Sunday 19 August 2012

On the Mat Day 292: Spider Sense Tingling

I've been on holiday for a week. The Obon holidays are just coming to a close right now. Lots of people travel during this time and many go to visit the graves of their family and pour water on them or offer a prayer. I took my family camping for a night near Toyohashi so had to miss a day of Tapout XT, but I'm still going strong with that workout.

Last night I returned to BJJ training after a week of rest. I usually don't train on Saturday but should do it more because there are a lot of folks attending. F-sensei taught ude-gaeshi. I am familiar with the technique but was suprised at the number of scenarios in which it can be used. It can be used even when I am sitting down and the opponent is engaging me similar to when I want to enter a butterfly guard. It can also be used by a passer - as long as you have the correct grips it works really well.

I sparred a lot last night. I can only attribute this to the fact that the weather has abated and the humidity is no too oppressive. Also, my stamina is excellent now. I just kept going and going, asking people to roll. When rolling with Kondo-san who usually slips away from me I kept tight and never lost him so he could not recover guard. Later he said I stuck to him much better than before. I just have more gas in the tank, more time to think and less rests to let the opponent recover and make a move.

I also sparred with Miura-san and was working an under-over pass which I like to do. I could feel that he was somehow baiting me. This is where the spider sense clicked in. He went for a reverse armbar, trapping my arm on his shoulder, I recovered and he caught me on the other side with a kimura. Afterwards I thought about it and realize that I should have listened to the bells ringing in my head and just reset entirely - attempt another pass perhaps. When I feel my instincts kick in like that I will try to reset from now on.

I also made a white belt tap to knee on belly. He's a strong young judo guy and I could feel my knee sort of scraping his ribs before he tapped. It must have hurt. After the roll I made sure he was ok and wanted him to see there was nothing personal about the roll, I am just working on increasing the pain for this position. I tried the same thing on K-sensei and he quickly put me in half-guard before I could blink.

Sparring time: 8 x 6 mins = 48 mins

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