[Frodo]

5-22-2006

Went to the Pitt BJJ Club. A few new people tonight. We went over groundwork first:

• Mount control
• Side-control control
• Armbar from mount

Then we went over nagewaza:

• Osoto gari
• O goshi

Finally we rolled for the rest of practice. I got Justin to come down; he is big and pwned me. Not an excuse... I have to learn to deal with people like him. Got a triangle-armbar on Sam tho.

[Frodo]

5-23-2006

Went to Bill Vucick's UFF this morning. I am not a morning person... Did some drills first:

• 5x lunges with medicine ball held above head across mat.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held on right shoulder.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held on left shoulder.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held with bear-hug.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held across chest like a baby.
• 5x duck walks with medicine ball held above head across mat.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held on right shoulder.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held on left shoulder.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held with bear-hug.
• 10x squats with 80 lbs bag held across chest like a baby.
• 5x duck walks with medicine ball held above head across mat.
• 5x squats with 80 lbs bag held on right shoulder.
• 5x squats with 80 lbs bag held on left shoulder.
• 5x squats with 80 lbs bag held with bear-hug.
• 5x squats with 80 lbs bag held across chest like a baby.
• 2:00 back wall climbs.

Then 3x 2:00 rounds of grappling (2 with Matt, 1 with Bill). Finally one 4:00 round of grappling with Bill.

...

Went to SCMA. We went over a few nagewaza moves. I took it east so I wouldn't hurt myself like last time...

• Kibisu Gaeshi (ankle pick)
• Tani Otoshi
• Flying Armbar

Then we rolled for a little bit from standing. Afterward, Sonny showed a dangerous guard pass. He also informed me that weigh-ins on Friday are from 3-6.

[True2KungFu]

dont you work jim? ...speaking of which...i post on sherdog at work...haha

[Frodo]

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Frodo]

5-24-2006

Oh boy, my legs are sore from yesterday! Mowed the lawn then went to Donny's PTT. We went over a lot of technique today.

• Many guard passes...
• Half butterfly guard hooked leg pass:
  1. Start with Uke has one leg butterflied and the other around hooking the other foot like in half guard.
  2. Tori gets good posture. At same time, he kicks hooked leg back to free it. Then he returns it next to the butterflied leg with uke's butterfly leg's foot totally across tori's shins.
  3. Tori hooks around uke's butterflied foot and uke's free leg.
  4. Tori uses other had to push uke's butterflied knee so uke's butterflied leg collapses onto his other leg.
  5. Tori passes that side. If uke posts on tori's hip, tori drives down that hip to cush it to the ground.
• Butterfly guard hopping pass:
  1. Start uke has butterfly guard but is on his back.
  2. Tori pushes uke's knees together.
  3. Tori hops over uke's knees.
  4. Tori slides down other side of uke's knees to mount.

Only Don, John, and me were there today, so it was a good practice with lots of rolling. We then did a lot of drilling/rolling:

• Top guy passes guard. Bottom man lets him do whatever with only a little pressure.
• Top guy passes guard. Bottom man gets no submissions or sweeps. He just shifts his body and switches between different guard types.
• Top guy passes guard. Bottom man gets no submissions but sweeps allowed.
• Top guy passes guard. Bottom man gets submissions and sweeps allowed.
• Free rolling starting from guard.
• Free rolling starting from mounted.

Good practice today.

[True2KungFu]

5-25...i was checking out mad dogs website. they added traditional bjj to their repetoire....still thinkin muay thai though ha

[Frodo]

I saw that too. I was talking to Mike at the tournament today. I might go once to check it out.

[Frodo]

5-25-2006

Went to TKD practice. Rich logged it and he was not pleased... We couldn't use the main room since Master Smith's Budo club, the Kajukenbo club, and the Shotokan Karate clubs were all sharing it. However, Master Smith took the mats from the upstairs room for the Kumite Classic, so we had nowhere to train.

Therefore, we did a few paddle drills on the hard linoleum floor of the upstairs room:

• Front Fast Kick (L & R)
• Front Fast Kick to rear roundhouse (L & R)
• Front Fast Kick to rear roundhouse to cresent kick I think (L & R)

Not much. It was ok for me because I got to work on my form as well as not get injured for my tournament.

...

Went to CMU to do some grappling training. Mainly worked on positional drills with Randy the entire time. Didn't really roll unfortunately. He wanted to take it easy before the tournament. Can't blame him...

[Frodo]

5-26-2006

Today was weigh-in day.

Went to bed 148.5 pounds last night. I wore a my wifebeater, shorts, tee shirt, sweat pants, sweat shirt, socks, a knit hat, and a hoodie for a few hours with the heat turned up. Then I took a long hot shower. Lost 1 pound that night.

Woke up at 147.5 pounds. Took a long hot shower. Wore the same stuff to the gym and did:

• Ran on the ellipitical for 2 miles in 33 minutes (not very fast).
• 2:00 drills with 2:00 rest:
  • Situps
  • Pushups
  • Squats
  • Wall sits
  • Burpees
  • Situps
  • Grappler situps
• Road on the stationary bike for 15 minutes.

Did not use a sauna yet (or ever in fact). After picking up Randy, we went to the expomart to weigh in. Their scale measured me at 145 pounds. Made Weight!!!

Afterward, I promptly drank 4 glasses of diet coke and we had dinner at the Eat 'n Park diner. I had roast beef with mashed potatoes all smoothered in gravy. Then I went home ate some vegetables, a grilled chicken breast, and 3 glasses of tea. Overate a little, but after a week of cutting I deserved it! :-)

[Frodo]

5-27-2006

I competed in the Kumite Classic. It is a no-gi submission wrestling and a gi-required Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament. (A gi is the typicially white uniform some martial artists wear.) My record was:

• Men's Gi White-Belt 145 lbs: 1-1 (Second Place)
• Men's No-Gi Intermediate 145 lbs: 1-1 (Second Place)

My record is now 7-6. I had a lot of fun at the tournament, but I am not satisfied. Man, I'm a little pissed for not getting first place. I have a lot to work on.

Gi Division

In my first gi match, I defeated Matt Jubara by scoring 16 points. He was very strong and very tough. You can watch a video of Jubara vs me.

My second gi match was against Mat "Rosco" Rosborough for the championship. He was very tough too. We went into overtime, and I eventually ran out of gas in the tank. It was very long: the match lasted over 8 minutes... I have to work on my cardio so I can roll for 10 minutes or more at a high intensity. Watching it, I don't think my technique was as smooth as I would like. You can view a video of Rosco defeating me.

No-Gi Division

In my first no-gi match, I faced a karate guy (I could tell because he wore black karate gi pants and no shirt); although, he said he did study grappling. Donnie took care of him a few years ago in the advanced division. Now he was back, but in my intermediate bracket. Oh well. I owned him and finished the dude with a RNC. Watch a video of my easy no-gi match.

In my second no-gi match I faced Rosco again. This time I scored a super sweet judo throw. I was actually trying for Harai Goshi, but Randy told me the throw was really Harai Makikomi (on further reflection, it probably was harai goshi). It was mostly instinct: I was setting up a throw and just saw the opening. In judo, that would have been ippon. However, this is grappling so no soup for me! Rosco rolled when we landed and I felt off balance in side control. Somehow I ended up with reverse guard and tried for a toe hold, but I screwed it up. Still, with 45 second to go the score was tied and I was winning with an advantage. However, I slipped and lost when he passed my guard. Randy uploaded a partial clip of Rosco vs Me in no-gi. (I wish he got the whole thing so I could go over my many mistakes.)

Analysis

Ironically if I just stalled from guard a little bit then I would have won. However, that is stupid and not honorable. No excuses: I lost twice to the same guy in both championship matches. I have to work on my control, my cardio, and my leg locks. I have to be able to finish long matches grapple at 110% throughout the fight. This month I shall try to improve these aspects of my game.

There is more about the tournament at the CMU Grappling Club's tournament page.