BJJ Class 121
Skipped a week of jiuj-jitsu cause of thanksgiving weekend – I had a great weekend, hope you did too. I greatly felt the impact of the short break on my conditioning, I gassed out rather quickly.
Class started out with the double-leg setup warm-ups. Technique was a closed-guard pass. Grab lapels and put arms on armpits for defense, do the slide backwards thing with the knees to open the guard. Underhook one leg and step over with both legs, being sure to trap the other leg with your foot. Complete pass to side control.
After that we briefly did a cool but fancy half-guard reversal. It was cool, but I think a bit too fancy for me. I think I need to work on my basic stuff more before trying for stuff like that.
I rolled with a higher level white belt that outweighed me. I really should roll with people heavier and bigger than me more often. The problem is, there aren’t that many of them. Which is really surprising since I don’t consider myself big at all at 5’9.5″ and 200 lbs. I’m overweight I know, but I won’t be able to really work on that since the holidays are coming up.
So anyway, I rolled with someone bigger and heavier than me. Started out on top and was working on passing. I had to work on it, but eventually I managed to pass. I’m not so sure how, but I later got mount or half-guard and as he defended I went for a knee bar. I went down on my side and my arm was grabbed, stopping me from completing the sub. He managed to get top position and it was downhill from there. I’m just not used to the weight. Even when I managed to regain full guard, I couldn’t do much. We switched and I played top again, but I was gassed and couldn’t do much anymore. Needless to say, I was schooled.
I rolled next with a smaller high-level white belt. He was working his guard and I was gassed on top. I couldn’t pass since I was gassed but managed to defend all sweep and sub attempts. After a bit we switched and I played guard. I got two sweeps in. Mount is a great place to rest. After each sweep and mount, I’d make him reverse me so we could start in my guard again. Then time was up.
What I did wrong:
What really stands out was that I just couldn’t cope with the weight difference, which was 20 pounds. Not too many heavier, bigger people in the academy, but I should seek them out so I get used to it. I did make other mistakes, but I think they were mostly due or started with the weight difference. When passing, I was having difficulty with my opponents posting on my head to stop me from moving forward. I have to work on removing/avoiding that. Also I generally need to work on my passes. It’s a new month, time to evaluate my goals. I also need work on going for an armbar or triangle against a passing opponent – I just can’t seem to get it.
What I did right:
Just a few things. I think I did a good job of keeping my base when playing top. I also did two good scissor sweeps on the smaller guy, who later told me he thought he had a good base. I was also able to capitalize on the opportunity to do a guard pass on the big guy. Can’t remember what the pass is called, but it’s usually the first guard pass everyone learns where a leg is underhooked with an arm that reaches for the lapel.
After this class, I drilled some half-guard stuff with a blue belt. Then I spent the rest of the hour after working on the techniques for the belt test.
Overall a good class.
In BJJ Class 119, my shoulder started to hurt as it was pulled a few times and in this class it was continuing to hurt and bothered me. I need to take it easy with the arm and really be sure that no one pulls on it or tries to throw me with it. In light of that, I should prolly just kiss away any future opportunities to compete in the future. I don’t think I could seriously expect people in a tournament to not attack or throw me with that arm. Danged arm.
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