Class #31 – 20180530 (1905-2055) GI

Jerry Black Belt instructor. Came into the class did a bunch of Marcelo passes and jump overs and thigh exercises so I had death I all night. We worked on a few sweeps and one choke, baseball choke. The sweeps were where you grab the ghee near the wrist put it outside of your knees put your foot on the hip. From there you either wrap the left leg around the arm or bring the left wrist inside the knee wrap it around put the foot through the armpit pull back. Then you rock back Rockford and use that momentum while grabbing the leg and not letting go and flipping the person over. You could use the right foot to go under through the legs of the person or to the to that person's right hip which is on your left side. The baseball choked was basically using your right hand putting it to the tag on a collar gripping using the left hand closing the as much space as possible similar to a baseball grip. Taking that right elbow and windshield wiper Ringgit across under the chin and turning your body while keeping it close to the person. Pretty decent rolls tonight roll with some new guy he's huge it was tough being under him. Rowe Thomas pretty good defense couldn't really get anything on but I maintain a bad control for a long time. Road with new girl Ariel she's super dude so I would really doing much but working on my passing defense pretty good top control from half my half guard.

US Grappling Virginia Beach, VA 17 March 2018

Lost both matches on points. Pulled my hamstring really bad at some point. Withdrew from the gi competition. 0-2 on the day.  1-4 in the 165-175lbs 30+ no gi class. Need to get back to the bjj gym and start working out again also. My cardio was nonexistent. Good fun though. I'll get better.

US Grappling Raleigh, NC 3 March 2018

This being my first event it was a tough one. I won my first match on points but I wasn't really concerned with the points. I was worried about getting the takedown and going through my transitions. I think in the end this hurt me more than helped me winning my first match. During my second match I ran into a guy that had pretty good wrestling and he was short compact and muscular. I was also tired from the short time in between matches. I went for a shot, a sloppy shot at that and got taken down. From there I went into survival mode even though all my opponent was doing was holding me down. I lost that match on points. My next match was for the third place medal. I took the person down and who's winning in points until I decided to make a stupid mistake and go for an armbar when I really wasn't in position to do so. I ended up getting taken down and pretty much couldn't get up from there so I lost on points. Ended up getting fourth place in the 30 and over nogi beginners bracket. I did an absolute 30 and over beginner noogie and got triangle choked and put to sleep in the first round and I lost. I had a good takedown I was winning on points I just didn't follow the fundamentals I tried to go into side control when I should have just stayed in mount and kept my points. Point matches are really different from just open matt rolling but this is a very good lesson to learn. I think I'm going to enter the event on March 17th though.

Open Mat – 20180202 (1854-2001)No-GI

Class #30 – 20180131 (1847-2033) GI

Jerry black belt was the instructor. No cardio, which seems to be the theme lately. We went over some of the de la riva defenses that we exercised on Monday. I was called up to demonstrate one. We learned how to use the de la riva to turn into an arm bar if your opponent is standing. Good stuff. We also learned three chokes started from a neutral kneeling position. Jerry love guillotines. All started from the head snap to a guillotine. From there it was a collar choke by switching the hips, an x-collar choke, and the one that I have done before, the spinning collar choke. This is where you basically sit on the back of the turtled opponent and fall back choking them with their own collar. The pass and defend was fun. I got to go with Patrick and I pulled off my flip pass which he thought I wasn’t going to be able to do. Gout em. I rolled with new guy and subbed him 50 times. He is super new. I was just trying things on him. I rolled with Thomas and he was gassed and still a little hurt but it was fun. Good night of rolling. I am working my knee on belly and I am getting some good results. I have also been trying the half guard single leg pass. Starting to get better at it. Left wrist still at about 60%. Left middle finger still hurting. Lat muscle feeling better. More tight than anything. This was my last class before SLC. 

Class #29 – 20180129 (1840-2036) No-GI

Jerry black belt was the instructor. Pretty quick class. We did not do any cardio. We learned a few de la riva defenses. First, one was spinning to your butt and quickly kicking the half guard off. Second was the sit on stomach, calf slice using a kimura grip. Last was the knee crank. Good rolls tonight. Chris only got me once. Defense is getting better. 

Open Mat – 20180126 (1849-2013) No-GI

Open mat night. Rolled with a few people. Tried to work my bottom game as well as some things from the top. Nothing interesting to say today. I really need to start logging these entries right after they occur or the next day. 

Class #28 – 20180124 (1837-2035) No-GI

Matt brown belt was the instructor. There were a couple of new people in the class so we went over three basic sweeps and four full guard breaks. My wrist is still jacked up. I pulled my lat muscle at the trampoline park Sunday so I did not go Monday and did not roll Friday. I really enjoyed the sweeps and I think that I need to find the names of the sweeps out. 

Open Mat – 20180119 (1841-2020) No-GI

Good rolls today. Rolled for like 37 minutes with Haulston. We both subbed each other. My new work with getting out of/not getting into kimuras worked very well. Rolled with Jason too. He got me in an early arm lock. That was more of a dumb move on my part. After that I did great and I had a chance at a submission. I kept the pressure up and we ended when Jason called for an end. He made the comment that it was a really good too and he needs more like that.

Class #27 – 20180117 (1838-2048) GI

Curtis brown belt was the instructor. My wrist is getting better. We went over some drills where you get passed by the Marcelo pass and you sort of shrimp on the inside of the opponents’ passing leg and roll up on your shoulder using the opponent’s leg to bring you back to facing them.  Cool little movement. Form there we went into doing the D’arce choke, and how to adjust if the opponent is getting up. Very effective and it helped my D’arce very much. We did pass and defend. I went with James and Matt. James and I were a god battle. Matt passed me so many times I lost count. I really need to find something solid to work on not getting passed. Matt showed me some good things after class about keeping the foot on the hip. I rolled with Patrick and AJ. I tried to implement some mission control on AJ and it helped me roll to the back easily. Not a bad night overall. I really felt like I learned some good stuff. 

Class #26 – 20180115 (1847-2029) NO-GI

 Jerry black belt was the instructor. My wrist is getting better. Jerry was not dressed out but gave instructions. The move that he went over tonight after the conditioning drills was something I did not particularly like. In fact I waited too long to make this entry so I do not remember exactly what it was. Keith and Jason’s girlfriend were promoted to blue belt. Jerry told me to buy my blue belt. He still sucks at my name. Rolled with Haulston, the new person, and someone else. Decent night.  

Open Mat – 20180113 (1157-1316) No-GI

Wrist still jacked up. Dr. Doom (Nick), Chris, and Thomas attended. Thomas is getting better. He subbed me with an arm lock from a failed triangle attempt. Meh. Chris got me once or twice I think. Kimura and maybe an arm lock I do not remember. Doom got me with a kimura, but for the most part, it was a pass and defend class against him the entire time. I could not pass him for crap. I got close a few times though. Overall, it was an average day for open mat. I was not tired at all the entire time. My cardio feels good at the moment. I am not as strong as I was before though obviously. Oh well. I need to perfect the basic moves like, the triangle and the arm bar. 

Class #25 – 20180110 (1852-2048) GI

Matt Brown belt was the instructor. We went over the warm-up drill that Jerry likes to do. Marcelo passes, shuffle passes, arm bar drills, the hop in pass drill that I cannot remember the name. We did some additional sweeps. This class was mostly drills. I did however arriving later than everyone else end up drilling with Matt. Good times. He gave me a bunch of pointers on my form and let me know how the movements were supposed to go. Something I really did not know. The finer details and such. He was really calling me out of a lot. I have come to identify Matt as the person to be my teacher. I have learned most under him. I rolled with Haus, Lathan, and Keith’s gf. None of them seemed to want to do anything aside from Keith’s gf. It’s cool because my wrist is still bugging me. 

Class #24 – 20180108 (1832-2045) NO-GI

Matt Brown belt was the instructor. Seems like Jerry is not coming back for a bit. Back over to Matt. We went over the warm-up drill that Jerry likes to do. Marcelo passes, shuffle passes, arm bar drills, the hop in pass drill that I cannot remember the name. I did not really feel like going mostly because I have not had the energy to go and my wrist is bothering me. My finger was still hurting too. I really do not remember the lesson that much. I basically floated through the class. Got tossed up by a new guy. Still working on my ground game and trying to defend. Not going well. I need to research it a bit more. 

BJJ History