Drank some Gatorade before class. Got heartburn. Damn, I’m old. On with the notes!

Takedown class – Started with Osoto Gari goodness. Arm movements, then arms, hips, feet & grapevine the leg, then step through takedown. Focus on maintaining upright head position and maintaining grips. Hit knee on belly then armbar after the takedown. the closer the knee is to the armpit the greater the control for the armbar, so hit the floating ribs then shift it up.

We then worked Uchi Mata off a failed Osoto – opponent shifts leg back to prevent the Osoto, so turn elbow skyward and crank gripped sleeve to the rear, looking in that direction. Raise leg and dump.

Worked drill where opponent shifts to prevent Uchi Mata and we hopped in circles. Kicking leg high and pulling in the direction of throw while looking that direction makes throw happen. Finish with knee on belly and transition to the arm bar.

I think I need more warm up time before the takedown class. I’m feeling muscles complain about being strained trying to take people down or twist to avoid same.

Grip fighting to finish.

Ground class – Standard warmup, then the cardio stuff. Apparently I’ve been doing shrimping wrong, too – I’ve been bringing both feet to my butt, not leaving one out flat and bringing the other up. Forward shrimping still looks like an epileptic white kid trying to break dance…

Drills – From mount, take control position and cross face with one arm. Opposite arm posts. Keep the shoulder of the arm that is posting at level or below that of opposite shoulder unless you’d like to be rolled. Grapevine legs or keep knees wide for base. Wide knees= more weight on opponent.

First, we resisted being rolled. The grapevine leg prevented a roll toward opposite the posted arm. The posted arm, of course, acts as an outrigger against a roll to that side. Our first attack from mount is for an Americana lock. Take the posted arm and palm strike the bottom man’s near arm to the mat. Take the crossfacing arm and hook it. Use the thumbs over grip and either cup or keep the arms straight -use the palm, not the fingers, to control the trapped arm. Snake the free arm under the bottom’s trapped arm. Palm up usually worms underneath more easily. Grab the wrist of the hand still clamping the trapped arm. again, thumbless grip and hook works best. Bring crossfacing arm out and around opponent’s head, place tricep in neck, shove offline. Crank both hands toward the ground and bring trapped limb toward feet to get the tap.

2nd move – Ezekiel choke off a missed Americana. Opponent thrusts arm out, negating Americana attempt. Place elbow of free arm forward of bottom’s escaped arm. Draw elbow down toward ribs, scooping bottom’s arm and trapping it. Use crossfacing hand to hook sleeve of free arm, then snake free arm into neck of bottom man. Make a fist. Do a pushup.

Its a sneaky-assed choke. I like it!

3rd move – arm triangle. Mount and crossface as above. Opponent frames and pushes forearm against top’s neck. Top presses down, then releases pressure and pushes arm to the side and traps it with head pressure. Crossfacing arm hooks opposite bicep with monkey grip.

3a: Place free arm on side of head while pressuring with head. Squeeze elbows together.

3b: Place free hand on opponent’s forehead if there’s not enough space to bring it to own forehead. Squeeze.

3c: Can’t secure choke from mount for some reason. Abandon mount – free arm turns palm up. Gable grip with crossfacing arm. Secure hold. Hop off mount. Same side leg as crossfacing arm presses up against bottom’s ribs. Leg of free side arm is straight and posted about even with ear. Crank elbow of free arm toward stomach – take up slack in choke. Head moves toward mat and posted leg slides out.

Rolls:

1st roll: Problems with guard pass. Also, triangled opponent but couldn’t finish – maybe swiveled to wrong side? He definitely postured up to get out, so maybe a little help from Stephan Kesting is in order. Tried a cross-collar choke and couldn’t get the tap, either. At least I was on the offensive for a change!

2nd roll: Mounted but had no finish. Tried to apply class lessons and got rolled. Had problems with the mount escape – probably didn’t block the leg with the elbow before top man advanced too high. I probably should try to buck, too…when the guy’s sitting high in base, its hard to hook that leg with my far leg. Walking the leg out like Emily does in the video might be worth a shot, too.

I jostled around until top dude made a mistake, so I locked down his arm, upa-ed and rolled him, coming back to guard.

Overall, felt good. Had to quit as face was bleeding from a nail rake and didn’t want to bleed all over other people.