Bah!

Frustrating day on the mat today. First, I went to a Christmas party Friday night and had a few to drink, then reported to training Saturday morning. I wasn't hung over or anything but I felt like my strength was totally sapped. Class started out well enough, but then by the time we were ready to start the roll I was spent, and weak as a kitten. On top of that I am starting to feel like my game is stagnating. All my rolls start the same way- I pull guard, then I spend the next 5 minutes fighting from my back. It is like I am choosing the hardest possible way to fight. At a well toned 190lbs I have a nice weight advantage on most of my fellow students but I am squandering that advantage by always fighting off my back. I need to initiate from the top where I can use my size to my advantage. But how? Honestly I have a side control game, but getting there has always been an object of the roll, not the initiative from the knees. I took the question to the forums to see if anyone had any guidance and what I got was the video below. The Scissor sweep- it starts out like it always does when I pull guard (which I am nearly 100% successful in doing) but then there is the turn that puts me up top while my training partner goes to his back... Gotta study this and start trying it on Monday. Gotta add some more dimension to my game pronto.

An Alternative To Pulling Guard When Grappling On The Knees

Tuesday 7:30 class number 98

I usually train on Mondays, but this week I had a planning conflict. The Monday Intermediate class begins at 6:30pm, and trying to commute down to Denver from work I will need to leave directly from the office to make it on time. I didn't plan for that and ended up needing to go home to get my gear bag before departing which meant I would be late. I could have gone to the 8:30pm class, but then I don't get out until 9:30, and not home until after 10:00 then a shower, and not in bed until 11:00 or so where I'll have a hard time slowing my thoughts down enough to actually get some sleep. I decided to postpone until Tuesday 7:30 class and give that a shot.
The Tuesday class is usually taught by Professor Junior, but we have a new Purple Belt Coach  named Darren who was teaching this particular class.  I think Darren is going to be a very good coach. He has an excellent grasp of the techniques and really breaks the motions down well during instruction. Step by step by step I really think this is the best way to teach, and then drill the motions for muscle memory. We finished class with up-down-out drills from the closed guard.
After class I went over to do some stretching, and ended up rolling with a transfer student who came from a Gracie Barra school in Indianapolis. He was close to me in size, and maybe had a slight weight advantage, but all in all it was a good match up. The session was real nice, and even tempered. I appreciated that the guy wasn't spastic and I was able to maneuver a bit for sweeps and side control. I did have some moments- one when I was in mount. I had counted the 3, so I had the sweep points and I was thinking about an attack, but drew a blank. I also got his back at one point, but wasn't able to set my hooks in thereby negating the choke I was looking for. This just goes to prove I need more randori time. I need to be rolling and drilling what I know so that I can feel more natural applying the technique.

Saturday's with Junior

Excellent class on scarf hold escapes Saturday. Professor Junior added another escape to the curriculum- one that involves rotating the hips parallel with the opponents position and hooking their top leg with my bottom leg and then locking in a half guard by hooking my top leg over my bottom foot like a triangle- the idea is to remove their base by stretching them out and then bringing them over the top to reposition myself in side control. the Of course- another escape is simply not to get caught- keep your arms in close to your side so that the scarf hold can't happen and you are looking at a simple headlock escape. We also learned a submission you can use once you have a scarf hold on an opponent- this is basically a triangle applied to the arm you are holding.
When we took the methods to drill I was pretty successful at escaping. I employed each method, sometimes defaulting to an alternate method when a first attempt was unsuccessful. I also found that a lot of this same technique can be adapted to side control escapes.
Rolling at the end of class was a mixed bag of hits and misses. I did get a nice triangle sub, and some great practice escaping side control. I also got in a few good sweeps. There are a lot of new bluebelts in class now since the belt promotion on the 21st, but they are the same guys they were when they were 4-stripes, and i had some decent success rolling with them since I really believe we are performing at similar levels.

I 24 Armbar-Triangle-Armbar Combo