Shit happens, right. Ok, so I lost a week of training.
The regular BJJ class went pretty well. Our instructor Jay decided to step it up a notch this class compared to some of the drills he usually has us do pre-class. Today we did the regular routine first: jog normal, shuffle in and out, jog knees up, jog legs kicking back, and normal again. Then instead of rolls and shrimping (a fundamental drill/move in BJJ whose purpose is to create space between the player and the opponent, which will make room for movement to a better position) we all got in a circle and did leg circles, sprawls, and pushups until he decided we were done. Fun stuff. In a way more tiring than normal sort of fun.
. Today he went over being in open guard . First we drilled switching the hips just like the leg cirlces, except witha partner each having a turn having open guard. Moving on from that we went over passing open guard. We did two variations but I liked the second one best.
In this variation, we grip our opponent's pants on the inside of the legs near the knees. You quickly push the right leg/knee down, stepping over with your right leg and extending out near his/her side. Your left leg skips up and over his leg as well, but does so without moving backwards at all. Once it's over, you put your knee on his chest/stomach to get knee on belly. At this time you could still have both grips on his/her pants, and you could push his legs over to the left more to make it harder for him/her to escape.
It sounds mad confusing and takes some practice, but I love the control you end up with. You end up still having a very strong grip on your opponent plus have the oh-so-fun knee on belly, which is a damn uncomfortable position for them to be in. I have experienced this too many times (thanks Kristel), and I can honestly say I rather someone do anything - choke me, armbar, whatever. Knee on belly literally makes you feel like everything is crushing down on your and you can't breathe.
(Somewhat) techincal jargon aside, this class I felt pretty happy with. We did guard passing ceremonies before live training (most often called "rolling"). They're a bitch, but they make sense. It forces people to learn something. To practice a technique in an at least partially live setting where they can focus only on that technique. A lot of times, I don't end up completing the goal of these "ceremonies" our instructor likes to have. In this one, he had all blue belts go on the mat and people had to pair up with them. The rest waited in a line. The goal was to "pass" their open guard. Passing is what it sounds like. You get pass something, in this case open guard. The goal of the person with open guard is to block them from passing or to submit them. As soon as anyone did either of these, those waiting in line have to fill in. In this way, you can end up with anyone. This makes it more difficult for me sometimes because I can get someone who is nowhere near my belt or size, but it's good practice. When you have no choice but to learn something, you generally do.
What I learned about Open Guard
If your opponent has open guard, you do not want space between them and you; likewise, if you have open guard you want space between you and your opponent.
Live rolling was different as well. Jay had us do 1 minute rolls, switching to the first person you can find when the minute was over. Every minute, new person. I kinda lost track of how many people I rolled with, but once again I did have the opportunity to roll with a lot of people I don't normally as a result of this. Normally, we roll with around 3 or so people for 4-5 minute rounds depending on how many people come to that class (more people = less time for everyone to roll, or less often you get to roll). He had us continually do this until the end of class. This is actually more difficult, because you're always putting in a lot of energy right away for that minute, except now it's for every minute and every new person.We only had one of the other girls in class today, Kristel, so I mostly rolled with the guys and some of them were ones Jay will usually purposely not match me up with (because of their weight). So I was pretty damn tired in the end.
I was pretty happy even still in the end. I've been working of thinking less while rolling and being more aggressive and instinctive. Also, trying to push myself to stay at that level even after I have rolled with people already and start to get tired. Hesitation is a big weakness for me while rolling live. I often forget that as soon as I see someone about to transition into a sweep or a pass (ect), I need to act right away. Still, I definately have been progressing with this.
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