First Competition... That could have gone better...

So let me preface this with the following disclaimer- I really don't think I did that great my first time rolling in competition. It was double elimination- I lost my first match after BADLY botching an attempted osotogari (here is a hint- I got my hips in front of my shoulders and damn near clotheslined myself- it is laughable). All I can say is my nerves got the best of me. My wife took a picture of me sitting on the mat prior to the match, and i look like the weight of the world was on my shoulders... just totally living inside my head.

The second match went better- instead of attempting a take down, I just jumped guard. Then it becomes a comedy of errors as he tries to break my guard and I try to sweep- always in the wrong direction. I also made the mistake of planting my hands on the mat, and when weight shifted I bent back the last two fingers of my hand- basically my pinky knuckle popped out, and my finger bent all the way back to where my finger knuckles touched the back of my hand- I looked at it and it looked like an alien claw for a second, and then my fingers popped back in- apparently nothing torn, or broken- 2 days later I have a nasty bruise across my palm, but that is it.
The match was halted so i could get some tape on it, and then we restarted from position- I then finished the match with a triangle (see my nifty new avatar.)

Here is the video of the second match

Part 1



Part 2






For the third match- I should have scratched- the hand was really bothering me once I had sat for a while, and I couldn't really grip very well with it. I made an attempt, but it was pretty sloppy- I got mounted, then frustrated, and finally choked. No fun, but i did learn several things

1. I need serious work on my takedowns

2. I have an escape from mount I want to try.

3. NEVER plant hands on the mat- if necessary, plant a fist instead.

4. I want to compete again, but next time i will put more focus into my preparation.

Blood Sport Saturday March 26th (delayed entry)

We worked on the triangle from the back lesson I got from Professor Dentinho during my "seminar". Professor Suskin stepped in to teach alongside Professor Junior. I must say we have awesome black belt resources available at Easton. Class went very well, and I was rolling with Brian who is one of our more talented Blue belts- also he is very fast, but I do have a size advantage (disadvantage depending how you look at it) as I have probably a foot of height, and 30 lbs on him.

During the rolling session I was actually putting it together pretty well- side control escapes to north-south mount, knee on belly spin to mount, but then as i was switching base to side control my nose started to bleed- end of rolling for the day. I am pretty sure i remember how it happened- it was during my side control escape wyhen I was pulling my head under and his weight landed on my face...

Note to self- turn head to the side when escaping side control.

Soap

There is an inextricable link between combat and soap. This is not only because author Chuck Palahniuk wrote the "Paper Street Soap Company" into the book Fight Club. the link has to do with the extreme hygiene needs of combat athletes, especially grapplers who spend a lot of time in direct contact with one another, and with the mats. Because of the nature of what we do there is a lot of potential for germ transfer, and infection. Anyone who has seen, or experienced a bout with ringworm or staph knows that the resulting infection can be disgusting, and potentially deadly.

For this reason I have decided to undertake the task of reviewing various anti-bacterial / anti-microbal soaps on the market. This includes, but is not limited to products marketed directly to people who train in combat sports. I am uniquely positioned to undertake this task since I am not only committed to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but I am also committed by way of marriage to a bonafide soap junkie. Having formerly managed the flagship store for an all natural cosmetics company, as well as having been the general manager of a boutique soap company that operated locally here in Denver, Shannon is well qualified to speak regarding the active ingredients in the products. As such she has agreed to assist me with the reviews I will write under the "soap" label. We will also be founding a new stand alone blog aimed directly at this subject where we will actually host the reviews which I will then link back here. Hope you enjoy the new subject matter!

The Complete Gracie Mat Making Process - with Rener Gracie

Making your own Mats... NICE!!!

In The Afternoon We Fight!

I am fortunate to have a pretty flexible boss, and a pretty nice job even though the economy is shit right now.
One of the perks of my job is being allowed to work from home a few days a week. This allows me to participate in BJJ class in the much smaller classes that occur in the afternoon, as I did yesterday.

Class this week is headlock escapes. It is basically a review of some fundamentals, but review is incredibly useful.

One thing I enjoyed a lot was the new warm up routine- flow drills in 3, 2, and 1 minute increments, followed by 3 different technique drills in one minute increments. the nice thing there is that it shakes up my game a little. I am now getting to the point where I have so many options available that I am getting paralyzed making decisions about which technique to use. Flow drilling helps me mix it up a bit more in a low risk environment. It also helps me work on positioning, and execution- which are both critical areas for me.

I'm getting happier with the way training is going. I do wish my wife would get back aboard though. it seems as if she is planning our family events with little regard to my training schedule. My family is very important to me, so I am trying new things- like morning and afternoon training to accommodate.

That guy should have tapped...

At Saturday's Intermediate kimono class I saw a perfect example of where ego, and training can clash with unfortunate effect. I had 2 good rolls with blue belt partners, but when the 3rd 5 minute period started I found myself the odd-man out. I decided to sit and observe another match between one of my preferred training partners, a recent blue belt named Matt, and a second stripe white belt whose name escapes me...
It started out well enough, although Matt was clearly dominating- moving around easily, while his partner was missing escape opportunities. I offered a few suggestions, but seeing that I was not being listened to, quickly switched back to just observing. Then it happened- Matt was knee on belly to the guy, and the 2 Stripe turned up on his side- facing away from Matt, basically giving up his back- I saw Matt bring his right knee up to the guys back, and then step over the other guys head with his left foot- he snaps up the 2 stripes right arm in a kneeling arm bar, using his left thigh as the leverage point- it was a solid submission. I would have tapped. Unfortunately the 2 stripe didn't see it that way. Instead of tapping the 2 stripe tries to fight his way out of it adjusting his shoulders to try and pull his arm loose- but he just makes it worse- in fact he pulled his elbow down to the point where it was locked against Matt's leg, and the leverage for the armbar was better- it ends when the guy basically fights his way into a dislocated elbow. So now i see this guy, writhing in pain on the mat, but I am not overwhelmed with pity. The guy should have tapped.

I'll give you some more back story. I have trained with Matt since before I was allowed to roll. I know he is one of the "safest" partners in the school. I also know he is more of a "thinking" BJJ Player- less of a "natural" if you will. I know this because we are very similar, and I would define myself the same way. I also had an experience with this 2 stripe earlier in the day. the onset of class was an up/down/out exercise with the Fundamentals class. Up/Down/Out is as close as a fundamentals student really gets to "live rolling" or sparring. The drill is a set up- in this case from the closed guard. The "down" player has the "up" player in his closed guard. It is the up players goal to get passed the guard. It is the down players objective to sweep, or submit the up player. There are different variables, sometimes the coaches will tell one of the players to only offer partial resistance say 80%, so that the other position can work the problem, and achieve success. Sometimes it is just a live drill. Once a player has either achieved his objective, or been swept or submitted the drill is over. At that point, regardless of outcome the "down" player gets up and goes to the wall, and the "up" player becomes the down player, a new partner comes off the wall and the drill starts again. I told you all that to tell you this. Earlier in the day I came off the wall to pair up with the 2 stripe that got hurt. As i am approaching to get into position he tells me he has just been unconscious. Apparently he had tried to fight his way out of a choke- now I have been there so I understand that you can get surprised by a choke and try the wrong method of escape. I told him it was best just to tap in those situations. So here I have given him some good advice, but his response indicated to me that he wasn't really listening. I then let him catch his breath, and then passed his guard like it didn't exist. The 2 stripe guy is an older guy- older than my 35 years, he should have listened. It was obvious from what happened later with Matt, that he did not.

After Matt ran and got the guy some ice I made sure to explain about my earlier interaction. If only to provide some peace of mind for him that although the guy got hurt, it was in his own hands to prevent it, and he didn't.

The point I am trying to make here is to TAP when you are training.

The Seminar that became a private lesson...

Professor Luiz Dentinho Eduardo has been running a seminar series at our schools all week, and on Sunday I showed up for a submissions seminar.

I was the only student there for the seminar

What that meant to me was that for my $25.00 Seminar admission I got an hour long private lesson with Prof. Dentinho!

New techniques learned and drilled

passing guard to side control
Side control to the back with a forearm choke
a triangle applied from the back that yields 2 submissions- an arm bar and a triangle choke

a nice new grip from guard that locks up and arm and opens omoplatta, gogoplatta, armbar, and triangle opportunities

and another technique I don't have a name for -(since Professor Dentinho only speaks Portuguese) but it is a choke attack from guard- and it is nasty.

So what I can say is- lucky me! Hopefully the rest of Professor Dentinho's seminar series is better attended.

here is some YouTube of Professor Dentinho in action