Friday open Mat

This is going to be a long one so strap yourself in.

One of the Black Belts that has been visiting our club on Thr invited us to his club on Friday for open mat training. Since I had the rare day off I decided to take advantage. I had not met the instructor before but I was immediately welcomed onto the mat when I arrived at the club. Before arriving at the club I was not sure what to expect. Sometimes when you go to a new club you have a bull's eye on your back. I am happy to say everyone at this club was respectful, welcoming, sportsmen like and all around fun to work with.

As I pulled into the parking lot I concidered not tapping anyone because I did not want to be the guy that walks into someone else's club and starts a battle. I quickly realized three things 1) This was not the type of club where I had to worry about causing a "brew ha ha" because I tapped someone 2) They like the marathon training style. For those that dont know what marathon training is, in a nutshell you keep goning until someone quits, 3) I walked in with my gi ready to train and realized everyone was training no gi that day....SURPRISE!!! Since I walked out with my Gi and my belt everyone knew I was a purple belt, but I had no idea what belt most of the other guys were.

I used to train no gi quite a bit and I enjoy no gi, I just dont get a chance to train no gi. Luckily I train with a rash guard so I simply did no gi training with gi pants and a rash guard top. As a side note I have always had a theory that wearing pants in no gi was an advantage. When I wear pants I feel like I have a better grip on my oppenents when they are in my guard. My pants wipe some of their sweat off and makes it a little harder for them to slip away from me. Of course there is the disadvantage of my opponent being able to grab my pant legs but so what, people grab my pant legs all the time in gi training.

On to the sets, I am going to intentionally remember them out of order to avoid insulting anyone that might stumble along this blog at a later date. I had 6 sets in all. I do not know the rank of my oppenents because it was no gi, so I am just guessing.

Set - Shortly after starting this set I felt like my oppenent was probably a white belt. I spent almost the entire set just moving through positions. Throughout the set the buzzer went off over and over and over and over. I think the timer was set to sound at the start of a 5 min round, sound at the 2 min mark, the 1 min mark and the 10 sec mark. I might be wrong about the settings but to me it seemed like it was constantly buzzing. After 1 or two buzzes I tuned the timer out completly. After SEVERAL minutes of moving through various positions I realized we probably had about 3 full 5 min rounds (although it could have been 2). I also realized my opponent was not going to ask to stop or quit without being tapped. So I finished him with an armlock. He went after lots of gulitines and was pretty aggresive. I like the "no quit" attitude and it was fun training with him.

Set - This opponent felt more like a blue belt. He was constantly hunting for ankle locks and constantly trying for gulitines. At one point he was really "giving me" the triangle. When I went for it he immediatly exploded upward, hipped into me and attempted a smash pass. He did this all in one quick explosive motion. I was able to turtle, turn and face and reguard but man he was close to putting me in a very bad spot. He was clearly setting me up by making me think he was exposed for the triangle when he wasn't. He anticipated my move and I was pretty impressed. He had me in a bad spot for a second and he obviously practiced that move over and over in the gym. It will serve him well in the future and I must say, not too many blue belts have the guts to give a purple belt a shot at a triangle. Hell, I dont like to give white belts a shot at a triangle. Again I moved through various positions with him and again after a while went by I realized we had been training for more than 1 set and possibly two sets. He was not going to quit without being tapped and I was starting to tire. I finished him with an arm lock, but it was no easy task. Another fun set against a game opponent with a "no quit" attitude.

Set - Not really sure about the rank of this opponent. He may have been a purple belt, not really sure. He had some good pass attemps and it was difficult to advance on him. Eventually I finished with a head and arm choke but, this was not a set where I was free to move through positions. He had good defense and made me earn every inch.

Set - This guy was bigger than me but not as experienced. It was a fun set and by this time I was a little more mindful of the clock because I wanted to get as many sets with as many different opponents as possible. I worked for an arm drag to back control. From there I was able to finish with a rear nake choke.

Gi Set - There was an ENORMOUS mountain of a brown belt training that day. Initally he was training no gi but he saw I brought my gi with me and asked if I would like to train with the gi. I really appreciated the offer and was happy to oblige.

Side note - That fact that he offered to train with me is a real teastement to the positive atmosphere at this gym. From a BJJ politics perspective - I am a purple belt visiting their gym, he is a Brown belt training in front of the lower ranks at his school. He was at least 240 pounds (although I think close to to 250/260). I had nothing to loose by training with him, but he had a lot to risk by training with me. If he was one of those BIG EGO BJJ types he simply would not have offered to train. Clearly he was not the BIG EGO type and I respect that. There are a lot of schools out there and a lot of BJJ players out there that dont train with lower ranked unknown oppoents because they think if you tap to someone lower ranked then you it is the end of the world. I did not see ANY of the BIG EGO at this school. He welcomed the new challenge and the new player while disregarding the BJJ politicals that so often comes into play. I know that was a long side note, but it was worth pointing out.

Originally I wrote a really long discription about the set with the Brown Belt but after re-reading it I decided to delete it. It was a great set, I am glad he gave me the opportunity to roll with him and I look forward to rolling with him again.

The last set was a no gi match with the instructor. Again, a really fun set and I was really happy to have the opportuntiy. I plan on visiting the school again when I can get out there.