Warmup was a little different–and I liked. We started with some running, then went straight to 2 minutes of KoB rotations followed by 2 minutes of arm bar from guard. That’s exactly what I need to get in a bunch of arm bar reps. Bonus for me was that I had Norm as a partner and he’s able to pick up on little details that can help me be more effective. Last night it was concentrating on getting the crook of my knee to the back of the neck, which should allow me to finish while still on my back. Good stuff.

Moved on to King of the Mat. I started and lost my position on the first round, although I’m not really sure what technically constitutes a sweep. I thought I got a sweep early on. If I’m on bottom with my opponent in full guard and end up on top in the other guy’s half guard, is that a sweep? Got the other spot on the mat back and held it for a while, all with sweeps, but almost had an Ezekiel at one point. Again, I’m missing the finer points that allow me to finish effectively.

Everyone was training in our brand new Off The Grid gis, so technique for the night was some chokes using the opponent’s gi from side control.

  • Pull out lapel and take out slack
  • Hand it off under the shoulder–overhand grip on receiving hand
  • Push up to KoB
  • Hand off again, knuckles up
  • Reach across with knife of forearm

OR

  • Instead of second handoff reach down for baseball bat choke

Rolled with Ed, Ed, and Norm. First roll with Ed I started on the bottom in half guard and worked my way back up. He was focusing on going for a kimura, and I was focused on getting the underhook and shrimping out to the top. Started another round with me on top, and as I went to pass I pinned his leg down with my shin, forgetting he was having a problem with his leg, so we had to stop. I felt really bad.

Roll with Norm was a little bit different. After the first time he tapped me out I found myself in his half guard. Was applying pressure and trying to stop whatever it was he was trying to do. Attempted to sneak in the Ezekiel and that got shut down pretty quickly. He was extending my trapped leg the entire time and eventually got me in the beginning of a banana split. Basically we stopped at the point where he “checks your flexibility”. LOL