Lots of sparring, good times.

Saturday training was awesome. I was expecting to feel scummy due to the vaccinations but felt good, was huffing and puffing abit more than usual cycling there. Warm ups felt killer as well. I arrived early and took the beginners class. Did some throws and a submission sequence. Armbar to triangle. I really do like these beginners classes as its really handy going over these techniques and realisng what needs improving etc. On my armbar I need to clamp their arm down abit better and keep my hips up, which Ive been recently doing but its not drilled into me yet. On the triangle, making sure I get the back of my knee solidly on his neck made a big difference. Andy nearly tapped me just with the pressure from the one leg.

Next lesson!

Pure sparring, due to the upcoming euro's. We did positional stuff (guard, sidemount, full mount, back) shark tank sparring, and normal full sparring. Everything felt great, I was in an awesome mood and felt everything I had worked on in my private with Andy fully internalised. Didnt think I would respond this well to the private format. I feel like I have just gone up another level to what I was only the other week. Just need to get the balance of aggression and relaxation right now.

I wont go into every match as it would take to long but Ill note down the main bits.

Position sparring:

Guard:
Defense was solid, passing felt like I was dictating the terms. Even managing to pass spider noodles without even a whiff of a triangle. Defended the double underhook pass a few times by making my hips very heavy. And limiting their arm movement. Faked an attack and then pulled off a pendulum sweep. Half guard sweeps are still high percentage and got to a guys back. Sit up sweep is still trusty, pulled off a kimura when one was defended.

Matt tapped me with an armless triangle!, I was to overconfident I was safe and got stuck in it and while he was working on a arm I ended up in abit of a neck crank. Shoulda made him abit more uncomfortable there I think, didnt give him a reason to try turn it into something else.

Replacing guard still getting me out alot of scrapes when things go wrong.

Side control:
My weakest point of the day but still enjoyed it, got guard back a few times and kept active. But did get mounted. Got drawn into guard as well. But was still pretty happy, staying on my toes alot more and moving with my opponent.

Mount:
Escaped several times with the same technique. Using my foot to get hold of theres then passing it over my leg, so I can shrimp to half guard. Then shrimping the other way to get full guard. On top my new base continued to shine and the trusty cross collar choke never let me down.

Back:
Me and spider noodles had a good battle from here, his body triangle was very uncomfortable. He got me in the end. On attacking I used a bow and arrow choke, which is Plan C if RNC and clock choke dont work. Saulo Ribiero's Jiu jitsu University advice helped in defending my back. He has a survival posture called the scoop, where you hanker down and guard your neck. Worked very well. Allowing me to relax and time my reversals. Lee nearly made me throw up on myself from his body triangle. Went for a foot lock which I didnt get but wasnt far off.

Shark Tank (6 minutes - new partner jumping you in whatever position you are in every 2 minutes)

Being relaxed really helped my cardio here. Got Adam with a straight arm lock from half guard, which was a nice improvisation. Adam got me with an armbar where I verbally tapped forgetting he was deaf!. Me and Matt had some good tussles, landing a few sweeps on him but neither of us getting the tap. MMA Adrian literally flung me from mount across the room into the wall. Massive upa. Sweeps, especially from half guard really helped here. I think I shoulda been a little more aggressive on the submission front as I found myself to worried about getting tired.

Notes:

• Balance relaxing and aggression.
• Need to work on alternative subs from the back of a no-gi opponent other than RNC. As my normal Plan B and C need a gi. There is the armbar but it risks losing the position.
• Look at more subs from half guard.
• Make sure to work more sub/sweep combo's.
• Arm drags are paying off, use them more.