Side Control stuff and Cold

After getting my first blue tag, I had to take a week off as I had an outbreak of friggin' herpes! I am prone to damn cold sores (thanks mum!) and tend to get them when I am a bit run down. I had a pretty physical week at work that week and training sapped me completely, so naturally one sprouted up. I came back after my week off itching to get back to it. We were working Side control attacks, namely Americana, Straight arm bar and Kimura. I was pretty keen to get to grips with these as they were a new form of attack play for my game.( I dont really have any kind of game I use the term lightly!!) I had done the Kimura in my intro lesson, but it was from closed guard, so this was new for me. The Americana was something I had seen done in the UFC and a few other MMA match ups, but it was a bit of a hit n miss affair as not many of them were pulled off. The Straight arm bar was new to me also and after going thought all three of them we moved on to a nice little flow drill. The drill started off with us in and Americana, starting to escape by twisting the arm, catching the Straight arm bar, twisting through again into the Kimura. Then finish the drill by going in reverse through the afor mentioned locks. I thought this was a pretty good drill and I like to think my flow got pretty good for a noob! Working these locks showed me how much more mobility is needed in the shoulders and I made a conscious decision to work a bit more on my flexibility.
Next session at the academy we worked from Side again, this time timing and feeling for the opponents arm going under and  countering by either blocking the hips and transition into arm lock and then Kimura. This was a pretty good move and we drilled it a few times and it became quite familiar. It was just getting into my head where to go when different arms moved. We added to this drill at the Kimura section when the opponent tries to defend by grabbing the inside of the thigh. What we did was pull the arm away from leg to free the grip and   roll out for an Arm bar. After a few practice runs I got this down ok but managed to poke myself in the eye pretty bad. Haha. My eye is a tad sore still and its been four days!
Tom finished the session with something he had dreamed up relating to mentality. He called it the 135lbs theory. Basically He had us do press ups for two minutes and if we took a break we had to remain in the raised position. This was pretty hard going, there was lots of huffing and puffing and sweating and dripping and after what seemed like an hour Tom explained his theory. Tom said, "Most people can bench 135lbs, but everybody has a limit to how many times they can press it. Same thing in Bjj, to try to pass guard,it gets stuffed, so you either think try try again and persevere or get all defeatist and slacken off."  I had a little think about this on the way home from class and its a pretty good way of looking at it. Although Tom should change the name to 135lbs Optimist!
I got home exhausted and soaked, ate and bathed and off to bed only to wake up with a stinking cold! grrrrrr So not much else going on in the way of Jits this week as I'm trying to spare my training pardners my illness!
I'd like to say to my buddy Gaz to go see some witch doctor or something to get rid of his bad luck. First hes put his back out so couldnt train a while, then his thumb and now some tendon problems with his foot WTF!!

Laterz!

On the belt

So last night Tom Barlow held a seminar at the club reviewing the past months teachings. It was all about Side control, keeping it, defending it, transitions to the other side. As usual Tom taught these techniques very well and repeated them as many times as people asked. After a rather sweaty two hours the seminar finished with tags being handed out. It is my understanding that no two tag systems are the same, ha ha, and Tom's confused me at first but now its pretty clear. Lets look at the White belt to Blue belt. So with Toms system we usually get a red tag on our belts at the end of a month after being tested during class. And when you get to four red tags you get a blue tag. This goes on until you have four red and four blue and by this time you should be generally ready for Blue belt testing. Sometimes a tag is issued without being tested as happened last night with one of our lads that had competed at the Hereford open just passed. Adam claimed bronze there. This is testament to their growing skill. I read in JJS mag this month that some teachers even put in an extra belt to ease the transition from White to Blue, like a green or striped belt. me personally would rather wait for the belt, but each to their own. Some people are motivated by different things. So a few red tags were handed out, there I was waiting for a red tag. my name was called, up I went only to be told I was getting a Blue! Huge smile plastered on my face, I went and got my tag knowing for certain that my hard work is paying off!

Just before the class started one of the lads that had gone to the ADCC to watch Tom compete,  handed me one of the Mighty Barlow t-shirts. For those that haven't seen it, it was designed by none other than Meerkatsu and made by BJJ lifestyle brand Scramble. The front is dominated by a mighty mouse-esque picture, Kabuki Mouse , due to Tom's small stature and emblazoned with The Mighty Barlow. On the reverse is a Team No Love logo and lettering with Scramble underneath. I was told that TNL comprises of Tom Barlow and Kenny Baker another local and talented grappler. Im not sure if I actually want to wear this as i know in years to come it might be of some worth to a grappling fan. Especially as I know Tom will be going from strength to strength with his grappling and I really do see him winning a medal at any major competition in the future.