SATURDAY, 27 JULY 2024

I injured my left elbow and right pinky on Wednesday, so I was not an active randori participant today.

Today's class had me, Tony, Duy, Sam, and Chad.

I taught a sweep from butterfly guard (review), two entries to back takes from butterfly guard, and then an entry into the initial sweep based on an opponent's defense and also Kimura from another defense.

Rather than free rolling, I had positional/situational sparring.  So, the first was guard passing vs. holding guard/sweeping/submitting the opponent.  These were 1:30 rounds, with the same break, and then the guys switched.  It became taxing since they switched partners twice, being guard passer and guard holder three times.  I then had them do this for back mount (but only 1:00 on the clock). Finally, I finished off with side control escapes vs. holding position for 0:45, but only for one round.

The consensus is that the above is MUCH worse than free rolling.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- Prof, myself, Tony, Duy and Chad all present. Eddie was missed and LB, after discussion in an official kangaroo court, had his absence approved (but neither accepted nor praised).

Tony was so bored today with class that he went to sleep in the middle of it. I will leave that right there. 

We practiced sweeps from butterfly, escapes from back mount, and chokes from back mount.  NOTE: it was during this time period that Tony got bored and fell asleep). 

We experienced positional sparring,  with 14-16 short rounds rotating from partner to partner. The sparring was very taxing and we were all pretty whipped by the end of it. 

We discussed places to get good Vietnamese food as well as Fat Boy Fried rice (local food truck).

 

Prof was not a participant today with the ukes he only taught and tortured us. 

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 4

Josh M. (blue-2) = 12

Duy (white-3) = 19

Sam (white-3) = 1

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 18

Brady (white) = 31

Caleb (white) = 5

WEDNESDAY, 24 JULY 2024

Today was just a rolling session.  I trained with Sam from 9:00 am to 10:00 am so he could depart and participate in "official UPS business" with the new operations manager.  I remained another hour so Josh, Eddie, and Brady could get time in.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- Prof was kind enough to come in early to thrash me. 9x in all today and two wrist locks I believe. He is my witness that in between rolls with both of us 3ft away, the fan fell to the floor. We can only blame Eddie for that and rightly so.

I was happy to earn a third stripe today, or did I? Sadly, no tape.  

Josh Moss asked me sadly if I was staying to roll when it was just he and I and Prof there. I knew intuitively what he was saying or in this case not saying. If you don't know, I will explain, he was saying are you leaving me to roll with D1 prof alone on a no gi day? 

I need to crowd source and ask if there is anything that needs to be added since I left early. Brady is still serving a nine month suspension so he is not allowed to add to the recap, so in the words of Ferris Bueller's teacher, "anyone...anyone?"

All in all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 12

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 40 = promoted to three stripes

Eddie (white-1) = 27

Chad (white-1) = 17

Brady (white) = 31

Caleb (white) = 5

TUESDAY, 23 JULY 2024

Today was a no gi training session with me, Jason, and Josh M.  Josh got in three, five-minute sessions with me, and three five-minute sessions with Jason.  Jason and I had seven rounds against each other. I hurt his left foot and he hurt my right foot (toe hold vs. straight foot lock).

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 11

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 39

Eddie (white-1) = 26

Chad (white-1) = 17

Brady (white) = 30

Caleb (white) = 5

MONDAY, 22 JULY 2024

Today's class had me, Sam, Eddie, Chad, and Brady.

The focus of class was side control escapes and tying together principles rather than techniques, though we did drill four different escapes.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- Prof, myself, Chad, Edward, and young Brady (he really didn't do anything today that would result in me calling him by his other name). 

Edward now has three gis, one of which belongs to Prof, and it finally occurred to me on the way home why he wanted it. He is going to tell everyone he was on Renzo Gracie's elite Jiu Jitsu team and then say, "But I really don't want to intimidate anyone at Gracie Barra, so I just brought my white belt to roll with tonight."

Speaking of Edward, we did guard passes during the free practice session and he passed my guard almost every time. I think I passed his once, and we were civil about it. 

Chad looked a bit worn out from the Saturday sort and what I was most proud of was that I exhibited extreme self control by being asked to hold Prof in side control without dropping my weight. 

Brady was late due to lumpy grits (NOTE: It was actually lumpy milk; edited by Kris).

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 10

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 39

Eddie (white-1) = 26

Chad (white-1) = 17

Brady (white) = 30

Caleb (white) = 5

THURSDAY, 18 JULY 2024

Today was just me, Jason, and Josh getting in a training session during Jason's lunch hour.

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 10

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 38

Eddie (white-1) = 25

Chad (white-1) = 16

Brady (white) = 29

Caleb (white) = 5

MONDAY, 15 JULY 2024

Today's class had me, Josh M., Sam, Chad, and Brady.  We focused on reviewing standing guard passes and then moved to escaping being pinned in the bottom half-guard.  We drilled several submissions from the escape, as well.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- Prof myself, young  Brady, Josh and Chad all present. 

Fun time. Went through half guard escapes from headlocks and a whole sequence of things we can go to. Really good stuff.

Josh was kind enough to show me how to tie my belt properly, I mean it's only been 51 weeks we have been at it, it would have come eventually. 

I did not roll and will have to crowd source a bit. Brady is serving a nine month suspension from adding to the recap so I will have to go to Chad and Prof to round it out. 

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 9

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 38

Eddie (white-1) = 25

Chad (white-1) = 16

Brady (white) = 29

Caleb (white) = 5

SATURDAY, 13 JULY 2024

Today's class had me, Duy, Sam, Brady, and Caleb.

I demonstrated methods of guard retention and had the guys drill them without resistance.  Then, I had them do it live against each other for minutes on end.  They cycled through each other, so each person worked guard passes and retention on every person.

Sam's Recap:

Recap- Prof, Duy, Caleb and I were there at start time of class. The LB was very late. Not sure it should even be considered a report, but I digress. We missed Chad and Edward and Josh.

Discipline on the LB was conducted; he was informed that he would be serving nine month suspension from participating in the recap or as he would say "Brecap". I forgot my belt, just to go ahead and get that out there. 

Guard retention was the topic of the day. Why is it whenever guard retention is taught it is bitter sweet? We absolutely learned new things, but we paid dearly for that knowledge.  Two minute positional guard retention rolls were conducted and I believe we had four or five of them. Thinking I was done mentally I began thinking if I was up to mowing grass when I got home or not, when out of the corner of my eye, I spied a former D1 wrestler, current 3rd degree black belt and resident dirty, sneaky, bastard coming for me to fill out my dance card. Well, I don't have to tell you how that went.  

All and all another good day of BJJ.

Tony (purple) = 3

Josh M. (blue-2) = 8

Duy (white-3) = 18

Sam (white-2) = 37

Eddie (white-1) = 25

Chad (white-1) = 15

Brady (white) = 28

Caleb (white) = 5