Finally caught a few submissions today
in training. Feels like some of my jiu-jitsu game is returning. Just
some though, I still have a lot of catching up to do. While I'm
beginning to feel more comfortable rolling I'm still keenly aware of
the mistakes I make. And I feel like I'm making more than I should.
Well, more than somebody wearing the color belt I have should.
I find myself having the same problems
I had when I was a white belt. I struggle to escape from side mount,
when I'm in side-control my partners recover guard fairly easily, and
I feel off balance from every top position. For example, today when I
got to full-mount my partner reversed it within 3 seconds. If it was
a tournament, that's not worth any points. Luckily though, I had a
choke set up and was able to finish it from the bottom. So at least I
got the submission even though I was actually trying to control the
position.
Another example from today came when I
was rolling with a white belt. He's a little bigger than me but I
still didn't mind pulling guard and working from the bottom. I had
the guy in spider guard and was controlling him well. Really well. I
wasn't quite able to sweep him but I was never at risk of having my
guard passed. Then for some odd reason I decided to let go and scoot
back, creating a lot of space between us. Enough space for the guy to
easily step around and get into side-control and attack a choke. Big
mistake, a pretty dumb mistake, and I still don't even know why I did
it....??
Interestingly, when I was partnered
against another blue belt I actually did better than when I was
partnered with white belts. Not really sure why. But I moved more
fluidly, I passed my partner's spider guard, and actually controlled
the top position and even got to knee-on-belly and attacked an
armbar. My guess is I'm more cautious with white belts. Not because
I'm worried about hurting them but the other way around. But I use
them to practice on my weak areas. So when they get into side-control
I don't get upset, I just look at is as an opportunity to practice
from that position. When they attack a submission I see it as a way
to work on escaping. I figure it's a good thing to train from bad
spots. Like I said, still have a lot of catching up to do.
