BJJ Class 141
Am back on the mats!! My four-week break from the jits sounds like forever, but the time really flew by since I got married during the break. I didn’t get to work out at all during the time, unless you count play-sparring with my dad and playing with a Nintendo Wii as exercise. I did manage to go on a few short hikes in the Catskill mountains and through the streets of New York.
But all that inactivity doesn’t equate to time on the mat. I was a little worried about how my cardio and general performance would be once back on the mats. Thankfully warm-ups were light and I got a prime spot under one of the few ceiling fans while we were in the techniques (and later rolling) part of the class. This is the first week in the year where we’ve had warm-days of 80 in a row, so the fans were a great help in the gi class.
Technique started from standing with the basic jump on your partner to pull guard. From there, we did the double ankle grab sweep straight from the book Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series) by Renzo and Royler Gracie. That book is the first Brazilian Jiu-jitsu book I bought. I haven’t made a review for it, but here’s a link to the book on Amazon, which has reviews: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Theory and Technique (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu series)
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After that we did an open guard sweep where you drop down after pulling guard, sweep your opponent over you, get knee on belly, then finish with an armbar.
Rolling followed next. Four weeks makes a big difference. The guy I rolled with, a high level whitebelt, improved his game a lot. Before, rolling was a tie with his half guard being better. Now, he has developed a butterfly guard game and is able to go from half guard to butterfly, and his overall game has improved. I wish I could improve that much over just four weeks!! Anyway, needless to say, he dominated the roll.
What I did right:
- I didn’t panic when I was being smothered on the bottom
- Managed to do a few reversals and a few guard passes
- Most of the roll was just surviving, and I was able to survive – for the most part. I did tap twice
- My rolling wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be
What I did wrong:
- I generally feel clueless about what to do when in half-guard, top or bottom. My old go-to moves are no longer effective…
- I lost control when I tried to switch from side-control to North-South. Need to learn to do that while keeping the pressure on my opponent
- While drilling techniques, I still forget to control the hand/wrist when doing an armbar
- My half-guard sucks!!
- My side-control escapes need work too
Ok. That’s it for now, I’ve a long to-do list. I will try to post a few more times this week and I’m aiming to train again two days from now.
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April 28th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Congratulations on the wedding!
I agree with you that it feels to be good to be back on the mats as I have been totally out for more than a few weeks myself and just returned last Friday.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:21 am
thanks! Yeah, it’s great to be back isnt’t it?