Lesson 2 (and 3, and 4)

Lesson 2!

This lesson bore a remarkable similarity to lesson 1. Warmup was identical.

Introduction to mount. John gives speech that seems eerily familiar. Class separates into two groups tonight and people who have been around 2 months or more run off to do other things. We do, in order, Armbars, Kimuras, and RNCs. Drilling with small guy again. Much cleaner, especially on armbars.

Reaction drill - person on the bottom randomly provides the setup for one of the moves, person on top has to do it correctly. Slow, but reasonably clean. Brain slowly working up to speed on this sort of thing.

1 minute rounds tonight. Still no escape. Come on, really, escaping mount is fundamental I say! I achieved very little while on mount. Small guy likes to bait armbars and then pull his arm back down. Interesting. Somehow gave up my back while on the bottom. Small guy had one hook in as time expired. Stopped, he sank the choke anyway. Bastard. Haha.

Find a new partner. Somehow selected Godzilla as partner. Guy says he has been here 2 weeks. Guy is larger and heavier than I originally thought. Started on top. Guy bench presses. Oh look, an armbar. Messed it up and he threw me halfway across the room. Oops. Re-set. Guy bench-presses. Oh look.. an Armbar. Better this time. Godzilla starts thrashing around like psycho. Time apparently? That didn't seem like very long.

On the bottom. Godzilla pries my arm up off my chest, gets one hand just below my elbow, the other just below my wrist, pulls up with one, pushes down with the other. My brain has a conversation with itself:

"What is THAT supposed to be? That doesn't hurt you know. Oh look he's doing it harder. I know, lets get rid of him!" *bridge* "shit, did he move at all? Hmm. I wonder if he can actually break my forearm like that? I really dont' think so, but lets not find out" *tap*.

Repeat twice more. Suggest guy actually tries to do the techniques we're learning in class. He grunts and says "why, I'm stronger than you?". Genius! Mental note, not training with this guy again.

Left calf cramped really badly during this round. Ow. Must sort that out.

Lesson 3!

Read lesson 2. Lesson 3 was identical. Almost tempted to give say John's speech along with him. It really was the same. Exactly.

Drilling same three moves from mount.
1 minute rounds with small guy. Still no escape. Really. Started on top. Small guy rolled onto his side after 10 seconds or so. Side mount. Tried to encourage him to go all the way over so I could take his back. He didn't want to. Felt like I should be able to armbar him, tried to get hold of his near side arm. 1 minute really isn't very long. Time. Doh.
On the bottom. Still no escape! Except I've read stuff. Like if I can trap an arm, hook his leg then bridge and roll to that side, he has nothing there to post on. Genius! It even worked twice. Left calf cramped really badly on the second one. Again. I might have to look at that.

Class over without a second partner. What? Already? Probably good. My leg hurts.

Lesson 4:

... Actually just read lesson 3, but add this bit first:

Guard! how exciting! Demonstration of simple closed guard. Demonstration of a way to break this guard and pass by stacking your partner up and slipping by to this arcane position called side control that we don't know yet. Brief drilling. Small guy is nowhere in sight. Found a guy on his first night who was probably only 10kgs heavier than me.

Looking forward to learning lots of guard stuff right? Wrong! It's mount time. Yay. Armbars. Kimuras. Rear naked chokes. Partner freaks out and taps instantly when choked. Mildly amusing. We did 1 minute rounds. I don't remember them. Left calf cramped. Really a problem. Note to self. Stretch left calf thoroughly from now on.

Lesson 5:

Was absolutely dead after warmup, which was the same as all the others. I don't get it. Mount stuff. 1 minute rounds. Small guy first, then the biggest guy in the room. How did that happen? Completely wrecked already. Big guy didn't manage to tap me. I think it was his first night. Grabbed John for quick hints on how to actually deal with the fact that other guy has arms about 5 inches longer than mine, and I can't get my weight down on his chest if he bench presses me. Get mount higher up his body, right under his armpits if possible. Good plan. Then I can just sit up, and pivot for the armbar.

Why am I so tired? Side control? What is this side control you speak of? 1 minute rounds? Don't you want to actually show us something first? No? Ok then!
On the bottom first. Can't. Breathe. Under. Huge. Guy. Seriously wanted to tap, could hardly move. Didn't, but only because 1 minute finished. Didn't take my turn on top. Legs wobbly, head spinning. What the?

Class finishes. Good.

Found out why the next day. I got the flu. Yay.