Progress Update: Two Year Anniversary Edition!

Today, April 30th, marks my 2nd completed full year of Jiu Jitsu. I am very excited for this landmark and look forward to many more years of rolling fun! Today also marked a sad day, as long time fellow lightweight grappler Antony said his farewells as he is moving back to Atlanta post-graduation. He's been training with Casey since before there was even a Megalodon -- for 4 years -- and I will miss rolling with him for sure. This reminds me of just how quickly time can fly. I have one year left in Athens. Then I too will move on.

I showed up at 7pm and rolled with Josh for the half hour. He destroyed me. His no-gi game is light-years ahead of his gi game, IMO. Anyway he is preparing for US Grappling in May so he needs to be on his A game.

We went over some basic butterfly sweeps. The first was a two-on-one sweep similar to the one-leg sweep. Kill an arm, half collar tie, and get momentum going back to take side control. Second was armdrag to back-take. I use this technique a lot when I can. Lastly we went over what to do if they initiate an escape from back mount in the wrong direction. Help them slide over the choking arm and drive your locked arms through to an arm-triangle. Good stuff. Antony got to roll with everyone and he caught me in a twister, which is always bad ass. Went over some butterfly passes with Coe. Controlling both feet at the heels and pulling. Wait for them to pull back with one leg and step over to knee-on-belly. I'm still not a huge fan of no-gi. I really enjoy the thinking and methodical way of attack that goes on in gi.

At this two year mark, I find that my half guard has greatly improved. I play a lot of Z guard and can sometimes hit sweeps from there. More development is necessary, though. Been hitting many more triangles and even transitioned to omoplatas a few times. I will be continuing to work on maintaining back control and getting the choke from there.

In other news, I am trying to get a job near home this summer. I was gonna stay in Athens, but I would greatly prefer to take work that isn't mind-numbing (TeleNet...). If I can get a job at Jew camp in Dunwoody, I will be right near Alliance HQ. Michael mentioned a deal that Jacare offered him for like $180/month for a 3 month contract. I think that's doable. It would be cray to train there almost every day. Here's to hoping everything works out, and it will be an awesome summer indeed.

Feels Great To Be Back!!

So my injury is almost 100% better and today was my return to the gym. Everything went well. Made sure to stretch everything out and I don't think I'll have any continued issues with my quad muscle. We worked some omoplata escapes, including where you simply pull out, the jump over to side control escape, and the counter omoplata if you try to roll forward and they attempt to block you. Nothing particularly new to report on. Been having continued success with the reverse scissor sweep from full and half (Z) guard. I've also been working on stripping grips and it's enabling me to move around easier and frustrate my opponents. The biggest thing I'm uncomfortable with at this point is top game and guard passing. So I'm gonna be working a lot of that in the coming months. Hopefully a summer job with 40 hours a week will enable me to train at Alliance in Atlanta a bunch. Then I can really take my game to another level.

Torn Quadricep

I've been training for almost 2 years now, and thankfully I haven't had any serious injuries that would require significant medical attention or a large amount of time off the mat. I can still say that's true, but man, this injury sucks. About 3 weeks ago I was running around with some friends and I must have pulled something in my right quad. Aggravated it somehow. I stretched well beforehand, but I'm not a runner and I probably overdid it. I was rolling fine for the week after, but I didn't even realize that the muscle was tweaking and cramping on me during regular activities throughout the day. I went in to roll some no-gi and like a complete idiot I didn't stretch. I guess my mind wasn't right. I loaded up a lightweight onto my shin, sorta like a scissor sweep position when he was trying pass, and the whole muscle cramped up like never before. Really shitty pain. I sat out the rest of class and couldn't really move around much. Ended up taking some ibuprofen for the swelling when I got home and of course, R.I.C.E treatment. I'm thinking it's a stage 1-2 tear, somewhere in between. I've been out for 2 full weeks now and my leg still hurts. Aiming for a Wednesday return, but if it isn't much better I'll need more time off. Always stretch, kids. At least I've been making that minimum wage cheddar while picking up shifts at work instead...