BJJ Training Journal #9

I am chronicling my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training here on this site. I think writing about it will give me a better perspective on how my training relates to my overall ability. My training sessions are broken into the following:

1. 1. Warmup/Learn and Practice new technique.
2. 2. Do drills against opponents trying only to escape your technique.
3. 3. Sparring against fully resisting opponents (Rolling). This takes up the majority of class time.

Thoughts and best/worse matches:

After the tournament last weekend, we all had a better idea of where we stood compared to the other schools in town. Honestly, we don’t really train for competition generally. We train more for more real world situations and focus heavily on technique instead of for a specific competition scenario. This hurt us in some ways and a lot of our fighters lost decision victories after being taken down/held in guard until time is done or something similarly inane.

Last night we learned some passes and one attack from half guard. There is one problem with drilling half guard over and over. You will almost certainly be racked in the nuts. It happens pretty much every time. The attack was a pretty cool gi choke that seems fairly easy to do if you can control things. It’s funny how a lot of jiu-jitsu seems to be mind games. A lot of the techniques are designed to alter between A and B so your opponent doesn’t expect C. I like the mental aspect of it, but when your adrenaline is pumping as the guy who’s bigger than you wants to choke you out, it’s hard to keep your wits. Practice makes perfect I guess.

Rolling went rather well. I rolled with all advanced guys this time including 2 blues and a brown. My best match was against one blue. He was a bit gassed and I outweighed him by about 30 lbs, but I did manage to get good positions on him several times including mount, side control, and north-south. I couldn’t attack because every time I tried, I would get rolled. My worst was against a really good white who normally tools me. He tooled me with a vengeance this time, and he always uses the same techniques. I just keep falling for them. I also have a hard time posturing up in his guard. He just breaks me down with very little effort and then does all kinds of nasty attacks or sweeps. He’s really good and about to train for his blue.

All in all my school did well at the tournament. We took first and third in heavyweight white, and my instructor DESTROYED the purplebelts in his weightclass also getting first. I am not sure how our blues did, and I am not aware that any of our browns or blacks competed. In any event, a good time was had by all.

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