This week's sessions were decent. On Monday, Andre went through a sidemount set-up that leads to a multitude of submissions. This setup came about through weaving the shoulder pinning arm inside and establishing grip control on the opponent's arm pit. From there a kesa gatame switch can be done with the armbar along with the triangle. Additionally, I was able to figure out a second S mount switch from the arm weave in position. Tuesday was yet another good session with more drills from Jimmy. I began to realize that I need to close, snatch the armdrag and consistently go straight in for the double leg takedown. Joel went through a technique from the head chuck down in which the arm weaves inside and sidemount can be taken along with another set up for the darce. Wednesday was for the most part simply rolling although I did figure out an integral point on hitting the scissor sweep from guard whereupon you grip the opponent's sleeve prop him forward then conduct the sweep. I did extra amounts of rolling and felt off and tired, but realized that I need to work on guard sweeps and gaining top position. Thursday was Luca's class and he went over the basic knee cut pass through two methods of underhooking the opponent's side. He also showed a cool variation of the 405 pass against the half butterfly guard where I drive my fist into opponent's arm pit leaving me an ample opportunity to make a slight leap and pass. Rolling was decent, I need more attacks from my bottom guard and my wrestling could stand to have continual improvements--more work and research is of necessity.Friday was deigned as a rest day, however, I still was able to go and practice my new climbing hobby, and through that I am discovering fundamental similarities with BJJ. Saturday had me rolling at city of champions where I was able to roll several rounds no gi and learned that I have a weakness with escaping and breaking down the quarter guard. Sunday was quite amazing with the Cobrinha seminar. Within the seminar, Cobrinha showed off an excellent method for taking the back where the inside collar is grabbed and the opponent moves inside then as he moves to the outside there is a pull downwards and the single leg attack can be conducted and takedown occurs. From that point onwards, Cobrinha went into intricate details on the administration of collar chokes coming from when you pull the opponent down and wait for his reaction of going to turtle then taking the back. The complexity was rather enormous nonetheless there will be ample areas for me to work on in the coming weeks rolling to pull these moves off

Training sessions were good this week. Andre illustrated a beautiful sweep from the inside leg on Monday. The technique involved sweeping my leg inside then propping my hip to side and launching my opponent over. During the rolling session, I was able to roll with a strong and active training partner named Anthony. In addition to BJJ, Anthony was also quite adept at yoga and the skills were vividly shown as he moved with smooth fluidity; however, I nonetheless put on a formidable performance against him as I prevented his frequent triangle attacks. On Tuesday,me and Jimmy drilled out some arm drag techniques and put further emphasis upon the club head down attack. Later on in the session Joel showed up and went through an integral setup for the twister as well as a full on choke; consequently, it was a productive session. Onto Wednesday, Joel again went through twister from the back and the roll over the shoulder towards mangling the body; furthermore, Joel also taught an effective footlock after performing the capoeira pass. Friday, was a basic Judo work-out with an focus upon going below the center of an opponent's hips before throwing. Open mat at Dustin's and at Barum's made me further realized that I must stop giving away my back. After attendance at Dustin's session, I participated in an open mat session at my home studio and Joel showed a cool variation on the flying armbar coming via circling with the opponent. As Sunday rolled on, I once again had the honor of rolling with Baret Yoshida and he pinned me beautifully in the side-mount and I learned of the necessity of abstaining from telegraphing moves and when I perform a crucial move such as an escape or transition, I must go at it full force and relentlessly.Lastly, my new friend and training partner showed a fantastic way hitting the darce while opponent is in turtle position which involved falling onto my side and driving my opponent's head into my chest and hold a gable grip where my thumbs are loose and free.  

Training this week was a bit more relaxed as competition was near. Monday held the celebration of the labor day holiday and BJJ classes were cancelled though open mat was fortunately held. During the open mat session, I learned a fundamental alteration to the mexicana as Joel instructed me on using the far side leg of the body to pin the leg and to pinch the arm in then cup the elbow and allow your body to bridge upwards. Tuesday's wrestling session was substituted by a new BJJ friend named Bobby and he illustrated a take-down set-up when the opponent pushes in and at that point of cupping his armpits, I flick my arms upwards allowing the opponent to fly to the ground. In the moment of the opponent's imbalance a sly take-down can be enacted. Thursday was an easy session conducted by Lucas as he went through some fascinating yet mildly tough warm-ups, then showed an over/under pass with emphasis placed on driving the shoulder into the opponent and getting the pass. He also went on to illustrate how my leg should go upwards after the pass as the pass is enacted. Saturday was another competition with the IBJJF nationals and I lost yet again. The match started with my opponent going for an immediate take-down while I fruitlessly strived to defend it by placing my arm in front of my opponent's face. I went to guard from there and then conducted a high risk action and attacked a baseball choke as the opponent passed. However, the risk did not pay off as he easily passed the guard and established a strong and formidable side mount. The paramount lesson to be taken into account is that I should be extra careful in attacking the BB choke on the guard pass; furthermore, as instructed by Aaron the next day, I could have flipped my knees to the side and from that point a X-guard pass would become apparent. Fortunately, there was open mat at Barums on Sunday. In the open mat session, I applied a generous amount of thought to my rolling and was able to make the session extra progressive. One transparent point learned at the session was the risk that comes when performing the kick-back pass since the opponent can flip his leg over to the other side and set up a foot lock. I also learned of a fundamental defense against the kimura from the top side by angling my arm inside my legs and not allowing my opponent to pull it out. Additionally, I learned a method of defending the bow and arrow choke as it is advisable to not loosen the gi on the downwards side unless it is at the very last minute.Progression is becoming ever more present as I continue attempts to utilize the tripod pass, and success should be an eventuality as I keep on attacking it.

 I am continually learning and shooting for the stars which will be reached.

  This weeks training as I edified on some new concepts, techniques and philosophies. On Monday, Andrej illustrated methods of basic open guard sweep coming via swinging the leg over to the opponent's hip then conducting a basic scissor sweep. From that point the training was focused on creativity using the guard and simply playing in order to find movements and pivotal concepts which are enormously conducive to my BJJ game. Tuesday was an inspiring wrestling session whereupon jimmy went over methods of catching the arm drag when the arm as the hand clubs the head then going inside for the double takedown thereafter. He further elaborated on waiting for the guy to pull the arm as a trigger to attack the double leg takedown from having the arm inside the leg. Wednesday was further inculcation by Andre upon the importance of the grip, and the rolling which that followed dealt with more of the same training on Monday but I did notice in the rolling session that I feel a bit more confident in hitting the umoplata. Thursday entailed my participation in Luca's class and he went through a knee shield pass instruction which I has been well-known to me previously but I unfortunately passed over some vital points and details. First Lucas stated to push the shoulder forward and then dive my shoulder down, and from that point my hips fall close to the floor and glide along the opponent's side to a clean and smooth pass. Friday once again had judo mark teaching. My tai-otoshi skills are coming along nicely. In regards to the Tai-Otoshi, there are some crucial elements to consider before the throw is attempted. First, the opponent must be moving forward towards me. Second, ample amount of room (ideally 1 foot) must be present. Third, the conduction of the throw must be done using my legs and minimizing use of the arms.
  Saturday proved to be an incredibly enlightening session as I headed to 10th planet. Richie Martinez went through the Mexicana, which comes via establishing the pancho villa position with elbows inside the opponents armpits, switching the hips then using my near side leg to pin the opponents leg and grabbing the looping opponents wrist and gaining the Mexicana. Geo then went over a guard sweep where you push the opponents head while in guard, then wait for the opponent to push back, use the momentum of the head pushing back then swim my hand inside and basically crank the opponent over. As the opponent falls over opportunities for mount and truck position will explicitly present themselves. Sunday was a very fun session as I got beat up badly by Baret, Joel and my new friend Jerry. Joel illustrated a few different key concepts. One that gained my attention is attacking the lower leg on the half-guard pass then reverting to the capoeira pass pulling myself into a nice strong ankle lock. Additionally, Joel reviewed the Barum pass whereupon you grab the upper collar of opponent in butterfly and switch legs over and pas. Furthermore, the 405 pass can be had by establishing grips on one leg at first then pass. Lastly, Jerry elaborated on my ankle lock from knee cut pass and how I must grab the ankle then move my body diagonally backwards away from my opponent, sprawl and then attack the ankle.It was an enthralling week of training and I will maintain a new training curriculum consisting of simply training daily.