This is it folks

Tomorrow we leave for the Pan Ams. I am ready to film up a storm! Everyones matches are all spread out so we should be able to coach and tape everyone. I am going to be making a big post when we get back to fill everyone in.

PS- Missy won the Budovideos.com contest so they will be paying for her Pan Ams entry fee along with a grab bag of prizes! Grats Missy!

Good Weather, Good Company

Thursday is coming very soon, and that means the trip to Cali and the Pan Ams is becoming more of a reality. We leave Thurs morning at 530am I believe so we have a full day of travel ahead of us. Friday it looks like Bri and Justin will be competing and Saturday Noel. Sunday should be a day of rest...erm or a bunch of badass black belt matches! Heck yes!

Side Effects of Training

Sure, there are a lot of great side effects that come along with training. Some of which are losing weight, gaining more energy and cardio. Not to mention all of the great mental aspects like confidence and stuff. Sometimes though my body just hurts. I wake up the next day after rolling with some behemoth and my back is killing me and my knees ache and feel stiff. I wonder why the hell do I do this to myself? It's because I'm addicted that's why.

Small Class, Big Ideas

last night we had a smaller class then normal show up. I never have a problem with this because it always means more one on one time with a teacher that already is very giving. We spent most of the time drilling some techniques that will come in handy for the people going to the Pan Ams. 

The drill I liked the most was the setups for chokes from knee on belly. I find myself here a lot because I 'm light and feel I have more top pressure here. Also when I'm in side control and the person bridges and bucks I normally pop up to knee on belly anyway. The good thing about these drills is that it made me look at chokes when normally I'm looking for armbars or the mounted triangle from that position. 

After that we went on to do some short rounds of about 3 mins each. We were split off into two groups. Each had about 3 people in them and we would cycle in and out each round. I am normally used to 7 min rounds so this was a bit of a shock. One thing I learned is that my setups take more then 3 mins to finish lol. I also noticed that it's hard to pass a good guard in 3 mins.

Rolling Recap-

I first rolled with Trevor, a really decent blue belt that has trained with some amazing people like Marcelo. He is much taller then me and has a nasty guard. When we first started he went to his guard and I attempted to pass, somewhere in the mix I got caught with a reverse armbar that I was expecting to turn into an Oma Plata. When we restarted I went to my back and played my normal open guard game. I did not finish anything, but I found a small victory in not allowing him to pass my open guard.

Next I rolled with Bri. She tends to give my open guard fits because of her flexibility. I can't seem to disrupt her base as well. She has adapted to my game very well and seems to pressure forward for the pass. The only success I have in defending this is to wait for her to over extend herself and then push her off balance for a sweep.

Next up was Greg. Now saying Greg is a big boy is an understatement. I'm not sure how much he weighs, but he is very strong and I would say 200+ pounds. I was able to keep him from passing my guard and setup a nasty armbar on him, but could not finish due to how strong his arms are. One mistake I made with Greg that I should have known not to do is go for a triangle. Sure enough as soon as I through it up I remembered that I can't close my legs around his shoulders.

I finished up with Noel. We have a similar style in certain aspects. We both tend to let the other person make moves and then hang themselves. So when we roll it can almost turn into a flow drill, which is really fun and technical. For someone who weighs less then I do he has really good top pressure, and that's something I need to work on. I guess that means I would have to work more on my top game...yeeeeeah.

Can't Wait

The Pan Ams are getting closer every day and I can't wait. It's going to be a great trip I can already tell. Good group of people going on a nice trip to Cali to do what they love to do...Jiu-Jitsu! I personally am not going to compete this time. I am really ok with that too. I just want to go out and relax and watch some world class bjj and meet some cool people. I think if I had more competition experience under my belt I def would compete, but with only one small tourney of experience I know I would not be able to enjoy the trip and be nervous.


I CAN'T WAIT!