2012 Goals

As the New Year approaches I think it's important to outline some key goals as I step onto the mat for the first time as a blue belt. My technique library is really solid and I think I know more than most entry-level blues based on how immersed in the grappling scene I try to be. With that said, there are a few problem areas that need improvement and minor tweaking:

1. Improved control from guard. Head control, sleeve/wrist control, overhooks/underhooks. Essentially, continuously breaking posture. I play so much open guard nowadays that my closed guard needs improvement.

2. Polishing bread & butter sweeps from guard.

3. Polishing and chaining submissions from guard. Tight armbars, MORE TRIANGLES, and omoplata options (especially the plethora of sweeps available from that position).

4. Heavy development of Half Guard. Avoiding being flat on my back, framing the knee, controlling the bicep and GETTING THE UNDERHOOK! Summed up: avoid the cross-face.

5. Getting the submission I want. Transitions are crucial to ground fighting but maintaining a position (example: back control) and getting say, the rear-naked choke, is also important. Patience and good technique.

6. More collar and lapel use. Cross-collar from guard and top half-guard, Brabo chokes from top half, etc. Implementation of paper-cutter options into my side-control/north-south game.

7. Polishing transitions, TIGHTLY securing positions, being aware of weight distribution.

8. Improved guard passing and utilizing good shoulder and chest pressure to safely pass.

9. Improved takedowns, especially my wrestling.

10. Breathing

Ten goals for 2012. Doesn't seem too bad at all. I predict this will be a great year for my Jiu-Jitsu game.

Marcelo Garcia Promotes His First Two Black Belts

While this is obviously awesome news for Alliance and of course Marcelo himself, the real interesting point here is just WHO he has promoted. Of the two students, one was the subject of the 1993 film Searching For Bobby Fischer, Josh Waitzkin. Mr. Waitzkin was a child Chess prodigy. I find this to be incredibly fascinating, and it further illustrates the notion that Jiu-Jitsu is human Chess. Waitzkin has a goal of becoming a world champion by 2013, and I think with his unique ability to think ahead several "turns", he just may be able to do it. Gotta watch this one play out.

SOURCE

I am officially a Blue Belt!

I had been trying to prepare for the test for the past week and I'd gone over the techniques with Casey and Coe, trying to make sure I had everything looking nice and had a bunch of alternatives if Jacare complained. I left Athens at 9:15 and arrived in Atlanta at 10:45. Kinda sat around while one of the black belts, DJ, taught the beginner class. The front manager told me Jacare would be there shortly so I waited until he arrived at about noon. Coe arrived right before that and he tried to keep me relaxed. I ended up staying around for the whole class and paying the mat fee, but it's whatever. Warmed up, learned some new stuff that unfortunately I don't remember too well (too much else on my mind), then paired up with a blue-belted gentleman named Chris. He was just slightly bigger than me, maybe by 10lbs or so. He had *really* great top pressure and kept driving his shoulder into my neck and chest. I tried to keep him back using Z-guard but he passed me on a few occasions and I spent most of the round trying to get out of bad situations. He subbed me a couple times but my sub defense was pretty decent. I had a decent escape, too, off an attempted armbar. The second fellow's name was Austin. He was also a blue belt, but damn near the exact same size as me. I felt more confident but he ended up murking me. Passed my guard with ease, had super nice transitions and tons of subs. Consequently he had only been training for 1.5 years, but I guess that means a lot more considering he trains at Alliance HQ. Funny thing I realized when I left: the two people I rolled with had the same first and middle name as me (Kristopher Austin)...

Jacare pulled me off to the side around 2:00 and I snagged Coe to be my test partner, which was a lucky break. Another lucky break: Jacare only asked me a handful of techniques and not the whole test. I had to demonstrate the following:

- 1 double-leg takedown
- 1 hip throw
- 1 way to defend standing guillotine
- 1 knee-on-belly submission
- 1 side control submission
- 1 sweep from closed guard
- 1 sweep from open guard w/ a standing opponent
- 2 submissions from back mount
- 1 escape from back mount
- 1 side control escape
- 1 mount submission
- 1 way to defend the headlock on the ground

That's it. I was kind of shocked he didn't ask about passes and the variety of other things that are required, but I'm definitely not complaining. He caught me surprised with the open guard sweep, since I didn't think that was explicitly a requirement, but I proudly pulled a hook sweep out of my ass. Well, I think it was a modified hook sweep. But whatever, because it worked nicely.

After that, I posed for a picture with Jacare and ran the gauntlet to get whipped like a slave. A couple choice idiots were sure to whip the fuck out of me but overall it wasn't too bad. Got acquainted with several of the people there and told Jacare that I would be back at some point but it was "muito caro", which he replied to with "don't be a cheap bastard". LOL. I definitely need to get some training in up there, so I guess that means picking up extra shifts at work to cover the cost. Hoping to go at least once a month, though more than that would be nice.

I am glad everything is said and done. I am drained like a motherfucker. Worse than my finals drained me. Looking forward to a great night sleep and getting back into the groove after New Years. Happy Holidays.

Blog Update Complete!

I have completed the transformation of my blog from shitty to semi-professional. Feel free to share any and all constructive criticism you may have. Big shout-out to my buddy Paul Watson for designing the custom background for me. Hopefully we can get some regular followers and hopefully I can keep this updated with more reviews and news than ever before.

"Vai muito do dizer ao fazer."

Blog Overhaul

I will be cleaning/changing the blog within the next several days. Look out for some cool design stuff (probably not that great) and some content-related ads similar to my BJJHQ banner. Hoping to increase traffic a little bit.

Gear Review: Brute Exo Kneepads

I have been in the market for new kneepads for a while now, hoping to get a set that really protect my kneecaps. One of the most prolonged injuries I've had has been bruised kneecaps. Possibly bursitis, I don't really know. It hasn't been particularly bad in terms of regular life activities, but it has greatly affected my ability to work from inside my opponents' guard, turtle, etc. I began BJJ with some regular oversized white padded vollyball pads, but after 6 months the padding began to break up and shift around. For the past year I've used Mizuno pads (quite similar to THESE), but a year and change later I found the need to replace them too, as the padding was on the decline and no longer protecting my patellas.

I picked up a pair of Brute Exo pads in blue. They were very pricey at $16.99 a piece plus shipping, but hey it's protective gear! Anything that helps my knees is worth the premium price. These are wrestling pads and thus you need to take into account the issue of knee mobility -- ability to triangle, if they affect your half guard escapes, etc.

Firstly, the quality is very nice. These are some fairly heavy duty pads. There is a center circle of injection molding that protects against impact, especially when shooting doubles. There are also some smaller molded areas around the center. Stitching looks good; I don't anticipate having any problems with quality. The pads are lightweight and extremely comfortable. I barely even notice they're on, although I have yet to try them out in no-gi.

The back has mesh which allows your knees to breath and subsequently prevents excessive moisture build-up. I assume that this will work in favor of the life of the pad, as less sweat build-up can only be good. And then there's the lack of slippage, which is obviously very important. I am ~145lbs, 5'10" and I purchased a small. They fit perfectly, don't slide around, and I don't think I've had to adjust them AT ALL while rolling. I've had no issues triangling my legs, so chokes and body-locks are no problem. I have yet to be in someone's VERY tight half guard, but as of now I anticipate no problems there, either.

Overall these were a great buy. Despite the overall cost of approximately $40 including shipping, you just can't put a price on gear that saves your body parts. www.budovideos.com carries them for $14.95, but they only have black. For a better color selection (for the extra couple dollars, of course), check out www.eastbay.com. They are a great site with fast shipping.

FOLLOW UP, 7/15/12:

I keep forgetting to reply with a follow up, so here it is before I forget: these are great. I use them every class and I haven't had bruising on my knees. Well worth the price and highly recommended. There is NO issue of working half guard, triangles, or anything. They stay in place and do not inhibit mobility in any way. They are staying in pretty damn good shape, even after X number of washes. I expect them to last over 2 years with no problems, maybe even longer. 

Cardio

I think I'm going to try to get my cardio up a little bit. I ran yesterday for 1.3 miles. Not really that much but I could potentially go more. I haven't hit a treadmill in ages so I'm surprised at myself. I guess my cardio isn't that bad just from training. I also started lifting again, sorta. But that never lasts more than a week or two. Zero motivation for the mundane act of lifting metal.

One Sweep and One Sub Option Off Failed Classic Butterfly Sweep

While derping around on Facebook and Youtube I came across two very nice videos that deal with a failed single butterfly sweep from a seated position. Both involve your opponent posting out with their opposite leg and both involve you taking control of that leg. The sweep option is really cool; you pretty much take deep half, X guard their hooked leg and kick out to a single-leg takedown. You can probably pass most of the time, too. The other option is a basic ankle lock from a position I'm familiar with because I usually hit most leg locks from there. I do have a tendency to "reap the knee" without realizing, so I have to be conscious of that and stop the bad habit.

Ankle Lock Option:



X-Guard Sweep Option:

Training 11/9 and General Progress Assessment (Year and a Half of BJJ Anniversary)

Went in for some gi training and we reviewed some gi-based lapel and brabo chokes. A couple of options from half guard:

1. pull their lapel around to the back of their head, switch hands once it's on the other side of their head, then take a cross collar choke. If they tuck their chin, take the face crush. We played around with this and the facial crush could do some damage if you're in competition and they're being stubborn.

2. Same set up, but if they try to push into you and post out with their arm, take the arm and use your own chest pressure for the brabo choke -- driving their shoulder into their other artery.

3. Same as #2, but instead of pursuing the choke, pressure their elbow for the armlock.

Drilled with JC and Michael, choosing the majority of the drills to be on bottom of half guard. I was able to secure the underhook and shrimp for some very nice half guard sweeps. Rolling was also with JC and Michael. Somewhat uneventful. Had a few toeholds, TONS of sweeps and passes.

I've been evaluating my current game and trying to break it down in terms of stuff I'm really good at, stuff I know well and hit on occasion, and stuff I know well but rarely go for. Here's the list:

Guard:

Scissor sweep- VERY high percentage for me as of late. I've gotten very aggressive with it and can execute it even if I don't have their weight perfectly on me.

Flower sweep- When I play closed guard, this is also very high percentage. I notice a distinct lack of closed guard. I've gotten more comfortable with open guard and using hooks to throw people around.

Hip Bump sweep- Hit this on occasion. Again, don't play much closed guard, especially when I'm not gassed out.

Butterfly sweeps- These are becoming very high percentage. I'm becoming proficient with them and they combo well with my fake guillotine attempts which get people distracted for the sweep.

Push sweep, opposite-scissor-sweep-thingy, bicep crusher sweep- I can make these work, I know them well, but don't implement them enough. If I play spider guard I'll look for the bicep crusher sweep because I like the mounted triangle combo you can get off it.

Armbars- Super high percentage, these are my bread and butter submissions from guard.

Triangles, kimuras, omoplatas, etc- know these well, although I don't usually attempt them. I'm more than capable of using omoplatas to sweep if I remember to take the position.

To summarize my guard, I feel that it has gotten quite excellent in the past 4 months. I'm playing a ton of open guard, feeling really dynamic with butterfly hooks and just generally feeling relaxed as I throw people around. Josh is the only one who can easily pass my guard now, though Antony sometimes struggles or I do something stupid and he knows to capitalize on it immediately. So, I had the goal of improving my bottom game about 6 months back. Mission accomplished.

Guard passes:

I don't think I can say ANY passes I know are "high percentage" just yet. Passing is probably one of the hardest things you can master in BJJ, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime, I'm decent with the double and single underhook pass, knee-over, and a bunch of butterfly hook passes that land me in half guard.

Half Guard (top):

Half cross-face(grabbing under their head), shin into their abdomen pass- this is pretty high percentage for me. Sometimes I muff up the weight distribution and get dumped over, but I usually make the pass into side control.

knee-cut pass into scarf-hold, post-up-and-use-hook-to-free-leg pass are also decent but don't get used.

Step-over and toehold/kneebar are fun but not really super high percentage.

Half Guard (bottom):

Underhook sweep (fishing for their free foot, then rolling them either way)- Becoming high percentage. I can otherwise escape or recompose. I'm not getting stuck in half guard as much as before.

Side Control (top):

I know TONS of subs from here- armlocks, kimuras, chokes...but attempt none. I'm going to change that. Usually pass to north/south or mount.

Side Control (bottom):

Guard recomposition 99% of the time. Also, sometimes I'll hit the underhook escape. Rarely, I'll roll them.

Mount:

Aside from fucking around to make them uneasy (grapevining, dropping weight into their chest, etc), I always go for the keylock, which forces them to defend. From there I'll take technical mount and hit the armbar (almost always), bow and arrow choke (rarely), or take their back (sometimes, but obviously high percentage when I do).

North/South:

Kimura or armbar transition ALL DAY. Bread and butter submissions. Also aware of the head scissor choke, north/south choke (rare), and the paper cutter series, which is going to be heavily implemented into my game in the coming weeks.

Back Mount:

I usually fish for armbars here, too. I need to work on finishing the RNC and I'm pretty decent with bow and arrow chokes.


I left some other stuff out but this is a pretty solid summary of where I stand at the moment. This is after 1.5 YEARS OF BJJ WOOT. Time flies.

Major goal right now is to improve my top game. Once that happens, I will be really well-rounded and confident in my ability to handle most mid-range blue belts.

No-Gi Training 10/23/11

On friday there weren't many people there so I rolled with Casey and Yoshi, who's a Muay Thai instructor with tree trunk legs. His skill level and technique knowledge isn't near mine I think, but he had some great bread and butter stuff that destroyed me because I kept getting stuck on bottom. I played on top at one point and as he went for a kneebar he handed me his foot so I grabbed the toehold from it. Rolled with Casey and did pretty much nothing but try to survive, since all my offense was smashed with ease.

Today was similar, just me, Casey, Coe (who didn't even roll), Ian and Michael. Mike left after a bit because of Muay Thai-related exhaustion, so I rolled with the big guys. Mostly got smashed but had some great turtle escapes and guard re-compositions. Kept Ian thinking about the leg locks and just generally didn't do too poorly against a more skilled and larger opponent. Techniques were the same as Friday, just the Saulo Ribeiro pass where you lift their closed guard hips onto one of your thighs, post back with the other foot and push the knee down for the break. Cross knee over, pass into side control. Variations were the kneebar off the cross-knee and the toehold which is right there if the kneebar doesn't work.

I didn't even intend on going tonight due to homework problems, but I'm glad I got some good rolls in.