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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Summerlin is closing...Again.

Sadness tonight. Ben has had to take a job that will require him to be out of town a lot for the next eight months so he is having to close down Summerlin BJJ. There is a chance that it will reopen after he's done with the job, but for now it is closing.

As with the last time, I'm really sad. Ben has been an amazing instructor and coach and I know my BJJ game wouldn't be where it is today without all the time and help he has given me over the last half a year. I am really thankful to have had a chance to learn under him and I plan to continue to do so at Fabio's! :)

Tonight was the last class at Summerlin and we went out with a bang. It was probably one of the most fun classes we've ever had! We did Team A, Team B. We did Shark pit. And at the end of class, Ben gave Phil a special demonstration of his choking abilities. ;)

I also asked Ben a special request in my grapple with him. I asked him to grapple me using a lot of muscle and locking me up. I've been having a lot of trouble with guys who use a lot of muscle and I wanted Ben to grapple me that way and see what I was doing wrong. Let me just say that grapple was unpleasant. LOL But afterward, Ben told me some things I can do to move out from under someone when they're locking me up in side control or half guard.

The main thing he was telling me was that if someone is locking up the top half of your body, then the lower half of your body is free. I have been told this so many times, but I am hoping tonight it will click for me. When someone locks me up there are things I can do to make small spaces and work my knees in and elbows in or work my way out or back to my guard. One big mistake I have been making is using too much arm strength and trying to push the person off of me. Considering how weak I am, this is a bad strategy. ;)

Good luck, Ben, with this job you'll be working on! I feel privileged to have had the chance to learn under you and I hope to be able to continue to do so. Thanks for everything!!

2 comments:

Liam H Wandi said...

Sorry to hear about the closing down, but well done you for actively seeking your challenges. That's the attitude that builds athletes!

A.D. McClish said...

Thanks, Liam. This whole idea of trying to grapple bigger, stronger guys is something I've struggled with since I started BJJ. It's also a concept at the core of BJJ philosophy: That a smaller, weaker opponent can--with proper technique AND experience--defeat a larger stronger opponent.

I struggle with trying to figure out what I should expect from myself at this point. What I am trying to do--and what I've been trying to do for a while with little success, thanks to my obsessive, perfectionist nature--is not worry about putting pressure on myself to "beat" these bigger stronger guys but to focus on working technique during grapples.