Thursday, October 16, 2008

Gracie class 10/15/08

I couldn't have asked for a better class.

It came on the heels of a meeting with an attorney that was not pleasant. I think I handled it calmly and without backing down, but ended up having a migraine shortly thereafter. What better way to deal with a migraine than do jiu jitsu? (Of course I took some imitrex first..)

Turns out the class was all about gi chokes, so I hung out and watched until the blissful warm glow of imitrex took over. All these can also be done when you have them in your guard so I paid close attention since nothing else seems to work in the guard for me.

Giberson also showed me and Anthony, a very helpful guy with more experience than me and nifty green eyes, some tips on guillotine from mount.

I got to meet Stephanie, and drilled a bunch with Leila too. She seems equally happy to roll with me-- we're a good match size and skill-wise and we both give it 100%. Phil came over and coached us while we rolled a bit, discussing side control escape to guard and then talked her through a mount escape I wish I'd executed during the tournament... bump and bridge, get on your side, trap their leg with yours and scrape your bottom leg past it, then reverse to free the other side, and regain guard. Pretty logical but when I was at the tournament, logic was not found in my brain. At one point she had me in half guard, and I was trying to make space so I could dive my knee over like Phil taught yesterday... she clenched and straightened her legs really tightly and in the process, caught the top of my kneecap and pulled it downwards over my knee. I don't know how to explain it, but it hurt like fury and I must have squawked a good one, because she stopped right away and looked panicky. It popped a little bit, but went back, and now it's pretty much fine.

When Leila and I rolled, I noticed I didn't really have a plan for getting her down from the clinch. Sometimes I just dragged her down to the ground. She has a very strong core and it's hard to pass her open guard and get side control. Holy heck, when I'm in her guard, it's nearly freaking impossible to pass it, she has extremely strong legs and she's good at breaking down your posture. At one point, I couldn't pass her closed guard and I couldn't make space, so I just stood up with her still clinging to my waist with her legs-- we both laughed, she let go and we started again.

We ended up rolling into, and up, the wall. I got an armbar from mount after having to think a bit about setting it up with my arm going the right direction. It took a good seven minutes and we were both breathing hard. That was it for both of us, she has midterms and I had dinner plans.

Turns out my knee is fine, just has a little bruise on top, and my pulled groin muscle is fine too.. but I jacked up my left big toe. I think it was when Anthony and I were drilling, I got reversed during a choke and bent my toe backwards towards my ankle. I should have iced it last night; now it's a little swollen, stiff, and the joint between toe and foot is painful.

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