Balance.

When last we left the heroine [that's me] it was Friday open mat. As I sit here trying to remember exactly what we did Friday night open mat, then Sat and Sun classes, then Monday morning class and this morning class, I think I need to train less of a certain kind of class and much, much more of another.

The kind of class that's not as helpful to me is the one that's purely technique. I just feel like at this particular moment in my training, it's unlikely that twice a day we'll have a class that focuses on 4-5 techniques that fit what I am working on.

Instead, I am preferring classes with lots of conditioning, one technique or maybe two, then tons of positional sparring. I can fit one new or refresher technique into the brain, but then when positional sparring, I have a way of working into the position I'm focusing on more. I would say that my primary focus now is passing guard and secondary focus is playing it. Or I need more one on one time with better people, where I get to be dummy for their new stuff [thank goodness for osmosis] and they get to walk me through my baby steps. Drilling with no resistance for a million reps is good, I guess, but I actually prefer just 5 reps, and then a little resistance. Five more, then maybe 20% resistance, and so on till you're just sparring from the position. It helps me more, anyway.

I did have a good time rolling with Vidush and Phil yesterday morning. Good work on halfguard passing, first. Then later, instinctively reached for DLR guard w/Phil at one point and even said aloud that I had no clue what I was doing, but noticed that apparently pushing his knee away with my other foot was part good. Would've been better if I could have done something after, like get up on top? But that's a lot to ask. Just fun to play with it. I do want a more efficient side escape. As he pointed out, I'm good at getting the knee in there, but my upper body stays flat. I need to make something happen, decisively, instead of just moving one step at a time and pausing between.

Feel like I totally wasted class this morning. The heroine's usual sidekicks (Vidush, Phil, and to a lesser extent, Shama, Richard, Sean and/or Travis) were unavailable, so she...

Okay-- where'd the third-person perspective come from? Heck, I'm no heroine. It just sounded good. Anyway..

... didn't prioritize arriving quite so early. I didn't even get out of the house till 7, so rolled into class around 7:30. Mark, the new brown belt, was teaching and it looked like a variation on torso control for armbars. I ended up getting some hints on a kimura/armbar series from Andrew, a BIG freaking blue who writes Swollen Ears. Then straight into rolling; first a few rounds with Mark who generously let me work through a few things. My standing guard passes need better balance. I see things that Ian would have handled easily, but I'm off base which limits my range of movement, and once you start tipping, it's all over. Second with Andrew who made it obvious that I need a better side escape. When someone who weighs at least 180 settles in nice and tight, it. just. plain. sucks.

Comp class tonight. Hope Donald is back in town to teach it.

For a little treat, Stephen Kesting just put out this nice video of 5 basic types of triangles. Enjoy!