Work with pain, not against it.

My friend, Kris, stayed over a couple of days (Saturday night until tonight), to continue our training in MMA. We focused a lot on Judo takedowns and takedown defense as well as grappling and BJJ submissions. The striking was more on drills, but there was still a sparring session. It was fun and grueling. Grappling is tiring work and is probably even more tiring than stand up striking could ever amount to. You have to worry about submissions, dominant positions, countering transitions, keeping your joints and critical body parts safe from submissions, deterring any damage from striking from the top or bottom, depending on your position and much more.

It was all worth it, and there's a notable difference. I was able to perform submissions other than a rear naked or a guillotine and so did my friend. But we both experienced injuries. Here's the list:

-I was going for a knee-bar, my friend was trying to escape and kneed me right between my eyes and right above my nose bridge. It hurt like a bitch.

-I was standing up, my friend was in open-guard. I dove in, he raises his leg, and land my chest on his knee. !@$$#%! It hurt A LOT. No other way to say it. The acceleration of his knee being raised and the acceleration of my gravity as I dropped met at one point...my freaking chest. Lesson: Be careful with dives into open guard.

- We were practicing takedown defense. He was sprawling. He bent his toe and turned the above part of his big toe blue. Lesson: DO NOT sprawl with your toes bent! Sprawl with your feet firmly planted on the ground, as much as possible to avoid toe injury.

-We were doing stand up Judo sparring. I had a good opening for an Uchi Mata. As I swing my leg in between his legs to catch his left thigh with my right calf, my sole skid his toe nail and bent it, resulting in a lot of bleeding. Lesson: Make sure ALL your nails are cut before sparring or grappling.

The injuries are all good now. They hurt a lot initially. I guess it's due to psychological shock, since I don't know how it feels to get hit real hard, with knees no less. But it was an invigorating feeling. The feeling of pain reminds you that you are alive and that you are a human being. It probably also means you're getting beat up, lol. I want to be able to attain that high level of physical ability to withstand the pain from a punch to the face. The more I train and receive minor injuries, the more I will feel at home with them, that doesn't mean you should not avoid taking shots though. As the famous saying goes: "Work with pain, not against it."

Here's my progress on the ground techniques, made during this training session(s):
-Rear-naked choke (good)
-Arm-triangle (needs revision, positioning needs work)
-Guillotine (satisfactory)
-Triangle-choke (needs revision)
-Arm-bar from open guard (satisfactory, speed of execution needs work)
-Kimura from open guard (decent)
-Knee bar (needs revision)
-Achilles lock (decent)
-Ankle lock (needs revision)
-Omo Plata (decent)

I got several Achilles locks on my friend, an omo plata, a kimura, an armbar and a lot of rear naked chokes. He was very good with the triangle chokes, with which he got me twice and three times with the ankle lock. Overall, the training sessions were very productive. Anyone who wants to join in the fun, are more than welcome, lol. We're planning on joining a Judo dojo during the school year, and going there every weekend (as much as possible, I'm sure there will be times that I would be too pre-occupied with my academics)

Also, a lot of you probably know what those submissions and locks are. Omo plata, on the other hand, is a submission move that is not often seen in professional MMA bouts, so here's a picture:


When that hand gets in between the legs and you position the right leg at the elbow joint and put weight on it, there's no escaping and all you gotta do is lean your body forward and crank dat shoulda boi! Instant tap. Unless the opponent is too prideful, in which case, go all the way and pop his shoulder out =) It's a very good submission technique.

Continue the fight,
Alan