3/3/09 jiu jitsu notes

3/3/09
Rolled with DS and my instructor. DS crushed me. I had absolutely no answer. I couldn’t even figure out what I’d done wrong at first other than spar with the wrong guy ;) He was passing my guard at will, crushing me then collar choking me over and over. I was a beating, pure and simple. I had no offense what so ever and by the end I just decided he’s better and that’s the bottom line.

Rolled my instructor afterwards, which was of course, even more of a mauling, but a very precise one as it always is. He explained to me afterwards that at my size, I will never be able to deal with guys 60 plus pounds bigger if I’m just playing defensive like I’ve been playing. He said I was doing it well in January so hopefully I haven’t peaked already!

So it’s time to really attack again. I seem to come to that realization every few months then somehow forget again. My defense can only get so good but if they’re defending the whole time, maybe then it becomes a matter of time for them. I guess I’ll find out.
He gave me a good sequence about pulling guard from the knees which sounds dumb since I should already know such things but I don’t’.

Basically it involves controlling the collars high up the neck, stepping between his knees, then sitting down while snapping the collar hard down.

From there, we worked on collar and sleeve control then transitioned
1) to basic arm lock
2) if they keep their head in a little, lock over shoulder and armlock again
3) if the get their arm slightly out, leg over head and collar choke with one arm
4) if they try to block that with their other arm push their elbow
5) and if they get past your guard, keep sleeve control and you can end up getting a type of kimura/ umo plata (hard to explain)

he also talked about my half guard game being where I lose confidence. This is definitely true when people get past a certain weight as I can decide to try to whip up and single leg, electric chair, go back to full guard and by the time I done debating that, they’ve long since passed.

Things done well
1) Attitude. I really don’t think I did much of anything right physically, but I’m still inspired and will put these lessons to use in my next training sessions.

Things to work on
1) Half guard. Just need to make a choice, some choice…any choice, other than sitting there.
2) Inverted guard. Where oh where art though?
3) Getting to closed guard.
4) Patience in closed guard.
5) Attacks immediately after closed guard.
6) Actively attacking rather than “defending the pass”