It’s often said that soldiers will form lifetime bonds with the people they go to battle with. They trust their lives to each other and know that when the shit hits the fan their teammates will be there to back them up. This happens in jiu-jitsu as well. You may not have to trust your life to your teammates, but you sure as hell put your own safety in their hands. This fact forms the bonds that make teammates like extended family. Tonight at the Foundry we had a big class again, the mats were full of familiar faces. Some we haven’t seen in months, some only a few days. There is something about sitting on the mats with friends learning things together, sharing new moves you have been trying out and chatting about life that brings people together.
Sometimes I think humans just naturally take the easy way out. I think it’s an evolutionary trait that was meant to save energy and make us use things that will have a greater chance of success. In Jiu-Jitsu I think this is natural as well. In this case though it can stunt growth and slow progress.
The reason I have been thinking about this is lately my triangles have become better and I find myself snagging people with them a lot more often. This is a good thing, but at the same time it’s hard to pass up a submission when you know you have it and try for something different that you don’t have much success with. This way of thinking opens up your game more and forces you to become better in other areas. I have a feeling this way of thinking is also the difference between a blue belt and purple and higher. I certainly do not think of myself as a person who just goes for the tap, but I find it hard sometimes to think in a catch and release type of mentality. Thinking back now, one of the reasons I have become good with the triangle is because I used to be good with the armbar and have since opened my game up and moved on.
Matt got his brown belt tonight. Quite an achievement. I think I heard him say that he has been doing bjj for over 6 years and grappling for over 20. That is just amazing. His take downs are slick as shit, and he transitions so well for a big guy. He is great to have around on the mat and has so much to give in terms of knowledge. The Foundry is lucky to have him as an asset.
It’s been a few days since our trip out to Cali and it’s been great to get back out on the mats. It’s also nice to be able to roll again full speed without having to worry about them tweaking something before such a big tourney. We have had some really good new guys showing up that are starting to learn some fundamentals and it’s great to see. A few of them got their first stripe last night and you could tell they were happy by the look on their faces. I remember getting my first stripe and how good it felt.
We had a couple guys go to the Naga Worlds right after we got back from the Pan Ams. Shawn did great as always, placing 2nd and 3rd in various divisions. He is a great competitor and it just shows the reward of competing often. I can’t wait to see him in class next time to ask him more about his wins.
The weather is getting nice outside and it’s almost time to start running again. As crazy as it sounds once I get in the swing of running I actually like it a lot. It’s one of the few things that are so simple, just you and the track. No distractions.
Like the good weather changing, the club is going through some changes as well. Noel and Missy are moving to DC in pursuit of a better life (one outside of Farmington Maine.) Justin and John will be taking over the club and keeping the Foundry name going. The location will eventually change and where to is still up in the air. This all makes me sad, but happy for them and I wish them the best of luck.
My game seems to be changing again, I can no longer play De La Riva guard on Justin he is figuring out a way to counter it right off the hand shake. I still play open, but its morphing into a more scissor type guard. One thing I feel, is as my guard has become better my escapes have become worse. This could be very true or it could just be the people who pass my guard are skilled and are getting better every day.
Tomorrow we leave for the Pan Ams. I am ready to film up a storm! Everyones matches are all spread out so we should be able to coach and tape everyone. I am going to be making a big post when we get back to fill everyone in.
PS- Missy won the Budovideos.com contest so they will be paying for her Pan Ams entry fee along with a grab bag of prizes! Grats Missy!
Thursday is coming very soon, and that means the trip to Cali and the Pan Ams is becoming more of a reality. We leave Thurs morning at 530am I believe so we have a full day of travel ahead of us. Friday it looks like Bri and Justin will be competing and Saturday Noel. Sunday should be a day of rest…erm or a bunch of badass black belt matches! Heck yes!
Sure, there are a lot of great side effects that come along with training. Some of which are losing weight, gaining more energy and cardio. Not to mention all of the great mental aspects like confidence and stuff. Sometimes though my body just hurts. I wake up the next day after rolling with some behemoth and my back is killing me and my knees ache and feel stiff. I wonder why the hell do I do this to myself? It’s because I’m addicted that’s why.
last night we had a smaller class then normal show up. I never have a problem with this because it always means more one on one time with a teacher that already is very giving. We spent most of the time drilling some techniques that will come in handy for the people going to the Pan Ams.
The drill I liked the most was the setups for chokes from knee on belly. I find myself here a lot because I ‘m light and feel I have more top pressure here. Also when I’m in side control and the person bridges and bucks I normally pop up to knee on belly anyway. The good thing about these drills is that it made me look at chokes when normally I’m looking for armbars or the mounted triangle from that position.
After that we went on to do some short rounds of about 3 mins each. We were split off into two groups. Each had about 3 people in them and we would cycle in and out each round. I am normally used to 7 min rounds so this was a bit of a shock. One thing I learned is that my setups take more then 3 mins to finish lol. I also noticed that it’s hard to pass a good guard in 3 mins.
Rolling Recap-
I first rolled with Trevor, a really decent blue belt that has trained with some amazing people like Marcelo. He is much taller then me and has a nasty guard. When we first started he went to his guard and I attempted to pass, somewhere in the mix I got caught with a reverse armbar that I was expecting to turn into an Oma Plata. When we restarted I went to my back and played my normal open guard game. I did not finish anything, but I found a small victory in not allowing him to pass my open guard.
Next I rolled with Bri. She tends to give my open guard fits because of her flexibility. I can’t seem to disrupt her base as well. She has adapted to my game very well and seems to pressure forward for the pass. The only success I have in defending this is to wait for her to over extend herself and then push her off balance for a sweep.
Next up was Greg. Now saying Greg is a big boy is an understatement. I’m not sure how much he weighs, but he is very strong and I would say 200+ pounds. I was able to keep him from passing my guard and setup a nasty armbar on him, but could not finish due to how strong his arms are. One mistake I made with Greg that I should have known not to do is go for a triangle. Sure enough as soon as I through it up I remembered that I can’t close my legs around his shoulders.
I finished up with Noel. We have a similar style in certain aspects. We both tend to let the other person make moves and then hang themselves. So when we roll it can almost turn into a flow drill, which is really fun and technical. For someone who weighs less then I do he has really good top pressure, and that’s something I need to work on. I guess that means I would have to work more on my top game…yeeeeeah.
Tonight was another open mat night, and it was a great one lemme tell ya. John, one of our black belts showed up and wanted to roll so that was really awesome. One of the great things about having John roll with me is he’s not only a black belt, but he is a black belt that’s MY SIZE!
After our rolls I asked John what he thought I could work on and he had some great advise. He told me that I was good at flowing with the person and transitioning, but sometimes I need to fight to stay in a position before flowing to another. This makes me impose my game on someone more, instead of just being ok with going to something else.
Rolls Recap-
John pretty much slaughtered me. I did attempt my old mounted triangle attack and ended up rolling to my back for the normal triangle. I had to switch it off to the armbar because he had wedged his hand in to protect his neck so it was clearly not getting blood. Once I changed to the armbar he stacked me correctly and I was not able to pull it off. I then went turtle and he proceeded to break dance on my back lol. I guess that’s what I get for trying that.
Justin and I once again had some good rolls tonight. I noticed my game pretty much all starts from me getting the double sleeve control. So I told him not to let me set that up right from the start. It def seemed to make me work harder and took me out of my element more. I worked some pretty decent knee on belly in some of our rolls, and I was constantly looking for him to under hook my foot so that I could slide up for the mounted triangle.
Kevin has a lot longer frame then me and a few more pounds, so I have to play a totally different game with him then I do people my size. Normally I play open guard and roll off my shoulders a lot, but I find myself playing a tight closed guard game when we roll. I had some success with De La Riva guard tonight with Kevin, but not in the traditional way. I knew his legs are longer then mine and when I would go to that guard he would stand up to clear my foot. When he did this I would sit up and hug his knee and feed his opposite sleeve to my hand. Once I have this grip I would start to turn and sit on my side. This places my shoulder right into the back of his knee. From there all I had to do was drive my weight forward to collapse his leg and attempt taking the back. I did this several times tonight, but none of them ended up with me taking the back lol. I guess that’s something I need to work on.
