BJJBlogs.com

Age and BJJ

Dev — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:30:00 +0000

My buddy Mike turned me on to a very interesting thread on a forum. It's worth a read HERE.

Essentially the concept is that we all get older, and there is a tipping point in terms of BJJ performance. While I think there's no doubt our bodies decline in performance in all aspects as we age, there's some discussion in the thread that I kind of disagree with, and I wanted to talk about some of it here.

First, Big Fatso says:
"Based on anecdotal evidence, it seems for MMA once in your 30's, you are at the twilight of your career (save for a few outliers). It seems reasonable that the shelf-life of a pure BJJ player would be longer if simply based on the sport being less traumatic on the body than full fledged MMA. Is this true?"

My response:
I'm 34. I have been doing this for just over a year. Do I think I could compete with the young guys in the adult division? Dunno. I tried once, as a white belt. I never felt overpowered, just got out-techniqued. Am I going to try it again? Probably, if for no other reason than I'm sitting here writing that I should be able to. :) Is there a difference between adult and master classes? As a blue belt, I think so. I've talked about it before, but it's more in maturity and expectations than it is in a decisive physical disadvantage.

I don't have the experience to talk about 34-year-old black belts hanging with 20-year-olds, but what I do know from a physical standpoint is that muscle maturity in a lot of cases can overcome younger, more explosive power with stability. Assuming for all intents that technique is as equal as it's going to get, I think there's legitimate argument on both sides. Take Randy Couture from a couple years ago. Even if you include getting punched in the face, here's a 40-year-old (plus) guy who's in WAY better shape than most of the 20 year olds he's fighting (and beating). I definitely think getting pounded on takes its toll.

Can a 35-year-old compete with 20-year-olds in BJJ at the black belt level? At face value debatable, but there will always be exceptions. Saulo Ribeiro can and did... (and really, I could put any video from the last several years in here, as he won gold in the 2008 World No Gi, and competed in the American Nationals and ADCC).

But Saulo retired, you say? Yes, he did. At what point is enough enough? Can he still compete? Probably. He's got a zillion medals and wants to concentrate on the next generation. Is that so wrong?

But what about a 50 year old? 60? To me, this is where the magic of jiu jitsu happens. A 50-year-old black belt has generally been a black belt for a while. And if he hasn't, it's because he WANTED it as a 50-year-old. Either way, there's something significant going on.

What I do know is that our Coach is above 50, but he can mop the mat with anyone I know (a small pool, sure, but growing), including a young, strong, dynamic brown belt and a whole bunch of gigantic, young purples at our school. Sure, he competes as a senior (and wins everything he enters), but could he compete with the adults? Dunno. I'd like to believe in the mythical, invincible sensei, and until someone proves me wrong, I plan on it. :)

Next, Shen says:
"In BJJ, eventually, the elite BJJ player, the multiple-time World Champion will get to a place where he can't hang with an average blue or white belt."

My response:
This is where I ABSOLUTELY disagree. Sure, our bodies break down, but after watching Grand Master Mansor, a 70-some-odd year old guy, give a seminar and demonstrate the movements himself, I truly believe that he could not only hold his own against a bunch of blue belts, but that his decades of experience would allow him to defend himself and wait for the opportunity to move offensively against anyone on the mat at the time. Does he need the same explosive power and speed that he had when he was 20? Not at all. It's the same principle as never being able to beat up your dad - you have youth and vigor, but wisdom will win every time. But I watched that crazy old guy put himself in an armbar and defend it with technique, not strength, against a black belt practitioner. Couldn't make it up.

Next, groundfighter2000 says:
"I think you have to be pretty damn old, be in poor physical condition, starting to have arthritis and mobility problems and stuff, im not sure i completely agree, but dunno maybe mid 60s early 70s is where that would start. I dunno"

My response:
Simple fact: If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to hang. Duh. On the other hand, these patriarchs of the sport, the guys that invented the Gracie Diet and Ginastica Natural and all of these phenomena we all cling to, they are the ones that disprove the idea that getting old means you are less capable on the mat. They stretch, and train, and keep themselves healthy and calm, and continue to learn this sport. Just because a guy can't do 50 pullups in the Crossfit gym doesn't mean he's any less effective on the mat.

In the end, yes, I admit it, we all slow down. Our bones become frail and our muscles degrade, and I suppose I have to admit that yes, a 100-year-old jiu jitsu practicioner probably couldn't hold his/her own with a strong, competent 20-year-old. But you know what? It wouldn't surprise me if he could, either. I'll wait for it on youtube. :)

For those of you interested, Shawn has a blog dedicated to the above-30 amateur side of this sport called The Masters Division. Super cool site.

Night Of Relaxation And Lateral Drops

Dev — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:44:00 +0000

Quick plug: Looks like Zeus BJJ is going to try to get a team together to go to Truckee, CA for the Lake Tahoe Open Team Challenge. Very cool idea, with 10-person teams. Every team has to have a white, a blue, and a kid, and you get points for having a brown or black, or a female competitor. Best part is everyone is guaranteed 2 fights (double elimination), so it's a fantastic experience builder. I did the Lake Tahoe Classic last year, and it was put on by the same people, a Charles Gracie affiliate out of Truckee. Hopefully we can solidify things, but it should be a fun event, and having the team competition really adds a flavor to it.
------------
Last night we went over the rear lateral drop. We don't do takedowns too often in class, mainly because even though the mat area is pretty big, 30 people is just a lot of movement to contend with, and one of my personal pet peeves is getting hit in the head (which is why I do BJJ instead of anything more angry).

Anyway, on those occasions we have a little room, Coach generally likes to mix it up with some standup work. A lateral drop is a takedown (originating from wrestling, I think) in which you pull your opponent toward you at the same time as dropping, turning, and blocking one of his feet so he can't stop from falling. The rear lateral drop is generally set up when you've got a grip around your opponent's waist, or at least one underhook from the front. You can google it, but there's a crapload of stuff on youtube. Nothing from the rear, but here's a good example of a front lateral drop.

In the video, of course, it looks violent as hell, and from the front there are some more angles and reactions to contend with. We set up the rear drop from a couple different openings, but one of them is if your opponent is turtled with you on top, and he just stands up. Your arms circle his waist, and you offset slightly to one side. From there it's pretty simple, and you can control the rate of fall: drop down at the same time as putting your far foot on the back of his far heel, keeping your knee straight.

It is obviously much easier to work from the back than from the front, but the principles are the same - a counterintuitive pull while getting out of the way. Here's another good one. Really, the guy in back could have executed a rear drop if he could stop the guy in front from moving forward.

Sparring turned out to be just what I needed last night - for probably the first time I was completely relaxed all night. To be fair, I rolled with mostly white belts who called me out :) or much smaller blue belts like our resident Ezekiel expert Levi, but the flow was just there.

Started in my guard a lot, which is now my preferred place to be. After all of my ruminating and postulating and whatnot, I'm just a guard-puller for now. But my reasoning is that I've got a couple decent sweeps, and at the end of the day, if I can control you and sweep you with a higher success rate than trying to take you down, why wouldn't I? 2 points is 2 points, after all...

With most of the sparring sessions with whites, I try to let my opponent work toward something. If they're doing solid technique, I'll resist but mostly let them keep going. I'll throw different reactions at them - wrapping up from closed guard, or switching to a different open guard depending on how comfortable they seem. If they're new I'll generally keep the silly stuff to a minimum, but if they've been around a bit I try to throw in some spider guard, or inverted guard, or a DLR hook and wait to see how they react to it. I guess my thought is you can't learn it if you've never seen it. I'm not trying to out-sexy them, I want to see what the thought process is to get past someone's leg wrapped around their arm.

Also went with white belt Mike, who's going to enter the next in-house tournament in March. He's a big, powerful guy who's got me by probably 30 pounds, and his technique is really coming along, so as soon as he pushed into me I knew it was going to be some work. Played from my guard for most of it to give him a feel for trying to pass some different styles, guard to half guard and back to full, swept him a couple times to work his mount escapes. He'll do great.

Lastly, rolled with a new guy who just got here from Tennessee - he earned a higher belt at a small school there, and was wearing a borrowed gi last night with a white belt, so Coach gave me a heads up. :) Best part for me was that I executed the same plan (which I suppose could have backfired with a higher belt, but hell with it) - I let him work some attacks and movements to see where he was going, then countered and moved on. Worked some sweeps of my own, and all in all felt really good both from my guard defensively and offensively, as well as defensively from the top - never felt in danger even though he was constantly moving and attacking from his guard. Just a good roll, and he's really solid.

So, a good night.

NEW DAYTIME CLASSES FOR MARCH !

eddie kone — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:49:00 +0000

The ULTIMATE FITNESS CENTRE & EKBJJ are pleased to announce new Daytime classes for march 2010.
We will now be running lunchtime BJJ & THAI-BOXING classes daily from the first week in march as well as new evening classes running every evening.

Also Kids classes will be back from the beginning of march too.

Please stay posted or email us for more news.

A Different Perspective

Dev — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:15:00 +0000

Friday's practice was, from my perspective, one of the best ones we've done. My perspective was skewed, however, by the fact that I wasn't rolling or drilling with the normal rogues' gallery of delinquents. Instead, I was given a completely different perspective on this sport and its application. And while I have a HUGE respect for girls like Georgette and Allie (among many others), who not only practice and compete but blog about their experiences and fears of being the smallest person on the mat by 50 pounds, I gained a 2nd-person view of it Friday, which increased my respect for them a hundred times.

Ordinarily, we have between 20 and 35 people on the mat, including 2 or 3 girls, depending on the night. We don't have any Lana Stefanac-sized girls, so they usually end up rolling with each other and a couple of the smaller guys. Fridays are often slightly smaller, and we had about 20 people, all guys, this past Friday. Guys are smelly, sweaty, and loud, and even for a fairly type-a male personality, I think it's a little intimidating walking on the mat for the first time.

This tiny little girl showed up for class, probably thinking - hoping - that there'd be someone with 2 X chromosomes to roll with. Instead, all she saw was sweaty, hairy guys. In truth, I don't know if she was there for the sport, or for self defense, or because she thought it was something else. But to her credit, she stayed.

Coach paired me up with her for drilling - I think it was due in large part to the fact that he knows I don't actually know any submissions, and therefore couldn't really injure her aside from maybe crushing her with my awesomeness... :)

Anyway, the practice was about the concept and practice of the hip escape. I am totally digging these conceptual practices. First, we drilled the movement, then applied it with your partner jumping to side control but posturing up, then with his hands on the mat, then with his elbows on the mat, basically creating more and more resistance from the side, to demonstrate the effectiveness of moving your hips away to create space, to get your legs back between you.

With this girl, I tried to go a little slower. It seemed like she felt really out of place, and really uncomfortable with the idea of a bigger, hairy, sweaty (albeit ruggedly handsome - ha!) guy holding her down. I think I may speak for most guys in jiu jitsu when I say I was probably just as scared as she was.

And here's why I say that. Girls in jiu jitsu are rare. Not as rare as seeing a basselope, for sure, but rare enough. I think the girls we've got in class are fantastic, and our girls are tough, and strong, and determined, and they're not afraid to roll with anyone - in fact, Cathy about kicked my ass on Wednesday. But they KNOW us, and we know them. I know the level I need to roll at to go with Cathy, or Courtney, or Rachelle. New girls (moreso than new boys, IMHO) are an unknown quantity, and as much as I tried to look past it and just get on with the drills, I found myself asking why she was there.

Not because she didn't belong. Quite the opposite - I WANTED her to be there. I wanted her to succeed, to meet the other girls, the ones who can show her how to be successful when the next smallest person is 180 lbs. So as much as I think I know my own strength, I was VERY aware of the fact that my level of intensity - or possibly the lack thereof - could determine whether or not she came back on Monday. Was I being too rough? Was I not being rough enough? I need more information! :) And in the interest of full disclosure (and completely without provocation), I found myself concerned that she might have come to class for the self defense aspect due to something that already happened, in which case being physically overpowering from the outset would be more than a little counterproductive. Is that wrong to worry about? Should I have just treated her like a guy? I don't think so, and I didn't.

I feel like most people who wander into jiu jitsu class either watch UFC, or they've seen some form of it through another martial art - it just doesn't seem like much of an accident anymore. I could be wrong (it's been known to happen). But she was timid, uncomfortable, and dammit, she persevered.

We drilled hip escapes - I showed her a couple, but mostly had her doing the movement. It took a couple tries, but she started really getting the idea of moving herself as opposed to moving me, and swiveled her upper body away really effectively. She had the same difficulties as new guys with remembering which leg to post, and which one to bring in, because it's such a new movement from normal, everyday stuff. But she did it, even though it was really obvious that she was uncomfortable with a big guy pretending to hold her down. She got the hip movement, the leg in to defend, the upper body movement, and the feet on the hips.

We talked through, and applied, the concept of guard as a defensive position, and the ability to hold and control your opponent with your legs, and then came back to why the hip escape is such a vital part of that. And after drilling, we spent the first 5 minutes of sparring going over the positions, as well as watching some other spars going on so she could see them in application.

For the rest of practice, Coach paired her with some other guys to work with her on positioning and concepts. Nick is one of the Tang Soo Do black belt instructors at the school, so he's got the teaching thing down, and Ron is one of our smaller guys, so ends up being paired a lot with the girls, and they did a great job with her - much better than me, I'm sure.

At the end of it, this girl still looked pretty intimidated, but she had a smile on her face. And she was still there, which to me was a moral victory. I got stuck (as I usually do) chatting after practice, and wasn't able to talk to her before she took off, but I really hope she comes back on Monday. Obviously, we all want new people to come to practice just in general, but I just felt really bad that there weren't any other girls who could give her the encouragement that comes with overcoming those same fears.

So for you girls out there, I hope I did the right thing. I hope I didn't push a potential student away because I was too scared of being "that guy" at practice, or by BEING "that guy." We'll find out at practice, I suppose. I hope she comes back.

Good vibes

Jadon Ortlepp — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:06:00 +0000

Ive been stuffing my face with pizza and takeaway the last 2 weeks, felt abit shit at training (an incentive to eat well!)but was mystified at somehow losing weight. Am now 67kg. Ive noticed two things of interest recently:

Been using the cross choke from guard and mount a huge amount, practically every single roll multiple times and have been getting it quite tight. My hands are feeling pretty strong, hopefully if I can get some more climbing wall practise itll get even better.

The other note of interest is the psychological aspect. I was successfull a few times and some people gave me some compliments and it gave me a massive unconscious boost to carry on with that tactic. Which has led to me improving it through practise and now forms a big part of my arsenal. All down to positive reinforcement really. So give a training partner a compliment on something they did well and see what effect it has. Ive made it a habit of always trying to give a compliment on something they did well after every roll. You run the risk of sounding condescending but the good vibes are worth it I think as these are the things you draw on when you are at a low point.

My instructer doesnt give compliments very often but when he does they hold more gravity. I very specifically remember the first time I got to roll fully, Id been waiting for a long time and was very determined. Landed a triangle quickly on a larger opponent. After the roll my instructer told me I did well, very simple and understated but I still carry that with me.

We put alot of effort into taking care of our physical health so that we can train but the mental aspects are just as important. If you attack every less experienced partner with the aim of submitting them as often and effortlessly as possible then you are gonna kill their confidence, which may hurt their ability and even their enjoyment of the art. Which is unforgivable.

Let me know if you see any interesting effects after giving someone some positive feedback.

(http://www.jamesjean.com/)

EDDIE KONE SEMINAR UPDATE.

eddie kone — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:12:00 +0000

Head instructor and Royler Gracie Black Eddie Kone will be heading to

EKBJJ BJJ NORTH
On Febuary 28th to teach a 3 hr seminar / focus group covering all aspects of Gracie Jiu Jitsu.
Everyone welcome no matter what style or school you belong to.

Dtae : Febuary 28th 2010

Time: 13:00

UNIT 1
THE CROFTS
QUARRY HILL
ROTHERHAM
S60 2DN

for further info contact

Mark(07939972758)
John(07716222630)

March 2010
Date TBC
Eddie Kone will be Teaching seminars in
Romania , Ireland, Paris.

stay posted for more details and new academy locations opening.

I Am A Dominant Top Fighter

Dev — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:12:00 +0000

One of Coach's favorite sayings is "I am a dominant top fighter." It's equal parts self-motivation and a restatement of your goal in a fight, not to mention it echoes the idea of his other favorite saying: "If you're on the bottom, get on top. If you're on top, stay on top."

Last night was an interesting night for me - we did what I'd call the "no technique" technique, which is to say that we didn't work a sweep, pass, or submission at all. Instead, we concentrated on retaining mount.

I thought it was fantastic, if my opinion matters. I am a positional fighter, plain and simple - I've never claimed to be anything but that. I like to think my mount isn't too bad, and I successfully held a guy there for most of our match in the Abu Dhabi Qualifier last month.

I've worked very hard on making sure my base is good, and that I'm protected while I'm there, mainly because I know exactly what I would do if I was on the bottom (which I've been more times than I prefer). What we worked last night was the discussion and application of all of those principles.

At any rate, I am also very much a "concept" guy versus the direct applier of a single technique (my current concept is ensuring that my legs stay between me and my opponent from the bottom), and the "concepts from mount" was right up my alley. I think for the newer guys our class last night was just what they needed - how to act and react to retain a position, nothing more.

Coach talked about the goal of the guy on the bottom, which is to get out from under the mount. He can generally do that in two ways - roll WITH you, or roll UNDER you. Most of the concepts we drilled involved him trying to roll WITH you (such as the oopa-and-roll).

S Mount - the first thing we worked was moving from mount to S Mount as your opponent turns underneath you - really getting the heel into his stomach and your knee behind his head. We didn't worry too much about the arms for now, just practiced the idea of putting your weight on your hands to make your hips light.

Arm base - then we talked about arm position from regular mount - ordinarily you want wide arms to keep from rolling side to side. You can stabilize even more against a roll by posting your arm out on that side and cross-facing with the other arm: this anchors you to your opponent instead of just fighting him strength-for-strength.

Leg hooks - next we talked about making sure you hook the legs, and again using your opposite side hook as an anchor - when he rolls to your left, your RIGHT hook becomes the important one. Your left knee can post out to the left to complement your left arm post. Another option we didn't talk about (because we were focusing on the concepts, not the techniques) is the grapevine - getting your leg hooks all the way in and extending your opponent's legs to take away his ability to lift his hips.

Then we moved to talk about your opponent rolling UNDER you - if he turns to the side, you S Mount. But if he keeps going, you let him keep going, and concentrate on getting your leg hooks from his back. Your S Mount has the added benefit of already having one hook in, so as he goes belly-down, your priority is stabilizing your position by shooting your other leg in. Typically the timing is right when he's bringing the bottom leg up underneath him - it creates an opening at his hip that is about the same size as your foot, conveniently enough.

Once you've got hooks, use the same idea of holding your weight with your hands to scoot your hips back so you're chest-to-back on him. Establish your harness grip (one under, one over), and you're good to go.

"Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast"

One of the common phrases we used to use when I was in some training a while back was "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." We were working underwater swimming drills, and the idea is that you've got a finite amount of time to work when holding your breath. Every movement you make burns energy, which creates carbon dioxide, which makes you feel like you need air. Therefore, the less movement you make, the longer you can hold your breath - it's all about efficiency.

Coach imparted the same concept last night in terms of efficient movement. When learning a technique, you can either move slowly, making sure you apply your arms and legs appropriately, and working through the movement, or you can get the general idea and go to full speed, which brings momentum into play. At some point as you continue to practice and apply the technique, precision will catch up with explosiveness and you'll have your dynamite technique. Coach's point was that slow technique, being more efficient, will translate easier to fast technique. Fast bullshit takes a little while longer to translate into fast technique.

Sparring went pretty well - I went with Chris, one of our newer white belts, and in like 9 practices he's come along amazingly. He's got a great base, and is really conscious of hand placement when coming forward - he's constantly thinking about attacks. I'm still working on that idea.

Then went with purple belt John T. Surprisingly, he pushed into my guard (he ALWAYS pulls guard, damn him), and I played the whole thing from the bottom. My success came from the fact that I stayed relaxed the entire time. He never passed, although I couldn't execute ANY of my sweeps. It's not like I have some tricky setups or anything, so it's not all that depressing that he based out against my obvious attacks. But the fact that I kept him there was really a confidence booster.

Next got to roll with my buddy blue, Big John H. He's got me by probably 30 lbs, but we usually have some battles on the mat. Last night was no different, although I had to resort to my "go to" sweep to knock him over. Kept my guard up well, he stuffed one leg a couple times, and from half guard worked facing my feet, something that gives me fits. I've only got one defense against that aside from crying and peeing on myself. But I survived that and rocked up into a 93 Scissors Sweep (in the middle of the post) and took him over right at the end of the spar.

Last spar was with brown belt Dylan, and I immediately asked him for help against the foot-facing half guard pass. He showed me a couple solid techniques that both play right into my gave, so I'm going to really start working those by having some guys start from half guard and asking them to play it forward. We'll see how that goes. :)

MMA Faestro

Paul — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:59:13 +0000

It seems every day there is a new source for online training. Happily, most of them are very good. I just wanted to point out the site that Dave teaches on, MMA Faestro. It has tons of his lessons on Judo, MMA, and BJJ, so if you ever wanted to train with Dave, this is as good as it gets.

Also there are other fantastic coaches like Paul Schreiner of Kaijin MMA, Kenny Florian, Dan Camarillo, Jon Fitch, Frankie Edgar, Mark DellaGrotte, Flavio Canto and more. If you are looking for wrestling, mma, bjj, striking, whatever - this is a fantastic source for a low monthly charge.

Since I have been injured I find myself looking over the site more and more to keep my head in the game.

See you on the mat!

Paul

In Australia next three weeks :)

Christian Graugart — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:04:00 +0000

I have just arrived in Sydney, Australia and will travel around here and in Fiji for the next three weeks. Brought my cup and mouthpiece so hopefully I can drop by a gym somewhere for some grappling along the way. No real plans just yet for where to go when, but will be in Sydney and Brisbane for sure, so if any of you out there are training these places, let me know and I'll come by for some rolling! Didn't bring a gi though.

Chokes and Chokes and Chokes…..

jiujitsu365 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:17:32 +0000

Last Friday we had a mini-seminar in how to choke from the guard. Prof. Smiley taught this class and it was loaded with tweaks we could use for our chokes. We worked on the Guillotine, front choke, a choke when someone is in Turtle and a choke you should only do in an emergency. I also learned on Friday that it is now legal to perform windpipe chokes in certain BJJ tournaments. I will stick to the blood (carotid) chokes though.

It was funny though, when he he mentioned windpipe chokes, Joe pointed at me and laughter erupted. My favorite choke is the Knuckle choke and as far as I know its a blood choke. I have tried to tap everyone that I could mount with that choke so I hope I am not that guy in class who’s a jerk and doesn’t know it.

The last choke Prof. taught us was what to do when you have someone in your guard and they are defending the cross collar choke.

You shake em.’ ————— You shake them and shake them until their head rises up and then you sink in the choke. I had it performed on me and it is disorienting and confusing when it is happening. Prof told us to be wary of applying such a move in a tournament and that we might want to cover up once we let the person go just in case they decide to punch you. I just decided to file it under Self Defense move or if for some reason I am in a championship match or something.

I’ll be thinking, “Where’s my money?” the entire time I doing it.

Anyway!

During the rolling session I got to roll with my White Belt Nemesis Joe (I am blue belt for new readers). Joe hasn’t been around for a couple of months so I wanted to take advantage of him before he could get his sea legs back. [On a side note, when I first rolled with Joe about a year ago I was able to take him down, put him in side control, then mount and apply my knuckle choke. But Joe turned out to be one of those guys who would come every day and when I rolled with him a month or so later he was a completely different player.]

I was able to achieve over-wraps and secure a take down by placing my left foot on his left heel and pulling him down backwards. I was able to achieve side control and then mount. When he tried to upa I was able to grapevine one of his legs, which he uses all the time by the way. We he was able to get out of mount I didn’t remain in his guard. I stood up. Since I’ve learned a few more guard passes I decided to play the outside game and ran a bull pass to side control. I used my new stapling technique to keep him pinned and to keep him from shrimping out. When he was able to shrimp away I stood up again and he pulled a sweet sweep on me. It’s the one Roy Dean does where he sweeps you and uses your momentum to pull him up like he’s on waterskis and you’re the boat. I saw him coming up but I met him half way and pushed him back to the ground and fell into his guard. We played there until the buzzer sounded. Joe is probably a blue in spirit and the way he trains that was probably the easiest match I will have with him from now on.

I also rolled with Jamie for the first time. He’s our wrestling coach. We stalemated and he ended up on top in the end. In the early part of our tussle I used my weight to keep him from driving forward. The entire time it just felt as if he was driving forward even when I was on top of his back and he was turtling. I was afraid that if I tried to spin to his back he would explode upwards and I would lose positional dominance. I rolled harder than I wanted to with him but I wasn’t winded at the end so that is a plus.

My roll with Prof. Smiley (Black belt) was as always an experience. What I do like about rolling with Prof. is that even though he is a lot stronger and bigger than I am (muscle-wise) his rolls are laid back and controlled. Although I tapped often he told me that I was moving well and he gave me a lot of instruction throughout. I take that as a sign that I am improving. (He handcuffed me at one point and held my arm behind my back like I was Chris Horodecki in the IFL. I vow to not let that happen again. I am a grown man.)

Good class!