THURSDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2024

Today was an outdoor BJJ class at my home.  Josh M., Brady, Abner, and my youngest attended.  We covered the Ezekiel choke, entry into the turtle, and two variations of clock choke on a turtled opponent.

ABCAP:

Abcap- Today's class was attended by Prof, Josh, Brady, myself, and Prof's youngest son. 

We started the day off by me and Brady rolling while we waited for everyone to arrive. I almost tapped Brady with a clock choke but I mistook him raising his arms up as a tap, therefore escaping the jaws of the beast. I will make sure not to repeat said mistake again. 

Brady submitted me with a sneaky Ezekiel choke which to me felt like the equivalent of Prof hitting Sam with a Bread Cutter. So we drilled how to perform the Ezekiel choke after our roll. We then drilled how to approach an opponent in a turtle position and how to execute 2 different chokes from that scenario. 

Brady woke up being a chicken today and opted to let me and Josh be the guinea pigs for those techniques because he did not want to he choked. 

Afterwards there was some roll time in which I rolled with Josh and had a good match.  All and all it was another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 26

Duy (white-3) = 30

Sam (white-3) = 23

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 26

Brady (white-1) = 11

Abner (white) = 11

Caleb (white) = 6

Evan (white) = 1

SATURDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2024

Today's class was outdoors again, on my driveway, as we prepare to move into our new place on Monday, 2 December.

I opened the floor for questions.  We worked on escaping the clock choke, performing the bow and arrow choke, breaking a pin from the half guard, and a half guard sweep.  

Abcap- Today's class was attended by Prof, Josh, Duy, and myself. 

We started class off by going over how to escape the bow and arrow choke which was then followed by learning how to perform the bow and arrow choke. Everyone seemed to enjoy when Prof used me to demonstrate how to properly execute this submission and laugh at my misfortune. The next item on the list was how to progress when you have someone in your half guard. Prof taught us 2 different forms on doing this, one by performing a sweep and the other by slowly shrimping your way out of it. We then practiced how to protect yourself when someone threatens an Americana submission from side guard. Lastly, Prof went over some wrestling basics to help me and Duy escape when sending an opponent's arm over our own after getting an underhook. We then finished the day off with some lively rolls with the neighboring ducks as an audience. All and all it was another great day of BJJ.

https://youtu.be/vkHCLYe_eHY?si=IyznsK6h7gopNIpE

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 25

Duy (white-3) = 30

Sam (white-3) = 23

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 26

Brady (white-1) = 10

Abner (white) = 10

Caleb (white) = 6

SATURDAY, 2 NOVEMBER 2024

As we transition into our new spot on December 2, we have to beg/borrow/steal time to train.  I pulled the mats out onto my driveway and had some truly dedicated guys join in.  I recovered basics and had Duy and Sam do two five-minute rounds.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- wonderful of Prof to invite us to his house for BJJ. It was disarming in fact. More on that later.

Beautiful weather and even enthusiastic neighbors yelling "get the tap" as they drove by.

Amazing how quickly technique can get away from you. 

Prof had us start with the normal arm bar warm up and not only could I not remember how to do it, I was also gassed after a few of them. Cross collar chokes were demonstrated, the Pedro Sauer escape from mount, S mounts and things to do and not to do from S mounts. Good refreshers for Duy and me. 

Then rolling began and I started to realize Prof's greater plan. New environment, same ole Prof and same ole submission. Yes for those of you slow on the uptake, I suffered what was probably my 100th bread cutter at the hands of Prof.  Duy even confirmed what I suspected when I asked Prof after the roll incredulously, "were there really no other submissions available?"

I have it from a reliable source (again Duy) that he sat in full mount and deliberated for a few moments on what he should do to me prior to going to a move that shows what a DSB he is at times.  Despite being bread cutter choked in front of the whole neighborhood and a couple of disinterested ducks that were in the front yard at the time, all and all it was another good day of BJJ.

https://youtu.be/vX3WHUGA76Y?si=F94im82Ir-cxas2l

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 24

Duy (white-3) = 29

Sam (white-3) = 23

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 26

Brady (white-1) = 10

Abner (white) = 9

Caleb (white) = 6

SATURDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2024

Today was me, Nick, Jason, Josh M., Sam, Chad, Brady, and Abner.

Perhaps Josh's request, we went over head and arm (kesa gatame) escapes, both gi and no gi versions, and one kuzure kesa escape without the gi. Nick added two regular kesa escape variants for fun.  We got a number of free rolls in, though limited space required one group at a time.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- in order of rank, Prof, Nick, Jason, Josh, me, Chad, Brady and Abner all met at Dojo Compton today. 

First off, thank you Jason for allowing us to use your garage to train. 

Random observations from today. First time I think I have had the pleasure of learning from three black belts on the same day. Everywhere I looked there was either a technique I hadn't seen or a nuance on one I already know being demonstrated. My head was spinning. 

Chad is clearly in the victim weight class now while I still teeter on the edge depending on what I had for breakfast that morning. 

Brady, Abner and Josh all move so much better than I do. Very impressed with how the three of them do BJJ. 

Nick lived up to billing. The only reason why he didn't thrash me today is we didn't roll. 

Finally, I will no longer feel bad about being a willing participant in Prof's joke on Josh Moss on his first day back from an injury on a knee slice pass.  I won't retell the story since most of you know it already, but I will say what Josh did to me today made me no longer feel bad about that day.  It was surprising, effective and made me laugh. As he was passing my guard, he put his knee on my ankle, which was very painful. It was surprising because it wasn't something I expected from Josh but I liked seeing that competitiveness and I told him so.

In other news, Prof applied yet ANOTHER bread cutter and Nick told me that one day I will be able to defend it because of the frequent exposure and me developing my defenses,... or something encouraging like that. 

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 24

Duy (white-3) = 28

Sam (white-3) = 22

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 26

Brady (white-1) = 10

Abner (white) = 9

Caleb (white) = 6

THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER 2024

Nick is in town.

We trained at Jason's, with the lone non-black belt being young Brady.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 23

Duy (white-3) = 28

Sam (white-3) = 21

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 25

Brady (white-1) = 9

Abner (white) = 8

Caleb (white) = 6

SUNDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2024

Today was a training session with me, Jason, and Josh M.  I almost ripped Jason's foot off, and I screamed as it popped.  It truly scared me.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 23

Duy (white-3) = 28

Sam (white-3) = 21

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 25

Brady (white-1) = 8

Abner (white) = 8

Caleb (white) = 6

SUNDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2024

I taught how to open the closed guard and the "Williams" smash pass.

Sam's Recap:

Abbreviated recap- the author is tired. 

Impromptu class held tonight at Dojo Compton with Prof, Jason, Brady, Abner and myself. 

Few take aways. Both Brady and I showed up beltless. Prof supplied me with the one that has blood stains on it (his old white belt) which is my favorite belt to wear. Brady had to roll sans belt.

Escapes from closed guard were taught.

Two- three rolls were given and Abner impressed me tonight with his grit and determination because I ran out of gas and basically just dropped my weight on him to keep him still and he took it like a champ and even made light of it later. 

Prof picked up where he left off on Saturday and that's all I will say about that and Jason submitted me with a wicked reverse arm bar that was both creative and effective. 

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 22

Duy (white-3) = 28

Sam (white-3) = 21

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 25

Brady (white-1) = 8

Abner (white) = 8

Caleb (white) = 6