BJJ Class 132

In BJJ Class, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Etc, Goals |

Early afternoon gi class. Warm-ups were followed with a bunch of cross guard and reverse shrimping drills. Techniques were variations of the same techniques as in the last few classes. We’ve been going on one technique and have been adding variations and counters to it. Today we added variation number 5. From the position, your opponent steps back. You then stand-up, picking up the one leg you have control of and take your opponent down, which was the same drill done as a warm-up back in BJJ Class 113.

Two rounds of rolling followed. My first roll was with a fellow new blue belt. I felt very sloppy but was able to pass guard a few times. I had a few very sloppy sub attempts but he got me with an armbar. I had an americana cinched at one point, but we were right next to the wall. I think he moved towards the wall when he realized I was about to tap him, he was saved by the wall.

Next roll was with a high level white belt that had a good guard. I managed to pass just a few times, with one time being a stack pass against an armbar attempt. Another time, he managed to get a gi choke on me from guard. I managed to get side control thinking that he would loose the choke, but since it was a gi choke, it didn’t matter and I tapped out. I later got an armbar from S-mount. It feels like a long-time since I got any submissions, so it was nice to have one that feels legitimate today (a tap that doesn’t feel legit would be one against a new whitebelt, though I haven’t had those lately either).

What I did right:

Kept a good base and wasn’t swept
Defended a lot of sweep attempts
Tried a variety of passes, but the most successful ones were the stack passes

What I did wrong:

Felt generally sloppy. I did train just once last week though
Didn’t see the gi choke coming
Didn’t roll with anyone bigger

After class a bunch of people were talking about the workouts they do for jiu jitsu. I don’t workout much, maybe once or twice a week, but not regularly and I don’t do anything specific for grappling. I do a small variety of light weight exercises, since I’m overly concerned for my shoulder. I haven’t worked out much since it’s been hard to find the time for it lately with school, looking for work, trying to develop a new website, and a bunch of other time-wasting things I do. Anyway, I should work out regularly.

Also, I feel pretty down about my goal setting – I feel like I’m going about it all wrong. The past few months of classes at the academy have been more structured and techniques have been following a theme, which changes every month or so. Like now, it’s techniques from seated guard with control over one leg. Before I disappeared due to my injury, classes were (or seemed to be) very haphazard, with no ongoing themes or structure. Back then, making my own independent training goals made perfect sense. Now I feel like setting my own goals isn’t helping much. It’s actually kinda contradicting the themes and techniques we’re going through in class. Hope that made sense.

Given how classes are currently going I think this is the best way forward: