It was Friday, and my night shift at the restaurant got cancelled because of possibly inclement weather and a complete inability to predict midwestern storms, so Andy and I returned to Edina for some mat time.
My feeling of comfort on the mat was not something that lasted only at our home academy; I rolled with two whites (one of whom I rolled with last week), a purple named Tim, and Andy to finish off the session. It was good. I refused to accept being on the bottom as easily as I did last week, and that translated to a lot more action and a lot more offense. Strange how listening to your black belt instructor will bring that about. The first white was a guy named Eric.....big, burly, but untempered. I worked my whizzer a bit and tried to throw a triangle, but I got sloppy. I don't remember how that fight ended, but I know that he swept me at one point. Josh was my second roll, and I was much more aggressive this week than last. I tried attacking on the knees rather than falling to my back (something that was completely absent last week) and when I did accept guard, I worked for sweeps and subs the whole time. I've taken Klint's advice to keep looking for their arms. Far-side armbars might be my favorite moves to catch. I landed one kimura, and got into a triangle from a platform armbar position, rolled him onto his back and started working the shoulder lock while the mounted triangle strangled him. Something popped in his elbow, but he said he was alright. I still stopped and worried that I might have injured him. I didn't think the lock was that tight, but he seemed alright at the end of the night.
Tim, the purple, wrecked me nineteen ways. He would start standing, which was a new challenge for me. He passed my guard and threw me into side control. He choked me a few ways that I didn't know chokes would work. It isn't like I was completely immobilized, but his shoulder pressure is outstanding and he keeps his weight impressively low. I did shoot and catch a triangle/platform armbar position at one point: he identified it and guarded his arm while he stepped up, so I hooked his leg, grabbed his sleeve and went for the omoplata. I swept him (couldn't stop his roll---running theme), but right as i was establishing top control, he slapped on an inverted triangle and tapped me. I guess the sweep is a good sign, but I need to work on establishing top sooner. And Better.
Andy didn't fare quite as well today as he did yesterday. At the end, he said to me, "Damn, you're just angry today, aren't you?" Probably five minutes of rolling, and I got him in a wrist lock from omoplata control, a bow and arrow choke, and a triangle. The triangle ended up hurting my leg....something that used to happen only when I locked my right foot into my left knee, and it happened locking my left foot into my right knee. I iced it at home and all was good after about 20 minutes, but I'm partly concerned that my legs will simply fall off at one point. Until then, I intend to keep throwing them around guys' arms and necks in hopes of feeling that wondrous tap-tap-tap that tells me I've won.
The live-rolling part of training has become both a welcome change and a mildly infuriating detour. I noticed today that I haven't successfully pulled off any of the sweeps we've spent so much time working at Klint's against anyone from Damian's---the most successful sweep thus far for me is the omoplata sweep. I'm not entirely sure that I've even tried a scissor sweep yet, I haven't locked in the position for a pendulum against the other side, and I haven't found an opportunity to attempt a butterfly guard sweep yet (my feet always seem to be in the wrong place). I have hit a few omoplatas, I've turned a guard triangle into a mounted triangle, but I haven't straight up swept that many people. That's going to me by next goal---land a few sweeps. Get comfortable turning the tid eand starting to attack immediately.
Really, though, I can't complain. Instead of spending my night waiting tables and getting a little frustrated at life, I got to spend almost 2 hours rolling and working my jits. Many, many worse ways to spend a Friday night.
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