tonight made up for a lackluster Monday class. Hottest day of the year and record breaking temperatures made the class great!

Didn't really cover any new techniques, just drilling ones from the last few classes and one new combo: step in for a tai otoshi, uke counters by stepping out and tori turns the technique into an uchi mata.

Lots of randori and different spin on randori called ippondori. randori continues until an ippon is scored and then the losing partner is replaced with a fresh opponent. the drills continue until the time is up.

small class tonight due to the Flames game. It was very informal. The majority of the class was randori - ne waza and tachi waza. My yellow belt test is coming up on May 2. I think I'll do alright - i just have to get my japanese straight for the technique names.

Class rocked last night. We got a chance to learn some combinations on how to set someone up for an osoto gari (or other technique). We then did about 30 minutes of randori: ground and standing. I'm finally getting the hang of it a bit more and I'm actually able to hold my own now - at least against other white and yellow belts.

Class tonight was great. We (the white belts) are now staying with the coloured belts for the entire class. The whole class was basically spent reviewing and applying all of the techniques that we have learned so far. We worked on uchi komi in randori. I finally was able to work with a partner who understood that uchi komi in randori means "don't resist at 100%". Very productive. We also learned another method to turn uke over when he's turtled on all 4's:

straddle uke's back, with your feet at his knees. face the same direction as uke. grab uke's gi as close to the elbows as possible. lift uke to create space under him. Quickly slide your left leg under uke's chest and spin to your left. you should end up in the mount. the trick to this is when you slide your left leg under uke and spin, you want to be on your back under uke's left shoulder before you start to rotate him. staying in tight will increase the momentum and make the technique more efficient.

Another "recovery" method for tori when he is turtled and uke is on him is to make like a sprinter coming out of the starting blocks. as you are launching forward, turn over and grab uke (sleeve is good) and pull him down and into you. It is important to stay "upright" and not lie down on your back. if you can, grab uke's belt over his shoulder and sweep uke over your shoulder, or apply a submission.

Class was great! again, worked on o goshi, ippon seoi nage, and o soto gari. I got my first taste of randori tonight at only 50% resistance and it was great. i managed to get in a great ippon seoi nage. I can't wait to start mixing it up with the coloured belts.

Tonight we had upper belts only: Kyle, Sensei Krista, Sensei Mariedke, and myself.

I reviewed three of the four techniques that were taught at the LOCKUP seminar and played around with some finishing techniques and takedowns. I also covered some basic ground fighting techniques to pass the guard, countering, scissor lapel choke from the mount, counter, and counter to the counter. Sensei Mariedke reviewed the last technique from Saturday, the Judo-style one-legged takedown. After we worked on that for a bit we did a little bit of randori on the ground, which was really fun. We experimented with how to defend against the one-legged takedown and found that popping your left (free) leg over the attackers head and grabbing their arm closest to you allows you to sink in an arm lock.

The other three techniques were as follows:

1. uke grabs your right shoulder from behind with their right hand. drop into defensive stance and raise your right arm straight up. you're not concerned with trapping the hand between the neck and shoulder. lead left leg will rotate to the outside so that you are facing uke. as you rotate, bring your arm over their arm to trap it between your ribs and your arm. from here, 1/2 step in and move behind uke into #3 position. As you are moving, your left arm goes over uke's left shoulder and hooks under the jaw to apply a tactical jaw control while restraining uke's right arm. Take a step back into a deep forward stance to break uke's balance backwards.

2. uke tries to punch/grab (mirror) from the front with their right hand. Immediately you step in leading with your right foot. left hand does an S-block around the elbow/forearm while the right elbow/forearm strikes across the chest. Both hands grab uke's right arm and pulls/throws it across uke's body towards your right foot. this causes uke to rotate and turn his back to you. apply the same tactical jaw control as in 1. above.

3. same attack as 2, but you are not aligned to uke's center, but with uke's right shoulder. step in with left foot and apply a forearm cross block as we do with the 1-hand push from front, but instead of blocking the arm across the body, you strike it on a downwards angle. this forces uke's body to turn. as uke pivots, you strike uke's jaw on the uke's right side with your right palm heel, twist the head into a tactical jaw control ensuring that the fingers are clear of the mouth area. your left arm hooks over uke's left arm to maintain control.

4. Judo-style take-down. tori starts with one knee (right) on the ground in front of uke. You perform a right handed strike to uke's right anterior femoral with the fist or elbow. step through with your right leg between uke's legs and wrap it behind uke's right leg. simultaneously, you grab uke's right leg with your right armpit on their right hip and wrap your arms around their leg as if you were doing an inner winding throw. push off with the left foot and using all your body weight take uke down to the rear. From here, elbow strikes to the ground and anterior femoral, or get up and knee/shin drops on the anterior femoral/knee/calf/tibial (or pass the guard to get side control or full mount.)