Larptastic

Guard surfing!

Did work on some guard-breaking stuff at the end of class, here's something to try out next time I'm rolling :

* Post head down on their torso
* Put paws on their armpits and straighten them out in order to get position
* Place one hand, then other on their hips
* Put one leg up for more leverage
* When guard breaks get knee between their legs
* Wait for them to make a move - rudder whichever way is appropriate

Note to self - start being more aggressive.

Did some drills for holding on to side control. If the person you're on tries to burst and get a leg in, flatten out. Reach my arm around one of their legs in order to grab the foot of the leg they were trying to move under me. Hold on to their ankle while I reposition, basically by holding them down with my hips and sliding back off. Then ram knee back into their side to re-establish control.

Got arm-barred a lot while rolling. I'm trying to be a bit more aggressive, which is leaving me more open to attack. Got to take a risk in order to get anywhere though.

First Muay Thai class tonight, just did some basic punching & kicking with someone holding mits.

Jab - Left hand punch
Cross - Right hand punch
Uppercut - Come straight up from underneath, use hips
Hook - Come from side, fist is vertical
Basic Kick - step diagonally outward with foward foot, use hips to power kick. Foot ends up about 90degrees from body.

Cut for the first time tonight with my new shinken. The thing is fucking sharp, had no trouble with kesa or kiriage. I tried a lot of yoko-giri and came very close to completely severing it, but I feel a lot more confident than I did before. I believe I'm getting close to getting it. More tameshigiri next week in prep for the upcoming demo. I'll be doing just kesa/kiriage.

Went over more boxing basics today.

Stance
Feet should be shoulder width apart, left foot forward with right foot half of a foot back and slightly turned out.

Moving
Back foot pushes off, moving forward foot in the direction you want to go. Looks different, but a similar concept to Kendo footwork.

Jab
Turn hips, rotate fist in a bit

Cross
Turn hips & bend knee, right knee should come in to almost touch left knee

Worked on guard passing & submissions from guard as well as some submissions from side control. Also did some "king of the mountain" side control escape drills where we had to try to escape from someone for 30 seconds, then they rotated out to the next person, etc.

Guard Pass if their leg starts to go up above the hip
* Get arm underneath leg
* Push weight forward towards their head, free arm extends toward opposite shoulder
* "Smear like peanut-butter" onto them to allow no space to get out

Triangle from Guard
* Make sure to cut sideways to lock it in, should be looking at their ear
* Can easily transition to an armbar by taking the locking leg off your crossed leg and placing it across the back of their neck

Side Control Transition
* Get outside arm underneath their shoulder and lift
* Flip hips and move knee up underneath their shoulder
* Take inside arm from behind their head and place it across their neck/face

Submission
* Move forward leg to otherside of their head, where inside hand is
* Hold onto arm and lean back
* If they try to get their arm away, can be reversed into a chickenwing
* Sitting on their head is optional

More mitt work, some combos, got some good kicking practice in doing jab/cross x varying number of kicks.

Punching
* Keep fists up by head when not punching, this includes uppercut and hook

Lead leg kick
* Take a short hop-step with rear foot then push off with lead foot for the kick
* Turn hips for most power

Rear leg kick
* Make sure to step out with lead leg
* Can come very fast after a jab/cross combo

Got the fucking yoko-giri finally, on my first try. Subsequently nailed it 4-5 times each on both sides as if I'd been doing it for years. I was celebrating so much that my class made me a certificate on the fly and gave it to me "1st Consistent Yoko-Giri" , I'm going to have that fucker framed.

The issue was power. I just wasn't putting enough effort into the cut. This time I just let the shit have it and it went through no problem. My shinken cuts like a dream.

Next goal is the yama gata pattern, consisting of kesa - kesa/kesa/kiriage/kesa - yoko. Tried and got the first 5 just fine, but I'll need work on my kesa-yoko transition.

Spent a couple hours at the gym today. First half I worked standup, mostly bag and footwork but did a bit of pad work with one of the new guys.

Did mostly light rolling, which I need more practice at. My flow is pretty shitty.

Escape from Guillotine
* From knees & elbows, lift up right leg onto ball of foot
* Kick left foot out through the opening created
* Bring head up under their armpit
* Come around onto their back

Armbar from Mount
* Hold their arms crossed in front of them
* Catch the lower arm with near arm using a reaching for hip motion
* Use other arm to post behind their legs/ass, keeping them from moving
* Bring leg over and finish

Triangle from Mount
* Get one leg under their neck by bring leg straight across them
* Pull foot and get other leg around it
* Rotate and complete the choke

Yeah, all this "From Mount" stuff would probably be more useful if I wasn't the one getting mounted all the time. Seems like all I've been doing is ground defense and wearing myself out trying escapes.

We did an interesting submission from side control.

* From side control
* Move to a North/South and keep rotating around them.
* Get arm beneath their head
* Bring other arm up under their shoulder, with their arm pushed down beneath you
* Choke them with their own arm