Friday, September 26, 2008

BJJ No-Gi Class - 9.25.2008

So I found out that not only is the last Wednesday of the month a free roll class for the gi class, but the last Thursday of the month is a free roll class for the no-gi class. Mel wasn't there tonight, which I was hoping for. I wanted to buy another pair of shorts and possibly a 2nd gi.

No-gi is still frustrating. I'm having a hard time grasping the concept of underhooks and overhooks, and not having fabric to grab on to. I've found myself grabbing onto shorts quite a few times haha I rolled with James, who is always fun to roll with. He's a new guy who really soaks up whatever it is you try and help him with. Rolling with him I try to work on the nitty gritty details of my techniques. And because we roll so much slower than I do with other people, I'm able to analyze the situation easier and I'm starting to see my options better. This helps me when I roll with others who are more experienced. I also watch for mistakes he makes. I've found that the more I help other people with technique, it helps to instill it in my brain better.

Also rolled with Frank. I only see him on no-gi nights. I know he's been training with Mel for awhile, I'm just not sure how long. He's the same build as me, so I like rolling with him to see techniques that work for him. I don't really remember much from rolling with him, but I remember feeling good after the roll, as if I did better than previous times :-)

I rolled with Chris (different Chris than the one I trained with at the Marcelo Garcia seminar) a few times. The first time we just started out on our knees. The 2nd we started doing positional sparring, to help me out (he's an advanced white belt, I think up for his blue here soon...he's really good). First positional spar was me having him in side control. I have a hard time keeping a side control position in no-gi. No fabric to grab onto to keep that left elbow out of your hip, and the sweat makes it very easy for the person on the bottom to slip right out. He ended up slipping right out every time. I was able to keep him from taking my back, but ended up in his guard everytime where he'd either submit me or we'd just stalemate heh So the next positional spar I started in his guard to work on my guard passing. This didn't last that long as he was able to arm-drag my right arm to his right shoulder and reach around my back getting a hold of my left arm to basically twist my upper body towards him. My right arm/hand was trapped between us, so I wasn't able to tap. I began to verbally tap, but the way my upper body was facing, my voice projected away from us. By the time he heard me, it was a little too late - my pectoralis had stretched beyond its limit. I hadn't stretched my pec that far before, and really wasn't sure the angle my arm had stretched back, so I was more surprised than anything...sort of in shock I guess. It was a pretty sharp pain, so I headed home shortly afterward. I jumped in the shower as soon as I got home to get some hot water running over it while I massaged it. After awhile, the pain went away for the most part, but it was still pretty tight. I'm going to have to make sure to stretch it through out the day for the next few days.

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