Open guard. Again. If it wasn't so entertaining, I would hate it. Because it's hard. And sometimes it hurts. But the feeling of finally getting your opponent pretzeled and confused and then gently tipping him over and choking him is worth every bit of effort. Not that I got to feel that sensation Tuesday night.
I couldn't possibly ask for a better instructor. I don't know whether it is because my learning style fits with his teaching style, whether I think that because I've never tried learning jiu jitsu before taking lessons from Klint, or what. I don't even really know if I'm actually progressing. I mean, I can tell when I'm progressing in relationship to the other lower belts. I know that my game is ahead of the white belts, and that JD is catching up to me right quick. I also know that I can force Klint to have to work harder and longer to get the same tap out of me, so that's something. But I've yet to feel like I'm in control of anything. Even rolling against other blues across town, I feel like I revert back to relative flailing. The calm and cool demeanor from my home academy vanishes and I'm left relying on my natural attributes more than I think I do at home.
Also, the balance between aggression and control still eludes me. I don't know what that tipping point is that allows me both to be aggressive against a higher belt and also to maintain control and composure at the same time. Part of that might be the anxiety of rolling with a "superior," someone who is higher than me on the food chain and who should, for all intents and purposes, be able to beat me. And then I throw myself forward in an effort to prove my merit and abilities, whether or not they result in a submission or a positional battle or even just a scramble. And that isn't what I train to do.
So I don't know if my training is helping. I don't know if I'm fostering those habits of excellence that will serve me for years to come. I know only that I keep training and hoping that, if I keep showing up for a long enough time, eventually I'll stop sucking.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Status Quo
More and more systems. This is week two of open guard, and we're learning how to use the outside hook to our advantage, transitioning from one open guard attack to another, knowing which indicators tells us to go where. "This isn't anything that someone taught me, this system of indicators and progressive attacks," he told us last night. "This is stuff that I put together after failing a lot and reviewing what went wrong and where I _should_ have gone." So literally, these systems are his own creation. They aren't anything new--the techniques are the same ones that he was taught--they are just wrapped in a new presentation style.
And they're great.
So, Christopher, how's your training? To be fair, I don't know. I think it's going well. I'm spending a fair amount of time on the mats (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday nights, Saturday afternoons and sometimes mornings, and probably every other Friday night open mat), so I don't leave enough time for any cobwebs to set in. From time to time, though, I have a few of those training sessions where I feel like nothing goes right. I don't quite embarrass myself, but I definitely don't perform as well as my training indicates that I should. Last Monday, for instance, I made it to morning class across town, and I got to train with a few guys there. One I should be even with, going back and forth, and I felt sluggish and a few steps behind. Another, a three stripe blue, went back and forth with me, and I felt like I should be ahead of him the entire time. It was probably good that I was there and working all the same. I didn't fail entirely. So there's that.
I'll be back in this space more regularly in the coming weeks and months. Andy has a local competition in about a week and a half, and I have a take-home final and law review editing to finish. Because I graduate law school in five days. And with luck, I'll be sober by Saturday to help him from the sidelines.
And they're great.
So, Christopher, how's your training? To be fair, I don't know. I think it's going well. I'm spending a fair amount of time on the mats (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday nights, Saturday afternoons and sometimes mornings, and probably every other Friday night open mat), so I don't leave enough time for any cobwebs to set in. From time to time, though, I have a few of those training sessions where I feel like nothing goes right. I don't quite embarrass myself, but I definitely don't perform as well as my training indicates that I should. Last Monday, for instance, I made it to morning class across town, and I got to train with a few guys there. One I should be even with, going back and forth, and I felt sluggish and a few steps behind. Another, a three stripe blue, went back and forth with me, and I felt like I should be ahead of him the entire time. It was probably good that I was there and working all the same. I didn't fail entirely. So there's that.
I'll be back in this space more regularly in the coming weeks and months. Andy has a local competition in about a week and a half, and I have a take-home final and law review editing to finish. Because I graduate law school in five days. And with luck, I'll be sober by Saturday to help him from the sidelines.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
BJJ and MMA Gear Deals
If you are not looking for a new gi, this probably isn't for you. But if, like me, you're always keeping an eye out for another gi or a new rashguard, pay attention.
MMA HQ offers one great MMA gear deal a day. The sell gis and rashguards pretty frequently. Today's deal starts at midnight eastern, and it's:
Fuji BJJ Kassen Pearl Weave Black Gi for $94
It's $139 everywhere else. MMA HQ is by the company that brings you lost of great martial arts uniforms, Karate Depot
Extremely light, high quality pearl weave gi with patches by Fuji.
Every day is another great BJJ or MMA deal on MMAHQ.com
The Pain of Progress
This stuff sucks.
I mean, let's be serious about this. Roughly four times a week, I go to jiu jitsu. I learn or refresh my memory about a technique or three, and I spend some time training. Once every week or two, I get to train with Klint. And when that happens, I end up in pain. All colors of pain, from that gentle off-white "this is a strange position I've found myself in" pain to that bright red "I need to scream before he keeps pressuring that lock" pain, even that subdued green "how the hell did I get here and what exactly is he doing to my shoulder" pain. Usually, I can walk away fairly unscathed, only my pride hurting (which, to be fair, is half the reason I keep going to jiu jitsu). Every now and then, he'll hit something with just the right pressure that tears shoot out of my eyes as I tap. Last night, it was a lot of that.
In class, we worked open guard sweep cycles. The last few weeks, he has been very adamant about putting everything we're doing into a fluid system, and it's been amazing. I have not put this many different moves into this kind of context before. So we've worked side control, guard opening, guard passing, back defense, closed guard, now we're on open guard. What they've done with the curriculum is really impressive. And we get to reap the benefits by having a six-man class with a black belt instructor every day of the week.
So I rolled with Klint, and the results mixed improving failure (with a waft of success on the horizon) with abject failure. At one point my body reverted to stupidity and I just held a collar hoping that it would stifle his pass. Clearly, it didn't. And we laughed at that. He said that my pressure on my guard passes was better, and that I have to improve my side control. Which was obvious when I (for once) got side control and was back in guard within four seconds. That first roll, though, cracked my neck and back in a few places, to the point that the pain woke me up a few times throughout the night. (It's along the same vein as when I wrenched it last fall, but not nearly as bad. I just need to be careful with it and work to relieve a bit of the stress on it over the next few days. I even opted not to go to morning class because I didn't want to tweak it any more.) And the rest were partly a thrashing. At one point, I definitely had to dig deep, force myself to continue. And not only to continue, but to continue training with the requisite attention and effort. Anyone can revert to "just tap me already" mode after a few rounds of abject failure; refusing to do so is very, very hard.
Then I worked with Andy for a while. We need to figure out how to get him beyond the psychological barrier that turns him into a purely defensive creature when we train. He's going to be competing on the 21st, and I'll be there supporting. But training with me only not to lose the same way is not going to prepare him.
I mean, let's be serious about this. Roughly four times a week, I go to jiu jitsu. I learn or refresh my memory about a technique or three, and I spend some time training. Once every week or two, I get to train with Klint. And when that happens, I end up in pain. All colors of pain, from that gentle off-white "this is a strange position I've found myself in" pain to that bright red "I need to scream before he keeps pressuring that lock" pain, even that subdued green "how the hell did I get here and what exactly is he doing to my shoulder" pain. Usually, I can walk away fairly unscathed, only my pride hurting (which, to be fair, is half the reason I keep going to jiu jitsu). Every now and then, he'll hit something with just the right pressure that tears shoot out of my eyes as I tap. Last night, it was a lot of that.
In class, we worked open guard sweep cycles. The last few weeks, he has been very adamant about putting everything we're doing into a fluid system, and it's been amazing. I have not put this many different moves into this kind of context before. So we've worked side control, guard opening, guard passing, back defense, closed guard, now we're on open guard. What they've done with the curriculum is really impressive. And we get to reap the benefits by having a six-man class with a black belt instructor every day of the week.
So I rolled with Klint, and the results mixed improving failure (with a waft of success on the horizon) with abject failure. At one point my body reverted to stupidity and I just held a collar hoping that it would stifle his pass. Clearly, it didn't. And we laughed at that. He said that my pressure on my guard passes was better, and that I have to improve my side control. Which was obvious when I (for once) got side control and was back in guard within four seconds. That first roll, though, cracked my neck and back in a few places, to the point that the pain woke me up a few times throughout the night. (It's along the same vein as when I wrenched it last fall, but not nearly as bad. I just need to be careful with it and work to relieve a bit of the stress on it over the next few days. I even opted not to go to morning class because I didn't want to tweak it any more.) And the rest were partly a thrashing. At one point, I definitely had to dig deep, force myself to continue. And not only to continue, but to continue training with the requisite attention and effort. Anyone can revert to "just tap me already" mode after a few rounds of abject failure; refusing to do so is very, very hard.
Then I worked with Andy for a while. We need to figure out how to get him beyond the psychological barrier that turns him into a purely defensive creature when we train. He's going to be competing on the 21st, and I'll be there supporting. But training with me only not to lose the same way is not going to prepare him.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Returning
I am in the middle of a terrible week. And I should be spending tonight remembering administrative law. But that's all day tomorrow. Instead, I will reflect on my night of rolling.
Klint has been on a streak of giving us systems to use---a side control system, a guard-opening system, a back-defending system, ways to structure our attacks and defenses so that one flows into the other. This week, we're doing an attacks-from-guard system. Every set of grips, we're drilling a system of attacks that we can use. Armbar-to-triangle-to-armbar, sweep-attempt-to-armbar-to-triangle-to-omoplata, that kind of thing. This week, of course, I'm buried. And a little upset about that fact, because I love love love attacking from guard.
After class, I'd told Andy that JD and I were going to start prepping him for the tournament in late May. It's about 4 weeks out, so I told him that we were going to start working him. So we took turns starting mounted on him, starting with him in side control, getting him into bad spots and making him work out of them even though he's tired. Probably six or seven two-minute-gos in a row. I also worked for a bit with John, and after Andy cashed out, JD and I worked for a bit.
I've been feeling pretty OK about my training lately. I got to open mat on Friday, and I was working with a few of Damian's higher belts--a smaller blue and a large, older purple. I could do what I wanted with the blue, but that was mainly the size disadvantage. I've got probably 40 or 50 pounds on him, and our technique is pretty close. The purple let me play guard for a bit, and after he told me he would have let me just work a little more if I wasn't doing so well. So I took that as a compliment, and drove across town for more open mat.
I've been trying to go to my knees more and work from a wrestling position, and sometimes I'm actually doing it. I have to admit, wrestling is one of my least favorite aspects of grappling. The submissions and sweeps, those are just beautiful and entertaining and intricate. The throws (even though I have no idea how to do them) are amazing. Wrestling, in my mind, is the journeyman's tool, the thing that gets the job done. I know it's the most useful and beneficial base to have--I get that. I just wish it wasn't so tiring. And really, I wish learning Judo was as easy as learning wrestling. Because the throws? Come on. Just exquisite.
Klint has been on a streak of giving us systems to use---a side control system, a guard-opening system, a back-defending system, ways to structure our attacks and defenses so that one flows into the other. This week, we're doing an attacks-from-guard system. Every set of grips, we're drilling a system of attacks that we can use. Armbar-to-triangle-to-armbar, sweep-attempt-to-armbar-to-triangle-to-omoplata, that kind of thing. This week, of course, I'm buried. And a little upset about that fact, because I love love love attacking from guard.
After class, I'd told Andy that JD and I were going to start prepping him for the tournament in late May. It's about 4 weeks out, so I told him that we were going to start working him. So we took turns starting mounted on him, starting with him in side control, getting him into bad spots and making him work out of them even though he's tired. Probably six or seven two-minute-gos in a row. I also worked for a bit with John, and after Andy cashed out, JD and I worked for a bit.
I've been feeling pretty OK about my training lately. I got to open mat on Friday, and I was working with a few of Damian's higher belts--a smaller blue and a large, older purple. I could do what I wanted with the blue, but that was mainly the size disadvantage. I've got probably 40 or 50 pounds on him, and our technique is pretty close. The purple let me play guard for a bit, and after he told me he would have let me just work a little more if I wasn't doing so well. So I took that as a compliment, and drove across town for more open mat.
I've been trying to go to my knees more and work from a wrestling position, and sometimes I'm actually doing it. I have to admit, wrestling is one of my least favorite aspects of grappling. The submissions and sweeps, those are just beautiful and entertaining and intricate. The throws (even though I have no idea how to do them) are amazing. Wrestling, in my mind, is the journeyman's tool, the thing that gets the job done. I know it's the most useful and beneficial base to have--I get that. I just wish it wasn't so tiring. And really, I wish learning Judo was as easy as learning wrestling. Because the throws? Come on. Just exquisite.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Explaining the Absence
I'm still going to class. But law school is killing me. My attendance next two weeks will have to be subject to a few things: a) returning to the restaurant, 2) finals and final projects, and c) sanity. I'm almost done. I'll be going to only a handful of classes the next few weeks, and then I'll be back.
These same distractions have prevented me from regular posting. For that, I apologize.
I will make it up to you soon.
These same distractions have prevented me from regular posting. For that, I apologize.
I will make it up to you soon.
Monday, April 11, 2011
War Wounds
We're all broken.
I'm almost certain I've talked about this before. And even if I haven't, everyone else has. But we're all training through some sort of injury. Zach hasn't seen training since December. Mel's shoulder is tweaked. (And she competed this past weekend, winning two of her divisions.) JD's knee is wonky. Vance is perpetually rotting. Andy falls apart if you blink at him wrong. Kyle's knee seems to be better. John's ribs seem to be OK. And my toe and hand are operating at less than full force. Steve actually returned to training today for the first time since I started, new knee and all.
A friend started his sample period tonight. He's in sports medicine, works with athletes all the time, understands competition. We worked some pretty advanced techniques for his first night--the Camarillo switch, multiple choke defenses, taking the back, two separate passes. Then we trained for a bit. He didn't join in the rolling--that would be a bit of a tall order for his first night. I worked with Tony first, and we stalemated. He couldn't open my guard, and I couldn't get anything working against him. But I was threatening, and that's leaps above where I used to be. Then I worked with Steve. It was my first time rolling with him, and he has a different style from what I've yet encountered. He got me in side control, and I was able to reverse the position. (Always a confidence booster.) Mel and I trained afterwords. I found a new grip to use in side control with which I can both trap the near-side arm and finish with a bow-and-arrow-esque choke. So that was fun.
Training injured, though, is always an entertaining and challenging. Hell, at this point shaking hands without wincing is a challenge. And most of the night my toe was doing great being buddy-taped to his neighbor, and then two minutes before we finished I felt it go. Of course, nothing to do about it but soldier on.
I'm almost certain I've talked about this before. And even if I haven't, everyone else has. But we're all training through some sort of injury. Zach hasn't seen training since December. Mel's shoulder is tweaked. (And she competed this past weekend, winning two of her divisions.) JD's knee is wonky. Vance is perpetually rotting. Andy falls apart if you blink at him wrong. Kyle's knee seems to be better. John's ribs seem to be OK. And my toe and hand are operating at less than full force. Steve actually returned to training today for the first time since I started, new knee and all.
A friend started his sample period tonight. He's in sports medicine, works with athletes all the time, understands competition. We worked some pretty advanced techniques for his first night--the Camarillo switch, multiple choke defenses, taking the back, two separate passes. Then we trained for a bit. He didn't join in the rolling--that would be a bit of a tall order for his first night. I worked with Tony first, and we stalemated. He couldn't open my guard, and I couldn't get anything working against him. But I was threatening, and that's leaps above where I used to be. Then I worked with Steve. It was my first time rolling with him, and he has a different style from what I've yet encountered. He got me in side control, and I was able to reverse the position. (Always a confidence booster.) Mel and I trained afterwords. I found a new grip to use in side control with which I can both trap the near-side arm and finish with a bow-and-arrow-esque choke. So that was fun.
Training injured, though, is always an entertaining and challenging. Hell, at this point shaking hands without wincing is a challenge. And most of the night my toe was doing great being buddy-taped to his neighbor, and then two minutes before we finished I felt it go. Of course, nothing to do about it but soldier on.
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