Thoughts from inside the guard and goals for 2012

The sadness has cleared and I've got a bit more of an objective look at what went on last night.

A couple days ago, I took some time to to really feel my way through the offensive aspect of the guard and it gave me some great insights.

Well, last night I partnered with one of the kids again...I say kids, but I swear this boy was 5" shorter and 30lbs lighter last time I sparred with him. He's gotten bigger, stronger, faster and more technical in a matter of months. And, as boys will be, he's controlled, but there's still an element of injury in the air, so I rolled carefully. Well, he got me in his guard...broke my posture left and right. I could only hold out for so long pushing against his hips. As I was pinned in his stomach though, I braced my base and started paying attention to his hips and arms. I got caught in two kimuras, but I also got to see all kinds of missed opportunities on his part. Now just to find those holes on other people...

All that pushing and breaking got me thinking of strength, and how I'd like more. I only do bodyweight work now (since the pullup bar tore up my shoulder), but I'd like to start lifting...something again. 2011 is the year of flexibility for me, so we'll see how I'm doing around mid-year.

The ladies in the gym were sad tonight.

I didn't think I'd get to use Sad Spider this soon.


I was standing in the locker room, and one of the instructors touched my shoulder. "Is everything ok?" I paused...nodded my head yes. It's really not. Work's cranked up to a point where I'm so exhausted in class that I can't focus on half of what I'd like to. My kimura sweep is still blah...a friggin' kimura sweep.

This guy though...I choose carefully when I answer "yes" to that question. He's one of those guys who seems to be able to smell when my resilience is cracking. He asks and I start to tear up. I swallowed the lump in my throat, only to hear Lady Fire Fighter telling Jo how she sat out from sparring, fighting back tears because of her recent injury and Jo responding with her identical experience that same morning after injuring her calve. They've been training like crazy for NAGA and in the span of a couple of days, they've both been injured.

I didn't know what to say to either of them. Of course there will be other competitions. They'll heal and they'll train and they'll compete, but all that sounds trite in the face of potential disappointment like this. I'm not sure there really is much to say.

ThomasShahan

Opening my mind about the closed guard.

My relationship with the closed guard has been a stale one from day 1. We go through the motions, the drills, but the relationship never really goes anywhere. Well today, we had a breakthrough.

Yesterday I picked up the eBook, The 77 Most Common Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Mistakes. I'm only on number 32, so I'll be writing a review of it later, but it answered one of the great "duh" questions I've always had but never really known how to ask. (Loving it so far btw. I corrected at least 5 mistakes tonight alone with very little effort.)

You hear "don't telegraph" left and right, but...how do you not telegraph? Thank you Mistake #10. Its explanation of how to work your way into an armbar without yelling it across the gym made me take a step back from my whole take on the guard.

I worked a white belt into my guard today and before I started thinking armbar or triangle or sweep, I started thinking posture and how best to break it. Once broken, I took time to watch how they reacted, where arms fell, where they were pushing and I let THAT determine where I went from there.

The result? Setting up more triangles, higher percentage of sweeps, better luck getting past good bases.

This may be true of all positions, but the guard, right now in my little green belt mind, is one of those positions that you have to approach passively, before you take it on actively. 

I think I've developed an obsession with the hitchhiker escape...

And that's probably because I get caught in armbars from mount so much. I found this video which has me fascinated. I was already aware of trying to avoid triangles. (Thanks Allie), but now I see that omoplatas are also a danger. The method demonstrated here is meant to minimize the omoplata risk, but also seems to give you more control of your opponent, and the option of exiting on either side.



Time transitioning between drills...I used to treasure it as a time to rest. Now it just feels like a waste. Considering I need to work on applying AND escaping armbars from mount, this exchange of applying the armbar and executing the hitchiker escape looks absolutely delicious right now.



**Update: After watching it a few times and trying it myself, I noticed an essential element of the escape, which is getting the arm bent behind you. I'd been drilling it from the arm total straight just before the tap, which makes it crazy difficult to get your body around without putting some crazy stress on your shoulder. I need to start it from the beginning of the application of the arm bar as opposed to the end. 

"Yeah...you look like you grapple now."

So I went on a trip to our local green market with a friend I hadn't seen in person in some months. He's a karate guy and a West Coast Swing dancer, so is pretty observant of people's posture and movement. He also knew me through all my time as a salsa dancer, so the "walk" he knows would be more influenced by the rolling movements of a basic step than the thick-cored power required by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

"Yeah...you look like you grapple now. You're looking..."
"Broad across the back?"
"Yeah...kinda buff. It's the lats."

It made me happy to know that there was some physical effect of my training. Martial arts tee-hee. We talked over cracked conch and smoothies (gotta love winter in Florida) about how after you start training, you start sizing people up. A broad shouldered man in a grey shirt walked by.

"I bet he'd be fun to triangle."
"Take out his knees and run."

Dealing with height differences

I'm most comfortable grappling people my own height. I guess that's common. Oddly though, when it comes to size differences, I mostly see discussions on weight and not height.

Ever since the LadyFireFighter started coming, I've been really attuned to the effect pure differences in height make. We're both teetering around 200lbs (I'm heavier and maybe 7-8 inches taller), but I have proportionately long limbs while she seems to have proportionately short ones. What does that mean? Here's what I've noticed.

1) Prying her limbs away to get control is a total pain. My new love, triangle from mount, is close to useless on her. She has short, thick, strong muscles and once they're in tight, it's hard for me to get a grip on anything.

2) She can apply her weight more directly than I can. Her heavy shoulder from half is BRUTAL (heard my jaw crack last night...I tapped from the pressure alone). I know that that's partly because she's female and isn't as merciful on me as the guys are, but also because her weight is more concentrated, so once her center's on me, I get...let's say...80 percent of her weight. With me, I could likely do 60% in the same position.

3) Once my limbs are caught, I'm in trouble. I can't quite explain this one, but I just understand the mechanics of a long body better. Though I KNOW the concept of torque, I apply it more effectively on body types I understand.

4) Her handles are smaller: That means I have fewer corners to wriggle legs and arms into to get grips for sweeps and whatnot.

5) Her world is small. I think it comes from Salsa, but I'm generally pretty aware of how far a person's reach goes. I know when I reach in to her collar, she can't reach back. Sounds like a win-win, but that also means that once she's in my spacial world, she can maneuver limbs more completely than I can in turn. I hate fighting too close, because I tend to get limbs stuck in stupid positions.

I can't even explain how happy/relieved I am that she started training. It's nice to have a "go to" partner in the gym. She, Jo, one of the teens and I are hitting the gym at 8am to help her and Jo get ready to compete. I'm actually excited at the prospect of waking up at 7am on a Saturday to go train. Tee friggin' hee.