So this morning I told coach that I have a problem in that I think I’m invincible and will push myself harder than I should sometimes because of that. He kinda chuckled and nodded.

Learned a cool bravo choke from N/S top today.

Slide left (underhook) arm to peel their right arm up over their head – most people would try to roll on their side to defend the arm.

As they roll, pivot 90 degrees into side control while swimming right arm under their head until the hand is just past the back of their neck (head and lower neck of radius against artery).

Left arm comes to their back and right hand sneekily grabs left sleeve.

left arm hugs shoulder blade, elbow walks up, and then crunch straight up for choke.

Took me a second to get it since I was diving under the neck with the wrong hand to start. Felt awkward doing it right the first few times but then it clicked and it’s a pretty slick move.

We rolled for a bit at the end of class. I managed to lock in a cross gi choke from guard. Then things got a bit interesting. I went from a spider guard, to locking in a triangle while my partner was trying to stack and cross choke me. I knew I had my triangle set better than they had the choke so I just waited until the opportune moment and then nailed it. Oorah!

After taking some chill/feed my face time, I went back for team training at 10. Everyone basically was doing whatever drills we wanted for about an hour. Got to partner with one of my instructors and he showed me a cool back take from a butterfly guard.

Get sleeve grips and kick right leg out to break their grip on your knee – return leg to starting position.

Pull their left arm across your body and grab the triceps with your left hand while basing out with right hand.

While doing an arm drag on their left arm, pull/pivot yourself up and around to take their back.

Sounds complicated when I’m trying to write it out, but it was felt pretty smooth in practice. I thought of it as climbing up their arm to their back.

Learned something called “the monster”. It was really simple. Starting N/S top:

Swim left arm behind neck to parallel with floor while right arm blocks the hip.

Sprawl down and to the right side of their head, trapping their chin in your armpit.

If they haven’t tapped yet, crunch shoulder toward floor and left hand.

Think I got gi burn from this one.

Went over a funky key lock move from N/S top as well (for when they have both underhooks):

Right arm slides back to pull their right arm to your side, cup fingers behind triceps.

Shoot legs under their right arm to isolate, still gripping the triceps and pulling to tuck it “in your back pocket”. You’re basically sitting next to their head with feet out in front of you and their arm across your lap.

Keep pressure on their head and shoulder with your body, bend your left knee next to their hip, and hook your right leg over their torso (or right leg).

Just lay back and hip up for the key lock on their right arm.

Sweet smooth move! What I like is that once it’s locked in, it’s REALLY solid. The guy I was working with tried a bunch of different escapes and couldn’t figure one out – I’ll have to ask coach.

Fun transition drill from N/S top!

Reach right arm across to their left hip and plant left hand on mat midway down their torso.

Lift up onto hands and toes

Swing right foot under your body and plant it on the left side of your face (your body should be facing the ceiling)

Sit down on their chest, stretch your legs out straight, and grab behind their head with both hands. He called it rodeo guard and showed us how to tuck your feet in at the sides and play it, but the drill moves on…

They then try to swim to one side to get you off (say they go left).

As they swim toward the left (onto their side), you straighten your right leg, and allow yourself to slide off onto your butt – staying upright. (Lots of options to play here as well!)

Right arm comes down to their hip as you pivot back into N/S top position.

You feel really slippery once you get a rhythm going with this! It feels like break dancing with another person!

Got to roll in coach’s tough class again today. Actually got in a position that coach said he’d never seen before. Don’t even know how to describe it really… Best try is that we both locked in reverse triangles at the same time except that I got both my arms through, so if I’d let go with my legs, my partner would be in a backward mount position on me. Really weird!

I made it through 6 classes today – 3 of them back to back. Finally got tired in the last class – skipped on rolling.

So sleepy…