On the Mat Day 298: Straight Ankle Locks

I've been sleeping well. About 8 hours each night so felt very fresh for class last night.
F-sensei taught us the choke that Tsuzuki is very good at. It's a choke from side control with say my right arm under his armpit and grabbing the collar with 4 fingers in. My left arm comes over the top and slices down on his neck while I extend my legs. He also showed the counter. I prefer this type of teaching with a technique then a counter. Draculino has a video where he shows a technique, counter, the counter to a counter. This type of teaching is great because it gives both guys who spar on that day the option of using the material being taught. He also taught the north south choke which I fail to do well with. I think I finally cracked the correct positioning though. I have to move my opponent's head to the side with my ribs and then sink into him with my bicep over his neck. I don't think I have been fully moving the head to the side.

Sparring was good. I actually caught F-sensei in a straight ankle lock. To date I have caught many of the upper belts with this technique but F-sensei was the first time. Luckily it is legal for blue belts to use. I try to refrain from using versus white belts but if I see it glaring at me I'll use it. The same goes for wrist locks. I also sparred with Kondo for 3 rounds and really tried to take him down since he is a 3rd degree judoka. He is also the same weight as me. I was successful with single legs and a double when he was tired. I really concentrated on tricking him. I would crouch low, he follows, then back up and stand straight. He copies and stands up straight. Then I shoot in. I'm trying to use jedi mind tricks like these to make opponent's get into a posture where I can move into a technique I want to use. Other examples are hiding my left lapel and pulling out my right lapel a little so that he will go for it and I can use sumi-gaeshi. It's kind of like holding a hand of playing cards up and letting one of them stick out more so the other guy picks that one when he has to select one from my hand. I love stuff like this because it works on the fact that you can predict what the guy will do next.

At the end of class, F-sensei asked if we had any questions. I got his advice on opponents T-rexing me so I can't underhook their head. He told me to thrust my elbow more down the center of their body, flare my elbow then underhook. Also from this position I can drag their top arm across, gift wrap it, kick my leg over and pull them into rear mount.

Sparring time: 6 x 6 mins = 36 mins