Choose Strong
For Tim.
I'd encourage everyone to run a marathon, for the invaluable lessons it teaches.
One can dash for 100m, 200m, 400m, but not 26.2 miles. That distance challenges
not just one's endurance but more their attitude and approach. One's mind
switches from obsessing with what's without like the finish line to focusing on
the perfection of each stride, e.g., to making the gait more efficient or the landing
less painful. And the paradigm-shift applies to other major life endeavors.
In four years, my jiu-jitsu journey has made a similar change. In a class,
instead of rushing to finish a move, I am happy to discern the tiny details I
have missed so far and drill them correctly even if I have to slow down. It is
like going through test sheets repeatedly when I was cramming for Gaokao: each
round improved over the previous by my being more aware and the mistakes were
covered as many times as necessary so that I wouldn't make them again.
These days, in sparring, I rarely try to force things. I tap earlier and remind
myself to tap before rolling. Some high-level white belts are strong and they
have a background in other martial arts, wrestling, e.g. They are going to
dominate and even submit if my skills don't match up. I cannot force progress
anymore but at the same time, the promise of the art, the weak over the strong
through leverage and techniques, feels never more true. I can indeed do
something.
This transition in mentality might be why the purple belt is the hardest among
the jiu-jitsu ranks.
And often like in long distance running, progress comes without my noticing. Jun
25, I was elated to receive the second stripe on my blue belt. It took 13
months. I could have got it earlier had I stayed in the previous gym but I am
very happy I've made the move. If achieving the blue belt is a youthful dash,
each stripe afterward is a step toward maturity.
My learning has gone way beyond the art. I've learned through trial and error
the values and the mores of the people I have chosen to live in. Little things
such as how to greet people, how to be greeted, what to talk about and what not
to, how to behave on and off the mat, etc. I acted out my understanding, got
feedback, reflected, and improved. It's a different kind of growth and may be
more valuable than the amount of money I could've made working.
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Richard of our gym fought MMA in SF! He's in his early 30s and a new bluebelt.
We are of the same weight and rolled a few times and he was very good at taking
my back.
Jun 2. Machine taught the basic half-guard bottom positions and the bridge when
being flattened with cross-face. I rolled with Eversly and two new students.
Lucas who trained in MMA and a good muscular white belt and Sarah who looked in her 20s
and had survived her first few months.
Jun 3. Darren's back and taught the cork-screw as a counter to straight
footlock. Justin was more aggressive today, Andreas was making good progress,
Mike was as strong as ever, and I had a hard time rolling with them. I'd take
tomorrow off.
Jun 10. Justin did an Americana on me from bottom cross side. I hadn't had it
done to me for a while. I knew the counter, I told myself, but somehow I was
confused and I let it go a little too far.
In the same session, Dillon did an omoplata (I was again confused and couldn't
execute the escape and tapped) and Lucas did a straight armlock, both again on
my left arm.
I slept only about two hours the night before and was groggy all morning. Maybe
that had to do with it. Good lessons to grow on. My left elbow felt the pain but
my yoga&toe-to-the-bar routine was fine the morning after and it recovered in
three days.
Jun 13. Machine taught the John Wayne sweep from the bottom half guard. Trap
their nearside arm with the top hand, have the other hand push their hip, and
bridge and turn with their leg trapped.
My close guard sucks and I usually don't play half guard. At the bottom, I'd
quickly switch to open guard with two feet between or outside of their legs.
Jun 17. Karen taught the far-side armbar from cross-side and the north-south
head-and-arm choke.
I sparred with Jose, Lucas, Michael, and Aaron. I successfully defended Jose's
omoplata on my left arm twice which made me very happy: learn from failures.
It's the way of Jiu-jitsu.
I did on Aaron the figure 4 entry from turtle and followed up by double-trouble.
Jun 20. Machine showed the progression from cross-side top. When the bottom guy
turns toward me (assume I'm from his right side), I should place my right
forearm on his hips, my left hand block the back of his head, I go to
north-south, insert my left arm in front of his hips with hand on the mat, and
switch to his back. From there, I could get the seatbelt grip and take his back,
especailly if he turtles up.
In another scenario, I should try to trap his left arm to the right side of my
head and get the underhook. This was a key (as Matt, my partner reminded me).
With my underhook and my weight on him, I can drag his left side off the mat.
It'll be the best if I can trap the bottom arm with my right leg when I go
north-south. Then I could go for the kimura or the far-side armbar. I shared
that detail with Matt.
Matt also opened my eyes on transitioning to take the back from mount. He
recommended grapevine and encouraged me to work on my mount even though I was
relatively light. He also showed me how the seat-belt backtake could transition
to head-and-arm choke when the guy tried to escape.
These training made me much more aware of back-takes.
Jun 21. Only three students at the Sat noon class. Rolled with John. His
cross-side bottom near-side frame was great: the forearm never left my hip,
never over-extended, and very aware of my kesa-gatami attack.
Jun 23. Machine taught side-control bottom guard-recovery. The details were
amazing: how to get the second frame under the top guy's chin, how to guide and
not push his head and upper body toward his side, and how to hip out to stay on
my side.
Cross-side, if I can ball up directly underneath with an underhook, I should C-cup his
near-side leg with my bottom arm to raise it and catch it with my top leg and
figure-4 it with my bottom leg, as in a quarter-guard position. Then I should hug
his far-side leg behind the knee and walk toward him and sweep him.
I took the initiative and mounted Justin during our roll and attempted a
top-side triangle. He got out.
Jun 25. It was a big day. From machine, John and I each got one stripe and
Andreas got two.
Again, I felt I absorbed more from the class. We warmed up with cross-side
(called side-control in this gym) bottom scooting, as when our guard was passed
and the guy was trying to cross-face and flatten us on our back.
Next, if I ducked deep under him, I could raise his near-side lower-leg and trap
it with my legs in a figure 4 half-guard, hug his back and his other leg with my
arms, scoot my hips close to him, and reverse.
As an alternative, with underhook, I could wrap my arms around his near-side
leg, turtle up to his side, and at this point, three things could happen: 1. I
keep scooting to his back with my shoulder pressing into his thigh to trap his
leg. When I got to his behind, move my near-side knee up to connect with my
elbow, the other hand drag his leg and shelve it on my raised leg, switch hands,
and the other hand to grab his other knee for the takedown. 2. He could throw me
on my back again by pushing on my hip, and I should go back to try the
half-guard figure-4 reversal. 3. What I used to do, i.e., just grab the far-side
knee for a double-leg takedown.
Machine taught two cross-side bottom reversals. First, with the top-guy
cross-facing, I should push his head toward my hips (better when he moves that
direction, e.g., to negate my underhook) and do a bridge to the far-side while
my other arm making a chopping motion on his cross-facing arm. Second, my
far-side arm reaches his belt (maybe not necessary, the lats for no-gi, maybe?)
from the side of his head closer to me, my near-side frame stays under his hip,
I tried to recover guard to make him move his lower-body toward my head, and the
moment he moved (The momentum would be there and I don't need to wait till he
gets to 10 o'clock), I could use his momentum to bridge, again to the far-side,
and reverse.
I rolled with Lucas and caught him in my kesa-gatame with my left hand gripping
his right wrist and straightened his right arm. I tried to push his wrist down
so I could capture with either my legs but my arm was not long enough. After a
while, I changed grip from towarding his elbow to towarding his fingers and
gained the necessary length.
Jun 26. Two guard recoveries (GR) and two more cross-side bottom reversals today
from Darren, under the classic cross-face holding position. GR#1, have both
hands cup his armpit and guide his upper-body upward. GR#2, have the far-side
wrist or forearm under his chin palmdown and the near-side hand reinforce
palm-to-palm. Together, they would be able to raise his head and create space.
I can RG, swim to the back, or just scoot back, depending on his reaction.
For the reversals, both of my arms are on the outside. If he insists on the
cross-face, which means his weight is more across my chest, I'd bridge away chop
with my arms, like driving an old truck, Darren said, to take him to the
far-side. I think my far-side arm should be grabing something on his back to
help him roll. If his weight is more on the near side, I'd block his top leg
with my near-side arm, chop my far-side arm against the top of his head, and
bridge toward him (11-o'clock).
So there are four reversals so far to practice, just for that one holding
position. I'd experiment with the other holds. I don't do cross-face but Jose
was able to reverse when I was trying the Von Flue choke.
During sparring, Darren again did the kimura transition to armbar on me. I need
to find a solution. On Luis, I was able to mount and try Henry's arm-attack.
