I chilled out at home during the holidays and recovered well. My neck, shoulders,

and lower back stopped hurting. My weight, however, inched up and peaked at 161.4

lbs on Tue Dec 30. I fasted on New Year's eve and New Year's day for about 46 hrs,

weighed 159.0 lbs on Jan 2, and felt ready for BJJ in 2026.

 

Jan 2. Darren's recovering shoulder was hurt again. He was a great guy and I

felt sorry for him. "How much does a man have to give in order to be free?" I

wondered. The guy was born in Mountain View and spent his 20s and early 30s

sweating in sushi shops before discovering his passion in BJJ. He became

unstoppable, fast-improving in the art and winning competitions before earning

his black belt. When I joined 18 months ago, his gym had the biggest mat in the

area. So far, it opened seven days a week, and he was always there teaching and

rolling with students. I often thought no one deserved success more than him.

People always say do the thing that you love but even so one can get too much of

a good thing. I'd volunteer to give him a break if I were a brown belt.

 

And yet here I was, financially free and taking time off whenever and recover as

much as I wanted to. What did I do to deserve freedom?

 

I paired up with Hunter, a hulky white dude looking his 30s and new to the game.

If I haven't said it before, new guys are dangerous to their training partners.

The only thing they know when something doesn't work is to use force. I'm

sure I have done own share (Mr. Lee came to mind).

 

In today's move, the butterfly sweep, Hunter clamped on the elbow of my posting

arm from above instead of from underneath as Darren showed. I felt it right

away but the adrenaline masked the pain. I was able to finish the session.

 

I've improved my Von Flue choke and as guys tend to grab my head from butterfly

bottom for the guillotine, I had many chances to practice. I got it on Gabriel,

Nicola (twice), Allen, Victor, and Josh (thrice).

 

Jan 3. My left elbow hurt when lifting things or flexing the arm and I couldn't

hang on a bar. This was another memorable arm injury (last ones were armbars

from JR and Stephen Sester). But still, I counted my blessings. By the end of

the day, it had improved.

 

Jan 9. Machine taught a series from close-guard. I get the(say left) underhook

and connect my hands (gable or butterfly grip) behind his neck and right

shoulder to keep my opponent's posture broken. I then hip out to my left and get

on my side. Now I have options. His right arm is trapped between my left

shoulder and head and I could go for the armbar. Or, I can shrug to get his arm

across and take his back. Or, I can hip out a bit more to insert my left foot,

hug him tight, stretch and hook-sweep him. If he resists, I can try to

use my right foot to push his left knee to break his base.

 

I can also insert the right foot to get the standard butterfly with his posture

broken and can elevate and sweep him either way.

 

Michael the Chinese student dropped by from Austin and we drilled together. He

said he was heavier but still only 140 lbs.

 

Jan 12. Machine taught the stand-up guard-break with gi: roll up the lapels in a

fist with palm-side up. Also control the opposite (right) sleeve and trap the

arm under the first forearm. Left leg steps to the guy's 11 o'clock and at the

same time, right lower leg swing to the side for support. Stand up, let go of

the lapels, switch grip on his sleeve. Left leg steps back and left hand, now

free, starts to push down on his thigh. Left lower leg cross his thigh with knee

and foot trapping his leg, right lower leg stays up. Cross-face him and

windshield-wiper pass.

 

Did an Imanari and a Von Flue on Andy. Got nothing on Jeff.

 

Eric told me he was going school full-time for a nursing career. "I've never had a

bachelor's degree," he said "and this is my chance. I'd love to stay home and do

nothing but just felt so unfulfilling."

 

I've been doing exactly nothing these years and sometimes felt scared by the void

and so I can understand him.

 

Jan 13. Darren showed a few heel-hook moves and I forgot all of them. But I had

great rolls with Andreas, Peter, Lili, Kevin, Brian, and Darren.

 

I pulled an arm-drag on Andreas, got a Von Flue on Peter (he didn't tap), showed

Lili a key to north-south kimura, wrecked Kevin's armbar attempt, and held my own

against Brian and Darren. Very happy.

 

Peter had herniated disks and felt pain when he picked something up from the

floor. I asked because I sometimes felt a tingling sensation from my right foot.

I don't want to see a therapist and would rest if it gets worse.

 

Mon Jan 19, MLK day open mat. I had little shuteye last night as Tim had to

leave at 4:30am to catch his plane. I showed up anyway and rolled with Eversly,

Ronaldo, Henry, Jason, Sal, Oscar, Raam, and Riky. Henry taught me a trick for

side control escape: face out, hip to hip, catch his far-side leg with my top

foot and try to torque his lower leg. If he doesn't know what to do, I'll turn

into him and get my bottom leg hook in and recover guard with my top leg. If he

switches his hips to counter the torque, I'll ghost-escape out.

 

I sniffled a bit, sneezed a couple of times, but had nice long sleep.

 

Tue Jan 20, Kyssa subbed for Daren and taught the basic hip-throw and transition

to tai otoshi takedown. Both can end with an armbar finish. She also showed the

leg positions and movement details of the inside trip takedown.

 

I liked the tai otoshi as I had a hard time loading correctly in the hip-throw.

She then taught three cross-side attacks: the far-side armbar, the kimura, and

the triangle. I happened to see the last one on youtube recently and really

liked it: from the standard cross-side top, pin the opponent's far-side arm to

his side and control the wrist with my right hand, my left arm through under his

neck hook his left armpit and lifts his head, my legs slide upward toward the

top of his head trapping his right arm at the armpit, my right leg swings over

his body and his left arm to catch his head and connect with my other leg to

form the triangle. Remember to keep the left arm pinned until the last moment to

prevent the hands connection. But if they do connect, get the kimura grip or if

it's very tight, push down to break their connection.

 

In free rolling, Kyssa caught me in one minute in a triangle from guard. She was

probably 120 lbs but was able to finish it. I defended well and was not caught

the rest of the time.

 

Kevin and I rolled after the class and for a while he kept giving me his arm and

waiting for my Peterson roll. And when I did roll him, he was always able to

jump over and get a seatbelt and tried to take my back. I couldn't control his

legs and therefore wasn't able to get on top of him. Meanwhile, he didn't have

the perfect leg-up position before the roll and therefore couldn't take my back

easily.

 

At last, I tried a different move: the sit-back takedown. Although I failed to

take him down, I recovered guard, which he said was what he was waiting for. He

explained all his moves and it was very helpful in understanding my problem.

 

Jan 22. Darren showed the judo throw, a knee-down version of seoi nage. I had a

hard time get my knees down in between my opponent's legs. We moved on the side

control and he showed a setup for the baseball-bat choke (I think Eric, my

former instructor, taught something similar):

1. get a four-finger grip on the collar with the hand nearby (say the left hand).

2. go to the other side via north-south using the right hand blocking his hips.

3. lift his head with my right hand and grab the lapel.

4. my left fore-arm sink in to finish the choke.

 

As I'm right-handed, I'd better start from the left-side.

 

 

Darren also showed the far-side armbar and the "unstoppable" paper-cutter.

His armbar was finished with a kimura grip, a better control, I think.

 

I rolled with Brian and got my back taken again! He was good at it and I was

pissed with myself and resisted till he gave up the blow-and-arrow choke.

Couldn't finish Jeff with the Americana but caught him with the kesa gatame.

Ricky was super strong and moved well. He tried quite a few attacks on me.

 

I tried what Henry the brown-belt showed me on Monday, i.e., on cross-side

bottom to trap the top guy's far-side leg, but my top arm was not in position to

do the ghost escape.

 

Jan 23. Machine showed the far-side frame breaker, the far-side reverse armbar,

and the mounted triangle, all from cross-side.

 

To break the frame of his far-side, say left, fore-arm under my chin, I'd move

my hips closer to his to create the angle for my right hand to slip from under

his elbow to cup his bicep. Machine's version was to form an S-grip with the

cross-facing left hand and walk the right elbow up to pry open his forearm.

Eversly's version was to make a gable-grip and bear down while kicking out the

elbow, which worked very well. After this move, my opponent's left forearm was

moved to the right of my head and I got the underhook.

 

For the reverse armbar, I lift my opponent's far-side shoulder up and keep, as

much as possible, his left forearm on my right shoulder. I swing my left leg

above his head and trap and hug his left above the elbow. This was hard to get

for me, if he knew what was coming.

 

For the mounted triangle, I trap his left arm in the same manner and get my

right knee onto his belly. I scoop up his head to create space for my left lower

leg to go under his neck. I step over my right leg to trap his head and left

arm. With a smaller person, I could close the triangle by lean forward and raise

my left calf underneath him. For a bigger person, the trap was already tight and

I could squeeze or I could just go for the armbar.

 

I rolled with Justin, Ayoup, Lewis, Arjun, and Jose. Jusin got me in the toe

hold again (it popped and the ankle felt sprained), I tapped to Ayoup's darce,

and Jose tapped me out twice.  Lewis went for the kneebar and I got his neck and

finished him with the guilotine. The darce from Arjun, I was able to execute

coach Peterson's counter and got him in the armbar.

 

I chatted with Jose and Mr. Lee in the locker room and he mentioned about his

fungi overgrowth in the stomach, Candida. I looked it up and my symptoms, since

 

last summer, seemed to match. Maybe I should make and eat kimchi again.

 

Jan 26. Machine had us do the hip throws on the extra mat and showed a

knee-on-the-belly counter: hands on the opponent's knee and ankle, bridge, push

and trap his ankle, turn on my side with top-arm tight, block his knee (now in a

knee-cut pass position), nudge him forward so he has to base out with his hands,

get to his back. If he backstep, I need to hook his trapped leg with my right

foot to get to the cross-side.

 

Ronaldo gave us a tip on the knee-on-the-belly position: keep the ankle close to

the bottom guy's leg to follow him when he moves.

 

When I rolled with Anil, I was on top but he had a choke with a grip on my

collar. I didn't want to give up the position and went to sleep! That was really

stupid.

 

Ricky did the backstep in my half-guard and went for the knee-bar. When I was on

top, I was able to hold him for a long time.

 

Saw Henry's trap for the seatbelt from the back. Would keep it in mind.

 

Jan 27. Darren showed a few deep-half moves and two sarifice takedowns. One

takedown was from the back when the guy breaks the grip of my arms. I cirle to

his side (left, e.g.), my right hand withdraws and dives under to cup his right

thigh from behind, my left hand stays on his left hip, and I roll under. Another

take down is from the single-leg bottom: my right leg is in the front, my left

knee comes down, I head to the outside of his lower (right) leg, my right arm

circles to the outside of his right knee and cup it from behind, and I roll.

They were fast sambo moves which Darren didn't have names for, and we had great

fun.

 

Jan 29. Darren showed a counter to a counter to the single-leg. My opponent

wraps a visor on my right arm as I picks up the left leg and windshields his

lower leg to the side of my right hip. My left hand grabs his sleeve at the right

elbow, my right arm becomes an underhook, I enter into position for a hip-throw.

If my hip is far enough to his right, he wouldn't be able to step aside as he

would be loaded already. After that, we went straight to positional sparring.

 

Darren showed me what to do to deal with his side-control (say he comes from the

right side). I should grab his far-side ankle (grabing the pants was not good as

grips can be broken) and stiff-arm it with my right arm, throw my left leg over

to collect and trap the ankle, my right arm go under his near-side leg at the

back of the knee. When I get the left underhook, I'm in a good position to walk

close and sweep him.

 

He also showed me how to escape the toe-hold: roll to direction the foot is

pointing and don't get to the belly.

 

Jan 30. Machine's sick. Darren showed the tai otoshi from right collar tie. Left

foot steps back to draw his right foot forward, right leg step to block his

right shin with a bent knee. Left foot takes a big step to the right, turn my

body, my right hand push on his head, and my left on his elbow to tilt him

forward. Once he starts to fall forward, I straighten my right leg to trip him.

 

I loved the three cross-side bottom moves he showed next! First, the top guy's

in a kazura kesa gatame without trapping my arms. I should put both my hands on

his far-side bicep to block. Next, I leave my left arm there to do the job and

plant my right arm above my head. I load my legs and bridge toward my right

elbow which becomes my support. The bridge is powerful and hard for him to

prevent. My right leg gets through the bottom space thus created and puts him in

guard.

 

Second, the top guy tries to overcome the above block by swing his top arm to

the other side of my body. As his arm passes, I grab his tricep (near the elbow

and not the armpit) with my right hand and push him and again bridge upward to

get to my left elbow. My top leg gets through under him and I take his back.

[This one might not be accurate. Six hours later, I already forgot the details.

Need to go back and find Darren, Jon, Ayoup, or Jeff to try it out again.]

 

Third, he is from the right and facing away from me. I turn and grab his hip

with my left arm. I bridge into my right elbow and get onto my knees. My right

leg goes underneath and I take his back.

 

I was lucky. Quite a few guys got the bug and didn't show up. I rolled with Jeff

and was able to do a few moves on him: the head-and-arm pinch from guard, the

kesa gatame, the knee-lever sweep from half-guard bottom. Ayoup again submitted

me with the darce, however. My trapped arm was straightened for him to finish at

the end. I once passed Jon's guard with the knee-cut, keeping in mind the knee

elbow connection.