Adventures

Training
21

Thursday! A counter to the single leg; an inside trip if he’s already got your leg. The trip puts you into his half guard, which lead to us clearing the half guard. If the half guard isn’t very easily cleared we did a negative pass (at this point I’m wondering if all of these names are just neologisms we use in our academy. Do you guys understand what I’m saying? Feedback por favor).

I tend to get rolled over when I try the negative live. It’s because I don’t keep enough chest pressure, which of course is highly related to my lack of keeping people in side control. It’s one of the fascinating things about BJJ. Everything boils down to just a handful of concepts, and they’re super easy concepts too. The hard part is knowing when and how to apply those concepts.

It’s a lot like that Aristotle quote “Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone’s power and that is not easy.”

Uh, so back from that tangent. If you can’t clear the half guard, and he’s too on his side to do the negative, you can take his back. I love taking the back! It was a super simple movement too.

After class I rolled to just play. We went around 50% and just let things flow for about 45 min. We’d stop and work things out mid roll, and stop and giggle. Those are some of the best rolls.

22

Friday - I did a Cardio kickboxing/ aerobics class. There is nothing MT/Kickboxing like about it, but it’s super fun. Some YTLW, then a little while in the sauna. It feels fantastic to be in there. I always hurt, to quote Irish “the combat forum, where nearly all of us are falling the fuck apart but literally fight on.”

Sat - Taking the back when the guy turtles. How to make space for your hooks. Then we rolled him over his head to take his back.

Nothing Sunday, and I’m all caught up!

Oh, I started twittering, if anyone cares PM me and I’ll tell you who I am.

23

Are people reading this? Should I make more of an effort to keep it updated? I’m two weeks behind.

Going backwards-

Yesterday - No gi at the MMA school. Hip bump sweep, when that doesn’t work, guillotine. Then we did drills where you start in a bad spot and try to get out while they try to submit you.

Monday - Open guard to a triangle, then arm bar. I didn’t get it that well, though I am feeling good about the tension in my open guard. Then I rolled with a blue belt that doesn’t come often, while he got all the positions, he got frustrated with me to the point of swearing. It delighted me. He ended up tapping me, but only because he strong armed me.

Sunday - No gi submissions from mount, arm triangle and a shoulder lock. I rolled with a new kid. He was really strong but knew nothing, and occasionally just surviving isn’t enough, so I smashed him.

Saturday - The mood was off, so we didn’t have actual class. We just rolled a bit, mostly played.

Friday - Off day! I went shopping, bought a dress from the Gap for $6, I was stoked.

Thursday
Pole class, we went over the fireman’s spin again. I need to keep my body parallel to the bar rather than leaning out. Then we did pole sits, much harder than it looks. I’m also having a lot of trouble with my grips, ugh.

BJJ- A toe hold then knee bar from when they’ve got the De la Riva guard. I kept landing on my head, not good!

Ok, that’s as far as I can remember :frowning:

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You have 885 views on this thread…so yeah people are reading it.

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I read!

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[quote]mitchellh wrote:
You have 885 views on this thread…so yeah people are reading it.[/quote]

Views and actual reading, two different things.

I remember what we did last wends, the thread pass, and a guard open.

27

I wish I had the opportunity and time to train BJJ as much as you. Sounds like you are making good progress … keep up the good work.

28

Glad to see John Redcorn again.

29

I really am trying to be better about logging, I spent the weekend at the guy’s house (a few of the BJJ guys all live together) and they had no internet.

Last wends I wasn’t really feeling it. During BJJ I’ve been getting hit in the face a lot, white belt awkwardness at it’s finest, so my face was hurting and I was a bit hormonal. It’s hard to balance the whole tough BJJ thing with being female. Sometimes I just want to be treated like a delicate girl, which doesn’t quite go with smashing kids. Pile some estrogen onto that feeling and nothing good happens. I don’t want to skip class at those times, because I still want to learn stuff, just not be man handled. I’ve tried to suck it up, and that doesn’t work. Not rolling after class feels odd. I think I’ve found my compromise, the biggest available blue belt. Blue belts know enough to not smash, and when the guy’s really big they’re really careful with small people. So, after class on Wends I have a really fun relaxing roll with a big blue belt. It was one of those fun easy silly rolls where you work on how things feel, but don’t worry about anything else.

30

Good idea about rolling with a blue belt. You could always tell your rolling partner that you just want to go at 50% to work on technique on those days. Unless they’re douchey buttholes, they shouldn’t have a problem taking it a little easy. There are 4 or 5 girls in my club and like you, they have their smash 'em up days and their takin it easy days.

Are there any other girls in your class?

31

Life forced me to take a few days off so, Sunday no gi. A hip toss takedown, and then an arm bar for when an omoplata gets blocked. The arm bar was a bit hard to get down. I had trouble moving my hips to be perpendicular to the guy. I’ve done the whole arm bar drill before, and maybe I should do it again.

Then I did another class, at the college Sunday evening. It was everyone there’s second class, so we did headlock defense, and then Kimura from guard. I rolled with a bunch of new girls, and will probably post about my general issues with that after I’ve processed it a bit.

32

[quote]pch2 wrote:
Life forced me to take a few days off so, Sunday no gi. A hip toss takedown, and then an arm bar for when an omoplata gets blocked. The arm bar was a bit hard to get down. I had trouble moving my hips to be perpendicular to the guy. I’ve done the whole arm bar drill before, and maybe I should do it again.

Then I did another class, at the college Sunday evening. It was everyone there’s second class, so we did headlock defense, and then Kimura from guard. I rolled with a bunch of new girls, and will probably post about my general issues with that after I’ve processed it a bit. [/quote]

Maybe new girls will be good thing and give you the break that you need.

33

I was sick this week and since no one else in class wants it, no rolling this week. Mostly lying in bed an sleeping.

[quote]Steve-O-68 wrote:
Good idea about rolling with a blue belt. You could always tell your rolling partner that you just want to go at 50% to work on technique on those days. Unless they’re douchey buttholes, they shouldn’t have a problem taking it a little easy. There are 4 or 5 girls in my club and like you, they have their smash 'em up days and their takin it easy days.

Are there any other girls in your class? [/quote]

Rolling at not 100% is a skill in itself, lol. It’s easy to start at 25% but then when you’re less experienced it always ends up at 100%. The blue belts can keep it at 25% for the most part, but it never works with fellow white belts.

There’s one other girl, but she only comes sporadically.

34

No BJJ this weekend, but I did Rachel Cosgrove’s 45min workout from the FA site today ( http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_45_minute_workout ), and fuck me. I can roll for 45 min, but lifting for 45 min is completely different. I hurt.

I’m going to try to do complexes more often. They’re short so I can’t bitch about time, just an unwillingness to suck it up, which I can deal with.

Warm Up

Squat-to-stands: 10 reps
Alternating lunges with overhead reach: 10 reps per side
Alternating lateral lunges: 10 reps per side
Glute bridges: 10 reps per side
Lateral band walk: 10 reps each way

Exercises
1A) Prone Cobra Complete 2 reps of 60 seconds each

2A) BB Squat 75 2x6 - I was supposed to do BB Split Squat, but it felt really really wrong, and seeing as I can’t remember the last time I squatted, I figured the substitution was fine.
2B) (-ve) Chin Up 2x6

3A) Deadlift 95 2x15
3B) Dumbbell Push Press 15 2x15
3C) Front Squat 25 2x15
3D) Bent rows 15 2x 15 - I couldn’t figure out how to do inverted rows.

Body weight squats: 20 reps
Dynamic alternating lunges: 20 reps (10 per leg)
Switching lunge jumps: 20 reps (10 per leg)
Jump Squats: 20 reps

35

Monday! Single legs! I’ve become a stereotypical BJJ girl, and have no takedowns. I’m just not comfortable on the feet. I know it means I should work it more, but on the list of things I should work it’s low. Regardless of the situation I need to keep my head up. That weird wrestler position of head up, back slouched is not at all natural to me. We took them down into side control, so then we did escapes from side control. That way drilling went back and forth really well. I’m feeling pretty comfortable with escaping side control. I just need to remember to shrimp out enough to have enough room to swing back into full guard. I keep ending up with one butterfly hook, and making it more complicated then it has to be.

36

Tuesday! No gi at the MMA school. Butterfly guard sweeps. I don’t really play butterfly guard. I usually push them away and stand up. Since I’ve been doing more no gi lately I’ve been thinking about it more often. It’s kinda scary to pull someone’s weight on top of you. Then we did a variation where they brace, and you take their back. The angle was a little hard to get down, so I want to drill it with someone heavier (I was with their girl, she’s only 140 and has no base). Then we rolled.

Then I rolled with the girl. She’s still doing her fight, and I still don’t think she’s ready. I told coach and he talked to her, but since he’s not her primary I think it didn’t take. I asked her how hard she wanted me to go since she’s fighting soon and she went with 100%. So, I smashed her, then told her if she’s still going to fight, she needs to spend more time on the ground. It may not have been my place, but it felt right at the time. Better to be smashed on the mats then in the cage.

37

Wends cross chokes. This is my favorite attack from both guard and mount. It feels pretty natural. Then we did the arm bar to use when they defend the choke. From closed guard it’s a catch arm bar and I’m not so good at catch moves. I prefer to know I have control over the situation before I go for a submission. The arm bar from mount on the other hand is nice and controlled. I need to work on controlling their weight better before I sit to it. I have it down while drilling, but while rolling I tend to rush it.

Then we played a the guard passing game (guy on top passes, on bottom anything). I managed to almost pass one blue belt, but it got scrambly and I’m not that good in those situations. I still felt good about it. Then we did 2 gi 5 min rounds and 2 no gi 5 min rounds.

38

300×508 45.3 KB

Thursday! De la Riva guard.

Currently, as soon as I feel and tension on my guard I tend to open and create space usually trying to go to some form of spider guard. What’s been happening though is that I get flipped and end up in turtle a lot.

From there if I don’t want to turtle, the other option is inverted guard, but in all honesty, I don’t want my BJJ to be that sporty. I know it exists and (technically) know how to pass it, but I have no desire to play it. So, I need some other guards in my rotation that create space, and the De la Riva guard fits the bill, and you can take the back from it!

We did a sweep that took them over your head and into mount (scary!). Then one that transitioned into a single leg, which was nice because I like being able to get to my knees, and the taking the back one. It’s really remarkable how light leverage can make someone. When taking their back you lift them up and into the air and if you do it right, it takes no strength.

39

Friday I did the Cosgrove complex from Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION . I tried the FA one, but felt like I had to modify it too much. I can’t do too much weight but I can do all the motions as specified.

Start with 6 reps each then pyramid down to 1 each.

Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Good Morning

40

[quote]pch2 wrote:
Friday I did the Cosgrove complex from Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION . I tried the FA one, but felt like I had to modify it too much. I can’t do too much weight but I can do all the motions as specified.

Start with 6 reps each then pyramid down to 1 each.

Deadlift
Romanian Deadlift
Bentover Row
Power Clean
Front Squat
Push Press
Back Squat
Good Morning[/quote]

I have a love-hate relationship with complexes. Love what they do for you in terms of conditioning but hate them when I’m in the middle of doing them because, well, they’re hard :slight_smile: