7/26/09 BJJ

Yep today's Sunday and I rarely get to go but I was off and got lucky. Yay! But today was yet again another good day. We had some hard warm-ups today again. Fun. But it was good. We went over the Guillotine and the M'arce again today. Both are feeling more natural. I rolled with Coach Sampson before class, he says he's gonna make me good lol. People where surprised when he told them I'm "only 15" I don't really know what that means but everyone say I have good movement. Coach gave me a card today that I'm supposed log in everytime I come. He says it's just so if someone doesn't show up for awhile he'll call. I also rolled with another guy today I didn't know he had a pretty good strength advantage on me. He was beating me positionally but I defended well. I also rolled with Mike again its always a good roll with him. He swept the crap out of me from his guard which is something I need to work on. But he says I have a good half guard. I used that Ankle escape from mount that I learned yesterday to much use. Good day but it sucks Im gonna be away for awhile.
Things I need to work on:
1) ANKLE ESCAPE FROM MOUNT
2)WORKING FROM SOMEONES CLOSED GUARD

Went to 24hr

Didn't lift today. I ran 2 miles in about 25 mins. kinda slow but it was easier than I expected. I also did some stability ball stuff for grappling. I will continue pushing myself in the cardio area and start running upwards of 7 miles per hour. To help for wrestling I will run as fast as I can in a steady pace for 6 mins. for 3 rounds. Good day. Yesterday I belt tested no biggie. But I rolled with a blue who said I was definetly around the technique of a blue/white with 6 months exp. He gave me the advice to hip escape in combo's instead of just doing one than pauseing and doing another he said I should continually hip escape. Omar said atleast 3 times. Will try that. Going out of town on Tuesday so won't have anything to update on till the 2nd of August or something. But then Im going up to Seattle the 6th. And will be training then. But untill next time......

BJJ 7/24/09 (moning/update)

Its been good lately. Today was fun we did more stuff off of turtle, mostly the same things Darce/Marce and Guillotine. I rolled with some guy today I have rolled with him before and we stalemated though he passed my guard I would we guard him everytime. I would use one escape and turn away from him than quickly turn in and escape with the space I created its been working well for me. But then I rolled with some real new guy he spazzed like crazy. It was pretty intense he put me in these weird headlockish things that hurt my jaw. But I never tapped I swept him a couple times. He said I was strong and fast but it was really just technique. We'll see if he sticks around. Then I rolled with Coach Carl not much to say about that just me getting tapped in weird ways. Today was good I'm gonna work on passing guards tonight and going to X guard and doing that sweep to take someones back that Omar showed me just to learn something new and for fun. Yesterday I went to 24 hr though and did mostly cardio I ran about 1.5 miles and did some stuff on the elliptical and stababiltity ball. My cardio has DEFINITELY gone up cuz it was a fairly easy run even though I was going slow. I think the thing that helped the most was my diet I increased potassium and other vitamins alot so I can run longer. It was definitely a boost in confidence I will continue running tommarow. Im doing good so far!

BJJ 7/22/09 (morning)

Haven't posted in a while just because lack of interesting things to write. I've continued cross-training as usual and going to class very regularly. Although I'm not seeing as much improvement as before but w.e. My cardio's getting better. Anyways today Coach Sampson coached and we had some difficult warm ups. Not really that hard though felt kinda sick afterwards but thats how I know I did good. All the techniques we did today were for attacking someones turtle. Which is great because I was recently having trouble with this lately. We worked on the Marce choke off of sprawl. Coach mentioned that mine was looking good and was talking about me sticking with it and how I'll be good. But like he said, talk is cheap. I have to do it. Its weird coach Mohler and Sampson both mentioned to me about not letting girls get in the way of my training, maybe a coincedence. But than we worked from turtle pulling them into back mount and then to a RNC which was great. While coach was showing the technique this guy Josh passed out. It was crazy he was snoring and convulsing, kinda cool in retrospect. But today was a good day I did fine while rolling seeing as I was the smallest guy there. The stabability ball work outs are helping me off of turtle. Good day.
Things I need to work on:
1) Everything
2) BREAKING AND PASSING GUARD
3) ATTACKING THE TURTLE

July 17th 2009 (update)

This week has been great so far. I've soley been focusing on my half guard pass and its going well. Today was a great morning class we worked on going from high guard to a armbar and I would like to incorporate that into rolling. Coach also showed me a new guard pass I will start using. apparently theres a seminar coming up in October I will probably be going for even though its 50 bucks. Today while rolling I was pulling a deep halfguard and quickly sweeping instead of going for my usual sweeps only because its catching people off guard. I can't wait to roll again tonight. But right now I want to focus on that new guard pass coach showed me and working from Half guard to sweep too. It was a good day.

BJJ July 14th, 2009 (night)

Good class. I only want to focus on one thing right now and its my escape from someones half guard and go to mount. I was shown this today by the girl blue belt who I rolled with. You get a crossface, underhook on there far side arm and then put the knee that is not stuck in there guard on there belly then lean over to the side and release underhook and use that hand to push there leg down and pull your foot out. Again if I only learn one thing this week its this cuz I keep getting stuck in half guard/mount since I use alot of BF guard sweeps.
Thing I need to work on:
HALF GUARD ESCAPE

Lately

Haven't posted much lately seeing as my brother's (Brent) and I have been hanging out with him alot lately. I've still been going to all my classes just haven't updated here yet. Just been working guard stuff lately nothing huge has improved. Going to class in like 30 mins so I'll update again tonight. I haven't lifted since last time only because I underestimated how sore I would be. But I am going 2mmrw morning. Class has been great, I'm getting tossed around alot so it sucks but w/e. My rashguard is holding up fine and all is well. I can't wait till I go up to Seattle to train with my brother. But he may be opening up a school down here so that would be more than perfect. My mom is supposed to be coming back from Iraq on Wensday so that will be my chance to talk to her about a Jiu jitsu camp that is coming up. It's a week long and 3 hours every morning thats not including regular night classes. It's 200 so I don't know if she'll pay for it though. I hope so. But all is well lately just trying new things and trying to have fun but its kind of hard when I'm busy tapping. hah. But this week I'm gonna try more things from knee on belly and Side Control to round my top game some more. Im still having trouble cleaning up my diet as of now but that will take work.

Lifted today

Went to 24 hr. today good deal. Did what I said. I jump roped for a little then did some power cleans at 95 lbs. a little light for me. Then I did pullups so I think Im gonna be sore 2mmrw. But I went on the elliptical for like 15 mins. and it felt good. Than saunaed and sat in the spa. It felt good I'm gonna go again on Saturday.

July 8th 2009 BJJ (night)

Today I worked with Cody on drills and stuff. We drilled the DUB underhook guard pass and a reversal to it. And we did Uma plata stuff as well. But we had takedown king and I didn't participate since my tailbone hurt the other day so I just took it easy. But after that we rolled. I rolled with Cody abit but I don't think he really likes to roll with me. But then I rolled with Mike he's a white belt as well but he has more experience than me. I just tried to pass his guard the whole time but had hardly any success. I got caught in tons of armlocks so I need to keep my arms tighter. But It was just another day.

BJJ July 8, 2009 (morning)

Another good day. Went over just different armbars like a double. And a really good arm drag I'm gonna keep using. But we rolled like half the time. I rolled with that smaller kid so I just worked on defense and sweeps. Im starting to get proficient with my BF guard sweeps the only problem is I keep getting stuck in half guard/mount so I need to work on that. But I also rolled with this girl that is a blue and it was pretty fun she said that my balance is really good. And when we got to half guard and I bumped her up to get to deep half guard she complemented me. but it was just a good day at the gym.
What I'm gonna work on:
1)Guard Passes
2)SC ESCAPES
3)MOUNT ESCAPES

Starting some crosstraining again.

Well today I was kinda bored so I decided I'd go up to 24 hr. fitness. I didn't lift because my tailbone was hurting me so I just hung out in the spa and saunaed for a little bit. It got me thinking about lifting again but not only lifting just crosstraining in general. So I decided since I'm wasting most of my off days I'm gonna start hitting the gym more often. Im trying to make it back down to 140 and wanna get a little stronger in the process. So now on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays I'm going to follow this routine:
First off I'm gonna warm up with a couple mins. of jump roping to help with coordination and things. Than I will do a 5x5 routine on the following, everyday I will do power cleans 5x5 than either and upperbody (5x5) work out of a lower body (5x5) depending on the day. For upperbody I will do all sorts of pullups including towel ones to help my grip strength. And on lower body days I will do leg presses and weighted lunges since squats hurt my knees. I will keep the lifting short and sweet only doing compound lifts. Then I will end the workout with a form of light cardio (elliptical, treadmill, stair stepper, swimming, jump roping)
Again this will be done on my off days just to get a high level of basic fitness and to help me stay active. I will do target workouts for grappling mostly. But today I weighed my self and I'm around 147 preworkout so it gives me about a month and 3/4 in order to try my best to make it down to 140 before August 24th. I am also starting to clean up my diet.

Warrior Intl. Rashguard

As promised here's my review for it:
It just got in today on time just like MMAWAREHOUSE.com said it would be. My initial reactions were good it looked nice the stitching looked very durable. What stuck out most is that it was significantly thicker than my Walmart rashguard, which was good because I was still getting gi burns with the Walmart one on. But it was nice and thick but not to thick to were it was hot. I rolled in it today and it performed very well hardely noticed it was on really. It looks really nice and does the job there's not much more you can ask from a rashie. It didn't ride up do to the nice trimming at the bottom. But it fits me perfectly I wear a medium shirt so thats what I ordered and it turned out nice. The only negative I see is that worn under a gi, I don't know how long the graphics will last. Its not much of a problem seeing as it will be UNDER a gi lol. Bottom line though its a solid product and if you like the design I reccomend this rashguard.

July 6th 2009

Only went to one class today, the morning was a takedown and I wanted to sleep in. Just cause I'm lazy like that. :) But the night class was awesome today. It went by a little to fast in my opinion. Once again today I warmed up with Omar. I think I may actually be getting better at defending myself and moving to a better position, or at least trying. But then me and him partnered up to drill and we just went over some positional stuff from back mount. And more Uma plata stuff. We went from and uma plata sweep into an armbar from mount it was pretty cool. Then we did guard work. I was partnered up with Violet who is the Blue/white I did the guard shootout with last week. It was fun. We gave eachother competition. After that we rolled. I rolled with Omar agian and just focused on surviving and getting out of bad positions. I feel like I'm getting better at them though. He noticed I was using the lockdown lol. But it was fun. After that Matt and Omar wanted to roll so I rolled with Cody. I pulled butterfly so he did too than I stood up and so did he so I sat back down it probably looked really weird at first. But once he was down and BF guard so I stood up and used the tricky back stepping pass to quickly pass his guard to SC than to mount. I think there was more of the surprise factor than anything. He was still complementing me after I passed while we were still rolling. I could barely hold mount b/c I was still celebrating in my head. It was a very small step but it meant I was learning! It felt better than a submission. Today was just another good day in the books can't wait till Wednsday.
Things I will focus on:
1)Guard break and passing
2)SURVIVING AND GETTING OUT OF BAD POSITIONS

July 3rd 2009 (night)

Went over most of the same stuff as the morning class alot of things from UMA PLATA. I need to work on transitioning from attacks in my guard. Warmed up with Omar(blue) and Matt (blue) today, pretty cool. After all the technique we started rolling. I rolled with Omar today and worked alot of guard passing, I was successful a couple times but he wore me out easy. He says Im getting better at breaking grips and my defense is OK but it all needs work lol. I also rolled with another kid nogi. Man I hate nogi. I couldnt get much done cuz he would power out of alot of things which I'm not used, to but no excuses there I just need work. Overall it was a good day the other kid had long nails and now I have a pretty big scratch but w/e. Like Saulo Ribeiro said as a white belt my Job is to survive and thats it. Hah. Hope Omar will roll with me agian cause it helps. He showed me a confusing guard pass were you step in uke's guard fake to the left than do a rotation to the right. Tripped me up everytime!
Things I need to work on:
1) TRANSITION ON GUARD ATTACKS
2)Guard Passes (the one omar showed me)
3) SURVIVING (when rolling with higher belts)

BJJ 7/3/09 (morning)

Got to class was a little tired today but that didn't last long. Well I was partnered up with this kid my age another white belt but he was alot smaller than me. We drilled transitions from all the guard attacks. Than we went over a UMA PLATA SWEEP it was really effective I used it a couple times while rolling. We did a guard pass shootout thing were everyone got in a line and tried to pass your guard. I was with the smaller group so no one passed me. I subbed a kid off my back and I swept everyone at least once pretty cool. I passed everyones guard atleast once. But everyone I went against was pretty new. One Girl was a blue/white but w/e. Then we rolled. I worked pretty much everything like I said the kid was alot smaller than me and newer so I let him pass my guard get to mount as I tried to escape. I did work most of my sweeps in today even subbed him with an UMA PLATA that I just learned than swept him with it as well. I will keep working those. I worked on my GUARD BREAK AND PASSING alot today to did the DUB UNDERHOOK PASS as well. Worked BACK MOUNT ESCAPES and MOUNT ESCAPES good day.
THINGS TO WORK ON:
1)Transition from Guard Attacks
2)UMA PLATA SWEEP AND SUB
3)GUARD BREAK AND PASSES

Just like to support all my competitors on sherdog: Sherdog Grapplers

Update on my Techniques for the Week

I have learned a butterfly guard sweep that I will continue using and also will continue adding more things to my arsenal at butterfly guard, so that one was a success. I did also work on my bull fighters pass too so I also consider that a success. However I did not learn any half guard sweeps but I wanna just focus on retaining full guard once in half guard before making it an offensive position. Last week I focused alot on my bottom game so this week I will focus more on my top by working GUARD BREAKS AND PASSES. But I also want to focus on my basic defense and passes fome basic positions. My new techniques I want to focus on for this week are:
1)STANDING GUARD BREAK TO DOUBLE UNDERHOOK PASS
2)DEFENSE FROM MOUNT AND HIP ESCAPE FROM MOUNT AND THE BF GUARD ESCAPE FROM MOUNT
3) DEFENSE FROM BACK MOUNT AND BACK MOUNT ESCAPE

Bought Saulo Ribeiro's book

Today after I got paid I went to barnes and nobles in order to see if they had Jiu jitsu university and of course they did, it was just expensive. Well bought that today and read a little bit and already seems like a really good book I will be adopting some techniques from it. I also went to my favorite website MMAwarehouse.com and bought the longsleeve warrior intl. rashguard they have I will be writing a review on that on monday after I roll in it. I'm pretty bored right now seeing as there is no class today. But I will write 2mmrw on how that class goes.

BJJ 7/1/09 (night)

Yep another day in the books... pretty decent I have to say. I rolled alot today and plan on continuing that for the next month. We went over the same takedowns that we did in the morning. And just some topside transitioning from SC to mount then back. We did a guard attack drill were someones in your guard and you do combination attacks in the order of: armbar into uma plata than into triangle than into triangle armbar. This drill I will keep working on. Im starting to flow better with my armbars from guard. Than we rolled. I rolled with some guy who was better than me but I could tell he was just letting me pass so I spent most of the time in mount. I then remembered why I liked gi so much. Next time Im gonna work on controlling in SC better. I watched Jake roll with another kid and he dominated position wise but no one tapped. I almost got the BF guard sweep in agian but w.e. Jake's getting better, he's giving me a harder time. But it was just another day. I hope on Friday someone alot better than me will want to roll. Good day though. The only problem is I'm having a hard time making it through the days I don't get to roll on. hah. But I get paid 2mmrw and I am buying a Warrior rashie so I will be writing a review on that. Im excited!
Things I need to work on:
1) attacks from guard
2) holding side control better
3) INCORPORATING MORE 1/2 AND BF GUARD INTO ROLLING

BJJ July 1st 2009 (morning)

Today was an alright day, went to class warmed up with some light takedown work, only one of which really stuck on me which was a body lock take down, not bad. We didn't really go over much technique and there weren't alot of people there... But we went over some ankle locks and stuff like if someone has you in their DLR guard you grab a leg roll and figure 4 your arms for a heel hook. It was cool but a little to complicated and flashy for me. But w/e. After that I got about a good 30 mins. of rolling in with my friend jake who only has one month less experience. I made a goal to learn a couple of new moves this week one of which was the ELEVATOR HOOK & SWEEP and drilled it before class then ended up using it around 3 times while rolling. Although its not perfect I will keep working on it and Jake says its pretty effective. I worked alot of my guard game sweeps and everything. I got a 1/2 guard sweep in although it wasn't very pretty. I ended up turtling alot to work on back mount escapes. Good day today can't wait for tonight...
Things that need work:
1) ELEVATOR HOOK & SWEEP
2) Topside escapes
3) Guard Attacks