Wednesday 21 December 2011

On the Mat Day 218: Escaping Side Control (with notes)

It was as if F-sensei had heard me thinking about my plan to get better at escaping side control. He taught a lot of variations which I had seen before but never really in such detail. It was a very good recap of basic escapes which are the bread and butter of getting away from those heavy side huggers. At the end he also mentioned that judoka like to grab one arm under the head, one arm around the crotch of the far leg and it can be particularly difficult to escape but still showed us a technique to escape.

It seems more and more people are gravitating towards the heated room at Tsurumai. I definately prefer it. I am less prone to injury and in fact I took off my knee brace for the first time since I hurt it back at the end of summer. I saw Ryo at class, a guy who looks 19 but is in fact 29! It totally shocked me when he told me his true age. I sparred with him later, letting him work the escapes we had just learnt. He was extremely easy to control being a white belt who is smaller than me. I don't really want to stifle his advancement by holding him down and submitting him, I know I hated that as a white belt and appreciated it when some of the folks let me play my game - as little advanced as it was at the time. Two big boys, Atsushi and Fuji turned up. Atsushi was always known as the club champion but since starting full time work in the police force has put on a fair bit of weight and seemed to be gassing fast. He still has tremendous strength. Couldn't pass my guard but hell if I could break from his closed guard. Caught me in a triangle but couldn't finish me. I can be really stubborn on chokes, never arms though, oh no, especially not after watching UFC140 and Nogueira getting his almost twisted off. I hope he makes a swift recovery.

In other news, P90X-2 was released a few days ago. I am very tempted to give it a go just for the simple fact that I need a focus to get into tip top shape. The workouts look interesting if a little gimicky. I've been telling myself for the past year to pick up the pace and get myself into great shape but it is easy to say and much harder to do. Ah, to be young and single again.

Sparring time: 7 x 6 mins = 42 mins


Side Control Escapes -

Notable moments: Effectively using a great sweep that I got through the mail from Jason Scully. Much appreciated and it is high precent for me as I use the spider threaded leg often. See video below.

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