Wednesday 1 February 2012

On the Mat Day 229: A Full House

Last night at class was heaving with people. I don't think we needed any air conditioning to keep the room warm because it was like a sauna by the end of the night. This right in the middle of winter when Japan is going through a very cold patch of weather! I love training at the new place because a warm body means less chance of injury. Lots of big guys came to class. I am hovering around 73-74 kg right now which puts me in the Lightweight category. I counted 4 guys who were more than 80 kg. One of them smokes heavily and you can smell it. Although a nice guy, I cannot bring myself to spar with him because of the lingering odour of tobacco around him. If he asked me to roll I would not refuse but let's say that I don't go out of my way to ask him.

F-sensei showed the scissor sweep. I've seen this so many times but often forget some detail. I actually hit it nicely on Tete during sparring but he was quick to escape. He finished the tuition wth Z-guard sweeps after the opponent has crossed over your sweeping leg. The 3 sweeps shown are familiar to me but it was good to see his take on them. They were basically, head to floor, pushing leg high on opponent and grab his far knee, kick and sweep him scissor sweep stype but holding the knee so he cannot post it. 2nd was if that doesn't work, bring the kicking leg down to combat base and punch sweep him, 3rd was if he is leaning towards me, swing his arm in an arc, push it towards him and roll back to sweep (Shaolin sweep).

I was exhausted after sparring and tried to push myself as has been my habit of late. I did get to work with a big blue belt who is a judo black belt. He suprisingly played bottom with me for the first time ever. He pulled me into his guard, I used the Wilson Reis pass, got stuck in half-guard, underhooked both his arms, pulled my knee free, took mount and went for my favourite choke using my own lapel. He blocked, I shifted to top armbar, he hid his arm under his leg and came up so I transitioned to triangle. I nearly had him but I failed to adjust the angle and he stacked me. I almost slid out for a belly-down armbar but he pulled free. I think he was suprised that I had improved so much to give him trouble. Throughout I tried to relax and stay heavy on him and actually anticipated his sweeps.

Things I need to ask in class:
1. How to recover the top armbar if opponent hides it under his leg.
2. Best way to prevent opponent turning back towards me when I switch to back from x-guard.
3. Ask to see escape again when opponent has my back with his leg locked across my abdomen.
4. How to finish the kimura lock against opponent who tries to double underhook pass my guard.
The last 2 I should know but because of lack of repetition and experience with them I have forgotten how to apply them correctly.

Notable moments: Nearly getting a lasoo choke on Fuji-san. Something I've been working on for a while.

Sparring time: 8 x 8 mins = 48 mins

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