On the Mat Day 368: Barbeque

Yesterday was my first lesson for a week. I usually take a week off around Christmas, Golden Week and O-bon to let my body heal and just to let my desire to train again build up. It was also our annual barbeque where all the guys get together and chat about things they never get the time to during training.

Background: K-sensei doing the barbie, Foreground: Underage drinker & me in the cap

There wasn't actually a proper lesson with techniques being taught but more of an open mat style feel. As always I started off rolling around on the stability ball then after recapping a few techniques Dmitri and I got out the crash mat and practiced jumping to triangles. It was surprisingly easy with the foot on the hip method. I often do this when pulling guard so it felt natural. The crash mat helped until we got comfortable with the technique then we tried a few on the normal mat. I will definitely try to play around with this technique because I can see it being useful as a last ditch effort to win a match and be quite a crowd pleaser. I should probably look at how it works with different grips on the jacket because we did it nogi style.

Later on I talked to Yoshida who just returned from 2 months in Brazil. He mentioned that it was tough training and most of the time he was stuck in side control and it was difficult to escape because they were all so strong. Technique-wise he didn't think their level was any better than in Japan but their power and speed executing the techniques made a huge difference. I have to admit that I should really try to adopt the strategy of quickly moving through techniques when I spar but instead I do something, stop for a bit, then do the next technique. Kind of clunky. I really need to be quicker moving through techniques so the opponent has no time to react correctly.

The small amount of sparring I did do was mostly defending. I am trying to heal my leg while keeping it hidden and the best way to do that is to work escapes from bad positions. I'm getting comfortable in turtle but still panic when my collar is grabbed. I still need more work on this. At the moment, I'm also waiting for Bodymaker to drop their prices a little on judo gis so I can get one and start training at my son's Judo school. I'm really looking forward to improving my standup because it is a huge gaping hole as a purple belt.

Sparring time: 5 x 6 mins = 30 mins