Araj's Training Log: Starting Strength and Jiu Jitsu

[Araj]

Hey everyone,
I'm new to the forums and I thought it might be a good idea to keep a log on here so I stay consistent with my training. I'm currently doing Starting Strength and training BJJ, and I am hoping to keep making rapid progress in both.

Current Stats:
Bodyweight: 155lbs
Height: 5'11.5"

Lifts: Squat- 235 for 3x5
Bench-175 for 3x5
Deadlift- 265 for 1x5 (Most I've ever done is 295 for 1x5)
OHP- 115 for 3x5
Power Clean- 105 for 5x3

Jiu Jitsu: Blue belt 1 stripe (~14 months experience total). Tournament record at blue: 2-3 (Only did one tournament at blue so far)

Goals: I'm looking to get to a 2x BW squat, 2.5x BW deadlift, and 1.5x BW bench. Hopefully those goals are feasible- I guess I'll find out. I just want to keep up the SS linear progression for as long as I can.
I want to keep my bodyweight at or below 162 so I can keep competing at lightweight because I like my frame for that weightclass.

Medal at an IBJJF tournament at blue belt.
Purple belt within two years.

October 10, 2013
Squat- 3x5 @235
Bench- 3x5@170 (tweaked shoulder in a kimura so going a bit lighter)
DL- 1x5 @ 265



And here is a match I lost at blue belt, hopefully its presence here will light a fire under my ass:


And here is one i won by loop choke:


Thanks to everyone who helped me in my form check thread!

 

[Araj]

Reviving this

Monday, 9/21
3x5 squats at 230
3x5 bench at 145
1x5 DL at 255

Wednesday, 9/23
3x5 squats at 235
3x5 OHP at 95
5x3 PC at 95

Also, here are some BJJ matches from this summer:

 

[Araj]

Wednesday, November 11th, 2015
TM Light Day

Squats 2x5 at 185
Bench 3x5 at 140
Back Extensions 5x10
Pullups 7, 5, 5

 

[JauntyAngle]

Welcome to the logs!

If you have need any advice on elite-level athleticism (e.g on the finer points of curling, and on the best kinds of spray tan) please feel free to drop by the "Swolediers" team thread.

 

[Araj]

Monday, September 28th
Squats 3x5 at 240
Bench 3x5 at 150
DL 1x5 at 265

 

[Araj]

Saturday, November 14th
TM Intensity Day

Squats 265x5

OHP 115x4 (Failed last rep:icon_sad

Power Cleans 5x3 at 115

 

[Araj]

Welcome to the logs!

If you have need any advice on elite-level athleticism (e.g on the finer points of curling, and on the best kinds of spray tan) please feel free to drop by the "Swolediers" team thread.

Haha thanks! I'll keep that in mind. I think i may be all set on the tanning front, though

 

[Araj]

Wednesday, September 30th, 2015
Squats 3x5 at 245
OHP 3x5 at 95
PC 5x3 at 95

 

[Araj]

I haven't been logging jiujitsu here lately although I have been training it.

I wanted to make a few notes about the current state of my game for when future me looks back at this.

Passing
Right now I've been focusing on developing my passing game, and have been implementing a Murilo-style over/under as well as a double unders/stacking to flip to turtle game, and transitions between the two. This has been a major breakthrough me and I am now able to neutralize most guards by forcing people to fight in a bicep ride position, not allowing them to lock on a full guard.

Guard
From the bottom, I have been working X guard and 1LX successfully, stemming from a Kron/Lo style collar grip game from the bottom. I have been having a lot of success with the loop choke (especially in competition) but need to stop using it as a crutch or a replacement for a functional sweeping game from the bottom. I keep reminding myself to work the collar drag from the loop choke but I always forget about it in rolling. I've been working on butterfly guard vs kneeling opponents, and experimenting with spider/lasso and DLR. The most important thing I need to work on is not being lazy about letting the passer get grips on my pants. When I get passed, it's almost always because I decide to play around while the other guy has pants grips. Need to be proactive and not let them get pants grips EVER, or counter with spider guard when they try.

Top Side Attacks
From the top, I've been working the lapel feed choke quite successfully. Lately I've discovered a new combination where I get the lapel wrap on the far arm, cover the near arm with my knee, and step over for the choke. When they use their far arm to push the leg away, I take the arm triangle and hop to the far side. This is incredibly effective and I need it to become the basis of my top side offense. I also want to start implementing the breadcutter choke and step over triangle into my offense from here, as well as working on spinning to the back (over the legs and over the head).

Mount
I've been having success with the standard cross choke/armbar combo. Need to stay heavy and use my feet to hold down the hips as Murilo showed. Also been working details on staying heavy while applying the armbar from here- Murilo showed an armbar setup where you grab the arm you're not attacking and hold it to prevent their escape while you setup the armbar, and think about putting your hips near the throat to keep heavy pressure the whole time- DO NOT sit back on your leg as you step over.

Back
By far my weakest offensive position. I'm bad at taking it, and bad at finishing. Need to keep a shallow seatbelt (stab in the neck) and transition between wing choke and bow and arrow. Learned some details about having the leg over the shoulder on the bow and arrow that I need to implement. Also make sure to cross feet with bottom foot on top (???? double check this).

 

[DrBdan]

Welcome to the logs and good luck with your goals!

 

[Araj]

Monday, October 5th, 2015
Squats 3x5 at 250
Bench 3x5 at 155
DL 1x5 at 275

 

[Araj]

Monday, Nov 30th

Power Cleans 3x3 at 135
Bench 3x3 at 155



Wednesday, Dec 2nd

Squat 5x5 225
Bench 5x5 155

 

[JauntyAngle]

Haha thanks! I'll keep that in mind. I think i may be all set on the tanning front, though

Hm, yes, on paying more attention to your videos, your tan level seems solid. Good work.

 

[Araj]

Wednesday, October 7th, 2015
Squats 3x5 at 255 - very slow and grinding, some form breakdown in middle set
OHP 3x5 at 100 - also kind of slow

 

[frystyle]

Competed yesterday at The Good Fight New Jersey Submission Only Championships, in East Brunswick.

Took home gold in the gi division (ankle lock and loop choke), and silver in the nogi division (two ankle locks then a loss by triangle).

Congratulations!

 

[Araj]

Early-morning (which for a college student who was out late last night is 10am) workout today. It was super nice; the gym was empty when I walked in. By the time I was finishing up it was chock full of people curling in the squat rack though...

Anyway:
Squats 240x3x5
OHP 115x3x5
Power Cleans 110x5x3

Videos:








I'd obviously appreciate any form tips and criticisms but especially on the power cleans. I tried to learn them from the book and I'm having a hard time telling if I'm doing them completely wrong. There is so much conflicting advice on the internet, too.

My right upper quad felt tight and possibly strained today, as I was warming up (I think I injured it wednesday in jiujitsu as my instructor passed my guard with a particularly brutal smash pass and I tried to kick my hamstring away while he had all his weight on me or something) but I pushed through the squats anyway and I think they turned out ok. It was making me nervous the whole time though, and it was painful. Everything else felt strong and easy though.

Also, today I worked out on an empty stomach right after waking up, because that is the easiest thing for my schedule. Is this bad if I'm not trying to lose weight? I feel clear-headed and good for the most part.

JauntyAngle: Hah, yeah I must store up my ample supply of tan-ness (/brownness) for the upcoming winter months.


3 hours of BJJ coming up this afternoon. Going to work takedowns and pressure passing.

 

[Araj]

Wednesday, October 14th, 2015

Squats 3x5 at 245
Bench 3x5 at 160
DL 1x5 at 285

 

[Pearse Shields]

I always recommend some sort of food before a strength workout. But, I'm sure you'll find other guys on here who say it's okay to skip. Main thing is if you're making progress in your sessions. If you are, then it's obviously working for you.

Welcome to the logs.

 

[Araj]

Competed yesterday at The Good Fight New Jersey Submission Only Championships, in East Brunswick.

Took home gold in the gi division (ankle lock and loop choke), and silver in the nogi division (two ankle locks then a loss by triangle).

 

[Araj]

Thanks Pearse! That's a good point- so far I'm feeling good but if I feel it starting to affect my progress I'll start eating. Right now it just makes me feel clear-headed and focused, I think.

Jiujitsu today wasn't great, I felt weak as a kitten from lifting earlier in the day. I was also operating on 4 hours of sleep, and I smoked a ton the night before (I'm not sure if that affects anything but basically I kind of felt like shit).

Technique was various applications of the arm drag:
-from standing to the back to a simple trip takedown
-from standing to a yoko sumi gaeshi with a lat grip when the guy resists the armdrag
-then from butterfly to the back and from closed to the back
-then a cool sweep where you get the armdrag from closed but they resist so you trap the arm with your hips, grab the lat, and pendulum sweep.
-Last technique was a nice setup from butterfly guard where you armdrag, they resist and pull back and put their elbow in your same side hip, so you overhook it, underhook the other side, and hook sweep and sit through to scarf right into a cool shoulderlock from the overhook)

I drilled the crap out of the armdrag to ko uchi gake, which is my go-to takedown, and hit a nice osoto gari in takedown sparring. Got caught with the same osoto after I went for it on a lanky wrestler who outweighs me by ~35lbs and has much better standup. So I need to work on being quick with the setup because osoto is a reciprocal position. Rolling was ok for the most part, was feeling weak and fatigued but hit some nice armbars and triangles and anacondas.
(All of the aforementioned was nogi)

Rolled gi with this one dude who is close to my skill level and has been training for 5 years. I usually smash him but today I just couldn't get much offense going- my limbs just felt tired as hell and it was a struggle to move him at all (he only has like 20 lbs on me). I passed his guard like 3 times but he did a good job of getting a strange grip from the bottom with a lapel wrap that sort of negated my offense. I was able to break it a few times and start to attack, but his defense was pretty good and I couldn't get anything going, and he kept putting that damn grip back on. I gassed and he was able to bridge and take top sidemount, went right to knee on belly and baseball choked me. First time he's ever submitted me- I'm not happy about it, but I guess it's good cause it will force me to get better. He has some solid skills.

Then I rolled nogi with my instructor, and almost swept him from deep half--->x guard (ended up in a scramble and then back to neutral). After which, of course, he proceeded to smash and submit me ruthlessly for the rest of the round.

I need to re-evaluate my priorities. I have no problem with lifting before jiujitsu and not doing as well as I usually do, but it becomes problematic when I am out late, don't eat properly, don't get enough sleep. I need to make sure I am doing what is best for my training instead of typical stupid college stuff.

That's all for now.
Thanks for the support everyone, and for reading this (if anyone is actually reading this).

 

[Araj]

Back in the gym, starting Texas Method

Monday, 10/26
Squats 5x5 at 225
Bench 5x5 at 145
DL 1x5 at 255

 

[JauntyAngle]

I'd obviously appreciate any form tips and criticisms but especially on the power cleans. I tried to learn them from the book and I'm having a hard time telling if I'm doing them completely wrong. There is so much conflicting advice on the internet, too.

My power clean sucks, too, but I have had access to some proper Oly coaches so I can pass on a few pointers:

1) Setup. Your doesn't look too bad. Knees should be parallel with elbows or past them slightly, weight on the mid-foot.
2) Pulling to knees. This is the first place where it is clearly going wrong, because the bar and your hips are going straight up. As you pull, you need to draw your hips and knees back, and shift your weight to your heels. The hips should still go up with the same velocity as the bar, which takes a little getting used to. By the time the bar is at the knees, your shoulders will be quite far in front of the bar, you will feel like you are really leaning forward. It's a position that is nothing like the deadlift when you are at the knees.
3) From knees to power position. Here I am a bit hazy, but more or less at this point you just extend your back (straighten up, without changing the knee angle). Some people straighten their leg a little more before initiating (as Jon North does in the video below). Keep your weight on your heels.
4) Second pull. As the bar is coming towards the crease of the hips, pop your hips forward as fast and hard as you can, coming up onto the balls of your feet if you need to. Strike the bar with your hips, then bring your hips back as fast as they came forward. At the same time, pull the bar with your hands, straight up and close to your chest. Note that the contact with the bar is not meant to be a huge crash- because it is moving upwards and you are trying to push it up, not out, it should be fairly light. But it does hit.
5) Second pull to receiving. So, the point of the exercise so far was to get the bar moving in towards the crease of the hips, and then "catapult" it up with the hips and to a lesser extent the hands. Now you have done this. And the key now is that as soon as you have strated doing this, you need to be going down under the bar. Basically, you drop down, or jump down. Think "pop and drop", or "hips and under". As you are going down, elbows come round and up. Be aware of the bar position as you are doing this- it makes for a smoother and easier rack.

Some videos!

This is my single favourite clean video. It really breaks down the stages and positions:



This is LegioTitan's favourite clean progression. He's just a professional Oly coach, though, he doesn't really know anything:



This is the first CalStrength video on the clean. Personally I don't think it is very useful on the second pull and movement to the catch, but I think the "backwards method" for the first pull (learning how to put the bar down using the reverse movement to the first pull) is really helpful:



This is one of a set of Oly drills by Don McCauley. These drills really help to teach some of the key movements:

 

[Araj]

Wednesday, November 4th
TM Light Day

Squats 2x5 at 180
OHP 3x5 at 105

Saturday, November 7th
TM Intensity Day

Squats 1x5 at 255
Bench 1RM at 185
Power Cleans 5x3 at 105

 

[Araj]

Wow, thank you so much for putting that together! I am gonna study that info and hopefully make an improvement on my form when I next Power Clean, which should be Thursday. I really appreciate all the help!

 

[Araj]

Monday, November 9th, 2015
TM Volume Day

Squats 5x5 at 230
OHP 5x5 at 95
DL 1x5 at 285

Today was bruuuuutal

 

[Araj]

2.5 hours of no-gi jiujitsu tonight.

First we went over a few takedowns- duck under to double leg, high c to double, and single leg to reverse double leg. I need to make sure that I really lift the legs high and drive sideways with my head when finishing a double leg.

Then was takedown sparring. I went with the same lanky wrestler from last time (6'4, 185lbs). He caught me with a nice sumi gaeshi from a lat grip (last Saturday's technique). I was psyched because I took him down with my signature armdrag to ko uchi gake. I defended a few of his shots and he defended a few of mine, and the round ended.

Then we did some basic technique on the ground. Guy stands up in closed guard, you underhook his leg, drive your hips into it, and push off the ground like a waiter holding a tray and knock him over. If he posts on your chest, go for the belly down armbar.
Guy stands up in closed guard, transition to x guard, sweep.
Some basic butterfly passes where you post up one knee to block their knees, drive their knees to the side with your chest pressure, and pass. Then a no-gi bullfighter pass. If they invert and try to recompose guard, just keep going into north-south.

Then we rolled. First I rolled with lanky wrestler dude, he couldn't pass my guard and I got a couple of near sweeps that ended up in scrambles. I need to work on establishing better controls in no gi open guard.
Then a couple white belts, nothing major, I put some reps in on triangle setups and anaconda chokes.
Then I rolled with the dude who baseball choked me last time. Swept him, came up, put him in a front headlock as he tried to stand, set up my anaconda choke but couldn't quite get it deep enough (he has a really thick neck and is difficult to choke) spun to the back, got the hooks, and stayed there for the rest of the round trying to sink the RNC. I need to work on that.

Rolled with him again after class was over, passed his guard and went to KOB and was looking for an armbar, but couldn't get it. Went for it anyway and in the ensuing scramble he recovered halfguard. I hit a nice pass that Lucas Lepri showed at a seminar where you use head pressure instead of pulling up on the near side arm. I lost focus for a second because someone was talking to me from the sidelines about something unrelated (stupid me) and he recovered halfguard again. He started to sweep me, almost took mount, I recovered to one leg x, swept him, and went for an ankle lock. He countered it with a lat grip and I couldn't extend away to finish it. I need to figure out how to deal with that. Then the round ended.

So, I've got a lot of things I need to work on. That dude is quickly getting his form back. I used to wreck him without trying, but he is quickly getting back to the point he was at before his hiatus. It's good, it means I will be forced to develop my jiujitsu more to counter him.

Lifting tomorrow (squat, bench, and deadlift) and then gi jiujitsu on Wednesday.

Got a new gi in the mail today, a Manto Evo 2.0. It fits perfectly and is super comfortable and I'm psyched to try it out.

Also, I will be going in to Danaher's class at Renzo Gracie Academy NYC on Friday in the afternoon. Super excited about that, ready to learn some stuff and get destroyed by the people there. I'm going to start trying to train there at least once a week to complement my regular jiujitsu training.
Next semester if I can find a job/some cash I will be going to Marcelo Garcia's place.

 

[Araj]

Sitting here bored in Econ, I just wanted to take a second to evaluate where I'm at jiu-jitsu wise and the things I need to focus on and improve.

I am very much a guard player first and foremost. I have some nice attacks off of my back- from closed guard I primarily look for high guard armbars or set up an overhook clamp guard to omoplata or triangle. I only look for sweeps insofar as I see opportunities from attacking submissions. From open guard I look for armdrags or loop chokes from butterfly, hook/tripod sweeps from regular open guard, and x guard sweeps. I am fairly good at being aggressive from my back and my guard is generally quite a problem to pass, even for higher belts, but I need to try to impose my game on other people, rather than being more relaxed and taking what they give me. I've paid for this in competition before with some frustrating losses. I need to work out some better ways to control my opponent without the gi, and develop my x guard more.

From the top, I spent the whole summer working on takedowns and passing and top game. I have a decent leg drag and I sometimes use the torreando, but I have been focusing on pressure passes lately. My go-to is the shin pass and the over-under. I can always improve more on being heavy and minimizing space.

The area that needs the most improvement is once I pass the guard. I find that against more experienced people, once I have passed I have trouble attacking effectively from sidemount. I need to work on my pressure from sidemount, and transitions to KOB and mount. Once I get to mount I am ok, but sidemount is one of my weaker areas. I am working on the north south choke, KOB--->armbar, and my go-to submissions are head and arm chokes like the darce and the anaconda.

In a nutshell, I need to be more active from the bottom, and work on really imposing my will once I get to the top.
Hopefully if I keep these things in mind everytime I train I will be able to fix them quickly.

 

[Araj]

Good lifting session today.

Tuesday October 15, 2013
Squats
2x5 at 45lbs
1x5 at 95lbs
1x3 at 145lbs
1x2 at 195lbs
3x5 at 245lbs

Felt easy. I worked on pushing my stomach out and everything felt much tighter and easier at the bottom. I have decided that, as everyone recommended in my form check thread, I would really like a belt. Thinking of ordering one from bestbelts.com. Any other recommendations? I know INZER makes good belts but it seems like they take a lot longer to ship and are slightly more expensive, and I'm cheap and impatient, lol.

Bench
2x5 at 45lbs
1x5 at 85lbs
1x3 at 120lbs
1x2 at 155lbs
3x5 at 175lbs

Fairly easy. Still have a slight twinge in my shoulder from being stubborn on that kimura last week. Last few reps were exceedingly slow, but I got them done.

Deadlifts
No warmup, straight into
1x5 at 275lbs

This was super easy. I have pulled much more than this, I'm just being conservative so I can maintain my linear progression.

No videos today, but I think I've got my form down. Will maybe take some videos on Saturday when the gym isn't so damn crowded.

EDIT: Just ordered a belt from Bestbelts.net. It should be here in about 2 weeks. That company got good reviews on the Starting Strength forums and seems to be a solid option. We'll see, I guess.

 

[Bloodhy]

Hey,

Good job on the training. I was reading your BJJ stuff and noticed that side control was your weakness.

I stopped competing but side control was always my favorite. Especially the scarfhold. Try looking at some catch wrestling. This is a very strong position and it's hard to get out when you're on the bottom, but there's a lot of option to attack from the top (Straight armbar, kimura, arm triangle, etc.)

This choke worked a lot for me. I felt like nobody knew about this move:

[YT]xgda7xr8eUQ[/YT]

Also, I don't know if reverse cradle would be illegal in BJJ, but if you don't lock your hands, you can sit there easy.

Keep up the good work.

 

[Araj]

Hey Bloodhy,
Thanks for the advice and the video! I often go to scarf with the underhook, but I've never really tried scarf with the head control before. I'll give that stuff a try tomorrow in practice and see how it goes.

 

[Araj]

Gi jiujitsu tonight for 2.5 hours.

First we worked a Ronda Rousey-style (o goshi?) hip throw from standing into scarfhold, then some contingency plans to stop the thrown person from coming up on top if they roll through after the throw.

Then we did some positional rolling from the closed guard. I got careless with my arms and got armbarred once by a much larger bluebelt, but passed his guard once and swept him twice. He did not pass my guard, but forced me to turtle once.

Then we worked on the cross choke from guard. The detail was getting your hips off to the side so you open up space on the neck to choke. Then we worked cross choke to armbar and cross choke to scissor sweep.

Then was rolling. I rolled first with that same much larger blue belt. He passed my guard once with a nice over/under pass, and got to north south. He got the kimura grip, I defended, and he went for the armbar. I defended, came up on top, broke his closed guard and was starting to knee slice when the time went off. Short round.

Then I rolled with another blue belt who is about my size. I was being a bit lazy and playing a loose open guard, and he almost passed. This was a wake-up call and I started being more aggressive, I hook swept him and ankle locked him. Did the same thing about 3 more times. I wanted to work on my ankle locks and also I am super exhausted from lifting and lack of sleep, and I just didn't have the energy to fight for top position. Lame excuse, I know.

Then a couple of white belts, just put reps in on my triangles and armbars from guard and gave them some minor coaching and advice.

Then I rolled with this white belt from Brazil who trains at Alliance here in NYC. He should probably be a blue belt. He has that balls to the wall, relentless Alliance mentality, and decent technique to back it up. I omoplata'd him a few times and then hook swept to ankle lock. He passed my guard once or twice though, which was a shock coming from a white belt.

Last, I rolled with my instructor. I worked my open guard but couldn't get much going- he just cut through it with pressure and timing. I tried a sit-up DLR sweep but his weight was too far forward so he just drove his knee into my chest and pushed me back down.

Anyway, that's all for today. Man, lifting is really taking its toll on me. I think it's mostly the fact that it's midterms season and I'm not getting much sleep.

Lifting tomorrow.

Going to Renzo's on Friday for Danaher's class!

 

[Araj]

Lifting today!

October 17th, 2013

Squats
2x5 at 45lbs
1x5 at 100lbs
1x3 at 150lbs
1x2 at 200lbs
3x5 at 250lbs

Felt good. Last set was a bit slow, but overall no real problems. I hit depth and felt strong out of the bottom. I'm psyched cause 250 has been a milestone in my head for a long time. I know it's not a big deal in the larger scale of things and a lot of guys on here warm up with that, but I'm happy nonetheless.

Overhead Press
I realized that I've been using my chest too much and leaning back too far. So I did a bunch of work with just the bar and a few sets at 100lbs, with that stuff in mind. I think I made some progress towards fixing my form.

Power Cleans
I didn't put any weight on the bar or do the standard SS rep/set scheme. I just spent like 30 minutes doing those drills that you posted, JauntyAngle. Thanks so much for all that info! My powerclean is still very much a work in progress, but I think I understand it conceptually a little better now. Hopefully within a few weeks I will have it down to some degree.

As I was walking back from the gym, psyched about squatting 250lbs and grinning from ear to ear like an idiot, a bird shat on my shoulder. I thought it was the funniest thing in the world. There's probably a lesson about life in there somewhere.

Anyway, considering I got a grand total of 3 hours of sleep last night (was up late studying for an exam+fire alarm went off at 3am+exams and problem sets due early this morning) I am quite happy.

 

[Araj]

Amazing class at Renzo's today. (Danaher's class).

The first half was standing. We looked at Tai Otoshi and various entries. Lots of detail about hip and upper body positioning. I need to keep my elbow low and use my hips and arms to offbalance uke so that when I throw I shouldn't have to exert myself too much. From a standard stance you need to get them to expose their lead leg by moving it back.

First entry: Off of ko uchi gari, you go for it, they step back, you enter right into tai otoshi.
Second entry: Off of Osoto Gari. You go for it, they start to try to free their leg, you step across and throw with tai otoshi.
Third entry: Yank on their lapel and circle to the right to get them to expose their base, then enter and throw.

Then, on the ground, we looked at ashi garami, specifically what Danaher calls "short ashi garami" (basically X guard but with the top hook on the near hip instead of the far hip).
First sweep was a tomoe nage from this position. You control the lapel, put your hook on his hip, elevate and sweep overhead.
Then we did a variation for when they break the lapel grip and posture up. Hands on ankles, sweep, hooking foot pushes on their hamstring to keep them from coming up.

The guys in Danaher's class are TOUGH. Had some great rolls with some purples and brown belts and one really big blue belt.

Solid training today! Danaher is a genius. I'm gonna try to make it out there at least once a week this semester, hopefully.

 

[Araj]

Nogi jiuijitsu today for 3 hours.

First we did breaking the closed guard from the knees and the double unders pass. Then we did a pass where you isolate one leg, hyperextend the knee and smash pass. I need to remember to use a "scooping" motion with the blade of my forearm as I rise up on my knees to really pressure the knee.

Then we did some details on the Ryan Hall-style triangle.

Then we rolled.
Notable moments: had a tough, intense roll with that Brazilian dude from Alliance. He is very physical and explosive, but I was able to armdrag to the back and go to a body triangle. He almost footlocked me and my ankle is still sore, but I was stubborn and I got out of it and went to technical mount. I was attacking his arms, he bridged me over and I based, then he powered through and ended up in my closed guard. I attacked with a high guard armbar but couldn't get it (I need to remember to windshied wiper my legs to offbalance him instead of just trying to fit my leg over his head), but turned it into a pendulum sweep and wound up in mount. Then the round ended. That dude is tough and good, and he is a good training partner for me.

A couple other tough rolls with some blue belts. No one passed my guard today.

After class I drilled the shit out of Danaher's Tai Otoshi, but it was nogi so I was working from the underhook. It still needs work but I am going to try to make it one of my main throws.

I switched my third lifting day to Sunday so I'm less tired during nogi. It seems to be working out well.

 

[Araj]

Kind of a rough training session tonight. I am operating on a serious lack of sleep due to exams, and on top of that I was out late last night for UFC 166 and I had an econ midterm this morning (ridiculous, right? Midterm on a Sunday...)

Anyway, I pushed through it:

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

Squats
2x5 at 45lbs
1x5 at 100lbs
1x3 at 150lbs
1x2 at 200lbs
3x5 at 250lbs

I repeated last time's weight because it moved a bit slow on the last set last time, and I was just exhausted.
Felt pretty good. Videos to follow.

Bench
2x5 at 45lbs
1x5 at 85lbs
1x3 at 135lbs
1x2 at 155lbs
3x5 at 175lbs

Again, repeated last time's weight.

Deadlift
1x5 at 285