It Kind Of Worked

Why do things work out so much better in my head than they do on the mat? :) I tried that sweep I was talking about yesterday. I tried it on two separate people. Neither of them went over. HOWEVER, I will say that they had to adjust their base and that made room for me to get my hips squared to them and return to my guard. So...mission accomplished? No, not really. But I'll take it.

A couple of people made some comments over the last few classes about how much guard I am playing. *Frown* Am I playing too much guard? Do I need to do more of other things?

I asked one of my instructors, Ben, about this a while ago. He told me not to worry about it. He said people favor a certain position for a while, then they'll work something else for a while. He told me it was a natural progression and that, as my BJJ evolved, I would find myself doing different things.

But, I have always loved guard. It is where I feel most comfortable working from. I do different kinds of guard that I did when I first started. But it's still guard. When will I find myself "moving on"?

I will say that most of the higher belts don't let me sit in my guard. They sit in theirs and make me work. lol. That's good for me. Because as much as I love guard, I hate passing it. But, when it's my choice, I go to guard.

So, I asked Fabio about it after class. He echoed what Ben said. Don't worry about it. Do your thing.

I will. Kind of. Oh come on, don't be so surprised. We all know what a spaz I am about obvious weaknesses. I think I am going to get a private with Ben and work on guard passes and sweeps. I've been getting sweeps, but I am not capitalizing off them the way I should. I sweep...and then don't follow them over or up. Not good. And my guard passes are fairly horrendous. I kind of flop around from side to side until I find place to wriggle around.

My biggest problem is when I've done a sweep or have started to pass guard, is when I have one leg through and am blocked by a knee. This is also an issue when someone drops back for a leg lock and I come up on top with them. Annoying knee! Get out of my way! Both Ben and Fabio have showed me several ways to deal with these bothersome knees. But I think I am doing something wrong somewhere because I am still having a lot of trouble passing it.

So, hopefully I will be able to meet up with Ben and his wife Cindy and be able to work on some of this stuff. Now I'm going to go walk of the giant plate of lazagna and the massive bowl of chocolate/peanut butter ice cream I just scarfed down.