There and Back

I realized something today at open mat: the more tired I am and exhausted I am the less I roll with technique. I roll sloppy and end up getting submitted.

That’s what happened today at open mat. But let’s back it up a bit.

I’m definitely getting better at holding positions. For example, staying on top or keeping my pressure on while pinning and not getting swept as much. Another example is I got in Mount on a higher striped blue belt and I don’t think I’ve ever got mount on him, so that’s a win for me.

I also did some good takedowns during some nogi rolls today, but got caught in some guillotines on the way but kept wrestling and got the takedown. Keep the pressure on I guess.

I also have been focusing on guard passing instead of guard pulling, this is what I did when I first started my bjj journey. Good to be back at it. Now that I think about it, almost everyone I rolled with today, started in guard while I started standing so at least I know I’ll get lots of practice with passing.

Now remember what I was saying at the beginning, when I roll tired I roll sloppy, well my last roll of the day was like that. After some bad hand fighting by me, my partner got a good rear naked choke on me and I tapped. I was glad to be honest because I was exhausted. But this is good for me. This is good training for me because I got a competition coming up at the end of September and the more rolls I do the better I get and the better prepared I’ll be for that competition. That’s the plan anyway.