Sweepy-sweepy

Shaolin and Stephan Kesting--



Thanks, Afrorican, for reposting that!

Which reminded me of a question I get sometimes from newbs-- what do I do when we start from the knees? And Stephan has a good answer:



I just received Stephan Kesting's DVD on defending submissions the other day and I can't wait to watch it. I am grateful to have the "problem" of too many wonderful resources and not enough time!

Also a big thanks to Josh Lauber and Scott Reis, who taught me a sweep from halfguard that has been solid gold for me lately. It's basic fundamental stuff and I had to see it a couple times (which is why they both get credit) but I can pull it off more reliably than anything else, so I like it. I used it at lunch and dinner yesterday, yum. :)

Yesterday I rolled at noon open mat and tried out the Sao Paulo pass from Tony Pacenski's DVD. It's on my mind because I was watching his instructional during the cruise (with the intent of reviewing it here; I'm so behind on reviews it isn't even funny. Just learned how to do screen shots though so it's coming!) It's the same pass concept that Donald taught us against the sitting guard, so it was good review, and definitely good for me to see what I get and what I don't get yet. I can just hear Donald's voice telling me to try new stuff against smaller lighter less experienced people... but when I came to open mat, the options were limited-- a blackbelt, 4 browns, and two bigger whites (one of whom is going blue any day now)-- so I ended up trying it against the only person playing sitting guard (who was of course a very solid, technical and skilled brownbelt.) It became a good segue into a "lab" session where 3 browns sat around exchanging perspectives and techniques and I soaked in as much as I could.

Last night I had to work late as I constantly seem to have projects and impending deadlines... but I made it in time for some open mat at the end of the evening class. I was tooled by a super inspiring and technical guy who lost part of his arm in a car accident as a toddler. When I rolled with him the first time a few months ago I thought I would need to take it easy with him-- hahaha! Now I expect the same struggle to not be decimated that I experience with everyone else, and I have no compunction with grabbing the end of that cuff and tying down his partial arm, because he can do amazing things with it. You'd think having half an arm would be a disadvantage, but actually I think he's turned it to a benefit-- you can't armbar, americana, kimura, omoplata or triangle that side, and while he can't actually grip with it, he can fight your grips, block your hips, and even choke you with the stump in cross collars, forearm chokes, clocks, etc. It's sick and he's awesome.

I caught a cold on the ship, I think, and woke myself coughing at midnight. Now I'm still dopey with cold medicine which isn't good since I have a very busy day at work. I happily dropped 8 lbs since the cruise... yesterday I ate nothing but veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower) and lemonade (made with splenda) and I got 3 workouts in... today with this cold, I think I'll just do my conditioning class at noon since it doesn't require contact with other people. I skipped morning jits because the cold medicine really knocked me out but it's good not to share my illness. Sucks though because I want to lose some of the "fluff" as Megan calls it. I'm dedicated to being strictly Paleo though which will help even if I only get 1-2 workouts a day. With that in mind, I have a sack of cauliflower, carrots and green beans on my desk.

Have a great day!! :)