Working with Brian

I'm finally finished with laundry. Now, I need to pack and organize my room before I leave. I'm going to leave tomorrow (actually today) for Anaconda, Montana to visit Karla, a friend from high school that I haven't seen since I graduated. I'm writing now because my sleep schedule is screwed up again. It seems like that I'm always battling with this because I love to stay up late. It's always because I want do something other than going to bed, mostly writing in this. Lately, it's been bad when I go to bed because when I write about BJJ, I get all excited and start thinking about it. Then, I spend a half an hour laying in my bed trying to fall sleep. I had trouble falling asleep when I read Harry Potter or the Tennis Shoe Series books. I learned not to do that. Now, I don't know if I can do that because I love writing in this before and about BJJ before I go to bed.

I think it's sort of cool that a few people visit this blog. Pretty much all the new visitors from Google don't stay for very long. I love writing and telling how my day went or about BJJ. Actually, it's mostly about BJJ because all of the other parts of my life is boring. I don't know how often I can update this in the next two weeks. I'm just totally excited about Priest Lake, being outside of the world, doing nothing, and being with my family. I love camping!!!!

I went to the BJJ BYU club yesterday. I really liked it. We worked on the armbar from guard. Colin was teaching to put my foot on the guy's hip to spin to the other side so I can get my leg past their head and behind their neck. Roberto taught me that I need to my foot on the floor instead of the person's hip because placing a foot on his hip will tell him what I'm doing. (Note: In my blog, I'm referring to a hypothetical training partner as a guy when I try to describe moves because my main training partners are all guys.) He said to work on this one because placing your foot on the floor is trickier. I don't know. To me, it's the same thing. Then, we went through four escapes from side mount. I knew that I couldn't use three of them they weren't fast enough. They had to many steps. One I saw I could use if I learned and memorized the movement. I only went through it four times. The other escapes I went through twice. They didn't make much sense.

I got to spar with Charity, the girl who one the tournament a few weeks ago. She is pretty slippery and squirmy. She's easier than the guys that I spar with at the dojo. She had me on my back a couple times. The first time, I turned over. The second time, I noticed that she locked her feet when on my back. I wasn't really concerned about getting choked. So, I triangled her feet. When sparring, I told her that she's easier than the guys I spar with. She said, "Thanks?" I told her that I was sorry that I was bad at attacking. I had her in mount a few times, but Upaed me the first time. I tried again, but she slithered away. Ya, I'm not very good on mount. She called me a spider when sparring.

Then, I worked with Brian. Actually, I have lots of respect for the guy. I know he's better than Chuck. I think he's even better than Dan. It's hard to tell because they are so much heavier than me. I could tell that Brian is heavier than Dan though. It was really fun to work with him because he told me all the moves I could do from mount, north south, and side. I don't remember all of them. However, I do remember the one in north south. He said to drive towards the leg, grab the calf, turn pull, while still pushing on them. That takes away their base.

Brian said to do the triangle at an angle towards the hand. It's much tighter that way. He said to be always aware of where's your body weight and your limbs on mount. He said that your body is like a table. You can use your head even to balance on one side. He taught me an arm lock from mount which I haven't seen before. While doing it, it seems like you aren't doing anything. However, the guy on the receiving end can feel it.

He said while the person is in the side position, put your foot right next to their stomach so they can't grab it and sweep you. Then, thread your arm through theirs and hook it grab your own gi. He said a good way to prevent anyone from blocking your leg when doing the arm bar is to run your hand across their face to make them look down. Thus, they are blocked from countering me. Brian said that slow is smooth is fast.

When working with him, I could tell that he has tons of experience with BJJ. He can do anything he wants pretty much. He said that he's a purple belt and practiced for 10 years. I don't know how long he took his break from BJJ. It's been quite awhile because he feels like he doesn't know anything. However, I know that Roberto said when you start sparring, you'll remember it just like that. I really liked working with him because it felt like I was being given a private lesson. I was asking him a lot of questions. He kept on answering them and showing all these different moves. I don't remember them all. However, I think my game improved by working with him. He said that most people don't work with him that much because he's really big and tall. He said that people get intimidated by him. I feel really comfortable working with him because I know he won't hurt me. I like working with big guys because I have to really rely on technique.

When working with him, I accidentally kicked him in the groin. He just started laughing. Then, we continued. I felt sort of bad because I kicked Chris a few time there yesterday. Chris did knee me in the groin yesterday. Guys should wear cups. I'm trying to be careful, but I don't want to worry about hitting them either. Oh well. Probably it's just as well because they have to be careful about wear they put their hands on my chest.

So, I got kicked in the face while working with Brian. A girl was thrown and her foot landed on my face. At first, I was OK. Then, I started crying because it hurt and plus, I was hit pretty hard. That concerns me because I thought I was going to get over that. Brian asked me if I was OK twice. I need to learn how to control these emotions. Like I said, it's hard because I cry pretty easily.

Brian agrees with Roberto that BJJ is the best style out there. I thought that was interesting. He said that a his teacher went up against a three hundred pound boxer and won by armbarring him. He said that before the took that long break, he beat a third degree black belt, I think in Kenpo. However, Brian had 10 years experience and the other guy had three. Brian agrees that BJJ is better because it has full resistance. He said that he hates kata. He wanted to learn how to fight instead of dancing. I laughed when he said that. Kata is good. However, one needs to focus more on working with a full resistant person instead of air most of the time. I just thought of something. BJJ is probably different from any other martial art because we don't have to hit people to get them to submit. I'd much rather learn an art where I can use my brain and body without being afraid of getting hit.

I knew I would write a long post. It took two hours to write this. That's why I held out so long. After BJJ, I wanted to write, but watched fight quest. Then, my visiting teachers came by. After that, I wanted to go to bed. However, I made myself to do laundry. I took a nap for three hours. I wanted to sleep more, but my mind woke up and kept on thinking about BJJ. That told me that I should get up and do some more laundry. Hopefully, I'll have enough time to sleep, get ready, organize my room, pack, and leave a reasonable hour. The drive to Anaconda is six hours.