Weight: 222.4
I feel tired...Sore...Banged up...and More alive than I have ever been....In other words, I am back to hard training for the upcoming goals and tournaments. I have really come to the realization that I do not fit anywhere but on the mat. It gives me a way to deal with the problems of everyday life. Even in the difficulties it presents, it does not take the life and joy out of me the way issues of the world, people, and things can do. I do not know why it is this way, but I am happy as at least I do know where I should be. That said I have set about closing up holes in my game which need to be fixed as well as improvement in some areas...I have worked on preventing the sweep from standing in open guard whether by De La Riva or X-Guard or regular push back sweeps...My Balance and stance as well as pressure need to be improved 100 fold to be able to get to where I wish to be...That said...I have also needed to improve on the idea of "aliveness" and not losing position at all...This aliveness is akin to being immersed IN the moment...That allows for the ability to maintain and improve position to give more time to work for the submission, while keeping you safe and preventing yourself being threatened. I have endeavored to work on my safety in closed guard, breaking and passing with extremely heavy pressure while switching from pass to pass relentlessly in order to place pressure upon my opponent until they crack and I take advantage of the end game. Everyone has known me for my guard game and feel they must get to guard before I do to avoid my strong suit. Well through a lot of specific work, I have worked to round out my game to the point the strength of my guard may even be less than the strength of my pass and submit game. With my attributes, I have worked and wished to become able to pass through all of my opponent's defenses (i.e. get to mount), and finish there most often with the palm up/palm up cross choke (eventually working to include the Ezekiel choke), as well as the S-Mount armbar. This not only made necessary an expertise in passing, but also a much better knowledge of the body's mechanics and physiology to be able to exploit leverage to my advantage as this is a very difficult position to hold...I worked diligently on this and felt I was making good progress and through several rolls with very good defensive opponents I have achieved control and the finish on probably 80-90% of the opportunities though this must increase to at least 95%...Well I have found that threatening with both position and varying submission set ups while improving my position allowed me to bring my opponent to the golden decision...This is where they have to give up something...Either give the sub immediately or give better position, then where they are forced to give the choke or the arm but they cannot defend both.
I had a student wish to learn to maintain mount and work the cross choke...In preparing to be able to give him good detail and help in private lessons I worked on getting to that position and finishing with just that on everyone...In doing so, I ended up in the position and I had been having problems because of the proper way to finish the technique causes very bad pain in my surgically repaired hand as it is not healed fully...Well during this time, I remembered what I have learned and been told literally hundreds of times in learning the cross choke, as well as what I have taught....but I had an Aha Moment!...I worked to turn my wrists and in doing so worked in perfect harmony with the proper pull of my forearms and elbows and felt that feeling where everything is soooooo easy as BJJ is meant to be that I KNEW I finally did it correct. I had been doing it and finishing it b/c I could basically overwhelm an opponent and they made mistakes enough to give it to me even though it was not technically perfect. I went to repeat this in practice several times and I finally got it. though I will have to work on it more and ask some who know much more than me to help to improve it even further, I know now I can do this on those of my level and feel confident in it. Was a great feeling to get something right after years of trying. I fight on...
Thought For The Day: Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. -2 Timothy 2:3-7
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