Defending Guard and Goals For Tonight’s Class – July 9, 2013

First, a piece of good news. I just received an email from Pete, up at Origin in Maine, telling me that my new gi jacket has been shipped and is on its way. That’s pretty exciting. I don’t know – I have to tell you that I’m still liking the idea of those guys hand making these things – and the more and more I look at these gi jackets people wear in class, the more I like them. They look very “quality.” When I get this one, I plan to take a whole lot of very up close photos, so people can really see the details.

Anyway, now that the holiday (what seems like month) is over, I can get back to rolling. I’m having serious withdrawal symptoms (loss of sleep, weight loss, amnesia) and can’t wait to get up to the gym for some action tonight. I hope it’s a good time as I just want to roll. I have to talk to the guys up there and ask about their open mat on Fridays because I may want to switch things up a bit. Instead of going to the basics and advanced class on Thursday evening, I might want to change that to Friday. I think there’s an extra half-hour there, so I get two and a half hours instead of just two. We’ll see what they say.

Tonight, I plan on putting a lot of effort into defending my guard. I have a few ideas, such as making my hip escape much more proactive, using my legs more to fold up like an accordion as someone is passing and perhaps throwing in Marcio Stambowsky’s ambush choke for good measure.

Submissions Inc: Ambush Choke by 7th degree Black Belt Marcio Stambowsky

I’m also going to work my half guard, knee block and a half guard sweep. But this is only if I get passed far enough. Basically, I really want to focus on guard and my defense of it. I’m going to stay away from any type of aggressive sweeps from guard, if I can help it. But you know how these things go. The heat of battle takes over and I find myself doing things I told myself I wouldn’t do. This time, I’ll really try to behave myself.