The crew seems to be going through a little bit of a lull with a few guys sick, tweaked or busy with Spring cleaning and the like. This meant that both Thursday and Saturday's classes had light attendance. I've been at classes so big that some of us practice on the lawn outside the dojo or we were jammed so tightly inside that landing on each other was a real concern. The last couple classes have been more like semi-private classes. I like to see all the guys but it was great to get lots of rolls and reps in with close instruction from Sensei and Sempai Ryan.
Thursday's class Included only Sensei, Mega Chris and myself. After some warm-up and conditioning drills, Sensei called off chart techniques for Chris and I execute. To the best of my recollection, we went through the list below:
- Punch - Double Leg: I don't do this everyday but it felt decent.
- Punch - Kosoto Gake: Sensei called out Kosoto Gari which boggled me for a moment but I got it eventually. I need to ensure I get to mount on the finish.
- Punch - Osoto Gari: Seemed decent to me.
- Mawashi Geri - Ouchi Gari: All the kick defenses are a bit challenging. On this night, this one was the best of the group.
- Front Choke - Osoto Gari: I messed this up a little by trying the over-wrap with my left arm versus just gripping the opponent's gi at the elbow. It still worked but wasn't that smooth.
- Rear Choke - Ogoshi: No major issue.
- Rear Strangle - Osoto Gari: Again, this one went fairly well.
- Front Choke - Sode Tsurikomi Goshi: The throw was decent but we spent some time working on getting the key lock correct.
- Lapel Grab - Osto Gari: This was decent but I can do better.
- Punch - Kata Gatame: I took the wrong grip on the first repetition but got it right the next time. I can tighten up the closing juji gatame quite a bit.
- Double Lapel - Juji Gatame: Sensei spent time working on the finish as both Mega Chris and I were not turned toward the opponent's left foot.
- Mae Geri - Kosoto Gari: Another kick defense technique. Decent put not crisp execution.
- Rear Strangle - Ippon Seoi: Like most of my Ippons, I need to get LOWER!
- Full Nelson - Sukui Nage: No significant issues here on this night.
- Punch - Ippon Seoi Nage: A better Ippon that the previous version.
- Front Hug - Harai Goshi: A fair result although certainly not anywhere near perfection.
- Front Hug - Hiza Oshi: Sensei commented that my repetitions were far better than on previous nights. They were better but I found out they could be improved when I acted as uke to his demonstration for Mega Chris.
- Rear Hug - Ippon Seoi Otoshi: Sensei worked on fixing the way I loosened the opponent's grip to gain initial control.
- Rear Hug Free - Soto Makikomi: Surpising to me, this went better than ever before. This was a big fail for me previously but maybe all that remedial training has worked out my goofiness on this one.
- Mae Geri - Ouchi Gari: Lots of gaps in this one. The primary issue was that Mega Chris and I were both turning too much and putting ourselves in a poor position to complete the throw.
- Full Nelson - Hiza Gatame: Sensei fixed both our intial step back with the right leg and the need to re-set our stance for the Hiza Gatame finish.
- Rear Choke - Tai Otoshi: For me, this is much tougher to take as an uke than to execute. Actually, I like being the executor on this one. Very cool throw. Uke is a little precarious.
We rolled for about the last 45 minutes. I switched between Sensei and Mega Chris. My results weren't much better than recent classes. I was possibly a little tougher opponent and had lots of energy. I'll take that as a step forward from my recent pitiful results.
On Saturday, the attendees were Sensei, Little Greg, Sempai Ryan and myself. After enough warm-ups to take the chill out of the dojo, Sensei asked Sempai Ryan and I to work through the white, yellow and blue belt weapon techniques. Here on my thoughts:
- Club - Osoto Gari: I need to make sure I really lean into the kazushi.
- Club - Ogoshi: Sempai wanted to to make sure I blocked the attack earlier.
- Knife Stab - Gyakute: No major issues on this one.
- Knife Throat Rear - Ude Garami: Sempai focused me on ensuring I pushed the attacker's arm across to a safe position before completing the move.
- Pistol Front - Kote Geashi: The key is quickly turning and using the leverage of your upper body to turn the attacker's wrist.
- Pistol Rear - Osoto Gari: Okay but need to concentrate on the kazushi.
- Club - Ikkajo: These went okay but didn't feel as smooth as Sempai's and I kept wanting to use the blue belt finish on this yellow belt technique.
- Club - Ippon Seoi: This felt okay but paled in comparison to Ryan's thunderous version.
- Knife Stab - Shiho Nage: My gap here was on turning the wrist of my opponent.
- Knife Stab - Kote Geashi: This technique requires your left hand to be crossed over the top of your right. I kept on doing the opposite which meant I was positioned for a Kote Mawashi. Sempai eventually worked me through this. Sometimes the brain doesn't fully engage on a Saturday morning.
- Knife Overhead - Ikkajo: Very similar to Club - Ikkajo with the key being the initial and early response to the attack.
- Pistol Front - Waki Gatame: I felt a little fumbly on this but I think it will be fine with some additional repetitions.
- Pistol Rear - Ogoshi: This was improved by getting a really tight set-up position including a solid grip on the pistol-holding arm and the other around the attacker's waist before completing the throw.
- Club - Kote Maki Tori: Based on feedback at previous classes, I slowed down this technique and it seems to be working more effectively.
- Knife Throat Rear - Ippon Seoi: Another blast to the mats from Sempai Ryan's perfect execution. As for mine, it will do.
- Knife Stab - Kote Mawashi: This was fine (especially since I'd done this technique a few times earlier when I was supposed to be doing Kote Geashi).
- Pistol Rear - Hiji Gatame: I now know the three components and have corrected my initially step in but this needs lots of tightening and fluidity.
- Pistol Side Head - Osoto Gari: Sempai Ryan's primary method of teaching is not verbal but via demonstration. After I do a technique, he'll follow and accentuate the components that he feels you need to improve upon. In this case, it was primarily the action of pulling the pistol-bearing hand down and away to help with the kazushi.
- Pistol Front Head - Waki Gatame: Again I needed to turn over the opponent's wrist to put their elbow in a vulnerable position.
I then moved on to work with Little Greg on some yellow belt newaza techniques. We worked through a variety of Kesa, Kamishiho and Open Guard techniques.
To end class, we did about 25 minues of randori. I started with Little Greg and our roll was fairly light. He's one of the few guys in class that's shorter and lighter than me plus he'd been away from class for a few weeks. I tried to work on some moves that I wouldn't typically get in a live roll like a sankaku jime from mount, a sankaku jime to juji gatame transition from guard and a yoko juji gatame from guard.
My last roll was with Sensei. Beside from a couple choke attempts, I, once again, spent the majority of my time on the defensive. Versus Sensei, I seem particularly prone to Gyaku Ude Garami (a.k.a., kimura) attacks. This has been the case for a long time. I might be a bit less prone to this but I certainly haven't eliminated it. Never mind the Hiza Gatames that seem to be there for the taking.
All that said (and it was a lot), it was a good week of training and another small step forward.
