Friday no gi

Dealt with some vertigo issues over the past three or four weeks. Pretty much only doesn’t bug me during jiujitsu.  The trade-off is that I gas out really quick.  Any ways decided to catch the Friday nogi class.  Gavin taught.  We did a bunch of kimura stuff.  Best thing was a counter to kimura with a kimura from the guys half guard.  Bring shoulder low slide forearm deep beneath guys arm. Sit up and twist into them.   Makes waaay more sense seen than described. 

First roll was with Vaughn.  I gassed myself trying to pass his guard, but I finally did (how!?!), and got an arm triangle on him.   Later, he rolled for a knee bar, which in retrospect he had and I should have tapped to.  Instead I muscled my way out.  Kind of realized after that he had it, and mentioned it to him.  He was cool about it and went over a couple technical escapes and ways to prevent the finish.  His guard is really tough to pass, both gi and nogi.

Next up was a totally new little guy named preston.  I went pretty light with him, mostly doing catch and release with a little teaching stuff in there.  He didn’t seem too into it, but it’s tough to tell, especially at the very beginning. 

Next up was Andy.  I got brutalized the whole time.  I need to stop giving him my back, because unlike the sucky guys, the good guys have no problems finishing from there.  He tapped me a bunch of different ways.  He let me pass once and easily re-established his full guard from me having side.  I have a lot of work to do.

Next was Collin. He locked on two supertight guillotines back to back. Andy started yelling that I wasn’t defending the choke.   Then, for the first time in a long time, I lost my composure and kind of went nuts.  I don’t think I’ve rolled that hard since I was doing nogi at school, and frankly it was a little embarrassing.  Collin pretty much always rolls like that, but it’s okay because he weighs 155.  And he‘s more of a silent assassin than a lumbering beast.  Anyway, I at least got out of one of his guillotines and passed, but of course he got me in the end. 

Last roll was with a new guy named Jeff.  Super nice dude, talked to him a bit before and after class.  I sort of couldn’t turn the volume down from the Collin and Andy rolls, so I went super hard, way harder than I should have.   Usually if I tap a white belt 3 times, I‘ll slow way down and either let him work or go for sweeps only. Tonight though, I got so worked up trying to be competitive with the two brown belts that I was all over this guy and couldn’t stop.  He was cool about it after, but I felt like a moron and a bit selfish.  I owe that guy a nice deliberate roll.

All in all a pretty disappointing night.  I know it’s stupid to be mad at myself when really good guys can pass my guard or tap me multiple times with the same maneuver, but I can’t help it sometimes.  I guess I just think my defense should be further along than it is.  At least I know what I need to work on: open guard defense and defense for Collin‘s ridiculously effective guillotines.