Jiu Jitsu Diary - 8

So, today, besides being a great class, was pretty much a seminar on BJJ as an art as well as a martial art and a sport. Class was taught by Lucio Muramatsu and we started drilling with partners by choosing one pass to do ten times, one sweep ten times, and one submission ten times. I chose the Toreando Pass or Bullfighter Pass, Pendulum Sweep from Closed Guard (which has a Brazilian name that I can't pronounce, something like Bombalagamba, but that's totally wrong), and then Armbar from Closed Guard. Drilling was great, but one of the best things I learned from Lucio is that every pass has three parts: The Advance, the In Between, and the Establishment of Control. You make your move, you have a spot in the middle where you've passed but haven't established control, and then you do. So for the Toreando it's: move the legs (Advance), knee on belly (In Between), and then into Side-Control. It's not enough just to make it pass someone's legs/guard (passing means you pass the legs which is also known as the Guard cause if your opponent can keep their legs between you and them, there's no submission or control there), you have to establish control. I know, doesn't sound profound, but for me it really made sense. 

After that we rolled and I did a pretty good job of staying out of submissions, though of course, I did get submitted, by Mike Kazan and by Conrad. An Armbar and a Bow-and-Arrow choke, respectively. I did manage to get Adrian in Arm Triangle, but that's just cause he held onto a bad Guillotine too long, gotta give that up the moment you figure you can't close it. Oscar, of course, kept the action high. Almost got him in a Kimura, but really, he's so flexible that he let me have it while he set up his legs for an escape. But I did get a Judo throw on Mike! It was crappy, but I got him to the mat with a double collar throw and ended up in Side Control!

But the best stuff came after class. Lucio kinda went over his philosophy of minimum energy for maximum return. Also, discussed how it's easier to move yourself than your opponent. It's hard to put it all into words, mostly cause it is his approach and I'm still trying to understand it. I get it in theory, look for openings, think of it as chess, don't advance, move to the sides, but when I try it, I just get steamrolled by the likes of Mike and Oscar and everyone else. Still, it was nice to hear about his Algorithm as he calls it (yes, he's here in SF cause he has a start-up...). Anyhow, today was great, both physically and mentally. I hope to advance my game by staying calm and expending the minimum amount of energy for the maximum amount of return. Here's one of Lucio's matches, you can see how me moves so calm and methodical. He makes it look easy.