[Frodo]

5-3-2006

Went to Steel City. Went over:

• Shrimp Escape out of Side Control, don't grab his gi!!!
• Elbow Press from Side Control when he grabs your collar and pushes you (a mistake by him).
• When he attemps going from side control to full mount: Catch his leg with yours and sweep. Hard to explain (get link later).

I am starting to think the beginner classes at SCMA are getting too easy with technique... That's probably arrogant of me to think so.

Then we some rolling, as usual. I am under orders to take it easy. This sucks, I want to kill myself... Well maybe not kill myself, but I want to train more!!!

[Frodo]

5-4-2006

Hey, it was 4-5-6 again, this time in Europe. Went ot the CMU Grappling Club (logged). Went over:

1. Half guard to get up and take him down
2. If he whizzers, roll him over
3. If he goes cross body in your half guard and puts a kimura on, use your knee to break the kimura, hook his leg, throw him up and go to move #1.
4. If you have the underhook but he has the shoulder of justice, throw him up and go to move #1.
5. If he goes to the reverse scarf hold type position, grab his sleeve and pants and pop your hips up and do a back roll.

The series is simular to Andreh Anderson's Half Guard Series. Then we rolled for a bit. I had my ankle taped, but it still hurt a little. I got to get healthy!!!

[Frodo]

5-5-2006

Couldn't do anything due to scheduling conflicts. I pushed my car a while, but it wasn't that hard and I got in trouble for that. :-/

[Frodo]

5-6-2006

Made it to the Panther Grappling Club. Four people showed up. Most were beginners, but we went over a sh*tload of stuff:

• Shrimping
• Beginning third of first lockflow:
  1. Catch Kimura (without NS transition)
  2. Cross Armbar
  3. Wristlock
  4. Americana
  5. Americana with head
  6. V Armlock (except try to put your cupping hand into opponent's armpit)
• Side-control shrimp escape
• Knee-in-butt guard break
• Near knee pass
• Underpass
• "Hammerlock guard break" and pass (Matt showed me this one)
  1. Drive in with your butt high, but keep your hands in his armpits.
  2. Slide one hand down and grip his wrist.
  3. Feed to other hand on opposite side behind body - NEVER LET GO.
  4. Stand up and pressure the other leg. Break his guard.
  5. Near knee pass or Far knee pass.
  6. Finish with side-control and his arm behind his body (like a hammerlock?).
• Mount with grapevines
  • One arm around his head (holding position).
  • Shoulder of Justice: put your shoulder on their face to make them look away from you.
• High mount
  • Slide one arm under opponent's same side elbow/arm. Walk toward head in slow jerks.
  • Once his arm is above his head, slide your own same side knee by his shoulder to trap his arm.
• Gift wrap from high mount options:
  • cobra choke
  • NS Kimura
  • Armbar
  • Take the back
• Overhook Helio Choke from guard
• Master Eugene Special (with gi)

We went over some standup too:

• Shooting
• Snap head to Double Leg
• Snap head to Single Leg
• Shooting through legs drill
• Osoto Gari
• Uchi Mata
• Ippon Seoinage

We rolled for a while afterward. Fun practice all-in-all.

[Frodo]

5-7-2006

Went to Bill Vucick's UFF. We did:

1. Neck Exercises
2. Top man passes guard; Bottom man sweeps
3. Partners reverse positions
4. Pushups
5. Top man passes guard; Bottom man sweeps (new partners)
6. Partners reverse positions
7. Squats
8. Top man passes guard/submits; Bottom man sweeps/submits (new partners)
9. Partners reverse positions
10. Jump Squats

We finished with 50-50-50 (pushups-situps-squats). Easy practice.

...

Went to TKD Club. Only two other people showed up, so we did some individual kicking. I worked on form in the air first:

• roundhouses
• side-kicks (remember: lean back more to get more height; kick with blade of foot)
• hook-kicks

Then I hit the bag for a while with roundhouses and side-kicks. Did a combo where I would roundhouse, land near the bag, and do a 1-2 punch combo. Finally I worked on Poomse Palgwe Il Jang.

...

Went to the Panther Grappling Club for an unofficial practice. One person showed up - just Matt - so we rolled the entire time. He kicked my ass, but I needed that given the easy practices this past weekend.

[Frodo]

5-8-2006

Visited Master Kim's Martial Arts & Fitness school from some judo instruction (7-9 PM @ Brentwood). Both Ronnie and Master Kim taught today. First we did some warmup:

• Ran around the room
• Wrestling side skips toward the center (i.e. don't cross feet)
• Wrestling side skips toward the wall
• Stretching
• Rolling ukemi
• Shrimping
• Pulled the mat
• Rolling ukemi over a bag
• Backwards rolling ukemi over the bag

Then we went over some throws:

• Osoto gari: Remember to reap your whole body through the uke.
• Ippon seoinage: Remember to kuzushi by looking at your watch.
• O goshi: Remember to use same kuzushi as ippon seoinage; wrapping arm goes deep around back.

Then we did some ground grappling followed by shiai randori. I have to remember the illegal moves :

• Don't choke the face!!!
• Don't grip inside the sleeve!!!
• Don't go for leg locks!!!

At the end I asked Ronnie to show me how to do uchi mata. Remember:

• Leave space to pull him toward you.
• Get your arms out of the way when kuzushing.
• Turn your foot, hips, head far enough to execute the throw so uke lands on his side.

I am going to master that throw even if it takes takes a million years! Some people ask why I wouldn't want to master a diffrent throw rather than that uchi mata. Here is why:

Originally Posted by President John F. Kennedy @ Rice University, Houston, Texas (12 Sept. 1962)

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Afterwards Master Kim ordered me to do more randori with a brown belt who came in late. I don't mind! Afterwards, the brownie suggested that I have good counter throws, but I should work on attacks. He was 225 lbs, so my strategy was to work on the yielding way of the Yielding Way of Judo...

After practice, Master Kim said I should work on:

• Seoinage (both left and right sides)
• Ouchi gari
• Kouchi gari
• Tai otoshi

I also noted that Ronnie's last name is Kozarian.

[True2KungFu]

sweet deal if youll send me those bas rutten mp3's... I Really would like to work my hands more but.... tkd competitoin is very very steep (my weight class at the US Open had 60 people in it), and i have a long ways to go in it. Ideally im starting judo tonight....

[Frodo]

5-9-2006

Went to the CMU Grappling Club (logged). We covered (upright, not flat on back) butterfly guard stuff. First note the following drills:

• Side roll.
  
• Granby roll.

Then we went over the hug around chest pass (see offline video):

1. Tori underhooks a side.
   
2. Tori drives his shoulder into uke's chest. Use shoulder to drive uke right on his back.
   
3. At same time, push opposite side leg down and take a big (dog-pee) step over it so you are in top .5 guard.
   
4. Get underhook higher. Walk it up so your shoulder is high in his armpit. With uke's arm right next to his head, then it is useless. Idealy, tori's arm grabs uke neck on opposite side.
   
5. Tori puts head on opposite side of head looking away from him.
   
6. If uke stays locked around leg in .5 guard (most likely response), that's fine. Tripod up.
   
7. Tori's same side (as underhook) knee starts to come through. Use free hand to push uke's legs until knee all the way through.
   
8. Put knee flat on the ground. If he stays around ankle, use free leg to pry his legs open until tori is totally passed.
   
9. From here, tori wants to get head on opposite side. Distract uke with knee-on-stomach so uke doesn't make a frame against tori's neck.

Then we covered several butterfly guard sweeps:

• Tori's butterfly position:
  
  1. Tori gets double underhooks as high as possible. High underhooks are important so uke can't pummel back in.
     
  2. If you can't reach with double unders:
     
     • gi: grab it.
       
     • no-gi: grip shoulders
       
  3. At same time, Tori puts head right in neck under chin. Looks up a little bit. This prevents uke from driving tori to ground (like in hug around chest pass).
     
• Driving sweep:
  
  1. Start with Tori's butterfly position.
     
  2. When ready to sweep, move underhooks down to uke's lower back. Cut so he bends backward. Beware of the danger that uke can now pummel in!
     
  3. Tori posts one foot and pulls other foot into crotchlike a hinge. Sort of like this. Tori rolls over near foot and drives off posted foot.
     
  4. Finish with .5 guard pass (see hug around chest pass).
     
• Pendulum-driving sweep:
  
  1. Start with Tori's butterfly position.
     
  2. Fall back and pull uke back with you. You end up on your back.
     
  3. Using your momentum, lift him with your foot-underhooks (with foot-underhooks at knees).
     
  4. Drop/Swing uke back upright.
     
  5. As he gets up, immediately do mma standup. Finish with a low level, though.,
     
  6. Finish with a bodylock takedown: Cut underhooks at uke's lower back so he bends backward and shoot!
     
• Pendulum-driving sweep:
  
  1. Start with Tori's butterfly position.
     
  2. Fall back and pull uke back with you. You end up on your back.
     
  3. Using your momentum, lift him with your foot-underhooks (with foot-underhooks at knees).
     
  4. Make sure you lift very high up your body.
     
  5. If he stands with his feet close to you...
     
  6. Grab his ankles and sweep him straight back. At same time push uke's knees outward and backward with your foot-underhooks.
     
  7. Finish with a .5 guard pass (keep legs wide).
     
• Pendulum to leg lock:
  
  1. Start with Tori's butterfly position.
     
  2. Fall back and pull uke back with you. You end up on your back.
     
  3. Using your momentum, lift him with your foot-underhooks (with foot-underhooks at knees).
     
  4. Twist and punch one leg straight through and over to his leg. You end up parallel with the uke's leg with your legs wrapping around (punched leg's foot on his outer hip).
     
  5. Go to leg lock.
     
• Hook sweep:
  
  1. Start with Tori's butterfly position.
     
  2. Set up by either:
     
     • Uke pummels his arm in so tori has an overhook.
       
     • Tori grips Uke's "overhook side" wrist and pins it to Uke's hip.
       
  3. Shift remaining underhook to be across Uke's back (like o goshi).
     
  4. At same time: side roll to pinned wrist side (or overhook's side), and lift his opposite knee. You should end up with side control.
     
  5. If Uke posts on a (non-foot-underhook) leg:
     
     • Option 1: Take non-foot-underhook, step on his foot, sweep.
       
     • Option 2: Turn head perpendicular to Uke's base, sweep.
       

Finally we did some rolling.

[Frodo]

5-10-2006

Went to SCMA. Went over some flower sweep details (aka pendulum sweep):

1. Start with Uke in Tori's closed guard.
2. Tori grips Uke's hand, opposite side pants (near knee).
3. Tori rocks Uke back by bridging. Uke wants to drive forward, Tori complies.
4. Using that momentum, Tori breaks guard. Puts hand-side leg by Uke's knee. Puts opposite-side leg across Uke's back.
5. Tori scissor's bottom leg and pushes with top leg. Sweep.

The pendulum sweep works well if he posts one leg while trying to break my guard. Finally we rolled for a while. Sensei says I should use less sloppy technique and less strength when grappling.

[Frodo]

5-11-2006

Went to Mad Dog Gym. Mike Willus graduated 2 years before I did from my high school (small world). Not many people were there so we mainly rolled the entire time.

...

Went to the CMU Grappling club early. Reviewed Tuesday's (5-9) practice with Drew. Thank You!!! Then we went over triangle techniques (logged):

• Basic Triangle
  1. Overhook.
  2. Push his free arm out and throw your leg over.
  3. Finish the triangle choke.
• Shoestring Triangle (another description):
  1. Overhook.
  2. Grab his free wrist.
  3. Push knee through uke's bicep.
  4. Continue pushing leg through so knife edge of foot pushes crack of elbow.
  5. Jump leg through over to triangle.
• Two kinds of armbar from the triangle position:
  • Triangle-armbar.
  • Switch to orthodox guard armbar (see end of here and here).
• If he bends his arm back in the 'please omoplata me' position, triangle your legs the other way and attack kimura, elbow press, or omoplata.
• If he pins your knee to the ground, turn face down and do a push up and end up on mounted triangle.
• Triangle from top of side control by pinning his wrist to his hip and throwing your leg over.

Of course we rolled at the end.