Friday, December 31, 2010

Steel Balls

I did a private on deep half guard yesterday. For a split second...one little moment in time...it made sense. I understood my options when rolling my hips either inside or outside. Then, I tried to repeat it back to WrestlerInstructor and it all fell like a house of cards in my mind. I feel like I wasted my time, but I'm hoping it'll come in handy later.


I went into today's group class and decided to start all my rolls from bottom mount, with the expectation that I would have to work my way to deep half and apply what I learned from there. First though, we worked some details on chokes. I've never really thought about "stepping" my way into chokes, so it was a good technique day. It got me feeling a lot better about my chokes too, since my grip feels MUCH less girly than it did when I started.

The mount starting? Not cool, but good practice. I still have a complete disconnect between getting to deep half and the techniques I reviewed in my lesson. The bump is still insanely difficult for me.

Happy moment: starting in such an ugly position prompted one of my favorite blue belts to let me know I had balls of steel...I was honestly flattered.

3 comments:

Deborah Clem said...

LOL!! Great compliment.

Keep working that oompah. Move your opponent's body weight in their forward direction, with your hips, and then bridge to the direction of their trapped arm/leg. I promise you, the day you get it, you will jump up and down. There is, for lack of a more concrete term, a feel you will develop for the correct leverage.

For the bridge out of half guard, plant your feet solid on the mat, and really use the power in your hips to bridge up and then shoot your butt back in one powerful move. Again, there is feel that you will obtain for the leverage.

Anonymous said...

OMG! You are brave! I have NO mount defense. I tried starting under mount once. Total got my bum squished under mount for the next six minutes. I don't have the guts to do it again! LOL.

Happy New Year!
Jodi

Megan said...

@Dagney...thanks for that. I just feel like I'm too weak to get it right now, but I know I'm just doing/feeling it incorrectly.

@Combat...it really is the opposite of fun, but it's been good for me mentally. I end up mounted a LOT (I don't fight hard enough for the top position) and I'm now really calm when I get into it. My defense is slowly getting better...I used to give out armbars like people were paying me.