Choose Strong
For Tim.
Being trusted is better than being loved, I heard. It certainly felt great when
Darren asked me to open the gym that day and later when I was asked to write a
yelp review. I felt a part of the community!
1. Sumi Gaeshi and Kesa Gatami
We trained sumi gaeshi, the sweep against the single-leg takedown. This was what
V did to me a few weeks back with my head in the wrong position! My neck felt it
when he flipped me which made it such a good lesson. I looked it up and found a
very helpful video on judo counter to the single-leg and an entry from normal
grabbing position.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTkhQgd4pzY&t=139s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kIoGWJxudg
Twice Darren got out of my kesa gatami with one arm trapped under my top leg.
With a hitch-hiker armbar escape, he turns counterclockwise and got both his
head and arm out. (Not even Henry showed this escape!) When I crucifixed him
from the top and went for his arm in a straight arm-lock, he wiggled his fingers
and turned his hand slowly to lessen the joint pressure. In either case, I
would've tapped long ago. He was amazing.
2. Two Weeks of Turtle
Machine showed quite a few attacks on the turtle, my favorite platform. With one
hook in, he showed the truck, the banana split, the calf slicer, and the
spine-twister, among others. I was most impressed, however, with the counter to
my trap-and-roll by stepping across to the trapped side to take the back. Now
that I am not afraid of my own goto move anymore, I could set up a trap for my
opponent: my lead arm under their armpit. It's only a question of time I perfect
it and take the back of my opponent reliably and maybe I'll even follow up with
the back triangle.
The third week was again about the turtle. I learned another option, besides the
turtleplata, to counter sprawling against my trap-and-roll. There was a similar
move in half-guard bottom: to trap the bottom lower leg and scoot underneath and
roll them over all the same. Keep the tension so that when their sprawling
weakens as they try to get out of the leg-trap, roll them. This trick solved my
puzzle at the half-guard move.
This month has seen a big change in my turtle game. I start to see more options
from the bottom, which I was already very good at getting into. I learned
recovering guard when they are at my side (or I move to expose them to the side)
and try to catch them in single-leg x when they transition from the front to the
side, and rolling to recover guard or attack when they are at the back.
Moreover, the videos from Sensei Vito and Darren opened my eyes to the sit-out
move and I was so ready for it. As a result of all these improvements, I was
unstuck at the bottom and moved much more in sparring.
3. The Peruvian Necktie
I was caught twice by Ricky in this move and was able to defend the third time, after
watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlN9lpUiZpY&t=87s.
4. Had Fun and was Burnt out
At the open-mats, both 15 and 22, I had a blast. I think people like to sparr
with me because at 150 lbs and 5'6.5", I'm not intimidating. I like to roll with
whitebelts now. It was such fun to outdo bigger but less experienced folks. If
they happen to catch me, I'll tap, ego intact. After rolling on 22, Henry, a
30-ish 5'8" Asian dude and three-striped blue belt, told me in Chinese 寶刀不老,
which made me very happy.
Soon I discovered that I had to pay the price for having fun. Although I haven't
got injured, my body felt burning at night after intense rolling with four or
five guys. It was not a totally unpleasant sensation: the muscles sored and the
joints ached only slightly. The mind couldn't calm down, however. Two nights I
lost sleep completely.
At the noon class on Tuesday Sep 24, I rolled with big guys Ricky and Bryan and
did well. I was soaked in sweat at the end and the afternoon felt dazed and some
chills. Next, my right upper gum and the back of the mouth swelled. I rested
until Friday to feel normal again. I was burnt-out. I really should start paying
more attention to breathing, hydration, and intensity.
5. Body Scan
My bodyweight is around 153 lbs and everything felt good. Sometimes I still felt
the nip but overall my left hip pain did not return. I added a leg stretch
session in the evening and hiked Mission Peak on Saturday (Sep 28) with my nephew.
