Ahh… great class today

Small class on a beautiful sunny day in the PNW. Man, I have missed the sunshine. Bigtime. We worked on an armbar setup from turtle, starting from a basic wrist ride position. There was also a papercutter choke setup that Bing showed us. Did a lot of sparring. I’ve also been working on a standing guard pass, and have a new sweep from guard that Todd gets everyone one, even when you know it’s coming.

The full guard sweep is kind of like a flower/pendulum sweep, but a lot less looping… if that makes sense. The sweep is done by controlling the same side arm, so if I’m working from my guard, I’ll control my opponent’s right sleeve/wrist with my left hand. I’ll also control his left leg with my right arm, the closer to the ankle, the better. When I’m ready, what I’ll do is plant my left foot to block him from basing out with that leg. At the same time I’m going to shoot my right leg straight up under his his armpit and then chopping down and over his back, getting my hips high. I’m also going to be lifting with my right arm at his ankle and pulling with my left arm on his right sleeve. It’s a cool sweep that is very high percentage for Todd. I’d like to make it work for me… and learn how to counter it, too.

The guard pass I’m working on right now is a variation on the bullfighter pass that works pretty well against spider guard. It’s one that Bing showed us a few weeks back and has been working very well for me against some of the bigger guys. It’s basically just a matter of controlling both the leg and the arm on the same side, so if I’m caught in spider guard, I’ll break the grip on, say, my left arm and reach over to control his left ankle. Usually, he’ll have sleeve control on my right arm, making it very easy to return the favor. Then, pull with my left arm, control his wrist with my right, step out with my right leg and then bring my left leg around into side mount or knee-on-belly with my left, just as I would with any bullfighter pass.

I haven’t felt a lot like writing lately. I’ve always considered myself at home in the Seattle area. I genuinely like rain, but I have to tell you when I got off work on Friday and it was sunny and warm, I felt like I was waking up. It was great. I was inspired. We opened up all of the windows in the house and fired up the grill. The kids went out and played hard all day and I just wondered what the hell I’m doing living here. Maybe when I retire, I’ll move back down to Texas.