The Journey

Did Monkey Lines, which are drills that are ~1min long. The goal is to hold, defend, or advance a position within the 1min timeline. 1- Escape the mount: Good at escaping the mount with less trained or equal size opponent. The longer you allow someone to dig their hooks in, the harder it is to escape. I struggled a little bit here. 2- Hold guard/Pass guard: Good at holding the guard or sweeping from this position. Comfortable here. 3- Hold side body: Pretty good at this, transition to mount, getting faster here. Dont mind being in side body. 4- Person on back: This is really tricky. Once someone has your back, you are screwed! Forgot to thread the needle and could work that a little more.

Kicks, punches, pushups, situps, squats, nice. Went over the head and arm drag/ throw. Only works with momentum. Opponent throwing a hay maker: 1- Protect the head 2- Drag the arm being thrown by the wrist 3- Step back at the same time 4- Headlock with opposite arm as they are drug through and point to the ground. You should spin and opponent should get thrown- knee on rib. We sparred. Holy goodness. Stand up is intimidating with people who do this regularly. Karate is no joke. Best success was when I got in close as I have short limbs. Keep opponent at bay with leg kicks. If I dont like to hit or kick someone in a self defense scenario, I will need to learn to grab and get the opponent to the ground that way. Get to side, get to back, get to shoulder.

Worked on guard pass, transition to knee on belly, and knee on belly to arm lock. Rolling was good and light. New guy had good cross body pressure with the forearm. Rolling with Dan was good. I give up too much. Need to relax and focus on escaping the side mount. Thoughts there are to slide down, shrimp out, knee through, go to gaurd. As well, dont get stuck in side body.

Escape night. Worked on thread the needle with opponent in side body. Worked on upa/trap/roll with someone in your mount. Worked knee on belly transition. Worked transition to mount from side control. Need to work on using knee on belly to execute the armlock. Prompt push with arm by knee on belly. Dive the arm through their arm, hold that arm close to the head and tight pulling them up to you. Step over the head, spin to sit holding the pant leg as you come around. Do not let go of the pant leg as you pull the arm lock. Control, control, control...

Marshall leads a fantastic Saturday morning, MMA type class. Not like UFC but a combination of Karate, Judo, and BJJ. Focus on martial arts fitness, self defense, and being well rounded. Actually enjoyed the throws today. We started by working on how to get to T-position. Then, worked T-position throws. The combination of several things was nice as well. Block the punch, slip to the wrist, slide past and work for the throw, take down, etc. Use the elbow to the side of the head to protect as the punch is thrown. Worked the arm drag: Lead with the hips instead of the head to get to the back. Choke from standing. Break the posture at the knee and rear naked choke. Also worked from the guard- attacker throws punches from the top. Use the hips to pull the person forward as they throw the punch, trap the arm, trap the leg, and roll. Work to get to stand up and get away. Was able to do the top side arm bar in a roll! Absolutely love this class. Amazing all around game builder.

Jamie and Jeff showed up! Love it when they are there, especially together as I glean so much from their teaching. and demonstration of the moves. All training started with thread the needle: 1- With opponent in a high chest side mount with hand blocking the hips, slight tilt to relieve pressure on the ribs. Upa with strong foot to support you then thread the needle. As you thread, punch the hand through the armpit to create even more space and allow you to drive through. Grab the leg and treat it as a double or single leg as you come to your knees and drive. 2- Opponent on top, with a choke. Grab the arm to stop the choke, trap the arm with the head to hold the arm as well as make room to upa. Upa but hold the arm to the ground to stop them from coming up into you. 3- Same as #2. When you come to be in the persons guard, grab the sleeve of the arm with the hand in the collar. Tie the elbow of the arm that holds the sleeve to the opponents thigh. Good posture. Stand up, one leg at...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVITwO4-L6I Been living here for a little while. I hit the armbar from a guard pass. Really want to work on hitting the armbar from the mount, attempting an americana arm lock. As well, the pass the guard and the overhook arm bar.

Practiced all we knew from guard- both positions in the guard. From bottom: Kimura, arm bar, triangle, uma palata, push sweep, scissor sweep, over the top sweep, guillotine, cross choke From top: Pass the guard to side, pass the guard to mount, etc.

Spent time working chokes. Cross choke from standing. Punch choke from mount- utilize the punch to go across the neck and contain, bring arm around the head- either cross choke or lapel choke, cross choke from mount, grabbing in the collar and then moving to a choke. As well rolled. Caught opponent with an armbar and choke from the guard- over hand grab of the shoulder, cross choke other hand. Opponent caught me with two neck cranks, both from in my guard or side mount. Need to learn to defend that.

So, 35lb kettle bells are bad for a hernia... I am weak on my kicks. Need to work on the form. Worked punch defenese. Split the arm, hammer lock. Wrist lock. Slide to knee. Get to position for osoto gari, osoto otoshi. Dont forget to soften on the way in. Choke from side is possible, more of a neck crank than a carotid choke. Worked bat defense, similar to punch defense. Close the distance to be successful.

Went back over the Pedro knowledge we knew. 1- The slip to triangle move is nice, foot in the hip, slip to side and trap the elbow/arm with the leg. Grab the sleeve. Leg to triangle. 2- The arm bar can be had anywhere. The trap and roll can be a place to get an inverted arm bar. Rolled- Dan is a beasty blue belt! Always challenges me. His ability to trap whatever is given to him is getting really good, moves are tight. Escaped and felt whenever he wasnt tight, no submission. Several good sweeps. Need to relax again. Rolled with the Wildebeast. He is quick. Almost caught him in 3 arm bars. Held him at bay because I was whipped. He shut down a couple of my sweeps by feeling or stopping the direction I was working to move him toward. More relaxation and really trapping and keeping him tight could result in a submission. Rolled with L, he is really getting good at relaxing and executing the move. Size does not stop him from executing the trap and roll. Caught him with a punch chok...

Rolled with Jamie this evening: 1- I know not all I think! 2- He kept catching me in the triangle or arm bar. I kept getting sucked into his guard. Need to work on understanding how to stay out of the spider guard. 3- Work on passing the guard and staying outside. Standup is the way.