They Were Right

Went to class tired and cranky, not really wanting to be social. Had a crappy night at BJJ last night and I wasn't looking forward to a repeat. Liam did a great post on his blog, The Part Time Grappler, that goes over some of same issues I was dealing with. Nothing like having an outside perspective to give you a new take on a situation. I think I need to work on being less forthcoming about my aggravations with people on here and more forthcoming with the actual people I am dealing with. lol. Even so, I didn't feel like grappling today.

Turned out to be one of the best classes I've had in a while. Guess they were right about the whole "the best time to grapple is when you're tired" thing. We worked the same exact x-guard sweep as last night, but I took away a completely different set of lessons.

The first thing that really stuck out to me today was the importance of hipping in. A lot of emphasis is given in BJJ to the hip out. But the hip-IN is just as important. Without it, most sweeps cannot be done correctly. That is definitely the case with this x-guard sweep. If I expect to get my little legs up underneath some guy who has got seventy pounds on me, I have to first hip under him to get him off his base and get his weight up over my body so I can move him around. I can tell when I haven't hipped in enough when I am having to use a lot of muscle to pull his weight up on top of me.

The second thing that I took away from today was that I have to be ready to stand up sometimes during a grapple. In this case, when you are executing the sweep, you have hold of the person's leg (you swim it in the beginning). As you are trying to take them over, they may post out wide with their arms. But the sweep is not lost. If you still have hold of their leg, you can stand up and pull their hip up and in toward you, forcing them to fall back. Then you can drop into knee on belly or side control. It never occurs to me to stand up during a grapple. Need to be more aware of that option!

During grappling, I found myself trying to use spider guard a lot. I was trying to sweep people using spider guard, but was having very limited success. And by limited, I mean none. After my grapple with Ben, I asked him if he could pretty please show me how to sweep someone using spider guard. Don't know how many times I've seen this already. But I was forgetting key details.

Instead of just pushing on the person's elbow with my foot and trying to pull them over and down, what I need to do is bring my knee in and then out to the side again in a "V" motion. At the same time, I let go of the opposite arm and grab hold of their leg on the sweep-side, pulling their leg in. If I do the motions all together, it takes away their ability to stop themselves from falling on that side.

I'm going to play around with this and see if I can use the same idea to sweep from inverted guard. In that situation, my legs and arms are reversed, but I think the concept can still work. I don't know. I'll give it a go.

Mixed Results

Last night was a night of extremes in grappling. I grappled a couple of pretty new people and some experienced blue belts. The results of each of those grapples were soooo different.

First, I went with a girl who has been going to our gym for a while. She is kind of timid and, for a long time, didn't really attack when she grappled. Now she is starting to get a little more confidence and she is transforming her game. She's attacking more, she's starting to really understand the concepts more. In our grapple, I could see the wheels turning. She tries to set up and apply the things we have recently been learning in class. It is great to see!! She's the type of person I really root for, you know? She's such a meek, sweet person, but I want to see her kick some butt!! lol

My second grapple went very differently. I went with Yeti, a blue belt who helps me out a lot. He helped me last night, alright. Helped me to see how much I have to learn!! lol. No, he didn't do anything rough or mean. He was just moving. Moving a LOT faster than I was. He is not only faster, but loads more technical than me. He can pick me apart SO EASY!! But I enjoy rolling with him because, even while he's kicking my butt, he's telling me how to defend the submissions he's putting on me. I usually come away from rolls with him with at least one little tid-bit of information to improve my game. That's a great rolling partner. Someone who can kick your butt, but make you feel like you accomplished something anyway in the end.

One of my other grapples of the night was with a younger guy who is relatively new to BJJ. He has a lot of heart and it's easy to see that he's motivated to learn. But he is still in that go-crazy, I'm-never-going-to-tap, have-to-smash mode. That was fine for most of the grapple. I favor chokes with newer people and I'm not as afraid of finishing chokes on people who don't tap. But then I caught a heel hook on him. I was applying it really slowly, but I had it. He just refused to tap. I said tap. Another blue belt sitting on the wall said tap. But he refused. I would have had to pop his ankle to get the tap. So I let go, got him in my guard and got a gi choke instead.

Afterwards, I told him he should be more careful with leg locks. Not everyone will let them go. He said, "Well, maybe I don't want them to." Sigh... I hope he doesn't end up with a popped ankle. I won't do it. But at a tournament, guys will pop ankles without hesitating. For his sake, I hope he learns to tap.

I'm leaving tomorrow to take our youth group to a Student Life camp in North Carolina. I'm REALLY excited, since this will not only be a great experience for myself and the kids, but also a mini-vacation for me and JJ! I won't get to grapple for the week. That is, unless some unruly kids refuse to go to sleep after we tell them to. I get kinda grumpy when I don't get my sleep. After about two in the morning "lights out" takes on a whole different meaning!! ;)

Snap 'Em Like Twigs

I have a problem with my legs. They're in the high risk category for potential locking.

My last grapple tonight was with one of the purple belts at my school, Brian Morgan. Fabio asked Brian to go for my legs whenever they were exposed. Let me tell you, it pointed out a big weak point in my grappling! I don't even know how many times he went back for a leg lock. He didn't actually apply any of the submissions. He was letting me try to work out of them which showed me that, not only do I expose my legs a lot for submissions, but my escapes are shaky at best.

This is not news to me. I've always had trouble with leg lock escapes. I expose my legs a lot because I like to play open guard and I can't really blame guys for going for them when I lay them out on a silver platter.

There's not really a lot I can do about my legs being exposed. But what I DO need to work on is learning how to react quickly to get my legs out of danger. I need to read people better to know when they're going back for leg locks. And I need to work on my escapes. As Brian pointed out, I need to be careful who I work leg lock escapes with. If I am not sure if someone is going to be controlled enough not to crank my ankle, I'm just going to tap. But if I'm going with a higher rank who is letting me work and who isn't going to try to rip my foot off the end of my leg, then I need to start going for the escapes.

I have been taught several escapes, but I hesitate way too much in executing them. You can't hesitate with a leg lock. You have to be escaping as soon as you even see a hint of someone going for one. And even when I do actually do the escapes, they're sloppy and fumbly. But I am going to focus on trying to read my opponent and get my legs out of danger before they can fall all the way back into the submission.

Also, tonight, we learned a weird omaplata that you get from rolling someone out of turtle. Your opponent is turtled and he over-hooks your near leg. You sit back on his wrist and roll forward, triangling your legs around his arm and then catching his leg as you sit up. Then you apply the omaplata. Or, I guess it's an americana from there. I don't really know. It was one of those moves that didn't feel natural to me, so I kind of stumbled through drilling.

Also, to my chagrin, I noticed my pride creeping back up into me during a few of my first rolls of the night. It showed in my game. Tense. Less movement. More pushing and exploding, less flowing and reacting. Overall, it got in the way of me moving like I should have been able to. I was able to calm down after that, Had to talk myself into getting my focus back where it needed to be. It's not about what people think. It's about learning. Stop worrying about if someone passes your guard!! Ah well. Tomorrow afternoon hopefully I'll be able to just come in and not argue with myself like an insane person.

Despite that, it was a great class. Learned a lot. Had fun. Can't ask for more than that.

Working It Out

Had a private lesson with Ben today and asked him about a few specific things that are road blocks for me right now.

Firstly, I am STILL trying to move my opponent instead of moving myself. I do this especially with my arms and more so when I am panicked or locked up. What I need to do is relax and use my legs and arms as blocks or points of leverage. Because I've been having so much trouble when people lock me up, Ben's wife, Cindy, would lock me up either in side control or top half-guard and I had to work out. Ben pointed out that I'm putting my knee too far across the belly in bottom half-guard and that I'm pushing with my leg too much instead of using it as a block and a way to move my torso back. Also, I am pulling up in the back of the gi too much when I'm trying to get out of side control or half-guard. Again, trying to move the person instead of moving myself.

I also need to be more patient. When I've got someone locking me up, I need to relax and try different things to get out, sure. But if they are bent on sitting there and gripping the crap out of me, I can always wait for them to move and let them waste all that energy sitting there squeezing me. Of course, this would not be a good strategy if I'm down by points in the last 30 seconds of a tournament grapple, but in class, what's it going to hurt? Eventually, they'll get bored and move and then I can take advantage of whatever space they make.

Another thing that has been pointed out to me is that I am still approaching a lot of techniques in "steps". I hesitate before doing things and then, when I do them, it's step one, step two, step three instead of doing the move fluidly and all together. I'm still having to think about what I do before I do it. Unfortunately, this is something that I can only fix over time. Some of it is that I need to just trust my instincts and what I've learned already. But I also have to let the new stuff I learn every week become muscle memory before I can just do it without thinking. And that takes time. Working on it.

More than anything, today, I just enjoyed being on the mat. Since Summerlin closed, I've been feeling like my week is incomplete. But that just makes the classes I do get to go to that much more enjoyable to me. I'm hungry for it and I can't get enough.

South Shore BJJ

We had some visitors today at Summerlin. Kyle and Dana, two purple belts who train under Fabio, started up South Shore BJJ in Appolo Beach. Our Summerlin crew went to visit them a few weeks ago and today they returned the favor.

What I love most about visiting the different branches of all our schools is getting to roll with new people. It's not a tournament, but there is still that thrill of the unknown.

Take, for example, my grapple today with Kyle. I'd never rolled with him and I had hear many ominous warnings about his deceptively calm, passive-seeming style. Notice that I said passive-SEEMING. People joke about this one brown belt at Fabio's who sometimes seems to have only one speed: full-throttle, all thrusters on. When he "goes light" it feels pretty much the same as when he "goes hard". According to what I had heard, Kyle is just the opposite. His "going easy" feels a lot the same as his "going hard"...right up until you feel a sudden sharp pain and start tapping. After today, I can safely say that all the reports were true! (haha, I know you're reading this Kyle). You're rolling with the guy and thinking, "Ok, he's just chilling out, letting me move." Meanwhile he's setting up some kind of ninja position designed for my demise and I don't even notice until I'm suddenly finding my base gone and the world turning upside down. Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

I also got to roll with a couple other people from the school who had completely different personalities and styles. One girl was super aggressive, going for things without fear. It's always refreshing to me to meet other girls who love the sport and aren't afraid to go for it. Another guy I rolled with was more passive, but pretty good at defending. I love it because, every grapple, you're presented with a new set of challenges and you have to figure out on the fly how you're going to adjust.

Ben said we're going to try to do these cross-training visits back and forth more often. I'm looking forward to it!! It will be cool when one day I'll actually remember everyone's names!!

You guys will get a little bit of a reprieve from my constant ramblings for the next week. My family is leaving for a much-needed vacation. As happy as I am to be going, I am feeling a little bit regretful because I missed all of last week being sick and now I'm going to miss all of next week for our trip. At this rate, they're going to give me the "welcome" again when I come back!! ;)

By the way, Dana and Kyle have a pretty sweet blog on their school's website: http://southshorebjj.com/


(Top row: Kyle and Dana. Bottom row:Ben, Fabio and Paul)

Bluebeltitis

For those of you who don't know, I have recently been inflicted with a very common, potentially joint threatening illness called bluebeltitis. Brought on by a recent belt promotion, this disease affects the brain of its victims, causing them to think they are more awesome than they are, and to act pridefully and not tap in situations when they would otherwise admit defeat and move on.

Last night, I took some steps in the direction of conquering this disease. I rolled with two white belt men last night that I don't normally roll with and who--shockingly-- have a significant weight advantage on me. Now, until recently, I would have just sat in my guard and played a conservative game, not wanting to give anything up lest I get my guard passed.

Not last night, buddy! I went for it. Played more of my normal game. And...got submitted. Twice. Both with americanas.

Surprisingly, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. The guys I went with last night didn't point and laugh at me. My coach didn't announce to the whole class that I am an impostor and he didn't snatch back my belt. My friends didn't shun me. I did not die. ;)

In fact, I actually learned some things from those grapples. I got submitted by a blue belt with the same thing those two other guys got me with, so I am obviously setting myself up for these somehow. Also, I figured out how to kind of roll into an inverted guard from this one position when people are passing my guard that I wouldn't have noticed if I'd been all locked up and tight. After class, I talked strategy with another friend of mine about what to do when guys pin my arms down when they're in my guard and I feel like I have a better strategy now on how to deal with that.

Am I cured from bluebeltitis? Not entirely. I still have to talk myself into not playing a safe game. But I do feel like the new submission therapy is helping. Hopefully I will have the pride americana'd out of me in no time.

Shark Pit

Saturday morning classes are always interesting. They're my favorite classes of the week because we usually end up doing something out of the ordinary.

This time, we did shark pits. Also commonly called "B**** of the Day". lol. One person goes on the mat and everyone else takes turns spending one minute of intense grappling trying to submit them.

Ben had us do this with a small variation. The first go-round, we weren't allowed to go to our knees or go to guard. All we were basically allowed to do was get in the fetal position and try not to get submitted. Then, the second go round, the people in the middle had to start out with each person in either mount or side control. There were no submissions this round. It was the job of everyone attacking the guy in the middle to maintain the dominant position. If the guy in the middle got out, then they'd reset and go again until the minute was up and the next person jumped in.

I learned several things from this exercise, which I will now share with you in a nerdy fashion:

1. Like Ben was explaining after we were done, the point of the exercise was to show us that it's easier to survive than we might think it is. We weren't allowed to go to guard. We weren't allowed to turtle. The people on top were going full boar trying to submit us. And we were still able to fend them off for the most part. This should give us confidence to know that we can survive even if we get into a bad position and that, if we do find ourselves stuck in mount or side control, we need know that we can survive and to relax and start working out.

2. People are much tighter when they are just trying to maintain a position vs. when they are going for a submission. Evey time they go for something, they make space. I need to learn to take advantage of their distraction and use it to time my escapes.

3. My side control escapes suck. lol For the last few weeks, I've been focusing on side control escapes and have seen only limited improvement. Today, I noticed that my arms got really tired during the shark pit drill, which suggests to me that I was trying to push my opponent away instead of using my arms as barricades and moving away. It's a bad habit that I've gotten into. I'm really going to be focusing on changing it.

So, I will continue on my quest to learn how to be a better escape artist. Until then, happy tapping to me! ;)

Sometimes I'm Just Stupid

Alright, Dev. You can say, "I told you so." :)

I had a blast tonight with the girls who visited. There was no animosity between us and our grappling wasn't intense at all. We were just rolling and talking and having a good time. They invited us to come to their school sometime soon and I'm really looking forward to getting to train with them again.It was really nice to get to roll with some other girls. They are right at my skill level too so it was challenging and fun at the same time.



So, I admit it. I was being stupid for worrying so much about it. You may all flog me via the internet. ;)

There's also one other thing I almost forgot to mention....

TA-DA!







I am so excited, though at the same time I don't really feel like a blue belt. I feel like a white belt who is getting away with wearing a blue belt. Congrats to Phil and Jenn, who also got their blue belts, and to Anthony who got his purple belt!! And thanks Ben and Fabio for making BJJ so much fun! You guys are amazing instructors!

Going through a belt promotion at Fabio's is definitely an experience. At our school, everyone who is at your rank or high gets to do three take-downs on you. Needless to say, I am taking some Ibuprofen tonight. lol. Actually, everyone was really nice with the take-downs.

So...We Meet Again! :)

I found out tonight that a girl I faced off against in my first-ever tournament is coming to our school tomorrow night. She, Stephanie and I have become friends over the last several months and I am really excited to see her again and to roll with her again.

Kind of.

Kind of, I say? Well, here's the thing. She kinda-sorta wiped the floor with me in my first tournament. Twice. She was a really good sport about it and I remember thinking that I didn't even mind losing to her because she was so nice.

View exhibit A:


I had only been grappling a couple of months and my game has changed a lot since then. And I'm sure hers has too! (By the way, watching this video of myself is a very excruciating form of torture. "I can't believe I did that. Oh my gosh. Are you serious, Allie?" lol).

Now she's coming to my school and I feel really nervous. It's been 6 months since we last rolled. I guess I can look at this one of two ways:

1. I can be retarded and get uber competitive and try to to beat her, and get ticked off and feel bad about myself if she beats me again.

2. I can look at this as a positive learning experience and do the best that I possibly can and see where it takes me, without putting any pressure on myself to "prove something".

I am battling with my own insecurities right now. She's a really nice girl and a heck of a good fighter. I guess I have to look at what is important to me. Would I rather grapple her like it's a tournament and try to protect my pride? Or should I look at this as an opportunity to branch out and make friends and maybe grow through shared training in the long run? I want to do the second option. But I still feel pressure--even if it's all being put on me by my own self!

I'm Still a Newb

Because I've been focusing on strengthening my escapes from bad positions, I went into class last night intending to ask Ben about side control escapes. Funny enough, that was the focus of the class for the night. Love it when things work out that way.

For some reason, I always forget everything except the basic side control escape. You know, the one where you get your elbow in, hip out and get your knee in and create a barrier and work out from there. I had intended to ask Ben about other side control escapes because that on wasn't getting the job done for me all the time, especially against bigger opponents. Last night, I realized why it wasn't working. I had been doing that basic escape wrong this entire time.

It's not that I haven't been taught how to do it correctly before. I have even drilled it correctly before. Many, many times. For some reason, though, the concept of WHY the move should work had eluded my memory until last night.

When you're doing this escape, you start out in side control, with their knee under your shoulder, their arm under your neck, isolating one arm. Your goal should always be to get that elbow in, if for no other reason than the fact tht your arm is vulnerable to attack while it's isolated like that. But also, you want to get your elbow in to create a block to keep the person from getting any closer. In the same way, you want your other arm across their chest, under their neck, with one thumb in their lapel to create yet another block. You're trying to make space. You want to get to your side, hipping out and bringing your knee up to your elbow to create a barrier.

Here's what I was doing wrong: I was using my arms to try to push the person back and off of me. I weigh 133 lbs. Most of the people I grapple weigh significantly more than that. I'm not going to be able to push them off of me.

What I was supposed to be doing was simply using my arms as a barrier while I hip out and move MY OWN BODY away from them, getting my knee in to create more space. The space comes from me moving my body, and using my arms as a barricade to keep them from following.

As I experienced last night, this works much better. lol.

We worked several side control escapes last night, all of which I've seen before but have not really incorporated into my game. I came away from class feeling a little stupid. I've been doing this for seven months and I still wasn't doing a basic side control escape correctly? I knew that stuff. Why wasn't I remembering it? I guess it just goes to show that I am still a newb and that I have a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go.

I'm ok with that. I'm glad that I am seeing errors so that I can work toward fixing them. I need to pack up my pride and put it back on the shelf, to be used at a later date when I can actually back it up with correct technique!! ;)

Legs a Locking

Leg Locks. I hates them. But they loves me.

I like to work a lot of open and inverted guard. This usually means my legs are exposed. And lately, people have been happily taking advantage of my sloppiness. I know the traditional escape. You grab one of their arms/sleeves and do the twisty roll. But lately, I've been attempting to learn how to defend by coming up on top.

Only problem is, when I grab a sleeve and come up, getting my imperiled foot flat on the ground, I have barrier between me and mount: the other guy's knee. I asked Fabio and Ben about it, and they gave me four strategies for getting around that knee.

1. Slide your attacked leg down their side and get into top half guard. This is the easiest one for me to do. But the problem is, when I go to slide my leg down their side, if I'm not careful, they can get my ankle again when I lift my heel off the mat.

2. Keep your foot still flat on the mat. Flare you knee out a little bit to help keep it flat. Reach around the knee that is blocking you and grab the opposite lapel. Keep pressure on their leg and break your hip around their knee. This one, I've had problems with. Mostly because it requires coordination. :) I'll have to practice it more.

3. This one's hard to explain. If your opponent is blocking you from breaking around the side, turn your knee out and put it flat to the mat in front of their knee. Your heel will be in towards their body, but you will be leaning over them. Bring your hips forward and slide over his other knee. I've tried this one and ended up successfully passing this way only once. The other (few) times, I've been rolled over the person's head. But at least I wasn't being leg locked again and I was able to get my knees in as I rolled, so I ended up in a butterfly guard.

4. If someone is pushing against you with their knee, keep pressure against their knee, then pop up and over their knee when they are pushing against you. It seems too simple. But it actually works, especially if you've normally try the other escapes.

What are your strategies for escaping leg locks by coming up on top?

Training Experiment

I had an interesting conversation the other day with one of my instructors about being willing to try things while you're rolling. He was saying that one thing I might try is to deliberately allow myself to get in bad positions or submissions in order to practice my escapes. How does this pertain to creativity? If you are confident in your ability to escape bad situations or submissions, you'll be more willing to get creative and try new things.

I'm trying a new (new-to-me, anyway) training philosophy lately. What I have been doing for a while is, with people who are better than me, I go hard and try crazy things. Invariably, I tap. A lot. But I learn little things here and there. The new thing I'm trying is, with people who are a little lower than my skill level, to let them pass my guard and get mount or side control or whatever and start working from there.

Last night, I tried this out with a white belt girl who has trouble being aggressive. I told her I only wanted to work escapes and that I wanted her to attack me. It worked out really well for both of us. She enjoyed working her attack game and it was great for me to work escapes and sweeps. Woohoo!!

I Need To Work On My Displays of Gratitude

I went and visited Fabio’s other school last night; the one that I had never been to before. Going over there was nerve wracking for me. I was worried that I wouldn’t do well and people wouldn’t think I deserved my stripes. Fabio is always talking about how you don’t need to prove yourself to people. If he or Ben gives you a stripe or a belt, you’ve earned it. They don’t give them out just because they like people or because people come to class a lot. You don’t need to keep proving that you earned it.

Nevertheless, I fought with myself the whole way not to think like that. Too add to my lack of confidence, I am STILL sick. In the back of my mind, I was using that as an excuse before I even got there. I’m not feeling well, so if I suck, that’s the reason why. Right?

So we get there and everyone was really welcoming and nice. It’s a smaller school, more like Summerlin, the other school I train at with Ben. (Did I mention that Summerlin didn’t close after all?!?! Woohoo for Ben being willing to keep teaching our little group of miscreants!) I started to relax a little bit, but my nerves were still getting to me.

Then we got to the technique.

Usually, I am ok with picking up techniques. I mean, I’m a white belt so I don’t do them awesome. But I can at least mimic what Fabio or Ben do. Apparently I left my brain in Lakeland because I could not for the life of me do the technique tonight. It as a half guard sweep where you swim both legs, trapping one of their legs with both of your legs, then kicking out with one leg and rolling and come up in side control. Yeah...I can’t even explain it properly. I got it by the end, but MAN I felt like a retard through drilling.

Grappling didn’t start much better. I went with a blue belt named Nick, who is a really nice guy, as this story is about to prove. He was rolling really light, being really friendly and letting me work. And how do I repay him you might ask? Oh, I dunno…I only kneed him in the face! We’re not talking about a little graze either. It was a clunker. In fact, I hit him so hard I actually have a welt on my knee.

Spastic white belt for the lose!

He took it in stride and kept grappling. But I’m pretty sure he hates my guts now. It wasn’t just the knee to the face. I also had this problem where my mouth would not stop moving. Sometimes, when I get nervous, I get really quiet. Other times, I talk a lot. This was one of those times that I talked a lot. I talked the whole grapple. I was annoying myself but my mouth kept moving. After all that, Nick was still nice enough not to submit the tar out of me.
The rest of my grapples went a little better. I settled down and did the best that I could. I stopped worrying so much about what people were thinking and just tried to roll. By the end of the night I was starting to feel comfortable. Just in time for me to leave!

I wish I had some deep, thought provoking moral of the story. But all I’ve got is this: Don’t be an overly anxious moron like I was. Relax and do what you do. If people like you, great! If not, submit them...or pay a higher belt to do it for you!! ;)

Also, check out this link about Fabio in another local paper. Well deserved, Fabio!!

Boxer vs. Grappler

We did something out of the ordinary on Saturday: a boxer vs. grappler scenario.

One guy had on boxing gloves and had the sole goal of punching or kicking their opponent. The other person, the grappler, was supposed to take the boxer to the ground and submit them if possible. The boxer could grapple a little as well, but they were mainly supposed to hit, even after they were taken down. Keep in mind we were only supposed to hit/kick at 30%, but with the exception of one fifteen year old boy, I was the smallest one in the class. And I was the only girl. Woohoo.

Needless to say, I was intimidated. Ok, let's be honest. I was terrified. For you guys that also train in Muy Thai or Kick Boxing, you may think I'm a wimp. But I don't do MMA. I've never had to grapple someone who was going to try to punch me in the face. Doing this exercise was optional and I considered sitting out. But I HATE backing down from things when I know the only reason why I am backing down is fear. So I talked myself into doing it.

Fortunately, my instructor sensed my terror and asked if I wanted to do the exercise with him. I quickly agreed. It's funny that I was less terrified of a brown belt than a white belt. It certainly has nothing to do with skill level. It's that I knew he would be able to control his punches and not accidently knock me out!

This is what I kept telling myself. "Ben isn't going to hurt me. He's just going to punch me a little bit. He's just going to tap me with the gloves. Not a big deal." (I actually thought of your slogan, Dev. Fueld By Fear, baby!!)

Meanwhile, I knew that I was going to have to try to take him down. As I have mentioned before, I SUCK at takedowns. So as I watched the other guys go, I devised a plan. I knew Ben would likely start out with jabs. Most people do. I planned to counter the jabs and then wait for a rear hand punch. As soon as the rear hand punch came, I would block it and shoot in for the take down.

And that's exactly what I did.

Usually take downs are terrifying to me. But, I was so worried about countering the punches (and they were really not punches. Ben was going really easy on me) that the takedown actually happened without me having to think about it. I went in and grabbed around his waist, trying to barrel him over. Unfortunately, I got stuck. It was like I hit a brick wall wearing a brown belt. But I wrapped one leg around his and tried to trip him backwards. He obligingly went down.

Then I grappled like normal. He was still punching me. That was distracting, even if the punches weren't hard. But I was surprised at how I was able to still work even with the distraction. I have a sneaky feeling that things would have been a lot different if I was getting hit with real punches. lol. But hey, everyone starts somewhere, right?

I loved this exercise. The point was to prove that the techniques we learn in class can be applied in a real street fight situation. Like I said, I think I would have had less success against someone who was trying to hit me with full force. But I think it actually broke me through a barrier with my takedowns. I was so worried about the punching, I didn't have room in my tiny brain to worry about the takedown. And low and behold, I still did it. It was sloppy and clumsy, but I'm still proud of it! ;) Guess I HAVE retained some minimal takedown knowledge after all.

Grappling Smart

I had a private lesson with Ben on Thursday and talked with him about how to grapple people who have a significant weight advantage. It was pointed out to me that, when I am intimidated, I tend to try to keep distance between me and my opponent. What I really need to be doing is just the opposite.

He was saying that you may have to grapple differently depending on your opponent. With smaller people you may be able to play at a distance and work a quicker, trickier sort of game. Of course, smaller grapplers may be more squirrely and you might have to work a tight, methodical game just to control them.

But with someone who has a significant size advantage, he gave me these pointers:

1. Get in close and play a tight game. This goes against every instinct I had!! You want me to get CLOSE to that man-beast? Are you insane? ;) But Ben explained that when I give them so much room they can build up a lot of momentum and just throw me around. Don't give them space to build up momentum and explode. Take away some of their power by getting in tight and not letting them move. It makes sense now that I understand it a little more.

Ben made sure to point out to me that being tight does not mean gripping and holding someone with all your strength. It means not making space.

2. Be methodical. There's nothing wrong with being quick. But if being quick means you make space then that's a bad thing, especially when you are dealing with an opponent who can shuck you off without much effort.

That's not to say that speed is an enemy. When you're small, you can probably move more quickly than larger opponents. That can be an advantage but only if you don't sacrifice position and technique for speed.

3. There are going to be times when you get stuck in a bad position. Just keep working. When you go for one escape, they may defend it, but it will probably make space somewhere else. You have to be a step ahead, knowing where you're going to go if they block your first escape, so you can take advantage of that space.

4. Leverage! Use their momentum and weight distribution against them. For example, if you go for a sweep and they pull back the other way, don't try to force the sweep. Realize where they have their weight committed and go the other way and get a different sweep instead. Again, it's a good idea to think ahead. Know what the defenses are to the sweep you're trying and then, depending on what the guy does, you'll have a plan for how to react.

5. Make them work and use up their energy. Take advantage of times when you can rest. In a tournament, if you have a buffer of points, be smart and rest when you're in a good position. You don't have to be up by 20 points at the end of the grapple. In the same way, in class, when you have a big guy in your guard, you want to keep their base broken down, but don't try to force a submission if they're defending. Make them work to get out of your guard. While they're working, they might expose something and THEN you can go for a submission. It requires a little more patience, but it helps you to conserve energy.

6. Learn to love fighting from your back. As a small grappler, I am going to be on my back sometimes. That is just a fact. But I can still keep them in tight to me while they are in my guard or half guard. And I can attack and be dangerous from the bottom as well as from the top. I should still try to get on top. Absolutely. But don't hate on the guard game!

This morning when I walked into class I was glad we'd had that lesson. There was only one person smaller than me and the rest were significantly larger and stronger. When I went with one of the biggest guys, I tried to put the stuff I'd learned into action. It made a HUGE difference. I still spent most of the grapple on my back. But I stayed in tight, looked for sweeps, tried to keep his base broken down, defended as many submissions as I could (except for some ankle locks because I always tap early with those). I felt a lot more confident and a lot safer, even though the idea of getting in close to someone that much bigger than me seems so scary.

Woohoo! I feel like I had a breakthrough. I was getting so intimidated by the bigger guys. I know I won't be suddenly able to dominate guys twice my size. But now I at least feel like I have a plan that involves more than quick tapping. :)

What's Normal?

Haven't been feeling the greatest over the last few days. Despite that, class had been going well. The guard pass I was struggling with is going better. Not great. But I didn't get triangled in the last few classes, so that's a step in the right direction. One thing I noticed is that I had to wait for the right time to use that specific guard pass, not just try to do it randomly when I wanted to make it work. Also, I ended up using a variation of the pass in which I use my shin to hold down the leg instead of my arm. I have better luck when I do it that way.

Also, my quest for a top game is going better than it has been. I tried knee-on-belly, tried to remember that I could stand up if I needed to. If they got a knee in or an arm in, I tried to keep my weight on top, circling on their body and trying to find an opening. A lot of times I got caught or lost the top position. Majority of the time, actually. But I am learning that some of those positions that I was worried about doing are actually more stable than I expected. Knee on belly, for example, is much more stable than I thought it was.

Here's the thing, though. My success is relative. My game goes to garbage when I am grappling the big guys. Part of it is intimidation. Part of it is the problems with my technique. I'm sure part of it is simple laws of physics. Whatever it is, I am not seeing much progress in my game against people who have a significant weight advantage on me.

To all of you other small people, how long did it take for you to be able to consistently get into--and stay in--dominant positions on opponents who had a big weight advantage?

I struggle sometimes with knowing what I should expect out of myself. It's not just wondering if I should be able to grapple better against bigger guys. There's the whole issue of me being a girl in a full contact sport dominated by men. When am I being wimpy and when are they being too rough?

My instructor was telling us the other day in class that smaller people need to grapple in such a away that their small size becomes an advantage. Get in tight and keep moving. I may not have strength, but I can move faster and get into smaller spaces. I guess I need to start developing my strategy. What works for a 200lb guy may not work well for me. But it works the other way too. I may be able to do things that bigger guys can't. I have to figure out what my advantages are and learn how to learn to play MY game.

I'm Not Going to Sulk

My husband has a way of pointing things out that are true, but very annoying. For example: Last night when I came home all weepy about not getting to be instructed by Ben and Mario at Summerlin, he pointed out that God has turned around several things that I thought were going to be horrible and made them into something great. He very kindly listed them off.

When I moved from Tampa (the city where I grew up and knew a lot of people and had access to a lot of places) to Bartow (a city where I knew only my brother and sister-in-law and that had a Walmart, a Publix and not much else) I was pretty depressed. I'd left my family and friends and had come to a place where I didn't want to be.

But, when I got here, I met a lot of people I now love and now feel like this place is my home. Since I moved here, I got to take on my dream job of being a youth minister, plus I get to be nerdy and write fiction on the side. Also, if I hadn't moved here, I never would have even known what BJJ was.JJ also pointed out that one of the things I always preach to my youth kids is to be flexible and to trust that God has a plan.

As much as I didn't want to hear these positive things at that moment, I slept on it and woke up realizing that he is right(Dangit!!). Things do have a way of working out, and a lot of times they work out better than I could have hoped.

You know, this whole reacting and adapting idea is so much like what I want to be able to do when I'm rolling. It's funny, I have been so focused on relaxing and going with the flow during grappling, but when something didn't go my way in my life off the mat, I forgot all about adapting. Guess I'm still a white belt in life as well!!

Anyways, onto a different topic. Last night, during grappling, I went with a blue belt we call Yeti who I roll with fairly often. He's a great sparring partner and he challenges me while, at the same time, always being careful not to put submissions on too quickly or too hard. He asked if he could go a little harder on me last night, and I welcomed the challenge. I knew he was going to pass my guard and that I would find myself in bad situations. But my goal was to not freak out when that happened and to not get intimidated.

As I expected, he passed my guard multiple times. But every time I tried to stay calm and be focused on what I needed to do to return to a neutral position or to sweep him. He was still moving at a slower pace against me than he would people at his skill level, but I at least felt like I was able move alright. Yay!

On the other hand, I rolled with a white belt guy who is a lot bigger than me (almost 100 lbs more so) and I could not pull of a sweep from guard or half guard to save my life. There must be a few (hundred) flaws in my sweep techniques because that boy was not going over. Something to work on.

So, here's to adapting and growing! Happy rolling, everyone!

Uhhh...You're Doing it Wrong, Allie.

I realized tonight that I had forgotten how to do a certain, close guard pass correctly. It doesn't have a name. So many BJJ moves don't have names or I don't know them if they do. But here's what it looks like: You break the person's guard, then go through their legs/over one leg with your opposite knee and shin and establish side control.

I used to use that guard pass all the time. Then I learned new guard passes and forgot how to do the old ones. That's why Ben told me I needed to brush up my guard passes from when I am close into my opponent, because I am relying on guard passes that primarily work when you are keeping space. As soon as he told me that, I started trying to re-incorporate them into my grappling, only to find that I couldn't remember how to do them correctly!! I remembered what they looked like and how to mimic the basic proponents. But apparently all the little details that make them effective leaked out of a hole in my brain and are now gone. :)

This was a point painfully made to me tonight by one of my favorite sparring partners, a blue belt the school has nicknamed Yeti. He's one of those guys who will roll with you just above your level. He doesn't make you feel like he's going easy, even though he is. And he takes the time to help point out major flaws in your game.

Anyway, I was grappling him and I kept trying to do that guard pass. And I kept getting swept. Over and over and over again. No matter how hard I tried to keep my base, I wasn't able to finish that pass and I kept getting stuck in half-guard. After class, I asked Yeti to show me what I was doing wrong.

I was embarrassed when showed me the little details that I should have known--and did know at one point--but that I had forgotten. I wasn't posting out with my other leg, I wasn't blocking his hip with my elbow, I wasn't keeping my head on his chest as I came through, I was sitting out through instead of sliding my shin and knee through. I could go on. But you get the point.

Hot garbage.

It makes me wonder how many other things I have forgotten. The good news in all of this is that, once Yeti reminded me of all those things, they now seem cemented in my feeble memory. Mostly because the feeling of getting swept repeatedly is also very fresh. ;) I know that forgetting is part of the process of learning. I see so many moves each week that it's pretty near impossible to retain them all, even though I am a nerd and write them all down in detail after class. But, unless I actually use them in grappling, they don't really "stick", if you know what I mean. The other half of the problem is that my game changes and then all the old stuff I used a lot gets rusty because I'm trying new stuff.

I'm sure you all understand and have been through things like this...right? ;)

Overcoming Freindliness

I think I'm having an aggression problem. A selective aggression problem. I don't have any issue attacking the guys with all I've got and trying my best to submit them. I usually fail, but the spirit of I'm-going-to-choke-you-out is at least there. ;) But I've been having trouble rolling normally with the girls at Fabio's.

This isn't because they are super scary or jerks. It certainly isn't because I think I'm so awesome that I don't need to roll seriously against them. It has more to do with the intensity level, I think. They don't go hard when they grapple against me, so I respond by going at the same level. Also, I'm friends with these girls and , if they re just relaxing when they roll, I would feel like a complete jerk going hard on them. What is usually produced is a relaxed, laid back roll in which I don't really go for submissions and just work positions, moving at a slower pace than I normally do.

I was fine with that. But now, my instructor pointed out something that is making me rethink how I've been rolling. He was saying that, if I don't catch those girls in things and they don't catch me, we will develop bad habits that go uncorrected or leave ourselves open or miss submissions, etc, etc. Then, when we go to tournaments, we'll get caught. If we want to grow, we have to get over this whole "friendship" thing and up the intensity of our roll. He is challenging us to go harder. He's not saying we should try to rip each others' arms off or try to hurt each other. But he is saying we are too nice to each other while we grapple.

Have you guys/gals had any similar problems?

Like White on Rice

Tuesday night I had the sniffles but I went to class anyway. Thought it was just the cold weather. (Don't laugh at me, Northerners. 50 degrees is cold when you live in Florida!!). But by the end of class I was feeling really crappy and had a full blown cold.

I'm still glad I went, though I hope I didn't give what I have to anyone else. We worked a scissor-sweep to a gi choke that I really like. Again, it had been a while since I had seen a scissor sweep taught and I had a lot of little erros that were making my sweep ineffective, like putting my knee too far through across the belly and putting my other leg against the mat. Instead, you want to hook your ankle across the rib cage, but not put your knee all the way through to the other side. And with your other leg, you want to put it directly over their knee joint, not above it on the thigh or below it against the mat. I also wasn't arching back like I should when you go to apply the sweep.

But the real lesson I took away from that night happened during grappling. Usually, when I grapple with my instructor, Ben, he goes with my movements and stays relaxed. He's not trying to submit me. He's just reacting to what I'm doing and letting me move. Tuesday night he took a different approach: tight and controlled.

There's only one way to describe how I felt during that grapple: Son of a mother flipping biscuit eater!! Every time I moved, he wrapped me up tighter. Every time I exposed a limb, I lost it to some kind of clench. He was fluid and moving, but I just kept getting wrapped up into a smaller and smaller ball.

As frustrating as the grapple was, I learned a few things from it.

#1. Keep moving. Even when your opponent has the dominant position, don't freak out. You've already lost the points or the advantage, so it's time to relax, work to make space and to begin working to get a sweep or to get back to a neutral position.

#2. If you can't stay tight while you're doing something fast then you need to slow it down. What good is it for me to try to pass someone's guard at lightning speed if I am so sloppy while I do it that they can sweep me or catch half guard or something? I need to take my time and do things right instead of trying to do them fast.

#3. For Pete's sake, don't expose your limbs!! I don't know how many times Ben trapped one of my arms or legs. I was just putting them out there way to much. Again, this goes back to staying tight while I'm moving.

Another thing I noticed was that, even though Ben was going harder on me than normal and staying tighter than he ever has on me before, he never hurt me. I never felt pain. Just a ridiculous amount of frustration at my own inability to do anything. To me, that's an example of real BJJ. He completely dominated me without ever having to submit me or even cause me pain in any way.