the Mat Day 303: Brain Won't Turn Off

Ever get in that situation when your brain won't turn off at night as your head hits the pillow because jiu-jitsu techniques are whizzing through your brain at light speed? That's what I had last night. My brain also wanted to critique my rolls I had at training only a couple of hours ago. I hate it when this happens because I cherish sleep more than anything else.

I've been off for 4 days and all I seemed to do was sleep. Catch up on lost hours from previous weeks. That meant I felt quite good for training last night. K-sensei taught us obi-maki-gaeshi which is a method of flipping the opponent over or sweeping him when he is turtled or coming into your butterfly guard using grips on the belt. They are some interesting techniques that can also be done from standing.

Sparring was fun. Lots of big strong dudes last night. I watch them sparring and think to myself "Oh, shit, that guy is tough. He is gonna manhandle me." But when I spar with them I hold my own. Defend, maintain superior positions and sometimes submit. I'm not a great finisher but I work for position more than anything. If I'm on top, pass the  guard and control. On bottom, sweep and control. I figure that when I hit purple I will get more opportunity to work on submission. Right now I just want to master escapes as illustrated so well in Saulo Ribeiro's BJJ University.

At the end of class I pulled Terazawa-san aside for some drilling. I went over side escapes and half-guard sweeps plus a couple of other things. I also watched during sparring as the other guys tore him apart and felt he needed some help. Particularly, double-under stack pass defence. I taught him to break the opponents grip and if he was too slow for that then hip out and use the shin on their shoulder. Unlike other guys at our club I like to help out the white belts with a few tips here and there and they really appreciate it. God knows I wish I had someone looking out for me when I was a white belt - just maybe I might have progressed a little faster.

Sparring time: 6 x 6 mins = 36 mins