tallgeese

The big thing has already been said by MP, rep it about a million more times. Don't focus on speed or strength, focus on proper technique. Good bumps, strong shrimps, precise resets on the recovery. Be able to do it perfect, not missing a step, at whatever pace that those parameters dictate. Learn to feel and then recognize how that successful motion works. Fundamentals, executed perfectly, and drilled throughout your grappling career, are the key to quality BJJ. Learn to love them, because you should be doing them thru the ranks. They can't become boring, or be relegated to a secondary status. If you absolutely, must have another option so soon, ask to be shown a movement out in the opposite direction, to you knees. This will give you a couple of simple options. There are about a million options based on where you are and your partner, and where everyone's appendages are. But the ALL operate off the fundamentals learned in the escape you described (or in other fundamental movements). Secure those first and foremost. Also, learn to get comfortable and relax. Getting crushed on the bottom is actually half of the BJJ game. The less you panic and spaz, the longer you'll be in the fight and the more favorable your counter results will be. Just as a reminder, the best counter to side is to not get put there in the first place, so remember to focus on retaining your "grappling ball" when in a scramble that you seem to be on the loosing end of. Lastly, read "Jiu JItsu University" by Saulo Riberio. Don't look so much at the techniques deep in the book, but focus on his philosophy of how BJJ should work. His outlook would have served me well earlier in my grappling career. Good luck and keep us posted.

8/24 More of same at school. Humped up and down stairs during training which made the pm workout that much harder. pm: BJJ club visit 40 min free roll

Welcome aboard!

welcome to KF!

That's really cool. Hopefully, more of this sort of thing gets to take place.

8/23 Day of pistol work. Force on force.

First up, welcome aboard KF! Glad to have you. As to the test, relax. It's the best thing you can do for nerves. It's 2 days away, do light reps of what you're expected to know. Mainly mental. But more than anything, relax. Breath. I know it sounds simple, but don't stress so much (going back to relaxing) that you start holding your breath. Slow you're breathing, this will slow your heart rate, this in turn will control the nerves and let you operate. It will be your best friend. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

8/22 Out of town all week for a tactical school. All kinds of fun all day long, every day. There I days I do love my job. Hit the local BJJ club out here: Drilled controlling from mount, moving to mount from side. Sub series from top. 30 min free roll. Big thanks to the guys at Des Moins BJJ for their hospitality.

8/20 60 min free roll Worked on hip bump to omo plata during roll w/ coach. Defending ankle attacks as well.

8/19 am: 2 hour long gun shoot at the dept. Manipulation course on the shotgun and rifle. Qual course for both. pm: 1.5 mile run neck pull ups bench squats curls abs

8/18 See above, same work for work day. Add hand to hand combat with the shields as well. Pretty cool stuff. Again, maybe not much in the way personal defense, but I did feel a bit like a Spartan. BJJ nite: Drilled omo plata, and counter. Moved on to omo to back roll sweep. Flow drill of the above to knee in to mount to knee in on other side followed by movement to back. 6, 2 min rounds of eyes closed pummeling to body lock sensitivity work. 45 min free roll

Is that a hip toss? I think so, but I'm no good with names; it doesn't really matter to the principle. I agree that potentially high injury tactics should be kept out of the beginning ranks arsenal. So, I'm in high agreement with that. As to modified tactics so the newer ranks, I"m not a fan of teaching "poor" technique ever. Keep in mind; however, that just because it looks like a poor, modified version of a more popular throw doesn't mean that this is actually the case. The throw in question might be a perfectly reasonable tactic, taught the way it's normally done. I don't know if this is the case or not, I'm not a judo guy at all. Nor do I know what your level of knowledge is about it. It's possible you've been around long enough to know it's just a bad throw. Or, you might be newer, and not really know if it's a tactic in it's own right. Just some thoughts.

"clubbery"- A word I will now endeavor to use daily.

8/17 Full day of entries with shields. Again, not alot of crossover to personal defense save the use of corners and weapon handling. But good workout and let's face it...the weapon handling never hurts.

How is getting slammed to the mat over and over again more gentle? Seriously, I do BJJ all the time, I've no interest whatsoever in adding judo to my line up ever.

8/16 Drilled single and double work. Reps of striking entries to body locks and doubles Video reps of takedowns for evaluation 20 min free roll. Worked heavily on countering the standing guard pass.

8/15 Drilled side control to back. Then bottom of side to single. Followed by a series of rolling to omo plata from the single then an escape from the omo plata. 6, 2 min rounds of side v. escape with eyes closed for sensitivity work. 45 min free roll.

One thing to consider is the "going 100 percent" syndrome. It's easy to achieve burn out that way. Start in, pick a certain number of days per week that you will train. Make this a hard, fast number. Also, make it easy to accomplish with what you have going on in your life. Say 2. Then, get that done every week for a couple of months. Then you've got a pretty good habit built. Plus, you've got plenty of time for your other interest. No matter how much you think you want to train more, DON'T! If you find that after this couple of months that you have time, and energy to do another, then add a third. Do that for a couple of more months. Don't go to any more classes per week. See how it works, ease in. If it starts to feel like a strain to get all of it in, then back off. Go to one less class. The idea is that it has to be manageable, and fun. You have to have a job already, don't saddle yourself with the mind set of a second. Just some thoughts, it's a marathon not a sprint. Enjoy training. To that end, make sure you're at a club you enjoy. Your personality should fit, you should laugh with your partners a lot. You should want to, and occasionally actually do, go out with your training comrades. It's a good sign that going to class is FUN. Search till you find that. It's imperative. Good luck and keep us posted.

I took the liberty of checking out your other video that popped up with that link. Looks like you guys have a pretty cool training set up. We do the same kind of thing in regard to leg locks. If you compete, my BJJ coach will work defensive stuff with you while you roll with him when it comes up just so you don't get something ripped off by a jerk in comps. He'll actually start showing them to you at purple, again, just when you're rolling with him, not class wide. We stay off them mostly, when I roll with other guys, I tap as soon as one is even attempted. I like my ACL . Aside from the heightened risk of injury, my coach makes the point that if you start them too soon, no one develops an open guard game because they are scared of losing an appendage. One of those interesting things to discuss. Again, nice job.

Nice vid, pitbull. Thanks for sharing. I took note of "the red ball of death" that kept attacking you at around 3:00. That happens at the club I train at all the time. Someone knocks an exercise ball out of it's spot and the thing takes off like it has a mind of it's own to get in the mix. I noticed in the last couple of transitions you guys moved thru a couple of near leg attack routines. Do you routinely train those, or was it a case of just moving thru positions and that's where you landed? Just curious, we hold off on leg locks until quite deep in training. Again, thanks for posting. Cool to see other members in action.

I wish it was that, I'd spent so much time training no gi from about purple on that I just didn't know how anymore. lol.

Crash and takedown. Fight on the ground. Yes, it's fraught with risk. However, it's probably less risk to crash close than stay at range with those attributes.

8/14 neck shoulder press weighted pull ups dead lift abs 2 mile run

welcome to KF!

Nice work! Don't stress the belt thing...true story, I didn't have mine tied right at my black belt test after 5 plus years.