On the Mat Day 65: North-South (上四方固め - Kamishihou gatame)

I went to class with the intention of skipping sparring. We started with uchikomi which is armbar drills done faster. I'm getting the hang of it somewhat but my right leg is still weak on the abductor muscle and it can be hard to raise it high for the correct position. Never again will I hiss and boo then cry "pussy" if someone complains of a groin strain. I'd not wish one on my worst enemy. Anyway, we did North-South attacks which was really cool because this stuff is new to me. Plus I never knew what they called it in Japanese which is 上四方固め (kamishihou gatame) so now I'll never get a blank stare from the young guys when I talk about North-South. It literally means "upper four quarters hold", not sure why. Maybe I will ask next time.

We drilled collar chokes, kimuras and armbars from this position. I learnt a little trick with the armbar which was to pull and rotate away in the kimura position 3 times then it will pop out of the guys other hand when he is fighting it. The move feels natural to me which is probably from all the pancrase fights I used to watch over ten years ago. Ah those were the days.

When it came time for sparring I was umming and arrring but noted that the folks in the gym tonight were fairly trustworthy with my injured condition. Read no huge guys who would come crashing down on my leg. So I just went with the flow and sparred. I tried the north-south to kimura then armbar move which worked but I just don't have the leg power yet to lock it down so failed. I also tried a baseball bat choke from knee-on-belly which failed because he is much too good for me (koyama-san). I respect the guy so much and consider him my 2nd teacher because I always go to his lesson on Friday and get the opportunity to learn so much from him. He lets me in the game and even though I almost get him in a choke now and again, never fails to escape.

I lost a lot of stress last night just by rolling and felt really good when I came home. The wife was moody but even that didn't phase me. I hope that my son can one day appreciate the beauty of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, it has so many facets to it that can benefit a person.

I asked tonight about the weigh in for the competition in May. Apparently, I have to be under 76 kg (with the gi) just moments before I fight my opponent. They weight you before you step on the mat. That means that I need to lose a little extra weight if I want to eat a decent breakfast and keep my energy up by snacking on fruit and stuff during the day. I do not want to go to the competition hovering close to 76 kg and worry about eating or drinking before my name is called. Time to cut out the crap from my diet.

Total sparring time: 6 rounds x 6 mins = 36 mins


Below, North-South position with obligatory balls in mouth angle which I hate being put in, but don't we all.