Class 20...

A week off on holiday with the Missus and back to class and it was a good one.

The usual physical warm-up was all neck strengthening exercises today. This was tough but I never feel like the warm-up is brutal for the sake of it. It's just to make us stronger to train and I can see how and why this is needed.

The class then revolved around two drills. The first saw half the class on their backs while the other half were in the first man's guard. The job of the top man was to break his opponent's guard and end up in side control or full mount. The job of the bottom man was to retain closed guard and get his opponent on the bottom by reversing the position.

I did OK at breaking out of guard or at least not getting swept as I've sort of decided I prefer to be on top in guard at the moment so I'm pretty comfortable stabilising my position and caging my opponent's hips and hanging in. When the situation was reversed, however, my ability to retain guard or attack from it is pretty poor. I know I'm still quite new but I need to really get at least one sweep I like from this position and drill it and do the same with a few submissions. I like the kimura and know how to do a basic version of this. I also know the kimura sweep so I'll try to incorporate both these next time. Retaining guard is also really hard work on your thigh muscles. They are still very sore.

The second drill involved half the class sat up on their bums while the other half attacked from the back in rear mount. I struggled with this a bit but I did manage to fend off a lot of rear naked choke attacks when I was rear mounted. Sadly, I also fell for a few foot locks when one canny opponent used this attack from the back when he trying to go for a choke. Even worse I know this attack as I caught a blue belt with it a few weeks ago but I couldn't work out how this new opponent was managing to get it when I hadn't crossed my feet to put myself in danger. I'll work it out. Or just ask him.

In sparring I was paired with a new white belt I hadn't met before and he was very elusive. I dropped into his guard and worked my way to side control a few times and locked in a choke and an armbar. I feel the chances were there to do other things as well but the fact I escaped and stabilised my position were the minor victories of the day. The taps were an unexpected bonus. A very good class.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Work on a few attacks and a few sweeps from guard.