Friday 9 May 2014

On the Mat Day 490: Pull Ups and Big Boy Sparring

So I pulled myself out of bed this morning around 7:10 am and started up Legs and Back. It's getting harder to do this one because you repeat it every week. I dread the Sieber 80-20 and all the pull ups you have to do but once done I feel great afterwards. I actually pushed out 15 straight pull ups this morning and felt very strong gripping the bar. This has transferred over to my Jits because I can really pull down hard for a choke from closed guard or baseball choke from bottom. Once in that choke, there is no way I'm letting go.

I also attended morning Jits class and surprisingly the regular guys weren't there except Mr. Tanaka who is like 50 plus and doesn't spar. Umemoto and Atsushi of all people came a little later to spar. At first I saw him and thought, aww shit, because he is so damn big and strong. But you know, doing P90X has really given me the stamina, speed and endurance to keep up with him better than before, at least until he traps me down in turtle with his weight. I actually had the power to take him down from a double-leg, which surprised the hell out of me.

I've also notice lately that I am moving back out of the grapple and really looking at where I am holding the opponent to prevent him from passing or to escape. Usually I just grab an arm or a foot and go but now I try to grasp the furthest point from the joint or lever for maximum leverage. For example, in half-guard I will never go under and grab the ankle but always the toes, if I try to move his arm I won't grab the meat of his forearm but hold the wrist. They are really small things and seem obvious when I think of it now but during sparring things do get blurry at times but I've found that I am more focused on little details to improve efficiency that I ever was before.

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