Sunday bjj class

In yesterday's class we went over the saw sweep that we've been working all week.

Several promotions. I received me second stripe, as did Keoni and Jeremy. Josh got his fourth stripe and will be a blue belt before long.

I'm not sure I've mentioned it yet, but a promotion of note was for Todd, a new purple belt. Todd has been training for longer than James (the Black Belt under whom we all train). As James tells it, Todd and James were black belts at a Karate school back in the 1990's. They both discovered BJJ at the same time and started trying to learn it on their own. It was Todd who first sought out "real" instruction, training at one of the early schools here in the Seattle area. Todd was a blue belt before James even started training formally in BJJ. Long story short, Todd schools us all. He's been sandbagging for a decade. :) Seriously, though, he's a good guy, and willing to share almost everything. He's always willing to say, "Hey, there's a good armlock from here. Just take and...." or even, "You're doing a good job. Good base, and you weren't giving me anything. Nice job." What he WON'T tell you is how to pass his spider guard. Here's how that conversation goes:

ME (or anyone else): "Todd, how the hell do I get around that spider guard."

Todd: "Well, Steve, it's hard to say. Honestly? I don't know."

Me: "Yeah, okay."

Todd: "Seriously. It's just a gift. I don't know, but it gives a lot of people problems. I wish I could tell you."

Me: "Whatever. Show me that armbar again." :)

I rolled with Josh and feel pretty good. I tapped to one armbar and would've been caught in another had we not bumped up close to the wall. On the other hand, I got around his guard several times, kept him moving and working and felt like I did pretty well.

I got to roll with coach, too. That's always cool. You can't do anything wrong and even when you do it right you're like, "Ohhh, so that's how to get out of that."

this is a test

Ok. I'm sending this from my iphone. It's not nearly as easy as on a fullsize keyboard, but not terrible either. It really does all of what they advertise, although there are a few things i am going to miss.

First is voice recognition. With the bluetooth headset, it is very handy to be able toake a call without having to pull out the phone. Safer while driving, too. That's the biggie.

Mainly, i just wanted to see how practical blogging on tje train will be.

Oh. What is very cool is that i habe youtube, wifi internet, and can also add my own videos. So I'll always have some bjj techniques to watch

BJJ Class Tuesday 7/24/2007

Okay, I mentioned yesterday that we learned a new sweep. First, however, I want to say that I'm am SO SORE today! My arms are sore. My hands are sore. My neck is sore. I'm sore. We ended up doing sort of an open mat time at the end where we just sparred with whomever we could... no time limits or anything, and more along the lines of 45 minutes or so of sparring.

Okay, so the sweep we learned is from guard. I've got my opponent in guard and I want to sweep him over to my right side. I'm going to start by getting a good grip on his left lapel with my right hand, just a straight hold so that I don't raise any red flags that I'm going for a choke or anything. Then pulling with both my feet and my right arm, I'll break down his posture and once he's collapsed I'll feed my left hand, palm toward me deep into his collar as though I'm going for a simple cross collar choke, similar to this one but from guard. The defense against this is often to fight the arm, and to tuck the chin in. This is what I want. I want for my opponent to tuck his chin and protect his neck. At this point, I'll reach up and over his head/neck with my right arm and grab my own sleeve, using my forearm on his jaw (because he's protecting his neck) to turn his head sideways, sandwiched firmly between my to arms. Now, as long as I'm controlling his head, he's not going to pass, so I'll open my guard and, while keeping my right leg up and connected (I don't want to just flop it on the floor), I'll use my left leg to start pulling my hips out to the side and turn up to my right hip. This is going to make it very easy to elevate my left elbow, putting a lot of pressure on his neck and essentially forcing him to roll to his back. This is not an explosive sweep; rather, it's very slow and methodical. I imagine those old videos of the rodeos where the cowboy grabs the bull by the horns and puts him down by cranking on the head.

Once in mount, if I've got a good grip, I can reach over and finish the cross collar choke from mount, or I can establish position for points in a tournament and then work to finish in another way. We drilled the baseball bat from guard. I will, time permitting, attempt to describe this technique in a later post.

Oh, and I think my shark gi really helped me out! On the strength of the review on Smash Pass, another BJJ blog, I very impulsively ordered a new gi from Padilla & Sons at Matrat.us. As you can see if you take a look at the link, these gis have a shark as the logo. I think that's pretty neat, but what would be even cooler is if the sharks had freakin' lasers on their heads. I think I'm going to have to make that happen at some point.

For what it's worth, this gi is actually very comfortable and light. I don't know how durable it is, but I'm definitely going to wear it often on hot days.

Pictures from Class 7/24/2007

Just trying out a new thing. I'll write up class when I can. We learned a nice sweep from guard.

Here are some pictures. To be honest, my kids too the pictures and didn't happen to get any from when I was getting completely dominated for most of class! I tapped more than Sammy Davis Jr. tonight! :)

Dave camarillo VS. Dan Camarillo

A lot of people I know have very little idea what BJJ looks like when done well. For those of my friends who have never seen BJJ done at all, I am still a poor example. Of course, there are a lot of videos on YouTube, but this one is particularly good. This clip is Dave Camarillo VS. Dan camarillo at the HCK All Comers tournament in 2002.

They stay busy the entire time, and you'll see several good takedowns as well as great movement on the ground, some acrobatic guard passing and many submissions attempted including armbars, chokes and you name it. While this particular match doesn't end with a submission, I think the physical strategies and these particular guys' skill comes across very well. I'm unclear about whether this is an actual match or more of a demonstration. Either way, it's a very cool clip and a great example of where I'd like to be someday.

Let me know what you think.

Sunday BJJ Class 07/22/2007

Had an awesome class today. Looks like we're continuing to work on passing the half guard, so technique today was review. I think I'm getting these okay in drilling, and am having moderate success in sparring. Doesn't work every time for me, but that's from me not minding my base or in some cases allowing my opponent to secure an underhook and try to sneak around to my back.

I rolled again with Big Rick. I damn near went to sleep. I was working my half-guard pass, but he hooked my leg in a way that made it impossible to work my knee out. As you can see in the picture, his hands are almost as big as my head. This is me trying to keep shoulder pressure, head low, hips down and work my leg out.

Shortly after this picture, he secured a tight choke, similar but not quite the same as an Ezekiel Choke. At first, I wasn't as concerned about the lapel grips as I was focused intently on my feet. Then, when I first felt the choke, I thought I could get out of it, but he was too strong. I tapped and it was only then that I realized how close I was to nap time. The blood rushed back to my head and I took a couple of deep breaths.

Next match was with Mikey. He was tired. We rolled for a while and I eventually ended up with closed guard. As he started to pass, I turned to my side and went for a basic scissor sweep. I didn't expect it to work, but I was hoping that it would put his arm closer to my side, which it did. I was able to get a figure four position and pull it out for the kimura. He said that he tweaked his ribs on that one. I think it was like pulling a muscle. I don't want anyone to get hurt, but I don't think I was being irresponsible. I definitely don't want to spaz out and hurt anyone!

After class in open mat, I rolled for about 10 minutes with Keoni. I really worked on my guard, staying busy, rolling him when I could and working for collar chokes and the kimura. I did try a triangle, but my legs are kind of stubby. Not that I can't get it... just that I'll have to keep working on it. If I don't do it exactly right, I don't have the natural leverage or flexibility to recover from a mistake.

I also had the opportunity to help with a private lesson. A Gracie blue belt is visiting the area from California. I was his grappling dummy while Coach helped him with a lot of techniques such as the Basic Guard Pass #1 and #2, and a couple of the techniques used to regain guard from side control, such as this one.

We rolled for a bit at varying intensities and I feel very good about where my training is headed. As anyone who trains in BJJ knows, a white belt spends most of his mat time being manipulated like a puppet. You work what you know and focus on the fundamentals, and progress is difficult to gauge. It's not until you roll with someone you've never met that you get a sense of what you've really learned. It was really cool to work with someone from another school and I'm glad I was asked.

Tuesday and Wednesday BJJ Classes

I realized that I didn't write up these two classes. We worked on the same techniques: passing the half guard.

I did get a lot of sparring in, particularly on Tuesday. It was a small class, and so I got four matches with a wide range of skill levels. Wednesday I had a chance to roll with Big Rick, one of our purple belts and just an all around big guy. He's up around the 300 lbs range.

Funniest part was when, after I basically resigned myself to 5 minutes of defense and trying not to get squished, I pulled guard and couldn't even close my guard. So, I got a good grip on his lapel with my right hand, controlled his right arm and brought my right knee in to try a basic scissor sweep. He said, "You can't even close your guard, and you think you're going to be able to sweep me?" I laughed... nervously, "Haha... yeah." Shortly after that, as I tried to break down his posture he passed my guard.

So, you can probably guess how I did... a 185 lbs white belt against a 300 lbs purple belt. I worked to stay up on my side, tried to keep my arms in, keep some space and keep breathing. I was only partially successful, although I felt a lot better than the last time we sparred a few months ago.

Next class will likely be Sunday.

Well I'll be damned!

I'm a treehugger. I was over on one of my friend's blogs and she posted a link to this political test. I don't do many of these, but this one looked intriguing. Here are my results. If you're inclined to do so, take the test and let me know how you scored.

You are a Social Liberal (70% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (26% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat (26e/70s) Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Pic from Sunday's Class

Rolling with Mikey, he attempted some kind of fancy armbar transition. My arm wasn't in any real danger here, but my dignity was taking a few blows. As I said after class, I think that in some cultures we're married now.

It was a good roll, though, and even though I have a good 30 lbs on him, he kept me busy the entire time.

Sunday BJJ Class 07/15/2007

First, congratulations to all of the Foster BJJ guys who competed yesterday! You all did great!

Warm-ups were relatively light, although the ab work was on the tough side. Coach told us that sometimes the tournaments highlight a skill or technique that we need to work on as a group. Apparently, many of the guys competing yesterday, including our guys had trouble passing half-guard. I guess they'd get to where their legs were locked up and be unable to move into mount or into side control. So, today we reviewed the details of doing this, many of which I hadn't heard before.

We're presuming my opponent is in a good, solid position, so he's got my right leg locked down and his right arm is across my neck, widening his elbow out, and his left arm is on my hip, keeping space and allowing him to remain on his side. I want to free my right leg so I can make him pay for all of the smack he was talking. The first thing to do is to make sure that he's flat. The "correct" way to do this is NOT to drive forward, basically creating an uncomfortable amount of pressure on my neck, although if I'm strong or heavy enough, this might work. Instead, the best way is to walk my legs around toward the trapped leg. So, I widen out my right leg a few inches and then bring my left leg in. This changes the angle and forces the bad guy's shoulders to the mat. Very simple and very effective. We played around with this a bit and if I'm on the bottom, this seems pretty foolproof. I tried to nudge my hips out, but the change in angle sort of screwed that up.

When I attempted to hip escape, I basically gave him side control, even if I did manage to get a knee in. Not sure if that's better for me from half guard. Now that I think about it, it may be. Rather than giving him mount or established side control, I can be in a more defensive position up on my side so I'm not flat and vulnerable, and my knee inside his hips to give me some leverage so that I can work to re-establish my guard. But I digress.

Now that the villain is flat, I'm going to underhook his left arm to keep him from blocking my right knee, and also to keep him from slipping out underneath and taking my back. I'll then drive my left hip down to the mat and basically walk my foot up towards his butt a little at a time. Eventually this will create enough space to pull my knee through. When that happens, I drive my knee to the ground and establish my base just as if I had mount. Now I can usually point my toes and pull my foot through. In some cases I can use my left foot to force his legs open and get mount.

The variation we learned was for when I can't get my foot out. My opponent has super strong legs and I just can't manage to get my foot through. In this situation, I'm going to switch tactics. I first need to re-establish my underhook on the right side to prevent him from getting my back. Then I'll keep my head low and bring my knee up and over to his right side so that both of my legs are on the same side, controlling his right arm at the same time to keep him from posting on my hip. I can post up on my left leg if necessary to create the space needed to get my knee over. At this point, I point my toes and sit through. If I still need to get my foot out I can use my other leg.

I had several opportunities to work on these techniques in sparring.

I did pretty well in sparring. Three matches in a row. First I went with Mikey who seemed to be ready to go pretty hard. I was tired after that one. I worked on keeping base and staying busy. I had to defend a few tricky transitions and he very nearly got me with a guillotine that was very deep. The only thing that saved me was that he was pulling from what was essentially a butterfly guard. Overall, it was a good roll and I'm very happy with how I did. I don't have as much technique as Mikey, but I'm a few weight classes heavier than him, and was able to use my greater size and strength to neutralize many of his attacks. While I will typically not try to muscle around with guys at about my own level of expertise, I won't hesitate to use whatever advantage I can against someone who has enough technique to deal with it.

My second match was with Bruce, who is roughly... oh, I don't know. He's easily at 230 lbs, I'd say... maybe even heavier. Bruce is also quite strong. I pulled guard, experimented some with spider guard, and worked to stay busy breaking down his posture and threatening with some submissions. Several times he would retreat back far enough outside my guard that I would get my knees back under me and reset rather than allow him to flatten my legs out. I ended up taking his back a few times and got two taps from rear naked choke.

My third match was with one of the females at the school. I was pretty tired, so it worked out well. I was more aggressive than usual, but she's tough. As usual, I tried not to muscle techniques, and worked instead on transitions and establishing position. I had lots of opportunities to work on getting out of half-guard and attempted many techniques. I got one tap, a kimura from guard. I'm actually pretty pleased with how this one set up. I was in mount, and she bridged up to try and reverse into my guard. I saw that she was posting up on her right arm, so I went with the reversal and locked her arm up as we swapped positions. As she came over into my guard, her arm was already compromised and she tapped. I feel good that I didn't use any strength really to set that up. Just kind of saw it as we were rolling and went for it.

After class, I rested for a bit and then worked with Bruce during open mat. He wanted to work on getting out of back control so I worked with him on that for a while. Then I worked on some basic techniques from guard: armbar and kimura. Bruce has either forgotten or never learned the basic kimura, so I showed him the technique as we learned it a few weeks ago.

All in all, a good class. Only downside today was that I got punched in the noggin and have a minor headache.

Oh, and there's a tournament on September 15th. Now that I'm feeling better, I'd like to compete. I have two months to lose an additional 10 or so lbs of fat. My goal remains to improve my conditioning so that I walk around at 175 lbs, but since injuring my hip I was content to remain under 185 lbs. I'd like to compete at 172 lbs, so I'm going to get serious about dropping that weight.

Good luck to all Foster BJJ Competitors!!!

The Revolution BJJ/Submission Wrestling tournament is tomorrow! I'm not competing in this one; however, many of my teammates will be.

Good luck to all of you. I'll definitely be there, and I'll bring my video camera and tape as many matches as I can!

Anyone who's in the Seattle area, if you're interested in watching or competing, Jeff's tournaments are well organized. This one's at Bonney Lake High School, and I've been told that there will be four full sized wrestling mats going at all times.

Can't wait!

Wednesday BJJ Class 07/11/2007

Late write up of this class. My brother is down from Alaska and was able to come out and watch the class. That was cool. Hopefully, he'll join us on the mats before he leaves. Now that the weather is cooling off, I think he might do that. Seeing how relaxed everyone in the school is, and how it's not about competition or ego, he's more comfortable with the idea. I also made sure he understands that we just do as much as we're capable of doing. It's up to each of us to motivate ourselves to improve.

So, with that out of the way, we did some warmups. We did the standard drills, plus the forward and backward pop-ups. I can do the backward ones well, but the forward pop-ups kill my hips. Well, technically, it's the fact that I can't do them and end up landing squarely on my hip that kills my hip. If I could do them, I'd probably be fine.

Technique was the same. I worked on paying attention to the details and experimented a little with Jeremy on the gator roll finish.

Sparring was informal. Coach basically opened it up to open mat at that time, so I rolled with Mike. He's still getting me in the triangle at least once. At one point, I found myself in a position to try to get the gator roll, got what I thought was a pretty deep grip and tried to roll him. The problem was that I couldn't pull him forward flat. I did get the roll, but my grip just wasn't quite tight enough. One of the purple belts, Jeff, was giving pointers to us both and I think that I was close, maybe one detail away. Dagnabbit.

I rolled some with the one of the guys competing tomorrow, as well. I pulled guard and broke his posture down, working on a cross collar choke. I wasn't quite deep enough to finish the choke, and we were going light, but I had his arms nice and high and thought I'd try to turn for the armbar. So, I locked his arms down with my left arm, pushed his head away with my right and swung my right leg around, securing the armbar. What I didn't know was that his pinky finger was caught in my gi. We were rolling pretty light, so I wasn't going all out (although I feel really good about how I was able to elevate my hips to turn for the armbar). Good thing, because I think had I really tried to get the tap I would've broken his little finger. Injuring him three days before the tournament would have been inexcusable.

But ultimately, he was fine. He's a tough dude.

Tuesday BJJ Class 07/10/2007

It was very, very hot today. In the 90's. In Seattle. Where we have no A/C. The new space was actually not too bad. Hot, to be sure, but the fans really kept it pretty cool.

Today's warmups consisted of jogging, abs, and the basic drills, all of which were twice as difficult because it was so hot. That and I haven't been to class since last Thursday, having missed Sunday's class.

Technique was reversing side control. The first technique was for when you have good position. I'm on the bottom and my arms are in tight, elbows in. My opponent is on my right side putting a lot of pressure, so I can't hip escape to bring my knee back in. The blade of my left forearm is in his neck. What I'm going to do is get that SOB. So, I'll widen out my left elbow to create some space. I'll then reach through with my right arm and sort of hit him (not really hit, but jar) with my right bicep. At the same time I'll use my left leg to bridge up a little and then pull myself through with my arms and right leg, turning over and taking the top position.

The second technique was for the same situation, only in this case the guy was better than me and isolated my left arm so that it's back behind his head. In this case, I do NOT want to try and bring my arm around his head. If he's any good at all, he'll be waiting to trap my arm for an Americana submission. So, I'm going to use the same "jarring" motion, this time with my left arm against his head. I'm then going to bridge up over my right shoulder. In the space that's been created, I'll snake my arm under and then as I fall from bridging up, I'll pull myself back out toward my feet, turning to end up in the same position as the first technique.

Where I end up is on top, with an over/under grip just ripe for a choke. We were shown the Alligator Roll/Anaconda choke, but didn't drill it due to lack of time.

Sparring was a blast. I did fairly well against two other white belts. The real highlight for me was the second round. I was able to bridge up strong, got the escapes we learned today to work several times. Very handy. I got one tap and am really happy with it. I was working for an Americana from side control and my opponent was defending well. So, instead of forcing it, I used it to transition to mount, and then tried working first for an Ezekial choke and then back to the Americana. Trying to protect his arm and also trying to sweep me, he ended up turning to his side, so I took the armbar and got the tap. What made this tap different is that I remembered to post up on his head so that he couldn't roll into me as I brought my leg around for the armbar. I always forget this detail and as a result never get this sub against anyone who's not dead tired or very, very new. But this time, he had no chance of rolling toward me to bring his elbow down and I was able to get my leg around and sit straight down with my hips very close. Then I fought for about 30 seconds to get the arm.

Awesome class today and I didn't really even mind the heat.

Thursday No-Gi Takedown Class

Now that we're in the new space, James has really given some thought to the schedule. In addition to more MMA training, there are now entire classes specializing in some areas that can easily be neglected. There is a new Strength and Conditioning class, and also Takedown classes with Gi and also No-Gi. I intend on a regular week to make three BJJ classes and at least one takedown class, either Thursday No-Gi or Friday Gi. I'm going to mix it up so I can get some experience with both.

Another side benefit so far is that opening up the calendar has really lightened up the classes. Where we were getting an average of between 20 and 30 students per class at the old school, we're down to 10 or so with more mat space. So, more room to roll, meaning more pairs for sparring at a time, meaning time on the mats!

Tonight was my first takedown class. We started off with a half-hour warmup and stretching. Then we were taught the Russian Arm-Drag and a transition from there to a takedown... not sure what the takedown is called. Sort of a double leg from the side.

The Russian Arm Drag is done when I'm being controlled by my opponent. He's got his hand behind my neck, a little up on my head for leverage, and his elbow is in so that he can control me and stop me from shooting in for a leg. To counter this, I'm going to control his arm, grabbing it with both of my own. Then I'm going to basically turn my shoulders into the hold while I step to the side. It's ridiculously easy, but takes commitment to the motion. From here, the takedown is done by clearing the arm, driving into my opponent's side, being careful to ALWAYS put my head to the inside so that I don't get choked. Then my backside hand reaches around his hip and grabs his thigh to help prevent him from stepping out with that leg. I drive forward, and grab his ankle, controlling his legs all the way down to the mat making sure I end up in side control.

So, we drilled the technique with increasing resistance and then finished out the class with some grueling drills. Burpees, squats, bunny hops (bunny's hop with their hands on their heads, I guess), frog hops (I learned today that frogs jump higher than bunnies... in theory. My frog doesn't jump very high), lunge-twists, and wheelbarrows.

I'm pretty excited to have a class that focuses exclusively on takedowns.

Tuesday BJJ Class 7/03/2007

Class number 2 for me at the new location. Hot, although I didn't think it was all THAT hot. Coach says to Bill, "Can you walk them through some warmups? Wait. Just do stretches. It's too hot."

Bill: "Okay. Muwahahahaaaaa. Okay big circles to the left. *we do that* Hey, you know what? I'm going to try something on you guys. I've got a couple of drills." And then the grin. But overall, it was okay. There was a sprawl drill that was hard. Basically we partnered up and on guy leads the other in sprawls. So, I'm watching my partner. Left hand down, I sprawl with that side hip down. Right side, same. Both hands down and I sprawl to the middle, both hips down. It was hard. I got tired.

The next drill was actually not that bad. I could've done this one for a while. I take my partners feet and wheelbarrow him to the other side of the mat, where he then jumps on my back and I sprint with him back to the other side. Then he wheelbarrows me and so on. I found that drill to be kind of easy, although being wheelbarrowed is hard on my elbows.

Technique today was the kimura from guard. I learned a couple of details that I didn't know. First, the kimura is secured by grabbing the wrist with the same side hand, sitting up (opening guard if necessary), reaching over with the other hand and getting a figure four. The detail was to open guard and use my far-side leg (if I'm working to get his right arm, I'll trap his left leg with my right), to keep him from rolling. Then I can pivot, bringing my near-side leg up high on his shoulders. I found I had all sorts of leverage from this position, and even if he does roll, it's into mount. He's saved himself from a submission but put himself into a very bad position.

The counter we learned was to first grab inside your own knee. So, if I'm in closed guard and my opponent forces me into a bad position where my left hand is momentarily down on the side of his hip or, god forbid, on the mat, I'll quickly grab inside my left knee. Then I need to turn my shoulders, putting weight on my opponent until I create space to pull my arm out.

We also worked on transitioning from the kimura counter to an omoplata.

Sparring was fun. I got to roll with Coach, which is cool. Today, I got this image of Spike and Chester, the two dogs in the old WB cartoons. I'm the little one.

Class again tomorrow.

New Digs! Verdict is...

In the immortal words of Mr. Burns, "Excellent!" We're in the new space and it's great. It really feels good. The mats fit like they were cut for the new space. Wall pads are up. We can talk as loud as we want and the best thing of all is that it's ours. All ours. While James may not know this, I'm actually a Feng Shui expert. I've read the Idiot's Guide to Feng Shui cover to cover. I'm here to tell you that the chi in that new school could be bottled up and sold as a narcotic, it's so good. I did the Lo Shu magic square... thing... and used every number between 1 and 9. Wait. That was a sudoku puzzle.

On a completely different note, how many people realized that while sudoku is a puzzle, sodoku is a form of rat bite fever! Well, regardless. The chi is good.

The school is still a few weeks from being done, but it's already very comfortable. I'm looking forward to getting my conditioning back up to where I can begin attending the competition classes again. That said, I'm glad I wasn't there today. I guess Mikey gets the award for first upchuck at the new school. I think Jeff gets first blood, though. He got a small cut on his eye. All of this happened in the competition class.

Our class had a good warmup. We already had a couple of new students. We reviewed the guillotine techniques we learned earlier in the week, and then Coach opened up open mat in lieu of sparring. I rolled with Jeremy for a good 1/2 hour... much harder than I typically go in sparring, so I didn't feel any letdown at all. Jeremy is strong and also very smart, so he applies technique very well. I gained a lot from rolling with him and hope he got to work some of his stuff in return.

One thing that was kind of funny. I don't roll with a lot of guys who really use their elbows to open up guard, and no one I've rolled with has ever used their elbows to really drive the legs down to the mat like Jeremy did. It hurt like hell, and because I'm a nutcase, I tend to laugh when I'm being hurt. So, he starts digging in, I open up my guard to try and get him to stop, all the while laughing and calling him a bastard... or something like that. I think I'd be less inclined to laugh if I had any bleeding idea about what to do. It's just not something I've had to deal with yet. I tried to open up my guard and trap his arms, but he just continues to drive his elbows into my thighs. Yow! I wasn't completely helpless, but I will admit that it gave me a lot of problems. He's also much better at reestablishing guard from side control and showed me some very good tips. What I thought was a pure strength move at first was really a slick bit of technique and I'm glad he shared it.

Two movies being produced that I can't wait to see.

I get a lot of emails related to having a blog. Only a few of them are really surprising. This was one of those. Before I really get into it, though, I think I'll share a little background. Lucky you to be reading my blog after I've had a couple of glasses of wine!

I've always been a fan of counterculture movies. A Boy and His Dog, Repoman, Harold and Maude, Sid and Nancy... just to name a few. Heck, I can't tell you how many afternoons I spent watching the Heavy Metal / Pink Floyd's The Wall double feature at the Neptune Theater in Seattle. I like movies that highlight things that aren't part of mainstream media.

One of the guys at my school is, in addition to being a maniac who's made me wanna puke from shoulder pressure, a gifted videographer and director. He's putting together a documentary on MMA that I can't wait to see.

Walking To The Cage (smoke&mirror trailer)

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Check Matt out on Myspace. I'll be able to say I knew him before he was famous!

Second thing is related to an email I got today. I don't know these guys personally, but they're out there marketing a movie called "Red Belt" about BJJ. I'm pretty excited about this. I mentioned counterculture films. Well, another genre I've always enjoyed are the old boxing films. Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. Heck, I even like "Here Comes Mr. Jordan." This is the boxing movie which was the inspiration for the much more famous "Heaven Can Wait." I'll never forget Mr. Jordan saying over and over to the angel, "But I was in the pink!" It would suck, being in the best shape of your life and getting taken before your time!

But I'm off on a tangent. I got an email about this film, "Red Belt," and want to highlight the blog associated with its production. Here's a promo video. Check it out:

NBC Sports Interview about Redbelt at Street Sports BJJ

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I'm excited about both of these films, and think both will be interesting and something new on the market.