The Journey Continues!

I have been continuing to go to Phoenix Martial Arts twice a week (usually Tuesday nights which is No-Gi, and either Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon (I prefer Saturday if I don't have anything going on)). I am enjoying it so much. I feel like there is so much more of a curriculum and a way to track your progress here. Also, there are a few more people around my size, which helps.

Last Saturday (1/30), we did the Omoplata from guard, which is a great little submission. I still struggle a bit with the awkwardness of some of the positions and moves. BJJ is definitely not something that comes naturally to me at all, but in some ways, that is part of the fun of it. We rolled after the instructional portion. I rolled again with Jose' and again we went the full five minutes with neither of us submitting the other. I then rolled with a high school kid named Connor. I caught him with an inverted triangle off north-south and tapped him. It felt good to be the new guy and to pull off a submission.

Saturday (2/6), we did a series relating to the back sweep, also known as the kimura sweep. See the video below for a demo of the technique.



If they defend the kimura sweep, one option is to go for a guillotine choke. See video below:



If they defend the kimura sweep, you can go for the knee-push sweep (see video below):

Class on 01/26/2010

I went to class Tuesday night and it was No-Gi. Had a good time with it. We reviewed the open guard pass to knee-on-belly, which is a fairly simple technique.

We then built on the knee-on-belly to do a pretty nifty armbar from knee-on-belly if they go to defend by turning to their side and pushing your knee, which is a natural response. The video below gives a nice summary of the technique.



After that, we did a funky little move from side control to mount. It was a very awkward technique for me at first. It felt like what I would imagine break-dancing would be like. Having never break-danced, I wouldn't know for sure, but that is what I imagine. Anyway. We drilled that move and then added a nifty little transition to a triangle choke from there. The whole sequence is shown in the video below.



Really good stuff.
Then, rolled with a guy named Jose' and held my own. He pulled guard at the beginning and I made a pretty agressive move to try to pass, which I think surprised him a bit. He then swept me over and got mount. I did a knee-to-elbow move and slipped into half-guard. Tried to make a move around to take his back, which he blocked. He ended up taking my back. I used Saulo Ribeiro's techniques again, "scooping" down and using the handfighting to block his attempts at a choke until I could turn in on him and get back into his guard. It ended up in a mexican standoff and the timer went off.

I then rolled with Richard (instructor that night) and got my head handed to me, but he is a purple belt, so I was not surprised. Then I rolled with his son Mitchell and got my head handed to me again. He is very quick and very strong, but at 17, I guess, we all were. Good times.

The Journey Has Resumed

Well, yesterday morning I crossed the Rubicon and resumed my journey in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I have signed up with Phoenix Martial Arts in Flowery Branch, Georgia. I had my first class yesterday morning, and, let me tell you, I am SORE today. I am sore in weird places, too. My triceps hurt, my shoulders hurt, and I am sore at the bottom of my jaw.

We went over some mount escapes yesterday, including the knee/elbow escape (see video below):



and the UPA/Bridge-Roll escape (see video below):



After spending time drilling the techniques, we went into the open mat time. I rolled with a guy named Nick, who is the biggest (tallest, anyway) guy in the class. He played an open guard game with me (he said the open guard is something he is working on), which was a bit frustrating as he is almost nothing but legs. I tried to dive past his legs and ended up giving up my back. In the past, I have always felt very defeated when giving up my back. However, for Christmas, Julia had gotten me Saulo Ribeiro's JIU-JITSU UNIVERSITY (which is a great book on the art) who lays out a great hand-fighting technique. The key is to keep your chin tucked and keep your hands up in a particular position. The important thing is not to get baited into chasing your opponent's arm. Wait for it to come to you. If they are going to choke you, they will have to come to where you are. If you follow those techniques, you can fight off the choke. I was able to avoid getting choked and finally turn in on him and get back into guard. I ended up getting armbarred, but I felt good about it.

I also rolled with another guy in the class who is going to be testing for his blue belt soon. He caught me in a triangle choke, and I stacked him and drove into him, flipping him over. I slipped out the back, but he caught my arm and armbarred me. Again, I felt good about doing as well as I did, having not trained in months. A good start to the new journey.

It's a New Year

I am really excited and anxious to resume my BJJ training. In the past few months, I have really been focusing on trying to stay in shape, cardio-wise, and increase my upper body strength. I plan to go to class this coming Tuesday night and hit the mats. I have also been reviewing a lot of videos on Youtube and other sites, including Submissions 101 and TrainFightWin.

I have an extremely supportive wife and she got me Saulo Ribeiro's JIU-JITSU UNIVERSITY (which is just an excellent textbook on the art), BJ Penn's book on the closed guard, and the three DVD set by Renzo Gracie (which so far is also quite good).

I ran across an interesting saying in one of the message forums recently. A guy said he doesn't fear a man who knows 1,000 submissons 1 way, he fears a man who knows 1 submission 1,000 ways. I think this is going to be the approach I am going to adopt this time around. I want to focus on a single technique for awhile until I perfect it and can do it in my sleep.

It's gonna be a good year, I think.

The Quest Resumes...

As of January 1, 2010, I will be back in the game with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. I am going to be starting at a different school, Phoenix Martial Arts. The school is further away, but is much more established than the school I had been attending and seems to have much more of an actual curriculum that you can use to chart advancement and such. My physical goals for 2010 are: 1)Run the ING Marathon in March. 2) If I feel that my skills have progressed to the point that would warrant doing so, to enter NAGA Georgia in September. 3) To take my Jiu-Jitsu to the next level and continue to have fun with it.

I have an incredibly supportive wife behind me in all of this. To help me along my way, she got me some great stuff for Christmas: A kettlebell to do some home weight training with; Saulo Ribeiro's JIU-JITSU UNIVERSITY; BJ Penn's Book THE CLOSED GUARD; The Perfect Pushup set.

Strikeforce on CBS picks

Antonio Silva vs. Fabricio Werdum: I will go with Silva on this one

Gegard Mousasi vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou: I will pick Mousasi. Have never been a fan of Sokoudjou.

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Jake Shields (for vacant Strikeforce middleweight title): A lot of people aren't giving Mayhem much of a chance in this fight. I am going to pick Mayhem to pull this one off by submission.

Fedor Emelianenko vs Brett "The Grim" Rogers: Its hard to bet against Fedor. So I will pick Fedor to win this one.

Lesnar Fears Carwin

I suppose it is possible that "Lesnar has been sick (H1N1?) for the past month and unable to train." But why have we not heard about it until now? I think he is postponing the fight because he knows he is biting off a bit more than he can easily chew with Shane Carwin. Brock is just postponing the inevitable.