Rolled with Robert in gi this morning.. he's a personal trainer, my instructor in kajukenbo, and teaches my conditioning class every weekday at noon. He's huge and strong and just the sweetest, gentlest, kindest soul. So rolling with him is like rolling with a big, unclawed grizzly bear. He's recuperating from back surgery and so I am apparently great rehab. :)
We started from knees, and I attempted the start of 2 of the 3 sweeps I learned last night. One is a straightforward butterfly sweep, the other involves trapping one leg and sliding it back under them as you push/roll them to that side (a push sweep). Neither worked because I found him rather the immovable object, and apparently despite my own ego I am not the irresistible force. (If you're curious, the third sweep was very similar to that last one, but it starts with your bicep clocking them on the side of the jaw as you wrap your arm around their head/neck, and I wasn't very confident I could pull it off any better than the first two, so why clock my friend in the jaw, I reasoned.)
Most of the time, I worked on passing his guard (closed and half)... I was moderately successful except when he kept my wrists up by his clavicle or really pinched his thighs tight around my hips. Usually what I use is the knee-in-butt-crack, shoot-the-other-leg-back, pin-one-thigh-down pass, which most often got me in half guard. Half guard with him is an okay position for me, as it's one of the rare times our size differential works to my advantage; I can usually get out of his half guard much easier because my stubby little legs fit in the spaces better. Once I used the stand-up pass Eduardo taught me in Berkeley, but I was cautious because of Chris' back; he was giving me sleeve control too.
I was pretty successful on offense this time because he was giving me stuff if I got close to right. I got two Americanas, one on each side, one from mount and one from side control. I almost got a straight armbar from mount.
I was thinking more strategically (BJJ is chess with pain, right?) which is good-- when he'd get one lapel, I was good about controlling his other arm; he didn't lapel-choke me once, and even though he kept pulling my gi skirt out, it never went anywhere either. However, he was able to keep me on the defense, and I never even set up much of a choke on him.
I'm still not so hot on controlling him from the back-- couldn't sink the RNC or even come close before he rolled on me, and from there my stubby legs just couldn't keep hooks in much less close around his waist (body triangle you say? HAHAHA) He did some nice armbars from back control, but when I try the same on him, as I've said before, it's like a kitten on the table trying to turn the table upside down by pulling on the leg.
Anyway it was a great 75 min of cardio and resistance training ;) and a good start to my weekend. We're almost out the door now to head for Jeff and Lauri's wedding in Dallas so I better close the laptop for now.
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