Instructor Learning

I know I know...I'm late with this one....(Ain't like y'all out there waiting on me anyways! lol)

As of today, I am 207.4 but I am starting a new diet and hopefully my tournament preparation workload should help me hit and stay at my target weight of 215 by the second week of March...


This is the second training session of the day as I'd trained earlier in the day at Marcus' Gym...See Previous post....

Last Wednesday, I was asked to teach class. I'm always honored to do so, so I went in in pretty decent spirits considering I was having not so nice of a day personally...

Started off by the normal cardio/calisthenic warm up exercises for about 20 min, and then started the knee on belly and transition game drills...Everyone (even those who's cardio isn't that good yet) stuck it out..which made me feel better as it seems folks are getting in better shape and trying harder to stick to the entire script...

We broke the class into beginners and upper belts, and I taught the upper belts while another of our purple belts was given the beginners to take and teach fundamentals...This was kind of weird, because in the class that night two of our really good brown belts showed up (including the guy who helps me get ready for tournaments that is really technical and is one of the measuring sticks for my game), as well as a purple belt drop in (he came form the Paraestra school in Tokyo...was hereon business, as well as a couple other really good guys...so I felt a little pressure to make certain I taught things thoroughly, and that I did well enough to have them feel fulfilled in being there...First I taught a side-control set up for a close-lapel choke to the Gi part of the class, and a back-control arm bar dive to the no-gi guys...then I taught a new variation on the Omo Plata, which is set up from sitting guard (one of the browns had not seen it, and because he plays sitting/open guard a lot he was really interested)...I learned a lot about this position because I got asked a lot of questions in detail, and I'd been playing with it in rolling and it turns out the theory of it, as well as in-action adjustments, I knew because I could answer their questions to a point I got them all actually doing it (it is a fairly complex move) competently, and the brown belt that helps me work on my game asked questions and i actually came up with different scenarios and options off things on the fly that were correct without having seen the instructional video on it...This was based off just the feel and my own experience...That made me feel good being able to answer sufficiently the questions of someone so advanced...the visiting purple gave me a high compliment on the teaching as well!!! :)


On to rolling...
First round I had to supervise so I placed the visitor with one of our brown belts (he just won his division in Golden Gloves by the way!...congrats!)...
Second round I placed him with one of our other purple belts and I rolled with Jacob, the brown belt that helps me out with my game...
Normally, he dominates me positionally, and slips in a submission every so often...tonight though, we battled back and forth with me getting several sweeps, and three good submission attempts (triangle, cross collar choke, and inverted arm bar)...He worked out of them but all were very good and would have been advantages for me in a match...The thing that made me feel best about it, was that I worked in this reversal to my pressure guard pass that I've been trying to perfect, and got it...not once but twice!...Passing his guard in such a directed manner more than once had me ecstatic..so much so that I didn't remember what I was trying to do once I got to side control! lol....Anyway, I seem to be getting a bit better....Working with him, listening to Marcus, and Coach Allen has been getting my game together...hopefully I can eliminate these arm issues and get my game where it needs to be to win Pan Ams....

next roll is with the visiting purple belt...He was lighter than me but not sure by how much, but dude was strong a shell and VERY technical...We started knee to knee...he moved in and did a sideways sweep which would have netted him a two pt take down in competition and i recovered to an in and out guard...he attempts the same guard pass Albert Hughes got me with at the last tournament...(As this seems to be the one way my guard has been passed, if at all in the past year or so...Got two different counters for this one from coach Allen and a couple from Marcus hicks...this is NOT gonna happen to me again...)...I picked one Marcus showed me and it worked like a charm...collapsed his base and went to his side, working towards the back, but he rolled to his side and I worked from half-guard...he had both knees in and was defending the cross face very well so I instinctively (i note that because it now feels like I know when to do it naturally w/o thinking) moved to one of my favorite pass variations and passed directly to side control then to knee on stomach... :-D from there I worked to set a same side arm bar, but lost grip because of my rapidly deadening arms...no matter though, I move to what he thought was mount, and when he went to turn, I rolled to my in and out guard but having his arm trapped and locked it down using his Gi...he worked to free it while I worked my hips out to that side and worked his wrist until I got my favorite...Triangle...Set it, grabbed the leg..Tap...Next, we start knee to knee again...and I'm ready for his take down attempt so I pull butterfly guard, and he stands...I try the new Omo Plata set up I taught, but since he's seen it he was ready and I transitioned it to the Omo Plata reversal...ended up in side control and went for the far side lapel choke...had to fight it harshly b/c of my arms being dead, but ended up getting it at the end of the round...

Last round, I worked with one of our blue belts who has been hitting "the wall" lately and thinking waaaay too much...i pretty much used the session to punish him when he just stayed in one position, and hopefully it got through to him, because he is too good to be hesitating so much. I feel for him because I wen through the same thing a few times...Felt kind of bad afterward for submitting him so much and grinding out passes/chokes..but I think he will be better off for it this week..I always am after rolling with Marcus, so I hope he responds the same way...

Afterward I hadn't lost too much weight so I did the normal cardio session I have laid out for training sans arm workouts...I sure hope I can find out what's wrong...


Lesson of the day though is you can learn by teaching.


Thought of the day: Let go, and Let God.






Someone told me last week: "Steve, you ain't built for no small sh#t! Get about doing what you were made to do."

Thank you... I appreciate that a lot more than you know!

...the person doesn't know me personally per se...but they feel this about me, and I don't want to let anyone down....Arms or not, bad health or not, bullshit in my life or not...I WILL be a champion this year and I WILL be a brown belt...or die trying.


also, dunno if I said this b4...but I got invited to participate in the Alliance (the team of my instructor's instructor that we fight under at the major tournaments) Pan Am games training camp in Atlanta, the week before Pan Ams(19th[My Birthday!!!] - 26th) ...Trying to figure out whether or not to go there, or to compete in Louisiana state Championships or Naga in Florida (both of which are the weekend of March 15th)...Really don't know.