bell Developmental Tournament.
6 competitors
Lex 3-0 in one division (good Juji Gatame turnover attack, got into it but didn't know how to finish as we haven't practiced the finish enough.
1-2 in the other (win over Eric s and loss to Eric J)
Nick 0-3 two losses against strong russians who just kind of threw him around and then hurt his rib against a beatable guy and withdrew.
Z 2-1 threw and ippon and a good matwork win and was countered from a lazy uchi mata for a loss. very good first tournament.
Eric J. - bad loss in first match back as he was up 3 penalties to 0 and then was ipponed, but he was just getting back used to it. good win over a game Lex, throwing for a yuko and then holding a pin for another, then was clock choked out by Eric S. Very happy to see him back on the horse.
Eric S. Tough loss to Lex and a brown belt the clock choked Eric J. out. Need to work on making him faster to fight younger guys. he seems a little slow into his attacks and is having trouble catching up to them.
Arianna - very good 0-3. Fought adult as 13 years old foought well and scored several times was mugged a bit by adults who overpowered her, nearly/should have caught an armlock on an adult woman just refused to tap and Arianna couldn't or wouldn't pop her arm.
Good day but would like to do a bit better.
Lex 3-0 in one division (good Juji Gatame turnover attack, got into it but didn't know how to finish as we haven't practiced the finish enough.
1-2 in the other (win over Eric s and loss to Eric J)
Nick 0-3 two losses against strong russians who just kind of threw him around and then hurt his rib against a beatable guy and withdrew.
Z 2-1 threw and ippon and a good matwork win and was countered from a lazy uchi mata for a loss. very good first tournament.
Eric J. - bad loss in first match back as he was up 3 penalties to 0 and then was ipponed, but he was just getting back used to it. good win over a game Lex, throwing for a yuko and then holding a pin for another, then was clock choked out by Eric S. Very happy to see him back on the horse.
Eric S. Tough loss to Lex and a brown belt the clock choked Eric J. out. Need to work on making him faster to fight younger guys. he seems a little slow into his attacks and is having trouble catching up to them.
Arianna - very good 0-3. Fought adult as 13 years old foought well and scored several times was mugged a bit by adults who overpowered her, nearly/should have caught an armlock on an adult woman just refused to tap and Arianna couldn't or wouldn't pop her arm.
Good day but would like to do a bit better.
Thursday - 1/14/2010
BJJ open mat - Zack G. was in along with Eric and Lex, Zack is good and nearly caught Eric again. I like training with him and take him very seriously becasue I know he has the chance to catch me. As long as I keep him in front of me I snuff what he does, but if he gets behind he is dangerous. Trained with lex a bit also as well as Eric. Invited Zack to come to Judo. he would be a good addition to the team. He is considering comeing tot he class on Thursday... I will wait and see, as I have heard that before.
Class was good We did an Ouchi Gari attack that I like, working on stepping off and then lunging back for the attack. Tokui waza then randori. Zwelthini is doing well and having good classes. He and Lex will be good training partners of they both stick.
Did some clock chokes in response to the drop seoi nage. mixed sucess, which is surprising considering they do a straight clockchoke well. But the attack off of the drop confused the issue.
Class was good We did an Ouchi Gari attack that I like, working on stepping off and then lunging back for the attack. Tokui waza then randori. Zwelthini is doing well and having good classes. He and Lex will be good training partners of they both stick.
Did some clock chokes in response to the drop seoi nage. mixed sucess, which is surprising considering they do a straight clockchoke well. But the attack off of the drop confused the issue.
Tuesday 1/12/10
Day class at the Westin. John worked on the splits Saulo covered.. Decent supplemental training. I would like a little more variety in the training but, I am having good classes and enjoying my situation more than i was.
Saturday 1/9/2010
Saulo Ribeiro Seminar - huge number of guys came to the seminar 70+, way to many to actually drill anything. Saulo spent much of the time taling about the way the Ribeiro brothers system works, why it is such a good approach to BJJ and the benefits of staying with it. It was sort of a Ribeiro Brothers BJJ Infomercial.. It was good to hear and reminded me how kmuch i respect Saulo and and admire how he conducts himself and how he runs things. he talked about some splits and passes that on their face seem basic but, the details make them very interesting. I would love to make it to San Diego to work with him. Could do a lot worse than staying in the Ribeiro Bros. Syatem and getting promoted there. He didn't make any promotions but he awarded a silver star to several of us (John, Dave Oh, the Terry bros and myself). It is supposed to represent important members of the system who contribute to the greater good.
Saulo spoke to Zak and i guess the part line is that the whole fault of the split lies with John and everyone should apologize to Regis. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle so I am surprised that this line is selling as well as it seems to be. Still no idea how this will play out in the next 6 months.
Saulo spoke to Zak and i guess the part line is that the whole fault of the split lies with John and everyone should apologize to Regis. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle so I am surprised that this line is selling as well as it seems to be. Still no idea how this will play out in the next 6 months.
Monday 1/11/10
Did my first Kettlebell class since the shoulder surgery. It was fairly hard and there were some different movements, but it was good. I think some of the exercises should have gone longer but it was a good class.
BJJ- Solid training, if not spectacular. In class, we worked on the splits and then passing that Saulo showed.
Judo class did some hard cardio work with the guys. After randori we continued the Juji Gatame Turnover, some were here for both days but we just recapped the entry and then attacking the arm rather than going for the turnover.
Weigh in was 254, not a great weight cut beginning but its a start.
BJJ- Solid training, if not spectacular. In class, we worked on the splits and then passing that Saulo showed.
Judo class did some hard cardio work with the guys. After randori we continued the Juji Gatame Turnover, some were here for both days but we just recapped the entry and then attacking the arm rather than going for the turnover.
Weigh in was 254, not a great weight cut beginning but its a start.
Sunday - 1/10/10
Good Sunday class. Worked on Harai a bit then had everyone proctice their tokui waza.
Reintroducing the Juji Gatame Turnover. Went as far as the entry and attacking the arm. They did better than I expected with it, to be honest. We spent a lot of reps on it and they improved a lot. Might be able to actually make this into a usable technicque for some of them.
Reintroducing the Juji Gatame Turnover. Went as far as the entry and attacking the arm. They did better than I expected with it, to be honest. We spent a lot of reps on it and they improved a lot. Might be able to actually make this into a usable technicque for some of them.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Thursday 1/7/10
BJJ open mat. just the Judo guys are coming, me Eric S., Lex and Shannon are the most consistent. Eric and I worked on his cross spider guard. I played it from the bottom for the first time. Still ahve to figure out where the offense is from it but, it is difficlt to pass once I settle into it. More bodies will help this time, but these are all good training partners. Particularly enjoyed working with Shannon lately. His back game is just in the nascent stages but he has great base and is difficult to sweep. He puts pressure on my turtle though he hasn't cracked it open yet.
Judo - I emphasized power drills, i.e. three man drills and runing drill. worked on clock choke against the drop seoi nage.
Good randori set with Lee, hit a good soto Makikomi, but I hate settleing for that rather than the Harai. My shoulder doesn't hurt as much but it still fails me when I put it to the question.
had a Kbell challenge for snatches after class - as many as you can do left and right without putting the bell down and only switching once. Did 40 left and 30 right with the 20 kg. decent start but I have a long way to go to get back the power I had. Back in the day I would have done 1-15 more with my right than my left, so that is where the weakness is.
Judo - I emphasized power drills, i.e. three man drills and runing drill. worked on clock choke against the drop seoi nage.
Good randori set with Lee, hit a good soto Makikomi, but I hate settleing for that rather than the Harai. My shoulder doesn't hurt as much but it still fails me when I put it to the question.
had a Kbell challenge for snatches after class - as many as you can do left and right without putting the bell down and only switching once. Did 40 left and 30 right with the 20 kg. decent start but I have a long way to go to get back the power I had. Back in the day I would have done 1-15 more with my right than my left, so that is where the weakness is.
Thursday 1/7/10
Day training at the Westin. the classes are steady but we really need to add a few more people.
Tuesday 1/5/10
Day class at the Westin. Decent training over here with Chris Delpi and John. would be better if Dan Francis was still here but some of the white belts are improving enough so it's OK working with them, they do well enough so I can work on something hard and they don't just fall over. Will be better if John d and I start training together more, or if we can get another 15 minutes in this class. Regardless, its ood to put the gi on as mcuh as possible.
Monday 1/4/10
Similar class as sunday worked them hard with speed drills to see who needs to get back in shape and how bad it is. All in all, it's not too bad. they aren't that far off from being in acceptable shape. We are a long way from back in the day when our condictioning and strength was a battle we normally won, particularly in the Masters divisions.
Did vlub weigh in on Monday. My number is 257. Could be worse, could be a lot better.
Did vlub weigh in on Monday. My number is 257. Could be worse, could be a lot better.
Sunday 1/3/2010
First class of the new Year. I am going to try to get back to this but with the time issues I am just going to hit the high lights until I get current. Did a lot of speed drills with push up penalties for the last team to complete the drill. Emphasized that it was an incentive not a punishement. Obviously need to hustle some of them back into shape for the new year.
This will be a telling month in the Maxercsie BJJ world. Most of the ones leaving will be gone this month. Sad to see them go, but the idea the idea that they are leaving for better instruction demonstrates how little they actually know about BJJ. We'll see how it all plays out. I know what my moves will be in any event. My primary concern will be protecting the Judo club and continuing BJJ somewhere I will enjoy it. Hopefully it will be here. I am beginning to think John might be able to pull this off.
This will be a telling month in the Maxercsie BJJ world. Most of the ones leaving will be gone this month. Sad to see them go, but the idea the idea that they are leaving for better instruction demonstrates how little they actually know about BJJ. We'll see how it all plays out. I know what my moves will be in any event. My primary concern will be protecting the Judo club and continuing BJJ somewhere I will enjoy it. Hopefully it will be here. I am beginning to think John might be able to pull this off.
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