Training this week was a bit eye-opening. In Andrej's class, I was enlightened upon how weak my side-guard escapes are. One key point of emphasis I must heed is being able to thread my arm inside and create the space necessary to shrimp outwards. Additionally, there is ample opportunity to push the head and possibly achieve a triangle from conduction of that particular break. Rolling was decent and my take-downs definitely need a lot of work as Joel threw me around left and right. I also have a habit, especially against stronger more BJJ adept opponents, to revert to turtle position, thus some continual research must be put forth in assessing how to fight and escape turtle position and with that the utilization granby roll  sprouts resoundingly in mind.

 The next day was  the Xande Ribeiro seminar and he hit upon some interesting moves and concepts to add to my repertoire. First was the emphasis on grasping a deep collar grip and breaking out of the Z half-guard through diversion of hips. Second, a tweak to my umoplata set-up was gained through breaking the elbow via bringing the knee inside and hitting the umoplata from that point. Third, a method of breaking the Dela riva through grasping the DLR leg and twisting my fist pushing the leg downwards directly to the floor, and from that point a breakdown-like hip switch can be done to pass to side mount.  Lastly, Ribeiro illustrated a way of breaking the Z guard through that same fist switch and running-back stiff arming the leg putting on the Z guard, and once all these steps are finished,  the pass can be conducted.

 Wednesday's class was good. I was continually reminded again about how I need to work my take-downs as Joel and David continually took me down. One move that caught my attention was when David arm-dragged me and then let his body fall to S-mount and got the takedown from that point; consequently, I could sense his feeling of victory. From Thursday until Saturday I was out due to a small injury coming by way of a pesky bursted mole on my shoulder.Nevertheless, I was able to attend and spectate at the Gordo BJJ seminar and learned of an interesting method of attacking a choke from inside the half-guard. Regular training was resumed on Sunday, I was able to pull off the same side S-mount collar grab throw and do some leg drag passes as well. Additionally, Lucas told of a method of hitting a battering choke right on the half-guard pass, so it is yet another opportunity I can pursue for further growth with my BJJ skill-set. On to the next week of training and look forward to competing next Saturday.