Wed Sept 8/15 5:30 pm BJJ

Got to LEMMA around 5:30 pm… a couple guys in the cage scraping.

Partnered with Mitch a newer white belt… and showed him how to tie his belt.
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Veal had us warm up for 10 mins working on pummeling… then he had us review a few butterfly sweeps with a belt and knee Gi grip. The first, attacking the arm with the deep over hook and grip on the belt. The second, switching to the other side when your opponent steps to counter the original sweep. Veal did mention for me to move in deeper with my head and be like a ball… not sure if he was being condescending, but typically my whole game is supposed to be like a ball.

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If I wasn’t, then it makes sense… especially when I really haven’t had anyone be critical of my technique, in a long time, which is really what I need and are missing since I started coaching the Tuesdays and Sunday classes.

I’m not a black belt… far from it… let alone feel qualified to coach classes.

We then scrapped… Veal said to the death. Which was condescending lol.

The white belts may take it seriously… and they do. Seriously though, they beat each other up, then they don’t come back.

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Delimiters on growth of BJJ, especially if only the bullies continue to bully and are allowed too… It really dampers the retention of new white belts if they get killed on their first few lessons on the mat.

A wise man once told me that white belts make or break BJJ in a club and continued growth is what we need for longevity

Had an incident, heck multiple where guys were applying finger locks… yep not cool.

Rolling:(3 mins, 1 min breaks)
1. Mitch
2. Hatton
3. Veal
4. Jones
5. Newer guy with a shiny white Gameness Gi… or was it an Atama?

Overall decent class… rolling could have been longer rounds.

Like 6 to 10 mins. 3 mins is all about the push.

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Everyone goes way too hard because of the short rounds and forgets about focus on actual technique.

Constructive criticism on my technique is nice, as I normally don’t get the help from the classes that I normally coach.

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Sun Sept 6/15 11:00 am BJJ

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Surprised on the attendance… homies wanted to train!!

Nathan, Morgo, newer Blue Belt Kyle from Halifax, Philippe, and Katrina were in attendance.

Long Weekend… almost cancelled the class for today… nope.

Lol came in anyway…

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Warm-up was standard… running around, lunges, bear crawls, reverse/side/forward rolls, break falls, and shrimping…

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The homies then drilled passes and a few takedowns…

We the finished off with the full harnessed positional drilling… clip below.

Everyone had an opportunity to train with everyone, with two recycling of partners… back took, then back taking, its a hard and tough drawn out drill. Either you submit or you escape. Secret is to focus on a solid technical defence… 2 mins a round.

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Yeah, I went in earlier to work on some rowing… hopefully this will help in the long run.

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Sat Sept 5/15 2pm BJJ

Only Me and Big Rig today OTM for 2pm BJJ.

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NERDs….

Oh well… who can blame taking a break from BJJ in the summer…

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Reviewed some leg locks and their defences.

Also had a great 15 min technical roll… tested out his neck as its currently mangled… injuries always set back training.

“Scotch and ankle locks” says Veal… hahahaha

Clip of me and Big Rig rolling…

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Wed Sept 2/15 BJJ

Got to LEMMA around 6:00 pm… Matt the grasshopper was in… gave us a nice little animal styled warm-up movements and then we did a bunch of passing drills. Similar to my Sunday classes.

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Leg drag drilling something similar to below… only to seat the knee between the legs…

Bull fighter, Matador or Toreando pass… only to keep the grips and drop the outside shoulder for pressure and connection, instead of going knee to belly. I’ll be honest, I’m a fan of the knee belly, I drop the shoulder if my opponent is really big, and I’m fighting tooth and nail…

Then x-pass…

Man was I ever drained lol

Not even sure we rolled… ah well… I was pooched.

Matt Veal showed me a cool submission… the diamond choke, which looks is similar to a standard leg triangle. But with the legs reversed… once I find a video I will post…

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Yep pulled again this morning…

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Stay away from mat bullies lol…

We need growth in BJJ…

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Sunday Aug 30/15 11am BJJ

Got to LEMMA around 10:00 am… yep got a 20 min session of rowing in.

Had one thing on my mind. Break falls and rowing.

Found this piece on Facebook… loved it!!

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Katrina brought up issues of break falling and fears of hitting the mat…

Us warming up below…

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Practice practice practice… the 3 P’s.

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Us working on some loop chokes below…

then we got 3 rounds of 10 mins sessions in…

I sat out for the first round… then rolled with Jarod and then Gary.

If you missed out… link to EBI 3 below!!

My results from my 20 mins of pulling below…

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Fri Aug 28/15 5:30 pm OpenMat

Got to LEMMA around 5:00 pm… quite a few boys OTM… looked like they were reviewing some technique. Rad!

Hassan and myself after last weeks session… guess we’ll be losing him after the 21st of Oct. Booo. He found a job in butt-f- no-where and plans to be in Toronto for the little while.

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Morgon attempting to take my back last week… fun fun.

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G going north-south on me before OpenMat…
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Jesse asked a few questions regarding s-mount and kimura defended while attack is on top north south. We discussed and reviewed a few solutions.

Rolling: (10 mins, 30 sec breaks)
1. Travis (warm-up)
2. Scott
3. Steve
4. Rupert

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ADCC tonight… wooo

Hopefully we’ll see yall at BJJ tomorrow morning!!

Osss,

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Wed Aug 26/15 6:30pm BJJ

Homies be like what what…
So a buddy of mine just got his purple belt at the Alliance Club in Minneapolis.

Fantastic, happy for you buddy… we surely have trained a lot together, 5 to sometimes 7 times a week lol… sometimes just me, him and a few others. We both went to our first tourney together. You were just a white belt and I had just got my blue belt.

Man in 2012 Or 2011?
IBJJF Chicago Winter Open

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You had the worst experience and almost gave it all up… look at you now, you didn’t.

Always a great thing when the time on the mat is recognised and you move forward.

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Congratulations homeboy… wished I could have been there. We were white belts once… not looking back!

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Commitment, dedication, focus are one of few things that helps our growth. That purple belt is big…

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Got to LEMMA around 6:00 pm, only got a few minutes in rolling with Matt Thorburn… oh well.

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Matt Veal ran the class. I partnered with Tony Gallo. Matt had us review a butterfly sweep entry to a gilliotine then a few north south choke variants, then also a ninja choke or armless brabo choke. After that we rolled.

One of the smaller, newer white belts approached me for the jam session.

Do I have like a sign on my back that attracts all the white belts lol… must be my smile.

I surely wouldn’t have denied him an opportunity to beat me up lol… white belts are humans too. That’s what makes or breaks the growth of the team. Always gotta help the new blood improve cause we are family… but seriously lol…

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Anywho, I did manage to get to the Complex in the morning… and did my thing.

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Not as good as my Tuesday session, but hey… at least I went in to train…

Hopefully, I see a few guys out today at openmat… RIBFEST today… yay.

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Sun Aug 23/15 11am BJJ

Monday nights are where I can catch up on my BJJ gibberishy adventures from over the weekend… yes adventures. Always something new and exciting from each class. Either being pushed, or the one being pushed. Nothing wrong with grinding, especially when you have nothing left, thus nothing to lose. You will have gained a lesson for the next, if your goal wasn’t met. Thus, never a loss.

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I was suffering from a hang over… BOOOO…

Baby was up a few times as well lol. YAY…

HECK…

I still came in YEPPERS!!

Having a baby really is a testament to what you are willing to maintain as goals… I really really appreciate what my mother did for me. Truth…

For all those single mother out there with no support… WOW…

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Gotta keep training… no matter what.

3 sets of 500 m rows. I need to keep it under 2 mins for consistency.

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3rd set was the best… glad I showed up and just did it. 90 percent of success is just showing up… lol

I got the guys to review a loop choke variant that I love to hit while guys go for a single leg. It is a goodie… in fact requested by Justin.

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I swear, I made them rep it out like 100 times each lol… sore their necks will be… hah

quick clip of us reviewing the loop choke

We then worked on the choke with resistance. 2 min rounds then alternated. Then switched partners and did it over again. Yep sore necks hah!!

quick clip of us positional drilling the loop choke at 50 to 75 percent resistance

Rolling:(6 min rounds, 30 sec breaks)
1. Justin
2. Hassan
3. Katrina
4. Justin

quick clip of us rolling

Boy was Katrina giving me pressure… wouldn’t let up for the whole 6 mins. Good for you! Train hard, train lots, and train smart… just keep showing up and you will get better!

quick clip of Katrina giving me the pedal

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It ain’t easy…

Oss,

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Sat Aug 22/15 2pm BJJ

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Morgo was in today… man, classes with people have been hit or miss. For the past month only 3 or 4 people on Saturdays. Guess when its Sunny, people just want to enjoy the sun lol. Not me. Hah… BJJ word.

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Quite a few showed up for the 2pm grinder today though … shity for them. Morgo had us to do the circle of death hahahah.

20 reps of whatever. Twice around the circle, third rep, was a partner drill. Hahahaha. Albino puked. Hadn’t seen him out in over a month for actual training. Anyways, I loved it.

quick clip below

We reviewed the spider guard… to a few sweeps. With a single legged x-sweep into a combat base stand up, a hip/heel push/pull, & a shin sweep with spider guard to a triangle. Just hoping we work on these for a while before to other techniques. I partnered with Travis. His legs were twice as long as mine so the combat base sweep t stand up was really hard when he spread his legs out lol… had to modify it a tad. Hahahah.

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quick clip below

Rolling wasn’t much… I guess everyone was spent from the warm-up. Lame… only 6 min rounds.

Rolling:(6 min)
1. Travis D
2. Luke
3. Hassan

Quick clip of everyone rolling

Quick clip of only me and Hassan rolling, while everyone was spent… hahahah

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Osss,

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